World-Shaker

Scientists Invent Particles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing →

This may seem like something out of a science fiction movie: researchers have designed microparticles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate your body, even if you can’t breathe anymore. It’s one of the best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of lives every year.

The invention, developed by a team at Boston Children’s Hospital, will allow medical teams to keep patients alive and well for 15 to 30 minutes despite major respiratory failure. This is enough time for doctors and emergency personnel to act without risking a heart attack or permanent brain injuries in the patient.

Don’t let anyone tell you differently: Science is AMAZING.

I need to start watching more Jeopardy.

A Comprehensive List of New iOS 5 Features →

gjmueller:

I’ve never seen a list this long and great:

iOS 5 Software Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

• Notifications
  • Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center
  • New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
  • View notifications from lock screen
  • Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
• iMessage
  • Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users
  • Track messages with delivery and read receipts
  • Group messaging and secure encryption
  • Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi*
• Newsstand
  • Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
  • Displays the cover of the latest issue
  • Background downloads of new issues 
• Reminders for managing to do lists
  • Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
  • Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
• Built-in support for Twitter
  • Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
  • Add location to any tweet
  • View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
• Camera improvements for devices with cameras
  • Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
  • Volume Up button to take a picture
  • Optional grid lines to line up shots
  • Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
  • Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
  • Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock

• Photo improvements for devices with cameras
  • Crop and rotate
  • Red eye removal
  • One tap enhance
  • Organize photos into albums
• Mail improvements
  • Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts
  • Indentation control
  • Drag to rearrange names in address fields
  • Flag messages
  • Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
  • Customize mail alert sounds
  • S/MIME
• Calendar improvements
  • Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
  • Tap to create an event
  • View and add event attachments
• Game Center improvements
  • Use personal photos for your Game Center account
  • Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
  • Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
  • Discover new games with custom game recommendations
• AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
• Multitasking Gestures for iPad
  • Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
  • Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
  • Swipe left or right to switch between apps

• On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
• Software updates available over the air without tethering
• iCloud support
  • iTunes in the Cloud
  • Photo Stream
  • Documents in the Cloud
  • Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
  • Backup
  • Contacts, Calendar, and Mail
  • Find My iPhone

• Redesigned Music app for iPad

• Hourly weather forecast
• Real-time stock quotes
• Wireless sync to iTunes
• Keyboard improvements
  • Split keyboard for iPad
  • Improved autocorrection accuracy
  • Improved Chinese and Japanese input
  • New Emoji keyboard
  • Personal dictionary for autocorrection
  • Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words
• Accessibility improvements

•  
  • Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
  • Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
  • New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
  • Option to speak a selection of text
  • Custom element labeling for VoiceOver

• Exchange ActiveSync improvements
  • Wirelessly sync tasks
  • Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
  • Improved offline support
  • Save a new contact from a GAL service
• More than 1,500 new developer APIs
• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable, carrier messaging fees apply.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

via spooningmoon

Reblogging for science.

New Site Offers Online Resources for Parents, Teachers, and Students →

A newly launched site, designed to serve as an interactive educational tool with a science focus, will feature free lesson plans, videos, and activities aligned to national education standards.

Designed for students in grades 6-12, “Curiosity in the Classroom” expands on the Discovery series “Curiosity.” The site, from Discovery Education and Intel, uses features including career videos, interactive polls and quizzes, a webinar series, and family discussion guides to illustrate concepts from the series such as artificial intelligence, communications, computers, nanotechnology, and robotics.

In-class and at-home resources are available for educators, students, and families with specific sections of the site earmarked for quick access under the headings “For Teachers,” “For Parents” and “For Students” with content tailored for each group.

Hooray science!

Want to see what happens when you drop a neodymium magnet down a copper pipe? Because it’s awesome.

Nerd Alert: This is a demonstration of Lenz’s Law.

Copper Pipe Magnet (by JamesRB1995)

emergentfutures:

Genetically modified cows produce ‘human’ milk

Scientists have created genetically modified cattle that produce “human” milk in a bid to make cows’ milk more nutritious.

Full Story: The Telegraph

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

NO.

Some men just want to watch the world learn.

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::look of disapproval::

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The seasons on Earth. Incredibly short, but still awesome.

girlwithalessonplan:

tehsunshine:

technocraticus:

Neil deGrasse Tyson

YOU CAN’T EXPLAIN THAT

Bhahahha!  

waterswiggleworms:

Tin Can Constellation: The Little Dipper

This is one of those teaching ideas that’s so simple and genius it’s like someone hit you in the head.

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This is really an incredible thing.

infoneer-pulse:

Inkjet Printers Inspire Scientists to Make Skin

Ink-jet printing technology has inspired scientists to look for ways to build sheets of skin that could one day be used for grafts in burn victims, experts said Sunday.

One technique involves a portable bioprinter that could be carried to wounded soldiers on the battlefield where it would scan the injury, take cells from the patient and print a section of compatible skin.

Another uses a three-dimensional printer combining donor cells, biofriendly gel and other materials to build cartilage.

The 3-D printer was shown at work, building a prototype of an ear during a half-hour demonstration at a Washington science conference.

» via Discovery News

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People, this is why we need kids who grow up passionately in love with science.

smarterplanet:

DARPA’s Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm Could Be on the Market in Four Years

Source: Fast Company

Finally, laypeople will benefit from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) mad scientist projects (see: thinking cameras and flying Humvees). As part of its just-announced Innovation Pathway, a priority review program for breakthrough medical devices, the FDA will fast-track the review of DARPA’s mind-controlled robotic arm.

The arm, which was developed at a cost of over $100 million by DARPA and Johns Hopkins University over the past five years, is controlled by a microchip in the brain. The microchip records neuron activity and decodes the signals to activate motor neurons that control the prosthetic.

DARPA’s prosthetic works much like a regular arm, with the ability to bend, rotate, and twist in 27 different ways. It is designed to restore almost complete hand and finger function to patients dealing with spinal cord injury, stroke, or amputation.

"Everyone I know who says that going to Mars is a “waste of resources” gives me too high a number for how much they think NASA is getting. I say, “How much do you think they’re getting on your tax dollar?” They say 10 percent, 15 percent. It’s one-half of one penny (per taxpayer). And you’re gonna attack NASA for its one-half of one penny, and say its “spending it on the wrong things,” when NASA is a force of nature unto itself to inspire a generation to wanna become scientifically literate?! And one of the greatest problems this nation has today is the absence of science literacy!"

—

Dr. NEIL DeGRASSE TYSON, responding to host Bill Maher saying that going to Mars is “a waste of resources,” on Real Time.

(via inothernews)