Cooper Griggs

Scientists had a pigeon, hawk, and owl fly over super-sensitive microphones to measure how much sound was created by their flapping. Owls are known for their silent flying abilities and this is demonstrated by the barn owl in the GIF above. Watch the video

You'll see a lot more instances of robotic arms in the news, but it doesn't mean high-tech prostheses for the lower limbs don't exist. The Cyberlegs project, for instance, is developing robotic legs that can help amputees move and walk more naturally...

taikonaut:

humanoidhistory:

Fifty years ago today, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made history when he stepped outside the Voshkod 2 spacecraft and became the first person ever to walk in space. As a small step, as a great leap, Leonov’s 12-minute spacewalk was an adventure for the ages — and it almost killed him.

The BBC has the story of how his spacesuit started inflating into a death trap:

At this point the cosmonaut realised something was wrong. The lack of atmospheric pressure in space had slowly caused his spacesuit to inflate like a balloon. He recalls:

"My suit was becoming deformed, my hands had slipped out of the gloves, my feet came out of the boots. The suit felt loose around my body. I had to do something.”

"I couldn’t pull myself back using the cord. And what’s more with this misshapen suit it would be impossible to fit through the airlock."

In five minutes he would be in the Earth’s shadow, and plunged into total darkness. Without telling ground control, the cosmonaut decided to bleed half of the air out of his spacesuit through a valve in its lining. This risked starving his body of oxygen, but if he couldn’t get back inside the capsule, he’d be dead anyway.

Leonov let out a little oxygen at a time to reduce the pressure. But as he did so, he started to feel the first hints of decompression sickness.

“I began to get pins and needles in my legs and hands. I was entering the danger zone, I knew this could be fatal.”

He started coiling the cord in order to haul himself back. When he finally reached the airlock, he pushed the camera in, grabbed the sides and lurched through head first.

The extreme physical exertion had caused his temperature to soar; he was now at risk of heatstroke and sweating uncontrollably. The globules filled his helmet, obscuring his vision.

Leonov was supposed to re-enter the airlock feet first. Getting in the wrong way meant he had to turn himself around in the cramped space to make sure the umbilical cord was inside and the hatch was locked.

He says: “It was the most difficult thing: I’m in this suit and I had to turn around in the airlock. But with the perspiration, I couldn’t see anything.”

"I don’t normally sweat much, but on that day I lost 6kg in weight.”

After curling around in his bulky suit, in such a narrow space, Leonov finally made it back inside the craft.

(BBC)

Jesus Christ that’s most of my phobia list right there.

“And I goddamn refuse to be dragon bait. I’m as capable of rescuing you as you are of rescuing me. I’m an outlaw, not a hero. I never intended to rescue you. We’re our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.”

- Tom Robbins

Doctors have been employing 3D-printed tissue for years now. But even though the hype around 3D bioprinting has raised expectations that it will save lives and shorten donor wait lists, fully functional printed organs are not feasible yet. While we w...

You may see yellow taxis as virtually synonymous with New York City transportation, but you might have to reconsider that image before too long. New Taxi and Limousine Commission data shows that Uber cars now outnumber cabs on NYC streets, with 14,08...

A team at Stanford's School of Medicine has reportedly uncovered a potent new treatment method for combating one of leukemia's most aggressive forms -- and they did it pretty much by accident. While survival rates for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leuke...

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still cleaning up my studio…

added another batch of very affordable prints to my store.

Rumor: Large corporations routinely take out "dead peasant" insurance policies on low-level employees to be paid out as executive bonuses.

News: Radio personality Jay Smooth appeared on MSNBC to discuss Starbucks' new #RaceTogether campaign.

Rumor: Hillary Rodham failed her 1973 attempt to pass the Washington, D.C., bar exam.

Australian artist Tanya Schultz creates immersive wonderlands using the sweetest materials: colorful sugar and candy. But along with the hundreds of pounds of sugar, the miniature worlds, which are reminiscent of mythological lands made from food, often incorporate as many ingredients as there are colors. Working under the pseudonym Pip & Pop, Schultz uses everything from glitter and pipe cleaners to beads and figurines to create her psychedelic installations, which have been exhibited all around the world.

Pip and Pop began as a duo in 2007 but since 2011 Schultz has been working alone, or sometimes collaborating with other artist or creative companies, to create her elaborate installations. Check out what she’s been up to recently and allow yourself to be transported to imaginary worlds where sugar rains from the sky and streets are paved with candies. (via Cross Connect)

via http://www.simonstalenhag.se/

Most of John Legere's time spent on stage dealt with T-Mobile's bid to play nice with businesses, but average consumers just got a few bones here, too. First up is Carrier Freedom, a new spin on the company's Contract Freedom initiative that'll see T...

Tesla's relationship with New Jersey is a little complicated. After first banning direct-to-consumer sales just over a year ago, then moving to lift the ban, the Garden State is finally following through. CNBC reports that governor Chris Christie has...

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by m0dl3r

After pitting loved ones and enemies alike against each other for what feels like all of human existence, it seems we may finally have a definitive winner in the “over vs. under” toilet paper draping debate.

Though there are still likely to be those who remain loyal to the “under” side of the line, as writer Owen Williams points out on Twitter, Seth Wheeler’s original patent for his perforated toilet paper invention in 1891 shows the paper in an “over” position, indicating that that is how it’s meant to be used.

Indeed, another drawing from the Google patents database shows the paper on the outside of the roll as well:

Wheeler’s Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company was the first in the world to make perforated toilet paper, originally patenting that idea in 1871 (PDF) before the 1891 patent added the roll aspect.

And it seems even back then, Wheeler knew people would be prone to using too much paper in the john.

“In carrying out my invention the sheets of paper are only partially separated, having their points of attachment arranged in a novel manner, whereby each sheet will easily separate from the series as it is drawn from the roll, there being no litter occasioned, and any waste of paper is thereby prevented,” he wrote in the patent.

neil-gaiman:

upworthy:

There Were Too Many Deer In The Forest. So They Unleashed The Wolves Without Any Idea What Would Happen.

When the deer killed off the forest, they decided to let the wolves loose to fix it. We had no idea what exactly we had done.

If you haven’t seen this video, take a few minutes and watch it. You will be happy you did.

La Mise en Abîme (2013, used oil, metal) / All photos courtesy We Find Wildness

Created by Swiss artist Romain Crelier, La Mise en Abîme (an idiom that communicates the same thing as “a curveball,” but means, roughly, “to have put into an abyss”) was a visually arresting artwork installed on the floor of the Bellelay Abbey in Switzerland back in 2013. The piece is comprised of two shallow pools of used motor oil that function as mirrors, reflecting the architectural details of the surrounding interior. The crude juxtaposition of recycled oil and the impeccably preserved aesthetic of a 12th century church wasn’t lost on the artist who referred to the piece as “monochrome paintings using a despised substance.” You can see more photos on We Find Wildness. (via We Find Wildness, This Isn’t Happiness, thnx Kathy!)

via http://theadamandeveprojects.com/uploaded/stream/JonathanZawada_1b.jpg

via http://secretforts.blogspot.com/2010/06/drawing-board-summer-pt-i.html