Here First - Science and Technology Blog

These U.S. hot spots house some of the nation's most cultured and educated residents. Part of what shapes a city is its people. And while these impressive locales can lay claim to scenic beauty and fascinating history, they're also home to some of the smartest people in the country. Here are the top seven brainiest cities in the country, based on the percentage of residents who have college degrees, the number of cultural activities available (such as museums and plays), and literacy levels of its residents. 1. Seattle. Home to 40 educational institutions, 20 libraries, the largest percentage of residents who hold bachelor's degrees (52 percent) and second largest percentage who hold advanced degrees (nearly 21 percent), Seattle tops our list of brainiest city in the country. A number of high-profile companies have helped place Seattle on the map, but few can deny that it's Microsoft and Starbucks that are largely responsible for this city's infamy. Microsoft's...

This guy has been arrested 1,332 times in the same town in Kentucky. Of course, with arrests come mug shots, and what’s the point of having 1,332 mug shots of the same dude unless you’re going to create a montage out of it? For those of you who are still looking for a hero, I’d like you to meet Henry Earl:

Mobile phones should carry a health warning like those on cigarette packets, scientists have warned. The authorities must not make the same mistakes over possible links between mobile phones and brain cancer as they did with cigarettes and lung cancer, experts warned a powerful U.S. congressional committee. It took 50 years to get the tobacco industry to acknowledge the risks, and 70 years to remove lead from paint and petrol, they said. 'Society must not repeat the situation we had with smoking and lung cancer, where we waited until every 'i' was dotted and 't' was crossed before warnings were issued,' said Professor David Carpenter, director of the institute of health and environment at the University of Albany. 'Precaution is warranted even in the absence of absolutely final evidence concerning the magnitude of the risk - especially for children.' Dr Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute - one of the top U.S. ...

Last week marked the announce of the N85, the first Nokia Nseries device with an OLED screen. But first is first. What is an OLED screen?  OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode. (OLED) are screens that depends on very minute diodes that light up forming what we see, thus it doesn’t need backlight and this reduces the power consumption dramatically, while the traditional Liquid Crystal displays is made of pixels that require backlight, so the battery charges is drained faster, But that’s not it’s only pro, it’s also known for forming more realistic more lively photos that looks more real than the ones showed on LCDs and last but not least the Cost of production of OLED screens is much less than that of LCDs, cool, huh?! Guys over at Smape.com had the chance to review both the N85 and N96 and managed to compare the N96’s 2.8″ LCD screen with the N85’s 2.6″ OLED screen, and the results was stunning! Yes, there’s a huge difference between both screens, the N85’s screen rendered pho...

Okay, we’ll admit it. We have an unnatural love for gadgets and all things computer-related. If this makes us geeks, than so be it! Of course, for better or for worse, there are some of use who like to wear their pride on their sleeve (literally) and proudly display their inner geek for all to see. In this post we bring you all the best wearable gadgets of the past, present, and future! Some are cool, some are freaky, but all are guaranteed to make you stand out from the rest of the low-tech populou Power Generating Knee Brace A sign of things to come for sure, the Power Generating Knee Brace harvests excess energy from the kinetic energy in the knee joints in the same way that brakes reclaim energy from tires on certain hybrid cars. The energy production itself has been proven efficient. The real problem facing the device is the bulk; something that will surely be solved in time. Expect to see both domestic and military applications of the device in the future, with implementations in...

I'm not sure about this. But what if it's true... !?

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to turn science fiction into reality. Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the final frontier. For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts: cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in geosynchronous orbit above Earth. Up and down the 22,000 mile-long (36,000km) cables — or flat ribbons — will run the elevator carriages, themselves requiring huge breakthroughs in engineering to wh...

World War 3D Animation The Pitch: World War was created by Vincent Chai for his final degree project whilst studying 3D Animation at the University Of Hertfordshire.

The world was stunned this week to learn of a secretive eco-village existing in the heart of modern civilization. Years ago, a pilot spied the middle-class development in Wales and aerial photographs prove the existence of this village. The villagers behind “The Round House” were drawn into a decade-long battle for the right to live peacefully in their self-sustaining development, where people lived in Hobbit-like huts and grew their own food. Images courtesy Wales News Set up in 1993 in the Preseli hills of Wales, the group of eco-minded individuals lived successfully - and sustainably - for five years before civil officials caught on. Julian and Emma Orbach founded the hidden village, which relied on reused glass, straw bales and mud construction for the huts and solar panels for power. Their battle for residence was victorious after a drawn-out battle in which officials cited their lack of permits and proper zoning as cause for expulsion. The 22 people living in 8 grass-covere...

No, this is not a picture of a man prepared to wait a very long time for the Marilyn Monroe air vent effect. This is a man in the depths of upright comfort that is the Vertical Bed. Sounds good already, doesn't it? Well, you haven't heard the half of it. See, artist Jamie O'Shea's work was all about challenging the concept of the urban environment that is the New York City streets as part of Conflux 2008 and what he's done is turn the Big Apple from a centre of hustle and bustle to a place where he can get some good honest kip. Nice. The Vertical bed isn't just about standing up a mattress and frame. No. Jamie's bolted a couple tripod legs to the grate at his feet, via his specially adapted shoes. The poles run up the backs of his thighs and into the harness at his waist. The back brace and neck pillow provide support for this torso but it's the small touches I like: double mirrored sunglasses with eye cushions, noise cancelling headphones and a brolly o...

 Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth Credit: Mir 27 Crew; Copyright: CNES Explanation: Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse . The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth . This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon . This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station, which was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001.  

Google said it will work hard to make sure its add-on paradigm keeps Chrome stable, unlike add-ons for Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Google's new Web browser eventually will support add-ons and user scripts à la Firefox Add-ons and Greasemonkey, Google engineer Ojan Vafai said during a panel discussion on the future of Web browsers at Web 2.0 Expo in New York on Friday. "There's two different kinds of add-ons," Vafai said. "The Firefox things extend your browser, so to speak, and then there are user scripts. We intend to do both of those in Google Chrome." Greasemonkey's founder, Aaron Boodman, actually works on the Google Chrome team. Google Chrome was released earlier this month and saw almost 2 million downloads in the first week alone, raising the visibility of Chrome as a strong new competitor to Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. It does a number of things differently from either, such as isolating brows...

These  amazing  pictures of Mars have revealed how climate change shaped the Red Planet: Wind ... sand dunes in the north region of Mars Scales ... amazing shots of the red planet Strange ... ice dunes

3M will be first off the blocks to roll out its Mpro100 mobile projector that was specially designed for cell phone use only, retailing for $359. It won't have the services of a speaker, and comes with a VGA input that allows you to plug it straight into a laptop. As for the composite video jack, it will take output from a digital camera or other compatible handheld device. It will feature a LED lamp, so no worries about having it overheat and spontaneously combust during usage. The thumbwheel is included to help you focus as you play around within a 11" to 50" screen size range. 3M hopes to release its Mpro110 mobile projector by the end of this month in US.

An international collaboration of scientists and physicians have gotten together to undertake the largest study of near-death experiences. The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study is led by researchers from the University of Southampton, including Dr. Sam Parnia and other experts in the field of consciousness during clinical death. Ascent of the Blessed by Hieronymus BoschAscent of the Blessed by Hieronymus Bosch About 10-20% of people who undergo cardiac arrest report signs of near-death experiences. Some people claim to have out-of-body experiences where they are observing themselves, or experiencing unpleasant or pleasant sensations, or meeting a deceased friend or relative. In the study, doctors will study the brains of patients during cardiac arrest. They will also perform validity tests after the patients have recovered, determining the accuracy of claims that people can see and hear what's going on in the room. The results could not only give researchers a better und...

Just over a month since the Smithsonian Institution announced the discovery of new bird species in Africa, little is still known about the olive-backed forest robin named for its distinctive olive back and rump. Scientists are trying to unravel the little bird’s specific diet, mating and nesting habits, and the species’ complete habitat range, but the dense undergrowth of tropical forest where it was sighted may still offer further surprises. Adult members of the robins - both male and female - measure just about 4.5 inches in length and average 18 grams in weight. Males exhibit a fiery orange throat and breast, yellow belly, olive back and black feathers on the head. Females are similar, but less vibrant. Both sexes have a distinctive white dot on their face in front of each eye. The bird was first observed by Smithsonian scientists in 2001 during a field expedition in southwest Gabon but it was initially thought, however, to be an immature individual of an already-recognized species....

Be a bit of a pain if it did, wouldn't it? And the most frustrating thing is that we won't know for sure either way until the European laboratory for particle physics (Cern) in Geneva switches on its Large Hadron Collider the day after tomorrow. If you think it's unlikely that we will all be sucked into a giant black hole that will swallow the world, as German chemistry professor Otto Rössler of the University of Tübingen posits, and so carry on with your life as normal, only to find out that it's true, you'll be a bit miffed, won't you? If, on the other hand, you disagree with theoretical physicist Prof Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of the UK Atomic Energy Agency, who argues that fears of possible global self-ingestion have been exaggerated, and decide to live the next two days as if they were your last, and then nothing whatsoever happens, you'd feel a bit of a fool too. Rössler apparently thinks it "quite plausible" that the "mini black holes...

If you enjoy warming your bottom on a heated car seat then you should beware, for you may also be frying your chances of fatherhood, New Scientist reports in its latest issue. Sperm production is best when the temperature of the scrotum is one or two degrees Celsius (1.8-3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) below the core body temperature of 37 C (99 F). Testicle-testing German researchers fitted sensors to the scrotums of 30 healthy men who then sat on a heated car seat for 90 minutes. After one hour, the average scrotal temperature had risen to 37.3 C (99.5 F), and in one volunteer reached a whopping 39.7 C (103 F). By comparison, men who sat on unheated car seats reached an average scrotal temperature of only 36.7 C (98 F). The study, led by Andreas Jung at the University of Giessen, did not verify the volunteer's sperm count or sperm mobility, but the researchers fear that only a slight increase in temperature is enough to damage the sperm-production process, the British weekly says. Previo...

Adam and Jamie, hosts of the known mythbusters show compared a CPU vs a GPU to explain parallel processing and the GPU drew an ACTUAL mona lisa drawing using paint balls in 80 milliseconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this was for NVIDIA's NVISION Show

Though most of us hope a large meteor will never hit earth, some may wonder what if it really does happen. Well, this CG animation shows just that and more. Continue reading to watch. Evidence shows that this has happened at least 6 times in Earths history. It can happen again!