Audio Visuals

Scholarly Scintillas

Untouched by photoshop this blue shroom is the Entoloma Hochstetteri found in New Zealand and parts of India. Apparently not edible it did make me think of Soma, strangely, probably it's Krishna blueness.

The neuroscience behind morality is becoming exposed thanks to efforts from the University of Chicago. ScienceDaily.

Lasers are exposing the musical secrets of guitars. From io9

Italian psychologists at the University of Padova have some interesting results regarding the power that belief exerts have over our physical selves. Wired.

Someone's tinkered with an astral time lapse and rejigged it to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. Neatorama.


Australia's Channel 7 capture this disturbingly cool waterspout tornado. Reddit.

Canadian researchers have found that human echolocation relies on some of the same neuroanatomy as sight. BBC

Brain boggling piece about light and and mirrors on Io9

Artificial flesh takes a step closer to reality with the creation of a biomaterial that shares properties of actual human tissue - nanotech away. Sure the religulous types will be peeved. Science Daily.

Amazing snap of zero gravity fire after a little experiment burning a droplet of heptane onboard the ISS. New Scientist.

Purty Picturs

There's a new sub Reddit devoted to Space porn - above is The Flame Nebula & The Sword of Orion and below is a nice colourised relief map of Mars and a pic from the most complete 3D model of our local universe. Click the link for supersize versions.

Living in America

DangerousMinds, excellent as always, has posted a couple of startling images that I'm basically just pinching, anyways the first took me a second to appreciate and was taken after the Joplin Tornado and the second well, I think it's self explanatory.

Dusty Old Bits & Pieces

Buried pyramids in Egypt have been discovered using Infra Red Sat imagery. BBC. According to this site the may be up to 17 pyramids waiting neath the sand.

Underneath the waves lie, I'm sure a tonne of undiscovered history, here's a list of 7 sites that are already providing the goodies. Via Reddit.

Laser surveying has started on an Iron Age site in the UAE.

Penn State are trying out a new imaging technique that'll allow 60 acres of subterranean Inca ruins to be revealed without lifting a trowel.

Fossils from Loch Torridon show a key stage in life's evolution from simple bacteria to more complex cellular structures that paved the way for photosynthesis and sexual reproduction. ScienceDaily.

Back in Egypt the first images are out from the probe that's working it's way towards a hidden chamber in the Great Pyramid. New Scientist. Oh and here's prosthetic toe from Thebes that's probably 2500 years old, via Reddit.

Sov-Sci-Fi & Fowles' Meta Musing Fun

Heart of a Dog is a blistering attack of the Communist view of man written by Mikhail Bulgakov, author of the majestic The Master and the Margarita. Written originally in 1925 this wasn't published in Russia till the 80's and given it's relentless poking, mocking and chiding of the Soviet ideology I'm really not surprised. Sharikov, a local stray dog, after undergoing experimental surgery implanting some proles pituitary gland & knackers develops into alarmingly human like creature and a stubborn, highly amusing thorn in his Mad Professor's side. It's not long before things get out of control however and the grubby State officials start to take an interest. A brilliant, occasionally poignant book that strikes deep into the mythos of the soul crushing idiocy that is the Communist creed and somehow Bulgakov's spin on Moreau's nutty tinkering adds to it's power. Whoever suggests science fiction is hamstrung & toothless daydreaming should give this a read.

John Fowles' novella Mantissa is whimsical, meta-fiction that spins like a whirly gig from the interaction of handful of characters, or rather, from just one. The protagonist wakes in a hospital bed, seemingly suffering from amnesia, and is almost immediately subjected to a bold form of psycho-sexual therapy, apparently with the full consent of his Mrs. What follows is a dizzying exploration of authorship and the written word, the sexual act and gender politics that folds in Greek mythology, contemporary literary theories, historical references and a bucket load of jokes whilst being oh so meta, referencing itself as a novel and a work in progress. Though it's slight, terribly self indulgent and it's gender mores dated it's stills a highly amusing firework that burns brighty with wit and erudition.

Ha Ha He He Ho Ho

Star Wars mashed with Richard E Grant's Withnail performance is mind bendingly brilliant - oh and there's a second part with Danny "Camberwell Carrot" burbling as Yoda. Hat tip to Popbitch.

And to close a massive dose of WTF from the b3ta link board.

Brain Juice and Juiced Bairn

Bradley Cooper moons about in Limitless a thriller about the powerful effects of a smart drug which increases brain function to super genius level. Once Cooper's drunken dead-beat author ingests his first pill he is transformed into a razor sharp, Wall St. player with fighty/drivey skills and his life is changed but not always for the best. De Niro turns up at the halfway mark just as things turn a little sinister but he can't lift this above the usual paper thin effort from the Hollywood factory floor even with the help of some distinct SFX sequences, a shame as it has the kernal of a good idea.

Hanna is an action thriller about a teenage girl trained in the way of killing in an Artic forest hideaway but is soon unleashed on the world in a bloody quest to avenge her Mother's death. It's not bad with some stylish cinematography, some excellent action and Saoirse Ronan does a decent job in the title role but the pacing is a little uneven and the whole teenage assassin plot thing is a little unbelievable and especially so after the her origins are revealed. Despite these qualms it's still an entertaining watch with Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana providing quality support to proceedings and oh it's a Euro/US coproduction so it manages to avoid most of Tinseltown's homogenising mania.