BraiNation

This beautiful little darling from Incase, released yesterday, boasts that it doubles the battery life of your iPhone. Which is significant considering iPhones aren’t known for their longevity. It also features the battery indicator light like on the bottom of Apple laptops. The only downside to this sexy case is that it adds a little thickness to your phone.

For more on the new sleek “Power Slider” from Incase, read at notcot.com.

PS. A thanks goes out to Ben from Vancouver for showing me this.

We have all heard of Down’s Syndrome disease. Human cells normally contain 23 pairs of chromosomes and Down’s Syndrome occurs when there is an extra pair of chromosomes.  It affects approximately 1 child in every 700-1000 births. Well Millie, pictured above, has something a little bit different. So different in fact that there is no name for her disease. Beverly Searle, chief executive of Unique, an international charity for people suffering from rare chromosome disorders said that in Millie’s case ”the inverted duplication with a deletion of the number eight chromosome is an extremely rare condition”. In other words, Millie has strands missing from her eighth chromosome.

How rare is this? Would you believe me if I said only FOUR people worldwide have this disease, hence why they can’t warrant a name for it… The disease has left the 7 year-old with severe learning difficulties, low muscle tone and visual problems. Millie will need constant care for the rest of her life and she may never be able to advance past the emotional age of a three-year-old.

At least she is always smiling.

Read the full article at dailymail.co.uk

I was reading this article today from the NY Times about brain memory chips. The article was published on April 13, 2008 by Gary Marcus, a psychology professor at NYU. In summary, this article describes the fundamental difference between computer memory and human memory. Although our brains can store massive amounts of information, why is it that we can forget small details and a computer can remember these details with precise accuracy?

For example, it can take a child weeks, or even months, to memorize the multiplication table while any modern computer can memorize the table instantly. Professor Marcus states that “much of the difference lies in the basic organization of memory. Computers organize everything they store according to physical or logical locations, with each bit stored in a specific place according to some sort of master map, but we have no idea where anything in our brains is stored. We retrieve information not by knowing where it is but by using cues or clues that hint at what we are looking for.”

The article is worth the read and I guess my question to you is:

Make sure you post your thoughts and comments

(Image borrowed from newscientist.com)

Have you ever spilled a drink on yourself? stepped in a giant puddle? wet yourself in public? And just wished your clothes couldn’t get wet? Well, soon you will be able to live that dream! Swiss researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a polyester fiber fabric that is treated with millions of tiny silicone particles. How does it work you ask? Well, the silicone nanofilaments are extremely hydrophobic (repel water), thus they act like a shield to the rest of the fabric. Liquid simply forms little droplets and rolls off. Even if you spray a jet of water (pic above), none of it will absorb into the fabric.

Amazing! To read more follow the link to newscientist.com.

(Image borrowed from jamati.com)

Aids has become a serious epidemic all throughout Africa amongst poverty stricken areas due to poor education and solid cultural beliefs. Not too much is being done by African governments and when we hear Aids crisis its hard to really understand the seriousness without really doing some research. Anyways here is a documentary about a wealthy couple in South Africa who gave everything up to run an Aids orphanage. Awesome documentary, really educational.

To watch this movie go to: www.ninjavideo.net
Make sure you click on the Ninjavideo helper first (the red text above the movie)