(Image: EEM01-13, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (2.0) image contributed to the BB Flickr Pool from macdawg's photostream)
Archive for the ‘Google Reader’ Category
Brooklyn Buzzers (photo, Boing Boing Flickr Pool)
15
Jul
Giant Undersea Volcanoes Found Off Antarctica
15
Jul
Large undersea volcanoes off Antarctica—some Mount Fuji-size—were recently discovered via sonar, scientists say.
Graphite + water = the future of energy storage
15
Jul
A combination of two ordinary materials – graphite and water – could produce energy storage systems that perform on par with lithium ion batteries, but recharge in a matter of seconds and have an almost indefinite lifespan.
What the @#$% Is Up with Spidey’s New Suit
14
Jul
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Jell-O Cartridges
14
Jul
The annual Jell-O Mold Competition was held in Brooklyn about a week ago, and the winning works are even more impressive than those from the 2010 competition. Take a look at amazing gelatinous versions of dentures, cups of espresso, a pancake breakfast, and more. Link -via New Jovian Thunderbolt | Photo: Francesca Signori
Beach House Q / Longhi Architects
14
Jul
© Juan Solano / CHOlon Photography
Architects: Longhi Architects / Luis Longhi
Location: Lima, Peru
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 404 sqm
Photographs: Juan Solano / CHOlon Photography
Infinite rolling dunes from the desert to the East and rocky Pacific Ocean cliffs used by fishermen to the West converge on the site of Casa Q, creating a unique natural environment. Casa Q is the first residence built in one of the areas not yet occupied at the Beach Club Misterio, located 117 kilometers south of Lima, Peru.
© Juan Solano / CHOlon Photography
Challenging the stillness of the surroundings, Casa Q materializes the dreams of a young couple in a “floating volume†which embodies the spaces for a future family. The volume is supported by circular columns placed by intuition, as a dance, instead of forcibly in a grid. The dancing columns are accompanied by sliding glass panels that define the common area of the house; the living-dining and terrace are integrated or separated by the option to open or close the glass panels depending on social and weather conditions.
First Floor Plan
© Juan Solano / CHOlon Photography
The rest of the house – guest rooms, kitchen and services – are tastefully secluded at the back of the sloped site thus providing visual contrast with a volume of water in the front which has been unearthed for the enjoyment of swimming. Each view in the house connects to the infinite of the horizon.
© Juan Solano / CHOlon Photography
Beach House Q / Longhi Architects originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 14 Jul 2011.
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Lost Rainbow Toad Found After 87 Years
14
Jul
By Mark Brown, Wired UK
Herpetologists at Conservation International have rediscovered the exotic Sambas stream toad (aka Borneo rainbow toad, aka Ansonia latidisca) after 87 years of evasion, and released the first ever photographs of the brightly colored amphibian.
Indraneil Das of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak decided to hunt down the lost frog, and his team looked in the nearby area of Western Sarawak. In the summer of 2010 they made evening searches along the 1,329 meter high ridges of the Gunung Penrissen range to look for the toad.
After months of fruitless hunting, Das decided to include higher elevations in the team’s search. Then, one night, graduate student Pui Yong Min found the small toad two meters up a tree. Later they found another.
In the end the team had found three individuals of the missing toad species — an adult female, an adult male and a juvenile, ranging in size from 51 mm to 30 mm. All three toads exhibited those gangly limbs and the brightly colored patterns on their backs.
Talking about his team’s discovery in a press release, Das says, “They remind us that nature still holds precious secrets that we are still uncovering, which is why targeted protection and conservation is so important.â€
Robin Moore of Conservation International agrees, saying in the release, “it is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet’s escalating extinction crisis.â€
The slender-legged critter is only the second species on the “World’s Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs†list to be found. In September 2010, the Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad was rediscovered in Ecuador after 15 years of hiding. The spotty frog is sadly clinging on to survival.
The other frogs include the Costa Rican golden toad, the Australian gastric brooding frog, the Mesopotamia beaked toad from Colombia, Jackson’s climbing salamander, the African painted frog, the Venezuelan scarlet frog, the hula painted frog and the Turkestanian salamander — this hide and seek champion hasn’t been seen since 1909.
Image: Indraneil Das/Conservation International
Source: Wired.co.uk
See Also:
- Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Amphibian Species
- Native Toad Fights Back Against Yellow Crazy-Ant Invasion
- Biologists Mount Webby Amphibian Rescue Campaign
- 10 Critical Endangered-Species Battles
- New Species of Frogs Disappearing as Fast as They’re Found
- Top 10 New Species Discovered in 2010
Atheist Wins Right to Wear “Religious Pasta Strainer” in ID Photo
14
Jul
Austrian atheist Niko Alm supports the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a joke religion conjured up by atheists who say their make-believe stories are no better or worse than any traditional church's. In 2008, to make a point about his faith's sanctity compared to others, Alm asked to wear a pasta strainer on his head for his driver's license photo. Austrian citizens are only allowed to wear headgear in state IDs for religious purposes, so Alm, a Spaghetti Monster "pastafarian," argued that a colander is his "religious headgear."
This week, after avoiding Alm for three years and even making him submit to a psychiatric examination, the Austrian government caved. Alm now has a valid Austrian drivers license, complete with colander.
Score one for the freethinkers. Now who will be the first to try this on in America?
photo via Niko Alm and the BBC
Why Is Quantum Gravity So Hard? And Why Did Stalin Execute the Man Who Pioneered the Subject?
14
Jul
What is the hottest problem in fundamental physics today? Physics aficionados most probably would answer: quantum gravity. Of all the fundamental forces of nature, only gravity still stands outside the rubric of the quantum theory. The difficulty of quantizing gravity has led to radical theories such as string theory, with its bold predictions of higher space dimensions and parallel universes. It's unclear if these theories are "crazy enough to have a chance of being correct," as Niels Bohr used to say. And too few people know the dramatic early history of this field.
In fact, the field of quantum gravity was born in 1916, even before physicists had properly explained the other fundamental forces, electromagnetism and the nuclear forces. Twenty years later, a young Russian physicist by the name of Matvei Bronstein realized that gravity would be the hardest force of all to quantize. But before he could do something about that, he was swept up in Stalin’s Great Terror and executed at the age of 30.
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