Coaxing sloths and medical suckers

Source: PhysOrg Here is a lesson in persistence: after 3 years, scientists at the Institute of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology have given up attempting to coax a sloth to move as part of their experiment. The sloth is now comfortable housed in a zoo where he is free from the advances of demanding scientists.

Source: PhysOrg Human medical researchers are eagerly awaiting the results of a medical procedure that will, hopefully, prevent a cat from going blind. Some Abyssinians have a feline version of Retinitis pigmentosa that results in the degeneration of rods and cones. In the upcoming experiment, a 2-mm wide microchip with 5,000 microphotodiodes will be implanted into the retina of a cat. They hope that the progress of the disease will be slowed, and that the electrical stimulation may even counteract some of the existing damage. The experiment will take approximately 2 years before any preliminary results will be available.

Source: Cool Tools Anyone who has ever tried to give medicine to a young child knows it can be a messy adventure. The Kidz-Med Dispenser plays on the child's natural tendency to suck on a soother, and in the process provides a way to ensure that most of the medicine goes farther into the child's mouth, reducing the chance of their spitting it back up. A plunger on the end allows you to squirt their medicine is they are not sucking on the mouthpiece. At $6(US) it may be worth the investment. (Or, do like me and not have kids).

Source: ThinkGeek Nothing says "I love you" like a 113-dB alarm clock. Yes, this heart-shaped clock emits a sound louder than a jackhammer. At $40, this would be a REAL test of a relationship.... or a good way to end one.

Source: ThinkGeek Apparently, $7 will get you your very own blood typing kit. Great for those last-minute paternity tests...

Beam weapons and disposable underwear

Source: SPACE.com The US military has been testing what they refer to as an active denial system for "safely" dispursing crowds. It consists of a beam of millimetre length electromagnetic waves that penetrate less than 1/64 of an inch into skin. The effect is to active pain sensors in the skin as they heat, causing the person to feel as if they are on fire (which, technically is true, given that the nerves are actually being heated). Experiments have been underway for quite some time (since prior to 2003), the most recent and public being a demonstration of how if forces a crowd of soldiers to disperse. Earlier experiments consisted of a series of 14 tests on humans that examine things like the effects of alcohol intoxication on people subjected to this beam and the effectiveness of sunblock. The system is expected to be in use by 2010. (Thanks to ancalagon_tb for reminding me to post this)

Source: BBC News Speaking of experimental crowd-control weapons, the US military is exploring the idea of creating a polymer-based artificial black ice, what they refer to as a Mobility Control System. They are looking for a material that can be sprayed into an area, dry quickly, and be cleaned up easily. Plans include using a "reversal agent" on boots and tyres so that "friendly" forces will not be slowed.

Source: Coolest Gadgets This personal hovercraft will whizz you along at a blistering 15 mph (ok, maybe not blistering, more like lukewarm). Yours for only $15,000(US).

Source: Coolest Gadgets Yet another example of our disposable society. These biodegradable cotton underpants are meant to be discarded after use.

Source: Coolest Gadgets Strange though this looks, this device uses the heat of your break to warm your inbreaths, as well as your face and neck.

Haggis farming

Source: Annals of Improbable Research

When you want clean, get the best

Source: Warren Ellis blog

Bush on Climate Change

Source: PhysOrg.com

Selected sections quoted below. See the source for the full article.

For years, the president and his supporters argued that not enough was known about global warming to do anything about it. But during last week's State of the Union address Bush finally referred to global warming as an established fact.

....

Many industry leaders have come to realize that such measures may be more an opportunity than a hindrance. The day before Bush's speech the chief executives of 10 corporations, including Alcoa Inc., BP America Inc., DuPont Co., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co. and Duke Energy Corp., called for mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

"It must be mandatory, so there is no doubt about our actions," said Jim Rogers, chairman of Duke Energy. "The science of global warming is clear. We know enough to act now. We must act now."

And a week before the State of the Union address a dozen evangelicals called action against global warming a "moral imperative" in a joint statement with scientists from the Centers for Disease Control, NASA, Harvard and other institutions.

....

Scientists have been at the vanguard of the climate change issue for decades. As early as 1965 a scientific advisory board to President Johnson warned that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to "marked changes in climate" by 2000.

In 1988 the United Nations created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though assailed by critics as an overly alarmist organization, the panel actually represents a relatively cautious assessment of global warming because it relies on input from hundreds of scientists, including well-known skeptics and industry researchers.

Every five or six years since 1990, the IPCC has released an updated assessment of the environmental threat posed by global warming. And every time, a single memorable and increasingly alarming statement has stood out from the thousands of pages of technical discussion.

The first report noted that Earth's average temperature had risen by 0.5 to one degree Fahrenheit in the past century, a warming consistent with the global warming predictions but still within the range of natural climate variability.

"The observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability," the scientists concluded.

But by 1995 that possibility had all but vanished: "The balance of evidence suggests a discernable[sic] human influence on global climate," the second IPCC report concluded.

Six years after that: "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities."

Since then, scientists have accumulated abundant evidence that global warming is upon us. They have documented a dramatic retreat of the Arctic sea in recent summers, accelerated melting on the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps and the virtual collapse in mountain glaciers around the globe. They have found plants and animals well poleward of their normal ranges. They have recorded temperature records in many locations and shifts in atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Globally, the planet is the warmest it has been in thousands of years, if not more.

Wiimote demo

The video portion is worksafe but the sound may not be. It's not nearly as funny without the sound, though.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/wii/clip-the-masturbating-wiimote-231647.php