Muahahahahaha!!! The Mad Science Blog

It would appear that The Doc landed himself in a bit of a bind with the local authorities. His attempt to create a herbivore shark backfired in a unforseen, but not entirely surprising manner, and a small town in Idaho was devoured by shrubberies. We have learned that The Doc has obtained representation and that bail will be posted soon.

The Management, recognizing that the line of work of our one and only writer makes interruptions an inevitability, are hastening a search for additional correspondants. Expect more soon.

A team of divers have discovered a lobster-like creature that is covered in what appears to be soft, silky blond fur. I feel bad about this… I think it might be one of mine. (Read on …)

At last. Never again will I kill a plant. Well. At least, not from forgetting to water.

I was reading a story on the wire about students at Singapore Polytechnic who have genetically crossed a plant with the phosphoresence of a jelly fish. When the plant is needing water it begins to glow. This sounds far more useful than my experiment. I tried crossing the geranium with the waitress from Denny’s. Sad to say, it didn’t turn out well.

Technorati Tags: Plants, jelly fish, genetic manipulation

related Amazon links:
The Easy-Care Gardening Expert

Many of you may recall the story of the deadly peanut butter kiss.

Well, it would appear that Mr. Peanut was not the culprit. As allergy advocacy groups geared up to use the girl’s demise as a kickoff to new campaigns to have Mr. Peanut locked up and the key thrown away, the coroner has announced that peanuts were not the cause of death.

There’s likely not a chance that the peanut’s innocence will recieve the same kind of media coverage. The wires may not even pick up the story of the coroner’s final report. Poor villified peanut. What you have seen here is the birth of a new urban legend. Folks will forever from this day forward tell the tale of the girl who died from her lover’s peanut butter kiss.

Tip of the hat to supernaturalnews.com bringing my attention to the story.

Technorati Tags: peanut allergy, urban legend, deadly kiss

If you think that there’s some sinister or ulterior motive at play? That large and unforseen machinations are underway, from which the rest of the world is oblivious? Are there powerful societies and people manipulating the world at a whim, and our best hope is to remain unseen lest we become a pawn in a great international chess game that will lead to pain, suffering and a microchip implanted in the back of your neck? Or perhaps there’s a rational and scientific reason for our obsession with conspiracy.

The Internet has played a role in spreading theories of all stripes. But where do they come from? According to those who study the science of conspiracy theories, it’s possible that some of us are hard-wired to sense high-level plotting.

Some research indicates that an excess of dopamine in the brain can cause people to spot patterns where others see only random data. Dopamine is the chemical in our brains most commonly associated with pleasure. Too little of it can lead to attention-deficit disorder and Parkinson’s disease. Too much leads to schizophrenia and other mental disorders.

source: The Statesman

Of course - maybe that’s just what they want you to think…

Technorati Tags: conspiricy, dopamine, paranoid

At least, that’s the case in Middleburry, Vermont, where the McCardell Bicentenial Hall at Middleburry College will be showcasing instruments and scientific tools as objects of abstract beauty. “We didn’t know quite what to expect,” said Frank Winkler from the Physics Department, “but the resulting exhibit is really great, and the class did it all.”

All I can say is if some college student in the future chooses to use items from my lab as an expression of their late teen angst, I can tell you exactly what to expect. Mayham. Destruction. And possibly a minty after-taste.

source: Middleburry College Press Release

Technorati Tags: art of science, Middleburry College

Hey kids. Here’s a little bit of fun you can have with an electrical socket and a pickle. Run a 120V current through a pickle and it shall provide you with a light show. Fun at parties, just don’t eat the pickle afterwards.

(Read on …)

Okay. Your grandma spent some of your parent’s inheritence and you ended up with an ipod for Christmas. So you’re saying to yourself … “Jeez, I guess I can go and load this thing up with a lot of DRM laden music from the Apple music store. Whoopteedoo.”

Well cheer up lil’buckaroo. The Doc has discovered that some of the exploits of Helen Narbon are now available for viewing, courtesy of Clickwheel. Clickwheel is a service (still in beta mind ya - if you get a ‘Rails error’ just refresh) that brings popular webcomics to your ipod’s screen. Go now and download Narbonic. You won’t be disappointed.

What’s that? You don’t have an ipod? Fah - lucky you. Go look into getting an iRiver a Creative Zen or some other real MP3 player. And in the meanwhile enjoy your full sized web-comicy goodness on your computer monitor.

Technorati Tags: Helen Narbon, clickwheel, ipod, webcomics, yegads the gerbils are attacking!

related product from Amazon:
Narbonic - Volume 1

New research suggests that North European women evolved blonde hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males. Starting as rare mutations, lighter hair colours became popular for breeding and numbers increased dramatically. Peter Frost, a Canadian anthropologist posits that the high death rate among male hunters “increased the pressures of sexual selection on early European women.”

Now - there’s a worrisome throwaway comment at the end of the story that the blonds are due for extinction. Fear not. John Hawks has very aptly debunked this hoax. The sexy parties shall continue.

Technorati Tags: blondes, cavemen, unga bunga

Scientists working from Imperial College, England and the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland have pioneered a technique that may one day allow us to render solid objects transparent. At the moment the effect can only be produced in a lab under specific conditions. The team created specially patterned crystals which - rather than absorbing light caused it to become entwined with the crystals at a molecular level, causing the material to become transparent. The team also discovered that as light passes through this new material, it slows right down and could potentially be completely stopped and stored.

The popular media is focused on the ‘x-ray spec’ nature of the process, but it’s the practical application to networks that has my interest sparked. With this technique you’d instantly know if anyone had attempted to read the information. No more sitting up at night wondering, jeez, did they overhear me talking about the weather control machine?

source: Physorg

Technorati Tags: x-ray buildings, optics, can you hear me now?