Here’s an interesting video about the world’s most widely consumed alcoholic beverage.

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How Beer Saved the World

Sometimes a little sleep can go a long way for our productivity, our lives and any other tasks we need to take care of throughout the day. This infographic illustrates the science behind sleep and why you need more of it.

Created by: Medical Billing and Coding Certification

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The science behind why you need more sleep

Robotics enthusiasts from Cornell University and the University of Chicago are proud to present a robot that can pick up objects and throw them without the need for complex hands.

Called the Positive Pressure Universal Gripper, the robotic arm can shoot hoops like a pro, toss bolts and springs into boxes, and play darts with extreme precision using a latex balloon filled with coffee grounds.

This balloon conforms to whatever object it touches. When the air is sucked out, a pinching effect occurs that uses friction to lift it up. The robot can then fire off the object by rapidly filling the balloon with air again.

WATCH:

Very impressive. But as a basketball fan, I’m a little scared by the potential of this machine.

[Hat tip to Techland]

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Video: Amazing new robot shoots hoops, hits the bull’s eye, and makes us feel incompetent

Israeli horticulturists have developed a new variety of tomato that is red on the inside, and black on the out.

Dubbed the ‘Black Galaxy‘, the strange fruit was bred to contain higher than normal levels of antioxidants and Vitamin C, which means it may be more nutritious than a regular tomato.

Technological Seeds, the company behind the achievement, says the color is the produce of a special pigment, which was derived from blueberries and introduced into the new species.

The ‘Black Galaxy’ is intended for luxury hotel market due to its unique color. The new crossbreed will make its worldwide debut next week at the Arava Agricultural R&D Exhibition, which is also open to the public. The show will also feature seedless lemons, a new species of strawberries, red lemons and rainbow carrots – which are yellow, purple and pink.

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Israeli scientists breed antioxidant-rich black tomatoes

Newt Gingrich wants to conquer the moon, in case you haven’t heard.

Speaking recently to a heavily NASA-populated crowd in Florida, the 68-year-old Republican contender promised to build a permanent U.S. moon base by the end of the decade…if he’s elected president.

A long-time space enthusiast, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives also said he wants to expand exploration of Mars.

“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American,” Gingrich said.

“We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism and manufacturing, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to matching,” he added.

Gingrich’s moon idea isn’t actually as crazy as it sounds, but his critics were swift to attack the practicality of his plan.

“The idea that anybody is going out and talking brand new, very expensive schemes to spend more money at a time when we do not have our fiscal house in order, in my opinion, is playing crass politics,” said former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, another candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Gingrich is “not being realistic with the people of this country as to the nature and threat of the (fiscal) problem,” Santorum added.

What do you think? Is Gingrich’s moon base idea too far out for America’s budget?

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Gingrich promises ‘permanent U.S. moon base’ if he’s elected

Clinical use of psilocybin, the hallucinogen in magic mushrooms, is being debated again after two separate studies showed that it could be used to treat people suffering from depression.

In one study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists gave psilocybin to 30 people and scanned their brains. The scans revealed that the psychedelic compound was linked to reduced activity in regions of the brain associated with high-level reasoning. The second study, to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, included 10 healthy volunteers and found that their memories were much more vivid, visual, and happy while under the influence.

Psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt, who gave a briefing about the findings said: “Psychedelics are thought of as ‘mind-expanding’ drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity … But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas.”

However, Nutt cautioned that the new research was very preliminary and involved only small numbers of people.

“We’re not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms,” he explained. “But … this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it’s got to be meaningful – it’s got to be telling us something about how the brain works. So we should be studying it and optimising it if there’s a therapeutic benefit.”

Shrooms are known for their trippy chemical effects on the brain, and Psilocybin was classified as a Class-A drug under the Drugs Act 2005, placing it in the same category as cocaine and heroin.

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Shrooms ‘could treat depression’

I know nothing about wine, but a Cabernet Sauvignon aged with a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter sounds interesting.

The wine, called Meteorito, was created by Ian Hutcheon, an Englishman who owns a vineyard and an observatory in Chile. Hutcheon claims the meteorite is roughly three inches in diameter, and is believed to have hit the country’s Atacama Desert around 6,000 years ago.

The astronomer/winemaker thinks that the infusion of a bit of meteorite gives his Cabernet a “livelier taste.”

“The idea behind submerging it in wine was to give everybody the opportunity to touch something from space; the very history of the solar system, and feel it via a grand wine,” Hutcheon said.

The extra-terrestrial blend is currently only sold at Hutcheon’s Centro Astronomico Tagua Tagua, but Hutcheon hopes to export the product around the world soon.

[Hat tip to Discovery News]

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Wine aged with 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite now on sale

As much credit is due to scientists and their research, many times we assume their findings are true and reliable. This infographic shows the studies behind why they may be cutting corners and lying about results.

Created by: Clinical Psychology

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Infographic: The psychology behind bad research

With all the ‘Occupy’ protests going on, campuses and cities around the U.S. are constantly being monitored by the government. But are their methods safe for our health? This infographic illustrates the truth behind pepper spray and our government’s use.

Created by: Online Criminal Justice Degree

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How safe is pepper spray?

A new planet with characteristics similar to Earth has been discovered in an area outside the solar system known to astronomers as the Goldilocks zone.

Kepler-22b, or Earth 2.0, may be inhabited, scientists say. The planet may also have oceans, continents, and temperature of about 22 degree Celsius. “This discovery supports the growing belief that we live in a universe crowded with life,” said Dr. Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution in Washington. The planet was identified based on images taken by the NASA’s Kepler telescope.

Kepler-22b reportedly orbits a star that may be similar to Earth’s Sun. The newly discovered planet also has 290 days in a year. However, life in the planet may be too big for life to exist on its surface, according to a Washington Post report. The planet is reportedly almost two and a half times larger than Earth. However, Kepler deputy science chief Natalie Batalha said that Earth 2.0 could be covered in water similar to Earth’s oceans. Batalha said that “it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that life could exist in such an ocean.”

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NASA Discovers Earth-Like New Planet

I have always hoped that one day we might be able to clone woolly mammoths. Research on duplicating the colossal beasts has been conducted since the late 1990s, but the arduous plans are yet to become reality.

Now scientists from Japan and Russia are planning to bring the long-extinct mammals back to life by cloning a well-preserved bone marrow that was recovered in Siberia. The scientists believe they can take DNA from the bone’s marrow cells and use elephant egg cells and surrogates to birth a baby mammoth, as the two species are closely related.

Most woolly mammoth populations disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene or about 10,000 years ago. I’m not sure how the modern day woolly mammoth will adjust to Earth’s current climate but I think riding to work on an enormous beast would be amazing.

[Hat tip to Wired.com]

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Scientists may be able to bring the woolly mammoth back to life

I’ve heard countless tricks on how to get the last drops of sauce out of the ketchup bottle. I’ve been trying those for a while now, no success. Now, here’s some good news.

Scientists at Harvard University have made progress in the development of a super-slippery material, which could prevent food from sticking to the insides of containers. The folks behind the research were inspired by the Nepenthes, (popularly known as tropical pitcher plants) whose slippery leaves slide insects into the digestive juices at the base of the plant.

The artificial substance, called SLIPS (slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces), repels almost any type of liquid, including blood and oil, meaning condiments such as ketchup slide off it easily without leaving any residue.

Watch SLIPS in action:

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New artificial substance could make condiments slide out more easily

If you suffer from insomnia and sleep deprivation, this eight-minute track can help you to drift away in a deep sleep, according to Scientists at Mindlab International, an independent research consultancy based at the University of Sussex.

Weightless, written for Radox Spa by Manchester musical trio Marconi Union, has been scientifically proven to be more relaxing than having a massage or listening to tunes by Mozart, Enya and Coldplay. Mindlab’s David Lewis-Hodgson said the music was so relaxing that he would advise against driving when listening to it, as it could make you drowsy.

In tests on 40 women, Weightless was found was 11 per cent more relaxing than any other track and even made many of the women feel sleepy in the lab.

Richard Talbot from Marconi Union said: “We were really interested in this project because of the scientific nature of it. Our music tends to be very relaxing but working with Lyz, the sound therapist, helped us to understand the science behind some of the techniques that we intuitively use when making music. It was fascinating to have the physiological responses to the music tested in a laboratory.”

Top ten most relaxing tracks:

1. Marconi Union – Weightless
2. Airstream – Electra
3. DJ Shah – Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix)
4. Enya – Watermark
5. Coldplay – Strawberry Swing
6. Barcelona – Please Don’t Go
7. All Saints – Pure Shores
8. Adele – Someone Like You
9. Mozart – Canzonetta Sull’aria
10. Café Del Mar – We Can Fly

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Is this the most relaxing song ever created?

An English Premier League team has had DNA tests carried out on its footballers to find out who is susceptible to injury, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Officials at the unnamed club requested the procedure after a breakthrough by British scientists shed new light on genetic variations which influence the chance of rupturing tendons, a common football injury.

Marios Kambouris, the molecular geneticist who carried out the tests, said he was told neither the name of the club nor the identities of the players.

“I have no idea which players they were but there were good genes in there, things which would positively affect their performance, such as their ability to have better aerobic respiration, which would give them more stamina on the pitch,” Kambouris said.

Nicola Maffulli, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London, said the tests provided clear advantages to teams, but warned, “It may be really unfair to have a child who likes football, who may be told he will never make it because he has the wrong set of genes.”

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Report: EPL club reads players’ DNA

Scientists from the University of Adelaide are developing a pill that could help people with alcohol problems stay sober, a new report has revealed.

In a lab experiment, mice given the unnamed drug along with large amounts of booze didn’t get drunk, or even tipsy. They were able to move around without stumbling and had faster reflexes than mice who were not given the drug.

The scientists focused on glial cells, which make up 90 percent of the brain. According to lead researcher Mark Hutchinson, if you turn off those cells, which play a crucial part in the immune system, you can’t get drunk.

We drink to have fun or to get absolutely wasted. Yes, this drug would prevent the whole point of drinking, but it would also prevent accident related deaths, which are at times triggered by alcohol abuse.

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If you want to stay sober using support from other former addicts, then you need to join a support group, especially one that focuses on the addiction you have just recovered from.

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Soon, a pill to keep you sober while drinking