Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Scientists Can Now Extract Stem Cells from Brains Using Magnets


Nothing about how a bunch of Oxford researchers recently pulled neural stem cells out of the brains of living rats seems feasible. The cells are hard to isolate. Brains are fragile. Okay, brains are very fragile. But they've done it, and the procedure could shed fresh light on diseases like Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.

How Human History Could Have Turned Out And Probably Should Have


In this infinite universe of ours, every event that occurs and every choice that we make continually split away into countless individual timelines—alternate realities, if you will. So who's to say that Bigfoot, Kraken, Martians, even Cthulu himself aren't perfectly real but simply residents of a now divergent reality? Matthew Buchholz, author of Alternate Histories of the World illustrates just a few major alternate historical events of the last 6,000 years.

Embed Your Devices in This Lovely Dock Like the Sword in the Stone


Playing up the ultra-thin design of modern electronics, this beautiful cypress wood dock, known simply as the Kinodai, features four pre-cut slots, making it seem as though your devices are embedded in the wood like an ax head in a tree stump.

This IBM Scientist Predicted Netflix Before The Internet Even Existed


If you predicted the decline of deadtree books or the rise of services like Netflix streaming, say, 25 years ago, you'd be considered a damn good prognosticator. But what if you predicted those things back in 1964—before the internet even existed? Amazingly, a scientist from IBM did just that, long before any of these things were widely considered possible, much less inevitable.

This SD Card Is Hiding a Mifi Inside


The last thing you want to do after buying yourself a sleek, ultra-slim laptop is muck up its lovely form factor with an ungainly mobile WiFi hotspot hanging off a USB port. So taking inspiration from the Eye-Fi, Huawei has cooked up its own SD card that's gutted to make room for a nano SIM slot and a HSPA+ 3G radio to give your laptop mobile internet wherever you roam.

Shooting Challenge: Blurred Backgrounds


Life moves fast. Sometimes it even feels like a blur. And for this week's Shooting Challenge, we're celebrating the speed of life.

A Pen That Just Might Be Mightier Than an Actual Sword


The rat race is a war fought on domestic soil, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And those of you who bravely march into corporate America every morning need to ensure you're properly equipped for your nine-to-five battle. A shiny pair of wingtips and a brown bag lunch will only get you to the front lines. For guaranteed victory you need more in your arsenal, like a fancy haircut, and Gerber's new Impromptu Tactical Pen.