Earlier this week, BuzzFeed published a detailed investigation of a prominent food psychologist who massaged and manipulated data to produce media-friendly results. You've probably heard of some of Cornell University professor Brian Wansink's studies. There was the one with the "bottomless" soup bowl that refilled itself while subjects ate, to study portion control; the one about characters on cereal boxes making eye contact with kids from grocery-store shelves; and so on. Se ...read more
The world's largest airplane is taking to the runway.
The massive Stratolaunch aircraft developed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen conducted a taxi test over the weekend in Mojave, California where the aircraft reached a speed of 46 miles per hour. With a wingspan of 385 feet, and powered by six Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines, the ungainly craft is meant to give rockets a ride to the stratosphere, where they will launch into orbit.
Gearing Up For Flight
The test follows earlie ...read more
It’s rough when a pet passes away. For those that can't bear to be apart, they can clone their beloved animal. That’s what Barbra Streisand did — not once, but twice.
She recently revealed to Variety that two of her three Coton de Tulear dogs are cloned. “They have different personalities,” Streisand told Variety. “I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her brown eyes and her seriousness.”
Cells were taken from the ...read more
Back in the 1980s, S.O.S. calls after midnight were common in the field of infectious disease. And as soon as my pager started to trill, I turned on my bedside lamp and dialed—often within thirty seconds. One night, I connected to an intern I’ll call Paddy. The background din quickly spelled “E.R.”
“Sorry to disturb you, Dr. P, but a woman woke with a rat on her face. Then the rat bit her lip.”
First, I expelled a disgusted “yecchh,” then I asked ...read more
In many ways, the human brain is still the best computer around. For one, it’s highly efficient. Our largest supercomputers require millions of watts, enough to power a small town, but the human brain uses approximately the same energy as a 20-watt bulb. While teenagers may seem to take forever to learn what their parents regard as basic life skills, humans and other animals are also capable of learning very quickly. Most of all, the brain is truly great at sorting through torrents of data ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine