smart-drugs Artificial blood vessels created on a 3D printer 16 September 2011Last updated at 11:49 By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News Artificial blood vessels could help those in urgent need of an organ transplant Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs. Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels. A team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has solved that problem using 3D printing and a technique called multiphoton polymerisation. The findings will be shown at the Biotechnica Fair in Germany in October. Out of thousands of patients in desperate need of an organ transplant there are inevitably some who do not get it in time. In Germany, for instance, more than 11,000 people have been put on an organ transplant waiting list in 2011 alone. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote End QuoteDr Gunter TovarFraunhofer Institute, Germany Elastic biomaterials
Pet Rat Information Sheet - all you need for happy healthy pet rats Back to the Blackstaff Rats homepage PetRat.Info Formerly the Pet Rat Information Sheet Last updated 31 January 2007 COPYRIGHT 1996-2007 A. **Please note that this document is copyright and is intended for publication. The Pet Rat Information Sheet is intended as commonsense advice for owners of domestic rats (Rattus norvegicus). Unfortunately the authors cannot answer individual queries. Last updated 31st January 2007 Table of Contents Introduction Rats as Pets Housing Food Grooming Health Problems Breeding Where to find out more: Introduction The purpose of this leaflet is to help readers keep healthy, happy pet rats. Rats as Pets Rats are clean, intelligent, affectionate animals which bond to their human companions in much the same way that dogs do, and with the right care should provide a comparable level of companionship. Rats become very attached to their owners, make playful, sensitive pets, and can be taught to come by name and learn a variety of tricks. © A. Where to get pet rats Rat Rescue
Infographic: A History of Facebook Failures | Share on LinkedIn 5 Mind Blowing Ways Your Memory Plays Tricks On You Everybody will tell you that memory can't be trusted. When they say that, of course, what they mean is other people's memories can't be trusted. We don't like to think that everything we know about the world is based on a deeply flawed and illogical storage system. We're not talking about being bad at matching faces with names here. Other People Can Manipulate Your Memory With Repetition There was quite a stir recently when it turned out that a growing number of people believe the President of the USA is a Muslim. But according to the Pew Research Center, for almost 20% of the people they polled, those memories have been trumped by the mere act of hearing commentators assert that Obama is a Muslim, over and over and over. Obama, posing with a statue of the famed Imam Ali bin Superman. You can laugh at them all you want, but that technique works on all of us, to various degrees. They call it the "Illusion of Truth" effect. "We will never regret any of these decisions." Speaking of which...
IBM Chip ‘Senses’ Events to React Like Brain International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has developed a computer chip inspired by the human brain that may predict tsunamis and highlight risks in financial markets. The technology, called cognitive computing, is programmed to recognize patterns, make predictions and learn from mistakes, human-like capabilities not possible using today’s best computers. It’s a sharp departure from traditional chip design concepts, IBM said in a statement today. Systems built with the new chip can synthesize events currently occurring and make decisions in real time, the Armonk, New York-based company said. “We’re inventing a new system, changing the game,” Dharmendra Modha, the project’s leader, said in an interview. While current computers handle commands individually on a linear if/then basis, Modha said machines equipped with the new chips will “rewire themselves on the fly.” Reacting to Surroundings Potential Uses “The impact of this is inevitable, but the timing is unpredictable,” Modha said.
Pet Rats & Mice - General Care By Karen Robbins Rats and mice in the wild can be one of the worst pests for mankind, notwithstanding their indispensable part within the ecosystem. Domestic rats and mice, on the other hand, contribute a great deal to the advancement of research for the benefit of man. Domestic rats and mice are not the same as their wild counterparts, having been domesticated for over 100 years. As urban sprawl continues to limit the necessary space needed to keep dogs and cats, rats and mice as pets are gradually emerging as an ideal substitute. Domesticated rats make excellent pets for children and adults alike. Once a person understands that rats and mice bite rarely and then out of fear and not anger, and learns how easy it is to handle and care for them, master and pet are about to begin a most delightful relationship. Rats and mice are rodents belonging to the gnawing family. There is no preference to sex in rats as to one being a better companion to you than the other. mature. Back to top
Gary Morgenthaler Explains Exactly How Siri Will Eat Google’s Lunch The iPhone 4S is on the streets, and accompanying it is a helpful young virtual assistant named Siri. You’ve probably heard something about Siri by this point, as tech blogs and the media writ large, have been yammering about Siri’s technology at full blast. Since the beginning, and even more so since Siri was acquired by Apple in 2010, there’s been a lot of excitement about voice recognition technology. This hit fever pitch with Siri’s native launch on the 4S. In his letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt talks quite a bit about Siri and how it represents “an entirely new approach to search technology” — one that is a “significant development”. So, we thought there was no better way to get the lowdown on Schmidt’s statement to the Senate Subcommittee and the future of the feisty young virtual assistant than by talking to one of the people who played an integral role in Siri’s early life.
Shepard-Risset Glissando What you’ll be hearing is a fluid audio loop that sounds as thought it is getting lower and lower—like a balloon slowly deflating but never becoming flat. How It Works If you’re anything like HighLab, you too were totally amazed by the Shepard Tone. The Shepard-Risset Glissando is a constantly descending note-by-note configuration of the Shepard Tones woven into a continuous, fluid signal. Evolution machine: Genetic engineering on fast forward - life - 27 June 2011 Read full article Continue reading page |1|2|3|4 Automated genetic tinkering is just the start – this machine could be used to rewrite the language of life and create new species of humans IT IS a strange combination of clumsiness and beauty. Say hello to the evolution machine. These days everything from your food and clothes to the medicines you take may well come from genetically modified plants or bacteria. Grand ambitions Yet changing even a handful of genes takes huge amounts of time and money. The task is so difficult and time-consuming because biological systems are so complex. Many biologists think the answer is to try to eliminate the guesswork. The basic idea is hardly original; various forms of directed evolution are already used to design things as diverse as proteins and boats. Of course, there are already plenty of ways to generate mutations in cells, from zapping them with radiation to exposing them to dangerous chemicals. New Scientist Not just a website! More from the web
Swirled Sugar Cookies If you haven’t figured it out yet, I use my basic sugar cookie recipe to make all sorts of treats. From frosted, to tea infused to swirled, it’s a great recipe to have on hand and modify to suit your needs. Follow along for a quick tutorial on making these colourful swirled cookies using this sugar cookie recipe for the dough (and baking instructions), sure to please the kids in your life, big and small! Knead food colouring into one of the parts of dough. I made one half deep blue and left the other half as is. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball of dough separately to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a pastry brush, apply a little water to the darker layer of dough. Trim the edges so you end up with a neat and tidy rectangle. Spill out some sprinkles onto the counter, brush the outside of the dough ‘log’ with a bit more water and roll it in the sprinkles. Update, try these four layer swirl cookies for Christmas!
Infographic: How, When & Where People Share Content Today being Wednesday, the odds are better than any other day you’ll share this post with someone else. Or so say the stats from social sharing service AddThis, one of several it compiled into an infographic. Other interesting stats? People tend to share the most around 9:30 Eastern Time (so we cunningly timed this post for just before that peak moment),75% of clicks on a share will happen within the first day that the content is sharedMost users click within 2 minutes of a shareCopy-and-paste to share can be used up to 10 times more than those social sharing buttons out there More from the infographic: Want the infographic for yourself? The full-size files were provided through the Clearspring Flickr account here (Clearspring owns AddThis). Most Shared In 2011 AddThis also told us that among the most shared content in 2011 from its tracking were: Social Sharing “Half-Life” & More Information Related Topics: Channel: Social | Infographics | Social Media Marketing | Stats: General
13 Most Important Emotional Triggers for Marketers | 60 Second Marketer | Tips, Tools and Techniques for Marketers Around the Globe Not too long ago, a friend of mine named Ken Robbins who runs Response Mine Interactive told me there are only three things people are interested in paying money for — Love, Weight Loss and Getting Rich. He was simplifying things a bit. After all, Ken’s company sells plenty of things that don’t have to do with love, weight loss or getting rich. "Love" is one of the 13 most important emotional triggers for marketers. How can you tap into human instincts and make a lot of money? It’s simple, really. Actually, it’s not all that simple. The starting point is to understand what motivates people. Here’s a list of the 13 most important emotional triggers for humans. Here goes: • Sex • Greed • Flattery • Fear • Self-improvement • Love • Better health • Weight loss • Longevity • Exclusivity • Fame • Uncertainty • Doubt Putting the 13 Emotional Triggers to Use How can you use these for your own marketing purposes?