Thursday, November 1, 2007
A Do-it-yourself Out-of-body-experience: try this at home...
Video cameras can create an out-of-body sensation. Researchers had volunteers sit in front of two cameras set to film their backs. A special headset displayed the images from the left camera to the left eye and the right camera to the right eye. An experimenter then simultaneously stroked a...
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Monday, October 29, 2007
You don't like rats, bogongs or bugs, maybe you like the ortolan bunting...
Although it's been illegal in France since 1988 to capture a small songbird called the ortolan bunting, poachers still decimate its numbers in pursuit of its crunchy, hazelnut-like taste. Former French president Mitterrand feasted on the birds in 1995. They are drowned in Armagnac, roasted wit...
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Sunday, October 28, 2007
Performance of the Week: A Third Ear...
An Australian performance artist named Stelarc has had an exterior of an ear grafted onto the inside of his forearm. Made of human cartilage, the ear is intended to be a "performance of prosthetic selfhood," according to a broshure Stelarc has published. The ear does not function, but Stelarc hopes...
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Saturday, October 27, 2007
If you don't like bugs, don't go to Mars!
Insects may become the next food frontier for space cuisine. The Space Agriculture Task Force, affiliated with the Japanese space agency, is looking for ways to feed astronauts on extended missions, like on a stint to Mars. A long stay would require travelers to grow their own food, but a vegetable-...
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Thursday, October 25, 2007
If Your Doctor Wears A Tie, Change Doctors!
Neckties, those icons of medical professionalism, may be nothing more than filthy germ rags, according to the British Medical Association. Because they are rarely washed and frequently touched, neckties worn by doctors may be trailing germs into patients' wounds, the BMA says. Most notably, they may...
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Save This Date: When Girls Are Mean: Understanding Female Bullying
Boys may beat up other boys, but girls specialize in psychological warfare. On November 1, in Mississauga, Ontario [a part of Toronto, really], a workshop will be held to understand the terrors of teen queens. (Discover, November 2007) In order to reduce the risk of terror attacks, I shall stifle...
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Sunday, October 21, 2007
Just in Time for Halloween: Man Dangles Divorce Prospect Before Wife...
When Sean Jennings of Spokane, Wash., learned that his wife wanted a divorce, he invited her out to the garage to see haunted house decorations he'd set up for Halloween. He asked her if she thought a noose he'd rigged was strong enough to hold a fake skeleton, and somehow coaxed her up a ladder to...
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Saturday, October 20, 2007
At a full Moon? In any case, it will be, soon...
‘Dennis Hope, self-proclaimed Head Cheese of the Lunar Embassy, will promise you the moon, or at least part of it. Since 1980, Hope has raked in over 9 million selling acres of lunar real estate for 19.99 a pop. So far, over 4.25 million people have purchased a piece of the moon, including...
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Thursday, October 18, 2007
For people who don't like rats, there are bogongs...
A chef in Australia is promoting bogong moths, a traditional food of Aborigines, as an urban delicacy. Said to taste like hazelnuts, the moths can be separated from their wings and roasted for several minutes in an oven or reduced in a coffee grinder, then sprinkled on omelettes. Dieters beware,...
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
And speaking of rats – how’s this for a cultural revolution?
The popularity in France of the animated film Ratatouille has resulted in a new interest in rats as pets. Sales are soaring, thanks to audiences being enchanted by the film’s main character, Remy. A gratified Gerald Moreau, who leads a rat-support group, APRAC, says, “There’s no doubt it has changed...
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