Ebola has a 90% fatality rate among infected humans. But scientists are hopeful that a successful treatment recently tested on monkeys can be used to develop a human counterpart:

Seven of the nine monkeys in the study received the same amount of the drug over a six-day period. Three of the seven monkeys got the drug every other day, while four received it daily. One monkey in each group served as a control animal and didn't receive the drug.

Analysis of the treated monkeys revealed that, ten days after having been infected with Ebola, the first group of monkeys had very low levels of the virus in their blood. Researchers were unable to detect the virus at all in the group that had received daily doses.

"The siRNAs inhibited the replication of the virus and completely protected the monkeys against death from hemorrhagic fever," Geisbert noted. "This has never been done before."

Link | Image (unrelated): CDC | Previously: A Vaccine for the Ebola Virus?

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A woman was arrested for calling 911 five times over a three day period, asking for a husband:

The dispatcher was flabbergasted by the requests and asked Audrey Scott, of Alliance, Ohio "You need to get a husband?" The 57-year-old Scott responded, "Yes."

Told that she could face arrest for misusing the emergency call line, Scott responded, "Let's do it."

Scott was convicted last week of improper use of the emergency system and was sentenced to the three days in jail, which she had already served since her arrest, according to The Review newspaper.

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Izarzugaza, a traditional butcher shop chain in northern Spain, has come up with a solution for the perennial problem of a 2 AM craving for chorizo:

Not long ago the store began selling online, however, and delivering to customers as far-flung as Segovia and Madrid. Even more interesting, though, is that it has installed a vending machine outside its Mundaka shop that sells a variety of meats, sausages, sandwiches and other goods around the clock. Products sold within the machine vary with the season, so that summer offerings might include pasta salads while the emphasis is more on meatballs and sausages in the wintertime.

Link via Geekologie | Screenshot by Geekologie, photo by Leticia Pérez Prieto

Previously: Strange and Wonderful Vending Machines

The Uni-Signal is a very simple redesign of the traditional color-coded traffic light that would help people with color blindness drive more safely. A person who can't read the colors will be able to read the shape of the illuminated signal. More pictures at the link.

Link via DVICE | Image: Yanko Design

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This video of an unknown provenance shows a man ironing pants like he's performing an elaborate dance.

via Gizmodo | Previously: Ironing Man Takes Villains to the Cleaners

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Cole Stryker of Urlesque found this bizarre video. It and others like it were made by YouTube user Jim Wilson in the early 1990s using an Amiga computer and then recorded onto VHS. They're weird and unnerving in a retro kind of way. Above is "Center Core Never More." You can view more of Wilson's videos at the link.

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Doug McCune, who descibes himself as a "data visualization engineer", created 3D crime maps for San Francisco. They look like topographical elevation maps because raised portions represent reported criminal incidents. Pictured above is a display of prostitution in the city.

Link via io9

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Over at NeatoGeek, we've previously featured the miscreant Jedi of filmmaker Freddie Wong. His latest project is a short action film created with stop-motion light graffiti. It was shot over thirteen hours on two days.

via Urlesque | Behind the Scenes Video

Crocodiles are great swimmers over short distances in shallow water, but their habitats stretch across the oceans. How did they travel such great distances? Zoologists at the University of Queensland think that they have answer: crocodiles waited for good waves to appear, and then bodysurfed over them to offshore islands.

After collecting data for a year, the team found that, before journeys of six miles (ten kilometers) or more, the reptiles would make use of outgoing tides, riding the surface currents that sweep water toward the mouths of rivers.

If the currents changed, the crocs would climb onto river banks or sit on riverbeds, waiting until surfing conditions improved.

The researchers then reanalyzed existing data on crocodiles in the open ocean. Those crocs were doing the same thing, the data show—using currents to body surf for 60 miles (100 kilometers) or more.

Link | Photo (unrelated): NPS

It's like Garfield Minus Garfield, but with replaces the living, imaginary Hobbes of Calvin & Hobbes with the inanimate stuffed animal.

I'm not sure who is the photoshop artist responsible, so I'll withhold attribution for the moment.

http://www.jeffsocean.com/post/668583668/calvin-minus-hobbes via Comics Alliance

Historypin is a crowdsourced project that places historical images and the events associated with them over pictures from Google Street View. Users are invited to submit their own pictures and stories to contribute to a world map of history.

Thinks about how awesome this could be in a few years when there's an augmented reality app for cell phones.

Link via reddit

LEGO artist Justin Vaughn made a diorama of a F-15 dogfight. Other than the illumination on the heads-up display, it's made completely from LEGO pieces.

The background is tilted slightly. I wanted it to look like our aircraft was turning, but I don't think I added enough of a slant to make it show very well. And I know it looks like he's aiming more at the other Eagle than the MiG. Unfortunately I placed the connection points before I figured out that's how it would turn out in the final frame. So, um, he's still lining up his shot.

The flares are a couple of Exoforce fiber optic tubes with Lego light bricks on the far end. They worked out better than I expected - I love the lens flare I got with them.

Link via Geekologie | Artist's Flickr Stream

The art collective For Use/Numen created a giant spider web out of packing tape:

At the last installation inside Odeon, a former stock exchange building in Vienna, the group used nearly 117,000 feet and 100 pounds of tape. “The installation is based on an idea for a dance performance in which the form evolves from the movement of the dancers between the pillars,” explains For Use’s Christoph Katzler. “The dancers are stretching the tape while they move, so the resulting shape is a recording of the choreography.”

Link via DudeCraft | Photo: Fast Company | Artists' Website

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YouTube user ecodeasnet recorded a man in a town in Nepal driving a modified rickshaw. It had a steel drum that had been shaped to catch the wind and channel that power into the wheels. I'm a bit skeptical of its effectiveness, given the weight of what appears to be quite thick sheet metal. What do you think?

http://www.automotto.org/entry/wind-driven-rickshaw-is-a-wind-human-hybrid-vehicle/ via DudeCraft

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South Korean fans are getting excited about their national team's chances for winning the World Cup, so naturally they dressed penguins from a Seoul aquarium in team uniforms and put them on a model soccer field.

Link via Geekosystem