var-scpt – Page 9 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

New super-glue inspired by slug slime

Surgeons close internal incisions with stitches and staples but they, and their patients, would benefit from a glue that stays stuck even to wet tissue and organs. Researchers from McGill University in Montreal are making progress with a powerful new glue inspired by the the sticky slime secreted by scared slugs. Science News surveys the state-of-the-art in adhesives that take inspiration from marine worms, mussels, and geckos: Using the (slug-inspired) glue to plug a hole in the pig heart worked so well that the heart still held in liquid after being inflated and deflated tens of thousands of times. (McGill University’s Jianyu) Li, who did the research while at Harvard University, and colleagues also tested the glue in live rats with liver lacerations. It stopped the rats’ bleeding, and the animals didn’t appear to suffer any bad reaction from the adhesive… One layer of the material is a polymer, a type of material made from long molecules built from many repeated subunits, like a string of beads. Positively charged appendages dangling off the polymers are drawn to wet tissue surfaces by the same forces underlying static electricity. This first layer weaves into another layer, a water-based gel. The gel layer acts like a shock absorber in a car, Li says. It soaks up energy that might otherwise dislodge or snap the adhesive. Despite being 90 percent water, the material is both sticky and tough, Li says. The fact that it’s mostly water makes it more likely to be nontoxic to humans. ” Animal goo inspires better glue ” (Science News) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p624MDdDw4

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New super-glue inspired by slug slime

Tour of a Japanese convenience store

The convenience stores ( konbini ) in Japan are much better than the ones in the US. They are cleaner, they have tasty prepared food, and a nice seating area, sometimes on a second floor. The main chains are Lawsons, 7-Eleven, and Family Mart. Here’s a seven minute look inside a Family Mart.

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Tour of a Japanese convenience store

Rare white giraffes spotted in Kenya

In early June, conservation rangers with the Hirola Conservation Program in Kenya first spotted a white female and baby giraffe. In early August, they were able to capture this footage of the elusive pair. Like that translucent-shelled lobster that was recently pulled in, these giraffes are not albino but have a genetic condition called Leucism. That means they a partial loss of pigmentation in their skin cells. If you look closely, you can see a familiar, though faded, reticulation on the calf’s neck. A blogger for Hirola writes : In this very sighting, in Ishaqbini, there was a mother and a juvenile The communities within Ishaqbini have mixed reactions to the sighting of this leucistic giraffe and most of the elders report that they have never seen this before. ‘This is new to us” says bashir one of the community rangers who alerted us when they sighted the white giraffe. “I remember when I was a kid, we never saw them” he added. “It must be very recent and we are not sure what is causing it” he said. ( National Geographic )

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Rare white giraffes spotted in Kenya

Body of mysterious fang-toothed, snake-like, eel-like creature identified: it’s a fangtooth snake-eel

Preeti Desai of the National Audubon Society came across a dead creature on the beach in Texas City, Texas. She took photos and tweeted: “Okay, biology twitter, what the heck is this?? Found on a beach in Texas City, TX. #wildlifeid.” The consensus is that the fang-toothed, snake-like, eel-like creature is a fangtooth snake-eel . From Yahoo : Biologist Dr. Kenneth Tighe of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History was able to answer Desai’s question after the request was passed along to him. Tighe believed the creature to be an Aplatophis chauliodus, which is also known as a fangtooth snake-eel or tusky eel. The toothy creature’s scientific name translates to “terrible serpent.” “It might be [a] Bathyuroconger vicinus or Xenomystax congroides,” Tighe told EarthTouch News on Thursday. “All three of these species occur off Texas and have large fang-like teeth. Too bad you can’t clearly see the tip of the tail. That would differentiate between the ophichthid and the congrids.” Okay, biology twitter, what the heck is this?? Found on a beach in Texas City, TX. #wildlifeid pic.twitter.com/9IUuuL65qh — Preeti Desai

Rare translucent ‘ghost’ lobster caught by Maine lobsterman

After more than 40 years on the job, 10th generation lobsterman Alex Todd of Chebeague Island, Maine recently pulled in a crustacean even he had never seen: a translucent lobster. He’s quoted in the Guardian as saying , “I was definitely surprised,” and “It was like it was clear but with white under the clearness and a blue tint, but you couldn’t see organs or anything under the shell, it wasn’t to that level.” The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association shared a little info about the lobster’s unusual pearly look, on their Facebook page: A normal lobster gets its color by mixing yellow, blue, and red protein pigments. Through different genetic mutations you can get a blue, yellow, or red (uncooked) lobster. You can also get strange mixtures of those colors as well. This lobster probably has a genetic condition called Leucism which isn’t a total loss of pigment (which would make it an albino) but instead a partial loss. This is why you can still see some hints of blue on the shell and color on the eyes. Todd threw the lobster back into the ocean because it is an egg-bearing female . Such lobsters are protected under strict conservation laws.

Equifax’s dox of America: Sign up for "free" monitoring, get billed forever

Equifax dumped dox on 143 million Americans (as well as lucky Britons and Canadians!), sat on the news for five weeks, let its execs sell millions in stock, and then unveiled an unpatched, insecure WordPress site with an abusive license agreement where you could sign up for “free” credit monitoring for a year, in case someone used the immortal, immutable Social Security Number that Equifax lost control over to defraud you. (more…)

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Equifax’s dox of America: Sign up for "free" monitoring, get billed forever

Equifax waited 5 weeks to admit it had doxed 44% of America, did nothing to help us while its execs sold stock

From mid-May to July 2017, Equifax exposed the financial and personal identifying information of 143 million Americans — 44% of the country — to hackers, who made off with credit-card details, Social Security Numbers, sensitive credit history data, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, addresses, and then, in the five weeks between discovering the breach and disclosing it, the company allowed its top execs to sell millions of dollars’ worth of stock in the company , while preparing a risibly defective and ineffective website that provides no useful information to the people whom Equifax has put in grave financial and personal danger through their recklessness. (more…)

Juno’s breathtaking images of Jupiter

The Juno probe is recording incredible image data of Jupiter . Not least are the new aurora studies that are shaking up what we know of the planet’s extreme weather systems . But it’s the sheer painterly beauty of the world, up-close, that is most breathtaking . And then there’s actual paintings, too …

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Juno’s breathtaking images of Jupiter

Passive cooling panels beam air conditioners’ exhaust-heat into space

Skycool Systems is a Stanford spin-out that uses panels composed of “layers of silicon dioxide and hafnium oxide on top of a thin layer of silver” to convert the waste-heat from air-conditioners’ heat exchangers into 8-13 micrometer radiation, which passes through the atmosphere and radiates into space. (more…)

Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals

Japan is already known for being at the forefront of humanoid robots that take over traditionally human jobs ( hotel concierge and elderly companions , for instance). Now they can add robot funeral priests to their list. Japan’s telecommunications company SoftBank just unveiled “Pepper,” its robot priest, dressed in Buddhist robes, that can chant Buddhist scriptures, play the drum, and livestream the ceremony for people who can’t attend the funeral in person. The demo took place at Japan’s “Life Ending Industry Expo” in Tokyo last Wednesday. According to The Guardian : The robot was on display on Wednesday at a funeral industry fair, the Life Ending Industry Expo, in Tokyo, shown off by plastic molding maker Nissei Eco. With the average cost of a funeral in Japan reaching in excess of £20,000, according to data from Japan’s Consumer Association in 2008, and human priests costing £1,700, Nissei Eco is looking to undercut the market with Pepper available for just £350 per funeral. Pepper (not a name I’d expect a Buddhist priest to have, but this is a robot we’re talking about after all) has not yet been hired for a real funeral.

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Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals