Some physicists have proposed that the entire universe is not real, but a holographic illusion. Now astrophysicist Craig Hogan is building a machine to test that hypothesis:

Possible evidence for this model appeared last year in the unaccountable “noise” plaguing the GEO600 experiment in Germany, which searches for gravitational waves from black holes. To Hogan, the jitteriness suggested that the experiment had stumbled upon the lower limit of the spacetime pixels’ resolution.

Black hole physics, in which space and time become compressed, provides a basis for math showing that the third dimension may not exist at all. In this two-dimensional cartoon of a universe, what we perceive as a third dimension would actually be a projection of time intertwined with depth. If this is true, the illusion can only be maintained until equipment becomes sensitive enough to find its limits.[...]

“So we want to build a machine which will be the most sensitive measurement ever made of spacetime itself,” says Hogan. “That’s the holometer.”[...]

In the holometer, this loss of sync looks like a shaking or vibrations that represent jitters in spacetime itself, like the fuzziness of radio coming over too little bandwidth.

The holometer’s precision means that it doesn’t have to be large; at 40 meters in length, it is only one hundredth of the size of current interferometers, which measure gravitational waves from black holes and supernovas. Yet because the spacetime frequencies it measures are so rapid, it will be more precise over very short time intervals by seven orders of magnitude than any atomic clock in existence.

Link via The Agitator | Image: Paramount

Two baby monkeys named Nehime and Rakan were appointed station masters at a train station in Hyoto prefecture, Japan:

The monkeys, aged seven months and three months, were dressed in blue uniforms made from traditional local fabrics complete with mini hats before being formally appointed station masters and "special city residents" by the local mayor.[...]

It is not the first time in Japan that animals have found themselves at the helm of a railway station: Tama, the tortoiseshell cat, is famous in Japan as a longstanding station master of Kishi station in Wakayama prefecture.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: Kyodo

Jamie O'Shea is a conceptual artist. We've previously featured his bed, which is designed to be used standing up. More recently, he became interested in the role of knowledge in developing our technological civilization. Is knowledge alone enough, or are we dependent upon tools made by others? To find out, O'Shea decided to build a telegraph completely from scratch -- including the tools -- using only what he found in a New Jersey forest. At the link, you can watch a video of his attempt.

Link via Slashdot | Artist's Website

Viscount David Linley, a luxury furniture craftsman, made this custom writing desk topped with a model of the Monte Carlo casino:

The main body of the desk is constructed in American walnut with inlays of Santos rosewood and sycamore, while the surface of the desk is covered in dark red leather. On the underside of the domed lid of the architectural box is a marquetry depiction of the Monegasque flag in red sycamore and holly. Six hand-carved figurines surmount the rooftop,and six secret drawers are each opened by a different mechanism.

Link via Born Rich | Linley's Website | Photo: JustLuxe

Steve Eves is building a functional 1:9 scale Saturn 1B rocket. That was a type of rocket used in America's Apollo program. At the link, you can see an extensive gallery of process photos as Eves constructs the model.

http://www.rocketsmagazine.com/saturn-1b-projects/SteveEves/Gallery/BuildStatus/ via Make | Photo: Rockets Magazine

Mathery is a website that encourages people to think creatively, such as building a unicycle with training wheels. Here's the philosophical statement for the site:

An idea is a parasite. Once born, it settles.
If you have one you can make it come true
otherwise it will only leave an imprint.
As soon as we make it real we create a chain reaction.
One idea can generate another 100.
It represents the beginning.
The idea starts now,
It's up to you to give it a shape.

http://www.02mathery.com/project/monotricycle.html via DudeCraft

In other news: Paul Overton, the Dude behind DudeCraft and a friend of Neatorama, has launched a new website called Every Day is Awesome.

DARPA-funded research is developing batteries to power nano-scale machinery. The largest of these batteries will be the size of a grain of sand. UCLA researcher Jane Chang explained:

"We're trying to achieve the same power densities, the same energy densities as traditional lithium ion batteries, but we need to make the footprint much smaller," says Chang.

To reach this goal, Chang is thinking in three dimensions in collaboration with Bruce Dunn other researchers at UCLA. She's coating well-ordered micro-pillars or nano-wires -- fabricated to maximize the surface-to-volume ratio, and thus the potential energy density -- with electrolyte, the conductive material that allows current to flow in a battery.

Using atomic layer deposition -- a slow but precise process that allows layers of material only an atom thick to be sprayed on a surface -- she has successfully applied the solid electrolyte lithium aluminosilicate to these nanomaterials.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20101020/2777/batteries-smaller-than-a-grain-of-salt.htm via GearFuse | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Anton Fomkin used under Creative Commons license

A man in Jiangsu Province, China, got stuck in a toilet when he dropped his phone inside and tried to get it back:

When rescue workers arrived on the scene in Jiangsu province in eastern China, they found the man crouched over the toilet in a bathroom stall, his entire arm submerged up to the shoulder in the drain.

Workers broke the porcelain bowl with crowbars and hammered the pipes, taking care not to injure the man, CCTV reported.

After 10 minutes of work, the man was able to slowly remove his cut and bruised arm from the bowl and retrieve his waterlogged phone.

Link via Geekologie (where there's a video)

Stewie, a Maine Coon who lives in Reno, Nevada, is the world's longest domesticated cat. He measures 48 and 1/2 inches:

The record was previously held by another Maine Coon that measured 48 inches.

Stewie's owners, Robin Hendrickson and Erik Brandsness, say they decided to try for the record after hearing countless people say they were amazed by Stewie's length.

Hendrickson said Maine Coons are known as "the gentle giants" of the cat world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/20/AR2010102003836.html via Urlesque | Video | Photo: ABC News/AP

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have conducted tests on a compound that slowed age-related memory loss in mice. An enzyme called 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 generates glucocorticoids, a class of hormones, that enhance memory formation:

The Edinburgh team showed that knocking out either one or both copies of the gene for this enzyme in mice preserved the animals' memory into old age. To determine whether blocking the enzyme could improve memory in already aged animals, researchers then developed a compound designed to cross into the brain and inhibit the enzyme. Just 10 days of treatment in two-year-old mice--the maximum lifespan for a typical lab mouse--was enough to improve the animals' performance on a test of spatial memory.

Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user jepoirrier used under Creative Commons license

The Hövding, developed by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, is an inflatable helmet. It's designed to protect a bicyclist's head without mussing his/her hair:

Hövding is a discreet collar that the cyclist is wearing around his neck. The collar contains a folded airbag which is visible only at a collision. The airbag is designed as a hood that in case of an accident will enclose and protect the cyclist’s head. Release mechanism is controlled by sensors that register abnormal movements of the rider in an accident.

At the link, you can watch a video of the helmet inflating during crash tests.

Link via Popular Science | Photo: Hövding

Previously: An Airbag for Equestrians

Los Angeles-based artist Pei-San Ng makes artwork out of matches. "Passion", pictured above, is composed of 2,500 matches and took 24 hours to make. You can view 5 more examples at the link.

Link via DudeCraft | Photo by the artist

Rick L. Ross made a chess set inspired by that owned by the character J.F. Sebastian in the movie Blade Runner. It's crafted in exquisite detail, as you can see from the other 38 pictures at the link.

Link via Nerdcore

(Video Link)

The story circulating about this video is that the man on the motorcycle is a gymnast. Just before he smacked into the side of a truck, he intentionally vaulted over the handlebars. At the end of the video, on his feet and apparently not seriously injured, the man walked back into view.

via Geekosystem

A McDonald's restaurant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has a sophisticated anti-theft device. It sprays robbers with a fine mist containing artificial DNA that can be seen under ultraviolet light:

The new system involved an employee-activated device that sprays a fine, barely visible mist laced with synthetic DNA to cover anyone in its path, including criminals, and simultaneously alerts the police to a crime in progress.

The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front door of the McDonald’s prominently warns potential thieves of the spray’s presence: “You Steal, You’re Marked.”

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Leonid Mamchenkov used under Creative Commons license