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Is life on Earth special? Not according to Carnegie Institution’s astronomer Alan Boss. The author of the new book The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets
[Boss] made the prediction based on the number of "super-Earths" — planets several times the mass of the Earth, but smaller than gas giants like Jupiter — discovered so far circling stars outside the solar system.
Boss said that if any of the billions of Earth-like worlds he believes exist in the Milky Way have liquid water, they are likely to be home to some type of life.
"Now that’s not saying that they’re all going to be crawling with intelligent human beings or even dinosaurs," he said.
"But I would suspect that the great majority of them at least will have some sort of primitive life, like bacteria or some of the multicellular creatures that populated our Earth for the first 3 billion years of its existence."
Watch this series of slow-motion videos in which 90 small magnets are laid out in a matrix. Then another magnet is dropped on top, which upsets the matrix and causes the magnets to realign, assembling themselves into, um, whatever it is that magnets naturally assemble into.
I know my description is confusing; but take my word, it’s pretty cool. Link -via Unique Daily
Thirty states have deals with large banks to deposit unemployment benefits. Many of the banks then issue a prepaid debit card to jobless people. On the surface, it looks like a simple deal. In practice, recipients are finding that accessing their money can cost quite a bit! After the first withdrawal, each transaction carries a fee. The banks make interest off the money that is deposited, and a 1-3% fee from vendors off any transaction made with the cards. The state saves money over writing and mailing checks because the banks will set up the program for free. Banks don’t mind because they make plenty off fees charged to benefit recipients.
In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it’s 25 cents a call), the bank’s revenue would jump to more than $521,000. That would yield $6.3 million a year.
Rachel Storch, a Democratic state representative, received a wave of complaints about the fees from autoworkers laid off from a suburban St. Louis Chrysler plant. She recently urged Gov. Jay Nixon to review the state’s contract with Central Bank with an eye toward reducing the fees.
“I think the contract is unfair and potentially illegal to unemployment recipients,” she said.
The easiest way to avoid fees is to withdraw all funds at once from a debit card account, then deposit the money in your regular checking account. Link -via Cynical-C
(image credit: Free Digital Photos)
Can you hear the sound in the clip at this site? I can’t, but that’s not surprising. It can generally only be heard by people under the age of 25. Those who can hear it say it’s pretty annoying. Some older folks use it to repel teens, but some young people use it for a ring tone. Link -via Digg
Months later, I received an email from a William Diesslin, regarding my photos of Matten:
You didn’t know it at the time, but you photographed my great
grandfather’s store front! I’ve attached the photo for your reference.”
I scoured my photos until I found what seemed to be a match for the historic black and white picture Diesslin had sent. During the next few weeks, I learned the rest of the story. Diesslin’s search for his ancestry had been unsuccessful until he discovered my blog. Once he saw my photo he was able to identify the present day building and track down the owners, who confirmed the store had originally belonged to his great grandfather.
In a subsequent email he remarked:
"This will be a landmark for my family as my dad was orphaned at 14
years old, all family history was lost. Your photos may have opened up
a long lost link to my ancestors.”
There’s more to the story, like the fact that Diesslin stayed in that very building (it is now a hostel) back in the 1980′s and had abslutely no idea that it had any connection to his family. The series of coincidences are so bizarre as to be almost unbelievable. To read the rest of the story, and to see the histoic and present day photos, visit Hole In The Donut Travel Blog.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
Some really bizarre classes that are honestly offered at colleges include "Underwater Basket Weaving", "The Joy Of Garbage", and "Far Side Entomology". The professor who teaches the class "Arguing With Judge Judy" wants us to know,
…this class is “NOT a course about law or “legal reasoning.” It is instead an exploration of logical fallacies that are often presented by defendants and plaintiffs on court television shows like Judge Judy and The People’s Court. Seems right up the alley of most college students, as they are squarely in the demographic of afternoon television programming (which also targets the elderly and unemployed).
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by redsfaithful.
Technically it’s an iRobot, but it’s pretty much the same thing. It kinda reminds me of Dr. Robotnik’s creations, only alot less evil.
– via Make
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JKirchartz.
The pristine condition of the Mount Mabu forest is attributed to two things: its remote location and and the fact that Mozambique was embroiled in a civil war for the past 20 years, which finally ended in the mid-1990s. Even locals didn’t know much about the forest.
Among the expedition’s discoveries were three species of butterflies new to science, a new species of adder, six birds that are globally threatened, and this perhaps terrified pygmy chameleon.
“This is potentially the biggest area of medium-altitude forest I’m aware of in southern Africa, yet it was not on the map.”
– expedition leader Jonathan Timberlake, RBC Kew
Shown is a pygmy chameleon found in the Mount Mabu forest.
Link – via timesonline
(image credit: Julian Bayliss/Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Not too long ago a small local newspaper up here in Maine ran an article about a guy who had collected countless rolls of undeveloped film. It started with one roll of Kodachrome from a discarded camera but soon became the reason he would rummage around thrift stores when driving around the country. Over the years he collected a huge stash and finally had it all developed.
The result of his obsession is a site called MangoFalls where he’s posted hundreds of images from those rolls of film that he dragged around for so long. You won’t find any scenic snapshots. It’s all about the people and their fashions from the 50′s and 60′s. I suppose it’s possible that you might even see someone you know.
The metal body was battered and the lens looked like a coke bottle that had been dragged down 5 miles of asphalt. The camera had been dead a long time. I was about to set it down when I noticed that there was a roll of film inside. I slowly rewound the film, popped the door, and was rewarded with a pristine roll of Kodachrome. I asked the guy at the counter how much he wanted for it. “Gimme a quarter” he replied. I paid the man and drove home with the mystery roll.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by bert.
These Japanese snacks are actually called “Sea Otter Boogers” and apparently are quite tasty treats made of candied black beans. They’re yours for only about $6, of course, you have to speak Japanese to order them.
This egg shell art is truly stunning. InventorSpot has more pictures of these lovely, detailed art pieces by artist Ron Cheruka.
It’s amazing what some people can creatively do with everyday objects, and Christian Faur has recently dropped my jaw … He makes pixel-art out of crayons, No not drawing with them, but using them stacked in a tray to make a picture.
My earliest memories of making art involve the use of wax crayons. I can still remember the pleasure of opening a new box of crayons: the distinct smell of the wax, the beautifully colored tips, everything still perfect and unused. Using the first crayon from a new box always gave me a slight pain. Through a novel technique that I have developed, I again find myself working with the familiar form of the crayon.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JKirchartz.
Link
Photo by Stacy Reeves, obviously. I checked out her site and she actually does very lovely work; don’t hold the camo outfits against her.
Ilham Anas of Indonesia has become famous for his resemblance to President Barrack Obama. What first started out as a joke, when his friends posted pictures of him on the internet, has turned into his 15-minutes of fame:
“The pictures spread very quickly on the Internet. It was phenomenal. Then TV stations and an advertising agency got in touch with me.”
Ilham says he is often mistaken for Obama and people ask to take pictures with him.
“I never thought I would be a star in a commercial, then this happened. It’s very fortunate,” Ilham said.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.
Ian Welch of Aldershot, Hampshire (U.K.), caught the biggest freshwater fish by rod in Thailand, a record 55 stone (770 pound) freshwater ray!
It took 90 minutes to land, 13 men to heave it out of the water… and weighed 55 stone when they finally got it to the scales.
So it’s little wonder that when Ian Welch first hooked the record stingray, it almost pulled him into the river.
Mr Welch, who weighs 111/2 stone, said: ‘It dragged me across the boat and would have pulled me in, had my colleague not grabbed my trousers.’
The angler, from Aldershot, Hampshire, was fishing in Thailand when he landed the ray, which is the biggest freshwater fish to be caught with a rod.
The biologist was helping with a stingray tagging programme on the Maeklong River, when he hooked the fish.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.
I <3 this knitted burger by Etsy seller nillakitty (she’s selling the pattern, not the burger itself).
Our very own Jill Harness found this and other fun burger-related items, as posted on her neat article at InventorSpot: Link
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Hard work never hurt anyone, or so the adage goes, or did it? According to the latest research by Marianna Virtanen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, long hours at work can harm your brain:
Long working hours may raise the risk of mental decline and possibly dementia, research suggests.
The Finnish-led study was based on analysis of 2,214 middle-aged British civil servants.
It found that those working more than 55 hours a week had poorer mental skills than those who worked a standard working week.
The American Journal of Epidemiology study found hard workers had problems with short-term memory and word recall.
For homeowners caught in the nation’s housing collapse, having their homes foreclosed is like a nightmare that they can’t fight … or can they?
Chris Hoyer, a Tampa, Florida, lawyer told homeowners that there are three simple words that they can say to stop the foreclosure process, or at least delay it for a while: produce the note.
Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork.
And just like that, the foreclosure proceedings came to a standstill.
Lovelace and other homeowners around the country are managing to stave off foreclosure by employing a strategy that goes to the heart of the whole nationwide mess.
During the real estate frenzy of the past decade, mortgages were sold and resold, bundled into securities and peddled to investors. In many cases, the original note signed by the homeowner was lost, stored away in a distant warehouse or destroyed.
Persuading a judge to compel production of hard-to-find or nonexistent documents can, at the very least, delay foreclosure, buying the homeowner some time and turning up the pressure on the lender to renegotiate the mortgage.
(Photo: Chris O’Meara/AP)
The miracle liquid can clean your toilet and is powerful enough to kill anthrax spores and oh, you can drink it because it’s just … water.
Here’s the skinny on the miracle liquid known as electrolyzed water:
It turns out that zapping salt water with low-voltage electricity creates a couple of powerful yet nontoxic cleaning agents. Sodium ions are converted into sodium hydroxide, an alkaline liquid that cleans and degreases like detergent, but without the scrubbing bubbles. Chloride ions become hypochlorous acid, a potent disinfectant known as acid water.
"It’s 10 times more effective than bleach in killing bacteria," said Yen-Con Hung, a professor of food science at the University of Georgia-Griffin, who has been researching electrolyzed water for more than a decade. "And it’s safe."
Remember the post about Micropinna microstoma, the fish with a transparent head? In that post, Neatorama reader sniggitysnags told us about the existence of the video clip by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute researchers:
MBARI researchers Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler used video taken by unmanned, undersea robots called remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to study barreleye fish in the deep waters just offshore of Central California. At depths of 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet) below the surface, the ROV cameras typically showed these fish hanging motionless in the water, their eyes glowing a vivid green in the ROV’s bright lights. The ROV video also revealed a previously undescribed feature of these fish–its eyes are surrounded by a transparent, fluid-filled shield that covers the top of the fish’s head.
This animal is so awesome that we just have to put it on Neatorama’s front page again: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks sniggitysnags!
More info at the MBARI website.
What happens when you give an artist a canvas the size of a football field and two BMW Z4′s? You don’t have to wonder: South African artist Robin Rhode had the pleasure of using the cars as paintbrushes. His creative results are reminiscent of spirographs we all played with as kids:
Imagine a canvas nearly as large as a football field. On it bold, swirling shapes in primary colors like red, yellow and blue. As the eye uncovers the rhythm of the lines, curves, circles and color splotches, something else is revealed: these forms must have been created by tire treads! A work of art like no other, created by an artist like no other – the new BMW Z4 Roadster.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Frau.
CarlosLabs, a design firm based in Sydney, created a Google Maps mashup of cities around the world and what they would look like if hit by various nuclear devices. You can choose your city and then a weapon (Fat Man, Little Boy, Tsar Bomba, Asteroid) and press "Nuke it!" and then see the extent of thermal damage.
The concentric circles of different colors mean different physical effects. The center of the circle is conflagration, where most people would die within 24 hours. The purple circle means 3rd degree burns, requiring medical care. The pink circle means 2nd degree burns, like burns from boiling water. And the yellow outermost circle means 1st degree burns, like a sunburn.
The map here shows the extent of damage if a nuclear device was dropped on Los Angeles.
Link – via carloslabs
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Parents may think they are showing their sense of humor when they name their baby, but how would YOU like to go through life with a name like Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Justin Case, Barb Dwyer, or Anna Sasin? Those are some of the names of real people uncovered in Britain.
Retired airman Stan Still, 76, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said his name had been “a blooming millstone around my neck my entire life”.
“When I was in the RAF my commanding officer used to shout, ‘Stan Still, get a move on’ and roll about laughing,” he said.
“It got hugely boring after a while.”
The names were compiled through The Baby Website and through phone directories. There are more names in this story from the BBC. Link -via Buzzfeed
When she was a child, Nadya Vessey’s legs were amputated below the knee due to illness. One time, another child asked what happened to her legs, and she replied that she was a mermaid.
She couldn’t get the mermaid idea out of her head, so she wrote to the company that created the special effects for the Lord of the Rings movies as well as King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Her request: Will you make me a mermaid tail?
The company, Weta Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand, agreed.
Two years later, she now has a fully functioning mermaid tail with an attached suit, making her look like a real mermaid.
(image credit: Stuff.co.nz)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
(image credit: Farid Belbachir/ZSL/OPNA)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by interweber.
Mark and Nicky Webster’s children were taken away by UK’s social services after doctors found small fractures in their son’s leg, mistakenly thought as caused by physical abuse but later found to have a rare medical cause.
When they went to clear their names and get their children back, the courts said that it was too late …
The couple’s nightmare started in October 2003 when Mrs Webster took their second son to hospital with a swollen leg.
He was found to have a number of small fractures which doctors said could be caused only by physical abuse.
The following year they were permanently removed and put up for adoption after a one-day court hearing.
Medical experts later concluded that the injuries were not caused by violent twisting and shaking, but were symptoms of rare case of scurvy. [...]The Appeal Court ruled on Wednesday that even though the Websters ‘may well’ have been victims of a miscarriage of justice the adoption order on their eldest three children could not be revoked because the youngsters are now settled with their adoptive parents.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by philosophile.
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