Vein Viewer

Watch this marvelous device that lets you view your veins. It almost looks like an x-ray vision. When I first watched the video I thought this was only a gimmick but it really exists.

Gamers help solving biochemistry problem

In biochemistry one wants to determine the structure of a protein which proves to be difficult. A new approach is the game foldit. You are given a protein with the goal of finding the structure with the lowest possible energy configuration. There is a score loaderboard that motivates players.

Here is a nice video of what has been achieved lately: msnbc report
A good article on foldit can be found on wired.com

And here’s a video of someone actually playing the game:

Vortex Rings are beautiful

Creating bubbles underwater is not hard. But what about bubbles with a ring shape? Indeed, it is possible, watch the video below:

According to www.deepocean.net you have to do the following:

TED Talks – The best talks on the internet

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The website offers very interesting talks. The vast amount of topics alone ranging from psychology, biology, technology, music, etc. makes this website noteworthy.

From their “About TED” website:
“TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.”

Here are some of my favorite talks:
1) William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind
An inspiring story on how a physics book and a windmill can change your life.
2) Michael Pritchard’s water filter turns filthy water drinkable
This is about a water filter with nanopores. Very dirty water becomes clean and drinkable.
3) Marc Koska: 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe
In poor countries syringes are just reused resulting in infections. See how a simple invention prevents the reuse.
4) Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks
Use a Wii controller to build your own head-tracking system and electronic white-board.
5) Paul Debevec animates a photo-real digital face
Facial animation at its finest.
6) Eric Giler demos wireless electricity
Nicola Tesla’s idea of wirless electricity coming true.

Besides, there is another water filter called “lifestraw”. Watch how lifestraw is put to an absolute test and the reasons and science behind it.

Best drink after workout: Chocolate Milk

I noticed that when I drink milk after a workout the soreness doesn’t last so long. But there’s an even better drink: Chocolate milk. It has something to do with the ratio of carbohydrates to protein. Watch the video and read the articles below.

Articles:
Chocolate Milk: The New Sports Drink? by Richard Sine
Post-Workout Chocolate Milk by Jeff Bayer

Chimps vs. Humans – Who has the better memory?

In 2007 Japanese scientists found out that chimps have a better “photographic” memory than humans. Watch the video above. It is amazing how chimps can still recall the numbers although the exposure time is so short.

A quote from this BBC article:

This is evidence, the researchers believe, that young chimps have a photographic memory which allows them to memorise a complex scene or pattern at a glance. This is sometimes present in human children but declines with age, they say.