jtoney
Posts by this author
March 17, 2012
Don't get me wrong. I love asian takeout food. Perhaps a bit too much. Here's some really useful advice to avoid common and not so common pitfalls.
Avoid "General Tso's" anything.
Edamame is great, but always asked for steamed.
"Lobster sauce" is a good choice, at about 50 calories per quarter…
March 13, 2012
This is a 285 micrometer racecar, printed at the Vienna University of Technology. Credit: Vienna University of Technology
Imagine a car small enough for a dust mite. Crazy, right?
Well, with new printing technology, this just might be possible.
The 3D printer uses a liquid resin, which is…
March 12, 2012
You might ask yourself, "What in the world is this guy in the white lab coat talking about?"
Something potentially very cool, and possibly beautiful - although mostly fictional -, but it is lost in translation. This is a startling example of why we as scientists must be better communicators!…
March 10, 2012
Could ask.com provide a snapshot of our collective inquiring minds?
Here's a sample of this evening's "snapshot." What does it say about us?
The "suggestions," based simply on typing "I want" or "why" reveal an interesting algorithm - can any computer scientists comment? I do wonder who is…
March 10, 2012
"I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know."
--Thomas Jefferson, 1819
Thomas Jefferson's audacious act of cutting and pasting passages from various translations of the New Testament has always fascinated me. Why did he do it?
From The Smithsonian Museum of American History: {with my emphasis…
March 9, 2012
Alcoholic Anonymous founder Bill Wilson put forth the controversial idea of using LSD, yes, LSD to reduce alcohol abuse. Is there any scientific evidence for this?
Published today in the Journal of Psycholpharmacology, researchers took a careful look at a wide range of studies ("meta-analysis")…
March 7, 2012
Here is a fascinating insight into President Obama as a young law student at Harvard, in 1991.
Barack Obama in a 1990 video at Harvard protests in favor of the cause of Professor Derek Bell and the hiring of more minority faculty members.
March 5, 2012
Ads of the World.
Can business cards evoke creativity, spark interest? Standard business cards seem outdated, dull, uninspiring. Liberate your shoelaces, your flexagons!
Consider shoelace business cards for Adidas employees, a highly creative approach to grabbing attention, and importantly,…
March 3, 2012
This undersea video looks like science fiction showing an icy finger of death killing everything in its path, but is a stunning portrayal of freezing point depression - with narrative by the inimitable Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" fame on NBC.
A brinicle, or brine icicle, plunges toward the…
February 29, 2012
"Air guitar" has taken on almost cult status in some circles. How about "couch guitar"?
This video is a clever application of robots, engineering and music.
From the University of Pennsylvania:
Quadrotors designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania perform the James Bond Theme by…
February 26, 2012
Is that Jesus looking into a mirror? A recent study shows that Christian conservatives and liberals reflect themselves upon the image of Jesus, and it's not an ordinary mirror.
Below is an excerpt from their Abstract:
The present study explores the dramatic projection of one's own views onto…
February 24, 2012
(Not Really) the Last Word on DNA from Virginia Hughes on Vimeo.
Science writer Virginia Hughes brilliantly explains how DNA is packed into our cells using animation.
February 23, 2012
Can global warming (weirding) lead to smaller mammals?
This, hot off the press in tomorrow's issue of Science:
Body size plays a critical role in mammalian ecology and physiology. Previous research has shown that many mammals became smaller during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), but…
February 23, 2012
To me, Ndugu, the little Tanzanian boy, embodies potential. Now he would be a teenager. What ever happened to Ndugu?
He is a fictional character in the wonderful film "About Schmidt," the little boy that Jack Nicholson portraying Warren Schmidt sponsors, sending him checks and his rambling but…
February 21, 2012
Brookesia micra sp. n. from Nosy Hara, northern Madagascar.
Imagine a supercomputer suitable for this cute little guy, the recently discovered Brookesia micra.
Developing computers and transistors at smaller and smaller scales is happening at a stunning rate. The most recent discovery, just…
February 20, 2012
Why has our life expectancy increased so much since the American Revolution?
According to Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: "Because God says they have rights."
What about the role of sanitation, nutrition, education, medicine?
This is an example of religious faith clashing with reason, with…
February 19, 2012
Ice 9 by toastforbrekkie.
The idea of Ice-9, although fictional, has always fascinated me. Its properties are so powerful, so influential, that one "seed crystal" can direct its entire surroundings, freezing oceans. A recent discovery of one component of the cell wall of bacterium reminded me of…
February 15, 2012
This is a feel good story of the day - the world's first human to humanoid robot handshake, in space! The robot even sent out a tweet.
From The New York Times:
The commander of the International Space Station, Daniel Burbank, shook hands Wednesday with Robonaut. It's the first handshake ever…
February 13, 2012
Imagine the killer from the infamous "Headless Man Found in Topless Bar" murder was convicted using a photograph of the face of the victim, with reliability rivaling that of DNA analysis. Impossible?
With a skull found, how can we determine to whom it belonged?
A research group at the University…
February 11, 2012
Photo source.
Such sad news today - Whitney Houston died at the young age of 48. I have always enjoyed, and admired, her soaring soulful voice. What will her legacy be?
Besides being a highly gifted artist, she has established a lasting legacy - a school devoted to the arts, just a few miles…
February 9, 2012
MetLife Stadium: NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins, Dec. 18, 2011 (my own photo.)
This may be a sign of football withdrawal syndrome, but the day after the NY Giants won the Super Bowl I was searching for 2012 season tickets (more on that later.) I was reminiscing about last December when I took…
February 6, 2012
NY Giants net wins 2011 season (source.)
Everybody loves an underdog winning the day.
Congratulations to this year's Super Bowl Champions! Will the US economy follow suit?
Source: BarackObama.com
February 4, 2012
Sources: PetaPixel and Photo Vatika (Sony India)
No, I'm not the first to discovery this extraordinary brain trick. I did want to share this, though, as an example of how our brain processes and stores images. Give it a try - amazing!
Sony India Interesting Ad : stare at the colored dots on…
February 2, 2012
SpongeBob, that iconic, impossible character living in a pineapple under the sea. You've been living a lie, you know?
Here it is. The jig is up, so to speak.
Imagine this. An iconic figure revealed to be a lie. No, it's not the first time. When I was a boy, it was Dino the dinosaur from "The…
February 1, 2012
Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph shows splenic tissue from a monkey with inhalational anthrax; featured are rod-shaped bacilli (yellow) and an erythrocyte (red)Credit: Arthur Friedlander
A university professor has allegedly mailed anthrax to the Pakistani prime minister's office in…
January 29, 2012
Diffusion MRI Tractography in the brain white matter.
Some drugs work well because they are designed to hit a single, well understood target. Consider penicillin.
In a simplified sense, penicillin destroys a single enzyme that bacteria need to divide and to infect you, thereby killing the harmful…
January 28, 2012
Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com
I've been following use of social media in freedom of speech throughout the Arab Spring...but something is going on in Oakland, California that deserves some attention.
About the live feed:
Global Revolution brings you live stream…
January 28, 2012
OpenYale courses.
Looking for free, open source learning materials about any subject, from top experts in the world? I used to think that MIT's OpenCourseWare and Yale's OpenYale courses were a "one stop shopping" source for this, until I came across this stunning, worldwide, multi-lingual…
January 26, 2012
Photo AP.
The release of Gov. Mitt Romney's tax returns on Tuesday highlights the Presidential candidate's wealth and the low 14% tax rate that investors enjoy, far less than the 25-35% tax rate that the average American pays for wages.
Yes, Gov. Romney's annual earnings of about $20 million…
January 25, 2012
Down Syndrome's Dolls.
One of this year's top finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search is a High School student studying self image of children with Down's Syndrome, using dolls.
Such creativity gives me hope for our next generation of scientists. This competition has launched many careers,…