Say AH!

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Teleportation Is Real and Here’s Why it Matters

The future has a way of becoming the past. Men on the moon? Check.

 Picture phones? Thank you, Skype. But teleportation? Not so much. 

The idea of breaking yourself down to your constituent molecules, beaming yourself across space and reassembling somewhere else sounds cool, but there are problems. For one, there’s The Fly.
 For another, it’s monstrously difficult. But teleporting information is another matter.
And in a new study just published in Science, researchers at the Delft Institute of Technology in The Netherlands have revealed that they’ve done just that—sort of.

 

“It's true that nothing in this world makes us so necessary to others as the affection we have for them.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Posing pooches

Finnish photographer Maija Astikainen's ongoing photo series One-Dog Policy was shot in several homes in Helsinki and Madrid from 2010 - 2014, exploring how people often humanise their pets. 

   

Japanese Scientists Have Figured Out the Ideal Way To Eat a Hamburger

It’s getting to be summer, the perfect time for throwing a few burgers on the grill. But you just know that eating that delicious, perfectly cooked and seasoned patty is going to be messy. Very messy. Condiments will squeeze their way out of the sandwich, getting all over your plate (or your lap, if you’re particularly unlucky). So what’s a burger-loving clean freak to do?
 The Japanese have an answer.

 

Moon House

Swedish artist Mikael Genberg has a vision—a very small, very expensive shack on the surface of the moon. The sculpture (a building you can’t use is just a sculpture) would be in the style of a Swedish country cottage, famous for their striking “falun red” paint jobs. It would be part of Genberg’s larger canon of work, which includes a similar cottage 13 meters up a tree and another, three meters below the surface of a lake. Both of those cottages can actually be visited. The Moon House however, is not only totally unreachable, it’s completely dependent on crowd-sourcing for its pricey construction. Of the $15,360,000 he needs to raise, Genberg has received $1,816, and he only has 185 days left to raise the cash.

 

Mirror mirror on the wall

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Blacktip Close-Up

Photograph by Imran Ahmad, National Geographic Your Shot

 

Dolphins Guide Scientists to Rescue Suicidal Girl

Three miles off the California coast, dolphins call attention to a dying teenager.

 

Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide drafts to be published

Writing that Douglas Adams cut from his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novels is to be published for the first time after being found in his archive. He wrote 16 chapters for an early version of Life, The Universe and Everything - but abandoned it, filed the typescript away and started again. It has now been found, along with other unseen passages, in an archive of his work at the University of Cambridge. Extracts will be included in The Frood, a new biography by Jem Roberts.

 

Don’t forget

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Because I'm happy ...

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Lord of the Cookies by Ronan Lynam

Love mythological critters of all kind, including cookie baking elves and furry blue monsters?
You'll adore this Lord of the Cookies t-shirt by Ronan Lynam, it's delicious enough to satisfy your appetite for geeky fashion, and so funny that people will be hungry for more!

 

You Can Thank 150 Different Compounds For The Sweet Smell Of Bacon

There's nothing on Earth like the smell of bacon cooking, especially when it's being prepared by someone else and it's the weekend. Put a pan of bacon on, and everyone suddenly gathers in the kitchen. We've even known vegetarians to cave in its presence, and mathematically-speaking, it makes everything better. But — why? What is it about the smell that calls us like a siren out of a deep sleep? Well, as our fellow nerds over at the American Chemical Society and the chemistry blog, Compound Interest, demonstrate in the pop-art video , it's the devious work of 150 volatile organic compounds coming together to do their thing.

 

Soccer Ball Physics

Every year the newest version of the World Cup soccer ball causes a stir. Now physicists have put those balls to the test, to see just how well they fly.

 

Mammalian Beards

The New Zealand branch of the razor company Schick commissioned these images for its “Free Your Skin” advertising campaign.

 

Her Diary vs. His Diary

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Larry The Lemur grabs the camera to take a selfie.

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Using GIS to Factcheck Julius Caesar's Account of the Gallic Wars

Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, are used to visualize everything from climate change to political climates. Now this technology is also being used to verify historical records.
A team of researchers from around the world are using GIS to look into Julius Caesar’s accounts of his time in the Gallic Wars. Caesar’s commentaries on the Gallic Wars contain some of the most complete descriptions of Gaul and the people that lived there. But they aren't necessarily exact histories: they were written as memoirs, and Caesar was fighting the wars, in part, to boost his own political career.
So it makes sense to take his words with a pinch of salt. In the book, Caesar writes about a tribe called the Helvetii living in what is now Switzerland. They were running out of food to feed their population of over 250,000, so they packed up and tried to migrate to (or invade, depending on who you talk to) Roman-controlled territory. That turned out to be a poor choice. Even though Caeser was outnumbered, the war ended in the spectacular defeat of the Gallic tribe.
 Australian archaeologist Tom Whitley hopes to use GIS figure out whether it was even possible that the Helvetii had such numbers, or whether Caesar, many miles away from Rome, embellished his accounts to make himself look better in the eyes of his homeland.

 

Swimming With Monsters

Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, his partner and assistant, spent several months photographing indigenous Hawaiian surf culture.

 

Maya Angelou, celebrated US poet and author, dies aged 86

Maya Angelou, the American poet and author, died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday. She was 86. Her son Guy B Johnson confirmed the news in a statement. He said: "Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension. "She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love." Johnson said Angelou "passed quietly in her home" before 8am on Wednesday. A statement from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where she had served as a professor of American Studies since 1982, called Angelou "a national treasure whose life and teachings inspired millions around the world". Angelou’s failing health was reported as recently as Tuesday, when she canceled an appearance honoring her with a Beacon of Life Award because of “health reasons”. The ceremony was part of the 2014 MLB Beacon Award Luncheon, in Houston, Texas, part of Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Games. Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, in St Louis, Missouri, in 1928. She survived a host of personal trials: she was a child of the depression, grew up in the segregated south, survived a childhood rape, gave birth as a teenager, and was, at one time, a prostitute. She is perhaps best known for her 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She also write wrote seven autobiographies, and was a playwright, director, actor, singer, songwriter and novelist. In 1993, she read On the Pulse of the Morning at President Clinton's first inauguration, a performance that made the poem a bestseller.
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Bill Murray Crashes Bachelor Party

Bill Murray is crashing things again. Over Memorial Day weekend, the actor walked into a bachelor party in Charleston, S.C. and made a speech, dishing out advice to the groom and his friends. "If you have someone who you think is the one...take that person and travel around the world...and if when you come back to JFK and you're still in love with that person, get married at the airport," he told the group and then proceeded to pick the groom up on his shoulders. see video

 

President Josipovic plays a keyboard in a rock band

 Croatian president Ivo Josipovic played a keyboard in a band of the rock star Goran Bare on Monday in Zagreb during a humanitarian concert to help floods victims. The president who is also a composer played the keyboard during the song "Put ka sreci" during a live concert in front of thousands of people at central Jelacic square in Zagreb. Over 3 million Croatian kuna was raised on Monday when live concerts took part in Zagreb, Split and Rijeka. Floods have heavily hit Balkan area earlier this month claiming dozens of lives and leaving tens of thousands of people without their homes.

 

Clashes In Donetsk Leave Dozens Dead

 High-caliber weapons fire echoed sporadically Tuesday through the eastern city of Donetsk and the mayor urged residents to stay home a day after fighting between Ukrainian troops and separatist rebels reportedly killed dozens. Donetsk mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko said 40 people, including two civilians, were killed after troops repelled a rebel attempt Monday to seize control of the airport, Ukraine's second-largest. Local morgues were overflowing with bodies Tuesday and rebel leaders said the death toll could rise up to 100.

 

Nigel Farage's triumph in the European elections

'It's Mr and Mrs Farage, Prime Minister - come to measure the carpets and the curtains'

 

The Truth About Bug Spray

If you're planning on spending time outdoors this summer, you'll find that the insect repellent aisle of your local pharmacy offers a dazzling array of options to protect you from hungry bugs.So do any of them get the job done? And do they cause problems for more than just bugs?Scientists believe that mosquitoes choose their human victims by the scent of the bacteria on our skin and in our sweat. Because our bacterial communities vary, some of us are more prone to bites than others. To anyone who has scratched herself silly after a camping trip, the importance of an effective repellent is obvious. But even if you're lucky enough to be unappetizing to mosquitoes, there's another reason to choose your bug defense carefully: Insect-borne illnesses are on the rise, and some can be serious, even deadly.