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Subscribe to RSS FeedHow Much Sleep Do You Really Need? : Yahoo!
Sleep is one of the richest topics in science today: why we need it, why it can be hard to get, and how that affects everything from our athletic performance to our income. Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, Calif., has looked at the most important question of all. In 2002, he compared death rates among more than 1 million American adults who, as part of a study on cancer prevention, reported their average nightly amount of sleep. To many his results were surprising, but they’ve since been corroborated by similar studies in Europe and East Asia. Kripke explains.
Sedaris Bares Body and Soul in ‘Engulfed’ : NPR
Whether he’s lancing boils, getting crabs from thrift store pants or sitting in a hospital waiting room dressed only in his underwear, one thing is clear: David Sedaris is not shy about sharing those embarrassing, cringe-worthy incidents that members of the general population tend to save for diaries or therapists.
Tags: Book, David Sedaris, NPR
Why is McCain getting $58,000 a year in disability income? : Americablog
First off, I find it fascinating that John McCain, who is refusing to vote for the GI Bill for our troops because “it’s too generous,” is himself getting $58,000 a year, tax-free, from the US government for his military service. Had McCain been getting that amount every year since Vietnam, that would total $2,000,000 for the man who isn’t into overgenerous government. I just find that interesting.
Tags: Americablog, John McCain, Politics
Scientists Changing Theories About Memory : NPR
Everyone knows that frustrating feeling when something is just “on the tip of your tongue.” Like when you run into an old acquaintance on the street — you know you know the person’s name, but it just seems slightly out of your grasp.
Neuroscientists are now studying that phenomenon with brain scanners, and their research is completely changing their view of how human memory works, explains Jonah Lehrer, editor-at-large at Seed magazine and author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist.
Tags: Brain, Memory, NPR, Science
Will We Recognize the Future? : NPR
Technology is ever-changing — and changing ever faster. But what happens when the rate of technological change becomes so fast that the fundamental nature of what it means to be human changes, too?
Inventor, technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil talks with host Ira Flatow about the idea of the “singularity” — what happens when technology advances so much that it’s impossible to predict what happens next. Will artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology be able to completely reshape what it means to be human?
Tags: NPR, Ray Kurzweil
Star Trek TNG Rap (EXPLICIT LYRICS)
The guys over at Those Aren’t Muskets! have struck again, this time with a hilarious Star Trek Rap video.
Link to video
Building a Baby Earth to Test Its Magnetic Field : NPR
The compass has been around since at least the 12th century, but scientists still don’t know exactly how the Earth generates the magnetic field that keeps a compass needle pointing north.
But geophysicist Dan Lathrop is trying to find out — by building his own planet.
His latest effort at the University of Maryland towers over him, a massive stainless steel sphere that looks like a prop from some old science fiction movie. Later this year he plans to fill it with molten metal and set the whole 26-ton ball spinning. At top speed the equator will whirl by at 80 miles an hour.
“It was a little scary the first time we spun it up,” he says.
If all goes well, the planet will generate its own magnetic field.
Tags: Compass, Earth, Geophysics, NPR, Planet, Science
Model Predicts Mob Behavior : LiveScience
Scientists who want to see how a crowd behaves in an emergency can’t exactly shout “Fire!” on a city street and watch everyone panic and run. But a newly developed computer model can.
The 3-D model starts with patterns of human behavior and movement and uses them to simulate the behavior of a crowd in mob situations and pedestrian habits under certain building configurations, resulting in a virtual crowd video.
“Crowds are vital to the lifeblood of our cities,” said the model’s creator, Paul Torrens of Arizona State University. But, he adds, it is impractical “to establish live experiments with hundreds or thousands of people along busy streetscapes.”
Tags: Cognitive Science, Psychology, Social Experiment
Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered : LiveScience
Tags: Cognitive Science, Optical Illusions
25 Excellent Ajax Techniques and Examples : SixRevisions
Ajax allows for rich-internet applications that mimic the responsiveness and complex user interfaces typically associated with desktop applications. Moving applications to the web browser opens many possibilities, including the ability to save user data, connecting with other users for collaboration and sharing, and making deployment and using the application easier since web browsers are standard-issue with most computers regardless of operating system.
If you’re interested in expanding your understanding of Ajax techniques and practices, check out these 25 hand-picked Ajax articles and tutorials that outline various methods and concepts involved in the development of Ajax-based applications. Though most are geared for budding and intermediate developers, veterans might find a trick or two they haven’t encountered before.
Tags: Ajax, Web Development