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 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 half man, half machine | ExtremeTech.

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 images (the P300 response) indicate whether the images contain what you’re looking for.

From Bench to Bunker – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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 form of a cream or ointment, is available.

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.

They can use the maths to predict fairly well when and where a serial killer will strike again.

Scientists Uncover The Mathematics Of Serial Killers – Forbes.

Being able to breathe is a big issue and unfortunately the pollution levels in our cities is so high that going out for a run or cycling is more harmful than the health benefits.

So to counter this, there are a few filters available.

Pollution China has a nice article on how to choose the right facemask from Respro.

This is the sport mask, but there are many different products offering different protections and comforts.
Respro: Sports & Leisure – Cycling – Sportsta Mask.

Sanspira also offers nasal filters which are much much smaller but obviously don’t offer much in the way of filtration when breathing through the mouth. here

here

This running technique has helped people become the fastest runners in the world and gets rid of injuries. It’s based on landing on the balls of your feet, not heels.

The Once and Future Way to Run – NYTimes.com.

The genetics of happiness: Transporter of delight | The Economist.

The quest to build the perfect lie detector – Neuroscience – Salon.com.

An interesting article who’s main premise is that feminists thought being a man was better because they were all over the place in top jobs, but forgot that men were also all over the bottom of society (in jail, being junkies, etc). Now there’s a load of anti-man / men are worse than women literature out because women are comparing themselves to the men at the bottom of the food chain.

Is There Anything Good About Men.