tech@vedella

You've probably seen this caveat pretty often: Just because a study that uses mice as subjects produces a specific result, doesn't mean you'd get the same result using human subjects. Mice are handy research animals, but they aren't perfect analogues to humans. A mouse study is a stepping stone towards better evidence. It is something [...]

Electrical engineer Greg Leyh built the giant Tesla coil in this video, and wants to construct an even larger version: Two 10-story-high towers that would send lightning zinging across an area the length of a football field. New Scientist interviewed Leyh, to find out what the point of this is (besides the obvious inherent awesomeness): [...]

Nicko from the Sunlight Foundation sez, "Before Americans open their wallets for Black Friday (and Cyber Monday), the Sunlight Foundation encourages consumers to first explore the connection between their spending and politics in Washington. Checking Influence, a secure bookmarklet that analyzes financial statements with one click, exposes the lobbying activities and campaign contributions of companies [...]

Lifehacker posted my article about how I make my daily task list and how I get through it. I've never had myself tested for ADD, but I know for sure that I'm very easily distracted. The fact that my job requires me to sit in front of the computer with an Internet connection all day [...]

"Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration" opened this week at NYC's American Museum of Natural History. The magnificent-sounding exhibition includes a model of a proposed moon habitat, space elevator designs, a model of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two, a Martian diorama, artifacts from the Russian space program, prototype spacesuits, and a robot submarine that [...]

Hey kids, look! Boing Boing has a shop! We've always wanted a store that reminded us of the mind-boggling Johnson Smith Catalog of yesteryear, and now we have one! We've partnered with our mutant friends at Neatorama to offer an assortment of gadgets, gear, and gewgaws. Our first offering is this fine T-shirt of a [...]

By artist and illustrator Bob Staake, whose work you may have seen on the cover of the New Yorker. Gonna have to add this one to the meme-stack. As I post this, word's coming in that the ACLU has just delivered a letter of condemnation to UC Davis chancellor Katehi.

For Smiths completists is The Smiths "Complete," a new set containing all eight albums remastered by Johnny Marr himself. It's available as a vinyl set or CD, but the one to get is really the "Deluxe Box Set." Limited to 4,000, the mini-trunk "contains all eight albums on CD and vinyl, accompanied by all 25 [...]

Above: #Occupy Bat Signal for the 99%, a beautiful short film by Mark Read and friends, shot inside Denise Vega's home in the projects opposite the Verizon building at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Video from the #occupy bat signal crew. Inside look at this series of inspirational video projections on the side of [...]

Andy Baio says, I was stunned and appalled by the UC Davis Police spraying protestors, but struck by how many brave, curious people recorded the events. I took the four clearest videos and synchronized them. Citizen journalism FTW. Video Link / Sources listed here.  Police officer pepper-sprays seated, non-violent students at UC Davis Massive rally [...]

[Video Link] Monkey does not like being videotaped. (Thanks, Andrea!) See also: Mean Monkey Monday: Macaque vs iPhone User - Boing Boing Mean Monkey Monday (bonus material 1) Mean Monkey Monday 1 Mean Monkey Monday 2 Mean Monkey Monday 3 Mean Monkey Monday 4 Mean Monkey Monday 5 Mean Monkey Monday 6 Mean Monkey Monday [...]

Awwww, that "foreclosure mill" law firm that threw Halloween parties where employees dressed as foreclosed-upon Americans is going out of business. I has a tiny widdle sad. The firm had already been denounced by consumers and consumer advocates for its work on behalf of lenders even before the "robo-signing" controversy thrust it into the middle [...]

Norman B. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer by his doctor at LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who prescribed medical marijuana. Now, Cedars-Sinai has removed Mr Smith from the list of liver-transplant candidates...because he tested positive for marijuana, which their own doctor prescribed. Hospital officials are insisting that Smith stop using marijuana for at least [...]

New research shows that even a small hit of caffeine strengthens the connections between brain cells in the hippocampus. In rats, anyway. Apparently, most scientific studies of how caffeine affects the brain involve ultrahigh doses of the chemical. But in the experiments conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, rats were give the [...]

Source: U.S. Bureau or Labor Statistics Many compare Occupy protestors to protestors from the 1960s, which allows for well-rehearsed arguments to run their course, over and over again. Here's a conservative example, from Newt Gingrich, as quoted by Reuters: They take over a public park they didn’t pay for, to go nearby to use bathrooms [...]

Jon Dyer is a master of facial hair. Since 2007, he has grown nearly three dozen moustache/beard styles and is still at it. Above is the "Rap Industry Standard" and the "Hulihee." At left, of course, is the Dalí. "The Quest For Every Beard Type"

Photo: Ramon Solis Hard to estimate numbers, but by some accounts, well over 15,000 students and supporters are gathered at UC Davis for a rally and Occupy GA right now, following an incident Friday in which a police officer pepper-sprayed peaceful, seated student protesters at point blank range.Here's a Twitter list to follow. Reporter Cory [...]

A lawyer for victims of News of the World phone hacking told the court that long after NotW knew of the police investigation of its newsgathering process, it put reporters' laptops and hard-drives "through a grinder" and took them out and "smashed them up." The destruction of the computers is understood to have taken place [...]

Last July, engineers from the UK's University of Southampton have flown an unmanned air vehicle whose chassis was entirely constructed of parts that came off a 3D printer; the parts were designed to snap-fit and the plane can be assembled without tools. Professor Scanlan says: “The flexibility of the laser sintering process allows the design [...]

[Video Link, warning: graphic content.] Reuters reports: "Cairo police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day on Monday and morgue officials said the death toll had risen to 33, with many victims shot in the worst violence since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak." Below: Gotta love the cotton [...]