Clipmarks | Today's Top Clips

Tit-for-tat: birds found to repay wartime help

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:36:56 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

When it spots a lurking predator, the sparrow-like pied flycatcher reacts in a way common among some birds and mammals. It calls up a mob of its peers to drive the interloper away.

But more than a feisty defender, the northern European bird is also a shrewd account keeper, researchers say: it remembers which of its neighbors answered its call to arms, and which stayed home. And it repays each in kind.

Scientists say the behavior offers new insights into the evolution of cooperation and altruism, and a new appreciation of the complexity of bird social life.

Apparently even some birds have learned that “playing nice pays,” University of Chicago evolutionary biologist David Wheatcroft wrote recently, alluding to the flycatcher research, in which he was not involved.

Tags: memory, birds, tit for tat

A Baby's Smile Is A Natural High

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:36:00 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The baby's smile that gladdens a mother's heart also lights up the reward centers of her brain, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers

The finding could help scientists figure out the special mother-infant bond and how it sometimes go wrong,

"The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development," said Strathearn. "For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn't develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child's development."

They found that when the mothers saw their own infants' faces, key areas of the brain associated with reward lit up during the scans.

The areas stimulated by the sight of their own babies were those associated with the neurotransmitter dopamine.

"These are areas that have been activated in other experiments associated with drug addiction," said Strathearn. "It may be that seeing your own baby's smiling face is like a 'natural high' ".

Tags: baby, brain, motherhood

82-Year-Old American Woman Frees Child Slaves In Nepal

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:27:26 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Olga Murray laughs when she's called a modern-day abolitionist. It is, however, a fair description.

This 82-year-old retired lawyer from California now spends half of her time living in Katmandu, Nepal, where she works to free child slaves.

With her silver hair and fair skin, Murray stands out in Nepal, a poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and India. With remarkable ease she navigates the chaotic streets of the capital, where painted yogis and sacred cows are common sights.

She is no tourist. She and her organization, Friends of Needy Children, have come up with a remarkably simple and successful method of liberating hundreds of young, female slaves.

When asked why parents would sell their children, Murray explained, "It's not because they don't love them. It's like they have no choice. Sometimes it's a choice between selling their girl … and feeding the rest of their family."

the girls, known as "kamlaris," are forced to do housework.

Teen summonsed for calling Scientology a cult

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:18:26 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.
The City of London Chief Superintendent, Kevin Hurley, praised Scientology for "raising the spiritual wealth of society" during the opening
of its headquarters in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word "cult" to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word "cult" on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters

were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

"Following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service some demonstrators were warned verbally and in writing that their signs breached section five of the Public Order Act.

A CPS spokesman said no specific advice was given to police regarding the boy's placard.

For Better or Worse, Sex in Space Is Inevitable

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:43:08 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Weddings in space could be right around the corner, and experts figure the inevitable cosmic consummation will be just around the next corner.

The Japanese firm First Advantage and the U.S.-based private spaceflight firm Rocketplane Global, Inc., announced last week they will host weddings in space for about $2.3 million (240 million yen) apiece.

For all we know, sex in space has already taken place. But NASA officials aren't talking about that much.

Beyond space tourism as a platform for steamy shenanigans, space missions are the perfect petri dishes for close encounters, and this year NASA certainly has a busy flight schedule, with five missions planned. And more countries than ever are now venturing into space, with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata slated to become Japan's first long-duration space flyer this year and China gearing up for its first spacewalk scheduled for October.

Things will get even more interesting with future long-duration missions envisioned for the moon, Mars

Tags: space travel, sex, nasa

The World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:04:44 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Using an onboard source of energy (such as a battery, ultracapacitor, solar panel or any combination thereof), the electrodes will send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral (noncharged) air surrounding the craft, theoretically generating enough force for liftoff and movement in different directions (depending on where on the craft's surface you direct the electrical current).
The concept sounds far-fetched, but U.F. mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy plans to have a mini model ready to demonstrate his theory within the next year.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

If a professor at the University of Florida (U.F.) has his way, the first flying saucer to grace Planet Earth's skies isn't likely to come from outer space but rather from Gainesville, where the faculty member is drawing up plans to build a circular aircraft that can hover in the air like a helicopter without any moving parts or fuel.

In other words, it will look like a UFO, but will actually be more of an IFO—an identified flying object.

The saucer will hover and propel itself using electrodes that cover its surface to ionize the surrounding air into plasma. Gases (such as air, which has an equal number of positive and negative charges) become plasma when energy (such as heat or electricity) causes some of the gas's atoms to lose their negatively charged electrons, creating atoms with a positive charge, or positive ions, surrounded by the newly detached electrons.

Tags: ufo, flight, technology, aircraft

"Zorba the Israeli"

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:04:21 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: His most famous book, "Zorba the Greek," was published in 1946. Its appearance in English in the United States, in 1954, made its author a runaway success that exposed him to the rest of the world.

Zorbas became an adored figure in Western culture, and his prescription for life, passions and animal instincts were idealized. He came to represent all of Greek culture.

Kazantzakis wrote many books. "The Last Temptation of Christ" roused a storm of controversy when it appeared.
(the film version of the book was released, directed by Martin Scorsese with a soundtrack composed by Peter Gabriel.)

"It's the combination of the landscape and the people," Melzer a former philosophy professor says "Greeks have an endless ability to be happy, and we Israelis can only learn from them."

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

Zorba the Israeli

"I expect nothing. I fear nothing. I am free," reads the epitaph on the grave of Nikos Kazantzakis, located in a cemetery in Heraklion on the island of Crete. Kazantzakis, of "Zorba the Greek" fame, is not merely an author, poet, translator, and philosopher - he is an institution.

His status as an institution extends beyond the borders of Greece. The International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis operates throughout the world in order to preserve his heritage. Among its activities is the publication of an annual journal and the organization of events focusing on the author and his work. The society was established in Geneva 20 years ago and has branches throughout the world, including in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and of course Israel.

Nikos Kazantzakis was born in Heraklion on the island of Crete in 1883

He translated Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Darwin and Henri Bergson into and wrote poems, stories, novels

Clip Source: www.ort.fi

Electronic Papyrus: The Digital Book, Unfurled

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:20:58 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: The black-and-white display holds about 22 lines of a book page, depending on the font, all shown in the crisp black type provided by technology from E Ink, also used in Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers. The screen changes from one page to the next in about half a second, at the touch of a thumb.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

CONSUMERS like large displays on the mobile devices they use for reading an e-mail message or an e-book, but they also like to tuck those devices into their pockets. But the bigger the screen on a cellphone or an e-reader, the sooner it outgrows pocket size.

Now a hallmark feature of these screens — their rigidity — is changing. New technologies are developing that make displays flexible, foldable or even as rollable as papyrus, so that large screens can be unfurled from small containers.

One new mobile device, the Readius, designed mainly for reading books, magazines, newspapers and mail, is the size of a standard cellphone. Flip it open, though, and a screen tucked within the housing opens to a 5-inch diagonal display. The screen looks just like a liquid crystal display, but can bend so flexibly that it can wrap around a finger.

Tags: ebook, e ink, technology, gadgets, display

President Bush Edits Thomas Jefferson

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:14:36 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Bush Edits Out Jefferson's Religious Views

President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it's quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote. Here's the way Bush put it:

"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

Now let's look at the full quote

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

Tags: bush, jefferson, independence day, religion

100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:39:16 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Impressive list of resources.
Go to site as it is impossible to clip more than a small portion.

Clip Source: www.teachingtips.com

100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of

Dictionaries and More

OneLook: This no-frills online dictionary lets you look up basic definitions, related words, phrases and more. You can even customize your experience with different searches.

RhymeZone: Type in a word to find rhyming words, synonyms, definitions, Shakespeare references and more.

Strange and Unusual References: Head to this site to look up all-vowel words, magic words, magic archetypes, how to identify unicorns and other odd material.

freedict.com: This online translator can find words in Dutch, Afrikaans, Russian, Portugese, Swedish, Japanese, Hungarian and more.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Search through topics like technology, American history, literature in English, proverbs and more to become a more "active citizen in our multicultural democracy."

Planet Mercury - A new view

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:18:19 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

New Discoveries on Mercury

Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for more than 30 years. Now, analyses of data from the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that its magnetic field is actively produced in the planet's core.

Six of the papers in Science report on analyses of the planet's surface through its reflectance and color variation, surface chemistry, high-resolution imaging at different wavelengths, and altitude measurements. The researchers found evidence of volcanic vents along the margins of the Caloris basin, one of the solar system's youngest impact basins. They also found that Caloris has a much more complicated geologic history than previously believed.

Tags: mercury, space, planet, false color