Education News

News: Stem Cell Research to Grow Bigger Boobs

A recent Japanese study proposes a simpler, softer, more natural-feeling alternative to silicone breast implants: fat-derived stem cells. The cells are extracted from liposuctioned fat, and then injected into the patient to increase breast circumference. San Diego-based biotech company Cytori Therapeutics is currently waiting on FDA approval to start clinical trials.

Do Not Try This At Home: The Human Torch

PopSci's Gray Matter demonstrates again and again what the layman should absolutely Not Try at Home. Which is precisely what makes Gray's experiments so fun. Remember when the mad scientist fully submerged his hand in liquid nitrogen? Today's demonstration also plays with what is (quite reasonably) assumed to be extremely dangerous and painful: torching the human hand.

News: It's Hot, It's Creamy. It's Three Course Gum as a Meal

Remember Willy Wonka's magical gum? Wonka promised the flavors of tomato soup, roast beef, baked potato, blueberry pie and ice cream. As the avid gum lover Violet Beauregarde tested it out, she exclaimed: “It’s hot and creamy, I can actually feel? it running down my throat!” Um, yum... I think. Good news. Wonka's three course chewing gum is finally a reality-in-the-works. Scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) have been developing recent advances in nanotechnology, which could pot...

News: What Happens When You Smash the Essence of Dynamite With a Hammer?

Nitroglycerin, otherwise known as the explosive essence of dynamite, is so sensitive AND powerfully explosive that when hit with a hammer, it creates "a supersonic shockwave and a flash of light almost too fast to film, even with the latest specialist cameras". In the blink of an eye (literally) extreme detonation occurs. Shooting super slo-mo is absolutely necessary (600x slower, to be exact).

News: World's Biggest, Most Badass Laser Aims to Create a Miniature Star on Earth

Introducing the National Ignition Facility. Not only is the name curiously amazing (a facility designated for the act of … combustion?), but it also happens to house the largest, most high energy laser in the world. Why would they create such a thing? To create a miniature star on Earth, with the goal to achieve fusion (re: an unlimited supply of free energy).

News: Evil Mad Science Produces Frankenstein RatCar, Rat-Robot Hybrid

Relax PETA, it's not as evil as it looks (although those neural electrode implants do look painful).

Do Not Try This at Home: Exploding Hydrogen Bubbles

Here at WonderHowTo, we love science. And of course, explosions. So, naturally we find Gray Matter's demonstration of fiery hydrogen bubbles pretty awesome. But the most interesting part is the reason behind the demonstration. Did you know the same gas that heats your house can also make it explode? Gray Matter explains why:

News: 74 Days of Nasty Time-Lapsed Food Rot

We've seen 13 days of decomposition... how about 74? More compost nastiness + time-lapse. Previously, 13 Gloriously Disgusting, Maggot Filled Days of Rotting Food.

News: Old School Science Models

LIFE magazine has posted a gallery of bizarrely wonderful old school scientific models. Don't miss the giant fetus or massive colon (double ew). Behold, science education before computers ruled our world.

News: 13 Gloriously Disgusting, Maggot Filled Days of Rotting Food

Have you ever wondered what the decomposition of rotting food looks like? Probably not... but now you do. Below: 13 days of time-lapsed, maggot filled rot. Be prepared. You might be inclined to skip lunch today. Other gems by Bang Goes The Theory:

News: Jane Goodall Was a Babe (and One of History's Greatest Conservationists)

National Geographic recently published a retrospective of the lovely Jane Goodall, one of the world's most accomplished conservationists. The feature includes every image of Goodall to ever appear in the magazine for the past fifty years.

News: Metal Isn't Flammable... Right?

Theo Gray of Gray Matter explains the principle behind sending steel up in flames- as long as it's steel wool, of course. The process is beyond simple. Spend 2 bucks and 2 minutes: purchase a steel wool pad, hold in pliers, light with a match. But the question is, why is steel wool flammable, while other forms of metal are not? Explanation below the video. Theo says:

News: Look! A Diamond the Size of the Moon!

Lucy, whose real name is BPM 37093, is a diamond roughly the size of our moon. At around 4000 kilometers in diameter (2,485 miles), Lucy is estimated to be around 10 billion trillion trillion carats. A billion trillion trillion? x 10? It's easier to imagine dividing by zero than to put this ridiculous number into perspective.

News: Cheeseburger Dipped in Acid (Plus: Why You Should Fear McDonald's)

Ok, so first Periodic Tables demonstrates how a McDonald's cheeseburger breaks down in your stomach during the digestion process. Everybody has hydrochloric acid in their stomach, so drop a burger in acid and you can see it happen before your eyes (minus the amino acids a human stomach would supply). Seems innocent enough. Here's what happened after 3.5 hours: NASTY. So my question is: does healthy food look the same? What would a pile of broccoli or granola look like? Probably just as nasty....

News: Super Slo-Mo Lightning Looks Like Mother Earth's Fireworks Show

Mother Earth, God, Buddha, the Universe, energy fields... whatever you call it, lightning slo-mo'ed looks like some higher being set off some major fireworks. Beautiful. Two videos in the gallery below.

News: Hand Fully Submerged in Liquid Nitrogen (OUCH... Right?)

Apparently submerging a hand in liquid nitrogen isn't as painful as one might suspect (if you trust the Leidenfrost effect as much as Theodore of Gray Matter):

News: Rear End Illusions

Let's take a look at the softer side of illusions! Check out the images below and see if you can crack what's really behind these photos. This type of optical illusion is usually referred to as an ambiguous image. Your brain tries to make quick sense out of the information coming in, and sometimes an interpretation of one image gets preference over the other.

News: 30 Insane College Courses That Will Have You Itching to Go Back to School

PopSci has compiled an amazing list of 30 college labs that would tempt anybody to re-enroll. If you know any high school juniors or prospective grad students, pass this along. They just might reconsider their initial choices.

News: Krispy Kreme Mitosis

Take a lesson in mitosis (or cell division) with artist Kevin Van Aelst's Krispy Kreme explanatory photography series. Mmm... I think my stomach's growling.

News: In the Face of Nature, Art Doesn't Stand a Chance

Sometimes a human-made representation just can't beat the real deal. You may be convinced once you watch these science-art videos, a collaborative project titled Morphologics, by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician Jared McKay.

News: BAM! Sugar Is Not as Sweet as You May Think

You may think of sugar as purely a sweet ingredient meant for baking, but it can actually be a deadly explosive, according to PopSci's Gray Matter:

News: Are Touchable Holograms the Future of the Adult Entertainment Industry?

We've seen extremely pricey, extremely artfully crafted sex dolls. Matt McMullen's dolls are so well crafted, in fact, that it is hard to imagine a superior alternative. Until now...

News: The Scientific Formula for the Perfect Handshake

Scientists have recently released a mathematical breakdown of the perfect handshake. The University of Manchester researchers discovered that nearly one-in-five people hate the handshake, listing complaints such as sweaty palms, limp wrists, gripping too hard and no eye contact.

News: Drop Dead Gorgeous Periodic Table

Utterly mind blowing CC-licensed photography of the periodic elements by Wikipedia user alchemist-hp. Beautiful examples below, click through for the whole project (in German).

News: Japanese Scientists Turn Dead Animals Into Art

In what appears to be some kind of hybrid science-art project, Japanese researchers have discovered a method for rendering a dead animal's body completely transparent, in order to dye the skeletal system. Simultaneously creepy and beautiful.

News: Multiply Each Tiny Dot By a Billion

Yup. Every single dot represents a galaxy containing BILLIONS of stars. Holy... Just think about it. Insane.

Mathematical Beading: Accessories to Thought

Math is unreasonably effective in describing the natural universe. Anyone who's seen Walt Disney's Donald in Mathmagic Land knows this to be so. Well, the axiom works in reverse, too: The physical stuff of the universe can model math right back. And to great effect.

News: Why Are Our Brains Fooled By Optical Illusions?

My mind is playing tricks on me! Discover Magazine systematically dissects five fantastic optical illusions. The scientific explanations are logical:

New CSI Spinoff: Iceman 3300 B.C.

Who dunnit? Forensic pathology is an art form we take for granted. Scientists are busy debating why a 5' 5", 5300-year-old man coined Otzi was murdered.

News: Booze Explosions Create Microscopic Rainbows

For some, vodka, tequila, and whiskey are key ingredients to a good time. But, take a sample, dry it out, magnify x1000, and you've got yourself an unexpected work of art. Prints below by BevShots.

News: Brooklyn Dude Does Gucci by Day, Nuclear Fusion by Night

Upon first glance, one may think Mark Suppes is just another thirty-something-year-old dude living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. However, the Gucci web designer by day has a significant (to say the least) project-in-progress by night. The amateur scientist bicycles to a non-descript building in Brooklyn to chip away at his homemade nuclear fusion reactor. BBC reports:

News: NurdRage Shatters Mysteriously Procured Human Heart

WonderHowTo science geek favorite, NurdRage, completely shatters a human heart using liquid nitrogen. Now, what I wanna know is... and I'm really asking... where the hell do you get a human heart?

News: DARPA Spy Camera Capable of Scanning Eyeballs in a Crowd

DARPA and Dallas's Southern Methodist University are collaborating on a super high tech camera, capable of scanning eyeballs in a moving crowd.

News: Artificial Butterfly Could Unveil the Mysteries of Flight

Researchers Hiroto Tanaka and Isao Shimoyama (of Harvard University and University of Tokyo) have constructed a tiny replica of the swallowtail butterfly. The crudely made model uses just balsa wood, rubber bands, and a steel wire crank. The goal is to better understand the biomechanics of butterfly flight. Via Wired,

News: 10 Rules For Dealing With the Po-Po

Do you know your constitutional rights if stopped by the police? Washington Post recently ran an interesting article on "10 Rules", a docudrama produced by the D.C. nonprofit Flex Your Rights.

News: The World's Most Ginormous Telescopes

DVice posts six of the world's most powerful telescopes and, man, they are HUGE. Check it out. The Keck I and Keck II

News: Kick Ass at Pinball (Telekinetically)

At Germany's 2010 ceBIT Technology Fair, a company called Berlin Brain-Computer Interface demoed technology for mind controlled pinball. The game is controlled solely with brain impulses.

News: Turn Your Arm Into a Touchscreen Display

Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to to create an armband that projects a touchscreen interface directly on to your skin. The best part? Skinput knows which part of the body you've tapped, based on the sound that's matched against skin, muscle or skeleton.

World's Scariest Science: Sci-Fi Future is Potentially Bone Chilling

Innovative or downright frightening? Popsci examines five of the world's scariest science experiments-in-progress.

News: Mosquitoes Annihilated By Death Ray Laser

Laser gun + killing mosquitoes = lots of little boy fun, but what's it all about? Quite possibly the most entertaining, thrilling, and well, downright life-saving presentation at this year's TED conference was Intellectual Ventures' mosquito death ray.