fashola go buy ds one?

check ds out!
"We're also currently
experimenting with the process
of bioluminescence," said Hyams, award winning architect.
"The idea is that carbon is
absorbed by a building to create
light. Can you imagine a whole
city lit by the walls of its own
buildings?"
this am damn sure we need in naija.

'living' buildings?

-- What if
buildings had lungs that could
absorb carbon emissions from
the city and convert them into
something useful? What if they
had skin that could control their
temperature without the need
for radiators or air-conditioning?
What if buildings could come
"alive?"
Science fiction?
"Not as such," claims Dr Rachel
Armstrong, senior TED fellow and
co-director of Avatar, a research
group exploring the potential of
advanced technologies in
architecture. "Over the next 40
years, 'living' buildings --
biologically programmed to
extract carbon dioxide out of the
atmosphere -- could fill our
cities."
Armstrong works on the cutting
edge of "synthetic biology," a
relatively new science devoted to
the manufacture of life-like
matter from synthesized
chemicals, and is something of
an evangelist for the discipline.
The chemicals Armstrong works
with, concocted in the lab, are
engineered to behave like
organic microorganisms -- with
the added benefit that they can
be manipulated to do things
nature can't. Armstrong refers to
them as "protocells."
"For instance, a protocell could
be mixed with wall paint and
programmed to produce
limestone when exposed to
carbon (dioxide) on the surface
of a building," she said. "Then
you've got a paint that can
actually eat carbon and change it
into a shell-like substance."
So, just as iron rusts when it
comes into contact with oxygen
and water, protocells can
produce simple chemical
reactions when they come into
contact with carbon dioxide
(CO2) molecules, turning the CO2
into calcium carbonate, or
limestone, which stops the
greenhouse gas from rising up
into the ozone layer.
As a by-product of this
process, the British
scientist says that
limestone produced by
protocells could
naturally "heal" micro-
fractures in walls,
channeling through
tiny breaks, helping to
extend the life of any
structure it was
painted on to.
"And not only that,"
added Armstrong. "The
thickness of the
limestone will grow
over time, creating insulation and
allowing your building to retain
more heat or indeed sheltering it
from heating up underneath the
sun."
The layer of limestone could take
anywhere between a year and a
decade to form depending on
the concentration of carbon
dioxide in the surrounding air.
However Armstrong says that
"eventually we will see protocell
technology become self-repleting
(able to replenish itself) and (it)
will be considered alive."
Dick Kitney is professor of bio-
engineering at Imperial College
London and co-director of the
Centre for Synthetic Biology and
Innovation . He says that, while
the concept is sound, moving it
into industrial production is a
different story.
"It's a question of scalability," he
said. "Getting the process to
work in the lab is one thing, but
after that you need to work very
closely with major industrial
manufacturers to understand if it
is at all possible to produce on a
mass scale. Sometimes it's just
not possible."
Kitney says that nobody has yet
managed to get any synthetic
biological product to the
manufacturing stage: "The
science is being taken very
seriously -- particularly in the UK
and U.S. ... but it's still early days."
While Armstrong says the science
has been proven in the lab, she
too acknowledges that
commercial applications are still
some years down the road.
"This is bulk chemical
manufacturing we're talking
about, so the process is slow,"
she said. "If it were
pharmaceuticals it would be
much quicker."
But Armstrong's work is gaining
interest from the industrial
sector. "There's a traditional
paint manufacturer here in the
UK that is looking into it, but
we're all under non-disclosure
agreements," she said.
Armstrong admits that, at
present, the paint would be
capable of absorbing only a tiny
fraction of the carbon dioxide
emitted in a city like London,
which spewed out around 42
million tons in 2009, according
to government figures.
"The primitive paints we are
developing are not very efficient
yet, " she added.
Armstrong doesn't
think the paint will be
ready for market much
before 2014 and, at
this stage, she cannot
comment on how
much it will cost to
produce commercially.
Despite this, she says a
major Australian
property developer has
already placed a future
order for it.

real life super hero...costume, mask and pepper spray!

i dnt knw wat to make of this.

Self-proclaimed superhero
Phoenix Jones has dramatically
unmasked himself outside a
Seattle court as he vowed to
keep fighting crime despite
being accused of assault.
The man behind the mask,
Benjamin Fodor, reveals himself
to the world
The vigilante appeared for a
hearing on Thursday dressed in
his back-up superhero costume -
a black-and-yellow mask that he
removed before reporters to
confirm his real identity.
The one-time mixed-martial-arts
competitor, whose real name is
Benjamin Fodor, was arrested
early Sunday morning.
Police said he pepper-sprayed a
group of innocent nightclub-
goers he believed were involved
in a street brawl.
He was jailed briefly on suspicion
of four counts of assault and
released on $3,800 (£2,400) bail.
Mr Fodor said he was confident
that a 13-minute video of
Sunday's altercation, taken by a
member of his entourage,
proved him innocent.
The video, which was posted on
the Internet, showed Mr Fodor
being alerted to what he believed
to be a "huge fight".
The footage shows him rushing
on foot toward a crowd yelling
"call 911" (the emergency
services number in the US), then
wading into the group with a
can of pepper spray.
Some in the crowd angrily fought
back, with one woman
screaming and beating Mr Fodor
with her shoes before police
finally arrived on the scene.
To his fury, Mr Fodor's true
identity was revealed for the first
time by media after his arrest.
On Thursday, he initially showed
up to the Seattle Municipal Court
wearing a pinstriped shirt but
covering his face with his mask.
I'm Phoenix Jones. I'm also Ben
Fodor. I also protect the city, I
also am a father, I also am a
brother. I'm just like everyone
else.
Benjamin Fodor, speaking
outside a Seattle court.
Then, flanked by his lawyers and
speaking with reporters outside
the King County Jail on Thursday,
he removed the mask and
confirmed his real identity.
"I'm Phoenix Jones," he declared.
"I'm also Ben Fodor.
"I also protect the city, I also am a
father, I also am a brother. I'm
just like everyone else.
"The only difference is that I
decided to make a difference and
stop crime in my neighbourhood
and my area.
"I intend to keep making that
difference. The charges were
false."
He then abandoned his
pinstriped shirt on a sidewalk,
revealing a faded black rubber
shirt he claimed was his back-up
costume, and strode off.
Police, he said, still have his main
costume - which includes a
moulded black-and-yellow suit of
body armour.
Mr Fodor has become something
of a national celebrity since he
began patrolling downtown
Seattle streets a year ago to
break up fights and alert police
to other petty crimes.
In addition to pepper spray, he is
known to carry a stun gun and a
mobile phone on his late-night
rounds.
He also attends charity events on
request.
Prosecutors said they have not
filed charges against Mr Fodor
but that he remains under
investigation, and a case could
be brought against him at a later
time.
Mr Fodor said he planned to
resume his vigilante work
immediately, and called on Seattle
citizens to join him downtown
on Saturday night.

sex in the sky!

its getting wierder.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Federal Aviation
Administration says it will look into a
videotaped skydiving sex stunt to
determine if the pilot might have been
distracted during the incident over Kern
County.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says any activity
that could distract the pilot while he's flying
could be a violation of federal regulations.
Skydive Taft owner David Chrouch says he
fired part-time skydiving instructor and
porn star Alex Torres and hasn't decided
whether to fire the company's receptionist,
Hope Howell, who he said was Torres'
partner in the video.
See video and read the original story at
KGET.com
The video shows the two having sex in a
plane before jumping out in tandem and
continuing the act midair.
NBC station KGET-TV in Bakersfield reported
that Chrouch said that Torres put the stunt
together in an attempt to get the attention
of Howard Stern. "Apparently they told my
pilot it was OK to do this. And got here early
in the morning before anyone got here and
shot this," Chrouch told KGET.
Authorities say Torres had posted the video
on his blog but removed it on Monday.
Chrouch said he found out about the stunt
when a Taft police officer told him that the
video was making the rounds at a local
school.
Taft police Lt. Ed Whiting told KGET-TV that
no criminal charges are pending.
At one point in the video the couple is
shown seated in a jump seat right next to
the pilot.
"No I wasn't concerned," Chrouch told KGET.
"He was in complete control of the plane at
all times. I mean he looked back a couple of
times. The same thing he does if there are
other skydivers in the plane. He is going to
look back, he's going to look around to see
what everyone is doing."

Lmao, who wants to watch?

corrupt leaders

An old joke: a bureaucrat from
Sani Abacha's Nigeria visits a
bureaucrat in Suharto's
Indonesia and is impressed that
his Indonesian counterpart lives
in a nice house and drives a
Mercedes. "Do you see that road?
Ten per cent," the Indonesian
explains.
A couple of years later the visit is
reciprocated. Suharto's man
finds the Nigerian civil servant in
a palace with a pair of Ferraris.
"Do you see that road?" says the
Nigerian, gesturing at virgin
rainforest. "One hundred per
cent."
There is more to the joke than
meets the eye, of course:
Indonesia managed to combine
severe corruption with many
years of strong growth, while
Nigeria stagnated over a similar
period. Corruption matters, but
so does the type of corruption.
And here is a conundrum.
Technocrats have long offered
economic policy advice to
powerful people in developing
countries, yet powerful people
may have much more to gain by
ignoring the advice and lining
their own pockets. The problem
is so severe it is a wonder that
economies ever develop at all.
But the situation is not hopeless,
because contrary to the joke, it
may be better to get 10 per cent
of a booming economy than 100
per cent of a stagnating one.
A new working paper from
Michael U. Klein of the Frankfurt
School of Finance and
Management argues that if elites
profit from corruption and
control the levers of policy, we
should ask ourselves what sort
of policy advice might appeal to a
corrupt bureaucrat while still
being sound economics?
Consider the traditional form of
corruption: paying bribes in
exchange for favourable
treatment. This may be harder
than it looks, even in a society
where corruption is common:
one must still find corrupt
partners, establish a deal, and
secretly enforce it.
Klein, who studied Nigeria in the
1980s, gives some baffling
examples of behaviour that may
have been designed to drive
away the honest and leave only
the corrupt. In one case, the boss
of an engineering company
arranged to meet the managing
director of a large public
enterprise after many requests
and much waiting. When finally
brought into the managing
director's office, he found his
counterpart facing the wall. Four
hours passed; the only sound
was that of a radio playing. Then
the managing director turned
and a deal was struck.
The waste involved in arranging,
monitoring and enforcing
corrupt deals can be immense –
Klein has found that transaction
costs of large projects rise from
3 per cent to at least 10 per cent
in "complicated" environments.
Prosecutions for corruption can
be tough to pull off, says Klein,
because big Nigerian firms had
no accounts in the late 1970s.
(There was also a national
tradition of fires breaking out in
accounting departments.) All this
is dreadfully damaging for
growth.
What might work better, while
still satisfying the avarice of a
country's elite? One idea would
be for elites to hold direct stakes
in commercial firms. But the
result would still look like a mafia
town: too much emphasis on
squashing competition and not
enough on meeting the needs of
customers.
Perhaps this is why export
markets have proved such an
important element in the success
of many Asian economies:
domestic markets may be sewn
up in corrupt deals, but the
government can still insist on
export success as a precondition
for political favours. Only
productive firms are allowed to
join the corrupt club – with
export markets a good test of
genuine productivity. For a case
study, consider decades of South
Korean growth.
Perhaps there is a touch of
fatalism about all this. Eventually
one would hope for a world
where corruption is very rare.
While we're waiting for that, it's
worth asking how even a
corrupt economy can achieve
growth.

10 scientific facts u probably didnt know.

Animals can rain from the sky
Amazing science fact: raining
animals is a relatively common
meteorological phenomenon,
with occurrences reported from
many countries throughout
history. The animals most likely to
drop from the sky in a rainfall are
fish and frogs, with birds coming
third. Sometimes the animals
survive the fall, especially fish,
suggesting a small time gap
between the extraction and the
actual drop. Several witnesses of
raining frogs describe the
animals as startled, though
healthy, and exhibiting relatively
normal behavior shortly after the
event. In some incidents,
however, the animals are frozen
to death or even completely
enclosed in blocks of ice. These
occurrences may be evidence for
the transport of the victims to
high altitudes, where the
temperature is below zero, and
they show how powerful
meteorological forces can be.
Most recent occurrences include
the rain of frogs and toads in
Serbia (2005) and London
(1998), and rains of fish in India
(2006) and Wales (2004).
In Honduras, the Lluvia de Peces
(Rain of Fishes) is a unique
phenomenon that has been
occurring for more than a
century on a yearly basis in the
country of Honduras. It occurs in
the Departamento de Yoro,
between the months of May and
July. Witnesses of this
phenomenon state that it begins
with is a dark cloud in the sky
followed by lightning, thunder,
strong winds and heavy rain for
2 to 3 hours. Once the rain has
stopped, hundreds of living fish
are found on the ground. People
take the fish home to cook and
eat them. Although some experts
have tried to explain the Rain of
Fishes as a natural
meteorological phenomenon, the
fish are not sea water fish, but
fresh water fish; they are not
dead, but alive; they are not
blind, they have eyes; they are
not big fish, but small; and the
type of fish is not found
elsewhere in the area. There is
no valid scientific explanation for
this phenomenon. Many people
believe this phenomenon occurs
because of Father José Manuel
Subirana, a Spanish catholic
missionary and considered by
many to be a Saint. He visited
Honduras from 1856-1864, and
upon encountering so many
poor people, prayed for 3 days
and 3 nights asking God for a
miracle to help the poor people
by providing food. The Rain of
Fishes has occurred ever since.
The universe is beige
Cosmic Latte is the color of the
universe, according to a team of
astronomers from Johns Hopkins
University. In 2001, Karl
Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry
determined that the color of the
universe was a greenish white,
but they soon corrected their
analysis in "The 2dF Galaxy
Redshift Survey: constraints on
cosmic star-formation history
from the cosmic spectrum",
published in 2002. In this paper,
they reported that their survey of
the color of all light in the
universe added up to a slightly
beige white. The survey included
more than 200,000 galaxies, and
measured the spectral range of
the light from a large volume of
the universe. The hexadecimal
RGB value for Cosmic Latte is
#FFF8E7.
In a Washington Post article, the
color was displayed. Glazebrook
jokingly said that he was looking
for suggestions for a name for
the new color. Several people
who read the article sent in
suggestions. "Cosmic Latte" was
selected.
Poisoning can make masses to
dance hysterically
Dancing mania is the name given
to a phenomenon that occurred
mainly in mainland Europe from
the 14th century through to the
17th century, in which groups of
people would dance through the
streets of towns or cities,
sometimes foaming at the mouth
or speaking in tongues, until they
collapsed from exhaustion. The
first major outbreak of the mania
was in Aachen, Germany, in July
1374. The dancers went through
the streets screaming of wild
visions, and even continued to
writhe and twist after they
collapsed from exhaustion. The
dancing quickly caught on, and
spread rapidly throughout
France and the Low Countries.
The mania reached its peak in
1418 in Strasbourg. At at least
one point, so many people had
either been afflicted with the
dancing mania, or caught up in
the dancing, or were trying to
give assistance, or simply
watching the events unfold, that
the town was brought to a
complete halt.
Although no real consensus
exists as to what caused the
mania, some cases, especially the
one in Aix-la-Chapelle, may have
had an explainable physical
cause. The symptoms of the
sufferers can be attributed to
ergot poisoning, or ergotism,
known in the Middle Ages as "St.
Anthony's Fire". It is caused by
eating rye infected with Claviceps
purpurea, a small fungus that
contains toxic and psychoactive
chemicals (alkaloids), including
lysergic acid (used in modern
times to synthesize LSD).
Symptoms of ergot poisoning
include nervous spasms,
psychotic delusions,
spontaneous abortion,
convulsions and gangrene; some
dancers claimed to have
experienced visions of a religious
nature.
The Moon is moving away from
the Earth
The Moon's orbit (its circular
path around the Earth) is indeed
getting larger, at a rate of about
3.8 centimeters per year. (The
Moon's orbit has a radius of
384,000 km.) The reason for the
increase is that the Moon raises
tides on the Earth. Because the
side of the Earth that faces the
Moon is closer, it feels a stronger
pull of gravity than the center of
the Earth. Similarly, the part of the
Earth facing away from the Moon
feels less gravity than the center
of the Earth. This effect stretches
the Earth a bit, making it a little
bit oblong.
It is expected that in 15 billion
years, the orbit will stabilize at
1.6 times its present size, and the
Earth day will be 55 days long
equal to the time it will take the
Moon to orbit the Earth.
Belly button lint comes from
your underwear
Many people find that, at the
beginning and end of the day, a
small lump of fluff has appeared
in the navel cavity. The reasons
for this have been the subject of
idle speculation for many years
but in 2001, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki
of the University of Sydney,
Australia undertook a systematic
survey to determine the ins and
outs of navel lint. His primary
findings were as follows:
Navel lint consists primarily of
stray fibres from one's clothing,
mixed with some dead skin cells
and strands of body hair. The
rotting cells can create
unpleasant odors.
Contrary to expectations, navel
lint appears to migrate upwards
from underwear rather than
downwards from shirts or tops.
The migration process is the
result of the frictional drag of
body hair on underwear, which
drags stray fibres up into the
navel.
Women experience less navel lint
because of their finer and
shorter body hairs. Conversely,
older men experience it more
because of their coarser and
more numerous hairs.
Navel lint's characteristic blue-
gray tint is likely the averaging of
the colors of fibres present in
clothing; the same color as
clothes dryer lint.
The existence of navel lint is
entirely harmless, and requires
no corrective action.
Fly larvae helps to heal wounds
quicker
Long ago, some doctors noticed
soldiers that had maggots on
their wounds healed quicker
than those without maggots.
Maggots eat the dead skin cells
and bacteria. Maggot Therapy
(also known as Maggot
Debridement Therapy (MDT),
larval therapy, larva therapy, or
larvae therapy) is the intentional
introduction of live, disinfected
maggots or fly larvae into non-
healing skin or soft tissue
wounds of a human or other
animal. This practice was widely
used before the discovery of
antibiotics, as it serves to clean
the dead tissue within a wound
in order to promote healing.
Animals can naturally explode
Natural animal explosions can
occur for a variety of reasons. On
2004, a buildup of gas inside a
decomposing sperm whale,
measuring 17 meters (56 ft.)
long and weighing 50 tons,
caused it to burst in Taiwan. The
explosion was reported to have
splattered blood and whale
entrails over surrounding shop-
fronts, bystanders, and cars.
A significant population of toads
in Germany and Denmark were
exploding in April 2005 in an act
described as a self-defence
mechanism that failed, as it
consisted of puffing up to look
bigger while under attack by
crows.
You can still have an erection
once dead
A death erection (sometimes
referred to as "angel lust") is a
post-mortem erection which
occurs when a male individual
dies vertically or face-down with
the cadaver remaining in this
position. During life, the pumping
of blood by the heart ensures a
relatively even distribution
around the blood vessels of the
human body. Once this
mechanism has ended, only the
force of gravity acts upon the
blood. As with any mass, the
blood settles at the lowest point
of the body and causes edema or
swelling to occur; the
discoloration caused by this is
called lividity.
If an individual dies vertically
such as in a hanging, the blood
will settle in the legs and pool at
the feet. The pressure will be
greatest as the weight of the
blood pushes down. This causes
the blood vessels and tissues in
the feet to engorge to their
greatest elastic capacity and hold
the greatest volume of blood
possible. This effect occurs right
up the legs although to a lesser
extent than the feet and is also
notable at the waist. The blood
which remains in the torso
attempts to move to a lower
position due to gravity, and as
the blood in the waist (which
cannot move down due to the
legs being full) causes the penis,
consisting of erectile tissue, to fill
with blood and expand. This is
the death erection. As long as the
body remains in this position the
effect will continue.
Male seahorses can get
pregnant
Seahorses reproduce in an
unusual way: the male becomes
pregnant. Pipefishes and
seahorses are the only species in
the animal kingdom to which the
term "male pregnancy" has been
applied.
The male seahorse has a brood
pouch in which he carries eggs
deposited by the female. The
mating pair entwine their tails
and the female aligns a long tube
called an ovipositor with the
male's pouch. The eggs move
through the tube into the male's
pouch where he then fertilizes
them. The embryos develop in
ten days to six weeks, depending
on species and water conditions.
When the male gives birth he
pumps his tail until the baby
seahorses emerge.
The male's pouch regulates
salinity for the eggs, slowly
increasing in the pouch to match
the water outside as the eggs
mature. Hatched offspring are
independent of their parents.
Some spend time developing
among the ocean plankton. At
times, the male seahorse may try
to consume some of the
previously released offspring.
Other species (H. zosterae)
immediately begin life as sea-
floor inhabitants (benthos).
A fetus can get trapped inside
of its twin
Fetus in fetu (or Foetus in foetu)
describes an extremely rare
abnormality that involves a fetus
getting trapped inside of its twin.
It continues to survive as a
parasite even past birth by
forming an umbilical cord-like
structure that leeches its twin's
blood supply until it grows so
large that it starts to harm the
host, at which point doctors
usually intervene. Invariably the
parasitic fetus is anencephalic
(without a brain) and lacks
internal organs, and as such is
unable to survive on its own,
though it may have almost
human (albeit underdeveloped
and bizarre) features such as
limbs, digits, hair, nails and teeth.
Fetus in fetu is such a rare
condition that only some 91
cases worldwide have ever been
reported. Fetus in fetu happens
very early in a twin pregnancy,
when one fetus wraps around
and envelops the other. The
dominant fetus grows, while the
fetus that would have been its
twin lives on throughout the
pregnancy, feeding off its host
twin like a kind of parasite.
Usually, both twins die before
birth from the strain of sharing a
placenta. Sometimes, however,
the host twin survives and is
delivered.

massive ocean found inside earth!

wow! I dnt knw if to be thrilled or scared.

Scientists using 3-D scanning of
the deep interior of Earth have
found evidence of a vast water
reservoir beneath eastern Asia
that is at least the volume of the
Arctic Ocean -the first time such a
large body of water has found in
the planet’s deep mantle.
The finding, made by Michael
Wysession, a seismologist at
Washington University in St.
Louis, and his former graduate
student Jesse Lawrence, now at
the University of California, San
Diego, was made by
analyzing more than 600,000
seismograms—records of waves
generated by earthquakes
traveling through the Earth—
collected from instruments
located around the planet.
The team discovered a region
beneath Asia where seismic
waves appeared to dampen, or
“attenuate,” and also slow down
slightly. “Water slows the speed
of waves,” Wysession explained.
“Lots of damping and a little
slowing match the predictions
for water very well.”
Their research proved out earlier
predictions that calculated that if
a cold slab of the ocean floor
were to sink thousands of miles
into the Earth’s mantle, the hot
temperatures would cause water
stored inside the rock to
evaporate out.
The researchers estimate that up
to 0.1 percent of the rock sinking
down into the Earth’s mantle in
that part of the world is water,
which works out to about an
Arctic Ocean’s worth of water.
Wysession has dubbed the new
underground feature the
“Beijing anomaly,” because
seismic wave attenuation was
found to be highest beneath the
Chinese capital city (see image
left above showing increased
attenuation in Asia) . Wysession
first used the moniker during a
presentation of his work at the
University of Beijing.
“They thought it was very, very
interesting,” Wysession said.
“China is under greater seismic
risk than just about any country
in the world, so they are very
interested in seismology.”
Water covers 70 percent of
Earth’s surface and one of its
many functions is to act like a
lubricant for the movement of
continental plates.