Ever send a bottle of wine back at a restaurant? If you weren’t just being a pretentious snob, then it was probably because the wine seemed “corked”—had a musty odor and didn’t taste quite right. Most likely, the wine was contaminated with a molecule called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the main cause of cork taint. But a Read more about Corked Wine Plugs Up Your Nose[…]

This study goes in depth about why people are quitting social networking sites and finds some interesting conclusions http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2012.0323

According to Gina Kolata in the New York Times, The Institute of Education Sciences in the Department of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, has supported 175 randomized controlled studies, like the studies used in medicine, to find out what works and doesn’t work, which are reported in the What Works Clearinghouse. Surprisingly, the choice of Read more about Scientific evidence of what works in education often ignored[…]

Strange one, this Synchronized virtual reality heartbeat triggers out-of-body experiences.

Nijmegen researchers can use an fMRI to replicate what letter you’re looking at. Computer can read letters directly from the brain – Radboud University.

It turns out that not much correlates with how good a candidate will be, especially at leadership. Test scores (eg GPA’s) and brainteaser questions are especially worthless for finding out how someone will do at an interview. In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal – NYTimes.com.

The NY Times ran a story about a new technology past 1000 + people. Some got to see itmwith civil comments, others with rude comments. The peoplemwho read the rude comments became more polarised against the new tech and also reinterpreted the article to be more negative. nyt

the reg

So how is DNA data stored? It turns out that it’s easily reverse solvable using just the web. Governments don’t have a particularly good track record when it comes down to protecting databases. Do you really want your government holding on to your DNA? Search of DNA Sequences Reveals Full Identities – NYTimes.com.

Researchers in Canada have found a correlation between air pollution and people’s happiness. Their deep analysis, reported in the latest issue of the International Journal of Green Economics, suggests that air pollution may lead to unhappiness while the converse is also true, the unhappier the citizens of a country the more air pollution. via Pollution Read more about Pollution makes Europeans unhappy[…]

I’m a big fan of roundabouts, they’ve allways seemed to me to improve traffic flow no end and reduce driver frustration. It turns out I was right! Transportation research finds roundabouts are the way to go for drivers of any age.

Swissotel hotels and restaurants has put this online. Useful! The Ultimate Guide to Worldwide Etiquette.

They have managed to grow rat and human cells over a scaffolding of nanowires and transistors wrapped in collagen. So far they use the wiring to monitor data, such as the contractions of the cells, but it’s imaginable that they will use it to send impulses to the cells too. Harvard creates cyborg flesh that’s Read more about Harvard creates cyborg flesh[…]

It looks like English and German made it to Europe starting in Anatolya, Turkey. Using a method used to track the spread of virusses strong evidence was found that the spread of language and genetic markers matched the spread from Turkey. Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family.

This is an incredible story of a commercial neuroscience application being used to analyse images at the rate of 20 per second in order to pre screen them by sorting the chaff from the wheat. The brain can regonise and analyse images at that rate and spikes in electrical activity 300 milliseconds after seeing the Read more about Using EEG for incredibly rapid human image processing[…]

These glasses can show where your veins run, and shade your hemoglobin levels to show the affective state a person is in. These Awesome Glasses Will Make Your Veins Glow So Nurses Won't Have to Keep Stabbing You.

Here is a theory that says that some fraud perpetrators are not actually evil, but they don’t see that they are being evil, depending on the frame of mind they are put into. Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things : NPR.

It turns out that not only is it a massive privacy invasion, but has a 20% (!!) error rate. Besides that it’s useless, because no border guard system can read the fingerprints on the passport. Tweede Kamer wil af van vingerafdruk in paspoort – update | Webwereld.

Eating chocolate often makes you thin! Arch Intern Med — Association Between More Frequent Chocolate Consumption and Lower Body Mass Index, March 26, 2012, Golomb et al. 172 6: 519.

tissue in bald areas has three times the concentration of a fatty compound called Prostaglandin—PGD2 to its buddies. The research is published in Science Transnational Medicine. Fortunately, there are already 10 drugs available that can block the receptor that allows PGD2 to work—which means it shouldn’t be too long before a baldness treatment, in the Read more about Scientists Have Worked Out How to Stop You Going Bald[…]

This thing replaces the wheelchair entirely. It’s Turkish engineering and costs $15,000. It allows wheelchair users a whole new amount of freedom. What is Tek RMD from Tek RMC on Vimeo. Tek RMD – Robotic Mobilization Device |.

This site has around 2800 videos teaching you all kinds of subjects, allowing you to learn about almost everything for free as well as practice excercises. It’s quite impressive. Khan Academy.

Asthma rate and costs from traffic-related air pollution are much higher than once believed.