Airplanes Flying on Algae Scum

Choice quote:

Boeing has stated publicly since then that it believes algae is the airline fuel of the future.

Goes something like this: algae grow through normal photosynthesis (which captures CO2) using only the free and abundant sun light, algae get collected and processed, algae is turned into some sort of biofuel (like ethanol), and said biofuel is put on planes. Result is 0% emissions of greenhouse gases from airplanes. Not bad, but I'm curious to see what Exxon and Shell have to say about this. Article here.

Adultery good for women too

It's always been accepted as fact that males (not just humans) always have had a great pressure to go forth and "colonize" as many females as possible. This obviously creates strain in monogamous relationships, but it also means that the male gets as many descendants as evolutionary possible. Turns out females going around sleeping with other males also provide them with benefits. From The Economist.com:

...modern genetic techniques have shown that in many species females in apparently monogamous relationships often produce families that have more than one father. To explain this, biologists have theorized that these females are mating with males who are genetically superior to their regular mates, thus getting the benefit of parental assistance from a cuckold and good genes from a Lothario.

I guess the whole "throw the first stone he/she who is without sin" readily applies here...

Turn Yourself into a Simpsons Character

This nifty little website at Simpsonize Me lets you upload a picture of your face and turns you into a Simpsons character.

Look at the results from Michael Calore, the Wired writer that put up the story.



I found this cool link through Wired (story here).

Real Life Transformer

(image thanks to TAKARA)

I know it's not a big bitchin' truck or anything, but this dock is the closest thing us mortal beings will have to a true transformer. I'm sure if you took this to school the bullies would be deathly afraid.

New MIT Space Suit - Fashion In Space!

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the new Space Fashion Suit designed by the brains at MIT. It is supposed to give greater range of movement and still protect the wearer. Full story here.

Police Brutality

Found this urban graffiti in a bicycle path in Sevilla, Spain. I guess police brutality (and the response against it) is universal...