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One of the more outlandish-sounding startups I met in Helsinki last week was Valkee, a company that makes a device that shines lights onto your brain cells through your ear canals.

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Scientists at the Wake Forest University have created a new type of light bulb that promises to be just as efficient as LED equivalents, but without any of the drawbacks. The new field-induced polymer electroluminescent bulbs — FIPEL for short — produce light when an electric current is passed through the nano-engineered plastic layers. The team says that the new type of bulbs are malleable, allowing them to take any shape like compact fluorescent lamps. They also won’t shatter like traditional bulbs, nor will they generate the same hum or flicker.

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Knoxville, Tenn., Pittsburgh, Penn., and Dallas, Texas are the only U.S. cities that have fully recovered from the recession, according to the latest report from the Brookings Institution.

Hmm. No mention of Michigan here. Wonder why.

An Informative Chart.

Based on a thoroughgoing statistical analysis that would scare the crap out of you if you saw what they know about you.

I especially like #13: Lady from 1992 paying with check. WOMAN, IT’S A NEW CENTURY! GET A FARGIN DEBIT CARD!

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The Kuratas robot weighs in at 4 tonnes, and is 4 metres (13 feet) tall, so the pilot straps in at the head, ready to stride across the most desolate apocalyptic wasteland and do battle with combatants with equally disposable resources, though they’ll have to make do with ball-bearing guns for the moment – until the real apocalypse arrives at least.

We have the technology.

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Humanity has entered a new genetic era, according to a newly published study, with well over half the mutations found having occurred “recently”. Potentially troublesome genetic changes are particularly common among those of European heritage compared to those with African forebears, the research shows.

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A crack team of international boffins have done a “shotgun sequencing” of the wheat genome that will help increase wheat yields and thereby feed the world.

No, it won’t, because the ‘OMG THEY’RE MESSING WITH GENES WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE’ enviro-nazis will fight it tooth and nail.

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… if, of course, what you want are long-lived mice….

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How about that Global Warming, eh? Aren’t you glad that The Science Is In?

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Although this isn’t the first such assertion from archaeologists and evolutionary biologists, the new studies demonstrate that it would have been biologically implausible for humans to evolve such a large brain on a raw, vegan diet and that meat-eating was a crucial element of human evolution at least a million years before the dawn of humankind.

Guess it’s time for #OccupyScience to straighten these h8ters out….

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A large gas tanker ship is set to sail across the arctic from Europe to Japan, now possible with changing climate conditions, officials said.

The Ob River, a large tanker carrying liquefied natural gas, left Norway Nov. 7 and has sailed north of Russia on its way to Japan, using an arctic route that will take 20 days off the regular journey and have it arrive in Japan in early December, the BBC reported Sunday.

Yeah, that Global Warming means we’re all doomed, man. Bummer.

“We have studied lots of observation data — there is an observable trend that the ice conditions are becoming more and more favorable for transiting this route,” Tony Lauritzen, commercial director of the Greek company Dynagas, said. “You are able to reach a highly profitable market by saving 40 percent of the distance, that’s 40 percent less fuel used as well.”

But what about the poor stranded-on-an-ice-floe-in-the-middle-of-nowhere polar bears?

“It’s an extraordinarily interesting adventure,” he said. “The people on board have been seeing polar bears on the route. We’ve had the plans for a long time and everything has gone well.”

Oh, right, polar bear numbers are actually increasing.

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Don’t know whether this stuff is available in the U.S.

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CONFIRMATION as to how seriously some companies are taking additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing, came on November 20th when GE Aviation, part of the world’s biggest manufacturing group, bought a privately owned company called Morris Technologies. This is a small precision-engineering firm employing 130 people in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. Morris Technologies has invested heavily in 3D printing equipment and will be printing bits for a new range of jet engines.Morris Technologies uses a number of 3D printing machines, all of which work by using a digital description of an object to build it in physical form, layer by layer. Among the 3D printing technologies used by Morris Technologies is laser sintering. This involves spreading a thin layer of metallic powder onto a build platform and then fusing the material with a laser beam. The process is repeated until an object emerges. Laser sintering is capable of producing all kinds of metal parts, including components made from aerospace-grade titanium.

Chip Can Blooms Into A Bowl

The Shot Flask

How to Survive a Horror Movie

Can Grip

Finger Sporks

minibru Coffee Mug

Radiation Detecting Watch

Anti-Mosquito Air Conditioner

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A sail-powered boat has cracked 100 km/h for the first time, thanks to a ‘Wing-Sail’ designed by a British consultancy that specialises in wind turbine design.

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Finding clothes that fit just right is surprisingly tough for a sizable amount of the population, especially when shopping online. E-tailers have used everything from 3D scanners to mailable mannequins to ensure that customers find the best sizes for them, and the truly picky have probably had a friend break out a tape measure to get some exact numbers. A whole team of researchers is looking the simplify this process however, and put the power to easily get the right size at your fingertips. A group, including developers from the London College of Fashion, and experts from the University of Surrey and Guided, have come together to turn practically any camera into a virtual tape measure, including your smartphone or webcam. Since the image you capture has to be taken in your underwear, we wouldn’t suggest doing this in public, though. All you have to do is fire up the software, take the pic and punch in your height — the computer does the rest. With funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council the coalition is working to bring the system to market, with hopes of launching within the next two years.

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It sounds like something from a bad libertarian parody of government. But it turns out that the Director of the Massachusetts state highway safety agency has a long record of traffic accidents and moving violations. She apparently got the job through political connections, even though she had no relevant expert qualifications for the job.

What’s your guess — Republican? Or Democrat?

Answer: Obviously Democrat, because if she had been a Republican, it would have lead the evening news from her appointment to her inevitable resignation.

An Informative Chart.

Santa Claus and Liam Neeson: The hidden connection.

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The Chicken Little Movement suffers another disappointment. Poor babies.

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I wondered what it was. I guess that’s why none of that stuff ever happens in India.

Good to clear that up.

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And it would serve them right.

It’s actually a microfluidic chip that’s been coated with long strands of DNA, which dangle down into the bloodstream and bind to any cancerous proteins floating past — directly imitating the way a jellyfish scoops up grub in the ocean. If required, the chip can release these cells unharmed for later inspection.

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(n) An ‘accident’ that wouldn’t have happened if the perpetrator hadn’t been such an ass in the first place.

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The Los Angeles City Council has declared every Monday to be a so-called ‘meatless Monday,’ and is urging all residents to participate in the weekly day of vegetarianism.

Gee, if they became Orthodox Christians, they could have meatless Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as 40 meatless days before Easter and Christmas and a goodly stretch in the summer. But that would mean that whole religion thing, and they just couldn’t get into that. Pity.

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I guess this is the right-wing version of the standard Hollywood-blowhard threat to leave the country if [insert Republican candidate] is elected President … with about as little practical effect.

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 In a report released on Monday, the world’s foremost energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), said the US will benefit from so-called unconventional sources of oil and gas, including shale gas and shale oil, derived from blasting dense rocks apart to release the fossil fuels trapped within.

Watch enviro-nazi heads explode. This could get very entertaining.

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Like Obama? Hey, there are more where he came from….

The Other McCain has some fun with the Petraeus affair (no pun intended).

Keep in mind that Paula Broadwell is a West Point graduate who met Petraeus when she was getting a graduate degree at Harvard and yet — and yet — she was so stupidly jealous that she accidentally destroyed Petraeus’s career because of her irrational (and apparently mistaken) suspicion that the CIA director was also shagging the “social liaison” at CentCom HQ in Tampa.

Remind me of this episode the next time some Ivy League egghead starts asserting the inherent superiority of the meritocratic elite.

I’ve seen pictures of Paula Broadwell, which makes the whole thing even more incomprehensible. ‘Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?’

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I am not making this up.

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 A group of scientists from the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan set out to study how methamphetamine interacts with influenza A virus in lung cells. Previous research has suggested that chronic meth abuse makes individuals more susceptible to pathogens such as HIV. The team wanted to investigate how the drug might reduce users’ resistance to flu viruses.

I wonder whether Obamacare will cover it at government expense.

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The newly named Xenoceratops foremostensis was around 20 feet long, weighed two tons and is the oldest known large-bodied horned dinosaur from Canada. Luckily old Xeno, pieced together from fossils originally collected in 1958, was a plant-eater.

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Archaeologists in Bulgaria are chuffed today to announce that golden treasures and artifacts produced by the ancient Thracians have been discovered in a subterranean tomb complex in the north of the country.

The treasures include snake-headed bracelets, a golden crown or tiara type affair, a golden horse head and piles of smaller solid gold items including rings, statuettes and buttons. They’re thought to date from the third century BC and to have been produced by the Getae, a tribe among the ancient Thracians.

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Let that be a lesson to us all.

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Researchers have developed a genetically modified tomato that produces a certain peptide which will lower the plaque buildup in the arteries of mice. This could also work in humans.

Once again, mice get all the good stuff.

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Boffins investigating a find of ancient stone blades over 70 thousand years old argue that it was possession of advanced ranged weapons – and the organisation to make and use them – which allowed humanity to defeat its early rivals and spread out to conquer the world.

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Just in case you were thinking of doing that.

Laser-Guided Scissors

Calibrated Musical Wine Glasses

Motion-Activated Screwdriver

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Slow news day.

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An essential life skill.

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Joelle Fishman, who chairs the Connecticut chapter of Communist Party USA, has endorsed Democrat Chris Murphy for the U.S. Senate.

Writing in People’s World, Fishman praised Murphy’s votes in favor of ObamaCare, Planned Parenthood funding, and pro-union issues. Referring to Murphy’s opponent, moderate Linda McMahon, as a “tea party extremist,” Fishman accused McMahon of investing “$77 million of her own money to buy this Senate seat.” She praised Murphy for his stance on higher taxes for the rich.

Yes, there still is an American Communist Party. Failure is not an option, so they just ignore it.

We’ll let you know when next they endorse a Republican. Warning: Don’t hold your breath.

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 Archaeologists in Bulgaria believe they have discovered Europe’s oldest prehistoric town, a settlement that was founded nearly 5,000 years before the birth of Christ.

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Slow news day.

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Researchers from the Korean Institute of Science and Technology’s Center for Intelligent Robotics (CIR) have been working on a robot named CIROS to help around the house. Earlier versions were fairly life-like but this third-generation model, able to cut cucumbers and pour salad dressing, is positively Julia-Child-like.

I got yer Iron Chef, right here….

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Experimental concrete that patches up cracks by itself is to undergo outdoor testing.

The concrete contains limestone-producing bacteria, which are activated by corrosive rainwater working its way into the structure.

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Branded the Sky WiFi Smartpen, it works with proprietary physical notebooks to preserve your handwritten notes and linked audio files on a minimum of 2GB of onboard storage, and then it sends them directly to your Evernote account via WiFi — from where you can access them on pretty much any PC, tablet or smartphone. If you’re wondering a how the pen selects the right network and enters a password, then it’s actually pretty straightforward: Livescribe’s new stationery is printed with connection buttons that, in conjunction with the OLED display on the pen itself, guide you through the procedure in a few seconds. The latest notebooks also have buttons for sending your captured thoughts to Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook, although those services won’t be activated until early next year.

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It’s not easy being green.

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Oh, pick pick pick….

Adding another wild-card to the 2012 campaign’s final days, a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden has written a tell-all Washington memoir in which he lacerates the former Delaware senator as an “egomaniacal autocrat” who was “determined to manage his staff through fear.”

That’s the most positive thing I’ve heard about Biden in decades. Perhaps I’ve misjudged the man.

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

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No wonder our ancestresses decided to interbreed with them….

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Grandmothers are the secret behind humans’ living such long lives compared to our near relatives the apes, a computer simulation has revealed.