The Obama campaign worked with Square to develop a custom-built mobile payment app for Obama For America, and gave Fast Company a first look. The app is currently available to staff and will be available in the Store in the near future. See more->
Rather than bringing people into the lab, researchers at MIT are putting tiny labs into people via a tiny implantable capsule that can track the growth of a tumor or detect heart-deterioration or even silent heart attacks from inside the body. The miniature lab is small enough to implant via a needle during a normal biopsy, and can remain inside the body vigilantly watching for increased tumor growth. The inside of the device is filled with nanoparticles, each sporting an antibody specially designed to bind to specific molecules like those that are produced by certain kinds of tumors or by damaged heart muscle cells.
via joshbyard:
Luke Cage exposed!
Want Bullet Proof Skin?
Of course you do. Well now bioengineers have developed a skin made in part with spider silk that is capable of stopping a speeding bullet. Spider silk may not seem that strong, but in a strength to weight comparison a weave of it out distances Kevlar 4 fold. I once heard that an inch thick rope of the stuff could stop a jet plane at full throttle. For videos of the tests you can click here. The first test shows a bullet moving only at half speed, while the second test shows it moving at full speed under which conditions the skin is compromised. To be fair though, it’s a step in the right direction and I look forward to being the supervillainhero I’ve always wanted to be.
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The Morality Pill
Writing in the New York Times, Peter Singer and Agata Sagan ask “Are We Ready for a ‘Morality Pill’?” I dunno. Why?
The infamous Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments showed that given the right circumstances, most of us act monstrously. Indeed, given pretty mundane circumstances, most of us will act pretty callously, hustling past people in urgent need in simply to avoid the hassle. But not all of us do this. Some folks do the right thing anyway, even when it’s not easy. Singer and Sagan speculate that something special must be going on in those peoples’ brains. So maybe we can figure out what that is and put it in a pill!
If continuing brain research does in fact show biochemical differences between the brains of those who help others and the brains of those who do not, could this lead to a “morality pill” — a drug that makes us more likely to help?
The answer is: no. And I think the question invites confusion. Morality is not exhausted by helping. Anyway, help do what?
Nicholas Carr writes that book publishers should follow the lead of a few record labels that give away mp3 downloads of an album when you purchase the vinyl.
Via Rough Type:
Buy the atoms, get the bits free. That just feels right - in tune with the universe, somehow.
There’s a lesson here, I think, for book publishers. In fact, bundling a free electronic copy with a physical product would have a much bigger impact in the book business than in the music business. After all, in order to play vinyl you have to buy a turntable, and most people aren’t going to do that. So vinyl may be a bright spot for record companies, but it’s not likely to become an enormous bright spot. The only technology you need to read a print book is the eyes you were born with, and print continues, for the moment, to be the leading format for books. If you start giving away downloads with print copies, you shake things up in a pretty big way.
Impressive stop motion from Paris based designer/animator Steven Briand
On March 27th, if you’re not a Doctor Who fan, Tumblr is going to be unbearable.
Going to the Doctor Who Comvention in Cardiff? Be sure to sign up for the TARDIS SET TOUR
Doctor Who Convention attendees now have a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the TARDIS set at the BBC Wales studios at Upper Boat. These free tours will run on Monday 26th March 2012.
On the tour, visitors can step into the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS and explore the set where some of the show’s iconic scenes have been shot. The behind-the-scenes team will be on hand to explain the inner workings of the TARDIS, talk about the set and of course to answer any questions.
Please note:
- This tour is available to Doctor Who Convention ticket holders ONLY.
- Spaces are strictly limited and are subject to availability.
- Please allow approximately 2 hours 20 minutes for this activity. This includes journey time to and from the studio. Please note you will only be on the TARDIS set for a maximum of 30 minutes during this time.
- Tours can be booked for any day, irrespective of the purchased Doctor Who Convention ticket date.
- Tours on Saturday 24th March and Sunday 25th March are now fully booked
To view full TARDIS tour timetables please CLICK HERE
Also, if you go, you’re required to post pics to your Tumblr. It’s not written on the site anywhere but it’s true.
The very first Razer Blade gaming laptops were launched late last week and sold out in just 30 minutes. Razer announced that their new high powered Razer Blade laptop would be going on sale on January 27th at 9PM. But just 30 minutes later all available stock had been purchased. But don’t worry if you missed out on the first Razer Blade laptops priced at $2,800 each a new batch will be arriving in 2 weeks time.
Vega’s first launch campaign (by ESA)
The first Vega launch campaign began on 7 November 2011 at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
This time-lapse shows the full assembly of the first Vega launcher at the launch pad, in preparation for its qualification flight. It starts with the transfer and installation of the P80 first stage from the Vega Booster Storage and Preparation Building to the launch pad, followed by the two solid-propellant second and third stages, the Zefiro-23 and Zefiro-9. The next step was to add the AVUM — Attitude & Vernier Upper Module — liquid-propellant fourth stage to the vehicle. The ‘upper composite’ — the fairing and payload — was moved to the pad on 24 January and integrated over night.
Pasta, Not Bacon, Makes You Fat. But How?
I could do without the “Carbs Are Killing You” title here, but this is a great infographic demonstrating the true culprit behind a great deal of fat accumulation: carbohydrate intake.
Our cells evolved to use the sugars from starch and carbohydrates far more efficiently than fats. And we also have an intricate signaling mechanism to convert excess carbs to fat quite easily. It’s part of our basic biology.
It’s not just any carbs (liquid carbs - soda - are worse than complex by far) and it doesn’t mean that eating a bunch of fat is safe (your heart can still be quite unhealthy even if you’ve got low body fat). But it does show us why to the idea that the extra-large Coke and fries is just as dietarily dangerous as the burger in your value meal.
I’m not advocating for low-carb diets, but people should know how their metabolism works!
(via Co.Design)
