ANIMALS - Dolphin Detected Woman's Cancer?
A news story about a woman who swam with dolphins and was somehow inspired to visit a doctor who identified a cancer tumor, has speculated a dolphin might have helped. A Panama City Beach, Florida woman went on a dolphin cruise and once in the water with about 15 dolphins something strange happened. One male dolphin stayed near her and even bumped her. Then it did a flip in front of her.Image Credit: Henry A-W, Wiki CommonsShe told the dolph ...
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/17/dolphin-detected-womans-can
ANIMALS - Fish Species Moving North Due To Climate Change
University of British Columbia scientist William Cheung has documented a gradual shifting of some fish species further north than their typical ranges. Some tropical commercial species are being found by fishing boats in waters near New England. Ocean water in the tropics is becoming too warm due to climate change, so they are seeking cooler places.Image Credit: Public DomainIf tropical waters continue to increase in temperature, habitat for ...
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/15/fish-species-moving-north-d
ANIMALS - Honeybees trained in Croatia to find land mines
(AP)-Mirjana Filipovic is still haunted by the land mine blast that killed her boyfriend and blew off her left leg while on a fishing trip nearly a decade ago. It happened in a field that was supposedly de-mined ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-05-honeybees-croatia.htm
ANIMALS - Some of the World's Rarest (and Strangest) Creatures
The world is full of wonders that few humans have ever seen. Even now, with the human race spreading across the planet and occupying every corner of the globe, there are living creatures so unusual, that few have laid eyes on them. Here are some of the most uncanny.Laotian Rock Rat (Laonastes aenigmamus), the living fossilThe biologists thought this creature had gone extinct at least 11 million years ago, but in 1996 some specimens were found for ...
http://io9.com/some-of-the-worlds-rarest-and-strangest-creat
ANIMALS - State-of-the-art 19th-century torpedo was discovered by Navy dolphins
In the late 19th century, the Howell torpedo was an incredibly advanced piece of military equipment, a breakthrough device in the United States' quest to achieve naval dominance. But only one surviving Howell torpedo was known to exist-until Navy dolphins nosed up another.The US Navy employs bottlenose dolphins to locate underwater military equipment that can't yet be detected by machines. Using their sonar, the dolphins search for objects-usuall ...
http://io9.com/state-of-the-art-19th-century-torpedo-was-dis
ART - Spirit Foxes and Raunchy Demons in Japanese Netsuke Art
Japanese carved figurines, called netsuke, weren't just cool works of art - they served a practical purpose as wardrobe accessories. A well-dressed Japanese man prior to the twentieth century could display his wealth and taste, with beautiful and intricate carvings of demons and cavorting spirits.Traditional Japanese clothing lacked pockets but a man still needed to carry around his pipe, family seal and other necessities. The answer was to hang ...
http://io9.com/spirit-foxes-and-raunchy-demons-in-japanese-n
ART - The Unexpected Artwork of Physicist Richard Feynman
In addition to being a world-renowned physicist, Richard Feynman was also an amateur artist, one who was fascinated by the power of lines and forms. He felt that his appreciation of art was deeply connected to his love of physics, representing an appreciation of the complexity and beauty of the world.Brain Pickings has a great collection of Feynman's art, and cites this paragraph from his essay "But Is It Art?" which appears in Sure ...
http://io9.com/the-unexpected-artwork-of-physicist-richard-f
BOOKS - Illinois Library Embraces Crowdfunding To Bring Its Patrons A 3D Printer (And A Giant Hulk Statue)
Retooling the traditional public library for a more technically savvy populace is no small feat, especially when library budgets across the U.S. have been gutted these past few years. That sad state of events has forced some libraries to take matters into their own hands. Consider the case of the Northlake Public Library in Northlake, Illinois - it wants to give its community (and especially the town's children) access to a slew of new digital cr ...
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/19/illinois-library-embraces-c
BOOKS - Leaked Memo Shows Barnes & Noble Bringing Web Browser And Email To Simple Touch eReaders In June
An upcoming update will bring a web browser, email and update store app to Barnes & Noble's super affordable Nook Simple Touch line of e-readers, which will begin rolling out June 1 according to a source close to the matter who wishes to remain anonymous. The 1.5.0 update was created in response to the positive critical and customer response to the recent Nook tablet update that brought Google Play to B&N's Android-powered devices.The Noo ...
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/19/leaked-memo-shows-barnes-no
CLIMATE - 97% Of Research Papers Say Global Warming Is Manmade
A recent study of research papers published from 1991 to 2011 that took a view on human-related climate change found 97% of them were agreement that humans are a factor. The study was published in Environmental Research Letters, Volume 8, Number 2.Image Credit: Public DomainA large team of researchers made up the study group, which had affiliations with quite a number of organizations, such as the University of Queensland, Australia, the Sch ...
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/16/97-of-research-papers-say-g
CLIMATE - Become fluent in the vocabulary of solar flares and space weather
With all the exciting solar activity lately, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shared this helpful tutorial about the vocabulary of space weather on their Facebook page. Now you can tell your CMEs apart from your solar flares ...
http://io9.com/become-fluent-in-the-vocabulary-of-solar-flar
CLIMATE - Climate Change Consensus Tracked
A new study finds near-unanimity among climate scientists: humans are causing global warming. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/strong-scient
CLIMATE - GPS Could Provide Fast Local Tsunami Warning
Using satellite data, scientists might be able to give people faster warning of tsunamis. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/gps-could-provide-tsu
CLIMATE - If you've ever wondered what a tornado looks like on radar
This is easily the clearest and most defined example of a tornado on radar that I've come across. This is from the tornado in Oklahoma that struck Carney not long ago. Started out smallish and grew into a mile-wide wedge shaped tornado.Photo is from DFW Scanne ...
http://observationdeck.io9.com/if-youve-ever-wondered-what-a
CLIMATE - Melting Glaciers: Photos
Goodbye, glaciers. These rivers of ice are melting worldwide ...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/melting-glaci
EARTH - Check out this cool (and detailed) geological map of Skyrim
A scientist has set out to create a geological map of Skyrim. It's kind of rough at this point, she admits, but it's still pretty awesome.One of the big time sucks - one of MANY - in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is upgrading your equipment. To do this, you need to acquire the raw materials, such as iron, silver and malachite. Granted, you could easily buy all this stuff from one of the vendors scattered throughout the land, but you could also be a bit ...
http://io9.com/check-out-this-cool-and-detailed-geological-m
EARTH - Green Gold: Cornstarch Makes Mining Less Toxic
A new chemical process based on corn starch may make future gold mines greener. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/green-gold-cornstarch-makes-
EARTH - Saudi Woman Climbs Everest in First
A Saudi woman, Raha Muharraq, on Saturday reached the summit of Everest, the world's highest peak, in a first for the conservative Muslim kingdom where women's sports are severely restricted ...
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/extreme-sports/saudi-wom
EARTH - Swirling Waters Seen From Space
Ka-pow! If phytoplankton could make noise, this is what they might sound like off the coast of France this spring. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/swirling-waters-from-
EARTH - Volcanoes Erupting Around the World
Volcanoes are rumbling in both the Arctic and the tropics of North America, while other eruptions continue on an Italian island and in the frozen tundra of Russia. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/volcanoes-erupt-in-alaska-me
ECONOMICS - How Big Companies Are Feeling Their Way Into The Internet Of Everything
By Kevin Mane ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2013/05/17/how-big-com
ECONOMICS - South Korea May Launch World's Most Ambitious Cap And Trade Market
With roughly 18 months until launch, South Korea appears ready to create the world's most ambitious cap and trade market, with the highest global price on carbon.South Korea historical and forecast emissions image via BNEFThese findings jump from a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) white paper analyzing how potential market designs could affect the nation's carbon price and market efficiency, and are a reminder that global cap and trade co .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/18/south-korea-may-launch-w
ECONOMICS - Worker-Owned Window Factory Opens for Business
When 250 workers were laid off by what was then called Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago, they arranged a sit-in to protest violations against their union agreements. The second time it happened, they decided to purchase the now-bankrupt company and operate it themselves. The new company is a worker-owned co-operative called New Era Windows, which opens for business today.Interested?How Workers Laid Off from a Chicago Factory Took It Over The ...
http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/worker-owned-window-f
EDUCATION - An Interactive Map of Regional American Accents, With Audio
This is the culmination of Rick Aschmann's years-long "hobby" of collecting dialects. It's a comprehensive and detailed map of the dialects (and sub-dialects!) of English-speakers in Canada and the United States. While the work of many years, the map was updated on April 17, 2003, and surged in popularity shortly thereafter. This map is cropped due to size, but the full sized one is belowAschmann's site is a veritable font of ...
http://io9.com/an-interactive-map-of-regional-american-accen
EDUCATION - DNews: Is IQ a Good Measure of Intelligence?
Much is made of a person's IQ score. But is there really anything to that number? Laci looks at what a high IQ really means, and why some say the test shoul ...
http://news.discovery.com/videos/is-iq-a-good-measure-of-int
ENERGY - Billionaire Returns To The Iraqi Oil Game With New IPO
After five years, Jean Claude Gandur is back in the game. The Swiss billionaire made the bulk of his $2.1 billion fortune (as of Forbes' last count) selling publicly traded Addax Petroleum to Sinopec in 2008 for $7.2 billion. And this week he finally returned to the public markets, bringing in $250 million through the initial public offering of 17% of the company's shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Debuting at C$15, shares in OXC curr ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/05/17/bil
ENERGY - Opinion: CO2 credits: The ultimate rebate?
Filed under: Government/Legal, Earnings/Financials, Tesla, ElectricTime For Buyers To Have Some Skin In The EV Game Politicians know that $8- or $9-a-gallon gas like in Europe would end their careers.The back-and-forth between those writing the fuel economy rules and auto manufacturers is designed to see how far the CO2 regulations can be pushed without inconveniencing the general public.Rather than taxing fuel like they do in Europe to encourage ...
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/19/co2-credits-the-ultimate-
ENERGY - Strategies to achieve net-zero energy homes
Chances are you know how many miles your car logs for each gallon or tankful of gas, but you probably have only a foggy idea of how much energy your house consumes, even though home energy expenditures often account for a larger share of the household budget ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130515165053.ht
ENERGY - The New Yorker's Epic Fail On Innovation
The New Yorker's Epic Fail On Innovation: It confuses innovation with invention and misses the emergence of the Creative Econom ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/05/19/the-new-
ENERGY - U.S. Now One Step Closer To Being Net Natural Gas Exporter
Exporting natural gas just got easier. This afternoon, the Department of Energy approved the second application for a facility to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide. Today's approval to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day goes to Freeport LNG Expansion, on Quintana Island in Texas, for 25 years. The approval process now moves to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (FERC), so the company is not in the clear y ...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/17/2026961/us-now-o
HOMES - Fisherman's home turned into ultra-modern 753 sq. ft. transformer apartment (Video)
This small-but-dynamic, renovated apartment in Barcelona takes its design cues from boat design and hides some delightful surprises ...
http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/ultra-modern-75
MUSIC - Don't Ask An Economist For Stock-Picking Advice
OVER the last few weeks, as the stock market has reached new highs, my thoughts have turned to my 85-year-old mother. "O.K. Mr. Smarty-Pants," she often asks me, "what stock should I buy now?" She first asked me this question when I was an undergraduate at Princeton, majoring in economics. She asked again when I was a graduate student at M.I.T., earning a Ph.D. in economics. And she has asked it regularly during the last three decades when I have ...
http://www-nc.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/business/for-stock-pick
MUSIC - Learn the Periodic Table of Elements with this handy song
Whether you need to brush up on your chemistry, or just love it when someone sets the Periodic Table to music, AsapSCIENCE's The NEW Periodic Table Song is for you.This rundown of the elements in numerical order is set to Jacques Offenbach's Infernal Galop, but was otherwise written, produced, and performed by Mitchell Moffit. Here are the lyrics in case you missed anything:There's Hydrogen and Helium Then Lithium, Beryllium Boron, Carbon everyw ...
http://io9.com/learn-the-periodic-table-of-elements-with-thi
PEOPLE - 2013's Top 20 Billionaires
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fjgl45ehk/carlos-slim-helu
PEOPLE - 30 under 30: Media
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeji45ehekd/erica-anderson-28
PEOPLE - The science that discredited the "sons" of Marie Antoinette
For most modern people, the story of Marie Antoinette ends with her death. For some, though, it didn't end until 1998, when one of the most credible pretenders to the throne of France was, posthumously, discredited. See how genetics solved a 200-year-old mystery.Marie Antoinette's story has become a sort of legend. Whether it's imagined as the martyrdom of a powerless pawn or the comeuppance of a callous plutocrat, it has both the perfect stag ...
http://io9.com/the-science-that-discredited-the-sons-of-mari
PEOPLE - Victorian Era Brits Were Smarter Than Us
The average intelligence level of Victorian-era individuals was higher than that of people today, according to a new study. Continue reading ↠...
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/victorian-era-brit
PLANTS - Beautiful 'flowers' self-assemble in a beaker
With the hand of nature trained on a beaker of chemical fluid, the most delicate flower structures have been formed in a laboratory -- and not at the scale of inches, but microns. These minuscule sculptures, curved and delicate, don't resemble the cubic or jagged forms normally associated with crystals, though that's what they are. Rather, fields of carnations and marigolds seem to bloom from the surface of a submerged glass slide, assembling the ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130516142218.ht
SCIENCE - Learn the Periodic Table of Elements with this handy song
Whether you need to brush up on your chemistry, or just love it when someone sets the Periodic Table to music, AsapSCIENCE's The NEW Periodic Table Song is for you.This rundown of the elements in numerical order is set to Jacques Offenbach's Infernal Galop, but was otherwise written, produced, and performed by Mitchell Moffit. Here are the lyrics in case you missed anything:There's Hydrogen and Helium Then Lithium, Beryllium Boron, Carbon everyw ...
http://io9.com/learn-the-periodic-table-of-elements-with-thi
SCIENCE - Long-Predicted Fractal Energy Pattern Observed For First Time By Physicists
Hofstadter's butterfly in color. The horizontal axis is the energy (or chemical potential) and the vertical axis is the magnetic flux through the unit cell. The warm and cold colors represent positive and negative values of Hall conductance, respectively (image credit: Mytomi)Forty years ago, a mysterious and beautiful "butterfly-shaped" magnetic energy pattern was theorized by famed physicist and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Douglas Hofsta ...
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/15/long-predicted-fractal-ener
SOLAR - Fluorescent Solar Cells The Future?
This article was originally published on the Yale News website.Scientists at Yale have improved the ability of a promising type of solar cell to absorb light and convert it into electrical power by adding a fluorescent organic dye to the cell layer. (Image by Teng-Hooi Goh and Jing-Shun Huang)For some solar cells, the future may be fluorescent.Scientists at Yale have improved the ability of a promising type of solar cell to absorb light and .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/19/fluorescent-solar-cells-
SPACE - The records for the greatest distances driven on Mars and the Moon
Yesterday's 263-foot drive by the NASA's Opportunity put Mars Rover's total distance driven at 35.76 km, breaking the 40-year-old record for the greatest distance driven by a NASA vehicle on another celestial body. But Opportunity still hasn't quite beaten the record set by the USSR's Lunokhod 2.The Apollo 17 Lunar Rover was NASA's previous record-holder, clocking in at 35.74 km driven on the surface of the moon. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory ...
http://io9.com/the-records-for-the-greatest-distances-driven
SPACE - Venus, Jupiter and Mercury Will Dance on May 28
Later this month, three planets will gather very close in the twilight sky -- make sure you don't miss this stunning conjunction ...
http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/venus-jupiter-merc
URBAN - Adding a hairy coat to a building to capture wind power
Looking for an alternative to turbines for capturing wind energy, Belatchew Arkitekter has proposed adding a hairy addition to Stockholm's Söder Torn. It would serve as more than an architectural toupee, capturing energy through the movement of all those tiny straws.Söder Torn was originally designed to stand 40 stories tall, but when it was completed in 1997, it housed just 26 stories. Belatchew Arkitekter's aptly titled "Strawscraper&quo ...
http://io9.com/adding-a-hairy-coat-to-a-building-to-capture-
URBAN - Idiot Construction Crew Demolishes 2,300-year-old Maya Pyramid
An investigation is now underway after one of the largest Maya pyramids in Belize was bulldozed to extract materials for a road project. Stuff like this drives me batty: The Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Belize is freaking out after the the Nohmul Complex was destroyed by construction workers to extract crushed rock for a road project. It's now investigating to find out how it happened, calling the wrecking of the ceremonial center " ...
http://io9.com/idiot-construction-crew-demolishes-2-300-year
WATER - China Just Endorsed Construction Of Its Biggest Hydropower Dam Yet
Reuters reported on Wednesday that China's environmental ministry has okayed the construction of a new hydroelectric dam on the Dadu River in the Sichuan province, which when completed will be the country's largest. China's energy mix was 9.4 percent renewable as of 2011, and the Sichuan project is part of the country's effort to boost itself to 15 percent by 2020. Hydroelectric power is anticipated to make up most of that increase. The environme ...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/19/2033061/china-ju
WATER - Insecticides Cause Slow Starvation In Aquatic Organisms, Discovery Shows Limits Of Conventional Toxicity Tests
A very commonly used insecticide, imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid), has now been found by new research to be extremely toxic to aquatic organisms, often leading to their death. It's very important to note that the "slow starvation" caused by the insecticide is undetectable by conventional toxicity tests, which are done on a much shorter time frame than the new research was. Which means that many chemicals which are now considered to be "non-to ...
http://planetsave.com/2013/05/16/insecticides-cause-slow-sta
WATER - Lakes Are Loaded With Chemicals, Even Cocaine
A systematic sampling of lakes around Minnesota turned up a wide variety of chemicals, including DEET, BPA, prescription drugs and cocaine ...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/lakes-are-full-of-chemicals-
WIND - Engineers design, test taller, high-strength concrete towers for wind turbines
Engineers have designed and tested a concept for concrete towers to replace the steel towers used for wind turbines. The concrete towers could be a practical way to raise turbine towers from today's 80 meters to the better winds at 100 meters or higher ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130515094800.ht