omnibrain
Posts by this author
February 27, 2007
There are all sorts of remote control rodents and cockroaches out there now - but I guess they've stepped it up a notch and created a remote control flying rodent cockroach hybrid (also known as the common pigeon). Now, not only can they control in which direction the pigeon flies, they can also…
February 25, 2007
I've pretty much ignored all the academic fraud cases lately since I don't know what good can come from getting upset/annoyed/whatever about asshole scientists who screw it up for the rest of us. But lately I haven't been able to ignore them anymore - they are really starting to affect both my day…
February 25, 2007
Ok just kidding but you should really read this funny post from the Language Log mocking a Washington Post article about spear use in chimps.
The Original:
Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the tools to hunt small…
February 24, 2007
A new X-Ray screening device that clearly exposes aliens hiding in human bodies is being tried at the Phoenix airport. This technology will clearly protect us from the alien menace as you can surely see in this photo provided by the creators of this alien exposing technology. I wonder what planet…
February 23, 2007
Do you have a great memory? Go compete at the The 10th Annual Memory Championship! It will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2007 in New York City at the Con Edison Building. You can also watch it live on HDNet If you have HD ;) Hey all you guys can come over to my place! Actually I don't think I…
February 23, 2007
Funny since my mother is a librarian... "March of the Librarians" is a spoof of sorts of the "March of the Penguins."
Via Improbable Research Blog
Watch out for that hipster librarian in the crowd!
I also just ran across this at Bad Astronomy Blog:
Good stuff!
February 22, 2007
"and protect us from Atkins and his disciples. Ramen."
From the user Salad Is Slaughter.
He has won a copy of the Book God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.
Thanks for all the great entries! And Thanks to the marketing team at Prometheus Books for picking the…
February 21, 2007
The role of glial cells - or cells that "glue" the neurons together - has traditionally been that of a house keeper, cooking up and serving food, cleaning up waste products, and holding everything in place. In recent years the role of glial cells has been expanded somewhat, which leads us to…
February 21, 2007
An interesting youtube video from the Discovery Channel featuring the research of Chance Spalding. The video features a monkey who can control a robotic arm with the implanted electrodes in its brain.
via boingboing
February 19, 2007
A study from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center in Australia has shown that nearly a third of people under the age of 30 think marijuana is totally uncool. Drug abuse is clearly a problem that has to be dealt with through education and treatment programs (don't get me started on the war…
February 18, 2007
Here are a couple of my favorites starting with the original really really stupid text.
Check out the original site for many more, as well as some good commentary.
Via BoingBoing & Digg.
February 18, 2007
From Jim Gibbon:
"How succinct can you be in describing your research? Most of us have probably tried to whittle our work down to a 2-minute or 30-second "elevator speech" we can use while mingling at conferences. Doing this not only helps us clarify our work to ourselves, but also smooths out a…
February 17, 2007
But what about the 'real' scientific method?
Thanks Katherine!
February 16, 2007
James L. Sherley finally ended his 12 day hunger strike after he had a craving for a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse. Sherley said "I've had this tremendous hankering for a blooming onion from day two and just couldn't hold out anymore!"
Ok... I'm lying Sherley decided that his hunger…
February 15, 2007
So cheezy....
Now for a classic....
And finally here's an entire site of children's songs rewritten to be about the brain.
And finally...a robot playing John Coltraine.
February 15, 2007
What happens when you're looking to fill your 1000 words and get your paycheck? You head over to your local university and write something topically interesting. This requires close to no work and an interview lasting probably less than 30 minutes. In the Jan. 19th Time article What Do Babies…
February 15, 2007
In the ongoing battle between the DEA, farmers, patients, and scientists there has been nothing but contradictory information. It looks like with a couple new pieces of news that the pro-marijuana (the medical kind) people might be coming out ahead.
For researchers studying marijuana, it's been a…
February 13, 2007
Here's one for Valentine's Day.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Beatles' George Harrison wondered in his famous love song about the "something" that "attracts me like no other lover." A University at Buffalo expert explains that that "something" is actually several physical elements that -- if they occur in…
February 13, 2007
ClinkShrink from Shrink Rap sent me these great (anatomically correct) brain treats last fall. If anyone wants to get me a Valentines Day present, this would be it. ;)
[edit by Sandra - I need a chocolate brain too, but only to replace the one in my head that doesn't work very well. Also, what'…
February 13, 2007
A couple months ago we posted a number of very disturbing cigarette warning labels from around the world and wondered whether perhaps a picture of a rotting, stinking, bleeding tumor on a guys throat would perhaps help lower the incidence of smoking. In the March issue of the American Journal of…
February 13, 2007
Lots and lots and lots of snow (not quite upstate NY) but enough to close the university.
Here's the view from my window.
And here's what I'm doing about it ;)
February 13, 2007
Even if the person doesn't entirely get them. Why is that? you would certainly have to get them on some level to prefer them wouldn't you?
A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research discusses the benefits of slogans with multiple meanings, like a cell phone company using the slogan, "The…
February 12, 2007
Interesting article from the NYT Science Times:
More than a decade ago, Diana Duyser of Hollywood, Fla., received a religious message through an unlikely medium: a grilled cheese sandwich she had made herself. As she gazed at the brown skillet marks on the surface of the bread, a familiar visage…
February 11, 2007
As an academic your currency is your reputation, and how often your papers get cited (well assuming they aren't citing you for making up data). The inevitable result of this are battles of ideas being fought out at conferences, in special issues of journals and in review articles. If you discover…
February 11, 2007
If you want to join make sure you are:
- not opposed to alcohol.
- fond of IPCC reports (especially the pictures).
- mostly in agreement with the "truth."
- into badges.
- grieving for the slow and miserable death of the Hubble Space Telescope.
- possibly possessed of supernatural powers.
- not in…
February 11, 2007
I never really understood how anyone could identify someone off of those police sketches!
Now it seems that some psychologists have come to the same conclusion - but not pulling reasons out of their rear ends...like me!
In an article appearing in the February issue of Current Directions in…
February 11, 2007
It's the end of an era (and also a lot of embarrassment for Princeton and scientists in general) for the Princeton Parapsychology lab.
From the NYT on Friday:
Over almost three decades, a small laboratory at Princeton University managed to embarrass university administrators, outrage Nobel…
February 10, 2007
You are Dr. Doom
Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.
Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz
-Via Retrospectacle-
February 8, 2007
Ohh Kirk Cameron you're so silly!
"We are very excited about this game because it presents both sides of the creation-evolution argument, and in doing so, shows that the contemporary theory of evolution is perhaps the greatest hoax of modern times," said creator Kirk Cameron
I heard about this game…