Tadeu

A fear submitted by andthenwemetthelocals for deep-dark-fears.

Zothecula writes "A team of astronomers at The Australian National University working on a five-year project to produce the first comprehensive digital survey of the southern sky has discovered the oldest known star in the Universe. The star dates back 13.7 billion years, only shortly after the Big Bang itself. It's also nearby (at least, from a cosmological perspective) — about 6,000 light-years away. The star is notable for the very small amount of iron it contains (abstract). The lead researcher, Stefan Keller, said, 'To make a star like our Sun, you take the basic ingredients of hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang and add an enormous amount of iron – the equivalent of about 1,000 times the Earth's mass. To make this ancient star, you need no more than an Australia-sized asteroid of iron and lots of carbon. It's a very different recipe that tells us a lot about the nature of the first stars and how they died.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Watch as YouTube user HedgehogTH drops a neodymium magnet inside a large copper tube. We. Can’t. Stop. Watching.

De momento son como diminutas agujas (de unos tres nanómetros, tres milmillonésimas de metro), pero investigadores de la Universidad de Pensilvania han conseguido introducirlas y moverlas dentro de células vivas. Con ello abren la puerta a una herramienta para interaccionar con la estructura celular básica desde dentro, tanto para el estudio como para, en un futuro, curar. El trabajo lo publica Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Los dispositivos están formados por una mezcla magnética de oro y rutenio, y se mueven desde fuera mediante ultrasonidos. Las fotografías tomadas con un microscopio muestran su recorrido.

En principio, se han movido para registrar qué sucede cuando los nanomotores chocan con los orgánulos celulares. “Hemos visto respuestas mecánicas desconocidas hasta ahora”, ha dicho Tom Mallouk, profesor de la Universidad Estatal de Pensilvania. Las células son como diminutas fábricas llenas de orgánulos y estructuras que se encargan de producir energía, procesar nutrientes, eliminar residuos, fabricar proteínas… En una primera aproximación, los minúsculos dispositivos se han usado como batidoras para destruir todo lo que encuentran o perforar las membranas. Parece un trabajo poco preciso, pero solo con pensar que esto pudiera usarse a gran escala para destruir células cancerígenas ya sería un avance.

De hecho, ha sido en cultivos de HeLa, la famosa estirpe de adenocarcinoma de cuello de útero (cérvix) donde se han ensayado. “Esta investigación es una demostración de que es posible usar nanomotores sintéticos para estudiar la biología celular de formas novedosas. Los podríamos utilizar para tratar el cáncer y otras enfermedades manipulando las células desde dentro; podrían efectuar microcirugías intracelulares y administrar fármacos de manera no invasiva”, explica Mallouk.

El trabajo hasta llegar a esta fase ha consistido de varias fases. El primero era fabricar estructuras que una célula engullera de manera natural sin matarla, algo relativamente sencillo. Pero el problema era conseguir moverlas, porque los primeros combustibles que se usaron eran tóxicos. La aplicación de los ultrasonidos ha solucionado ese inconveniente. Con ello han conseguido una precisión que incluso permite mover varias de estas estructuras dentro de una misma célula.

The water bear. Paul Souders, USA.


Lucky Pounce. Connor Stefanison, Canada.


Freeze frame. Etienne Francey, Switzerland

nevver:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013

In 1899, British statistician Moses B. Cotsworth noted that recordkeeping could be greatly simplified if each month contained a uniform number of whole weeks. He proposed an “international fixed calendar” containing 13 months of 28 days each:

This makes everything easier. The 26th of every month falls reliably on a Thursday, for example, and statistical comparisons between months are made more accurate, as each month contains four tidy weeks with four weekends. (Unfortunately for the superstitious, every one of the 13 months contains a Friday the 13th.) A new month, called Sol, would be wedged between June and July, and an extra day, “Year Day,” would be added at the end of the year, but it would be independent of any month (as would Leap Day).

In 1922 the League of Nations chose Cotsworth’s plan as the most promising of 130 proposed calendar reforms, but the public, as always, resisted the unfamiliar, and by 1937 the International Fixed Calendar League had closed its doors. It left one curious legacy, though: George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, was so pleased with Cotsworth’s scheme that he adopted it as his company’s official calendar — and it remained so until 1989.

yalestewart:

careydraws:

Written in the Bones. New comic, written by Christopher M. Jones & illustrated by Carey Pietsch.

I’m hoping to have printed copies of this at MOCCA, ABPCC, and TCAF this spring, and SPX in the fall! More info to come.

God in Heaven, give me the strength to keep from curling into a ball and dying.

jenawithonen:

can u keep it down i am trying 2 reed

As noted this morning, Apple has plans to open its first retail store in Brazil on Saturday, February 15. The store is located in the Village Mall luxury shopping center in Rio de Janeiro's famous Barra Da Tijuca borough.

Brazilian news site The Globe [Google Translation] had an opportunity to speak with Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer about the store opening, which has been in the works for several years.

The Village Mall in Rio
According to Oppenheimer, Brazil is an increasingly important market for Apple. The company first launched an online store in the country in 2009 and is "very excited" to bring a physical store to Brazil.

Brazil has been a tough market for Apple as prices on iOS devices in the country have been prohibitively high. Apple cut the price of the iPhone 4 and 4s in Brazil back in early 2013, and just recently announced plans to continue selling the low-cost iPhone 4.

The new Apple Store in Rio de Janeiro takes on a unique "pavilion" design with a single floor and a long, curved glass exterior, which Oppenheimer says is one of the few stores to have the design worldwide. The concept is based on two spaces, with the front dedicated to product testing and the back focusing on sales of accessories and services.

Apple recently opened a similar store in Palo Alto at the Stanford Mall. The one-story location features a glass-enclosed front room filled with iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks for people to test out along with a spacious back room for accessory sales, Workshops, and Genius Bar appointments.

In the interview, Oppenheimer also confirmed Apple was indeed aiming to open the first Brazilian Apple Store ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Rio this summer, and ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

The first Brazilian Apple Store will open on Saturday, February 15, and Oppenheimer says there are already plans for additional retail stores in Brazil, where Apple sees "great opportunities." "We are already planning the opening of new stores in the country, continuing our investments in Brazil," he said.

Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet appeared without makeup VANITY FAIR.

Hollywood beauty Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet accepted an offer to play for the magazine Vanity Fair with the ” naked ” face .

Not every actress is ready to share photos without makeup , even on his page on Instagram, not that decorate its popular magazine photo spread . But Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet gladly accepted the offer of Vanity Fair and show your “real” person in the latest edition . Creator shooting began photographer Chuck Close , who made two portraits on Polaroid.

Stylists decided to make the whole emphasis on face actresses Scarlett therefore put on a simple gray knitted sweater , and Kate - black . The only decoration steel chains with miniature pendants .

creamsiclesquid:

feather-ponyartist:

whiteash6:

feather-ponyartist:

ask-koki-kariya:

buttlid:

kymherz:

ippinka:

Try out a cool way to separate egg yolks from egg whites!

this is genius.

this is actually lifechanging

Some people are allergic to egg yolks so a big signal boost from me

w… why are your eggs yellow?!? O_O

why are your eggs not yellow?

ours are orange!! :OOOO

fresher eggs have darker yolks in my experience.

No pie please

Dong Nguyen, the developer of Flappy Bird, the viral hit that remains at the top of the App Store rankings, has promised on Twitter to remove the app from the App Store because the sheer amount of attention the app has drawn is something he isn't interested in dealing with.

Nguyen has repeatedly said on Twitter that the press is "overrating the success" of his games and that the sudden fame and attention is something he doesn't want, saying "please give me peace". He said today that though he is planning to remove Flappy Bird from the App Store, he will continue to make games. However, he isn't interested in the future of Flappy Bird and he won't sell the app to another developer.

Yesterday, before the shutdown was announced, Flappy Bird was updated to remove all social sharing features.

I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

I also don't sell 'Flappy Bird', please don't ask.

— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

For the moment, Flappy Bird is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

chicagno:

they’re evolving. growing stronger.

We’ve already met the Metástasis equivalents for Walt, Jesse, Skyler, and Hank, and even seen a brief trailer, and now there’s even more information on the Spanish-language Breaking Bad remake, thanks to a New Republic feature on how producers adapted Vince Gilligan’s show for Latin American audiences. In addition to reiterating previous reports on some of the cultural differences—such as how motor homes are exceedingly rare in Colombia, so Walt and Jesse will cook in an old school bus—the article also offers some new information on how Metástasis will deal with Saul Goodman, even though the character doesn’t show up until Breaking Bad’s second season. As with the RV situation, lawyers don't advertise with cheesy late-night television ads in Colombia. So instead, the character of Saúl Bueno will host a late-night talk show called Cuéntele A Saúl, on which he doles out ...

Sim, às vezes relaxo descansando no sofá, mesmo com a casa bagunçada.

jones_supa writes "At FOSDEM 2014 some recent developments of GNU Hurd were discussed (PDF slides). In the name of freedom, GNU Hurd has now the ability to run device drivers from user-space via the project's DDE layer. Among the mentioned use-cases for the GNU Hurd DDE are allowing VPN traffic to just one application, mounting one's own files, redirecting a user's audio, and more flexible hardware support. You can also run Linux kernel drivers in Hurd's user-space. Hurd developers also have working IDE support, X.Org / graphics support, an AHCI driver for Serial ATA, and a Xen PV DomU. Besides the 64-bit support not being in a usable state, USB and sound support is still missing. As some other good news for GNU Hurd, around 79% of the Debian archive is now building for GNU Hurd, including the Xfce desktop (GNOME and KDE soon) and Firefox web browser."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Pete Amachree peteamachree.deviantart.com


Pete Amachree peteamachree.deviantart.com


sketchboook.deviantart.com

nevver:

The future was fantastic

Para os papais internautas do Caixa Pretta… Gostaram?

Nerval's Lobster writes "Renault's new concept car gives drivers an unusual companion: a small flying drone, controllable via tablet or preset GPS waypoints, which scans the area ahead for obstacles and traffic. The so-called 'flying companion' can exit the vehicle via a retractable hatch in the roof, and buzz around the immediate vicinity shooting video and photos; as this is a concept, actual hardware and software specs aren't available, although Renault's engineers envision something closer to the size of a small bird than some of the larger drones currently available. But how practical is a 'driving drone'? Considering all the accidents caused by people texting or Web-surfing while driving, it seems questionable to introduce a piece of hardware that could prove even more distracting—imagine trying to successfully guide a drone with touch-screen controls while navigating a fast-paced roadway, and you can see why the idea of a "flying companion" would raise the collective blood pressure of traffic-safety officials. Yes, it would be safer for a passenger to handle drone-flying duties while the driver concentrates on the road; but it's also a near-certainty, if such a concept ever went into production, that more than one driver would attempt to multi-task the navigation of two vehicles at once. Do you think this idea is feasible?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

1. Baker
Deciding on a career in the real world is hard enough, but for those who live in the fictional realm of romantic comedies, the prospects are even slimmer. Because rom-coms aim to transport swooning, optimistic viewers to a gentle fantasyland for a couple hours, the films’ lead characters tend to have glamorous gigs. It’s not likely that a bus dispatcher is going to have a serendipitous meet-cute, and Nora Ephron would never have filmed in the Applebee’s kitchen. As a result, certain professions end up over-represented in the genre’s distorted slice of life. Baking, for instance, presents a romantic-comedy screenwriter with an ideal mix of literal sweetness and down-to-earth plausibility—plus, it fits with rom-coms’ penchant for traditional gender roles. Bakers, by Hollywood’s reckoning, toil all day with powdered sugar and chocolate, never gain a pound, and have a knack for solving problems with ...