20th Century psychologist Abraham Maslow famously categorized human needs in a pyramid, from physical survival to self-actualization. Now a team of evolutionary psychologists proposes that the top slot should belong to parenting:

The new pyramid is based on the premise that our strongest and most fundamental impulse, which shapes our day-to-day desires on an unconscious level, is to survive long enough to pass our genes to the next generation. According to this school of thought, backed by considerable — though not irrefutable — evidence, all our achievements are linked in one way or another to the urge to reproduce.

In other words, aside from our powerful brains, we’re pretty much like every other living creature.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/maslows-pyramid-gets-a-makeover-20682 via Glenn Reynolds | Image: Georgia Perimeter College

Previously: Maslow's Hierarchy of Robot Needs

A woman in Queensland, Australia went into early labor yesterday. Authorities dispatched a rescue helicopter to take her from a remote area to a hospital. Fourteen minutes before they landed, the onboard paramedic delivered the baby girl:

A spokesman for the RACQ CareFlight said paramedic Mel Bernas delivered the baby girl 14 minutes before landing. ''The baby and mother were in good spirits and transported to Mackay Base Hospital,'' the spokesman said yesterday.

''It is believed the Wollongong couple were married yesterday on Hamilton Island - so a very memorable wedding anniversary.''

Link via Stuff | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user 111 Emergency Used under Creative Commons license

A Canadian safety organization spent $15,000 making an optical illusion in a West Vancouver street. When a driver is about 30 meters away, it looks like a young child running into the street, chasing a ball. The BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation hopes that it will encourage drivers to slow down and be watchful of children. Spokesman David Drunne said:

The back-to-school season was chosen because September and October are the months that see the most child fatalities, Mr. Dunne said. Plus, parents are often the worst offenders, speeding, pulling u-turns and talking on cellphones, he said.

You can view a larger image at the link.

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Globe & Mail

It can be hard to travel with children, which is why Singapore's Changi Airport was designed to be a family entertainment venue. Among its amenities is a 40-foot tall slide. It's the tallest slide in Singapore and the tallest slide in any airport anywhere:

For every $22 spent in the airport, adrenaline junkies (or really brave little kids) get tokens for two rides on the slide. Visitors who don’t want to travel at the speed of 19 feet a second, can take a ride down the shorter, one-and-a-half-story tall slide located at Terminal 3 Basement 2, which is free.

Video at the link.

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: New York Times

It's time for the R&D engineers at the NeatoShop to get busy, because Paul Starke has twelve great ideas for products that would be helpful for dads -- and probably moms, too:

4) Diaper Genie -- Yes, I know they already make this soiled-diaper storage unit, but what if it also granted you three wishes and had the voice of Robin Williams?

5) Snoozies -- Basically a onesie with a built-in snooze button. Is the baby crying in the middle of the night? Just tap the snooze button on his belly and get nine more minutes of sleep.[...]

7) Ambien-Coated Pacifiers -- Controversial? Probably. Effective? Definitely. I know for a FACT that my parents used to load me up with cough syrup before a long drive

What baby-care product would you like to see invented?

Link | Photo by Flickr user medigerati used under Creative Commons license

So, naturally, Kyle DuBois' parents are suing the school:

DuBois was hospitalized after receiving a serious electrical shock while in class on March 11. On a dare, DuBois clipped alligator clips to his nipples and received a severe shock that caused him to stagger and collapse, the lawsuit says.

The incident resulted in DuBois being sent to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, where he was diagnosed as having an "out of hospital electrocution resulting in cardiac arrest, unresponsive state and respiratory failure," according to the lawsuit.[...]

Court documents say DuBois suffered brain damage due to the heart stoppage.

How can you tell?

Seriously though, the lawsuit alleges that the teacher acted recklessly and was fully aware of the student's plan to shock his nipples. You can view a camera phone recording of the incident at the link.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view/20100831student_who_shocked_himself_suing_school_teacher/srvc=home&position=recent via Geekologie | Photo by Flickr user oskay used under Creative Commons license

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A 500-pound Bengal Tiger escaped from its cage at a zoo in Miami. As visitors fled into any secure area they could find, the tiger approached a 2-year old girl named Dianita Barratt. Her mother, Diana Barratt, said:

"She started walking down the trail ahead of me, and I decided just to leave the stroller and my purse behind and go after her," Diana said. "I rounded the corner and she's standing there staring at this tiger. It's very scary to have your 2-year-old daughter in such close proximity to a tiger."

Barratt calmly picked her daughter up, and was quickly escorted by park employees to a secure building.

Link via Momlogic

Instructables user kstruve lives in Arizona with his twin boys. It gets so hot that even with the car's air conditioner going full-blast, the kids are still dangerously hot. So he built a liquid cooling system to chill their seats. At the link, kstruve provides detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to make one.

Link via Make | Photo: kstruve

It can be difficult for autistic kids to enjoy going to a movie theater because the high definition graphics and sound can give them an experience of sensory overload. So some theaters are now offering occasional screenings of children's movies in an autism-friendly environment:

The house lights stay on, the sound remains low, and there are no ads or previews before films. The screenings are beginning to catch on.

The sensory-friendly trend started two years ago, after a Maryland mother got kicked out of a movie theater when her autistic daughter became overwhelmed and disruptive during a showing of Hairspray. The mom got in touch with the Autism Society, a national advocacy group, which in turn contacted the AMC theaters chain about offering a low-key movie option once a month.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129479228 | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user romulusnr used under Creative Commons license

Etsy seller QueInteresante created a set of 48 crayons that are labeled to reflect the colors of different chemical substances. She suggests that parents use them to educate their children:

So instead of thinking "I want green" they will think "I want Barium Nitrate Ba(NO3)2 Flame" and then when they take chemistry in high school and their teacher sets some gas on fire and it makes a green color and they ask the class what chemical it was your student will know it was Barium! Genius!

Link via Make | Photo: QueInteresante

Joseph Lewis offers a satire on routine infant circumcision by comparing it to amputating a toe. Here are some of the health benefits:

CLEANLINESS
Toenails are a pain to keep clean. They accumulate dirt, and they take time to trim. If not properly washed, toe jam can develop between the toes and the foot will give off an unpleasant odor.[...]

MAY REQUIRE AMPUTATION IN ADULTHOOD
If your family has a history of diabetes, you may wish to consider removing your children's toes. If your child gets diabetes, s/he may develop a condition called "hammertoe," where poor blood circulation causes the toes to become necrotic, becoming a gangrene hazard, not only for the toes themselves, but for the rest of the foot. It is such a common incident, and there is a danger that the wound(s) may not heal correctly, causing the entire foot to be gangrenous. I know of a few cases where the wounds did not heal, and the gangrene kept spreading. The patients had to undergo surgery after surgery, until the gangrene had left them with a stump up to their thigh. Some patients simply died in recovery.

Link via reddit | Photo by Flickr user treehouse1977 used under Creative Commons license

Previously: Foreskin Man Protects Baby Boys from Circumcision

14-year old Sophie Watson has already won 22 beauty pageant titles. So to make the whole preparation process more efficient, her mother arranged for the child to have makeup tattooed to her face:

The 14-year-old’s tattooed eyeliner, eyebrows, lip liner and fake beauty spot will last for up to five years.[...]

The 39-year-old beauty therapist said the tattoos, which are legal, but require parental consent for under 18s, were “the obvious next step” for her daughter, who has dreamt of stardom since she was five.

Do you think that it's okay for minors to get tattoos?

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: Northern Echo

Babies with mobility disabilities can't take full advantage of powered wheelchairs and exoskeletons that require substantial coordination. So Cornell University graduate student Madeline Smith developed a powered chair that moves in any direction that a baby leans:

But it's the control mechanism on this particular baby robo-chair that's the real genius: by sticking the baby into a seat strapped onto a Wii Fit Balance Board perched atop a Pioneer 3 robot platform, researchers from Ithaca College created a robot that travels in whatever direction a baby leans.[...]

Anyone who has watched a toddler "get her wheels" might wonder at the wisdom of interpreting that phrase too literally, but the Pioneer 3 has safety all taken care of: it uses built-in sonar to avoid collisions.

There's also a master override joystick that allows the therapist - or, eventually, a parent - to drive the robo-chair away from obstacles or stop it dead in its tracks. (And what new parent wouldn't be both amused and grateful to be able to drive his or her baby around the house as if he or she were a radio-controlled car?)

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Madeline Smith

Two girls in Sweden bugged their teachers' staff room in the hope of getting information about the content of tests:

The teenagers, who were not named, came up with the plan after finding a key to the teachers' lounge. They then went to a spy shop, bought bugging equipment and planted it in the staff room the day before teachers were due to have a meeting about how to grade students' work.

They were caught when one of them bragged about it on Facebook. The girls were charged with criminal trespassing and fined about $270.

Link via Slashdot | Photo by Flickr user bigpresh used under Creative Commons license

(Video Link)

Filmmakers Evan and Adam Nix remixed the 1993 kids' movie Free Willy so that it looks like a horror film about a killer whale. Not just the species "killer whale", but, you know, one that kills people. A lot.

via Digg | Official Website