Web hosting firms figured out last week the host source of a lot of spam — it was some company in California — so they effectively blocked it. Amazingly, pulling the plug on that one source resulted in an instant 66% drop of spam worldwide.
Scientists Discover The Great Greatgazillion Grandparents Of All Flora
Their courtship, which came about 1.9 billion years ago, was very brief, and it wasn't exactly love at first sight: It came when an amoeba-like organism engulfed a bacterium that had developed the power to use sunlight to break down water and liberate oxygen. The bacterium was probably intended as prey, but instead it became incorporated into its attacker's body … Read More
Space Is Really Really Big
Space is in the news lately, because of the release of the first photographs of another planetary system. We've been aware of other planets outside the Solar system for quite some time, but we only know about them because we are able to see their effects (kind of like looking at the wave of a speedboat traveling on the water … Read More
Ig Nobel Prize Winners Announced
The ceremonies were held yesterday at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre. THE WINNERS NUTRITION PRIZE. Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Oxford University, UK, for electronically modifying the sound of a potato chip to make the person chewing the chip believe it to be crisper and fresher than it really is.REFERENCE: "The Role of Auditory Cues … Read More
I’m No Physicist, I Admit…
Is it just me, or does recreating the Big Bang here on Earth seem like a bad idea? ** UPDATE ** A website to watch: http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
Things I Didn’t Know: Internet Edition
I knew that the Internet is an outgrowth of ARPANET ("ARPA" = Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was a division under the Department of Justice Defense [of course — what was I thinking when I typed "Justice"?]), which was created in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s as a way for the military to get info and data (quietly) from those in … Read More
We Feel Fine
This has to be one of the most interesting uses of the Internet I’ve seen in a long while!! Maybe I’m attracted to it because of my social psychology background. As well as my attraction to new art forms. The website is called "We Feel Fine" and its a psychometric graphical representation of how we, as a human race, feel … Read More
Moon Transits The Earth
At first blush, this may not seem all that amazing — a short filmed sequence of the Earth… with the moon going in front of it. After all, we live in a time where such a thing can be generated on even the simplest computer. But keep in mind, this is REAL, and reflects the first time in history of … Read More
And It’s Not As Cute As Emily Mark
The Italians have come up with a robotic barista that, supposedly, can make coffee for you. The above Youtube video doesn’t impress me. As far as I can tell, it takes two humans to nudge the robot (for some reason), which doesn’t appear to be making my grande mocha frappachino with a double shot of espresso anyway. In fact, it … Read More
Dot-Com Is Soooo Last Century
ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the Internet’s main oversight agency (ha! and you thought it was unregulated!). Yesterday, they decided to "open up" top-level domain names. A top-level domain is, well, ".com, .org, .biz", etc. Soon you will be able to have .sports, .perfurme, .coke, and .seventhsense. I’m not sure this is a good idea. … Read More
Stupid Product Of The Day
A motorized spray bottle For people too freakin’ lazy to pump their finger!!!!
iLaugh
Strange world we live in: Though Gawker’s bloggers often worked from home, I went to the office every day at first. I was used to communicating with most people I knew via instant messenger, but it seemed important to see Alex, my co-editor, in person. I figured that we’d be able to express ourselves more easily by actually turning to … Read More
All Hail The Secret Tunnel From New York To London
It’s open now. You can’t crawl through it, but you can see through it, and see who is on the other side. Here’s the Brooklyn side… Here’s the London side…. Explanation here…
For Women Looking For A Job….
…move to England: Scientists in the UK are seeking 150 women to eat chocolate every day for a year in the cause of medical research. The trial, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, eastern England, will test whether a natural compound found in cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate, could cut the risk of heart disease among women … Read More