Reader's Digest - March 2010

 

Top 10 Photos of the Week

A few words of advice. Always keep skunks, bankers and lawyers at a distance. Forgive your enemies, it messes up their heads. Don’t judge folks by their relatives. And most importantly, life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

Zero Gravity Treadmill

Everyone knows you don’t need a treadmill in space, right? You just find a free section of the cylindrical wall of your spaceship and run around that, 2001-style.  But when you get back to Earth, you need to exercise your atrophied muscles and get the blood pumping again. But how do you stand up on those weak and skinny legs? An anti-gravity treadmill, that’s how. And it isn’t just astronauts that can’t bear their own weight: injured athletes and accident victims also need to regain strength slowly. The answer is the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill M310, a newer, cheaper version of the company’s $70,000 machines.

Man With ‘World’s Longest Hair’ Dies In Vietnam

Tran Van Hay is thought to have had hair up to 6.8 metres long, although it had never been officially measured for a record attempt. It stretched in a thick, matted cord around his body, resembling a massive furry boa constrictor.

Internet Freedom in Jeopardy After Google Ruling

Three(3) Google executives were convicted on Wednesday of violating privacy laws by allowing disturbing footage of a disabled Italian boy being bullied to be posted on the internet.  The ruling was the first of its kind in history and was condemned by critics as “the biggest threat to internet freedom we have seen”.

Women Are Smarter Than Men, Says Research

Women are cleverer than men, according to a recent report.  The conclusion was drawn following a five month online contest between the sexes conducted in nine languages and based on the popular board game Trivial Pursuit.

Crazy Stuff

It is the hours we spend laughing at ourselves that give us a sense as to why the whole world is also laughing at us. We can’t all be idiots. Well, maybe we can, but still, we can’t all be idiots.

13 Story Building In China Toppled Over Almost Intact

In June of 2009 a truly bizarre news story surfaced. A nearly finished, newly constructed building in Shanghai toppled over, killing one worker. As can be seen in the photos, the 13-story apartment building collapsed with just enough room to escape what would have been a far more destructive domino effect involving other structures in the 11-building complex.

Mouse With Human Liver

How do you study-and try to cure in the laboratory-an infection that only humans can get? A team led by Salk Institute researchers does it by generating a mouse with an almost completely human liver. This “humanized” mouse is susceptible to human liver infections and responds to human drug treatments, providing a new way to test novel therapies for debilitating human liver diseases and other diseases with liver involvement such as malaria.

Crazy Stuff

We are now dead center in the middle of photo season. Some think it is summer, others think it is vacation time, but more people dig out their cameras and start snapping more insanely ridiculous and boring photos now than at any other time of the year.

Amazing Photo of Asian Weaver Ant Wins 1st Prize

An incredible image of a tiny ant carrying 100 times its own body weight, while hanging upside down from a glass-like surface, has won first prize in a national science photo competition.  The amazing picture was snapped by scientists at Cambridge University by a team in the department of zoology investigating the extraordinary sticky feet of ants and other insects.

19 Accidental Discoveries That Changed The World

The “ability to make unexpected discoveries by accident” the serendipity effect.To demonstrate the importance of serendipity, we’ve put together a list of 19 examples of unintentional discoveries that too often we find ourselves taking for granted. In no particular order..

Top 10 Photos of the Week

If wrinkles were the basis of wisdom, more people would eat raisins. If power stemmed from the way people dress, then Hollywood would have zero clout. And if human energy could be extracted from little children and bottled for later use, most coffee shops would go out of business. Here are this weeks top 10 photos.

18 of the World’s Strangest Airports

Engineers tasked with building an airport are faced with countless challenges: The ideal location needs ample space, endless flat ground, favorable winds and great visibility. But spots in the real world are rarely ideal, and engineers are forced to work with what they have, making sure that the end product is the safest possible structure for pilots. A survey of airports around the world turns up a mixed bag, ranging from dangerous and rugged landing strips to mega-size facilities that operate like small cities. Here, PM explores the world’s most remarkableairports and why they stand out.

Brain Actively Erases Memories to Create Space for New Information

Scientists believe the breakthrough in understanding how short-term memories are lost solve the mystery of how they are created in the first place.  Scientists have previously speculated that they “drop out” to make room for new ones, but the theory has been difficult to prove.

Great White Sharks Now One of the Most Endangered Creatures on Earth

They are known as one of the deadliest creatures on Earth.  But according to a shocking new study, great white sharks are also one of the most endangered.
 Wildlife experts say there are now fewer than 3,500 great whites left in the oceans, making them rarer than tigers.

NASA Reveals Origin of Key Cosmic Explosions

New findings from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided a major advance in understanding a type of supernova critical for studying the dark energy that astronomers think pervades the universe. The results show mergers of two dense stellar remnants are the likely cause of many of the supernovae that have been used to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe.

Crazy Stuff

It has indeed been a normal week. If fact, its been so normal that it borders on the abnormal. But a normal week for us here at the Impact Lab is far from what others consider normal. So maybe normal is a relative term. And I’m pretty sure it only applies to your relatives, not mine.

What Happens To Our Online Identity After We Die?

In her mid-50s, the mother of one died suddenly, and her family was left to notify the people she knew about her passing.  Many of those friends, however, had stayed in touch with the woman only via Facebook, the popular Internet social-networking website. As a result, most were unknown to the family.

Crazy Stuff

The next time you smile, remember what you’re smiling about. Is is from something that you witnessed visually? It it from an idea that sparked suddenly in your mind? Or is it from combination of visual, auditory, and intellectual experiences. What you will soon realize is that all the joy you experience as a resukt of humor originates from a small troll living inside your body close to your spleen. So far scientists haven’t taken trolls seriously, but reseachers have recently found that people with an above average troll will live on average 10-15 years longer. Those with bad trolls should seriously consider troll replacement surgery.

9 Muppets Ousted From Sesame Street

In 40 seasons, Sesame Street has featured over 1,000 characters. Although we’ll always have mainstays like Big Bird, Elmo, Bert and Ernie, many Muppets have been forgotten or deemed unnecessary. Here are a few Sesame Street residents who were evicted…

Scientists Fear Lightning Deaths Will Increase Due to Global Warming

In the last ten years, Brazil has been the target of an estimated 57 million lightning strikes–the most in the world. This astonishing natural record is not without a human toll, however. During that same period, 1,321 people have been fallen victim to lightning in Brazil alone, and scientists fear that incidents will only increase in the coming years. As if the long term threats of climate change were not enough to arouse concern, new research reveals that rising temperatures may increase the frequency of the sometimes fatal lightning strikes.

Are High Speed Elephants Running or Walking?

Most animals don’t think anything of breaking into a run: they switch effortlessly from walking to a high-speed bouncing run. But what about elephants? Their sheer size makes it impossible for them to bounce up in the air at high speeds. So how are high-speed elephants moving: are they running or walking?

The World's Smallest Spontaneous Atomic Valentine

According to the physicists observing the atoms through the Lab’s JEOL 2100F microscope, Zhiwei Wang and David Pearmain, they watched with love, but really had absolutely nothing to do with the heart formation of the atoms.
Sadly, the bright, beautiful palladium Valentine will not be given to a special lady. Being only 8 nanometers in size, it can’t be seen by the human eye, and cannot even be relied upon to stay in the smallest ring setting. But we can all admire the wonderful high-angle, very high-power shot of the world's smallest and, arguably, prettiest naturally-formed Valentine.

Keyboard Pants

Designer Erik De Nijs, Erik has stitched together this eye catching pair of “Beauty and the Geek” jeans. These “modern shaped trousers which is often worn by youngsters..” are the perfect solution for Googling quick exits while running from the fashion police.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

Blow dryers became a necessity once people started bathing regularly. Hearing aides became a necessity once Ludwig von Beethoven lost his hearing. And Snickers Bars became a necessity once dentistry was invented.

Airport Body Scanners Violate Islamic Rules of Modesty

Saying that body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslim-American groups are supporting a “fatwa” — a religious ruling — that forbids Muslims from going through the scanners at airports.

It’s Crabzilla! Biggest Known Crab On Earth

Hail Crabzilla! The Japanese Spider Crab is the biggest arthropod on Earth–their legs are believed to grow up to 12 feet long. But since they live at such great depths (typically 1,000 feet down or so) a full grown spider crab has yet to be caught. So for now, we’ll have to make due with the 5 foot long Crabzilla (that’s what it’s called–I didn’t make it up!), one of the largest known crabs in the planet.

The Inventor Of The Frisbee Has Died

Truly sad news, sports fans. The inventor of the Frisbee, Walter Frederick Morrison, has died at the age of 90 at his home in Utah. Aside from a plain ol’ ball, has there ever been a more universal toy?

The Frisbee, which is technically a brand name, was originally called the Pluto Putter, and was first released in 1948. Morrison sold the rights to the disc in 1957 to Wham-O.

Saturn’s Aurora Offer Stunning Double Show

An enormous and grand ringed planet, Saturn is certainly one of the most intriguing bodies orbiting the Sun. Hubble has now taken a fresh look at the fluttering aurorae that light up both of Saturn’s poles.

Link Between Brain Activity and Spirituality Discovered

By studying patients before and after surgery to remove a brain tumor, a team of Italian researchers has identified anatomical changes in the brain that may be linked to shifts in spiritual and religious attitudes.

Crazy Stuff

Some photos cause headaches and others cause scandals. However, this particular combination of photos has been selected to cause a jock rash in people without a sense of humor.

Teens Text an Average of 10 Times per Hour

American teenagers send an average of 10 text messages per hour they are not in school or sleeping, according to research by The Nielsen Company.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

In case of fire, break glass. No, not that glass. No, not that glass either. Come to think of it, broken glass and fires don’t really go together. Who in the hell ever thought that was a good idea in the first place?

Amazing Snow Sculptures at the Sapporo Snow Festival 2010

This year’s Sapporo Snow Festival kicked off last weekend, bringing hundreds of massive snow sculptures into the streets of Japan’s northern capital. Here’s a look at some of the works on display at the event, which runs until February 11.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

Another week has passed and the number of truly exceptional photos has been increasing. Of course the way we rate photo quality is on a strange and bizarreness scale that few other mere mortals can comprehend. They have to be somewhat painfully non-intellectual and if they cause reoccurring nightmares, so much the better.

SETI Marks 50 Years By Giving You a Chance To Send A Message to Alien Life

If you had the chance to send a message into space, what would it say? “Greetings, fellow sentient beings”? “We come in peace”? “Hi… we’ve kind of messed up our planet, and we wondered if by chance anyone out there had a spare one?”

Dubai Making Plans to Sell the Queen Elizabeth 2

Dubai is reportedly preparing to sell a host of assets, including one of the world’s best known cruise ships, as the emirate’s investment arm looks to restructure a mountain of debt.
The Queen Elizabeth II, or QE2, is rumored to be one of the assets that Dubai’s state-run private equity firm, Istithmar World, is planning to sell. An Istithmar spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Largest book in the world goes on show for the first time

 

It takes six people to lift it and has been recorded as the largest book in the world, yet the splendid Klencke Atlas, presented to Charles II on his restoration and now 350 years old, has never been publicly displayed with its pages open. That glaring omission is to be rectified, it was announced by the British Library today, when it will be displayed as one of the stars of its big summer exhibition about maps.
The summer show will feature about 100 maps, considered some of the greatest in the world, with three-quarters of them going on display for the first time.

Migrating Insects Fly in the Fast Lane

A study published in Science, by researchers at Rothamsted Research (an institute of the BBSRC), the Met Office, the Natural Resources Institute, and the Universities of Exeter, Greenwich and York, sheds new light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants.

Hackers Screw Our Planet By Stealing Millions in Carbon Credits

Credit card numbers are so passe. Today’s hackers know the real powerhouse data to steal is emission certificates.
That’s exactly what hackers went after last week when they obtained unauthorized access to online accounts where companies maintain their carbon credits, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Can Insect Farming Solve World Hunger?

The day when restaurants will serve garlic grasshoppers or beetle larva skewers is getting closer in Costa Rica, where scientists are “growing” insects for human consumption.

Entomologist Manuel Zumbado’s research into this alternative food source is inspired by practices in Africa, where insects have long been part of people’s diet.
With its rainforests playing host to countless insect species, including thousands that have yet to be identified, Costa Rica is a perfect breeding ground for the work.

Swordfish Attack Angolan Oil Pipeline

A swordfish attack punctured an oil loading pipe in Angola recently, causing a three-day delay in tanker shipments of Girassol crude. Total, the French oil company which operates the pipeline, declared force majeure on shipments. Total later said that swordfish had damaged a flexible loading pipe. Declaring force majeure frees an operator from supply obligations due to extraordinary circumstances.

Cars of the Future Could Be Powered By Their Bodywork

Parts of a car’s bodywork could one day double up as its battery, according to the scientists behind a new €3.4 million project announced today.

Researchers from Imperial College London, UK, and their European partners, including Volvo Car Corporation, are developing a prototype material which can store and discharge electrical energy and which is also strong and lightweight enough to be used for car parts.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

You often hear people talk about the eye of a storm, but never about the ear, nose, and mouth of the storm. Today’s Top 10 Photos are all about the forgotten orifices of today’s society.

Ancient Tribal Language Becomes Extinct As Last Speaker Dies

The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000-year link to one of the world’s oldest cultures.

Astronaut Tweets Amazing Earth Images From Space

One of the astronauts currently in residence on the International Space Station is using Twitpic to send some spectacular imagery of our home planet back down to us Earthlings (that’s Mt. Kilimanjaro as seen from space at right).
 

Pig Lungs Could Be Transplanted Into Humans In 5 Years

Following a medical breakthrough, pig lungs could be transplanted into humans to overcome a shortage of donor organs, a media report said Thursday citing Australian scientists.  Scientists have paved the way for animal-human transplanted in as little as five years, after keeping pig lungs alive and functioning with human blood.

Mysterious Spaceship-Shaped Object Detected By Hubble

Hubble has discovered a mysterious X-shaped object traveling at 11,000mph. NASA says that P/2010-A2 may be a comet, product of the collision between two asteroids. Or a Klingon Bird of Prey. Either way, UCLA investigator David Jewitt is excited:

Zero Rupee Banknotes Issued In India

Special zero rupee banknotes have been issued by an anti-corruption campaign to challenge India’s bribe culture.  Campaigners from the Fifth Pillar charity, which confronts corrupt officials using freedom of information legislation, have issued notes bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of its freedom struggle.

Reader's Digest - February 2010

Photo Of the Day

 

100 Billion Bank Note of Zimbabwe in which you can buy only 3 eggs!

Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes

New research is casting doubt on the old adage, “All you need to run is a pair of shoes.”

Scientists have found that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid “heel-striking,” and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience.

Top Tech Trends For 2010

Mobile technology driven by the consumerisation of technology and self-service IT will explode in 2010 as will the demand for more flexible workplaces, according to the Citrix Top Technology Trends for 2010 forecast. 
With the month drawing to an end, the estimated cost of January’s fierce weather conditions is expected to run into millions of euros due to lost work hours alone.

Why Brain Power Is Suddenly The New Status Symbol

On an arctic Sunday morning in central London, an unlikely crowd has gathered in a draughty Victorian meeting hall to hear a sermon. They don’t look like your average God botherers. The “urban trendy” quota is set to maximum, and the majority of the chatty, well-heeled crowd are wearing those chunky-knit beanies that are, like, so in right now. Standing among them, I overhear conversations laced with “Kierkegaard this…” and “phenomenology that…”

Leonardo DaVinci’s Resume

Before he was famous, before he painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, before he invented the helicopter, before he drew the most famous image of man, before he was all of these things, Leonardo da Vinci was an artificer, an armorer, a maker of things that go “boom”.

And, like you, he had to put together a resume to get his next gig. So in 1482, at the age of 30, he wrote out a letter and a list of his capabilities and sent it off to Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.