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Although it's no longer in debate whether meditation changes our brain chemistry--Buddhist monks "in the zone" have been proven to emit different brainwaves than the rest of us ADD-addled folk--researchers are wondering if using tools changes up the wiring in our grey matter.
To put this to the test, scientists at Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research have taught rodents to use rakes. After 60 days of training, the rodents (not really rats, something called a degu) were able to use a miniature rake to reach bits of food that were placed out of their ordinary reach. As the Times reports,
...it has long been thought that tool use is a hallmark of higher intelligence.... Training [animals] to use tools in captivity provides insights into the plasticity of their brains.
Our guess as to where the study's going next:
via the new york times
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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For once, we here in the 'States are technologically ahead of the guys in Korea: South Korean police are only now proposing to have the tech wired up so people can be tracked by cell phone and satellite. What's totally suspect is the reasoning:
The new proposal is submitted in a bid to combat the increasing incidence of kidnapping and other crimes against women and children, the police said.
Why suspect? Because:
...the system does not work well indoors, where satellite signals are blocked.
I don't think this is going to be a tough technology to beat. Tip to kidnappers: When you nab someone a) take their phone away or b) avoid leaving them outside in the yard.
via textually
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How good is your design eye? We're loving ApartmentTherapy's "Guess the Decade," (latest installment here) where you peep the photo and try to figure out if the room was designed before or after America went to hell in a handbasket.
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Why is most technology such a bitch to use? A Family Guy video shows us why if R2D2 was running Windows, Princess Leia would've been screwed:
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This kick-ass bi-level London apartment by Hogarth Architects makes heavy use of timber, and was "designed as a large piece of furniture to provide all the functions required by a man about town." Kitchen, living room and original fireplace downstairs; bedroom and swanky shower up on the mezzanine. If I lived here, I'd blog more, because I'd never go out.
Click here for the rest of the pics, taken by shooter James Brittain.
via dezeen
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Comments: Read 8 orAdd Your Own.
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Is there anything advertisers won't do to get your attention?
Apparently these guys peaked in '05, but I must have been living under a rock as I've never heard of them: The Circlemakers are a team of guys who make corporate advertisements in the form of crop circles.
With mandates from the Nike Free, Microsoft X-Box, Sanrio's Hello Kitty and Shredded Wheat cereal, their "billboards" were presumably not cheap, but as their website's not been updated in nearly a year, perhaps the tap has stopped running. Fine with me; I prefer the ones done by actual space aliens. Sure, aliens might suck a few of us up with that light beam and probe us or whatever, but they never ask you to buy anything.
"I just want to make art."
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Comments: Read 3 orAdd Your Own.
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