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sciencehabit writes "Marlene Thielecke came to Madagascar to study the sand flea, an insect that spends part of its life cycle burrowed into the human foot — but she wound up getting more intimate with the critter than she cared for. Months into her project, Thieleckewas bitten by a flea herself. She decided to make the best of it, by taking regular photographs and videos and keeping track of her observations. 'I thought it might be interesting' to watch what happened, she says. As it turns out, her experience may help resolve an question entomologists have debated foor decades: Where, exactly, does the sand flea have sex?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Hill reports today that the White House is considering appointing a civilian leader to run the NSA when current director Keith Alexander, who has led the agency since 2005, steps down in the spring. This could signal a changing view of the agency's role, and is seen by some as a promising if small first step toward greater transparency.

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Sriracha has been the spicy king of the sauce world for the past few years. It's time to kick it up a notch, and get creative.

The distinct condiment can be found on the dinner tables of foodies everywhere who like to add the kick of this red sauce can add to practically any meal

Now that we can rest easy knowing the beloved rooster bottles won't be absent from the grocery store shelves any time soon, we can spice things up with the most tastebud-tempting recipes your little Pinterest heart can handle.

Ranging from main dishes, cocktails, and desserts, you could host a full-on sriracha celebration with these goodies. Just be sure to keep a glass of water handy. Read more...

More about Lists, Recipes, Pinterest, Watercooler, and Food

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Dracula's not such a bad guy. Well, he is, but he's got reasons for it, and MercurySteam, the developers of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, want you to know that when you take control of the legendary Prince of Darkness in February 2014.

Dave Cox, producer on the game, says in the dev diary above that their version of Dracula is not the "quintessential evil guy" that people may expect. "I think that following a character you can identify with is really important, so we wanted to have a guy that people really saw, really felt for him, they understood how he got to that place. So I think in many ways, our Dracula is more human than previous incarnations of Dracula."

That statement makes sense given the fact that Dracula was once Gabriel Belmont, hero of the first Lords of Shadow game. In that game's DLC, Gabriel turned himself into a vampire to shield himself from otherworldly powers so he could dispatch an ancient, even worse, evil. Fight fire with fire, as they say. Or in this case, fight fire with vampire powers and a sweet whip. Y'know, whichever.

Human side of Dracula shown in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 dev diary originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayJam's Android-powered GameStick console has had a few delays, and now it has one more. On its most recent release date, November 8, a GameStick representative confirmed to Engadget that the portable console is now scheduled to launch on November 15. That's not exactly going to be a slow day for the industry, considering the planned midnight launches for the PS4.

Following the $647,658 success that was the GameStick's Kickstarter campaign, GameStop invested in the GameStick earlier this year. The retailer has changed its listing to reflect the last-minute delay, offering the GameStick for $79.99 on November 15. For reference, that's $20 less than Android family member Ouya's retail price.

GameStick delayed again, now launching against PS4 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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edited.  found HD version!  

https://www.facebook.com/gabriela.hernandezguerra.1

Gabriela Hernández Guerra having a crying fit posted on her facebook one photo of hers with the bed sheet she used to killed herself,already tied around her neck with a suicide note, Which says:

“Goodbye, everyone! I dont own nothing, Julio, I love you, never forget me with my happy smile, fruit of happiness you gave me. I apologize to my family.”

She was heartbroken after a failed relationship with an Ecuadorian guy she had met through Internet.

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The Central American acacia tree and the ant Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus live in a symbiotic relationship. The tree provides sweet nectar for the ants, and the ants protect the tree from weeds and animals. But we now know that the relationship is rather one-sided, as the tree not only causes the ants to become addicted to its nectar, but also damages the ants to make them unable to digest any other food! Martin Heil of Cinvestav Unidad Irapuato in Mexico studied the ants, and found that they are born with the ability to digest a variety of sugars, but then lose their invertase, an enzyme that breaks down sugars.

The disabled ants can then only survive on the partially-digested sugar of acacia nectar.
Heil has now shown that the tree itself is responsible. Writing in the Ecology Letters journal, he reports that acacia nectar contains chitinase enzymes that completely block invertase.

Shortly after the workers emerge from their pupae as adults, they take their first sip of nectar and their invertase becomes irreversibly disabled.

"Ain't nature grand?" says Todd Palmer of the University of Florida, who studies ants and acacias.

"What looks from the outside as another case of digestive specialization appears to be a sneaky manipulation on the part of the acacia to increase ant dependence."

That's kind of like a nefarious baby food company that offers to pay for your rotten teeth to be pulled instead of repaired. Like I've always said, never trust a tree bearing gifts. Read more about this research at NatGeo News.

(Image credit: Alexander L. Wild)

Evan Amos was reading a Wikipedia article about the Nintendo Wii console when he noticed something peculiar

"The picture they used was awful — really low-quality," he recalls

Amos, a freelance photographer, was sitting at home in his Brooklyn, N.Y. apartment. He had a Wii system of his own, in the next room, and therefore, decided to replace it with a new, more professional-looking photo. Using his DSLR and a pair of strobe lights, he snapped a picture and uploaded it to the site:

Feeling satisfied, and now curious, he pulled up Wikipedia pages for other gaming systems. Again, the same low-resolution photos for thumbnails. "So I replaced those, too," he says Read more...

More about Wikipedia, Gaming, Photos, Photography, and Crowdsourcing

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Google has released a new app that allows you to earn Play Store credits by answering surveys. The Google Opinion Rewards app is U.S. only for now. Created by Google Consumer Surveys, it crowdsources consumer opinion with quick and easy to answer surveys in exchange for Play Store credit. The earned Play Store credit will be credited to the Google Wallet account of the user and can be used against any content on the online store. The pattern follows the basics of any survey process. After downloading the app, you have to answer a few rudimentary questions about yourself to...

Read the full article: Answer Surveys To Receive Play Store Credit With The New Google Opinion Rewards App

(YouTube link)

A young leopard is curious about this strange-looking animal that isn't afraid of him. The porcupine might be afraid, but he has his own defense system. Neither seems to be aware or care that the encounter takes place in the middle of a road with tourists on both sides. I believe this all takes place in Kruger National Park in South Africa. -via Say OMG

No matter what you think of Windows 8, it's certain that Windows is both iconic and significant in the evolution of personal computing. It's a series of operating systems, of course, but it's also been a concept, a way of thinking, an influencer, and a touchstone for 30 years since Bill Gates introduced it on November 10, 1983.

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Math, it's so boring. Said everyone anytime anyone ever asked them to do basic arithmetic. But it doesn't have to be! Yann Pineill & Nicolas Lefaucheux of Parachutes.tv has dispelled the notion that math is boring by making it look beautiful. Yes, beautiful. And a little bit like seeing The Matrix.

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_{[Dtoid community blogger naveenwf reminisces about his favorite memories of last gen for this month's Community Assignment. Want to see your own blog appear on our front page? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon]}

Instead of writing about the "issues" that plagued our generation, or indie games, or any specific topic, I thought I'd give my personal rundown on some great gaming moments that I've had.

Here are my seven favorite gaming moments from this past generation. Tell me yours in the comments!

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