Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Remember that bra we wrote about last year that lifted more than just our spirits when it won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize?
(Credit: Ebbra.com)
Well, creator Dr. Elena Bodnar--whose inspiration comes in part from having witnessed as a young physician the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986--is introducing the now commercially available Emergency Bra at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., on September 28. She hopes we can all "get a feel of [sic] the product," as she has grown fond of saying.
The bra is, of course, meant to be taken off, something most adults presumably have experience with. Once removed, it separates into two masks which, when placed over the nose and mouth, filter out particles that were found to be as harmful as radiation in Chernobyl.
There is also some noise of a "counterpart device for men" in the works, though the precise shape it will take has yet to be revealed. The emergency bra may work well for women, but attaining the second of the two resulting masks does require men who are not cross-dressing to beg and plead in the event of a disaster.
As Bodnar explained in her alluring Ukrainian accent when accepting the award:
Ladies and gentlemen, isn't that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us.Now, a year later, what was once a bizarre and intriguing idea has turned into an actual bra that can be purchased online for $29.99. Ladies, it's a sexy red and comes in a wide range of sizes, from 32B to 40C. Gentlemen, Bodnar assures us that in the event of an emergency, the size of the cup does not matter.
20 September 2010 Last updated at 19:19 ETChernobyl plant life endures radioactivity
By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC NewsThe city of Pripyat has been abandoned and dubbed a "dead city"
Scientists have uncovered mechanisms that allow plants to thrive in highly radioactive environments like Chernobyl.
They analysed seeds from soybean and flax grown near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986.
Continue reading the main story“Start Quote
End Quote Martin Hajduch Slovak Academy of SciencesIt is just unbelievable how quickly this ecosystem has been able to adapt”
The team says that plants may have an innate ability to cope with radioactivity.
The study appears in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.
One of the researchers speculates that such mechanisms could trace back millions of years, when early life forms were exposed to higher levels of natural radiation.
'Worst' accident
If a disaster strikes, plants cannot move to better conditions - they either adapt, or die.
When, on 26 April, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, the accident was said to be the worst nuclear disaster in human history.
Scores of people died, hundreds became ill with acute radiation sickness.
The entire population of the industrial city of Pripyat that housed the power plant's workforce was evacuated.
Many believed that the area would remain lifeless for generations.
Almost a quarter of a century later, Pripyat remains a ghost town. But despite deserted streets, the soil is not bare - plants have sprung back to life.
Plants 'thriving'
The way Pripyat's ecosystem seemed to shrug off the contamination caught the attention of the scientific world and in 2005, the UN even published a report about the phenomenon.
Then, in 2007, a group of researchers wearing masks, goggles and gloves decided to investigate just how the plants were able to survive.
Soybean plant appears to thrive in contaminated soil
They went into the restricted area and planted soybean and flax seeds on a highly contaminated field just a few kilometres from the site of the accident, in the environs of Pripyat.
Then they sowed the same kind of seeds on a control field in the decontaminated region near the city of Chernobyl.
One of the researchers, Martin Hajduch from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, told BBC News that even though previous studies had analysed how genes mutated because of radioactivity, his team wanted to do something different.
They wanted to investigate the molecular mechanisms allowing plants to adapt to such a contaminated environment.
To do that, they waited for the plants to grow and produce new seeds and then examined their proteins.
"We decided to apply a... methodology called 'proteomics' that is capable of identifying hundreds of proteins," said Dr Hajduch.
He explained that proteomics was a study of proteins - vital parts of all living organisms. The word "proteome" is actually a blend of "protein" and "genome" and describes the entire complement of proteins produced by an organism's genes.
"Proteins are fingerprints of metabolic activities. And as we're comparing the proteins from seeds harvested from these two fields, we're seeing the same ones in both kinds of seeds."
Historic reasonsHe said that even though both soybean and flax adapted equally well to the contaminated environment, they did it in slightly different ways.
"In soybean, we detected the mobilisation of seed storage proteins and processes similar to what we see when plants adapt [to high levels of] heavy metals," he explained.
"In flax it was different. We saw more proteins involved in cell signaling, for instance."
Scientists had to wear masks, goggles and gloves to work in the area
The scientist noted that there were probably historic reasons why it was a lot easier for plants to get used to living in increased levels of radiation.
"It is just unbelievable how quickly this ecosystem has been able to adapt," he said.
"[There must be] some kind of mechanism that plants already have inside them. Radioactivity has always been present here on Earth, from the very early stages of our planet's formation.
"There was a lot more radioactivity on the surface back then than there is now, so probably when life was evolving, these plants came across radioactivity and they probably developed some mechanism that is now in them."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This beautifully crafted Daft Punk table with iPod dock was built by [Dustin Evans]. The table itself was built with the help of a friend in one day with electronics added a bit later. It features an 8×8 grid of boxes with red LEDs mounted inside. The picture above is not quite the finished product, a diffuser will be added later to augment the scattering of light already provided by cutting the tip off of each LED. On the underside you’ll find a power supply and a set of speakers. The system is controlled by an Arduino which resides in the same drawer as the dock. See the final product in the clip after the break.
[via HackedGadgets]
Playboy Model Tries To Open Plane Door In Mid-Flight
Posted: 5:10 pm EDT September 10, 2010Updated: 5:55 pm EDT September 10, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Playboy model is facing charges for trying to open a door on an airplane that had taken off from Orlando during mid-flight, WFTV learned Friday.Investigators said 21-year-old Tiffany Livingston suffered an anxiety attack while onboard a JetBlue plane on its way to Newark Thursday.She was detained once the plane landed.Copyright 2010 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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