The $1,000 Genome, and the New Problem of Having Too Much Information | Popular Science

What a profound sign of the times:
"Soon the price of sequencing will fall below the cost of storing the data it generates."

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-02/1000-genome-medicine-has-new-problem-too-much-information

With New Standard, Wi-Fi Could Become As Widespread As Cellular | Popular Science

http://m.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-02/wi-fi-could-become-widespread-cellular

Looking forward to widespread free wifi without continually signing in!
-Tom.

Critique of Googles revamped privacy policy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2091508/Google-privacy-policy-Search-giant-know-partner.html

-Tom.

Popular Science: How We're Creating "Terminator Vision" in Your Future Contact Lenses

How We're Creating "Terminator Vision" in Your Future Contact Lenses

Terminator Vision "We made a lens that displays a single pixel that can be turned on and off wirelessly. An integrated circuit stores the energy, and ...

Source: http://goo.gl/mag/Ntw3B

Shared via Google Currents

-Tom. 

World's Largest Rope Swing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B36Lr0Unp4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-Tom.

Zorbing - Rolling inside a giant plastic ball

Looks like fun. Especially when you add water inside the ball.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG3pgV8Crzk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yji-QGQ-gZw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-Tom.

SkyWalk & SkyJump

The cable reel connects to a fan that slows down the descent, like those exercise bikes with a big fan. Near the end of the drop, a gear change spins the fan faster for a soft landing. As described in Popular Science Feb 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJGC9UizwM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-Tom.

World's first manned flight with an electric multicopter

Manned flight on a huge 16-rotor multicopter. Looks remarkably stable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L75ESD9PBOw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-Tom.

Study Finds Elders Improve Health By Volunteering

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=e8f448d52349a159739ca083b611835c

Dangerous Bagels

Making the best bagels in the world. In fact, these bagels are sooooo good that they ruin your taste for any other bagels, forever. I was so happy to find out they deliver online orders. Even with air freight it was a buck a bagel. Mmmmmmm

Here's their whole story

St. Viateur Street Bagel Factory - Montreal Aug 2010
http://www.stviateurbagel.com/main/

-Tom.

OK Go - Needing/Getting - Official Video

I don't know how they think of these videos, but this rock group has thought of some great, artistic, imaginative videos. You won't forget this one.

They were probably chosen to make this ad because of their Rube Goldberg-style video:

Reminds me of the Rube Goldberg Honda ad.

And here's the original OK GO video that made them famous:

And other imaginative videos:

Best definition of medical emergency I've seen.

I've struggled and searched for a definition of 'emergency' before because the definition can be 'stretched' for convenience in hospital settings.
Emergency Services: Any health care service provided to a member after the sudden onset of a medical condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity or severe pain, such that a prudent layperson, who possesses an average knowledge of health and medicine, could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in i) placing the health of the member, or, with respect to a pregnant member, the health of her unborn child, i) in serious jeopardy; ii) serious impairment to bodily functions; or iii) serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.
-from a provider contract with Coventry.
However, I'm not sure in this definition why it can't be an expert opinion rather than a layperson that would expect the adverse outcome. For instance, brainstem herniation is life-threatening but looks like sleepiness to a layperson.
-Tom.

Science behind massage - evidence. Muscle biopsies!

A massage after vigorous exercise unquestionably feels good, and it seems to reduce pain and help muscles recover. Many people — both athletes and health professionals – have long contended it eases inflammation, improves blood flow and reduces muscle tightness. But until now no one has understood why massage has this apparently beneficial effect.

Now researchers have found what happens to muscles when a masseur goes to work on them.

Their experiment required having people exercise to exhaustion and undergo five incisions in their legs in order to obtain muscle tissue for analysis. Despite the hurdles, the scientists still managed to find 11 brave young male volunteers. The study was published in the Feb. 1 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

On a first visit, they biopsied one leg of each subject at rest. At a second session, they had them vigorously exercise on a stationary bicycle for more than an hour until they could go no further. Then they massaged one thigh of each subject for 10 minutes, leaving the other to recover on its own. Immediately after the massage, they biopsied the thigh muscle in each leg again. After allowing another two-and-a-half hours of rest, they did a third biopsy to track the process of muscle injury and repair.

Vigorous exercise causes tiny tears in muscle fibers, leading to an immune reaction — inflammation — as the body gets to work repairing the injured cells. So the researchers screened the tissue from the massaged and unmassaged legs to compare their repair processes, and find out what difference massage would make.

They found that massage reduced the production of compounds called cytokines, which play a critical role in inflammation. Massage also stimulated mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells that convert glucose into the energy essential for cell function and repair. “The bottom line is that there appears to be a suppression of pathways in inflammation and an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis,” helping the muscle adapt to the demands of increased exercise, said the senior author, Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky.

Dr. Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that massage works quite differently from Nsaids and other anti-inflammatory drugs, which reduce inflammation and pain but may actually retard healing. Many people, for instance, pop an aspirin or Aleve at the first sign of muscle soreness. “There’s some theoretical concern that there is a maladaptive response in the long run if you’re constantly suppressing inflammation with drugs,” he said. “With massage, you can have your cake and eat it too—massage can suppress inflammation and actually enhance cell recovery.”

“This is important research, because it is the first to show that massage can reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines which may be involved in pain,” said Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School. She was not involved in the study. “We have known from many studies that pain can be reduced by massage based on self-report, but this is the first demonstration that the pain-related pro-inflammatory cytokines can be reduced.” she said.

Getting a massage from a professional masseur is obviously more expensive than taking an aspirin. But, as Dr. Field points out, massage techniques can be taught. “People within families can learn to massage each other,” she said. “If you can teach parents to massage kids, couples to massage each other. This can be cost effective.”

Dr. Tarnopolsky suggests that, in the long run, a professional massage may even be a better bargain than a pill. “If someone says “This is free and it might make you feel better, but it may slow down your recovery, do you still want it?” he asked. “Or would you rather spend the 50 bucks for a post-exercise massage that also might enhance your recovery?”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/how-massage-heals-sore-muscles/

mp4a to mp3 converter online

Very convenient to use online - gives you a converted file to download after online conversion.
http://www.convertfiles.com/convert/audio/M4A-to-MP3.html

Liz Phair video

I like this video - clever idea of having album covers in a juke box show all the lyrics to the song.

Dylan video

Stands on a streetcorner throwing down lyric cards. I love this video, especially where he parodies his own lyrics.
The clip was originally a segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film, Dont Look Back.

Much copied, never equalled.  

And a funny parody of it by Weird Al where all the lines are palindromes.