DARPA Funds Interstellar Starship

DARPA Funds Interstellar Starship

That US behemoth, DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency aka the Department of Everything – has teamed up with that other US giant, the fiscally challenged NASA to create a program that would see interstellar travel within the next 100 years.

DARPA has awarded $US500,00 in seed funding to the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence to form the aptly named 100 Year Starship - 100YSS – program.

The initiative will call on expert opinion from a wide range of disciplines, engineers, scientists and artists will contribute to a single shared vision, to develop the capability for mankind to achieve interstellar flight within the next 100 years.

A public symposium will be held this year, in Houston, Texas from September 14 to 16, in what will become an annual event. Has the real world finally caught up with the strangely accurate transfictontrek world of Gene Roddenberry?  :: Read the full article »»»»

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X-STEAM! The Future of Sustainable Rail

X-STEAM! The Future of Sustainable Rail

Off the cuff a 75 year old steam locomotive and green, sustainable transport seem to have less than naught in common. Not according to the Coalition for Sustainable Rail – CSR – who reckon they can reinvigorate Locomotive 3463, circa 1937, bringing her back to life as the world’s first carbon-neutral higher-speed locomotive.

CSR is a superneat collaboration between the University of Minnisota and Sustainable Rail International – SRI – a not for profit research group dedicated to the research and development of modern steam trains.

“This is a pretty Radical idea, but there’s a lot of science behind it,” Davidson Ward, SRI president said “looking to technologies of the past to inspire solutions for today’s sustainability challenges.”

SRI acquired the large test bed steam locomotive - Locomotive 3463 – via donation from the Great Overland Station Museum in Topeka, Kansas. This locomotive, built in 1937 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, will be reconfigured by SRI’s locomotive modernization experts, then tested as part of CSR Project 130 :: Read the full article »»»»

Woodford Design :: FridgePad

Woodford Design :: FridgePad

There is little question that the Apple iPad has taken over the galaxy, the ultimate in mobile computing. The experts – PC World – say that there are a heap of reasons to rely soley on the iPad as your primary mobile computing device. Apple’s iPad has a more functional interface than a netbook, it’s lighter and has a longer battery life.

Technology is only any good if it fulfils a human need, the iPad seems to cope rather well with fulfilment. Surfing, communicating, imagery, sound and motion, the iPad was designed as an interface to all the human bits that make us smile day to day.

A bunch of clever boffins at Woodford Design have now replaced the humble, often tacky fridge magnet with what they bill as the Ultimate Fridge Magnet, meet FridgePad :: Read the full article »»»»

MUST HAVE! Jeni Oye - Kenda Kwick Roller Sport Bike Tyre Bracelet

MUST HAVE! Jeni Oye - Kenda Kwick Roller Sport Bike Tyre Bracelet

We love clever, adore even more clever design, Jeni Oye has a super-neat range of jewellery atoyemodern.com. She describes this range as being for the passionate and discerning carbon-neutral cyclist.

It’s not just transport, it’s an obsession. And now they can have the perfect biking accessory. Handmade with an aluminium base - just like a bike rim – this one-of-a-kind cuff features a recycled Kenda Kwick Roller Sport tire imprinted with the memories of roads once travelled. By Jeni Oye. More Jewellery for Cyclists.

Priced at $AU125

CHECK: www.oyemodern.com

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Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week

via VICE

Let’s be honest. All any woman under 30 has to do to make any man throw away his wife, his kids, his job and his AA promises is open her mouth.

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Australian Doctors Weigh Into Same-sex Marriage Debate

Australian Doctors Weigh Into Same-sex Marriage Debate

Around 150 medical practitioners from the groupDoctors For The Family have signed a submission to the Senate inquiry into marriage equality opposingsame-sex marriage. The group says it believes heterosexual marriage is healthier for children.

Doctors for the Family’s Lachlan Dunjey told ABC News Radio that the organisation is concerned about the health consequences for children of same-sex marriages.

“It’s well proven that children who grow up with a mother and a father in a biological mother and father family do better than children who don’t have the opportunity to grow up in that kind of family,” Dunjey said.

The organisations website is blunt about it’s beliefs, stating: There are many organisations in Australia and internationally that support marriage – the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others – as the basis for family and a healthy society.

Doctors for the Family is a supporting medical organisation to highlight the health aspects of marriage and family and ensure a healthy future for our children.

Its purpose is to be a source of information and at times make representation to parliament or appropriate organisations to ensure policies that enhance and preserve the health and future of our nation :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATE :: Dali's "Printemps Necrophilique" SOLD $US16.3M

UPDATE :: Dali's "Printemps Necrophilique" SOLD $US16.3M

UPDATE :: Lot 26 is a 1936 oil on canvas by Salvador Dali (1904-1989) that is entitled “Printemps Necrophilique.” According to Simon Shaw, head of Sotherby’s Impressionist & Modern Art, said this is one of the finest Dalis to appear on the market in years. Only Dali could decide to leave nothing in the center, he added.It has an estimate of $8,000,000 to $12,000,000. It sold for $16,322,500.

PREVIOUS POST :: Printemps Necrophilique, is a 1936 work by the Spanish master, the piece depicts a seated male and a standing female in an eerily realistic landscape, has a presale estimate as high as $US15 million when it’s offered at the Sotherby’s May 2 sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York. the piece was last on the market 15 years ago :: Read the full article »»»» 

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Research Group Calls For Open Access Drug Trials

Research Group Calls For Open Access Drug Trials

Researchers are pushing for pharmaceutical companies to make full data from their clinical trials publicly available, allowing risks and benefits of  drugs to be independently analysed. Currently drug research - clinical trial data – is considered commercial confidential information, not a public, social  or philanthropic interest. The researchers have documented a number of cases in which access to full trial data would “radically change public knowledge of safety and efficacy” of widely used drugs, including Vioxx and Tamiflu. The researchers point out that there is insufficient evidence that Tamiflu – stockpiled by governments around the globe in 2009, including the Australian Government, to quarantine swine flu – had any preventative effect.

REPORT: Consider the case of the influenza antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Prior to the global outbreak of H1N1 influenza in 2009, the United States alone had stockpiled nearly US$1.5 billion dollars worth of the antiviral. As the only drug in its class (neuraminidase inhibitors) available in oral form, Tamiflu was heralded as the key pharmacologic intervention for use during the early days of an influenza pandemic when a vaccine was yet to be produced. It would cut hospitalizations and save lives, said the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – ACIP, the group the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to form national influenza control policy – said it would reduce the chances of developing complications from influenza. So, too, did the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration  and the European Medicines Agency. Read the full article »»»»

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FACEBOOK BUYS INSTAGRAM FOR $US1 BILLION

FACEBOOK BUYS INSTAGRAM FOR $US1 BILLION

That other internet behemoth – Facebook – has announced a $US1 billion deal to buy popular smartphone photo-sharing app Instagram. The big ticket purchase was seen by some as a move by Facebook to strengthen its defences against Google and newcomer Pinterest in the weeks ahead of what promises to be a history-making stock market debut.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in announcing the deal. ”Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

Zuckerberg called the acquisition “an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users” Read the full article »»»»

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Dutch Dispatch Assisted Suicide Squads

Dutch Dispatch Assisted Suicide Squads

The website is abrupt, describing it’s purpose in true flat Dutch style “The life clinic is designed for people with a death wish“

On February 6, 2012, Levenseindekliniek - Life-end Clinic - announced that from March 1, 2012.will have mobile teams where people who think they comply with the criteria for euthanasia can register,” Right-to-die NL (NVVE) spokeswoman Walburg de Jong said. Six specialised teams will criss-cross the Netherlands to carry out euthanasia at the home of patients whose own doctors refuse to do so, Right-to-die NL – NVVE, a pro-euthanasia group - spokeswoman Walburg de Jong said. ”If they comply, the teams will carry out the euthanasia at patients’ homes should their normal doctors refuse to help them.”

Ms De Jong says the group has teams made up of a specially-trained doctor and nurse who will work part time, visiting patients all over the Netherlands. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia in April 2001 – see below – and has strict criteria regulating how such mercy killings can be carried out.

Patients must be mentally alert when making the request to die. Patients also have to face a future of “unbearable, interminable suffering” and both the patient and the doctor – who have to obtain a second opinion – before euthanasia is carried out, must agree there is no cure. Each euthanasia case is then reported to one of five special commissions, each made up of a doctor, a jurist and an ethical expert charged with verifying that all criteria had been observed. Read the full article »»»»

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READ A BOOK: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

READ A BOOK: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

It’s almost impossible to miss, spend 15 minutes on the internet and your sure to bump into some mention or other of Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, a new dystopian novel placing a pot of cyborgs, magical powers and evil stepmothers on the boil.

Cinder is the debut novel of New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer . The story is loosely based on the classic fairytale “Cinderella”. Though Cinder is aimed squarley at a young adult/scifi audience, it’s a surprising good read for those of us who have managed to grow facial hair. Cinder was selected as one of IndieBound’s Kids’ Next List for winter 2012. Read the full article »»»»

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Who Makes You Feel?

Who Makes You Feel?

In our überpaced world, filled with trinkets, gadgets, all manner of bling, tastes, sounds and experiences, it’s often an ease to forget what it is makes us happy? According to a new study by Reuters and Ipsos it’s a buddy not a bauble that gives us joy. Nearly two-thirds of married couples and people with a significant other say their partner is the most important source of happiness in their lives, according to a new global poll. And nearly half of all singles yearn above all else to find a sweetheart, with about 45 percent saying finding a partner would bring them the greatest happiness. Almost 40 percent of married couples reported that having a good sex life does or could bring them the greatest happiness, while almost 35 per cent of singles reported the same tingles. This was especially true for Brazilians. Nearly 60 percent said that nothing could make them happier than having a good sex life.

South Africa reported the highest levels of domestic bliss, with 82 percent of settled South Africans saying nothing could make them happier than their partner. Japanese and South Korean couples were at the other end of the scale. Nearly half said they would hesitate to say their partner was the single best thing in their lives, although they conceded that he or she was the source of at least some of their happiness. Read the full article »»»»

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Apple Pulls Viddy Video-sharing App from iStore Over Porn Content

Apple Pulls Viddy Video-sharing App from iStore Over Porn Content

Apple has pulled the popular mobile video-sharing app Viddy from its App Store after receiving complaints that the program contains pornographic user-uploaded content. The app, which allows users to upload and edit 15-second videos on their iPhones, was removed Thursday. Business Insider reports that Viddy CEO Brett O’Brien is now working on having the offending clips removed. O’Brien explained that Viddy is not meant to be a “haven for explicit content,” but that the rapid growth of its user base had made it difficult to properly monitor all uploaded videos.

Based out of Venice, California, with a work force of 10, Viddy recently secured a $6 million Series A round from investors Battery Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, Greycroft Ventures, Qualcomm and others. The start-up has also locked content deals with Disney, rock outfit Linkin Park and rap artists Snoop Dogg and T-Pain. The Viddy app received 40 million views in January.

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Loose Cable Behind CERN Faster-than-light Result

Loose Cable Behind CERN Faster-than-light Result

The controversial finding that cast a large shadow of doubt over Einstein’s belief that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light might have been caused by a loose cable, the lab behind the result said. Physicists at the CERN laboratory near Geneva appeared to contradict Albert Einstein last year when they reported that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos could travel fractions of a second faster than light. Einstein had said nothing could travel faster than light.

James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, said the lab’s startling result was now in doubt. Earlier on Wednesday, the website ScienceInsider reported the surprising result was down to a loose fibre optic cable linking a Global Positioning System satellite receiver to a computer. ScienceInsider is run by the respected American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mr Gillies confirmed a flaw in the GPS system was now suspected as a possible cause for the surprising reading. Gillies’ says further testing was needed before any definite conclusions could be reached. Read the full article »»»»

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World of the News

World of the News

JK Rowling: Author of the Harry Potter book series, is writing her first novel for adults The British writer, 46, whose teenage boy wizard tales became international best-sellers and inspired a series of hit films, said on Thursday her new novel would be “very different” to the Harry Potter books that made her a household name and turned her into a billionaire. The Simpsons 500th Episode: Our favorite four fingered family, The Simpsons, have reached another milestone. On Sunday the 19th The Simpsons aired their 500th episode, “Long Last Leave”, Episode 14 of Series 23 to be precise. Since first airing December 17, 1989 the Simpsons have gone on to become an an institution of hilarity. Springfield’s all over America have never been the same. Australian Media Roundup: Fairfax’s 40 percent drop in revenue is about to take it’s toll on employees, the Seven Network ups it’s profits and market share. Meanwhile, Ten Network Holdings has warned that its half-year profits will be significantly down on the year before due to a drop in revenue from its television and outdoor advertising divisions. Rupert Murdoch’s latest venture, The Sun on Sunday kicks off this weekend, the challenge for Murdoch’s new Sunday tabloid: Keep the scoops, drop the sleaze. Drone Journalism: ABC has a superlative piece on one of the emerging tools in modern journalism ‘No Brooks it’s not your finger followed by your halitosis‘ Drones play an increasing and controversial role in modern warfare. From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Iran and Yemen, they have become a ubiquitous symbol of Washington’s war on terrorism. World of the News Online: Gannett, the largest United States newspaper chain, has announced plans to begin charging for online access to its 80 US dailies by the end of the year with the exception of flagship USA Today. Read the full article »»»»

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