Researchers at The University of Manchester funded by the Fungal Research Trust have discovered millions of fungal spores right under our noses - in our pillows.
Aspergillus fumigatus, the species most commonly found in the pillows, is most likely to cause disease; and the resulting condition Aspergillosis has become the leading infectious cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow transplant patients. Fungi also exacerbate asthma in adults.
The researchers dissected both feather and synthetic samples and identified several thousand spores of fungus per gram of used pillow - more than a million spores per pillow."
Scientists have discovered the "beautifully preserved" bones of about 20 dodos at a dig site in Mauritius.
Little is known about the dodo, a famous flightless bird thought to have become extinct in the 17th century.
No complete skeleton has ever been found in Mauritius, and the last full set of bones was destroyed in a fire at a museum in Oxford, England, in 1755."
Dr Marco Bertamini, from the University’s School of Psychology, conducted a number of experiments by covering a mirror on a wall and inviting participants to walk along a line parallel to the mirror.
He asked them to guess the point at which they would be able to see their reflection. Results showed that people believe they can see themselves even before they are level with the near edge of the mirror.
Dr Bertamini said: “People tend not to understand that the location of the viewer matters in terms of what is visible in a mirror. A good example of this is what we call the Venus Effect, which relates to the many famous paintings of the goddess Venus, looking in a small mirror."
Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met"
Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial."
It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."
Hey everyone, just an FYI. Serenity, the amazing motion picture follow-up to the (lamented) Joss Whedon television series Firefly, is due out on DVD Tuesday.
Give a gift of galactic proportions this holiday season to your favorite LEGO® Star Wars™ Fan! Own a one-of-a-kind 8-foot LEGO Rebel Attack Cruiser™ model designed by LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi exclusively for display at Star Wars Celebration III, San Diego Comic-Con, LEGOLAND® California and several other national LEGO events* to promote the final episode in the Star Wars saga.
Gamestop has taken pre-orders & deposit money from thousands of customers. Some of these pre-orders were made as early as last summer. They have ignored these obligations. Instead of routing inventory to the stores with pre-orders (all of them!) they have decided to sell their stock of 360 units online in expensive and overpriced bundles."
This is a dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Algorithms include common functions, such as Ackermann's function."
Here is an excellent collection of photographs by the hubble telescope. It's hard to grasp how very insignificant we are in the full scope of the galaxy.
The Wookieepedia is a growing free online database of everything Star Wars that anyone can edit. An on-going project, the wiki currently has over 7000 articles ranging from cultural icons like Darth Vader, to obscure Expanded Universe knowledge. Read to learn and then contribute your knowledge.
In 1939, a man from a small village in the Andes mountains carried his five-year-old daughter Lina into a hospital in the town of Pisco, Peru. He indicated to the doctors there that the shamans in his village had been unable to cure the large tumor that was developing in her abdomen. Upon examination, the doctors learned that the swelling was not actually a tumor."
The 3D controller that Nintendo is onto is a very good idea. If you look at today’s [Sony] controller with triangles, Xs, squares and circles, it’s scary. It’s like a keyboard. People are interface phobic.”
Imagine that a man dangles a piece of candy in front of you. ... As you grab the candy, a huge metal hook stabs through your hand and you’re ripped off the ground. You fight to get away, but it doesn’t do any good... That would be an awful trick to play on someone, wouldn’t it?”
It is only Brazil and the US administration that remain opposed to the domain.
More likely is that the US government intervened but is desperate to avoid being seen to do so because of the ongoing Internet governance conflict, where the US government retains unilateral control of the Internet but claims never to use apply it."
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