Future posts

Never Mind

Dec 14, 2007 (5 days ago) Why Time Seems to Slow Down in Moments of Danger from Neatorama by Alex To find out if danger makes people experience time in slow motion, David Eagleman and colleagues sent volunteers tumbling down on a free-fall from great heights: To see if danger makes people experience time in slow motion, scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston tried scaring volunteers. However, roller coasters and other frightening amusement park rides did not cause enough fear to make time warp. Instead, the researchers dropped volunteers from great heights. Scientists had volunteers dive backward with no ropes attached, into a special net that helped break their fall. They reached 70 mph during the roughly three-second, 150-foot drop. "It’s the scariest thing I have ever done," said researcher David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine. "I knew it was perfectly safe, and I also knew that it would be the perfect way to make people feel as though an event took much longer than it actually did." Indeed, volunteers estimated their own fall lasted about a third longer than dives they saw other volunteers take. Sure enough, people perceived time to slow down, but it wasn’t because they became hyper aware. Rather, it was an illusion of memory: When a person is scared, a brain area called the amygdala becomes more active, laying down an extra set of memories that go along with those normally taken care of by other parts of the brain. "In this way, frightening events are associated with richer and denser memories," Eagleman explained. "And the more memory you have of an event, the longer you believe it took." Eagleman added this illusion "is related to the phenomenon that time seems to speed up as you grow older. When you’re a child, you lay down rich memories for all your experiences; when you’re older, you’ve seen it all before and lay down fewer memories. Therefore, when a child looks back at the end of a summer, it seems to have lasted forever; adults think it zoomed by." Link (Photo: David Eagleman)

Not only for the homeless but what about survival situations??

Dec 16, 2007 (3 days ago) Jacket with Newspaper Insulation for the Homeless from Neatorama by Alex Canadian designer Lida Baday created an all-season jacket for the homeless that can be stuffed with newspaper for insulation! "Newspapers are also easy for anyone to get their hands on," says Baday, who found the project a technical challenge. After researching fabrics, she settled on black Aquamax, a waterproof, breathable fabric laminated with a nonporous membrane. The coat is an anorak-style, with drawstrings at the waist and hem. A hood can be folded into the collar. Two pockets in the hood, four on the chest, a large one on the back, and a long one down each sleeve can be stuffed with crumpled newspaper as the temperature drops. "You stuff or unstuff the pouches as you need to, so the same jacket that keeps you dry in the rain, becomes something that can protect you from extreme temperatures," Baday says. In warm, dry weather, the entire jacket can be folded into one of the pockets and there are straps so it can be carried as a backpack or used as a pillow. This is a project, called 15 Below, by Canadian advertising firm TAXI. Links: The Star article (Photo: Michael Kohn) | 15 Below Project website [Flash] - Thanks Liz!

	Dec 16, 2007 (3 days ago) Rolling Salamander and Caterpillars: Mother Nature Invented the Wheel from Neatorama by Alex Did humans really invented the wheel? It seems like Mother Nature had us beat: salamanders and caterpillars have been "rolling" like a wheel long before humans invented it. Link [metacafe at VideoSift] - via AQFL

Dec 18, 2007 (yesterday) Astronomy Pictures of the Year from Neatorama by Miss Cellania The editors of the Astronomy Picture of the Day have listed their 12 favorite images of 2007. There was certainly no shortage of breathtaking images to choose from — with robotic cameras orbiting Mars and rolling around its surface, the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, space telescopes exploring the cosmos, and ground-based imaging with increasingly sophisticated hardware and software. One of those selected was this image of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672. Link -via Bad Astronomy Blog (image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team)

he Whoville Register: What’s your Grinched name?

from Neatorama by Becky

It’s Christmas Eve in Whoville, and Grinched.com has a “Who-name” generator.

From the link, click “Enter site” at the bottom, and then drag the magnifying glass over to “City Hall” on the upper left hand side.

Post your names in the comments! (Mine was Berrypicker Becky Jimeroo-Who! )

For more information on the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, click here.

Link to site

Evil Knievel's Injurys

just in case you were tempted to follow in the footsteps of Evil Knievel, check this out.....

el Knievel’s Injuries

from Neatorama by Miss Cellania

Over 16 years of performing, stuntman Evel Knievel was injured numerous times and had the scars to prove it. Various accounts chronicle a range from 37 broken bones over his career to 431 breaks in one season! Steve Mandich has a look back at the different reports on Knievel’s various injuries. Link -via Reddit