“Our smorgasbord of 787 Dreamliner features and podcasts (below) shows how Boeing is revolutionizing not only large passenger jets, but the way complex machinery is conceived, designed and built. Indeed, our stories focus on the 787’s advances: a smoother ride, more comfort and 20 percent better mpg for lack of a better term. But how Boeing designed the airplane and how it will build them in volume redefine the way complex machines like the 787 will be created now and in the future…” Full Slice - a slightly less PR view of the 787 & what it suggests is ahead for the design & manufacturing of products

“…Researchers who have been sifting through dusty historical files for information on underwater currents in Puget Sound are now ready to start taking measurements of their own.

“We’ll be getting into the water at the end of the month to do some acoustic Doppler current profiling,”…” Full Slice

“Fat from the tummy or bottom could be used to grow new breasts in a treatment which could be carried out in an hour - or a lunch break. Scientists say they can create a fat mixture with concentrated stem cells, which, when injected into the breast, apparently encourages tissue to grow…it may rival silicone for those seeking bigger breasts…” Full Slice

“Human nature is one of those things that everybody talks about but no one can define precisely. Every time we fall in love, fight with our spouse, get upset about the influx of immigrants into our country, or go to church, we are, in part, behaving as a human animal with our own unique evolved nature—human nature…evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways. Our preference for sweets and fats is an evolved psychological mechanism. We do not consciously choose to like sweets and fats; they just taste good to us.

The implications of some of the ideas in this article may seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state them because they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence. Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct…” Full Slice

“…The theory offered by the economist…is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children’s exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.

What makes [researcher’s] work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.

“It is stunning how strong the association is…Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead.”…” Full Slice - and there is similar data linked to Rome`s chaotic collapse (wine stored in lead containers, drank from lead chalices etc)

“…The researchers focused on TEP1, a protein in the mosquito’s immune system. When a mosquito is infected with a parasite that causes malaria, a biochemical reaction is triggered that physically transforms TEP1 into an active state capable of grabbing on to the parasite’s surface and targeting it for termination. In a study…the…group used a method called X-ray crystallography to uncover TEP1’s three-dimensional structure. They found that the genetic differences between mosquitoes that are resistant and those that are susceptible to the parasite mostly manifest in a region of the TEP1 protein dubbed “the warhead,” the portion that grabs the malarial parasite…” Full Slice

‘A Norwegian hacker who gained notoriety by breaking the copy-protection code on DVDs said he can activate Apple Inc.’s iPhone without using AT&T Inc.’s service.

“I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to AT&T,” Jon Lech Johansen, 23, wrote in a post Tuesday on his blog So Sue Me (Wadical note: Not sure why they call his blog So Sue Me).

“The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and Wi-Fi work. Stay tuned!”‘ Full Slice

“The US Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) recently successfully completed a 100-hour long demonstration of a sulfur dioxide depolarized electrolyzer (SDE)…The demonstration, which showed that the electrolyzer can successfully operate continuously without significant loss of performance, represents a milestone in the development of an efficient, economical process for generating large quantities of hydrogen using advanced nuclear reactors… Full Slice

“Orbo is the brand name of our free energy technology. Orbo is a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy. It can be applied to power products ranging from portable music players to cars.”

http://www.steorn.com/

No comment - cran.

A little over dramatic perhaps but, all in all, not a bad idea

“The hunt for extraterrestrial life should be dramatically expanded, a panel of scientists convened by the country’s leading scientific advisory group said today, to include what they call “weird life,” organisms that lack DNA or other molecules found in life as we know it.

“The committee’s investigation makes clear that life is possible in forms different from those on Earth,”…” Full Slice

“NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed for the first time surface details of Saturn’s moon Hyperion, including cup-like craters filled with hydrocarbons that may indicate more widespread presence in our solar system of basic chemicals necessary for life…Water and carbon dioxide ices were found, as well as dark material that fits the spectral profile of hydrocarbons…” Full Slice

“Although the discrepancy is not large, it is significant: Geodesists…have remeasured the size of the Earth in a long lasting international cooperation project. The blue planet is accordingly some millimeters smaller than up to now assumed. The results are important, for example, to be able to demonstrate a climate contingent rise in sea level…” Full Slice

I want there to be a character named Bewas Gowent. Being of four stems but two meanings, Bewas, whacked out by the act of existing, nevertheless is of the most common and memorable class. English mentation, obviously, drives Gowent’s consciousness.

The iRobot Create is a nifty robot base similar to the iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner. The Create has hard points for mounting additional equipment, the array of Roomba sensors, a breakout panel with pins for extra sensors and motors and a serial port (both TTL and RS232).

http://i-borg.engr.ou.edu/~dmiller/create/

“… The Darwin fish, a spoof of the fish-shaped Christian symbol, first set foot on dry land in the 1980s as an emblem of atheism. Much like finches flitting from island to island, the Darwin fish quickly spread from leaflets and flyers to t-shirts, bumper stickers and ultimately its most famous format, car plaques. To say the fish has evolved since its inception is an understatement. Today, the pantheon of pisces ranges from the religious to the punny to the downright geeky…” Full Slice