Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Human "Ingredients-List" shirt


Qwantz sends us "A shirt (done in consultation with medical professionals) that not only lists your nutritional

Can a kid be a psychopath?

The New York Times has a fascinating (and, FYI, kind of disturbing) story about young kids who exhibit psychological symptoms similar to what you see in adult psychopaths. It's a complex subject because, while everybody involved agrees these kids could use some kind of intervention, nobody knows exactly what that intervention should be and definitely don't want to stick the kids with a terrifying label that will follow them for their whole lives. More importantly, what we do know is that half of these kids will grow into normal adults—though we don't know exactly why.

Volcano in a trash can

Watch video 

Plinian eruptions are named after Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder, who wrote about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and died during said eruption, respectively. This is one of several different types of volcanic eruptions, but it's also one of the most iconic. In a Plinian eruption, a column of magma, gas, and ash shoots straight up, with the gas and ash reaching all the way up into the stratosphere. These are the big, explosive eruptions, with mushroom clouds and rains of rocks and boulders.

How to: Make a unicorn


At Popperfont, the great David Ng discusses the biological and/or evolutionary steps necessary to produce a theoretical real-life unicorn. I find it delightfully ironic that his first possible route involves something that, if I were to show you pictures of it*, you would probably request a unicorn chaser.

High-tech ghost-town being built in the middle of the NM desert

A defense contractor called Pegasus Global Holdings is building a replica of Rock Hill, SC in the middle of the New Mexico desert, which will be used to prototype self-driving cars, green buildings and smart meters. It will be an uninhabited lab, a "theme park for scientists." They're calling it "The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation." From Don Worthington's article in the Rock Hill Herald:

Monday, 14 May 2012

Looting Leads Archaeologists to Oldest Known Mayan Calendar

On 21 July 1561, a crowd of indigenous farmers cried out in the town square of ManĂ­, Mexico, as a Franciscan missionary set fire to dozens of fragile Maya books, or codices. Condemned by the missionaries as "the Devil's trickery," these written texts preserved knowledge gleaned from centuries of Maya science and mathematics. Similar acts of destruction followed, obliterating hundreds of other Maya codices. Today, only a handful of readable, precolonial codices survive.

Vesta, the planet that might have been


This is Vesta, the second largest asteroid in our solar system's main asteroid belt. Specifically, this is a view of Vesta's south pole, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft last September.

Sendak-ian Avengers


DeviantArt's ~AgarthanGuide created this Maurice Sendak/Avengers mashup: "Two things on my mind today: RIP Maurice Sendak. Yay Avengers. Okay- I put together some wallpapers using the original- I tried to make them as big as possible and cover the major aspect ratios. You can download them here. Enjoy!"
Avengers on Parade (RIP Maurice Sendak) (via Super Punch)

How did alleged 9/11 mastermind KSM dye beard red at Gitmo? Only his stylist knows.

Adam Serwer writes at Mother Jones about KSM's recent facial hair makeover. He grew a beard, but how did he get his hands on henna with which to dye it a ginger-red? Visiting friends? Home-brewed stain from materials inside the camp? No one knows, or if the camp guards do, it's a national security secret. Snip:


As for why KSM dyed his beard? Former State Department counterterrorism adviser Will McCants says that KSM is probably trying to emphasize his commitment to Islam. KSM grew his long, flowing beard only after he was imprisoned at Guantanamo—previous photographs show him with a trim beard or a thick mustache.
"KSM is following the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, who recommended dyeing a grey beard red," McCants says, calling

Curiosity in the desert


Last week, scientists used ice caves in Austria as a stand-in for Martian caves, testing spacesuits and rovers in the freezing chambers. This week: We go to the desert near Baker, California, where NASA is testing out its Curiosity rover. Curiosity is 86 days away from landing on the real Martian surface.
Gene Blevins / Reuters