Science! Learn like they did in "The Matrix"... maybe...

What if there were a technology that would allow you to learn how to do new things with no conscious effort?

According to scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, it might be possible.

Click the link above to read the whole article, and then imagine opening your eyes in the big chair and and saying, "I know Kung Fu."

Cool.

Science! Plastic to Oil in one easy machine...

Found this via Care2, a social action website. They have some interesting stuff on a variety of topics, so have a look if that's your thing.

Aniko Ito is the CEO of Blest, a Japanese company. One day, he wondered why we didn't convert the plastics back into oil and use them. So he built a machine that could.

Here's the article where I learned about it.

And here's the video:

Cool, eh?

Geek Link! Cool Cave in Spain

Tonight's Geek Link comes from Spain via the CBC, who have some great pictures of a cave containing the world's largest collection of helictites. Very impressive pictures.

Helictites, for those who don't know (which included me until I read this article), are eccentric crystallographic formations (yeah, I know, big help). This means that instead of forming vertically like stalactites and stalagmites, the crystals form in gravity-defying directions and shapes. They are very cool to look at:

(image taken from the CBC article)

So have a look. It's just plain neat, in a geological kind of way.

Geek Link!

At last! We can bring Neanderthals back to life!

We can! Really! Maybe. Or maybe not, depending whose opinion you ask.

Here's the article.

More importantly, they have just about recreated the neanderthal genome which will tell us a great deal about the evolution of humankind as we know it.

H/T to Kat, who told me about it (and put stuff like this on your blog, will ya?)

Geek Link!

Because science is fun:

Top 10 Amazing Physics Videos

The videos range from hilarious to strange to all out informative. Check out the "Large Hadron Collider Rap."

H/T to Sara, my lovely wife, who spotted these.

Geek Link!

By way of Dymaxion World.

Harvesting the Sun's Energy with Antennas

If they can find a way to transmit the energy they collect, these little guys could could literally solve almost all of our energy problems.

Cool, eh?

Geek Link!

Quick lunch time blogging, especially for a certain friend of mine who shall remain nameless until she writes in to yell at me.

It's a giant, prehistoric bug!


(image from the BBC)

Hey, at least it wasn't a spider.

Heh, heh.

I am in such trouble.

Geek Link!

Haven't done one of these in a while.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

For the science geek in all of us. Here's just three of their stories today:

Extra Gene Copies Were Enough toMake EarlyHumans' Mouths Water

Exoplanet Offers Clues to Earth's Future

Predation Linked to Evolution, Study Suggests

Interesting stuff, eh?

Almost enough to make Ontarioans forget there's an election coming.

By the way, vote for MMP.

Think I'll go write something

Geek Link!

Solar wind may owe its speed to helium: study

And so folks know, I'm on vacation this week. Sleep (if I can convince my body to do it), time to exercise, time to watch a movie, and househunting.

I'll be blogging still, but look for the posts to be much more relaxed.

Geek Link!

Today, I have two geek links.

For Science Geeks:

Swiss solar-powered boat completes fuel-free Atlantic voyage

Which is very cool. And while it will be a long time before solar power cargo carriers ply the oceans, it is a step in the right direction. Who knows, if solar energy becomes efficient enough, how much less gunk (fuel, oil, exhaust) we could be putting in our oceans?


For Theatrical Geeks:

Get out your ponchos: bloody "Evil Dead" musical opens in Toronto

And I got to say, who could resist "Evil Dead?" It's a Sam Rainey classic, brought to the stage with with hilarity, a ton of blood, and they give free ponchos for the first row or two.

I so want to go see it.


And a Comic Geek Note:

I am currently reading Buffy Season 8. Very good. Lots of fun, good art and very well written.

And now, I have 4 minutes before work starts. Time to fill up the water and start typing.

Stephen Hawking Breaks Free of his Wheelchair

Some things make me happy. This is one of them.

Stephen Hawking's dream of weightless flight fulfilled

Given all that the man has done for physics, I hope he gets to make it into space.

Geek Link!

Anyone want to go on a little trip?

European astronomers find potentially habitable planet outside solar system

I'll never get there, but wouldn't it be cool to go?

Hat tip to Lyda Morehouse over at Wyrdsmiths

Geek Link!

Some very nice pictures from the New Horizons space probe, which is currently looking at Jupiter, and has a couple or great close-up shots of the moons.

Meanwhile, I am getting myself organized for doing book publicity, and I will soon have an appearance to announce!

New Archaeology Links

Been sick for most of a week, and finally got back here.

Archaeology is one of those "if I had another life I'd do this" things for me, and so I've added a whack of Archaeology Blogs to the site. Some are local, some relate to single projects, some cover large areas. Hopefully, there's something interesting there for everyone who wants a look.

Back to work. Have to finish the dishes and maybe write something.

Geek Links!

Been a while since I posted any science stuff, so here's a couple of cool ones I found today.

Archaeologists won't separate prehistoric couple unearthed in eternal embrace

and

Arctic island to house world's first seed vault

And now, I have a proposal to write. And some more of Cold Magics.

Back to work.