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Tech NewsDesignBehold the Best-Designed Cat House Any Cat Will Still Completely Ignore
Every year, FixNation, a Los Angeles animal charity, holds an auction of designer cat houses to raise money. This year’s Fan Favorite is “Cat in the Fishbowl.” It’s very nice, but we’re pretty sure any cat will ignore it in favor of the box it came in. FixNation is a remarkable charity which attempts to … Continued
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ScienceBiologyBiologists Have Discovered Underground, Burrowing Tadpoles
Scientists have documented Indian dancing frogs for over a century. For that century, they’ve found only adult frogs. At last, a team of biologists have found the tadpoles that develop into frogs—and they’ve found them underground. Micrixalus herrei, one of a number of “dancing frogs” in India, spends its days in fast-moving streams. It gets … Continued
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Tech News
This Company is Making an Epi-Pen That Fits in a Wallet
AdrenaCard is meant to help people who are both unfortunate enough to need an epinephrine injection for serious allergic reactions—and human enough that they regularly forget their “epi-pen” when they’re going out. It’s a small epinephrine injector that fits inside a wallet. Most people with serious allergies have had an encounter with epinephrine. When the … Continued
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Tech News
Robot Anesthesiologists Lose Their Jobs Because of Humans
A robot anesthesiologist designed by Johnson & Johnson is going off the market. Only three years after approval, the company has stopped production on the Sedasys machine due to poor sales. The Sedasys machine was designed to provide anesthetic to patients undergoing routine surgeries. The American Society of Anesthesiologists was especially alarmed because anesthesiology is … Continued
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Tech NewsArtificial IntelligenceThis Software Can Read Harry Potter and Answer Questions About It
A Canadian company has come up with an algorithm that can read texts, and then accurately answer questions about them. The software is meant to help people by scanning and responding to their questions about boring technical texts—but there could be so many other great ways to use it. The company, Maluuba, is interested in … Continued
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Tech News
Major Logging Will Begin in the Last Primeval Forest in Europe
In depressing news, about 180,000 cubic meters of wood will be taken from the last of Europe’s primeval forests. The environmental minister in Poland declared that the Bialowieza Puszcza will be logged over the next decade. The Bialowieza Puszcza was always famous to environmentalists and naturalists, but it became well known to everyone due to … Continued
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Tech News
How Chicago Is Trying to Hide Its Giant Hell Pit
This 110-foot-wide hole, punched into one of Chicago’s best neighborhoods, represents nearly a decade of dashed architectural dreams. Recently, developers gave up trying to build on it, and have started building hills to hide it from the sight of angry neighbors. This hole, which looks like the aftermath of an attack by either Godzilla or … Continued
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io9TelevisionArrow Knows How to Break Our Hearts But Good
Arrow is not a perfect show, but if there is one thing it knows how to do, it’s how to wring our hearts like they’re dirty dish rags. That skill was utilized last night in “Broken Hearts,” and we have the clip that proves it. When it comes to heartbreak, last night’s episode left everything … Continued
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Tech News
Genetically-Modified Maggots Could Help Wounds Heal Faster
Scientists at North Carolina State University are bringing an 18th century wound treatment into the 21st century. They’ve genetically modified maggots to secrete a human growth factor to promote healing while they clean people’s wounds. For some time, doctors have used the larvae of the green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, as treatment. The maggots eat … Continued
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Tech News
‘Cat Parasite’ Could Be To Blame for People Suffering from Rage Disorder
A new study has shown that people with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), associated with bursts of overblown aggression, are twice as likely as healthy people to have Toxoplasma gondii. This parasite, famously carried by cats, has been shown to mess with the neurochemistry of mice. Could it be doing the same to us? Published in … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
Arctic Microbes Are Expanding Their Homes By Making Stuff that Melts Glaciers
Humans aren’t the only ones trying their best to warm up the world like it’s a Hot Pocket. Bacteria are also creating particles that melt glaciers and make the world comfortable for more bacteria. Today, at the Microbiology Society’s Annual Conference, scientists from Aberystwyth University announced that microbes are heating the planet. That’s not unusual, … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Birds Nest Near Alligators to Scare Off Predators and “Pay” Them in Rejected Chicks
A lot of things eat baby birds, and alligators eat most of those things. Birds in the Everglades seem to have noticed this, and nest in trees near alligators. The alligators provide a benefit to the birds, keeping away the opossums and raccoons that would eat their eggs. But what might the alligators get out … Continued
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Tech News
Take a 3D Tour of Richard III’s Grave
Richard III is best known as the eponymous villain in one of Shakespeare’s plays, and second best known for having his body discovered in a car park in 2012. The remains were re-interred in a suitably sober fashion, but now you can get a 3D glimpse at what the king’s original grave looked like. People … Continued
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Tech News
We Might Finally Be Able to Read Ancient Scrolls Damaged By Vesuvius Eruption
Pompeii has the best press, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD also buried the town of Herculaneum. Charred scrolls were recovered from the town library in 1752, and Italian scientists just discovered it might be possible to use X-ray technology to read them. Their findings were published recently in the Proceedings of … Continued
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ScienceBiologyOur Cities May Be Making Birds Smarter
The term “bird brain” is going out of fashion as biologists come to understand that birds are actually quite smart and competent. Now scientists in Barbados say that, in many respects, urban birds are smarter than rural birds. Scientists at McGill University’s Bellairs facility spent the past few months capturing bull finches from cities, suburbs, … Continued
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Tech News
Seventeen People in Wisconsin Have Died From One Strain of Bacteria
The bacteria Elizabethkingia anopheles has claimed 17 lives over the last five months in 12 Wisconsin counties, and caused 54 people to become seriously ill. As yet, no one has been able to trace the source of the infection. Elizabethkingia anopheles is named for a famous researcher who worked with the CDC in the mid-1900s. … Continued
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SciencePhysics & Chemistry
Physics Students Calculate How Long a Vampire Needs To Drink Your Blood
A bite to the neck and a clean getaway—that’s what a vampire needs. A group of physics students from the University of Leicester calculated exactly how long a vampire would need to accomplish those two things: about 6.4 minutes. They published their findings in the university’s Journal of Physics Special Topics. The human body can’t … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Hyenas and Wolves Are Teaming Up to Survive
Different species of carnivores don’t get along. At best, they’re in direct competition for prey. At worst, they turn each other into prey. But recently, zoologists found that two predators are teaming up to both survive and haunt your nightmares. The Negev Desert in southern Israel is one of the most arid places in the … Continued
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Tech News
This On-Off Switch for Sperm Could Lead to Better Male Birth Control
Researchers just found an on-off switch for sperm movement. This has the potential to help men who are infertile, but it also has the potential to help all men. It could be an effective form of male birth control. A new study in Science details a new finding, which may be the first step towards … Continued
Esther Inglis-Arkell
Esther Inglis-Arkell's posts
