The Fringe Report

There's a dead sea monster in South Carolina

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:25:57 -0400

There's a dead sea monster in South Carolina

Innerspace: DNA robots target cancer cells.

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:25:58 -0500

Innerspace: DNA robots target cancer cells.:

Scientists have developed and tested a “DNA robot” that delivers payloads such as drug molecules to specific cells.

The container was made using a method called “DNA origami”, in which long DNA chains are folded in a prescribed way.

Then, so-called aptamers - which can recognise specific cell types - were used to lock the barrel-shaped robot.

Coming Soon: Google made heads-up display glasses.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:59:06 -0500

Coming Soon: Google made heads-up display glasses.:

Just a head's up: Your car may be spying on you.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:38:03 -0500

Just a head's up: Your car may be spying on you.

Photo

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:16:05 -0500

The science of ponytails.

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:36:39 -0500

The science of ponytails.:

Resistance Is Futile: Bacteria are taking over!

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:23:00 -0500

Resistance Is Futile: Bacteria are taking over!

Major Breakthrough: Science Says "Vodka Delivers Shot Of Creativity"

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:35:19 -0500

Major Breakthrough: Science Says "Vodka Delivers Shot Of Creativity":

Science has indeed caught up with reality.

Men Get it. Women Don't. (In Space.)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:25:27 -0500

Men Get it. Women Don't. (In Space.):

Because when Barratt blasted off to the international space station, he needed eyeglasses for distance. When he returned to Earth, his distance vision was fine, but he needed reading glasses. That was more than two years ago. And he’s not getting better.

“We really need to understand this. This is a critical point for understanding how humans adapt to spaceflight,” he said.

In the past few years, about half of the astronauts aboard the international space station have developed an increasing pressure inside their heads, an intracranial pressure that reshapes their optic nerve, causing a significant shift in the eyesight of male astronauts. Doctors call it papilledema.

Female space travelers have not been affected.

Shhhhhh: Whales 'Stressed By Ocean Noise'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:17:01 -0500

Shhhhhh: Whales 'Stressed By Ocean Noise':

Ships’ propellers emit sound in the same frequency range that some whales use for communicating, and previous studies have shown the whales change their calling patterns in noisy places.

Now, researchers have measured stress hormones in whale faeces, and found they rose with the density of shipping.

There’s only one man who can help these whales now…

Video: Skydiver To Jump From Space

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:00:25 -0500

Video: Skydiver To Jump From Space

Troops Could Control Guns With Their Minds

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:38:31 -0500

Troops Could Control Guns With Their Minds

Google Earth Update Erases Underwater 'Atlantis' Error

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:26:00 -0500

Google Earth Update Erases Underwater 'Atlantis' Error:

If you want to believe their explanation for deletion, be my guest.

Nosebleed? Try Bacon

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:50:23 -0500

Nosebleed? Try Bacon:

“Cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae … To our knowledge, this represents the first description of nasal packing with strips of cured pork for treatment of life-threatening hemorrhage in a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia.”

FTW: Virtual Reality Contact Lenses

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:38:17 -0500

FTW: Virtual Reality Contact Lenses:

Contact lenses which focus 3D screens directly into people’s eyeballs could be on sale as early as 2014, says U.S. company Innovega.

The tiny ‘screens’ sit directly on users’ eyeballs and work with a pair of lightweight glasses with a built-in translucent screen.

The experience is equivalent to a 240-inch television viewed at a distance of 10 feet, says Innovega’s CEO Steve Willey.

Video: Sheep-Herding Bunny

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:11:52 -0500

Yes, this is for real:

It's Coming: New York-Size Iceberg

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:05:02 -0500

It's Coming: New York-Size Iceberg:

With a gargantuan crack slowly splitting it apart, Antarctica’s fastest-melting glacier is about to lose a chunk of ice larger than all of New York City, scientists say.

The crevasse stretches 19 miles (30 kilometers) long and up to 260 feet (80 meters) wide, as shown in a picture taken by NASA’s Terra satellite in Octoberand featured this week as a NASA Image of the Day.

Snaking across the floating tongue of the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, the crack is expected to create an iceberg 350 square miles (907 square kilometers)—versus 303 square miles (785 square kilometers) for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx combined, according to NASA.

As for when the iceberg might shove off, “that is very difficult to predict,” said oceanographer Eric Rignot of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “but in the coming months for sure.”

Domo Arigato: The Science Behind What Makes A Hit Song

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:43:24 -0500

Domo Arigato: The Science Behind What Makes A Hit Song:

The anatomy of a hit song has remained a mystery to researchers looking to dissect what makes some songs soar to the top of the charts and others land with an embarrassing flop.

Thus far, figuring out what qualities may link very different anthems — say, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” — has been more a matter of alchemy than science.

Now European researchers are challenging that notion. Using 50 years’ worth of hit songs on Britain’s top 40 charts, they’ve come up with a computer program that can predict whether a song will catch fire on the airwaves or fizzle out.

Shocker: Mars Surface Inhabitable

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:10:56 -0500

Shocker: Mars Surface Inhabitable:

But seriously, we all know martians live UNDERGROUND…

Do Not Taunt The Quadrotors

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:34:47 -0500

Do Not Taunt The Quadrotors:

Also, check out this video if you’re not scared yet.