Plastic eating fungus

A recently discovered fungus found in the jungles of Ecuador may well point to the future of disposal of plastics.

Read here: http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/61260-plastic-eating-fungus-could-help-deal-with-landfill

Many thanks to Goulie for finding this article.

Play LP Records With A Laser Turntable

Those tricky Japanese have created a laser turntable to play your old LP records on (also plays 45's and 78's).  How insane is that?  Here's a blurb from their web site:
"The ELP laser turntable plays grooved, analog 33.3, 45 or 78 RPM discs using laser beams instead of the conventional tone arm/stylus technology. The walls of each groove are illuminated by five laser beams: two for the left and right channel audio pick-ups, two for the horizontal tracking (which assures that the audio pick-up is directly above the center of the groove), and one for the vertical tracking (which assures that the lasers are at the proper height to focus on the groove, compensating for warps or discs of varying thickness). Sensors capture the reflections from the walls and the system translates the optical imprint into and electrical signal."
 
Before you rush off to buy a player check out their prices: their base unit starts at $8000.

More here: http://www.elpj.com/main.html

River Song - Her Story

This little video contains the time line of Dr Riversong from Dr Who.

You can find more here: http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2011/10/river-song-her-story.html

Genius!

Here's a little bit of genius that I'm guessing we'd all like in our lives..
 http://i.imgur.com/LyVFm.jpg

Neanderthals and Mammoth Homes

Neanderthals were not quite the primitive cavemen they are often portrayed to be and new research has revealed that they built homes out of mammoth bones.

Read more here.

Time to Test Corporate Leaders to Weed out Psychopaths

Given the state of the global economy, it might not surprise you to learn that psychopaths may be controlling the world. Not violent criminals, but corporate psychopaths who nonetheless have a genetically-inherited biochemical condition that prevents them from feeling normal human empathy.

A peer-reviewed theoretical paper from 2011 titled "The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis" details how highly-placed psychopaths in the banking sector may have nearly brought down the world economy through their own inherent inability to care about the consequences of their actions.

To tackle this problem, we must instead examine this rare and curious condition, and why recent corporate history may have elevated precisely the wrong type of people to positions of great power and public trust.

Read the rest here: Time to Test Corporate Leaders to Weed out Psychopaths - TheTyee.ca - Mobile

Really want to go to this Zoo...

The Werribee Open Range Zoo in Melbourne has a new exhibit which allows visitors to get incredibly close to the lions.

The back part of the vehicle, up to where the windscreen should be, is actually on the outside of the reinforced glass cage. The bonnet is on the inside, and covered with meat to entice the big cats closer.

Read the Daily Mail article here.

Brazil to become worlds 6th biggest economy

For many years Brazil was regarded (along with all the other Southern American Countries) a bit of a joke and an economic basket case.  Not any longer...
Full article here: