Okay, maybe they dont know where you live, but these bees were taught to recognize faces when rewarded with suger to do so.

Neat Scientific American article on the biochemistry of sperm movement. Get your flagella flippin' and read all about it.

The article also mentions a link between marijuana use and infertility, stating that a stimulated endocannabinoid system likely leaves sperm burnt out in a matter of hours.

This would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. A judge has ruled that Colin Hay and his 80's Australian rock band Men At Work plagiarized 'Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree' in parts of its hit song 'Down Under'. The ruling means the current owners of the Kookaburra song stand to get as much as 60 percent of the back royalties.

I know the song they are talking about. I know the riff. Its 3 notes and yes it totally sounds like that stupid kids song. The difference is, that kids song is that riff and that riff alone. 'Down Under' has a lot more going on and could exist without that 3 note riff.

Apparently the company suing is a big greedy music company called Larrikin so its not like the money is going to some poor family of the dead lady that wrote the children's song a billion years ago.

Don't taint such a good song with your corporate bullshit!!!!

A dozen years ago, a British physician named Dr. Andrew Wakefield published a paper in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet that did immeasurable harm to children.

Wakefield, who back in 1998 was working at London’s Royal Free Hospital, claimed in the article that the vaccination of 12 children with measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine had caused a reaction in their bowels that caused autism.

At a press conference shortly after the paper came out, Wakefield urged parents not to give their children the combination vaccine.

The British press went crazy over the report. The word and the fear quickly spread around the world.

Since the controversial paper was published, British parents abandoned the vaccine in droves, leading to a resurgence of measles. Vaccination rates for measles have never recovered, and there are outbreaks of the disease in the U.K. every year.

And across the globe, millions of parents who choose to follow their own doctors' advice and vaccinate their children have had to face the anxiety of an alleged link to a dread disease.

All this despite the fact that no scientists were ever able to replicate Wakefield's findings.

Yesterday, The Lancet, after years of investigations, lawsuits, press complaints and accusations, took the unprecedented step of withdrawing this 12-year-old article as misleading and false...

Although there is no reliable estimate as to how many dogs have had their vocal cords cut, veterinarians and other animal experts say that dogs with no bark can readily be found — but not necessarily heard — in private homes, on the show-dog circuit, and even on the turf of drug dealers, who are said to prefer their attack dogs silent.

The surgery usually leaves the animal with something between a wheeze and a squeak. The procedure, commonly referred to as debarking, has been around for decades, but has fallen out of favor, especially among younger veterinarians and animal-rights advocates.

Critics of the debarking procedure say it is outdated and inhumane, one that destroys an animal’s central means of communication merely for the owner’s convenience. Many veterinarians refuse to do the surgery on ethical grounds. Those who do rarely advertise it.

New Jersey bans devocalization surgery except for medical or therapeutic reasons, as do Britain and other European countries. Similar legislation is pending in Massachusetts, while Ohio restricts the surgery to nonviolent dogs.

But there are still those who perform the operation, and they and other advocates defend the surgery as a useful option for dog owners facing noise complaints and possible eviction.

..just kidding. The dog was actually found floating on an ice floe in the Baltic Sea and was rescued bu a crew of Polish scientists.

Apparently two women have already claimed to be the dog's owner and will be meeting the icy canine on Thursday February 4th.

Picture rights to Ryszard Moroz/IMGW/Associated Press

Seems weird that I never heard of this. A line of cells from a Tobacco farmer's tumor have been used for decades without much information about the source. Rebecca Skloot's new book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks sheds light on the history and importance of the cells.

Be careful what you wish for.

That's probably what House Republicans are thinking about after extending that invitation to President Obama to address their annual retreat in Baltimore today. In an uncharacteristically candid back-and-forth that consumed almost an hour and a half, Obama -- with television cameras rolling -- basically told Republicans what he thought of their health plan and their characterization of his health plan.

It made the State of the Union speech look tame. One key indication of which side was getting the upper hand? Fox News cut away after the first half an hour, notes Atlantic's political editor Marc Ambinder.

I have supplied the video below and believe every American who has given even an iota of opinion on the administration should watch. The President's starting speech is important but more importantly - in my opinion - is Pres. Obama "Q&A: From Earlier". I implore that you share this video with friends and family, this discussion is 10x more important than the State of the Union address.



Here is my breakdown of the video:
04:13 - Obama on job environment.
11:00 - Obama on future plans to encourage job growth.
12:08 - Obama on Republican interest in across the board tax relief/cuts.
14:30 - Obama on large increase in budget, freeze in spending, wasteful spending, and line item veto bill.
19:50 - Obama on embracing policies for cleaner forms of energy.
25:20 - Obama on lack of publicity of healthcare process.
28:20 - Obama on lobbyist involvement in administration.
32:30 - Obama on Republican proposals regarding healthcare reform.
36:00 - Obama tells Republicans they have made the current status of the healthcare bill out to be a "Bolshevik plot"; wild plot to impose big government.
51:00 - Obama on politicians being mindful of their tone, Capital Hill climate, interest in Bipartisanship and admitted failure in that arena last year.
54:00 - Obama discusses plans on trade.
58:00 - Obama on the Republican assertion his previous budget in the future tripling the cost of government.
01:03 - Obama on Medicare costs and partisanship.

Roboticists in search of a challenge, take note. The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to replace the weather-forecasting Punxsutawney Phil of Groundhog Day fame with an animatronic version. Robot followers that we are here at Crave, we're all for an electronic rodent, but we're also pretty sure groundhog bots have a long way to go before they can charm crowds the way little Phil can.

PETA maintains that the animal whose annual February 2 antics portend the duration of winter is mistreated--put on display year-round at the local Pennsylvania library; denied the ability to prepare for and enter yearly hibernation; and forced to endure screaming throngs of thousands, media attention, and human handling.

According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter weather will follow. If he doesn't, expect an early spring. But PETA has had enough of the tradition that dates back to 1886, and believes robotic technology could be the solution.

"If Punxsutawney frees Phil, then the bitter winter that's made him into an unwilling media attraction will end, making way for a sunny spring that everyone can enjoy," PETA writes in a post on its PETA Files blog.

In a letter (PDF) written to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and posted on PETA's Web site, animal specialist Gemma Vaughan notes that groundhogs are normally shy animals that "become stressed" when exposed to too much hubbub.

She also notes that "other popular exhibitions have featured robotic penguins and dolphins who swim and communicate just like real animals do, and we think that an animatronic groundhog would similarly mesmerize a crowd full of curious spectators in Punxsutawney.

"Tradition is no excuse for cruelty, and this opportunity would allow Punxsutawney to engage in a futuristic, interactive, versatile, and humane annual event," she writes.

So having seen time and time again that any robot that can be imagined can be created, we'll wait for the engineers of the world to come up with a cute machine version of the sleepy marmot. In the meantime, those who aren't offended by the real-life furry prognosticator can get notified by text message the minute Punxsutawney Phil pops out of his burrow Tuesday. Text "Groundhog" to 247365, the Pennsylvania Tourism Bureau instructs. And yes, standard text messaging rates do apply.

Well, in my mind PETA is going too far. I think they're just bored and looking for things to make a fuss about. I was listening to a local radio show about this topic and and a quote from president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club said the animal is [b]"being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania" because the groundhog is kept in a climate-controlled environment and is inspected annually by the state Department of Agriculture. Lmao

Forget the Segway. Leave that jet pack behind. NASA is working on a personal flying suit.

Conceptual designs for the experimental vehicle, called Puffin, were introduced by Mark D. Moore, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, at a meeting of the American Helicopter Society on Jan. 20 in San Francisco. The Puffin is designed to be 12 feet in length, with a total wingspan of 14 and a half feet; it would weigh in at 300 pounds (without a pilot).

Two major elements distinguish the Puffin suit from the jet packs of ’50s-era sci-fi flicks. First, it is completely self-contained: the pilot would actually step into the suit, which has a cockpit-like area and helicopter-style blades, allowing for high-altitude flying (unlike those sci-fi jet packs).

Second, it is designed to be powered by electric motors, making it relatively quiet, lightweight and more reliable (electric motors have fewer moving parts than conventional ones), and with a low environmental impact.

Of course, the Puffin is just a theory at the moment. It might be best used for covert military missions or rescue operations. But if it does emerge as an option for conventional flight, traffic jams might take on a whole new meaning.


Now, it's just a concept, but the whole superman-esque idea just doesn't seem too comfortable nor practical for a range of vision. I'm really hope (if manufactured) they don't become commercialized. I can just see how all the rich parties will end up... "Wait! Let me get in my Puffin to hold the beer bong higher"