The Lumpen Proletarian

Capela dos Ossos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Google Launches Deforestation Tool to Make Trees More Valuable Alive Than Dead : TreeHugger

Image via Google.org digg_url = 'http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/google-launches-deforestation-tool-to-help-make-trees-more-valuable-alive-than-dead.php'; Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, has launched a new way to monitor deforestation. The tool was demonstrated at the Copenhagen talks yesterday, which will enable online, global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the

 

Uncontacted Amazonian Tribesman Attacked by Ranchers (Video) : TreeHugger
One of the only known images of the 'Man of the Hole', taken by filmaker Vincent Carelli In the depths of the rainforest lives the sole survivor of one of the few remaining uncontacted Amazonian tribes. Little is known

 

Technology Review: Getting Power From Coal Without Digging It Up

An Alberta project will transform coal deep beneath the ground into gas.

 

3-D microchips for more powerful and environmentally friendly computers

Not so long ago our computers had a single core which had to be boosted for performance - making each machine into a great central heating system. Beyond 85° C, however, electronic components become unstable. To overcome this physical limit, a solution was found with the multicore technology, where ...

 

Tour of secret smuggling tunnel Boing Boing

Kenyan bike-mechanic's homemade tools Boing Boing

Nuraghe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boston Review — Noam Chomsky: Crisis and Hope

Since 1975, an award-winning forum for political, cultural and literary ideas.

 

Consider the Wheel Reinvented : TreeHugger

The 'Pumplon' can change its shape for any road conditions. Imagine a tire which can change its shape to that best suited for the conditions of the road. The green benefits are numerous, from reducing travel times to increasing

 

Indian Gangs Grow, Bringing Fear and Violence to Reservation - NYTimes.com

Styling themselves after large urban gangs, the Indian gangs have emerged as one more destructive force in some of the country’s poorest and most neglected places.

 

For Bicyclists Needing a Boost, This Wheel May Help - NYTimes.com

It is not easy to reinvent the wheel, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are giving it their best shot.

 

Plastics component affects intestine: study

The chemical Bisphenol A used in plastic containers and drinks cans has been shown for the first time to affect the functioning of the intestines, according to a French study published Monday.

 

I think step to the left, you think step to the east
Even the way people remember dance moves depends on the culture they come from, according to a report in the December 14th issue of Current Biology. Whereas a German or other Westerner might think in terms of 'step to the right, step to the left,' a nomadic hunter-gatherer from Namibia might think something ...

 

Tool Use Found in Octopuses | Wired Science | Wired.com

After years of surprising scientists with their cleverness and smarts, some octopuses appear to also use tools. Veined octopuses observed off the coast

 

Tag Heuer stands by Tiger Woods, 'the best in his domain' | Sport | guardian.co.uk

The Swiss watch manufacturer said the golfer's private life is 'not our business'

 

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Clever crow opts for three tools

New Caledonian crows can use three tools in succession to attaining a treat, a team from Oxford University reports.

 

How electricity became a right, and what it means for broadband Boing Boing

The Biology of Music: Why we like what we like Boing Boing

AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed  | ajc.com

ST. LOUIS — Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.'s business practices reveal how the world's biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found.

 

Soup can reopens mystery of doomed Franklin Expedition

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lead levels that are 'off the scale' have been confirmed after tests were done this morning on the lid of a soup can dating back more than 150 years. The findings reopen the mystery surrounding the cause of death of Sir John Franklin and his doomed crew as they searched for the Northwest ...

 

The importance of attractiveness depends on where you live

Do good-looking people really benefit from their looks, and in what ways? A team of researchers from the University of Georgia and the University of Kansas found that yes; attractive people do tend to have more social relationships and therefore an increased sense of psychological well-being. This seems ...

 

Nearsightedness Increasing in U.S. | Wired Science | Wired.com

It looks like nearsightedness is on the rise in the United States. Researchers tapped into a wide-ranging health survey to rate vision in the population

 

Books of The Times - Chinua Achebe Reflects on Life and Politics in ‘Education’ - Review - NYTimes.com
A new collection of essays from the author of “Things Fall Apart,” about Nigerian politics, language, family and racism.

 

Newly Discovered Enzyme Could Create Crops That Thrive in Dry, High CO2 Conditions : TreeHugger

Photo via UCSD, Credit: Julian Schroeder Lab digg_url = 'http://digg.com/environment/Newly_Discovered_Enzyme_Makes_Crops_Drought_Resistant'; Researchers at University of California San Diego have discovered particular plant enzymes that can make a big difference in food safety as the planet copes with two major problems:

 

Technology Review: Blogs: Potential Energy: Return of the Steam Engine?

From MIT. Information on Emerging Technologies & impact on business & society

 

Uneasy Engagement - Chinese Team Searches Museums for Art Treasures - Series - NYTimes.com

A delegation that stopped at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last week is looking for objects looted in 1860 from a palace in Beijing.

 

Dress Codes - Youthful Rebellion - Dressing for Success, Again - NYTimes.com

Young men are embracing the “Mad Men” elements of style in a way that the older men never did, still don’t and just won’t.

 

Opvoeden met Nicolas Cage | Flabber
Hoe zorg je ervoor dat je dochter de meest geharde bad-ass ever wordt? Nicolas Cage heeft daar een duidelijk stappenplan voor.

 

FORA.tv - Steven Johnson: The Invention of Air

Steven Johnson talks about his book, The Invention of Air.Johnson recounts the story of Joseph Priestley -- scientist and theologian, protege of Benjamin Franklin -- an 18th-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the U.S. - Book Passage

 

Amazon.com: PermaFLOW Never-Clog Drain: Home Improvement

Amazon.com: PermaFLOW Never-Clog Drain: Home Improvement

 

Technology Review: Sun-Assisted Desalination

Energy-saving process uses free heat to desalinate seawater.

 

Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: Shortage of Fertilizer Could Impact Food Security

From MIT. Information on Emerging Technologies & impact on business & society

 

About 25 percent of Arabs in Greater Detroit reported abuse post Sept. 11
One quarter of Detroit-area Arab Americans reported personal or familial abuse because of race, ethnicity or religion since 9/11, leading to higher odds of adverse health effects, according to a new University of Michigan study.

 

Researchers find human protein that prevents H1N1 influenza infection

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a naturally occurring human protein that helps prevent infection by H1N1 influenza and other viruses, including West Nile and dengue virus.

 

Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones - WSJ.com

Militants in Iraq have used inexpensive, off-the-shelf software to intercept video feeds from Predator drones.

 

Reproductive biology: Girls on top | The Economist

Stressed mothers spontaneously abort male fetuses

 

Gibberish rock song written by Italian composer to sound like English Boing Boing

Five laws of human nature - life - 17 December 2009 - New Scientist

Why is there always so much work to do? Will I become immortal? There are laws to answer such questions – New Scientist examines the evidence for

 

Docu: BBC Horizon - Hoeveel mensen passen op Aarde? | Flabber
In 1950 woonden er 2,5 miljard mensen op Aarde. Tegenwoordig delen we deze planeet met zo'n 7 miljard mensen. In deze Horizon documentaire

A Garden Blooms Inside a Concrete Cloverleaf : TreeHugger
In the loop: a botanical garden inside a highway interchange (inset). Photos via Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden (inset) and the Istanbul Governor's Office. A botanical garden inside an 'urban void' -- the loop of a busy highway's cloverleaf interchange --

China's New Disneyland Will Force 5,000 Families of Farmers Out of Their Homes : TreeHugger

Disneyland sure is a wondrous place--beloved characters, thrilling rides, an entire fantastic world where a child's imagination can run wild. It's fun for the whole family. Unless, that is, you happen to be one of the 5,000 families of

 

1930s drug slows tumor growth

Drugs sometimes have beneficial side effects. A glaucoma treatment causes luscious eyelashes. A blood pressure drug also aids those with a rare genetic disease. The newest surprise discovered by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is a gonorrhea medication that might help ...

 

Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate

The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which appears to show that the current warming and widespread loss of glacial ice are unprecedented.

 

Less than 1 in 3 Toronto bystanders who witness a cardiac arrest try to help: Study

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital working in conjunction with EMS services, paramedics and fire services across Ontario found that a bystander who attempts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can quadruple the survival rate to over 50 per cent. But Dr. Laurie Morrison and the research team at Rescu ...

 

Technology Review: A Quantum Leap in Battery Design

Digital quantum batteries could exceed lithium-ion performance by orders of magnitude.

 

Technology Review: The Year in Materials
New materials harnessed hamster power, and researchers made carbon nanotubes practical.

 

Potatoes, algae replace oil in US company's plastics

Frederic Scheer is biding his time, convinced that by 2013 the price of oil will be so high that his bio-plastics, made from vegetables and plants, will be highly marketable.

 

Upper Mismanagement | The New Republic

Online edition of journal of politics and culture, with selected articles from print magazine.

 

Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up | Magazine

How To Fail Screw ups, disasters, misfires, flops. Why losing big can be a winning strategy. • Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up Stay