Technology
Regenerated kidneys filter urine!
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on April 15, 2013 Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) have successfully regenerated kidneys that were unsuitable for transplantation. They stripped the tissue of all native cells, then added donor stem cells to the scaffolding that was left behind. The re-animated kidneys successfully created urine after being transplanted into rats! The hope is to apply this technique to humans…
Interview with Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ
Posted by John Dupuis on April 14, 2013 Welcome to the most recent installment in my very occasional series of interviews with people in the publishing/science blogging/computing communities. The latest is with Peter Binfield and Jason Hoyt of PeerJ. PeerJ is a new startup in the scientific publishing industry, using a rather unique business model whereby authors will be able to pay one…
Weekend Diversion: Stop-Motion Post-Its!
Posted by Ethan on April 13, 2013 
“There is an energy with stop-motion that you can’t even describe. It’s got to do with giving things life… to give life to something that doesn’t have it is cool, and even more so in three dimensions, because, at least for me, it feels even more real.” -Tim Burton Of course we always like to…
AskScience Live a Success! (I think) #askscilive
Posted by Kevin Bonham on April 12, 2013 Ever wondered if we could identify someone by their breath? How fast you can propel a rocket using fusion power? If you can shoot at a plane with lasers and cause the pilot to burst into flame? Watch AskScience Live! Despite some technical hurdles with the G+ event, I’d say it went well last night.…
Why your friends’ privacy settings matter more than yours
Posted by Frank Swain on April 11, 2013 In the age of life-casting offered by Google Glass, you’ll need to pick your friends wisely. As the first of Google’s goggles are dispatched, we’re starting to see serious conversations arise about the implications of always-on feeds beaming every moment onto the cloud. I’ve seen a few articles expressing alarm at the idea we’ll be…
Jell-O Brains
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on April 10, 2013 I have to admit I love the science section of The New York Times. The topic today: Dr. Karl Deisseroth and colleagues at Stanford University have developed a technique called CLARITY that uses hydrogel to make the brain look like it is made of Jell-O. They have successfully applied this technique to a whole mouse brain as well as part of…
The Bottleneck Years by H. E. Taylor – Chapter 35
Posted by coby on April 10, 2013 The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 34 Table of Contents Chapter 36 Chapter 35 Prometheus, March 8, 2056 To be honest, the Group 2 debacle was more of a public relations disaster than an ecological one. The damage was dramatic, but relatively restricted. Within 48 hours someone leaked the hazmat team video on the…
The Cult of Lego
Posted by Greg Laden on April 8, 2013 
The Cult of Lego is a thing … a cult … a past time, a cultural phenomenon. But it is also a book called, as you might guess, The Cult of LEGO. The book is written by John Baichtal, of Make Magazine and Wired GeekDad blog and Joe Meno, the founder of Brick Journal. The…
How to Turn $10 into $5,000 in Less Than One Month!
Posted by Jeff on April 6, 2013 It is a feeling of unbelievable joy. We have all felt it, at one time or another. For me, it is at its most palpable in a concert or a sports event with tens of thousands of fans. Initially, everyone is milling about, chatting, texting, a thousand unconnected specks. Then there’s a moment capturing everyone’s…
The Bottleneck Years by H. E. Taylor – Chapter 34
Posted by coby on April 4, 2013 The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 33 Table of Contents Chapter 35 Chapter 34 Group 2 Disaster, February 17, 2056 At the next UNGETF conference, we were given an interim report on Corella Corporation activities on behalf of Group 2. They were using balloons to hoist tons of sulphur pellets for release in the…
