Video: Everthing you ever wanted to know about crying

They must have had the The Cry Baby in mind when they made this video! The video actually explains some of the science behind tears, for example that tears consist of water, oil and mucus and that there are three types of tears: reflex, basal and emotional. This all has me crying in my scotch.


Infographic Crying from Andrej Preston on Vimeo.

The Queen of England on Twitter

Did you know the old gal tweets? Here you go –– the Queen's royal tweets:

Very clear chart shows radiation exposure levels in daily life and beyond

This chart prepared by Randall Munroe at http://xkcd.com is perhaps the clearest I've seen on radiation exposure in everyday life and in more extreme situations. Click on the chart to see the larger version.

Strangest action figures ever

Thisblogrules has compiled a list of the top ten weirdest action figures. To note is that the Steve Jobs and the Mark Zuckerberg figures are not included, possibly because M.I.C., the company producing the figures were told by Apple and Facebook to stop selling the figures. The list starts with the Albino Bowler. See them all here.

 

Very, very cool infographic showing every Mars mission

Chart: Deaths per energy source - nukes look pretty good

There's still much to worry about with nuclear energy and the plants are in dire  need of more robust design, but when it comes to actual deaths from nuclear energy,  nuclear power compares very well to other sources.

This chart was prepared by Dr. Mark J. Perry, a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan.

Global warming linked to Cry Baby's bowel movements

Just reading the headline on the right makes me cringe. The words are from Clean Technica, and the article following the headline attempts to make a dubious link between global warming and earthquakes. It puts forward the idea that there has been a  recent increase in earthquake activity and hints that scientists are well on their way to establishing a link between global warming and and this perceived earthquake increase:

"At last year’s American Geophysical Union meeting geologists were already questioning whether there was a climate change link underlying the increasing frequency of unusually large earthquakes, according to  Mathew McDermott at Treehugger. The Haiti earthquake was then just the latest example."

Where to start! In the first place, where is the statistical evidence that there is any increase in the  frequency or severity of earthquakes? We live on a planet with shifting tectonic plates and earthquakes have been here since Earth was a planet. I have seen no statistical data showing any significant increase, and to take a couple anecdotal examples and call them scientific evidence is ludicrous.

Beyond this obvious flaw in the argument, we are dealing with two incredibly complex and unpredictable areas: Climate change and seismology.The vast number variables and lack of accurate forecast models alone, are reason enough not to try and invoke relationships between these incredibly intricate systems.

1906 San Francisco earthquake: pre-global warming paranoia

All this said, The Cry Baby does have a theory. My bowel movements and climate change are somehow related. Not quite sure how, but if we get enough scientists working on it, I'm sure we can find a relationship.

Ann Coulter: Radiation is good for you!

Ann Coulter explains to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly why radiation above the government's stated safe levels is good for you. She was promoting her latest column on her website, "A Glowing Report on Radiation." There is a bit of science behind this. The phenomenon is called hormesis and basically says what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. Perhaps, but I'd rather not put it to the test. Whack on Ann!

Map: Earthquake risks to humans worldwide throughout history

This map, from University of Sheffield, is a visulization of the risks of earthquakes on humanity using records from the past 4,000 years. A The map uses data ffrom database containing information on earthquakes from 2150 BC to the present day that meet at least one of the following criteria: moderate damage, 10 or more deaths, magnitude 7.5 or greater, or the earthquake generated a tsunami.

More technical information explaining what you are looking at: "The map was created using these records by calculating `kernel density´, an equation that shows the probability distribution of earthquakes, in order to visualise the areas most at risk from 2150 BC to the present day. The new earthquake map was then created by transforming the data in a way that highlights populated areas whilst eliminating depopulated regions. "

Credit: Benjamin Hennig

Try your hand at running a nuclear reactor - online game

Want to try your hand at running a nuclear reactor? Give this online game a try.

Scientists turn brains into stunning art

From MIT Technology Review: "Harvard scientists devised a way to make mouse neurons glow in a breathtaking array of colors, a technique dubbed “Brainbow.” Using a clever trick of genetic engineering genes for three or more different fluorescent proteins were combined like paints to generate different hues allowing researchers to create a system to make each neuron glow one of 100 different colors. Now, fruit fly researchers have a similar visual show on their hands. Last week, two Brainbow-based methods for making fly neurons glow customized colors—called dBrainbow and Flybow. " Have a look at this incredible art these processes  have created.

Credit: Phuong Chung, Stefanie Hampel, and Julie H. Simpson/HHMI

Graphic: Troops in Afghanistan – what happens after they leave?

This is a nice graphic from graphic.is showing the troops still in Afghanistan. The good guys that is, as in the NATO led forces.  Not much point showing the Taliban, warlord troops and Al Qaeda fighters ... they're not going anywhere. We, on the other hand, are slowly pulling out. Canada will be be withdrawing at the end of 2011, although a significant number of training personnel will remain. What happens when all the good guys are all gone? With a corrupt government in place, and a tribal society, I don't believe there is much hope of a good outcome. The Taliban will move right back in to fill the void and the warlords will keep the country carved up as before. All that is missing form the mix is Bin Laden.

Videos: Nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima – aerial views

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and  the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The Japanese nuclear disaster is currently at a level 5. The Chernobyl disaster began during a routine systems test. There was a sudden power output surge, and when an emergency shutdown was attempted, a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions. This event exposed the graphite moderator components of the reactor to air, causing them to ignite. The resulting fire sent a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Here is the first aerial footage of Chernobyl taken after the disaster:



For comparison, here is the latest aerial video released March 18 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan:

Chart: How sick will radiation exposure make you?

Recent measurements at the Fukushima nuclear plant  in Japan, 1.1 km west of the plant's No 2 reactor showed hourly radiation levels of 279.4 microsievert at 5 am on Friday, March 18, down from 309 and 292 microsievert around the time when the Self-Defense Forces shot water into the reactor. Here is a chart that shows how different levels of radiation exposure affect humans. So far the levels outside the plant are not making the chart, however, exposure to lower levels obviously has many long term negative effects.

Chart from Wikipedia

Scranton woman hides heroin, bags, money and loose change in her vagina

Image by nicholasjon via Flickr

How many items can a woman hide in her vagina? Police in Scranton, Ohio had a Karin Mackaliunas, 27, searched after she was suspected of robbing an inn. After searching her for weapons, police found three bags of heroin in Mackaliunas' jacket. A more thorough search was carried out after Macalinunas admitted she had more items of interest in her vagina. This is what the further search turned up:

•  54 bags of heroin
•  31 empty bags
•  8.5 prescription pills
• $51.22

Mackaliunas was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Who needs a purse when you can carry your goodies like this!     Read more here

Video: 18-month old kid with a foul mouth

Hey, kids will be kids ... but this kid has one hell of a one-word vocabulary going. Next stop: Working on the docks for the Sopranos. Why the parents would proudly post this is beyond me. Watch the kid swear:

The first civilian nuclear accident was in Canada

The first civilian nuclear accident happened in Canada on December 12, 1952 at Chalk River, a Canadian nuclear research facility.  A reactor shutoff rod failure, combined with several operator errors, led to a major power excursion,  which is an accidental increasing of the nuclear chain reaction, doubling the reactor's output. Operators were able to stop the reaction in 30 seconds. The fission products  were released through the reactor stack. Irradiated light-water coolant leaked from the damaged coolant circuit into the reactor building; some 4,000 cubic meters were pumped via pipeline to a disposal area to avoid contamination of the Ottawa River. Subsequent monitoring of surrounding water sources revealed no contamination. No immediate fatalities or injuries resulted from the incident; a 1982 followup study of exposed workers showed no long-term health effects.  One trivia face of note: Future U.S. President Jimmy Carter, then a Lieutenant in the US Navy, was a member of the clean up crew.  From Wikipedia.

Chalk River       Credit: Padraic Ryan/Wikipedia

Math fail: Airport scanners giving off radiation ten times higher than reported

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is going to re-test the controversial full body scanners at hundreds of airport after it admitted that radiation levels were actually ten times higher than initially reported. The problem – the agency is calling it a "calculation error". he TSA claims that the error came about when technicians -- who typically test the radiation output of a machine 10 times in a row -- forgot to divide the total output by 10. Oops.

"This technology is safe," said Robin Kane, a TSA assistant administrator for technology. Kane emphasized that the machines are necessary to protect the public from terrorists and that they have been thoroughly tested by independent experts.

The Cry Baby remains skeptical and wonders if these devices actually do contribute to public safety or just make air travel even more invasive and difficult.

Also see:
Woman strips to underwear to get through airport security
Mice are the new airport security guards

Video: Selling a house the Australian way – Babes, sex and action

I've never, ever seen a house for sale advertised like this. A scantily clothed woman tied to a chair, an action plot with bit of lesbian action thrown in ... now that's an open house! And BTY, the house is stunning as well. Oye!

Stunning video of Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft has recorded thousands of images as it approached Saturn as well as thousands more since entering orbit. These images have been compiled into this stunning video:


5.6k Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation from stephen v2 on Vimeo.