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densmore4

Science

A Llama Could Save Your Life

By Posted on 2.19.2009 2 Comments
Spitting, kicking and saving lives: all in a day's work for the lovable llama. Scientists have found that the uniquely small size of the llama's antibodies, used by the immune system to identify and counteract bacteria and viruses, could provide new and improved therapies for diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.

2.19.2009 at 02:31am - Comment by densmore4

ALL HAIL THE LLAMA!!! ALL HAIL THE LLAME!!!
Technology

A Unique View of Egypt

By Posted on 2.9.2009 3 Comments
Here are a couple more from our favorite eye in the sky. Both half-meter resolution images were snapped from space by the GeoEye-1 satellite, which also took those fantastic pics of the National Mall on Inauguration Day.

2.11.2009 at 03:10am - Comment by densmore4

And in the process you give up all your freedoms and personal space, smart idea. You can already be tracked in that pattern, PopSci actually did an article on it. It is very difficult to stay "off the grid" for very long, if at all. I for one, are against heavy surveillance.
The Environment

Message In A Bottle

By Posted on 1.23.2009 11 Comments
Given the choice, you probably wouldn't risk sailing 11,500 miles from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat handmade of 20,000 plastic water bottles. But David de Rothschild, the founder of the nonprofit educational organization Adventure Ecology, sees such a vessel as the perfect way to "beat waste" by promoting new uses for recycled plastic while dramatizing the problem of ocean debris. Next month, de Rothschild and a crew of scientists will sail the Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran, to environmental hotspots including Bikini Atoll, the former atomic-bomb testing site, and Tuvalu, an island rapidly disappearing under rising seas.

1.23.2009 at 05:40pm - Comment by densmore4

Well there be a safety boat following the journey? Or are the doing this all "alone?"
The Environment

Flying the Coal-Fired Skies

By Posted on 1.16.2009 34 Comments
In the not-so-distant future, cars could run on electricity, power plants on wind and solar energy, and city buses on zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells. But airplanes? Those just might run on coal.

1.19.2009 at 12:20am - Comment by densmore4

"Mike_R: you need to stop caring more about the environment and other countries and more about humans and the greatest country in the world." -rogueagent123 You sir are a crazy man. If anything, you should cherish what clean air, and water you have left with your kind of thinking. The green front and global warming by some degrees are kind of absurd, but they DO push for better alternatives. I think living in a cleaner world is worth stopping the pollutants that this nation (and other nations) put into the air. Quality of life and nature will go up. That being said, coal is a stupid idea. However I feel that they should be looking beyond the coal and not relying on it. -Marcel F. Williams : thanks you for that insight.
Science

Let's Do the Twist

By Greg Soltis Posted on 1.13.2009 3 Comments
Silicon wafers, the backbone of the electronics industry, are brittle and fragile. So researchers have sought to create a more supple polymer surface that can be stretched, twisted, and bent in any direction and to populate it with newly engineered circuits. The solution: "pop-up" wire connections between the circuit components, along with flexible S-curves in the wires that can unwind and slip back into shape.

1.13.2009 at 06:46pm - Comment by densmore4

I want a camera for an eye!!! Well this this is very cool! I'd like to see future articles on the applications of this. If any have been made, or are just drawings, whatever. This is truly cool.
Science

A Conversation with Len Fisher

By Laura Silver Posted on 1.15.2009 69 Comments
Chances are you've played Rock, Paper, Scissors, but how do you calculate your strategy, if you have one at all? In Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life, physicist Len Fisher points out that putting yourself in your opponent's mindset is a key to success in the game.

1.9.2009 at 10:17pm - Comment by densmore4

I've got an interesting theory... Say you'll give someone something and they post a comment... More people have posted comments on this entry than I've ever seen on this site( : ( ). It's a very interesting theory though (what the article was actually about), my teacher always talked about stuff like this (and about RPS). No book needed for me, I'll never read it.
Hillman Composite Beam

By Posted on 11.9.2008 Comments
When John Hillman subjected his bridge beam to load tests, it handled a hydraulic press’s 145 tons of maximum force with ease. The Hillman Composite Beam (a winner of our 2008 Invention Awards) weighs one third as much as concrete competitors—saving 20 percent on shipping and installation costs—and can hold 50 percent more weight. The beam gets its strength from within. A concrete arch supports the weight above it, and a steel plate running lengthwise prevents the arch from collapsing.

12.27.2008 at 02:10pm - Comment by densmore4

composite : 1. made up of disparate or separate parts or elements; compound. The arch/bridge support is made of different materials, therefore, it is a composite of sorts.
Entertainment & Gaming

The Real Danger of Violent Video Games

By Posted on 4.2.2009 22 Comments
Everyone knows Halo gamers don't sleep. But now a group of scientists in Sweden have published new research linking violent video games to increased heart rate variability and sleep disruptions.

11.27.2008 at 12:59am - Comment by densmore4

A fun article bringing up a newly "tested" theory if you will. Hopefully more research will be done to show if any long term damage can actually happen. And to the first post... I'd so hand up Fallout 3 for another hour of sleep. It was fun, but not worth knocking off an hour of sleep. Once again, would like to see more testing, of a lot more kids, and a larger age spread.
The Environment

The Amphibial Canary is Dead

By Taylor Hengen Posted on 11.23.2008 7 Comments
While canaries are yet to raise the red flag on pesticide exposure, new research from the University of Pittsburgh shows that "ten of the world's most popular pesticides can decimate amphibian populations when mixed together even if the concentration of the individual chemicals are within limits considered safe." 'Decimate', here, is not hyperbole.

Article Rating:

11.24.2008 at 02:36am - Comment by densmore4

evil03mustang you should still care about the environment. Regardless of whether or not "civilization" is going to end... do you want the "last days" of civilization covered in garbage, on a barren wasteland, or would you rather be living on a "decent" planet before the end of days hit? To write off your responsibility to maintain where you live, just cause it's going to get messy again is no way to treat the situation.
Cars

Flying Saucers Come Home

By SciIll Staff Posted on 11.17.2008 28 Comments
It’s designed to seat two, take off and land vertically, fly 10 feet above the ground, and reach 75 miles an hour. It’s about the size of a car, but it’s round instead of boxy. Yup, it’s a flying saucer. Next year, California-based Moller International hopes to introduce the M200G personal recreation craft, the first of what the company expects to be a full line of “volanters”—vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. The design is 300 years in the making.

11.4.2008 at 03:52pm - Comment by densmore4

I believe that if there is going to be a flying vehicle for public use, that it should almost always be automated, and that the human element is mostly taken out of the actual driving process. Given that the speeds and routes will be determined by humans. However in "safe" areas, I believe having full control of steering would be very entertaining to say the least. By safe I mean, no population below, and very low air traffic, as to provide ample room for any screw up... One more thing to say and I'm done... I'd also love to see the day that flying vehicles (much like this one) are able to race at high speeds.