Read it.

Read it.

Or maybe not.

Taste receptors in the lungs? Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have discovered that bitter taste receptors are not just located in the mouth but also in human lungs. What they learned about the role of the receptors could revolutionize the treatment of asthma and other obstructive lung diseases.

Read it.

When even the New York Times notices, then I suppose we can call it a trend.

“Don’t mention global warming,” warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. “And don’t mention Al Gore. People out here just hate him.”

Works for me.

Read it.

Read it.

Just the thing to start your day on a cheerful note.

Read it.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the custodian of the scrolls that shed light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said on Tuesday it was collaborating with Google’s research and development center in Israel to upload digitized images of the entire collection.

Advanced imaging technology will be installed in the IAA’s laboratories early next year and high-resolution images of each of the scrolls’ 30,000 fragments will be freely accessible on the Internet. The IAA conducted a pilot imaging project in 2008.

Read it.

I like him already.

China Miéville has a problem with people impersonating him on Facebook. Adding to the problem is that there’s no way he can report it without being logged in.  He’s tried. And he’s had friends report the fake profiles. They are still up.  He’s resorted to sending a paper letter to Facebook with an explanation that if things don’t change, he’ll ask people to post it.

That’s the problem with a lot of places today. You can’t get in to the site to complain about what the site is doing.

On Facebook, nobody knows you’re a dog — even if you call yourself Barack Obama.

Read it.

As online e-commerce continue to grow, the act of buying from shopping catalogs continues to decline. But Catalogs.com is hoping to change this trend by bringing its library of retail catalogs to the the iPad with a new, free app.

Read it.

A clever and interesting concept.

Read it.

Reports suggest that a battalion of US airmobile* troops in Afghanistan are to be equipped with the XM-25 computing smart-rifle, able to strike enemies hiding round corners or in trenches. A successful “proof of concept” of a guided homing bullet for use in sniper rifles has also been announced.

Read it.

I smell a major horror movie coming soon to a theater near you.

Read it.

Read it.

At last, a use for Facebook — catching stupid criminals.

Read it.

Hey — you asked for it, you got it.

Read it.

I’m curious as to how it does with pillowcases.

Do it.

John Graham-Cumming is attempting to raise funds to build a working copy of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Lend a hand.

Read it.

About fargin’ time.

Read it.

Freeberg has the goods.

The guy who threw a book at President Obama’s noggin turned out not to be a racist teabag scum, but rather, a slobbering Obama fan; one of the few remaining at this late date.

Media Blackout Time. You’ve not heard a syllable about it since.

Read it.

The underlying issue is whether, pursuant to the Chemical Weapons Convention, ratified by the Senate in 1997, Congress can criminalize any non-peacefu use of a toxic substance. Defendant argues that her particular use (to try to injure her husband’s mistress) was not within the reach of any enumerated congressional power.

A key issue in the case is this line from Tennessee Electric Power Corp. v. TVA (1939): that legal persons, “absent the states or their officers, have no standing in this suit to raise any question under the amendment.” Some lower courts have treated this as dicta but others have not.

This could be a huge step toward–or from–increasing the Constitutional constraints on Federal power. The question of standing is key: Do only the states have the ability to invoke the 10th Amendment? Or can individuals?

Read it.

You can make a mainframe from the things you find at home.

Read it.

A car that comes with an iPad as its owner manual. Is there one in Steve’s garage?

Read it.

Read it.

“Each language has its own challenges,” Barzilay agrees. “Most likely, a successful decipherment would require one to adjust the method for the peculiarities of a language.” But, she points out, the decipherment of Ugaritic took years and relied on some happy coincidences — such as the discovery of an axe that had the word “axe” written on it in Ugaritic. “The output of our system would have made the process orders of magnitude shorter,” she says.

Make the machine do the scut work, that’s my motto.

Read it.

Giving a person an electric shock can help improve their memory, scientists have discovered.

If we combine the two, perhaps people will remember where they broke that bone.

Read it.

One of Sicily’s most dangerous mafia bosses was arrested on Thursday after 15 years on the run when police found him hiding in a secret space behind a wardrobe in his wife’s luxury apartment, officials said.

Tumnus will be pissed.

Read it.

Read it.

We have posted before on how obese women have a far harder time climbing the career ladder than their slimmer female counterparts, while men actually improve their chances of reaching the corner office when they gain weight.

Now, a new study goes a step further by showing that employers seem to treat women exactly the way the fashion industry does – by rewarding very thin women with higher pay, while penalizing average-weight women with smaller paychecks. Very thin men, on the other hand, tend to get paid less than male workers of average weight. Men earn more as they pack on the pounds – all the way to the point where they become obese, when the pay trend reverses.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Read it.

In a situation where there is a drowning victim, having a boat nearby doesn’t always help. In fact, the drowning victim’s life usually hinges on the strength and accuracy of someone’s throwing arm. Here is a better way to throw a precious life-ring: shoot it with this bazooka.

Well, sort of.

Read it.

Read it.

Hurry up, before the Muslim Arabs extinguish the last remnants of the ancient Egyptian people. It could come sooner than you think.

Read it.

Hey, it could happen to anybody.

The Other McCain is on the case.

Hey, if I were Jesse Jackson, I’d be depressed, too.

Read it. And watch the video.

The Expresso Book Machine is a Truly Clever Device. It may just revolutionize the dead-tree book business — if enough vendors buy it.

Read it.

Developed over a decade by researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada, the pigs are genetically modified to better digest and process phosphorus. They don’t need phosphorus food supplements, so they are cheaper to feed. And because they release 30% to 70% less phosphorus in their waste, they’re apparently good for the environment, too. Swine waste is a significant source of pollution.

It could be a while before this little piggy goes to market. Enviropig,  which some environmentalists are already calling Frankenswine, is still under review by two Canadian regulatory agencies, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. A few months ago, another agency, Environment Canada, approved production of the animals under “containment procedures.” The FDA is still reviewing data about the pig to see if it’s safe to eat.

‘Environmentalists’ ought to be exposed for what they are — reactionaries who won’t be satisfied until we cancel the Industrial Revolution and return to the Middle Ages.

Read it.

At last — something useful on the Internet.

Read it.

The extent to which vitamin D deficiency may increase susceptibility to a wide range of diseases is dramatically highlighted in newly published research. Scientists have mapped the points at which vitamin D interacts with our DNA — and identified over two hundred genes that it directly influences.

So remember to take your vitamins.

Megan McArdle is always worth reading.

In many cases, frozen produce is superior to the industrially farmed stuff trucked a zillion miles to your house:  out of season, for example, you are better off baking with frozen fruit, which is picked ripe and flash frozen near to its source, than using “fresh” fruits which are picked green so that they can withstand the lengthy journey to your house.

Read it.

The First World War will officially end on Sunday, 92 years after the guns fell silent, when Germany pays off the last chunk of reparations imposed on it by the Allies.

Well, I’m glad that’s over.

Read it.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Read it.

Read it.

Rather an odd article to see in a computer magazine, but still worth checking out.

Not enough pictures, though.

Read it.

Works for me.

Read it.

Read it.

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

Read it.

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers often quit using products that would be beneficial for them in the long run because they experience a short period of pessimism during their initial encounter with skill-based products as varied as knitting needles and mobile devices.

Read it.

“These [floating nuclear power stations] have very good potential, creating the conditions for exploring the Arctic shelf and setting up drilling platforms to extract oil and gas,” says Sergey Zavyalov, deputy director of the operating company, Rosenergoatom.

Read it.

Read it.

That would certainly be interesting.