The black mamba snake is a very fast and dangerous snake that can strike before you ever know what hit you. Its venom can be deadly, but scientists have found it also has a surprisingly beneficial painkiller in it, which might turn out to be a new miracle drug.

The researchers looked at venom from 50 species before they found the black mamba's pain-killing proteins - called mambalgins.

Dr Eric Lingueglia, from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology near Nice, told the BBC: "When it was tested in mice, the analgesia was as strong as morphine, but you don't have most of the side-effects."

Morphine acts on the opioid pathway in the brain. It can cut pain, but it is also addictive and causes headaches, difficulty thinking, vomiting and muscle twitching. The researchers say mambalgins tackle pain through a completely different route, which should produce few side-effects.

He said the way pain worked was very similar in mice and people, so he hoped to develop painkillers that could be used in the clinic. Tests on human cells in the laboratory have also showed the mambalgins have similar chemical effects in people.

The testing his in its earliest phase, so don't look for mambalgins at your pharmacy any time soon. Link  -via Breakfast Links

Remember the jacket that hugged you with plush hands? This vest by MIT's Melissa Kit Chow, along with Andy Payne and Phil Seaton, is the hi-tech version. It gives you a squeeze when you receive a Facebook like!

Like-A-Hug is a wearable social media vest that allows for hugs to be given via Facebook, bringing us closer despite physical distance. The vest inflates when friends 'Like' a photo, video, or status update on the wearer's wall, thereby allowing us to feel the warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs. Hugs can also be sent back to the original sender by squeezing the vest and deflating it.

Although as an art installation, it probably has some deeper meaning, like how shallow our sense of self becomes when we are that dependent on social media. Or not. Link -via The Daily What Geek

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You know why they make you change shoes at a bowling alley? It's not because they want to protect the floors. It's not because they need the extra $2 from every player. It's because those slick shoes make every bowler a potential bit of entertainment for the staff. -via Buzzfeed

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Animator Simon Tofield posted a video about his cat in October and named it Springtime. It will make sense after you watch it. -via Irene's Internet

Previously: More videos featuring Simon's Cat.

Any list that declares one character portrayal better than the next will surely draw differing opinions, but it's nice to stroll through Hollywood history and revisit the different interpretations of Dracula. I was a little disappointed that the 1922 and 1979 versions of the Count in Nosferatu were only allotted one "Dracula" slot, but was happy to see Carlos Villarías from the 1931 Spanish Dracula included. Read up on all ten at Unreality. Which is your favorite? Link

Artist Marta Altés uses her imagination to design and draw cute illustrations using pencil shavings! See the entire series (so far) at her website. Link  -via Laughing Squid

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The spot where three continents converge is the most-disputed (and some say most valuable) real estate on Earth. Nine Paley is working on a full project (called Seder-Masochism) on the history of the Holy Land (Israel/Canaan/Palestine/the Levant), and this clip is envisioned as the final scene. See a list of who kills who at her website. Link -via Boing Boing

Previously: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

This dinosaur looks like some taxidermist is trying to pull a fast one, but it's a model of what scientists think Pegomastax africanus may have looked like. And it's tiny -only about two feet long. You'd hate to get nipped with those teeth!

Covered in porcupine-like quills and sporting a blunt, parrot-like beak, P. africanus would've looked like a "strange little bird," said Sereno, a paleontologist with the University of Chicago.

But its fangs, Sereno argues, were more like those of the piglike peccary (picture) or fanged deer, or water chevrotain (video)—modern-day, plant-eating mammals that use their teeth for self-defense and foraging.

The species, he added, would have lived along forested rivers in southern Africa around the time the supercontinent Pangaea had just begun to split into the northern and southern landmasses.

Read more about P. africanus at National Geographic News. Link

(Image credit: Tyler Keillor)

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How does marijuana affect your brain? Here's the totally non-political neurochemistry explanation from AsapSCIENCE. Written by Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown. -via The Daily What Geek

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The new movie Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an assassin who confronts his own much-older self, played by Bruce Willis. Screen Junkies found that this same scenario can be recreated starring much younger actors with footage from Angels in the Outfield (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and The Kid (starring Bruce Willis). And of course, this version is a family comedy! -via Flavorwire

An unnamed bride sent a group email to her best friends, laying out the requirements for those who decide they want to be one of her bridesmaids. It's quite extensive. You get the feeling that she's already put way more thought and effort into the perfect wedding day than she's put into the marriage itself -and the wedding isn't until August of 2013! Here's an excerpt:

A few girls live out of town so if there is going to be a problem with coming to either one then I need to know now because after this week I don’t want to be surprised. I would like everyone to send me any dates they are going away or planning to go away after February so if your going away in January I don’t care. I want any dates from February to the day of our wedding in August, that way we know not to plan something when your away. But after this week the dates are set in stone. Also if money is tight and you cant afford to contribute to say the bachelorette party or wont be able to afford a dress etc then L— and Myself don’t have time to deal with that, I’m sorry. This includes flights as well, everyone knows the states where the parties are going to be held so if you wont be able to afford a flight then that means you cant make a party which ultimately means I cant have you as a bridesmaid. Obviously we’ll get the best deals and were not gonna books flights for $1000 and shit that’s why were doing this in advance, that goes for bridesmaids dresses as well everything will be affordable but if you think by affordable its going to be a $25 forever 21 dress then your going to the wrong wedding.

Oh, but that's just a small part of it. You can read the entire email at Gawker. Link -via Uproxx

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

Humphrey Bogart appeared in some 75 movies during his legendary career from 1930 to 1957. He is, in my own opinion, the greatest actor in motion picture history. His performances in Casablanca, Beat the Devil, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and dozens of others are brilliant, unique, and unsurpassed. My favorite Bogart film is definitely Key Largo (1948).

Today, I think only the great Jack Nicholson and maybe Robert De Niro can ever approach Bogart's greatness as a film actor. One of the many things that made Bogart so great was his incredible ability to play both a very ethical, upright, honest "good guy" and a craven, unethical, immoral "bad guy."

Probably the single most asked question regarding Humphrey Bogart is "Why did he talk that way?" Bogart had a trademark lisping way of speaking, caused by a scarred-up area of his mouth.

The stories of just how Bogart got his trademark lisp number about a half-dozen. The first is that he got the lip scars from a beating his father, the very strict Belmont Bogart, gave him as a child. Supposedly this walloping occurred when he was a young boy. "Because his dad beat him" is the explanation Darwin Porter uses in his excellent biography The Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart.

Later, Bogart told his friend David Niven that his lip scars were caused by "a childhood accident." Was Bogart trying to cover up for his father when he gave this obtuse explanation? Another version of the lisp cause is that Bogart caught a large wooden splinter in his lip at the age of 12.

Astronomers have discovered a new comet that should be visible from Earth in 2013, and shine even brighter than a full moon at its peak!

The new comet, named C/2012 S1 (ISON) was found by the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) in Russia on 21 September when astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok captured it on CCD images taken through a 0.4-metre reflector. Its near-parabolic orbit suggests that it has arrived fresh from the Oort Cloud, a vast zone of icy objects orbiting the Sun, pristine remnants of the formation of the Solar System.

C/2012 S1 currently resides in the northwestern corner of Cancer. At magnitude +18 it is too dim to be seen visually but it will be within the reach of experienced amateur astronomers with CCD equipment in the coming months as it brightens. It is expected to reach binocular visibility by late summer 2013 and a naked eye object in early November of that year. Northern hemisphere observers are highly favoured. Following its peak brightness in late November it will remain visible without optical aid until mid-January 2014.

Better write those dates down when you get your new calendars for 2013. Read more about the comet at Astronomy Now. Link -via Metafilter

(Unrelated image credit: Flickr user NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center)

E. Robert Schulman , C. Virginia Cox , and E. Anne Schulman Alexandria, Virginia

Abstract
The stacking properties of toroids that reflect radiation in the 1.8 to 2.8 eV energy range is investigated. Preliminary results indicate that in the optimal configuration the toroids are oriented vertically with those reflecting lower energy photons having larger gravitational potential energies for toroids of equal mass. The ambiguousness of this solution is tested by experiments performed by a relatively inexperienced researcher (t= 0.9167 yr). These experiments indicate that alternate solutions can be found.

1. Introduction

The significance of toroidal stacking properties in the present society should not be underestimated. A plurality of localities in which dwell immature Homo sapiens contain educational implements consisting of conic surfaces that can be combined with multiple toroids to produce coherent structures. The number of toroids per conic surface is usually five, and there is often an anticorrelation between toroidal radius and the mean energy of photons reflected by each torus.

In this paper, we report on the results of a study of toroidal stacking properties by independent groups. Two of us (ERS and CVC) are experienced researchers, while one of us (EAS) is a relatively inexperienced researcher, having an age of 0.9167 yr at the time the study was performed.

2. Description of Experimental Apparatus   

The experimental apparatus consists of six components: A solid with a circular base and a plane curve tapering uniformly towards a vertex, which has a mean reflected photon energy of 2.18 eV, and five toroids of different radii having mean reflected photon energies of 2.76, 2.43, 2.18, 1.97, and 1.80 eV. The experimental aparatus is shown in Figure 1 :

3. Description of Experiment 1   

In the first experiment, two of us (ERS and CVC) together attempted to determine the optimal toroidal stacking configuration. It was found that in the most advantageous mode the toroids are arranged in a vertical orientation with those reflecting lower energy photons having larger gravitational potential energies for toroids of equal mass. This solution is listed in column 2 of Table 1.

Pharmaceutical companies often have difficulty enrolling enough volunteers for drug trials in the U.S. and in Europe, but there's a place where volunteers are plentiful: Russia. It's a move of convenience, as authorities see the shortage of health care providers in that country, doctors are stretched thin, and patients cannot afford treatment any other way.

In fact, under a law passed in 2010, ostensibly on health grounds, foreign drug companies must test medicine on Russians for it to be marketed in Russia.

The law has the effect of compelling investment in clinical testing on Russians, trade groups say. And it is working. The number of drugs tested on Russians has shot up over the last year. Russian regulators approved 448 clinical trials in the first six months of 2012, compared to 201 in the same period a year earlier — an increase of 96 percent.

Russia is not alone in opening the doors of hospitals in the national health system to drug companies looking for test subjects, in a quid pro quo with the international industry that conducts tests globally for a better demographic representation.

Testing in Russia is a net benefit to public health, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into diagnostic work and doctor care that would not have been here otherwise. Much of the business swirls around lower-risk testing of generic replacements for brand-name drugs.  

In the U.S., the line between "experiment" and "treatment" is much more broadly drawn. But the Russians seem to be resigned to the way things are. One volunteer gave the article a punch line:

“Why not? I take risks every day,” Mr. Maksimov said, noting that he recently flew on a Russian-made airplane.

Link -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Olga Kravets for The New York Times)