February 17, 2013

Mussel Glue Could Help Repair Birth Defects

sciencehabit writes “When it comes to hanging on tight, the lowly mussel has few rivals in nature. Researchers have sought the secrets behind the bivalve’s steadfast grip on wet, slippery rock. Now, a researcher says he has used the mollusk’s tricks to develop medical applications. These include a biocompatible glue that could one day seal fetal membranes, allowing prenatal surgeons to repair birth defects without triggering dangerous premature labor.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Laser intended for Mars used to detect “honey laundering”

Matthew T. Rader A laser tool funded by the European Space Agency to measure carbon on Mars has been reappropriated to detect fake honey. The counterfeit goods trade might more commonly be associated with handbags and watches, but it turns out that the world of honey trading is also a murky one, riddled with smuggling and fakery. According to a Food Safety News investigation , more than a third of honey consumed in the US has been smuggled from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. To make matters worse, some honey brokers create counterfeit honey using a small amount of real honey, bulked up with sugar, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery (a type of unrefined sugar) and other additives—known as honey laundering. This honey is often mislabeled and sold on as legitimate, unadulterated honey in places such as Europe and the US. Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Laser intended for Mars used to detect “honey laundering”

New Nanocapsule Medicine Could Sober You Up in Seconds

Anyone who’s ever had a couple of drinks knows that as fun as it can be, sometimes it’d be nice if you could just make all that haze go away, right away. There’s no solution for your average drunk yet, but researchers at MIT have managed to put together an injection that can turn a party mouse into a stone-cold sober one practically on the spot. More »

These serene Chinese landscapes are actually photographs of landfills

At first glance, Yao Lu’s digital collages look like watercolor paintings of misty Chinese mountains. But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the real subjects of these photographs aren’t plant-covered hills but landfills, and the initial beauty of the images takes on an entirely different meaning. More »

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These serene Chinese landscapes are actually photographs of landfills

Five Best System Rescue Discs

When your computer starts behaving strangely, won’t boot, or you start getting strange errors that you can’t pin down, a great way to troubleshoot the problem is to boot to a rescue disc and see if you can isolate the problem. It might be your operating system, it could be hardware, but you’ll never know until you boot to some other media to take a look. That said, there are tons of great system rescue discs to check out if you want a tool to save your ailing system. This week we’re looking at five of the best, nominated by you, our readers. More »

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Five Best System Rescue Discs

Project Guttenberg Adds Dropbox Support, Perfect for Syncing to All Your Devices

We’ve shown you how to load up your ereaders with free ebooks , and Project Guttenberg is a great place to do it. Recently, they made accessing their catalog of 42,000 free ebooks that much easier by adding Dropbox integration. More »

Hotel Het Arresthuis: Jail Turned Into Luxury Hotel

Most hotels have bars, but you’re probably not thinking of these ones on the window. The Hotel Het Arresthuis in the Netherlands was actually a jail that was converted into a luxury hotel. Now this is one jailhouse we don’t mind checking into! Take a look.

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Hotel Het Arresthuis: Jail Turned Into Luxury Hotel

Ken May

Day: February 17, 2013