Sci/Tech
City: London Background: This is the second tallest building in the City of London. Opened in 2004, it is commonly referred to as the Gherkin, after the cucumber-like fruit. Its suggestive shape also earned it the nickname "Towering Innuendo."
Strange Buildings and Architecture - Guggenheim, Habitat 67 and Other Strange Buildings
(Also see: "Naps Clear Brain's Inbox, Improve Learning." )
Dreams Make You Smarter, More Creative, Studies Suggest
- Scientists have discovered the world's oldest known animal fossils, dating to 650 million years ago. - The fossils, likely sponges, push back the fossil record for animals by about 70 million years. - The sponges existed before, and probably after, a severe "Snowball Earth" event that covered much of the globe in ice.
Oldest Animal Life on Earth Found?
If we ever decide to colonize Mars, it might be fairly simple to grow crops in that red soil, according to a new study . Mars’ reduced gravity could let us use less water and fertilizer than we do on Earth. Visions of future space farms usually involve greenery thriving inside hydroponic systems, but as bio-geo researchers Federico Maggia and Céline Pallud note, using old-fashioned soil has plenty of advantages.
Martian Environment Is Ideally Suited For Crop Farming, Study Says
AMPERE, The First System for Tracking Space Weather in Real Time, Goes Live
The Earth's Magnetic Weather AMPERE
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Leonardo da Vinci | Physics & Math
1 Leonardo was the love child of Caterina, a peasant, and Ser Piero, a lawyer and landlord. He was homeschooled and lacked a formal education in Greek and Latin. 2 He was an accomplished lyre player. When he was first presented at the Milanese court, it was as a musician, not an artist or inventor. 3 Leonardo narrowly beat a sodomy rap—possibly involving one of his male models—brought against him by Florentine officials. 4 Mona Lisa theory #1: Her smile means she was secretly pregnant.
1 The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis , a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. 2 Never say die: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a Star Trek favorite). 3 No American has died of old age since 1951. 4 That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates. 5 The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen.
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Death | Aging
1. Child-safety seat manufacturers are starting to make bigger models after a recent study showed that over 250,000 U.S. children age 6 and under are too fat to use them. 2. According to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, nearly half the 4,000 people responding to an online survey about obesity said they would give up a year of their life rather than be fat. 3.
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Obesity | Obesity
1 Engineers with the U.S. Olympic Committee keep improving timing and measurement technology. Light beams now record racers’ times to within a thousandth of a second.
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sports Technology | Gadgets
1 The average American eats 61 pounds of refined sugar each year, including 25 pounds of candy. Halloween accounts for at least two pounds of that. 2 Trick: Sugar may give you wrinkles via a process called glycation, in which excess blood sugar binds to collagen in the skin, making it less elastic. 3 Or treat: Cutting back on sugar may help your skin retain its flexibility. So actually, no treats. 4 People in India have been crystallizing cane sugar for at least 2,000 years.