The official standard for the kilogram is a cylinder of platinum and iridium made in 1879 and kept in a vault in France. Scientists have made official copies and distributed them since that time, but many of those copies don't equal each other in mass, and the original is undergoing decay. So now researchers are trying to come up with a new definition of the kilogram:

It’s a conundrum scientists need to solve because the kilogram is one of a few base units (like the second and the meter) that are used in the definitions of other, more complex units, such as those used to measure temperature, electricity or density. If the kilogram is off, even a little, critical measurements in science, engineering and commerce get messed up.[...]

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology is backing a definition based on the Planck Constant, a number from quantum mechanics. It’s a more complex definition than a simple cylinder, but it’s unlikely to change over the next century.

Link | Image: Clipart

Three years ago, we featured a chandelier that designer YaYa Chou made out of gummi bears. She's also made a candelabra from the same delicious substance.

Link via Geektoplasm | Photo: Kevin Janow

Edison Pena, one of the Chilean miners who was trapped underground for 69 days, was known to the media as "the runner" because he ran long distances underground to keep physically fit. On Sunday, he's going to compete in the New York City Marathon, according to Mary Wittenberg, the President of the New York City Road Runners Club:

Edison Pena, 34, was originally invited by the club, which organizes the annual marathon, to attend the event as a spectator. But Pena insisted on running in the 26.2-mile marathon, Wittenberg said.[...]

"To be out there whether running or walking is such an affirmation of the human spirit," she said of the marathon.

Wittenberg said Pena will be traveling to New York with his wife.

The 12th miner to be rescued, Pena is a diehard Elvis Presley fan who, despite speaking little English, knows most of the words to Elvis classics and led the trapped miners in sing-alongs during their 69-day ordeal underground.

Link via MArooned | Image: iClipart

At a high school football game in South Dakota, one player punted the ball 40 yards. The ball hit the ground, and thanks to strong winds, started rolling on the ground. And rolling. And rolling. Right up to the 3-yard line. At the link, you can watch an embedded video of the play.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20101031/SPORTS0107/101031003/1002/sports via Deadspin

Designers Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell invented the Retroreflector Tie. It's a tie with built-in reflective stripes to make bicyclists more noticeable to automobile drivers.

Link via OhGizmo! | Jasna Sokolovic | Noel O'Connell | Photo by the designers

The town of Ston, Croatia, is protected by a wall three and a half miles long. This archaeological gem was built during the fifteen century while the region struggled for some margin of independence from the Ottoman Empire. It gradually decayed over time and was devastated by an earthquake in 1996, but restoration is presently underway.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo by Flickr user Dan.. used under Creative Commons license

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Philip Neuman, Gayle Stuwe Neuman, and William Gavin are three musicologists who have reconstructed music from ancient societies and performed them in front of living audiences. Their Ensemble De Organographia, as the group calls itself, used remnants of Sumerian musical notations to make the above recording.

http://www.emgo.org/performers.htm via Geek Dad

Instructables user ModMischief created a costume that makes her look like a genie on a flying carpet. Her legs are hidden beneath the carpet by a black curtain. The entire project took her just four hours to complete.

Link via Super Punch | Maker's Blog

LEGO artist Dave Kaleta made this model of a frog dissection for MOCpages, an online community of LEGO builders. You can view seven more pictures at the link.

Link via Geekologie | MOCpages

In Hamburg, Germany, artist Ralf Schmerberg made an igloo out of refrigerators. There's an electric meter outside that displays how much electricity it consumes. Schmerberg intends for the exhibit to serve as commentary on consumption and waste.

Link via DudeCraft | Artist's Website | Photo: Inhabitat

Until very recently, biologists believed that once a virus enters a cell, a person's immune system cannot combat that virus because antibodies cannot enter cells. But researchers at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, have uncovered evidence that antibodies can, in fact, enter cells. This opens up the possibility of attaching antiviral components to antibodies that can kill viruses inside cells:

Once inside the cell, the presence of the antibody is recognised by a naturally occurring protein in the cell called TRIM21 which in turn activates a powerful virus-crushing machinery that can eliminate the virus within two hours – long before it has the chance to hijack the cell to start making its own viral proteins. "This is the last opportunity a cell gets because after that it gets infected and there is nothing else the body can do but kill the cell," Dr James said.

"The antibody is attached to the virus and when the virus gets sucked inside the cell, the antibody stays attached, there is nothing in that process to make the antibody to fall off.

"The great thing about it is that there shouldn't be anything attached to antibodies in the cell, so that anything that is attached to the antibody is recognised as foreign and destroyed."

Leo James, the lead researcher, speculated that this discovery could lead to effective treatments for cold viruses, among others.

Link via DVICE | Image: Clipart.com

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There are at least five distinct and substantial mistakes in the opening minute of this newscast by the ABC affiliate in San Diego. It was time for them to call "Do over!" and start over again.

via Deadspin

Bitplay is a Japanese design firm that tries to make ordinary household objects into fun games. Pictured above is "Bang!", a lamp turns on and off by pressing the trigger on its gun-shaped remote control. When you pull the trigger, the lampshade tilts.

Link via CrunchGear

Ed Del Grande, a plumber, has an advice column in The Seattle Times. He responded to one query about home toilets by describing how the color of a toilet may indicate its vintage:

1920s: Rich pastels like autumn brown reflected fashion trends, and the surplus of beige left over from World War I found its way into our homes.

1930s: As the home became the focus of more activities, cozy neutrals like peach blow gave way to rich colors like dark green and maroon.

1940s: During the war years, the fashion and plumbing industries restricted the number of new colors. Some soil-hiding colors like olive green did appear.

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo by Flickr user TheGiantVermin used under Creative Commons license

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Popular science educator Steve Spangler made this video to demonstrate laminar flow, which the Larousse Dictionary of Science and Technology defines as:

A type of fluid flow in which adjacent layers do not mix except on the molecular scale.

Spangler did so by injecting a container of transparent corn syrup with portions of colored corn syrup. He then rotated the container to mix it up. Next, Spanger rotated the container in the other direction, and colors separated almost completely.

via Geekosystem | Spangler's Website

Previously: Smiling, Frowning President on Dollar Bills