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Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

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If electronics stalwart silicon and futuristic graphene had a child, it would be silicene. And silicene is growing up. A University of Texas-Austin engineer has made the first transistors from silicene, moving the material closer to its potential to create more powerful devices.

Silicene is made of an atom-thick layer of silicon that, like graphene, can move data much faster than the silicon found in current electronics. While it lacks some of graphene’s other impressive qualities and is still extremely difficult to make, researchers are interested in it because of its relationship to silicon. Modern electronics rely on a highly developed silicon-manufacturing industry. Once silicene production is more reliable, it wouldn’t be as complicated or expensive to switch to silicene as it would be to switch to graphene.

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And about time, too.

Suit Up With These 3 Pieces of Bulletproof Businesswear.

Hello Kitty Chainsaw.  I am not making this up.

Pop-Up Cardboard Furniture.

Home-Made HDTV Antenna.

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A good sign. Wish I’d done that myself.

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It was only in 2012 that Doudna, Charpentier and their colleagues offered the first demonstration of CRISPR’s potential. They crafted molecules that could enter a microbe and precisely snip its DNA at a location of the researchers’ choosing. In January 2013, the scientists went one step further: They cut out a particular piece of DNA in human cells and replaced it with another one.

In the same month, separate teams of scientists at Harvard University and the Broad Institute reported similar success with the gene-editing tool. A scientific stampede commenced, and in just the past two years, researchers have performed hundreds of experiments on CRISPR. Their results hint that the technique may fundamentally change both medicine and agriculture.

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Just about every cell in a human body has the same DNA, packaged into the same chromosomes. But cells differentiate, growing into different tissue types with different functions. The epigenome works through molecules like methyl and acetyl groups that wheedle their way into DNA, exposing different genes to the machinery that reads them and makes proteins. That helps control when or whether those proteins get made at all, and it’s also critical to that process of differentiation. “In each cell type, it unravels just the right genes,” says Brad Bernstein, a biologist at Harvard University. “It unravels just the right switches.

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A recent experiment by a team from Israel scores points against this position. Ran Hassin and colleagues used a neat visual trick called Continuous Flash Suppression to put information into participants’ minds without them becoming consciously aware of it. It might sound painful, but in reality it’s actually quite simple. The technique takes advantage of the fact that we have two eyes and our brain usually attempts to fuse the two resulting images into a single coherent view of the world. Continuous Flash Suppression uses light-bending glasses to show people different images in each eye. One eye gets a rapid succession of brightly coloured squares which are so distracting that when genuine information is presented to the other eye, the person is not immediately consciously aware of it. In fact, it can take several seconds for something that is in theory perfectly visible to reach awareness (unless you close one eye to cut out the flashing squares, then you can see the ‘suppressed’ image immediately).

Doesn’t surprise me.

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Not the sort of thing one is accustomed to seeing in National Geographic.

Soon to be a major motion picture, I have no doubt.

Steve Sailer runs the numbers.

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The Council of Europe is very unhappy that the French government won’t ban spanking. The BBC reports on a new non-binding ruling by the Council’s European Committee of Social Rights finding that France’s corporal punishment laws were “not sufficiently clear, binding and specific.” The French government was unimpressed.

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BABY Ellie Cross was born free of a genetic disease which could have claimed her life, thanks to a pioneering technique.

Her mother, Jess Fenwick, had a 50 per cent chance of passing on neurofibromatosis.

The condition causes tumours to grow along nerve endings.

Over time these can become cancerous and threaten the life of sufferers.

To prevent her much-wanted baby inheriting the disease, Jess underwent embryo selection, or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

Doctors found an embryo free from the faulty gene, fertilised it with sperm from Jess’s partner Paul Cross, 39, then implanted it in her womb.

Ear Scope. (Well, I guess you have to be Japanese….)

Glasses that block facial recognition cameras.

Anti-paparazzi clothing.

Laser-sighted blowgun. You know you want one.

Igloo-Dome Pillow.

The Bow-Tie Book.

Pen-Ultimate 7-in-1 Pen.

Paperspace Computer-in-the-Cloud.

Heated Fleece Travel Blanket. Take a look outside.

Cinder Countertop Grill.

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“Commercial hydrophobic surfaces aren’t that robust,” Yao Lu, lead author of the study, tells Popular Science. He says the materials are expensive and don’t last for very long before they become ineffective. As an alternative, Lu’s team worked with titanium dioxide nanoparticles, a material also found in sunscreen. It’s cheap and easily accessible for labs. In a study published today in the journal Science, the researchers tested the coating not only for how well it kept itself clean, but also how it handled contact with oil and damage.

To test it out, the team sprayed the nano coating onto steel, glass, cotton wool, and filter paper, and measured how well those things resisted water compared to untreated materials. Then the researchers assaulted the materials with a battery of tests, covering the surfaces with oil and dirt, even scratching it with sandpaper and knives. But the water-repelling material maintained its self-cleaning properties despite all that. The results were much more promising than most commercial self-cleaning surfaces, which often become impaired when contaminated or damaged.

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Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

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The researchers, from the University of Washington, created a synthetic material that can be injected when a person is losing a lot of blood. The material, PolySTAT, mimics the body’s enzyme Factor XIII, which helps the fibrin strands cement a blood clot. The researchers tested PolySTAT on a small amount of blood and found that it clotted much more quickly and effectively with PolySTAT; in a separate test on rats that had a major wound in an artery, the researchers found that the rats that didn’t receive an injection of PolySTAT lost 11 times more blood than did the treated rats.

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“The purpose of the Wyoming Food Freedom Act is to allow for the sale and consumption of homemade foods, and to encourage the expansion of agricultural sales by farmers markets, ranches, farms and home based producers,” the legislation states. It applies to food sales that take place directly between produer and consumer, where products are bought for home consumption, and does not apply to meat except for poulty.

The new law takes “local foods off the black market,” said Lindholm. “It will no longer be illegal to buy a lemon meringue pie from your neighbor or a jar of milk from your local farm.”

A step in the right direction.

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The Hate-Humanity eco-Nazis, of course, will be up in arms — and Washington.

Cool Brick.

The Leatherman Tread. What James Bond would wear if he drove a pickup.

Eight in One Portable Workshop.

D3Co Multi-Mat.

Battery Organizer.

Air Hockey Salt & Pepper Shakers. Relive the golden days of your youth.

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Exposure to UV light from the sun or from tanning beds can damage the DNA in melanocytes, the cells that make the melanin that gives skin its color. This damage is a major cause of skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the United States. In the past, experts believed that melanin protected the skin by blocking harmful UV light. But there was also evidence from studies suggesting that melanin was associated with skin cell damage.

In the current study, Douglas E. Brash, clinical professor of therapeutic radiology and dermatology at Yale School of Medical, and his co-authors first exposed mouse and human melanocyte cells to radiation from a UV lamp. The radiation caused a type of DNA damage known as a cyclobutane dimer (CPD), in which two DNA “letters” attach and bend the DNA, preventing the information it contains from being read correctly. To the researchers’ surprise, the melanocytes not only generated CPDs immediately but continued to do so hours after UV exposure ended. Cells without melanin generated CPDs only during the UV exposure.

I blame George W Bush.

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Essential oils often evoke thoughts of scented candles and day spas, but their benefits beyond relaxation are less well-known. Essential oils are ultimately just plant extracts—and those are used in countless cleaning and personal-care products, and are the main ingredient in some pest-control products and some over-the-counter medications, like Vick’s VapoRub and some lice sprays. They’re used in the food industry because of their preservative potency against food-borne pathogens—thanks to their antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. Various oils have also been shown to effectively treat a wide range of common health issues such as nausea and migraines, and a rapidly growing body of research is finding that they are powerful enough to kill human cancer cells of the breast, colon, mouth, skin, and more.

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These animations are outstanding.

Pain Relief Wand.

Snirt Stopper.

Time Locking Kitchen Container.

Pop & Pour Beer Mug.

Windshield Snow Tarp.

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Using photographs of the real sword to gauge the dimensions of the hilt, Anderssen modelled the shape into basic polygons before working on carving out the fine details of the intricate design. Then he sent the finished model to i.materialise to be printed in bronze. When the finished print arrived, he cleaned up the details and had the pieces gilded and fitted with wooden inserts for stability before being attached to the blade.

“The whole project has been very interesting both as a learning experience and also to be able to use processes I already knew, but with more complexity,” Anderssen said. “In contrast to the digital work on screens, this is something you can pick up, look at and use. This is something I find very rewarding.”

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Scientists, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, say they have discovered a new compound that produces proteins within the cell that look like normal antibodies, but have Y-shaped heads that act as blockers to the virus that causes AIDS.

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Scientists looking for deep sea organisms on a research cruise last month got a surprise when, instead of deep sea life, they pulled up metal balls the size of softballs. The German researchers stumbled inadvertently onto the discovery of the largest deposit of manganese nodules known to exist in the Atlantic ocean.

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The Lenborough Hoard, which consists of over 5200 coins from Anglo-Saxon times, is now on display at the British Museum. This discovery highlights the ongoing importance of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which just released its 2012 Treasure Report.

Steamship Silicone Pot Lid. No, the other kind of pot.

Maple Bacon Candle. Sweet dreams are made of this.

Preventing Eye Strain.

Cocoon Smart Home Infrasonic Detector.

Cancer-Detecting Bra.

Paverlight Solar Brick Lights.

Cold Brew Coffee Makers.

Pneumatic Porch Whistle.

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According to the regulatory review, there are no legal barriers to testing autonomous vehicles on the U.K.’s public roads today, as long as a driver is present and taking responsibility, and the vehicle complies with road traffic laws. Those doing the testing don’t need to get any certificates or permits.

You first.

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But less in the spirit of the Old West. Does tradition count for nothing these days?

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Oh, noes! They might become disillusioned with the way governmen runs other aspects of life too! The horror!

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Geez,  you’d think he was a Republican or something.

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Hey, it was in a newspaper, so it has to be true, right?

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It’s widely understood that human genetics can influence culture, but increasingly, the idea that culture can also affect genetics is gaining ground. The theory of gene-culture coevolution suggests that “the cultural practices we adopt change the costs and benefits of having certain genes,” explains Catharine Cross, a researcher at the University of St Andrews. “A gene that is advantageous under one cultural practice is not necessarily advantageous under another.”

For example, yam cultivation in West Africa led to deforestation and an increase in standing water, which creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes and malaria. This meant that yam farmers with a particular genetic resistance to malaria were more likely to survive than farmers with susceptibility to malaria. Yam farmers in the region have been found to have a higher incidence of this genetic trait than nearby groups—even speakers of the same language—who farm other crops.

Oops, sorry, I forgot that the Equality Mandate means that genes don’t count because everybody is just the same. Forget I even mentioned it.

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A recent study of the wrists of modern birds finds that a bone lost from dinosaurs for tens of millions of years reappeared when dinosaurs evolved into birds and took flight.

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As it turns out, tools were sometimes attached to manuscripts, such as a disk, dial or knob, or even a complete scientific instrument. Such ‘add-ons’ were usually mounted onto the page, extending the book’s primary function as an object that one reads, turning it into a piece of hardware.

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A new look at the human Y chromosome has overturned longstanding ideas about its evolutionary history. Far from being in a state of decay, the Y chromosome is the fastest-changing part of the human genome and is constantly renewing itself.

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Here are the ones that aren’t:

Alaska- Bill Walker (I)
California- Jerry Brown (D)
Connecticut- Dan Malloy (D)
Hawaii- David Ige (D)
Kentucky- Steve Beshear (D)
Minnesota- Mark Dayton (D)
Missouri- Jay Nixon (D)
Montana- Steve Bullock (D)
New York- Andrew Cuomo (D)
Oregon- John Kitzhaber (D)
Pennsylvania- Tom Wolf (D)
Rhode Island- Gina Raimondo (D)
Utah- Gary Herbert (R)
Virginia- Terry McAuliffe (D)
Washington- Jay Inslee (D)

Utah is the real surprise.

How to Build a Cannon That Shoots Wiffle Balls at 50MPH.

Key Chain Pry Tool.

Luna smart bed cover.

MiniDrain clip on urinal. I am not making this up.

Ceramic escape knife. One of these babies could save your life.

Shadow portable panic button.

Comfort U Body Support Pillow.

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Digesting yeast is no mean feat. Yeast surround themselves with a difficult-to-digest structure called a cell wall. Yet common gut bacteria called Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron are able to munch their way through a complex carbohydrate, called alpha-mannan, that appears in the cell walls of bread and brewer’s yeast, researchers have found. A team of biologists and chemists from research centers in Europe and the U.S. ran the study by growing different gut bacteria species in a lab and feeding them only yeast-made mannan. Those bacteria that didn’t die must have been surviving on the mannan, the team concluded. Further tests revealed the complex chemical processes the bacteria used to break down alpha-mannan, a molecule that few other micoorganisms are able to digest.

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A bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a thousand times.

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Be the first on your block to use it in the title of a hit song.

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Bill Ayers, call one of your politicians.

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A new study from Lund University in Sweden indicates that inherited viruses that are millions of years old play an important role in building up the complex networks that characterise the human brain.

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The thinking went – not so very long ago – that little by little, with the bumps of age and lifestyle, this initial stash of neurons died, taking our brain function along with them. Yet, strange as it may sound, canaries, video games, and young blood are finally putting that punishing prospect to rest. Studies involving bird song, gaming, and the rejuvenating factors of young blood have shown not only that neurons can be generated throughout adulthood, but also that the maddening aspects of aging, such as memory loss and slower processing speed, can be partially reversed.

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Somebody alert Shatner and Connery.

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According to Budweiser, a “true patriot” drinks beer from flag-embossed cans. WWE wrestling would have us believe that the spirit of the United States lies in roided-out biceps, scantily-clad women, and cut-off t-shirts. But above all else — ice cream, baseball, and hot dogs included — we take great pride in being “as American as apple pie.”

…

But there’s just one little problem with all this: apple pie really isn’t all that “American.”

I must confess that I’ve never been very fond of apple pie; mince is my favorite, with blueberry in second place, followed closely by pumpkin and cherry.

ChillTHAT! ice cream bowl.

Sectional garage doors.

Coolbox, the world’s most advanced toolbox.

Microwave bowls with handles.

SlatePro TechDesk SE. The best way to celebrate Apple’s record-breaking quarter.

Paintball bow. I am not making this up.

Three Course Electric Steamer.

Popcorn Monsoon.

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More than 25,000 early English texts from 1473-1700 have been released online to members of the public as part of a collaborative initiative led by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and the University of Michigan Library.

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Donald Fleming, a University of British Columbia chemist involved with the experiment, thought that perhaps as bromine and muonium co-mingled, they formed an intermediate structure held together by a “vibrational” bond—a bond that other chemists had posed as a theoretical possibility earlier that decade. In this scenario, the lightweight muonium atom would move rapidly between two heavy bromine atoms, “like a Ping Pong ball bouncing between two bowling balls,” Fleming says. The oscillating atom would briefly hold the two bromine atoms together and reduce the overall energy, and therefore speed, of the reaction. (With a Fleming working on a bond, you could say the atomic interaction is shaken, not stirred.)