"probably never" :)

Careful now, that's Nicolelis's argument, not mine.

Boing boom tschak. Boing boom tschak.

Refusing to leave his abandoned apartment building in Jilin City, China, Wen Hsu feared that the uninsulated pipes running through his building would freeze during the winter. His solution? Just leave the tap running.

Wen has lived in this building for 35 years and he's the last remaining resident. He decided to stay put even after real estate investors bought all the apartments in the block in preparation for a new mall.

Worried that his water supply would be cut off by the frigid temperatures, he left the warm water running and diverted it down the side of the building — and this is the result.

Wen says that the developers have offered him too small an amount to be able to buy another apartment, so he's refusing to sell his home.

The incident has drawn attention to his case in the Chinese media and officials are now asking the developers to settle the matter so that the project can move on.

Source.

Girls who yearn to have a body like Barbie's need to seriously reconsider. As this new infographic from Rehabs.com shows, not only are her idealized proportions anatomically impossible — they would also be incredibly debilitating.

This photo-realistic rendering of barbie shows how absolutely ridiculous she looks when set next to a real human. And the stats back up what the eyes can clearly see.

According to Rehabs.com, an advocacy group that helps to connect people with mental health treatment centers in the U.S., Barbie's unrealistic features include an oversized head supported by a neck that’s twice as long as normal (thus making her "incapable of lifting her head"), freakishly short arms — and a 16-inch waist that would only provide for “half a liver and a few inches of intestine.”

Barbie's 3.5-inch wrists would make it extremely difficult for her to lift anything, while her absurdly small size-three feet would make it impossible for her to support and balance that long frame; Barbie would "have to walk on all fours."

The odds of finding a woman with a chest-waist ratio like Barbie's are 1 in billions of billions, which basically means it's impossible.

Interestingly, the chart also considers models and women suffering from anorexia. Not surprisingly, those two groups are off when compared to the average American female, but still considerably off when compared to Barbie.

Via Rehabs.com

Oh, and apparently this is what Barbie would look like without any makeup on (via Jezebel):

A seismology student from the University of Utah is claiming that the volume of molten magma beneath Yellowstone is 50% larger than previously thought. Given that the caldera could blow up at anytime and with little warning, that's a pretty scary thought.

Graduate student Jamie Farrell made the remarks yesterday (April 17) at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting.

He was able to make the discovery by analyzing nearby earthquakes, whose waves change speed depending on whether they're propagating through molten or solid rock. This allowed Farrell to construct a picture of the enormous magma chamber beneath the park — one that now appears to be bigger and better connected than expected.

Writing in Our Amazing Planet, Beck Oskin reports:

The underground magma resembles a mutant banana, with a knobby, bulbous end poking up toward the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, and the rest of the tubular fruit angling shallowly southwest. It's a single connected chamber, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) long, 18 miles (30 km) wide, and 3 to 7 miles (5 to 12 km) deep.

Previously, researchers had thought the magma beneath Yellowstone was in separate blobs, not a continuous pocket.

The shallowest magma, in the northeast, also matches up with the park's most intense hydrothermal activity, Farrell said. The new study is the best view yet of this zone, which lies outside the youngest caldera rim.

The last caldera eruption at Yellowstone happened 640,000 years ago, but smaller eruptions have happened since then, including the most recent one roughly 70,000 years ago.

Read all of Oskin's report.

Top image: National Park Service.

We take acetaminophen to ease our physical aches and pains. But a new study from Canada suggests it could help to ease our anxieties about death, as well.

Without a doubt, the experience of pain extends beyond the physical. Most of us, when thinking about death, feel a sort of existential angst that is entirely unpleasant. We get this same sort of feeling when we’re uncertain, or after experiencing something that appears unreal.

Looking to see if standard over-the-counter pain medication can help, psychologist Daniel Randles and his colleagues at the University of British Columbia recently set up an interesting experiment to find out.

Before we get into the details, however, it’s important to note a central assumption made by the psychologists. Previous studies have shown that, when the meaning of our lives are threatened, or when we’re faced with thoughts of imminent death, we tend to reassert our basic values as a kind of coping mechanism (what’s referred to in psychology as compensatory affirmation).

It’s derived from the meaning maintenance model (pdf), and it says we need to perceive events through a spectrum of expectations that fit in with our perceptions of the world. When our sense of meaning is threatened, we reaffirm alternative representations as a way to regain meaning — a process termed fluid compensation.

Randles used the MMM as a kind of metric to assess the degree of existential angst experienced by his test subjects.

For the double-blind study, Randles had a group of volunteers take either a standard Tylenol or a sugar pill. One group was told to write about what would happen to their body after they die (an attempt to elicit existential dread), while the other group was told to write about dental pain (unpleasantness, but nothing too dramatic).

Then, the volunteers were asked to read an arrest report about a prostitute and set an amount for bail.

Results showed that the dental pain people on the sugar pill gave low bail amounts, suggesting they didn’t need to assert their values (i.e. no compensatory affirmation). The “existential angst” control group, on the other hand, demanded a higher bail (which was expected).

But for the group of existentially-minded volunteers who had taken Tylenol, they were not nearly as harsh in setting bail — a difference the researchers attributed to the drug. They concluded that a person’s need to cope was alleviated by the acetaminophen, and that the Tylenol inhibited the neural mechanism that responds to meaningful threats.

Similar results were shown in a separate experiment in which surrealist films — films designed to create a sense of unease or confusion — were shown to the volunteers.

The researchers caution that further research, along with clinical trials, needs to occur before acetaminophen should be considered a safe or effective treatment for anxiety.

Read the entire study at Psychological Science: “The Common Pain of Surrealism and Death: Acetaminophen Reduces Compensatory Affirmation Following Meaning Threats.”

Supplementary source: Psychological Science.

Astronomers working at NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have captured the most detailed image yet taken of a Type Ia supernova. And this particular supernova is one that people observed all over the world, when it first happened.

What you're looking at here is the remnant of a white dwarf — or possibly two dwarfs — that exploded about 8,000 years ago. When the light from SN 1006 finally reached Earth on May 1, 1006 A.D., it shone brighter than Venus and could be seen during the daytime. Astronomers from around the globe documented the event, including China, Japan, Europe, and the Arab world.

Type Ia supernovas happen when a white dwarf pulls too much mass from a companion star and explodes, or when two white dwarfs merge and explode.

According to astronomers, the fastest waves of celestial matter are still bursting outwards at a rate of 11 million miles per hour, while the slower areas are propagating at 7 million miles per hour.

To create the image, Chandra scientists overlapped ten different pointings of Chandra’s field-of-view, and it contains over eight days worth of observing time by the telescope. It’s considered the most spatially detailed map yet of the material ejected during a Type Ia supernova.

Image credit: Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Thanks so much, Burke. And thanks for the added insight.

As hard as this is to believe, you're looking at one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century, and it's currently on display at London's Science Museum.

It may look like a scatological avante garde sculpture, but it's actually a physical representation of the myoglobin molecule, an iron and oxygen binding protein found in the muscle tissue of animals. It's also the molecule that gives meat its red color.

It's historic because myoglobin was the first protein to have its three-dimensional structure revealed. Back in 1958, John Kendrew and his colleagues created this model by using high-resolution X-ray crystallography — a nifty piece of work that earned him the 1962 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Kendrew's worm-like structure provided only a crude outline of the protein chain that folds up to give myoglobin its form. As biologist Stephen Curry notes, subsequent work revealed coils within the gelatinous coils — the helical trace of the polypeptide — and the atomic details of the flattened porphyrin molecule that myoglobin clasps to its bosom. And at the centre of the porphyrin, you can see the iron atom which provides the binding site for oxygen.

Source and images: Stephen Curry via Guardian.

Webdesigner Depot has put together a mesmerizing collection of innovative GIF art from three vastly different designers.

The first batch comes from Croatia's Paolo Ceric, a digital artist who began his creative work by watching coders and trying to replicate their work. Check out his blog, Patakk.

The second set of gifs are from Brooklyn's Skip Dolphin Hursh, a designer, illustrator, animator, artist and "thing-maker." His website is here.

And the last batch were produced by Hungary's Davidope (David Szakaly) is a designer and creative director. Check out more of his work here.

Plenty more at Web Designer Depot.

Artificial wombs are a staple of science fiction, but could we really build one? As time passes, we’re inching closer and closer to the day when it will finally become possible to grow a baby entirely outside the human body. Here’s what we’ll need to do to pull it off.

Top image by Mondolithic Studios.

More than just an incubator

A fully functional artificial uterus will be substantially more complex than a modern incubator, a clunky (and somewhat obtrusive) device that provides a preemie with oxygen, protection from cold, hydration and nutrition (via intravenous catheter or NG tube), and adequate levels of humidity.

Even in the best of cases, the current state-of-the-art doesn’t allow for viability outside of the womb until mid to late second trimester. Prior to that, a mother’s womb is the only option. Quite obviously, future incubators, or a full-blown artificial uterus, will push the limits of viability further and further until the entire gestational cycle can happen external to the body.

We’re still several decades away, but the two primary areas that need to be developed include biotechnology (for things like personalized genomics and tissue engineering) and nanotechnology (to facilitate micro-scale interactions and growth through artificial means). Smart computer systems and monitoring devices should also be developed to track the progress of the fetus’s growth, while automatically adjusting for changing conditions.

In terms of specifics, these are the broad components that will be required:

Artificial endometrium

The inner lining of the artificial uterus should resemble the real thing as much as possible.

Actually, for the first generation of artificial wombs, it would be prudent to mimic every gestational process as much as possible (we are producing a biological organism, after all). Later versions can then build upon what nature designed, and be optimized accordingly.

To that end, an artificial endometrium should not be made from glass or metal, but instead consist of a glandular layer made of real tissue. A blastocyst conceived via in vitro fertilization could then be implanted about 3 to 4 mm into the endometrium where it would take root and proceed to grow.

Work in this area has already been conducted by Cornell University’s Hung-Ching Liu. Many years ago, she prepared a co-culture system that combined epithelial and stromal cells (for ethical reasons these experiments weren’t extended beyond six days). Hung-Ching’s work is considered the first real attempt towards the development of an a-womb.

In addition to providing a physical starting point and enclosed space for the fetus, the artificial endometrium could also spawn and host a real placenta (e.g. by coaxing the growth of pluripotent stem cells), though it doesn’t necessarily have to come about this way.

Artificial placenta

And indeed, the growing fetus will also need a placenta, the organ which connects it to the uterine wall (via umbilicus) allowing for the delivery of nutrients, the elimination of waste, and gas exchange through the mother’s blood supply. Depending on the technologies available, the a-placenta could either develop “naturally” on the endometrial wall, or it could take the form an external device (or devices) that performs the same function. For example, a dialysis machine could actually help with waste disposal.

But a fully functional placenta will be crucial to the baby’s development and eventual good health. For example, the placenta is responsible for transferring the mother’s igG antibodies to the fetus — an important mechanism that provides protection to the infant while its immune system develops. Placental hormones also control fetal growth. During the early stages of pregnancy, the placenta provides the fetus with serotonin, which helps with brain development. And as noted, the placenta also regulates the way nutrients are delivered to the fetus, including the delivery of amino acids, fatty acids, and glucose.

The delivery of nutrients to the fetus should also reflect the way a mother would normally eat during the course of the pregnancy, both in terms of timing and composition of food.

If not designed and managed correctly, the fetus could experience problems, both in terms of growth restriction or overgrowth.

Getting an a-placenta to perform all these functions won’t be easy, but advances in personalized genetics and regenerative medicine will go a long way to make it happen. If our bodies can do it, so can a machine.

Fascinatingly, work on an artificial placenta has already begun. Goats have been kept alive for up to 237 hours in amniotic tanks through a process called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). It’s also a technique used in some neonatal wards to treat infants with medical problems involving gas exchange and the lungs.

Synthetic amniotic fluid

Dismissed as unimportant by biologists for many years, the fluid that fills the amniotic space is a complex and dynamic milieu. It changes as the pregnancy progresses (both in terms of its amount and composition) and it’s critical to fetal well-being. Producing and managing this ever-changing mixture will be just as critical as all the other gestational elements.

For example, amniotic fluid contains nutrients and growth factors that facilitate fetal growth. At first it consists of water and electrolytes, but it eventually contains proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, antimicrobial agents, and urea. It also protects and cushions the fetus. Image: Washington Times.

Amniotic fluid is also “inhaled” and “exhaled” by the fetus, an important process that’s essential to the development of healthy lungs. A fetus will also swallow the fluid, which creates the urea and meconium.

Temperature regulation

The incubator, if it can be called that, will also need to operate at just the right temperature. The fetus develops 0.3 to 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than mother’s, so typically about 37 degrees Celsius.

Proper stimulation

The fetus will also need to be stimulated across a number of sensorial domains. And indeed, the maternal womb has been called “an optimal, stimulating, interactive environment for human development.”

Ideally, the a-womb should move the unborn baby in a way reminiscent to how a mother moves, including standing, walking, and lying down positions. The incubator should be set to a 24-hour clock in which waking and sleeping hours are simulated. Basically, activity should never cease, nor should the fetus ever feel physically “isolated”. A sense of touch will also need to be simulated.

Fetuses are also active listeners. This is very important from a developmental perspective, both in terms of exciting the neural areas required for hearing, and for the unborn baby to bond with its caregivers in advance. Sounds should definitely be a part of the artificial uterus, including the steady swish-swishing of a heart beat.

Microbiome stimulation

It will also be important to kickstart a healthy gut microbiome. During vaginal birth, a baby is exposed to cocktail of microbes. This mixture ends up inside the baby’s gut where it helps them digest food, regulate bowels, develop their immune systems, and protect against infection.

To simulate this effect, biologists will have to recreate this mixture, ideally from biological samples derived from the mother (or grown externally). Image: Science Photo Library.

Final thoughts

An artificial womb will likely be the result of iterative attempts to push the limits of exosomatic viability. These days, the earliest that preemies can survive is around the 21 to 22 week mark. As time passes we can expect to see this number get smaller and smaller — and eventually to the point where a fetus can survive exclusively outside the womb. This will, of course, raise some thorny issues in the U.S. abortion debate.

Once in use, and after some time has passed, scientists will undoubtedly study the long term effects on babies born in an a-womb as compared to those born naturally. Initially, the health of a-womb spawned babies will likely be inferior to those grown in a real womb. Refinements will undoubtedly improve these results over time. And in fact, I wholly expect that an artificial womb will someday bring a baby to term in a way that’s even superior to the real thing.

Indeed, unlike a mother, an artificial womb is not susceptible to disease or malnourishment, nor will it be prone to drinking or smoking. And with the assistance of powerful computers, advanced biotech, and even microscopic machines, the gestational process will be further optimized.

It’s also interesting to consider how this technology will be received, and how many people will opt into it. It’s safe to say that many prospective parents will react negatively to it, arguing that natural will always be best. But for those who need or want it, the advent of artificial wombs will certainly herald an unprecedented stage in human history.

Additional reporting by Joseph Bennington-Castro.

Source not cited: The Artificial Womb (2011).

Everyone, say happy birthday to Jiroemon Kimura! Not only is he the world's oldest living person — he's also the oldest man. Like, ever.

Kimura was born in Japan on April 19, 1897, which places him in some pretty exclusive company; he's one of only 12 people still alive today who can say they lived across three centuries.

He was a postman until the age of 65, after which time he took up farming until he turned 90. Kimura, who has 14 grandchildren and dozens of great- and great-great grandchildren, currently lives at home with his grandson's widow.

He still eats three meals a day, but as the photo suggests, he's not looking very spry these days. But still, to live until the age of 116 is nothing short of incredible — especially for a male. And with each day he continues to live, he establishes a new longevity record for men. Kimura is currently the ninth longest person to have ever lived.

The second longest male lifespan belongs to Christian Mortensen of the U.S. (originally from Denmark), who lived for 115 years and 252 days. The longest person to have ever lived was Jeanne Calment of France who lived for an astounding 122 years and 164 days. She is the only person to break the 120+ year mark.

Sources: BBC and Wikipedia.

Dutch designer and illustrator Noortje de Keijzer has designed a life-sized knitted body pillow in the shape of a man.

Keijzer's "My Knitted Boyfriend" project consists of two different oversized cushions, "Artur" and "Steve." And to help you "personalize your man," the pillows come with a number of accessories, including knitted moustaches, glasses, watches, bow-ties, and even tattoos. There's also an illustrated book to show you what you can do with your knitted companion.

Keijzer had her mother and grandmother hand-knit the body pillow. The time had come, she says, for a man in her life. "I could say that's a joke, but it is partly true."

She describes the project like this:

My Knitted Boyfriend is a cushion with a story. A cushion with a personality. A cushion to kiss! Or, well… to cuddle, to caress, to hug, and to smile with. Because this man is always happy. And he is flexible as well. He will have a mustache if you prefer mustaches. He will wear glasses if you prefer glasses. He likes to sit on your floor, on your couch or at you dinner table. But most of all he likes to lay down next to you in bed. With your head on his chest and his arms wrapped around you. This way you will never feel alone ever again. With this man you can be sure, he will never leave you.

Photos by anne dokter at studio IJM.

Via Design Boom.

It was the dawn of the ballistic missile era, and with the invention of the V2 rocket, the Germans had beaten everyone to the punch. Eager to get their hands on one of these horrific new devices, the Allies embarked on an audacious plan to steal one. Here’s the fascinating story of how they did it.

Indeed, the potential for the Peenemünde Aggregat A4 V2 rocket to be a game changer in the war was not lost on the Allies. It was a weapon from the future — an advanced piece of technology that Hitler saw as the deus ex machina he was looking for. When Wernher von Braun showed him the launch of the V2 on color film, Hitler reportedly jumped from his seat and shook Braun’s hand with excitement, proclaiming, "This is the decisive weapon of the war. Humanity will never be able to endure it," adding that, "If I had had this weapon in 1939 we would not be at war now."

Production and testing of the weapon began in October 1943. To create the tunnel system for the production factory and to build the V2s en masse, the Germans relied heavily on forced laborers from concentration camps. Some 60,000 prisoners were used, many of whom died of starvation, cold, and disease. At first, the Germans produced about 500 V2 rockets each month; their plan was to increase that figure to 900. Given the rocket’s 236 mile range, its Mach 5 speed, and 2,148 pound payload, the Nazis were hoping to bomb their way to victory.

But the Allies were well aware that the Nazis were up to something. Reports from Polish intelligence indicated that the Germans were designing some kind of secret weapon at Peenemünde, the exact details of which were not entirely known. Not willing to take chances, the Allies launched a bombing raid in late 1943 to disrupt production.

Not content to stop there, and because the location of the research facility was known, the Allies asked the Polish Home Army to steal one of the V2s and ship it to Britain — a task that most certainly would have sounded easier said than done.

But patience and luck was on the side of the Poles. In early 1944, a V2 rocket crashed onto a muddy bank of the River Bug near the testing ground at Sarnacki not far from the village of Mezenin near Klimczyce. And remarkably, the V2 did not blow up. The Polish underground, who had been waiting for such a situation, rushed to the rocket and disguised it with bulrushes and osier bed. The Germans, desperate to retrieve it, quickly organized an aerial and ground-based search mission, but failed to locate the now-camouflaged rocket.

After the week-long search came to an end, the Poles returned to the site. This time they brought along four Polish scientists who carefully disassembled it and packed the pieces into empty barrels. The parts were then shipped to a barn in Holowczyce just a few miles away.

The Polish Home Army then contacted London to let them know that they had a virtually complete V2 rocket disassembled and hidden away. Eager to get their hands on the pieces, the Allies organized Operation Most III, a mission to retrieve the disassembled rocket by plane and bring it back to Britain. As they prepared for the mission, some components (namely the guidance system) were smuggled into Warsaw where Polish scientists examined it, and fuel samples were shipped to London.

The Most III operation, also known as Wildhorn III, got underway on the night of July 25th, 1944 — and it would prove to be a harrowing mission. A Dakota C47 piloted by F/Lt S.C. Culliford flew over Hungary and Yugoslavia and landed at a secret Home Army strip in the vicinity of Wal Ruda near Tarnow where they were to collect the chassis and several technical experts.

But once packed, the overloaded C47 could not move on the wet, muddy field; it’s port wheel was stuck in the mud. Everything had to be offloaded. The Polish partisans desperately tried to free the aircraft. They tried stuffing the wheel track with straw, and then by laying wooden boards in the trench — but nothing worked.

Co-pilot Kazimierz “Paddy” Szrajer then decided that the parking brake must be stuck, so the hydraulic leads supplying the brake were cut. But that didn't work, either; the plane still failed to move. As dawn approached, the partisans frantically dug trenches under the aircraft’s main wheel.

After two failed attempts to take off, and with Nazi automobile lights off in the distance, Culliford considered blowing up the plane and burning all the evidence.

They decided to make one last attempt.

With the trenches complete, and with the engine set to full power, the C47 finally staggered into the air. The remaining Poles scattered into the night to avoid any run-in with Nazi patrols.

The flight over Hungary and Yugoslavia took five hours. When landing at Brindisi — and without the use of brakes — the pilots had to land on an emergency runway. The squadron was praised for the “courage, determination and coolness with which they carried out what must be one of the outstanding and epic flights of the war by an unarmed transport aircraft."

The rocket components were later flown to England, where the crew was presented with gallantry medals by the Polish Government in Exile, and with Szrajer receiving the Cross of Valour.

Sources: Bletchly Park, War History Online, The Summit Times.

My son is a Team Fortress II addict, and I'm almost afraid to show this to him.

These rather grim-looking rocking chairs look like they belong to the Addams family, but they're expertly carved antiques worth a few thousand dollars.

Jackson's Auctions describes the pieces:

Continental 20th century. Depicting the skeleton figure of seated form on rockers terminating with carved busts. Probably modeled after the mid 19th century Russian example as illustrated in 19th century European furniture by Christopher Payne. Height 54 inches. Estimate $2,500-$3,500.

The one of the left actually sold for $3,120.00.

Via Retronaut.

As if we didn't already have enough reasons to be excited about the Oculus Rift VR headset, a company called Virtuix has shown what gamers can do when you add an omnidirectional treadmill to the mix.

It's called Omni, and like the Oculus Rift, it's still under development. But once unleashed, there's virtually no limit to how the two devices could be used together.

Omni's creators describe it as “a natural motion interface for virtual reality applications," and that it will be the first treadmill of its kind to be affordable for household consumers.

From their website:

Applications of omni-directional movement in virtual reality stretch far beyond gaming: training and simulation, fitness and exercising, virtual tourism, virtual tradeshows and events, virtual meet-ups and multi-person adventures, virtual workplaces, virtual museums, physical therapy, VR architecture, VR concerts, etc. The possibilities are limitless. Virtual reality is the future.

Virtuix is currently preparing a Kickstarter campaign to help launch the Omni.

Via Wizzor via Hot Hardware.

This past Sunday, an audience attending a rock concert near Santiago del Estero in Argentina were treated to an unexpected pyrotechnics display.

The meteor, which measured about a half-meter across, flashed across the sky around 3:30 AM on April 21 and could be seen in central and northern Argentina. It blazed through the atmosphere at more than 130,000 kph (81,000 mph) where it eventually disintegrated about 65 km (40 miles) above the Earth.

Some witnesses say that, in addition to lighting up the sky in hues of green and yellow for about three seconds, it created a tremor and buzz similar to that of a shockwave that happens after an explosion.

The meteor was considerably smaller than the recent Chelyabinsk event, which featured a rock somewhere between 17 to 20 meters (55 to 65 feet) across.

Oh, and the band playing at the concert was Los Tekis.

Thanks! Fixed.