Usefulscience.org is a fun site that dispenses useful little tidbits of science fact. It links to the studies that it cites so you can learn the source behind the factoid and has categories so you can browse by topic. Very fun! Take a look here.

ExtremeTech posted about this awesome new live feed from Ustream. View it below.

After being continuously inhabited for more than 13 years, it is finally possible to log into Ustream and watch the Earth spinning on its axis in glorious HD. This video feed (embedded below) comes from from four high-definition cameras, delivered by last month’s SpaceX CRS-3 resupply mission, that are attached to the outside of the International Space Station. You can open up the Ustream page at any time, and as long as it isn’t night time aboard the ISS, you’ll be treated to a beautiful view of the Earth from around 250 miles (400 km) up.

This rather awesome real-time video stream (which also includes the ISS-to-mission control audio feed) comes by way of the High Definition Earth Viewing experiment. HDEV is notable because it consists of four, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) high-definition video cameras that are each enclosed in a pressurized box, but otherwise they exposed to the rigors of space (most notably cosmic radiation). The purpose of HDEV, beyond providing us with a live stream of our own frickin’ planet, is to see if commercial cameras are viable for future space missions, potentially saving a lot of money (space cameras have historically been expensive, custom-designed things).

HDEV, which consists of just a single enclosure, was delivered to the ISS a couple of weeks ago by SpaceX CRS-3. The box was connected up to the underside of the ISS via EVA/spacewalk, with one camera pointing forward (Hitachi), two cameras facing aft (Sony/Panasonic), and one pointing nadir (Toshiba, down towards Earth). If you watch the stream you will notice that it hops between the four cameras in sequence, with gray and black color slates in between each switch. If the feed is permanently gray then HDEV is switched off — or communications have been lost. Also note that the ISS has an orbital period of just 93 minutes — for a considerable part of that time the station is in the Earth’s shadow and can’t see much.

The active video camera is connected to the ISS Columbus module via an Ethernet link, and then beamed down to the ground. From there, it looks like the video feed is combined with the current ISS-to-mission control audio feed, and then simply uploaded to Ustream. It’s an impressively simple (and cheap) setup.

It’s also worth mentioning that parts of HDEV were designed by American high school students through NASA’s HUNCH program. It’s good to see NASA fostering the next generation of astronauts and scientists!

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Typical approaches to diagnosing prostate cancer can be costly and invasive. Furthermore, a large number of prostate cancers are low-grade and won't result in symptoms or death, meaning that without necessarily extending it, aggressive forms of treatment can impact a sufferer's quality of life. In an attempt to establish a less invasive method of detecting the condition, Finnish researchers have developed an electronic nose capable of sniffing the patient's urine sample to distinguish between prostate cancer and benign disease... Continue Reading Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer

Section: Medical

Tags: Cancer, Diagnose, Odor, Smell, University of Tampere

Related Articles:

• Study shows dogs can sniff out lung cancer
• Odoreader detects bladder cancer in urine
• Researchers take lead from dogs to develop cancer detecting electronic nose
• Biomarker research could lead to finger-prick cancer test
• Ultra-sensitive biosensor could detect diseases in their earliest stages
• Plasma therapy offers less invasive treatment for enlarged prostate

A few very special frogs just hatched at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. They're fairly unique among frogs, because they break out of their eggs as fully-formed tiny frogs, not as tadpoles.

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Who's got the largest vocabulary in hip hop? A data-scientist crunched the numbers to find out. [UPDATED]

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thebrownhatter:

thebrownhatter:

A game where you play as a skeleton collecting bones and customizing your skeleton body so that you can have variants such as really really really long legs or arms and have a cow skull head.

Beating a level gives you a message saying “Nice job, skeleton.”

San-Francisco-based Fougeron Architecture recently completed an unusual – and frankly very appealing – luxury home that's located along California's Big Sur coastline. Dubbed Fall House, the residence in question features a significant amount of sustainable technology and an enviable view of the Pacific Ocean, but the highlight is a roof and facade made from copper, which will slowly weather as it comes into contact with the sea air... Continue Reading Copper-clad Fall House goes green ... literally

Section: Architecture

Tags: California, Energy-efficient, Fougeron Architecture, House, Sustainable

Related Articles:

• A glass house you could actually live in
• A car park with a view (and a house too)
• Tree in the house shuns privacy in favor of a great view
• Passively-cooled Wind Vault House catches the breeze
• Tighthouse: The first certified Passive House in NYC
• Casa Flotanta "floats" above a Costa Rican hillside

thesoftghetto:

lucymontero:

lexkixass:

mooglemisbehaving:

gogogadgetgoatkins:

Mary Bowser, former slave of the Van Lew family, infiltrated the Confederacy by working as a servant in the household of Jefferson Davis. Bowser was assumed to be illiterate, and as a black woman was below suspicion. Practically invisible, she was able to listen to conversations between Confederate officials and read sensitive documents, gathering information that she handed over to the Union.

(From National Woman’s History Museum Facebook Page)

This needs to be a movie. Like, now.

I’d watch this movie.

How is this not a movie?

This would be a great damn movie

Lunar Concepts

veralynn23:

Bonsai Tree Houses by Takanori Aiba

whoa

Another Star Wars day retrospective for Lucas-fans… Over the years we’ve seen many great Star Wars themed fan LEGO creations of all shapes, sizes and styles. They run the gamut from vast minifigure based dioramas, to brick-built characters, and of course many fine ships and vehicles. But my personal favorites are probably these microscale dioramas by Rob Gillies (2 Much Caffeine).

 

Here for sharing far and wide is a handy guide to stemming the flow of nonsense in your daily life. Originally written by science writer Michelle Nijhuis for the outstanding science blog The Last Word on Nothing, these words have the power to make you a more discerning consumer – and sharer – of information. No bullshit.

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generalbriefing:

Yep this pretty much covers how history is taught here

darecrowavis:

simsgonewrong:

So one of my sims died, and the grim reaper turned up to do his business, but then another of my sims went into labour and the grim reaper started freaking the hell out 

"THIS IS NOT MY JOB. THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF MY JOB."

downsouth-gentleman:

I feel ya dog I did that for hours as a little kid

cross-connect:

Kirill Chelushkin born 1968 in Moscov, Russia is considered one of the most famous Russian artists. A true Renaissance man, he reveals his numerous talents through his creative work.He initially began as an architect and then turned to book illustration.

He gained international popularity in 1990 when he actively started exhibiting his works in conceptual art projects. By 2000, he had made a brilliant gallery-related career for himself in Russia, having amazed both critics and collectors with his involvement of huge drawing panels. The panels used a classical foundation for the creation of modern cultural stereotypes. Beyond this, he began to apply video in his art installations, which became more and more complicated, now using sculpture as the main object of his artistic work.

Kirill now lives in Paris, where he works with the largest galleries in Europe and the USA. He also takes part in international exhibitions, events and fairs worldwide.

// selected by Tu recepcja

alphamecha:

Fly by by JimHatama

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 6, debris from Halley's Comet will light up the sky in this year's Eta Aquarid meteor shower. Here's everything you need to know to spot as many meteors as possible.

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its-a-cat-world:

Cat. Catter. Cattest.

On this May 4th, let’s not forget some of the often overlooked but nevertheless very important characters from the Star Wars universe. I speak of course of Jabba’s keyboard player and occasional restauranteur Max Rebo. So I present to you my Star Wars Day Definitive Guide to every known LEGO version of everyone’s favorite azure non-elephant:

 
 

IMAGE CREDITS (in order): Millie McKenzie (Leda Kat); Larry Lars; our very own Tim Gould (Gambort); Flickr member SIMAFOL; Flickr member kae_ae; and Eric Druon (baronsat).

This is a “Betty Karrenbauer” who lived in Darmstadt during the second half of the 1920s.

It could be a Barbara Karrenbauer who was born 21st of January in Püttlingen 1906. This Barbara K lived in Darmstadt in the 1920s, at least until 1932, where she worked as a waitress. Only 18 years old she had a baby, named Erika, out of wedlock.

But it could also be a Barbara who was born Karrenbauer, but change her surname to Daum when she got married, and also lived in Darmstadt during the 1920s. She became a widow in 1944 and worked as a business woman.

And that’s all I know, they don’t have any more information at the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt…

Vincent P. Taylor was an early Australian aviator, balloonist and stuntman who went to the United States in 1920. After collapsing jobless, hungry and ill at a police station in Jacksonville in 1930, Florida, he died a few days later in a charity ward at the county hospital