In 2001, psychologists at the University of Leicester (UK) played fast music and slow music to 2 different groups of cows. The cows that heard fast music demonstrated no change in milk production. But the cows that listened to slow music increased their milk output by 3%.

Some dairy farmers agree with this assessment and play music for their cows. To promote the practice, the British Columbia Dairy Association is holding a contest which asks participants … Read More → "Research shows that cows produce more milk when listening to slow jams"

Scratch is a free drag-and-drop programming language for kids, developed at MIT. My 10-year-old daughter Jane uses it to create puzzles, games, and interactive cartoons. In 2012 I reviewed a book called Super Scratch Programming Adventure, a comic book guide to Scratch. I recommend it.

I also recommend the new book, Learn to Program with Scratch: A Visual Introduction to Programming with Games, Art, Science, and Math. Like Super Scratch Programming Adventure, … Read More → "Learn to Program with Scratch – tutorial to kids’ programming language"

Internet.org doesn’t just want to make access to the mobile internet cheap in the developing world. It wants to make baseline connectivity free, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said at Mobile World Congress on Monday.

Zuckerberg isn’t talking about giving away video and other high-bandwidth services. Rather, he means opening up a set of core services such as a messaging, social networking and search. Those basic tools are not … Read More → "The goal of Internet.org is to make basic mobile internet access free"

Operating on a child’s heart is a challenging procedure. Not only is the organ (presumably) defective, but it’s also small, complex, and delicate. So when Louisville, KY heart surgeon Erle Austin was preparing to operate on 14-month-old Roland Lian Cung Bawi’s heart, he first showed the scans of the muscle to two other surgeons, both of whom gave him “conflicting advice on how to proceed,” according to the  … Read More → "3D model of a boy’s heart speeds up life-saving operation"

If you and your family of ghosts are looking for some new real estate to haunt, Spreepark–an abandoned amusement park in Berlin– is now available on eBay for a mere 1.62 million Euros. That’s over 223 million US dollars, and like, a billion boos in Ghost currency.

Built by the Communist East German Government in 1969, Spreepark was originally called Kulturpark Plänterwald…</ … Read More → "Berlin’s abandoned amusement park now available on eBay"

Owen Barden of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University recently published a paper that says, contrary to what you might assume, that Facebook use can actually help kids who struggle with dyslexia overcome their literary challenges in a number of ways. Sounds strange, right? The entirely text-based format … Read More → "Facebook might actually be good for your brain (if you’re dyslexic)"

According to a new study in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, your cuddly cat companion might pose some serious health risks, especially to senior citizens. Previous research has shown that cats can spread a brain infecting bacteria called Toxoplasma gondii that can cause negative health effects, including an increased risk of schizophrenia and depression in infected humans. New research by German scientists and the World Health Organization, however, shows that this parasite … Read More → "New study shows cats may cause dementia in senior citizens"

In a genius marketing move, 13-year-old Girl Scout Danielle Lei, with her mom’s help, set up a cookie stand outside a medical marijuana clinic in San Francisco. The sidewalk in front of the Green Cross turned out to be a lucrative position.
via Neatorama

Read More → "Selling Girl Scout cookies outside a cannabis clinic"

“Real world” is a dangerous phrase to talk about when it comes to robots, because robots very seldom find themselves operating alone out there in wild and forlorn places like your living room or office. Autonomy in unstructured environments is an exceptionally difficult problem to tackle, and it gets even harder when you’re dealing with multiple robots trying to collaborate on tasks in situations where they might not even be able to … Read More → "MIT robots adapt and collaborate under real world conditions"

The Tranquility Pod — which looks like a mashup between a Henrik Thor-Larsen chair and a giant Mentos candy — is more than just another piece of pricey retro-futuristic furniture. Crawl through that inviting opening, and you’ll find yourself floating atop a six-foot-wide octagonal waterbed, encircled by soft LED mood lighting, and engulfed by sound waves from an 80-watt audio system. Once inside, you may never want to leave.

Suede-topped, … Read More → "A $30,000 waterbed that vibrates with music"