Small water fleas help ecologists understand population dynamics

A study of populations of tiny water fleas is helping ecologists to understand population dynamics, which may lead to predictions about the ecological consequences of environmental change. -CONTINUED-

The Fire Rainbow: An Astonishing And Rare Marvel Of Nature

No, it's not the first of April. The phenomenon known as a 'fire rainbow' does exist. A fire rainbow is a halo or an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a horizontal rainbow, but in contrast caused by the refraction of light through the ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Here, read the science behind it and marvel at some amazing photography of this rare beauty, the circumhorizont arc, known to its friends as a CHA.

VIA: -PRESURFER-

'Digital dark age' may doom some data

What stands a better chance of surviving 50 years from now, a framed photograph or a 10-megabyte digital photo file on your computer's hard drive? The framed photograph will inevitably fade and yellow over time, but the digital photo file may be unreadable to future computers – an unintended consequence of our rapidly digitizing world that may ultimately lead to a "digital dark age," says Jerome P. McDonough, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

-CONTINUED-

The museum of unworkable devices

This museum is a celebration of fascinating devices that don't work. It houses diverse examples of the perverse genius of inventors who refused to let their thinking be intimidated by the laws of nature, remaining optimistic in the face of repeated failures. Watch and be amazed as we bring to life eccentric and even intricate perpetual motion machines that have remained steadfastly unmoving since their inception. Marvel at the ingenuity of the human mind, as it reinvents the square wheel in all of its possible variations. Exercise your mind to puzzle out exactly why they don't work as the inventors intended.

The Infinite Brain...

A Boltzmann brain is a hypothesized self-aware entity which arises due to random fluctuations out of a state of chaos. The idea is named for physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 - 1906), who had advanced an idea that the known universe arose as a random fluctuation, similar to process through which Boltzmann brains might arise.

'Fishbowl' space ships and giant stars

The state of New Mexico hopes to collaborate with two firms to create suborbital vehicles for space tourists. This illustration is one concept for the ship, which will afford passengers a 360° view of space. Armadillo Aerospace plans to build an initial prototype of the vehicle in 2009 and is aiming for crewed suborbital flights in 2010. The reusable vehicles will take off vertically from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The ships can take two passengers at a time, and tickets will cost an estimated $100,000. Rocket Racing Inc, which is developing a NASCAR-inspired rocket racing league, will fund the effort.

More at -NEW SCIENTIST-

Planets Thought Dead Might Be Habitable

Astronomers have long talked about a "habitable zone" around a star as being a confined and predictable region where temperatures were not too cold, not too hot, so that a planet could retain liquid water and therefore support life as we know it.

The zone may not be so fixed, it turns out. Some extrasolar planets that one might assume are too cold to host life could in fact be made habitable by a squishing effect from their stars, a new study found.

-FULL ARTICLE-

See also: -THE BENEFITS OF EARTHS AND SUPER EARTHS-

Robotic ants building homes on Mars?

Recent discoveries of water and Earth-like soil on Mars have set imaginations running wild that human beings may one day colonise the Red Planet. However, the first inhabitants might not be human in form at all, but rather swarms of tiny robots. -CONTINUED-

I think a better idea for robo-insects would be in helping to fertilize the soil and terraform, not building mud houses for human inhabitants.

Scientists create 'world's most relaxing room'

Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman has designed and constructed a large-scale multi-media space that aims to calm even the most stressed out of minds. -CONTINUED-

It can only mean one thing...

Halloween is coming which can only mean one thing. It's time yet again for the ever popular CAT BOWLING!

More zombie humor

Ghostly Glow Reveals Galaxy Clusters In Collision

A team of scientists, including astronomers from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), have detected long wavelength radio emission from a colliding, massive galaxy cluster which, surprisingly, is not detected at the shorter wavelengths typically seen in these objects.

-ARTICLE CONTINUED-

35 phenomenal fractal art images

In the realm of digital art, so many wonderful and playful genres exist that stimulate the imagination, but so few do it with the intricate style of fractal art. Fractal art is achieved through the mathematical calculations of fractal objects being visually displayed, with the use of self-similar transforms that are generated and manipulated with different assigned geometric properties to produce multiple variations of the shape in continually reducing patterns. Sounds extremely technical and not that artistic, true, but these equations create some of the most mesmerizing and inspiring artwork to emerge from the digital art arena. -GALLERY CONTINUED-

12 Elemental Fire and Light Formations

Continuing the quest for the most inspiring and powerful art of nature, here are over 50 images and videos depicting the most spectacular shooting sun flares, unusual fires, shocking lightning, delicate smoke patterns and stunning meteor showers. All are fierce examples of nature’s artistic displays for which the price of admission is being in the right place at the right time to have your imagine sparked. -MORE-

Wildlife Made Out Of E-Waste

“Think twice before chucking your old, outdated desktop or worn computer part as it will simply contribute to elevate the rising heaps of e-waste. Instead, ship them to Brenda Guyton, who breathes new life into them. Having a liking for computers as well as lizards and insects, she gives shape to her wild-geeky passion by creating unique works of sculpture constructed from computer parts.”

Via: -UNIQUE DAILY-

A little zombie humor...

Milky Way like you've never seen it before

It looks like a lunar landscape but this remarkable photograph actually shows our Milky Way and the planet Jupiter in all their glory - viewed from a cave in America's Utah desert.

The spiral galaxy, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, was captured by photographer Wally Pacholka using a 35mm camera and 50mm lens on a tripod with a 30-second exposure - long enough to collect the light but not to see the stars moving.

Via: -PRESURFER-

Strange, deep holes

From the end of 1980s a strange phenomena is happening in some Russian forests. People find strange, deep holes. -GALLERY CONTINUED-

See also: -UNDERGROUND BASES AND TUNNELS-

Google Megalomaniacs in Bed with Pentagon/NWO Lunatics

The vision of Google’s future, according to Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, is “it would be like the mind of God”. And it’s a future that they’re working feverishly to make a reality today.

-FULL ARTICLE-

Classic series 'V' coming back to TV

The 1980s sci-fi miniseries 'V' is to be remade for television.

Variety reports that the new 'V' will focus on a Homeland Security agent whose son joins up with aliens who claim to have come to earth in peace but have plans to take over the planet.

As in the original miniseries, there will be a number of different storylines involving the humans battling against the aliens. There are no details at present on the cast of the new 'V'.

From -SOURCE-

6 menacing towers fit for a super-villain

I thought I’d offer some assistance to any super-villains who may be looking for a menacing building to call headquarters.

Continued at: -DEPUTY DOG- .

Second case of "virgin birth" recorded in sharks

Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.

In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male.

-STUDY: SHARKS CAN HAVE 'VIRGIN BIRTHS'-

Vintage Diving Suits

-MORE-

Robot Typewriters Come Alive

Watching the Underwood's insect-like iron mechanisms give life to my words was occasionally an emotional experience (especially if I typed a little too fast and the typebars got tangled up). I really did feel in a way that the typewriter was alive, so I might not have been surprised when the machine sprang to life into one of Jeremy Mayer's sculptures.

-SEE MORE-

How To Make Hyper-Evolved Plants

Some kinds of plants evolve so quickly into new species that they surprised scientists compiling a genetic family tree showing how long each species on Earth has existed. Researchers at Yale working on the Tree of Life Project finally figured out why these plant species evolve so quickly, and their research has some interesting implications. Such as hyper-evolved sentient plants taking over the world (or maybe just the UK). FULL ARTICLE continued.

See Also: -DO PLANTS BEHAVE LIKE HUMANS?-

Beautiful images of the inner earth

-GALLERY CONTINUED-

2 new websites you should bookmark

No better time like the present to announce two brand new websites brought to you by upsidebackwards! The first is the VERBAL VORTEX which will serve as a workshop for writers and various creative art projects with regular updates by several acclaimed authors and graphic designers. If you're looking for tips and feedback on publishing that first novel, you'll find some great advice and suggestions at the Verbal Vortex! On the other hand, the brand new CONSPIRAPORN site will serve you the best of both worlds and is certain to entertain, inform, and excite!

Please keep in mind that these sites are works in progress (the latter was just set up 24 hours ago!) and will grow over the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, "under construction" tags are in order, yet both websites will be updated on a weekly basis with unique perspective and original submissions you won't find anywhere else!

Comments, questions, critiques, like to get involved?! Simply write me at mad247@weirdness.com , and special thanks to all the wonderful people who are already involved with these projects. The best is yet to come!

Oct. 7, 1959: Luna 3's Images From the Dark Side

Though taken Oct. 7, 1959, the first image of the far side of the moon was not transmitted back to Earth until 11 days later.

The space probe Luna 3 takes the first photographs of the dark side of the moon. The radio-controlled Luna 3 was part of the Soviet Union's highly successful lunar program, which completed 20 missions to the moon between January 1959 and October 1970.

-FULL ARTICLE-

Related News: -RUSSIA'S SPACE PROGRAM COULD
CRUSH NASA WITHIN 10 YEARS- .

Mexican mini-god speakers

Height: 17"
Medium: Vinyl
Edition Size: 300
Designer: Marka27

Purchase at: -TAINTED VISIONS- .

Nearly One In Four Of World’s Mammals At Risk of Extinction

The most comprehensive assessment of the world’s mammals has confirmed an extinction crisis, with almost one in four at risk of disappearing forever, according to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, revealed at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. The new study to assess the world’s mammals shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction. At least 76 mammals have become extinct since 1500.

-FULL ARTICLE-

Toy Robot Intended to Save Humans From Evil, Future Bots

When roboticist David Hanson thinks of the future, he fears that man will accidentally create a super-sentient artificial intelligence that is heartless and clinically insane.

So to save the world, he formed Hanson Robotics and built Zeno, a 17-inch robot boy, who smiles, laughs, recognizes your face and remembers your name.

Fending off the end of the world may be a heavy mantle to hang on the shoulders of a 17-inch robot that's still in prototype stage, but Hanson does call Zeno the superhero of the singularity.

Full Story at: -WIRED- .

Skydivers make unprecedented jump over Everest

Three skydivers made the first ever parachute jump over Mount Everest on Sunday, organizers and participants said, culminating years of preparation.

About 32 skydivers from more than 10 countries including Britain, Canada, the United States and New Zealand have been in the Everest region since last week to jump from an aircraft flying 465 feet higher than the Everest summit.

-CONTINUED-

Messenger Returns to Mercury

On Monday, for the second time this year, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft will fly by the hot, cratered surface of the planet Mercury. The craft will come within 125 miles to take pictures and gather data while it uses the gravitational pull of the little orb to keep it on the right track for it’s mission to eventually become the first thing to orbit Mercury in 2011.

Last time Messenger passed by Mercury, according to NASA, it took pictures of about 20 percent of the still mysterious surface. That close encounter showed that volcanoes spilled out rock to create many of the planet’s flat plains, and that its magnetic field seems to be produced by a core of molten iron.

On this mission, another 30 percent of the surface, including the side of the planet that scientists have not yet seen, will be mapped in 1,200 high-resolution color images. Other data will also be collected, measuring the planet’s topographic bumpiness, which scientists will compare to the images of the surface.

FULL ARTICLE AT: -POPSCI- .

Pedal Powered Pink Panzer

If you want to crash a local parade of human-powered vehicles and soak unsuspecting onlookers in water or vaporized hot dogs, a pink camouflage tank is a pretty good craft to do it in. At least that's what 30-year-old Philadelphia gearhead Vin Marshall thought when he persuaded nine of his friends to build the 2,000-pound replica, complete with a functioning pneumatic cannon.

-SEE IT IN ACTION-

The highest blog in the world

Italian Lorenzo Campani and his friends want to create the highest blog in the world. They want to update a blog directly from the Cho Oyu mountain in Tibet, which is over 26.000 feet high.

Their goal is to update, directly for a month, the highest blog in the world, do the highest Skype call, and bring Twitter up to 26.000 feet.

VIA: -PRESURFER-

Amazingly Creative Japanese Barcodes

What’s in a barcode? More than you might imagine, when idealized through the eyes of some very creative Japanese artists.

You will be amazed at what can be done with a few straight lines and a push to think outside of a very ordinary box.

See more at -WEIRD ASIA NEWS- .

I hate that we have to use barcodes but as long as we do they might as well be artistic!

Spooky Pop custom toy collection

-WONDERFUL GALLERY CONTINUED-

Zamak's Droids

-ZAMAK'S DROIDS- (flash).

VIA: -ASHLEYB-

Not so way-back machine

Take a trip back to the 2001 Google archive.

What the Internet represents for many people...

INTERNET VS RESEARCH PAPER

Thomas 2001: A Space Oddity

I can’t help but wish I’d stuck with my piano lessons when I behold a sight as beautiful as this! It’s the Thomas 2001 Electric Organ, and if Space Mountain were a keyboard instead of a roller coaster, this would be it. The console seen here is on display in the lobby of the Standard Hotel. At one of the best photo-ops in downtown Los Angeles, the aspiring space-age organist can sit down and pretend to play Thus Sprach Zarathustra.

VIA: -DINOSAURS AND ROBOTS- .

The Inquisition Museum

The Inquisition Museum in Spain is home to a variety of monster sculptures, taxidermy hybrids and brutal torture devices. Monster Brains chose a wonderful sampling.

VIA: -SHEWALKSSOFTLY- .