The Lumpen Proletarian

Driven to Distraction - Pedestrians, Too, Are Distracted by Cellphones - Series - NYTimes.com
Cellphones make pedestrians inattentive, and emergency room records show the results.

Novelties - A Plastic Coating May Someday Make Detergent Unnecessary - NYTimes.com

A chemical coating under development could make two groups happy: environmentalists and anyone who washes dishes.

 

San Jose Journal - In San Jose’s Latino Gardens, Vegetables, Health and Savings Flourish - NYTimes.com

The fledgling effort to bring vegetable beds to San Jose, Calif., is part of a national movement to make healthy food accessible to marginalized urban neighborhoods.

 

Tensegrity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Platelet Technology success sealing water leakage: News from Brinker Technology

Brinker Technology, an Aberdeen based world leader in innovative technology for leak location and sealing, has achieved another important success using its patented Platelet Technology

 

Technology - Overview : Beacon Power Corporation

Bruce Logan Research - Microbial Fuel Cells

Curbs to ship pollution would stoke global warming, study says | Reuters

OSLO (Reuters) - Shipping is slowing climate change by spewing out sunlight-dimming pollution but a clean-up needed to safeguard human health will stoke global warming, experts said Friday.So far shipping

In Small Steps, New Approaches to Managing Disaster - NYTimes.com

Organizations like Containers to Clinics and D-Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are involving local people in developing nations in projects that include housing, energy, water, waste treatment and health care.

 

Remarkable Creatures - For Some Animals, Built-In Antifreeze Beats a Winter Coat - NYTimes.com

Many insects, and other animals, defend themselves against direct exposure to subfreezing temperatures through biochemical ingenuity.

 

A solid case of entanglement

Physicists have finally managed to demonstrate quantum entanglement of spatially separated electrons in solid state circuitry.

 

RCA's Airenergy charger converts WiFi energy to electricity
(PhysOrg.com) -- Airenergy is a gadget that can harvest free electricity from WiFi signals such as those from a wireless Internet connection, apparently with enough efficiency to make it practical for recharging devices such as mobile phones.

 

Unusual snail shell could be a model for better armor

(PhysOrg.com) -- New insights about a tiny snail that lives on the ocean floor could help scientists design better armor for soldiers and vehicles, according to MIT researchers.

 

Tillson Harrison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arctic permafrost leaking methane at record levels, figures show | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame

 

Let Sleeping Babies Lie - Chilly Temps Build Tough Nordic Tots : TreeHugger

A gaggle of baby strollers in suburban Iceland. Scandinavia, as much of the East Coast and Northern Europe, has experienced an especially cold and snow-filled winter. Yet chilly temperatures and massive snow won't stop Scandinavian and Icelandic moms from

 

Low-tech Magazine: Wood gas vehicles: firewood in the fuel tank

During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood. Wood gas cars (also known as producer gas cars) are a not-so-elegant but surprisingly efficient and ecological alternative to their petrol (gasoline) cousins,...

 

More Men Marrying Wealthier Women - NYTimes.com
Men 30 to 44 years old are increasingly likely to marry women with more education and income than they have.

 

Ancient Egypt’s Toxic Makeup Fought Infection, Report Says - NYTimes.com

The elaborate eye makeup worn by ancient Egyptians served as a toxin that killed bacteria and helped prevent infections, according to a new report.

 

Rice responsible for Asians' alcohol flush reaction

The mutation responsible for the alcohol flush reaction, an unpleasant response to alcohol that is relatively common in people of Asian descent, may have occurred following the domestication of rice. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology traced the history of the version ...

 

New visible light photocatalyst kills bacteria, even after light turned off

In the battle against bacteria, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a powerful new weapon - an enhanced photocatalytic disinfection process that uses visible light to destroy harmful bacteria and viruses, even in the dark.

 

Chimps dance in the face of fire

(PhysOrg.com) -- Unusual behaviors have been observed in wild chimpanzees in West Africa in the face of grass fires. The chimps did not panic or flee, and some made ritualistic displays that suggest they understand fire and do not fear it, and they may even be able to control it. Since chimpanzees are ...

 

Top 15 chemical additives in your food

We don't just want our food to taste good these days: It also has to look good. As a result, food producers use any of 14,000 laboratory-made additives to make our food appear fresher, more attractive or last longer on the shelf.

 

Undersea Internet Cables Could Detect Electromagnetic Tsunami Signals | Wired Science | Wired.com
Tsunamis may be detectable with underwater fiber-optic cables, according to a new detailed model of the electrical fields the moving water generates. The

 

200 CREATIVE AND INTERESTING INFOGRAPHICS [PICS]

Pulse 2.0 is a technology-focused news blog that covers all aspects of Web 2.0, including investments and acquisitions. Pulse 2.0 is available via daily RSS.

 

CBC News - Technology & Science - European males descend from Mideast farmers: study [via claudio]

Most men in Europe are descendants of the first farmers who migrated from the Middle East 10,000 years ago, say researchers examining the lineage of the Y chromosome.

 

Researchers take early step towards devising new antibiotics

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have made the first step towards creating a new class of antibiotics in a study published last night in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

Browse Documentaries | Top Documentary Films

Watch mind provoking, eyeopening, educational, controversial, free, streaming, full documentary films and movies. Find the most popular, bestselling documentaries.

 

Lower Biodiversity Means Fewer Bees - Restricted Diet Weakens Their Immune System : TreeHugger
photo: John via flickr. Another twist in the colony collapse disorder saga, courtesy the BBC. It's been known for a couple years that bee and wildflower declines tracked one another, but now researchers from France's National Institute for Agricultural

 

Technology Review: A Synchronous Clock Made of Bacteria

Such microorganisms might make environmental sensors or drug delivery systems.

 

For Some, a Warm Home Is Not a Priority - NYTimes.com

For some, living in a home without heat is the tradeoff for an atmospheric space.

 

New York Times to Charge Nonsubscribers For Unlimited Use of Its Site - NYTimes.com

Starting in early 2011, nonsubscribers who visit NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for access.

 

USF Study Shows First Direct Evidence of Ocean Acidification

(PhysOrg.com) -- Seawater in a vast and deep section of the northeastern Pacific Ocean shows signs of increased acidity brought on by manmade carbon dioxide in the atmosphere -- a phenomenon that carries with it far-reaching ecological effects -- reports a team of researchers led by a University of ...

 

Older brains make good use of 'useless' information

A new study has found promising evidence that the older brain's weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information may actually give aging adults a memory advantage over their younger counterparts.

 

Aerobic exercise grows brain cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- Aerobic exercises such as running or jogging have long been known to be good for the health, but now new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has shown that it also stimulates the growth of new brain cells and improves the memory and ability ...

 

'Coffee Talk' Disappearing In Native New Yorkers

In the early 1990s, comedian Mike Myers regularly dressed up in a giant wig, gaudy fake nails and gigantic sunglasses to become Linda Richman -- a stereotypical New Yorker who had fits of feeling 'verklempt' and thought that Barbara Streisand's voice was 'like buttah.'

 

YouTube - Miracles of Moving Heavy Objects in the Past Revealed

Enjoy the techniques used by our forefathers.

 

Forget LEED and Energy Star, the Real Green Building Standard is Passivhaus (Slideshow) : TreeHugger

There are a lot of architects using passive design, but when it comes to building a truly green, healthy house, there is nothing on earth like the Passivhaus. Through careful design, quality windows and a huge amount of insulation,

 

Observatory - Coyote Tobacco Plant Switches Pollinators When Caterpillars Strike - NYTimes.com

A plant defends itself by shifting the time of its flowering, scientists found.

 

Language structure is partly determined by social structure, says psychology study

Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Memphis have released a new study on linguistic evolution that challenges the prominent hypothesis for why languages differ throughout the world.

 

Slime design mimics Tokyo's rail system
What could human engineers possibly learn from the lowly slime mold? Reliable, cost-efficient network construction, apparently: a recent experiment suggests that Physarum polycephalum, a gelatinous fungus-like mold, might actually lead the way to improved technological systems, such as more robust computer ...