What do you do when your normally green and lush grazing pastures become over-run with mysterious worms? For the fifty herdsmen in northwest China, there is no answer but to move. The worms are one inch long, green, with thorns and black stripes, and are packed up to 3,000 per square meter. Samples of the worms have been sent to Xinjiang Agricultural University for identification, but so far the usual methods of dealing with such an invasion (chickens, ducks and other birds) has not been successful.
The Story.
This article is a list, including pictures, of the sixteen most horrific growths to appear on humans over the years. Some of the growths include a huge facial tumor, the world's largest hand, people with horns, a tree growing inside a lung and people with tails. And don't worry, this picture is just a cactus.
In keeping with the multitude of food articles we've had here lately, I bring you the most handy food website yet. Wondering if the leftover Chinese food in the back of your fridge is still safe to eat?
Still Tasty can tell you. The site includes a neat "Keep It or Toss It" feature where you input the name of the food and it tells you how long that item will be fresh enough to consume.
Are we just a few steps from being able to read people's minds? Japanese researchers have discovered a way to process mindwaves by deciphering the images we see. In one experiment they flashed a series of letters on a screen and recorded the brain patterns of those watching. The software was able to break down the rough shapes of the letters into recognizable patterns.
The Story. Won't be long now before we're all forced to wear tinfoil hats.
You may have heard the warnings that people become more depressed in the winter months because of a lack of sunlight. Now researchers are saying that too much sunlight can be just as bad. The study shows that a lack of sleep is the real culprit. It all comes down to maintaining your circadian rhythm. You can read more about the sunlight issue
here, and you can find out what a circadian rhythm is
here.
I'm sure there's a reason for this service and people who know about breeding cows can probably tell us. In the meantime, we're left to wonder why the internet needs a
cow embryo directory. If the advertisement on the left side of the directory page is accurate, you can buy one for a mere $175.00. But I assume you would need something to keep it in...
Be the envy of every other survivalist and have your own converted cold-war Atlas-F missile silo home! You too can live in complete cold war safety and luxury. The converted missile launch site is marketed as a getaway, luxury home, and in my opinion is every survivalist’s dream. The property includes its own private runway, 2000 square foot luxury home above ground with master suite, a private airstrip, and a hangar/garage. Below ground, past the 2000 lb. blast doors and three feet of reinforced concrete built to withstand brutal missile assaults lies two additional stories of space in the converted control room where you will find two additional suites with luxury marble Jacuzzi baths and an escape hatch to your private hangar.
More in extended >>
Here's a picture I always enjoy: a mouse breathing "underwater," in a specially prepared solution.
You can read about the experiment here.
I came across a description of this experiment in an old newspaper (
Reno Evening Gazette, Sep 8, 1941) and have never found any other references to it. The experiment was conducted by British psychologists who wanted to find out if "civilian populations can be made immune, through familiarity, to fear caused by air raid noises." The methodological problems with the design of the experiment are obvious, but it's interesting that it was conducted nevertheless. The details follow:
The London experiment consisted of herding workers, children and bomb-shocked neurotics into underground vaults and there subjecting them to an 'artificial blitz bombing.'
Sound effects used in the test were recordings made during one of London's worst air raids last year, amplified to simulate the real thing. An Associated Press writer who witnessed the experiment reported:
"The sounds swelled in the dark vault. The guns kept banging. Then big bombs burst. The guns kept up. More bombs. Then the crackle of flames. Next clanging fire engines added their noise, the other sounds continuing."
According to the reporter, the subjects stood the test very well: 'No one was crying out. A flashlight swung around the room, revealing drawn faces and frightened eyes. But no one was swooning. The experimenters stepped up the amplification.'
The British psychologists responsible for the experiment were reported delighted with the results. They said it proved their theory that whole populations could be exposed to 'artificial blitzkriegs' and thus rendered immune to fear during air raids.
Would you
slather yourself in hippo sweat to avoid sunburn? Even if you replied yes, perhaps you'd prefer that the unguent came in a tube, rather than straight off the back of a hippo.