Choice Cuts Archive
There’s a little feature in the sidebar that highlights the “RazR’s Choice Cuts” from the web. These are links I find interesting, informative, and inspirational.
From time to time, you might have found a link there that suddenly disappeared, because it was replaced with newer ones. So here’s a longer list. Enjoy!
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OCALA, Fla. -- An Ocala firefighter lifted a vehicle about a foot off the ground, allowing other firefighters to free the arm of a driver who was involved in a crash. According to Ocala fire officials, two firefighters who were not at the fire station
2008 07 03 -
Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday. Viac
2008 07 03 -
A licence to create human-pig embryos to study heart disease has been issued by the fertility watchdog. This marks the third animal-human hybrid embryo licence to be issued by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the first since the Commons
2008 07 02 -
The group found that 50% more ozone is being destroyed above the Atlantic Ocean than was previously thought. As a result, through the release of halogens from the seawater, 12% more methane is being chewed up as well.
2008 07 02 -
Humans are fundamentally social animals. Our social nature means that we interact with each other in positive, friendly ways, and it also means we know how to manipulate others in a very negative way. Neurophysiologist Katherine Rankin at the Universit
2008 07 02 -
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects. It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populat
2008 07 01 -
According to reports from the U.S. Department of Energy, 20 percent of the nation's power could be produced by wind by 2030. In 2006, wind power accounted for 3 percent of the nation's power consumption. Renewable energy experts say wind power will
2008 07 01 -
2008 07 01 -
Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present. In other words, you can pop back in time and have a look around, but you can
2008 06 29 -
"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans. David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer parti
2008 06 29 -
In a Nature Physics journal paper currently online, the researchers describe how they have created a new, hybrid molecule in which its quantum state can be intentionally manipulated - a required step in the building of quantum computers.
2008 06 29 -
Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are aware of them ourselves. The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision --
2008 06 27 -
"It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us."
2008 06 27 -
Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not
2008 06 26 -
The chocolate company Mars has announced that it is to decode the genetic structure of the cacao tree. The research project, which is to be done in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture and IT firm IBM, aims to improve cocoa production.
2008 06 26 -
Drizzle once fell on Martian soil, according to a new geochemical analysis by Berkeley scientists, though the rain probably stopped several billion years ago. Drawing on soil data from the five missions to Mars before the current Phoenix Lander and com
2008 06 26 -
It's worth noting that, if you take into account the environmental costs of burning coal, solar power is already slightly more economically sound (according to an analysis by the IPCC.) But we're not taxing carbon (yet) so we've got to make solar power ch
2008 06 26 -
Can a lobster ever truly have any emotions? What about a beetle? Or a sophisticated computer? The only way to resolve these questions conclusively would be to engage in serious scientific inquiry—but even before studying the scientific literature, many
2008 06 26 -
File this under too good to pass up: it turns out the National Association of Realtors got their quarterly sales numbers wrong in New Jersey, and not just by a little bit. On May 13, the NAR’s first quarter sales summary was released with the requisite
2008 06 25 -
Geoengineering schemes sound like they're pulled straight from pulp sci-fi novels: Fertilize the oceans with iron in order to sequester carbon dioxide; launch fleets of ships to whip up sea spray and enhance the solar reflectivity of marine stratocumulus
2008 06 25 -
One of the most interesting questions considered by astrophysicists deals with the start of our universe. Indeed, there is a great deal of speculation on the subject, with different theories about how the universe began, and what may have existed before t
2008 06 25 -
2008 06 25 -
"A new study suggests RFID systems can cause 'potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.' (Here is the JAMA study's abstract.) Among other things, electrical interference changed breathing machines' ventilation rates and caused syringe pumps to s
2008 06 24 -
Fairness, idealism and other atrocities Commencement advice you're unlikely to hear elsewhere.
2008 06 21 -
As a network of built islands with three distinct designs, ‘No Man’s Land’ would create an artificial archipaelago that employs a variety of building technology. To become a source of fresh water, the islands will extract water molecules from the ai
2008 06 17 -
Cosmologists are not your run-of-the-mill thinkers, and Max Tegmark is not your run-of-the-mill cosmologist. Throughout his career, Tegmark has made important contributions to problems such as measuring dark matter in the cosmos
2008 06 17 -
2008 06 17 -
I heard from an AT&T representative who revealed the presence of an astonishing little-known cellular feature: you can block cellular spam.
2008 06 16 -
Pluto's years-long identity crisis just got more complex today. The International Astronomical Union has decided on the term "plutoid" as a name for Pluto and other objects that just two years ago were redefined as "dwarf planets."
2008 06 12 -
2008 06 10 -
The crook of your elbow is not just a plain patch of skin. It is a piece of highly coveted real estate, a special ecosystem, a bountiful home to no fewer than six tribes of bacteria. Even after you have washed the skin clean, there are still one million b
2008 05 28
