3D printed synthetic tissue folds itself into shapes – Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2013/04/10/3d-printed-synthetic-tissue-fo.html

University of Oxford chemists custom-built a 3D printer that fabricates “synthetic tissue,” or rather structures with tissue-like functions. Eventually, the technology could be used to crank out replacement tissue that could replace damaged human tissue or be used in new drug delivery systems. The material consist of a network of water droplets encapsulated in lipids, or fat molecules.

“The droplets… form pathways through the network that mimic nerves and are able to transmit electrical signals from one side of a network to the other,” says Oxford University chemistry professor Hagan Bayley.

Amazingly, the material can be chemically “programmed” to fold into various shapes as water is transferred around in the network. (Video above.)

“3D printer can build synthetic tissues” (Univ of Oxford, via Science News)

“A Tissue-like Printed Material” (Science)

"The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just…" [feedly]

 
 

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“The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just…”
“

The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just remembered that thing you said… hiarious. lol ;)” Great. Now everyone thinks I’ve fallen for a woman who can’t spell and says “lol” a lot. This is a disaster. My reputation might take years to recover. What if she misuses an apostrophe in her next post? Or has ever said the word “nom” out loud? I’ll be ruined.

Worse still, my girlfriend – my actual, real-life, flesh-and-blood girlfriend with whom I live – isn’t a fan of my new fake girlfriend at all. Whenever my Facebook girlfriend posts anything, my real-life girlfriend narrows her eyes and reads it back to me in a withering voice. Yesterday, while I was looking up a recipe on my phone, she yelled, “Are you texting your new girlfriend? You are, aren’t you?” and then fell silent for three-quarters of an hour. This whole situation was a mistake.

Why did I buy a fake Facebook girlfriend? Curiosity, mainly. Name me one red-blooded man who wouldn’t want to validate his neediness by paying a stranger of undetermined gender to send him hollow, misspelt platitudes on the internet. You can’t, can you?”

– Fake Facebook girlfriends: what’s not to like? | Technology | The Guardian, via Jo M.

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Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls [feedly]

 
 

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Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Like a freak midnight rainbow, this ongoing series of lit waterfalls titled Neon Luminance is part of a collaboration between Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard over at From the Lenz. The duo dropped high-powered Cyalume glow sticks in a variety of colors into various waterfalls in Northern California and then made exposures varying from 30 seconds to 7 minutes to capture the submerged trails of light as the sticks moved through the current. To accomplish some of the more complicated shots they strung several sticks together at once to create different patterns of illumination. For those of you concerned about pollution, the sticks (which are buoyant) were never opened and were collected at the end of each exposure, thus no toxic goo was mixed into the water. See more from the project on their website.

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The argument from Batman

 
 

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April 09, 2013

One last reminder, and I think it’ll be too late! We’ve only got about 50 tickets left for sale for BAH! Looks like it’s going to be a packed house, so if you want in, we sincerely encourage you to buy online. We may have some tickets at the door, but I can’t promise anything!

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Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance

[A hacker’s perspective on strength training. Made lots of sense to me. -egg]
 – – 

http://matt.might.net/articles/hacking-strength/

The least-resistance philosophy dictates that you should mold your environment so that the path of least resistance is the path of maximum productivity.

The core principles are eliminating barriers to engaging in productive behavior and erecting barriers to engaging in counter-productive behavior.

Admittedly, this philosophy is tricky to apply to an activity that stresses reaching “maximum resistance.”

But, the principles still work.

Going to the gym is a major transaction cost.

Putting on gym clothes is a barrier.

Finding a consecutive block of time to work out induces opportunity costs.

If you set up your equipment at home so that you can walk in, do a set and walk out, you are at the gym whenever you’re home.