Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities links

1. World's tiniest steam engine built
2. God particle: why Cern scientists have been using the Large Hadron Collider to find it
3. What's your sound perfume?
4. Brain-controlled computer tracks attention
5. Big Question for 2012: The Great Pyramid Secret Doors
6. 'Matrix-style' learning implants new skills in brains
7. Ultrathin, foldable sensors probe secrets of the brain
8. Crusader's Arabic Inscription No Longer Lost in Translation
9. Students Preserve Revolutionary War Shipwrecks
10. Light Me Up, Buttercup
11. Ancient Fish Takes a Walk
12. Student Innovators Hack Kinetic and Cancer to Win $100,000
13. They guppy: newest top predator?

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities links

1. First mini-earth may have been spotted
2. New dinosaur species discovered in Natural History Museum after nearly a century
3. A 3D printer
4. Plasma could cure the common cold
5. Intelligence agency recruits spies with online code
6. Forget antibiotics, try nanoparticles instead
7. Morphing mirror could clear the skies for astronomers
8. Ultrathin, foldable sensors probe secrets of the brain
9. First superpredator had enormous eyes on stalks
10. Earliest animals looked like baseballs
11. Woolly mammoth to be cloned
12. Why aren't we smarter? Evolutionary limits on cognition
13. Acquired traits can be inherited via small RNAs

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities links

1. What did Australopithecines sound like?
2. 'Twine' lets everyday objects speak to us
3. Stonehenge reveals new clues of ancient worship
4. 'Language gene' may influence learning too
5. To self-diagnose, spit on iPhone
6. Squidbot could limbo into dangerous places
7. Electronic contact lens displays pixels on eyes
8. Alzheimer's damage reversed by deep brain stimulation
9. Neutrinos and multiverses: a new cosmology beckons
10. One of the universe's fiercest black holes is hiding inside this galaxy
11. The world's oldest known heliocentric model is completely backwards
12. Why does going somewhere take longer than coming back
13. Why sleeping on a problem is best

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities links

1. Bionic contact lens 'to project emails before eyes'
2. Faster-than-light neutrino results queried
3. 15 infant dinosaurs discovered in crowded nest
4. First teeth grew outside the body
5. Climate may have doomed Neandertals
6. Walking through doorways make you forget
7. Insect cyborgs may be the first responders: search and monitor hazardous place
8. Smart swarms of bacteria inspire robotics: Adaptable decision-making found in bacteria communities
9. Ancient skull found in China may be oldest evidence of violence between humans
10. Discovery of a new muscle repair gene
11. Key to aging? Key molecular switch for telomere extension by telomerase identified
12. Psychopaths' brains show differences in structure and function
13. Key gene function against cell death discovered

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Mimicking the brain -- in silicon: new computer chip models how neurons communicate
2. Fossilized skin reveals ancient predator's sharklike move
3. Toyota introduces robots that helps patients walk again
4. Hubble discovers tiny galaxies bursting with starbirth in early universe
5. A rare survivor from the birth of Earth
6. A realistic look at the promises and perils of nanomedicine
7. New "smart" material could help tap medical potential of tissue-penetrating light
8. Archeologists discover huge ancient Greek commercial area on island of Sicily
9. Why your hips don't lie
10. Reading the brain: Mind-boggling
11. Real-Life Inception: Army looks to 'counteract nightmares' with digital dreams
12. Antarctica's "Ghost" Mountains Explained
13. "Great Lakes" discovered on Jupiter Moon?

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Water shifting to a new kind of liquid
2. What the brain sees when the eye looks away
3. Which way you lean (physically) affects your decision making
4. We all experience fantasy differently
5. Brain parasite directly alters brain chemistry
6. Re-programmable cells could be key to creating new life forms
7. Cyborgs may be sci-fi but brain-computer interfacing is real
8. New procedure to turn brown eyes blue
9. Skin sees sunlight to trigger tanning
10. Periodic table adds three new elements
11. 66 leg predator roamed ancient BC sea floor
12. First brain image of a dream created
13. Humans' entry into Europe pushed earlier

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. E-readers get heavier with each book
2. One step closer to the borg
3. Stretchy solar cells make self-powering 'skin'
4. Mind-reading devices help the speechless speak
5. Brain scans reveal lucid dreaming's sleep cinema
6. Smart chimp gets speech like a human
7. First known Europeans identified
8. Cancer found in 2,000 year old mummy
9. Blood from a stone? No. Blood from a rice? Sure.
10. Eyes are the window to the soul; skin is a window to the brain
11. Vampire-like predatory bacteria could become a living antibiotic
12. Your brain knows a lot more than you realize
13. NASA to develop dust grabbing tractor beams for future missions

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Couple held hands for 1500 years
2. Why spiders will always find you
3. The language fossils buried in every cell of your body
4. A fold in the brain is linked to keeping reality and imagination separate
5. Human brains are made of the same stuff, despite DNA differences
6. Birthplace for primitive life on Earth?
7. Computer scientist cracks mysterious "Copiale Cipher"
8. The modern human coordination miracle
9. Astronomers capture image of planet being born
10. Facebook may be changing our brains
11. Teeth shows big dinosaurs trekked for food
12. Dark matter gets darker
13. Telescope solve 2,000 year old stellar mystery

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Nanotube yarn twists like muscles
2. Ancient "paint factory" unearthed
3. Military seeks sensor to gauge brain's reaction to stories
4. Cyclops shark appears legit
5. Hidden Antarctic lake may host mystery life
6. Psychopaths revealed by computer analysis
7. Computing building blocks created from bacteria and DNA
8. Forgetting is part of remembering
9. Dark matter mystery deepens
10. Robotic bug gets wings, sheds light on evolution of flight
11. Archaeologists find "blade production lines" existed as much as 400,000 years ago
12. Protecting the brain when energy runs low
13. Scientists reveal surprising picture of how powerful antibody neutralizes HIV

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Prehistoric dog found with mammoth bone in its mouth
2. Meet LUCA (last universal common ancestor)
3. Time capsule housed 114 year old human bacteria
4. Smell-o-vision
5. Another reason to eat more chocolate
6. Alzheimer's: can you catch it?
7. Please welcome Megavirus, the world's ginormous virus
8. Dawn of the biohackers
9. British scientists hope to discover Earth's secrets in ancient Antarctic lake
10. The way you hold your drink reveals key personality traits
11. Lair of ancient 'kraken' sea monster possibly discovered
12. The nanotechnology of Sundew and English Ivy
13. Dead sea scrolls get new life online

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. How the brain makes memories
2. Alarm clock gene explained
3. Humans are still evolving
4. Miracle fruit secret revealed
5. Humans reach Asia in two waves
6. Finger drawing from a Prehistoric preschool
7. Breakthrough brain study reveals stress code
8. How viruses find their way into the cell nucleus
9. How brain reacts to mistakes depends on mindset
10. Humans and sharks share immune system feature
11. Tool using fish caught on camera
12. Sea-dragon discoveries Q&A
13. Dead sea not quite dead yet

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Mind-reading research: the major breakthroughs
2. Spontaneous Human Combustion: how might it occur?
3. Florescing bacteria used to encode secret messages
4. New species of genuflecting plant buries its own seeds
5. 'Antimagnet' joins list of invisibility approaches
6. Resurrected ancient protein is a potent antibiotic
7. Your brain's family album, from hydra to human
8. Brain needs serotonin to restrain aggression
9. Habits form when brains slow down
10. Double whammy gene therapy clears HIV from body
11. How smells rules your life
12. Small lizard solves a problem its never seen before
13. Young bonobo show signs of autism

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

1. Revealed, Irelands real life zombie scare: Eighth century skeletons buried with stones in mouths
2. Video gamers solve microbiology puzzle
3. The end of "archaic" H. sapiens
4. New gene sequencing technique opens doors for studying elusive bacteria
5. Genetic defect that leaves some without fingerprints
6. Continents influenced ancient human migration, spread of technology
7. New techniques fill in gaps of fossil record
8. What will the next influenza pandemic look like?
9. Shark molecules kill human viruses, too
10. Tiniest baby dinosaur discovered
11. Deep sea can put global warming on temporary hiatus
12. Our universe may be a multiverse
13. Dino-killing impact wiped out many ancient birds too

Thursday 13: Round up of Science /Humanities

I'm going to do something a bit different. I've always liked Thursday 13, but I thought I would use it as an opportunity to cross-link the round up of science/humanities articles that I've found particularly interesting around the net this week.

1. Man's Immune System Trained to Kill Cancer
2. Fossils Revise Human Evolution Theories
3. Hair Chemistry Could Help Solve Cold Cases
4. New Emotion Detector can See When We're Lying
5. Egypt's Ancient Fleet: Lost for Thousands of Years, Found in Desolate Cave
6. Enzyme Might be Target for Treating Smoking and Alcoholism
7. Sea Urchins See with their Whole Body
8. Powered by Seaweed, Polymer from Algae may Improve Battery Performance
9. Blood Vessels from Your Printer?
10. New Species of Ancient Predatory Fish Discovered
11. Can Scientists Look at Next Year's Climate?
12. The Lost Plague: London's Graveyards Suggest that Black Death Strain May be Extinct
13. Bacteria Use Electric Wires to Uranium out of Groundwater

Thursday Thirteen

This is from another email I received that I thought was interesting. 13 using for cucumbers.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finished a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but it won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Thursday Thirteen

13 thought Provoking Statements

I got an email last week with a bunch of these and I've always loved statements that made you think and go hmm... I wanted to share some of my faves from the list.

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

4. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

5. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

6. Was learning cursive really necessary? (although I see 3/4 of ppl not writing cursive, I do.)

7. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

8. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

9. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

10. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

11. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

12. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

13. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

Thursday Thirteen

I was searching a website that I got regularly today and found an article that I thought was interesting. It's a book called The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe?, a new book by the astrophysicist, Paul Davies. What is different and intriguing is the fact that in this book is messages written by people to whatever life may be out there in the universe. I thought for my Thursday 13, I would jot down a few of them here:

1. “Please kill us now … have no mercy. We are evil and you must defend yourself.”

2. Similarly to #1- “Keep away from this planet,” agreed Pamela from Sicily. “Mankind is only intent on depleting, abusing and destroying [it]. They will do the same to yours should they find it. Mankind is the worst virus in the universe. You have been warned.”

3. “If you manage to work out how to travel to us, don’t bother, as we’ll probably probe you, try to blow you up or worse still, steal your technology and invade… Have a nice day.”

4. “Dearest Aliens, If you choose to conquer Earth, please do not kill or enslave those of us who can name all 12 men to have walked on the Moon. We are the ones worth keeping around.”

5. “If you’re planning to visit our planet, please know you will need to remove all metal from your person, take your shoes off and submit to a full body scan, carry all liquids/gels/aerosols in clear plastic bottles no bigger than 3.4oz, surrender all cigarette lighters and batteries, pack all jams and jellies (but pies can be carried on)… Oh, yes. Welcome to the Earth!”

6. “Sorry to drop this on you, but we’ve kinda wrecked our planet. Any chance we could come live with you? We’ve got beer.”

7. “Save yourself! Stay away! We have politicians!”

8. “For sale or trade. Several billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. All reasonable offers considered! Must pick up, cannot ship.”

9. again, similar to #8- “Beautiful, blue planet, teeming with life, located on the edge of the Milky Way. Fantastic views of the Andromeda Galaxy and beyond into infinity. Perhaps the best location in the Universe. One trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion ONO. Must be prepared to look after current resident flora and fauna.”

10. “My purpose of contacting you is to seek your help in transferring the sum of five million United States dollars ($5,000,000) to a trusted bank on your planet.”

11. “Did you think YOU were alone in the universe?”

12. My fave: “Do you have crop circles on your planet? Kindly stop tagging our planet with cryptic crop designs. Interplanetary graffiti is not the best introduction, so please express yourself with a bit more decorum and less like a disgruntled teenager wielding a spray can.”

13. “OK, ’fess up? What have you done with Elvis?”

For more or to read the article, please go: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7399703/So-what-would-YOU-say-to-ET.html

Thursday Thirteen

13 Worst Predictions

1. Theoretically, television may be feasible, but I consider it an impossibility--a development which we should waste little time dreaming about.
- Lee de Forest, 1926, inventor of the cathode ray tube

2. It doesn't matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.
- Albert Einstein's teacher to his father, 1895

3. We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.
- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

4. King George II said in 1773 that the American colonies had little stomach for revolution.

5. An English astronomy professor said in the early 19th century that air travel at high speed would be impossible because passengers would suffocate.

6. Everything that can be invented has been invented.
-Charles H Duell, an official at the US patent office, 1899

7. I see no reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone.
-Charles Darwin in the foreword to his book, The Origin of Species, 1869

8. If anything remains more or less unchanged, it will be the role of women.
-David Riesman, conservative American social scientist, 1967

9. X-rays will prove to be a hoax.
-Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883

10. Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
-Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946

11. The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.
-The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903

12. It will be gone by June.
Variety, passing judgment on rock 'n roll in 1955

13. There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
-Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977

for more, visit here

Thursday Thirteen

Monday the 14th is Excerpt Monday so I hope you don't mind a bit of pimping. This thursday 13 I want to talk a bit about EM.

1. Showcase your writing. EM is a great opportunity to:

2. Share with other writers.

3. Get new readership. Last month alone we had 40 participants. This doesn't include those who don't participate but are simply readers.

4. Network and get traffic to your blog/site.

5. Have a burning question about whether something works? Ask! I'm sure readers would be more than willing to tell you what they think.

6. Who can do EM? Anyone. Are you pubbed? Unpubbed? Aspiring? Do you have a new release coming out? Want to try out something new to get a feel of how your readers will take this change? Seriously, anyone can do this. We accept all ratings. We simply ask that you give us the rating of your entire site since we do have some PG writers out there and we wouldn't want their readership going to a NC17 by mistake. This is mostly why we rate the whole site, and not just the excerpt. Excerpts may be PG but if you have other posts or even images that aren't... it safest to rate the whole site for everyone.

7. What can you post? Anything. Fiction. Poetry. Be creative but the main thing is that you have fun. Seriously.

8. How long do you need to post? Really it doesn't matter. We've had people post a paragraph whereas others have put up pages. It all depends on how much you want to share with readers.

9. We've streamlined it to make it more user friendly. Like anything, things take time to learn and buld and figure out. There are learning curves to everything and this is no exception. We've stumbled a bit along the way but we're determined because Bria and I love this concept.

10. Soon to come we plan on showcasing our regular authors, hosting themed weeks, and a page for serial reads etc.

11. What do we need to set you up? Your penname, genre, site rating and the specific link where your excerpt will be posted. Excerpts should be posted 8:30am EST. Bria and I will then be going through links to make sure they are working and fix those that aren't. At 9:00 am EST Excerpt Monday goes live to readers.

12. Want to read a success story? Check out Jeannie Lin's story about her first participation in EM in which she received a particularly exciting comment from a stranger about her excerpt.

13. If you're interested and want to join us this month, please visit our site by clicking on the banner and checking out our guidelines.

Thursday 13

I'm a how-to nut. I'll admit that. As a writer, because I don't know everything, I'll often google. I was in the wiki-how to the other day and thought I'd share some of their articles.

13 how-to articles

1. I'm actually surprised there are so many 'how to kiss, how to remove a hickey, how to know if a guy/girl likes you' articles
2. Get rid of fruit flies. I'll admit I searched this one. I got swarmed with them when I got back from vacation.
3. Hack a coke machine... just because never know when it'll eat your money.
4. Pick a lock and with household items. I suppose cracking a combination lock would also fall under this one. I've also checked this one out before when a character needed to break into a place.
5.Pass a drug test... another thing I looked up for a scene
6. Cheat a lie detector test
7. How to calculate PI by throwing frozen hot dogs (ok this one just amused me)
8. Ok this one also amused me: do nothing. Um... you need an article to know how to do nothing?
9. How to calculate your age by chocolate (ROFL!)
10. Start a fire with sticks (cause my chars are out in the middle of nowhere without matches or lighter)
11. How to tell if it's a two-way mirror
12. Because one of my chars does this... build a fish tank out of an old tv
13. Escape from handcuffs. Just cause... you never know when you may be in such situations... like two of my chars who are handcuffed together and are on the run from trackers in the isolated mountains...