Viva Pancakes!

New Laser Zaps Mosquitoes in SlowMotion That’s right, a...

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:31:11 -0400

New Laser Zaps Mosquitoes in SlowMotion

That’s right, a weapon that kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes with fricking lasers!

Incredible medical breakthrough allows doctors to inject oxygen into the bloodstreams of people who can’t breathe

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:59:57 -0400

http://io9.com/5921989/incredible-medical-breakthrough-allows-doctors-to-inject-oxygen-into-the-bloodstreams-of-people-who-cant-breath

In a monumental breakthrough with far ranging implications, cardiologists at the Children’s Hospital Boston in Massachusetts have kept suffocating rabbits alive for 15 minutes with injections of oxygen-filled microparticles. The groundbreaking procedure could conceivably prevent millions of deaths each year caused by such things as heart attacks and choking.

Cassini Shows Why Jet Streams Cross-Cut Saturn

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:32:00 -0400

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-186

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

By seeing for the first time how these eddies accelerate the jet streams at two different altitudes, scientists found the eddies were weak at the higher altitudes where previous researchers had found that most of the sun’s heating occurs. The eddies were stronger deeper in the atmosphere. Thus, the authors could discount heating from the sun and infer instead that the internal heat of the planet is ultimately driving the acceleration of the jet streams, not the sun. The mechanism that best matched the observations would involve internal heat from the planet stirring up water vapor from Saturn’s interior. That water vapor condenses in some places as air rises and releases heat as it makes clouds and rain. This heat provides the energy to create the eddies that drive the jet streams.

Supercameras Could Capture Never-Before-Seen Detail

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:28:00 -0400

http://www.livescience.com/21066-supercameras-capture-detail.html

CREDIT: Duke University Imaging and Spectroscopy Program.

The gigapixel camera uses 98 identical microcameras in unison, each armed with its own set of optics and a 14-megapixel sensor. These microcameras, in turn, all peer through a single large spherical lens to collectively see the scene the system aims to capture. Since the optics of the microcameras are small, they are relatively easy and cheap to fabricate.

The possible applications for this are practically limitless.

Cracking Open an Egg 60 Feet Underwater Simply mesmerizing.

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:18:00 -0400

Cracking Open an Egg 60 Feet Underwater

Simply mesmerizing.

GZA and Neil deGrasse Tyson team up on a hip-hop record about science

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:33:41 -0400

http://grist.org/list/gza-and-neil-degrasse-tyson-team-up-on-a-hip-hop-record-about-science/

“We talked about frenetic energy, outer space, molecules crashing into each other, organized chaos,” Mr. Vitali said. “The grandeur of the fact that the universe was born in a millionth of a second, in this explosion that created billions of stars, these overpowering ideas that are bigger than we can conceive. How do we make the record feel like that?”

This will be awesome.

Brain Implants Powered by Spinal Fluid: Another Huge Step Towards Our Cyborg Future

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:27:29 -0400

http://io9.com/5918672/brain-implants-powered-by-spinal-fluid-another-huge-step-towards-our-cyborg-future

Image via Shutterstock/Andrea Danti.

The breakthrough is part of an ongoing trend in cybernetics in which biological functions are steadily being mimicked with microelectronics, and where the body’s own natural processes are leveraged to restore function or provide energy.

I look forward to becoming a robot overlord.

Antibody cocktail cures monkeys of Ebola

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:01:00 -0400

http://www.nature.com/news/antibody-cocktail-cures-monkeys-of-ebola-1.10821

CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/GETTY

Monkeys infected with Ebola have been cured by a cocktail of three antibodies first administered 24 hours or more after exposure. The result raises hopes that a future treatment could improve the chances of humans surviving the disease caused by the deadly virus, which kills up to 90% of infected people and could potentially be used as a biological weapon.

Science!

Google employees create beer-dispensing KegDroid

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:19:00 -0400

In keeping with the beer theme for today.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/google-employees-create-beer-dispensing-kegdroid/

Developed by Google senior developer advocate Paul Carff and senior software engineer David Sainte-Claire, the duo have combined a Motorola Xoom tablet using NFC integration with a beer dispensing Android robot to create the KegDroid.

I believe this is the Droid we’ve been looking for.

Rugbeer: The vending machine you have to tackle to get your beer

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:59:00 -0400

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/rugbeer-the-vending-machine-you-have-to-tackle-to-get-your-beer/

Vending machines aren’t usually designed to be hit, shaken or shoved. In fact, such behavior could well result in the perpetrator being done for criminal damage.

Makers of a vending machine in Argentina, however, have designed one which you have to tackle to get your beer.

Check out the video linked the the article.

Kenyan schoolchildren reenact the end of Game 6 of the 1986...

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:49:19 -0400

Kenyan schoolchildren reenact the end of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

This may be one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.

Highly contagious honey bee virus transmitted by mites

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:47:00 -0400

http://io9.com/5916845/honey-bee-apocalypse-may-not-be-caused-by-evil-corporations-after-all

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-06/uos-hch060712.php

Researchers in Hawaii and the UK report that the parasitic ‘Varroa’ mite has caused the Deformed Wing Virus (DWV) to proliferate in honey bee colonies. This association is now thought to contribute to the world-wide spread and probable death of millions of honey bee colonies.

Terra Sacra Amazing compilation of time lapse taken from across...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:44:00 -0400

Terra Sacra

Amazing compilation of time lapse taken from across the globe. Check out the full HD at http://vimeo.com/42882023.

Mr. Rogers Remix

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:53:28 -0400

Mr. Rogers Remix

Viva Pancakes 2.0

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:08:32 -0400

Viva Pancakes has been rebooted, to bring you more of what is interesting, inspiring, or just plain awesome. Now with more syrup!

Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs and More

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:39:39 -0500

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec11/tissuescience_12-15.html

A new research breakthrough has enabled scientists from the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh to grow human tissue to repair or replace organs, and someday, maybe even limbs.

Simply amazing.

Controlled Quantum Levitation on a Wipe’Out Track [Video]

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:16:00 -0500

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/01/03/controlled-quantum-levitation-on-a-wipeout-track-video/

Here is a short footage on our recent work on quantum levitation. We were inspired by the game Wipe’out to do our work. With this new technology, we hope to revolutionize the world of motor transport; Maybe in a near future we could assist to a real Wipe’out race.

Awesome science at work. Next step, flying cars!

NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:14:02 -0500

http://www.space.com/13821-nasa-kepler-alien-planets-habitable-zone.html

NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star’s habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new exoplanet candidates, researchers announced today (Dec. 5).

Just the tip of the iceberg to what’s out there.

The ‘Spy Files’: How safe are your emails and phone calls?

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:55:03 -0500

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/11/30/the-spy-files-how-safe-are-your-emails-and-phone-calls/

A popular mobile phone tracking technology is an IMSI catcher, which allows the user to intercept mobile phones. These highly portable devices – which can be as small as a fist – can mask as a cell phone tower and emit a signal that can dupe thousands of mobile phones in a targeted area.

The user of the catcher can then intercept SMS messages, phone calls and phone data, such as unique phone identity codes that would allow them to track phone users’ movements in real-time, without having to request location data from a mobile phone carrier.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which uses these devices to track suspects, says it can do so without a court order. Many police forces around the world have also bought or are considering buying IMSI catchers.

Governments and LEO’s intercepting and collecting all telecommunications activity, whether or not anyone is a suspect. Just one more step towards Big Brother.

juxtapop: Title: Super Hario Potter I finally got around to...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:05:48 -0500

juxtapop:

Title: Super Hario Potter

I finally got around to watching every Harry Potter film. Never saw them before, never read the books. Then it hit me. They have all the same powers as Mario.