Archive for the 'Off Topic' Category
NASA Researchers: DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space
August 10th, 2011Via: NASA: NASA-funded researchers have evidence that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts assisted […]
Bavaria: Experts Baffled by Mysterious Underground Chambers
July 30th, 2011Via: Der Spiegel: There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the subterranean vaults to unravel their secrets. Research Credit: ottilie
The Human Genome Contains a Million Years Worth of Population Data
July 14th, 2011Via: io9: Our genes don’t just help determine who we are — they also preserve an incredibly ancient record of who our ancestors were. Our genomes can actually reveal human population sizes dating all the way back to before humans even existed. Richard Durbin of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Heng Li of the […]
DAR.fm
June 22nd, 2011DAR.fm is a free, web-based service that allows you to record radio shows and play them back whenever you like. The files may also be downloaded as mp3. I used to listen to the radio quite a bit when I lived in the U.S., but not so much in New Zealand. (National Radio is the […]
Man Mines Precious Metals and Gems on Midtown Manhattan Sidewalks
June 20th, 2011I happen to like stories about weird ways that people make it through this… reality. Wow, I definitely wouldn’t have ever thought of this. He probably should have told people he lost his contact lenses or something. Via: New York Post: There’s gold in them thar sidewalk cracks! A Queens man has discovered enough hidden […]
Copenhagen Suborbitals HEAT-1X Launched
June 3rd, 2011Via: Copenhagen Suborbitals:
Get Lamp: A Documentary About Adventures in Text
May 29th, 2011Via: Get Lamp: Trailer: Film: In the early years of the microcomputer, a special kind of game was being played. With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround sound. In a world of […]
The Strange Case of Solar Flares Changing Rates of Radioactive Decay
May 18th, 2011Via: Standford University News: No one knows how neutrinos could interact with radioactive materials to change their rate of decay. “It doesn’t make sense according to conventional ideas,” Fischbach said. Jenkins whimsically added, “What we’re suggesting is that something that doesn’t really interact with anything is changing something that can’t be changed.”
The Last Cause Gets $10,000 Pledge from Software Company
May 11th, 2011Via: Kickstarter – The Last Cause: If you know that C.O.F.F.E.E. or Xpresso are things not available at Starbucks, then you’ve already recognized that the 3D package that we used in the Kickstarter video is Cinema 4D. Maxon, the creator of Cinema 4D has seen that too, and just made an incredible $10K pledge! Correct […]
Growing Up In Arcades: 1979-1989
April 29th, 2011I don’t know how old you were in 1981, but I was ten when I was spending my allowance getting high score on Defender. —The Future Where Soda Cans Have Screens If you want to know if this is me, no, but the hair is about right. Flickr: Growing Up In Arcades: 1979-1989
