Solar Powered Beach Umbrella

This is one of the neatest things I found.
A solar powered beach umbrella.
Go to the beach with your umbrella bring a radio, ipod, ebook or whatever else and just plug it in.

Solar Powered Beach Umbrella

Beer Launcher: Follow-Up

I had a comment for the beer launcher(Cool Gadgets) blog to follow up with other cool beer relate videos. So here are some of my favorite.

Hope you like them.
The Beer-Launching Refrigerator - The guy who created the beer launcher on the David Letterman Show.

HOWTO: Open A Beer Bottle With A Piece Of Paper


Beer Makes Women Beautiful

Beer Pong Masters


Mythbusters Science plus Beer equals good

100 % Beer!! Commercial- I guess sports is sometimes more important


Educational Beer Video

Memory Can Be Selectively Wiped Out

At least that is what a team of American and French Scientists claim.
The test subjects were rats and the test was simple.

But, it does show a correlation if not a causation between the drug given to the rats and there behavior after hearing a sound which they previously associated with an electric shock.

This is a good start but different types of memories should be tested.
It might be just that this drug can selectively wipe out audial memory. Let's see what happens when trying to selectively wipe out visual or another sensory memory or a combination of other memories.

My feeling is that the more senses you have that contribute to a specific memory the harder it is to selectively wipe out.

Article on the experiment

Semi-Identical Twins

Somewhere, between identical and fraternal twins lies semi-identical twins.
Identical twins share the same egg and sperm cell. Fraternal twins don't share the same egg or sperm cell but rather are born at the same time. Semi-fraternal twins share the same egg cell but a different sperm cell.

Wow, this is so fascinating. I wonder how many people think they are identical or fraternal twins but might be semi-fraternal twins.

Researcher's recently discovered this.

Semi-Fraternal Twins Discovered

Healthy Teeth and Gums Means a Healthy You

According to certain studies there is a correlation between oral health and overall health.

Oral health effects the cardiovascular system (including the heart), diabetes and maybe the health of unborn babies. The link has not been well established with the health of unborn babies.

It is interesting how cleaning your teeth can reduce inflammation throughout the body. I have read from credible sources that westerners especially Americans mostly suffer from diseases linked with inflammation. So anything that can be done to decrease it seems worth it to me.

So grab that brush and clean those pearly whites.

Oral Health

From Radioacitve Waste to Energy

An Israeli company is using plasma gasification melting technology (PGM) (note: like I know what that means) to turn low-level radioactive waste, garbage into clean-energy and a lava-like glass looking thing (that can be used in construction and roads).

This sounds very nice. The system was created by a joint effort between Russian and Israeli universities. Now think about the potential that exists if people work together not against each other.

Oh yeah, the system is currently working in Israel and it had the first reactor built as a proof of concept. Now they are having one built in Ukraine and are partnering up with an American company.

Garbage-Energy 1

Garbage-Energy 2

Fly instead of Drive?

NASA’s PAV (Personal Air Vehicle) competition is funded with $2,000,000 in cash prizes.

Its goal, simple, to stimulate innovation and progress in PAV's.
Reason, NASA believes that in the not to distant future close to half of all miles traveled in the USA will be in PAV's. How exciting!!!

Imagine that, it sounds great and all. I am all for it. But this will just magnify the statistics in motor vehicle accidents and now no one will be safe from a drunk pilot, not even in the comfort of your own home.

But I think we are some time away from stepping in the family plane parked in the backyard.

PAV

Speed Reading, Yeah Right

Several studies were published at the "Journal of Vision" this month that claim speed reading is impossible.

There is a biological limit on the speed of your reading. This limit is largely impacted on your visual span.

The article in Livescience.com brings up the fact that people with eye conditions that restrict the visual span also decreases the reading speed.

It seems like one's visual span and speed of reading is positively correlated. Maybe, if someone had mutation that allowed him or her an increased visual span they would be able to speed read. Just a thought.

Speed Reading

Listen to Mozart, Become a Genius

Not quite, but a scientific experiment showed that musicians brainstem is altered.

It was thought that the brainstem was unchangeable and not involved in complex processes. But, that all changed after an experiment that proved the brain stem actually can become altered and rewired.

These experiment leads to a whole class of questions related to how and why the brainstem is able to change.

I wonder if listening to music with high degree of complexity can improve intelligence by rewiring the cerebral cortex?

I will put on some Mozart now and lets see how long it will take me to become a genius. :)

Musical Brainstem

Contour Crafting

A professor in California has created automated home building.
It works like your regular computer printer but in 3-D and instead of ink is uses cement.
Wow what a great idea!!


The website claims a 2,000 sq ft home can be built in a 24 hr period.
This has many application some of which include building homes for emergency, low-income, commercial housing and building habitats on other planets.

To read more about this go to Contour Crafting