The NYC Department of Transportation recently updated its Cycling Map for 2013. The new map marks all 900 miles of bike-friendly paths in NYC. Over 375,000 maps will be distributed this year from bicycle shops, libraries, and schools. You can also order your free copy by calling 311.
In…
@alexlindsay Activ-Flex Band-aids work great with iPhones/tablets/trackpads. (Hydrocolloid bandages are perfect for paper cuts on fingers.)
— Joshua Schwimmer (@joshuaschwimmer) April 28, 2013
thisistheverge: After ‘Music for Airports,’ Brian Eno turns to…
jayparkinsonmd.comthisistheverge:After ‘Music for Airports,’ Brian Eno turns to hospital soundscapesBrian Eno, the former member of Roxy Music widely credited with inventing ambient music, is working on light and sound installations designed to provide a “healing…
Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer for Feature Photography
David Pescovitz, boingboing.netJavier Manzano won the 2013 Pulitzer Price for Feature Photography for this photo of two rebel soldiers in Syria, taken on October 18, 2012. Yes, those are bullet holes. All of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced on…
Mailbox app does away with reservation system
Michael Grothaus, tuaw.comUsers still waiting in line for access to the task-manager/email client Mailbox will be happy to hear that the app’s reservation system is no more. Orchestra announced yesterday that the waiting system has been eliminated thanks to its engineers…
Carving an artificial cavern under NYC
David Pescovitz, boingboing.netNew York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is digging an artificial cavern for a future Second Avenue Subway stop below 86th street. Patrick Cashin is photographing the massive operation. Fortunately, the tunnel has be…
How to become internet famous for $68
Kevin Ashton, qz.comSantiago Swallow may be one of the most famous people no one has heard of.
His eyes fume from his Twitter profile: he is Hollywood-handsome with high cheekbones and dirty blond, collar-length hair. Next to his name is one of social media…
odditiesoflife: Rare Lenticular Clouds The stunning…
odditiesoflife:Rare Lenticular CloudsThe stunning meteorological phenomena of lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) is a rare spectacle. Looking more like UFO’s than cloud…
BOSTON—In the aftermath of yesterday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, which left three dead and over 100 wounded, authorities announced this morning that, sadly, there are actually numerous people who could have carried out the attack. “While many details are still unclear, we can confirm that, as awful and depressing as it is to say, there are actually many, many people out there who would have wanted to set off an explosive device on a crowded street corner full of innocent men, women, and children,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick DesLauriers told reporters, adding that authorities are parsing through all available photo and video evidence in order to narrow down what is, unfortunately but undeniably, a really rather long list of potential suspects. “The fact is, there is a disturbingly high number of people in the world who are capable of planning and executing such an attack, and plenty who would devote a considerable amount of their time and resources to doing so.
The Onion, being completely serious.
Kidding Around at Consider Bardwell Farm
If you tell me there is anything better than a barn full of baby goats, than you haven’t been in a barn full of baby goats. Consider Bardwell makes amazing cheese, but they also run an incredible farm. The farm is certified Animal Welfare Approved and you can tell that the team loves their goats. I got an amazing tour from Angela Miller, own of the founders and owners.
Tuesday Crustie: Clarity
blogspot.comWe in the invertebrate neuroscience community have been clearing brains for decades. Here are some examples from my own work.
Same species (Ibacus peronii) but this time we have neurons in t …
Maps: where the Boston Marathon explosions occurred
Ritchie King and David Yanofsky, qz.comHere is a close-up of the area in downtown Boston, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, where two explosions occurred today:
Zoomed out, you can see the marathon route:
Joel Topf, pbfluids.com
William J Stone is Chief of Nephrology at the Tennessee Valley VA and faculty at Vanderbilt Medical School. He discovered beta-2 microglobulin amyloidosis in long term dialysis patients. He describes the discovery here:
I discovered B2M amyloid…
Maggie Koerth-Baker, boingboing.net
The editors of The Lancet (the long-running British journal of medicine) issued a correction this week for several rude statements and a rather terse obituary that it published in the 1850s. All of these relate to John Snow, the…
Concept Map: Monoclonal Gammopathy of Renal Significance (MGRS)
Kenar D Jhaveri( kidney 007), nephronpower.com
Visual Specialization and Brain Evolution in Primates [RSPB]
RA Barton 1998Abstract: Several theories have been proposed to explain the evolution of species differences in brain size, but no concensus has emerged. One unresolved question is whether brain size differences are a result of neural specializations or of biological constraints affecting the whole brain. Here I show that, among primates, brain size variation is associated with visual specialization. Primates with large brains for their body size have relatively expanded visual brain areas, including the primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus. Within the visual system, it is, in particular, one functionally specialized pathway upon which selection has acted: evolutionary changes in the number of neurons in parvocellular, but not magno- cellular, layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus are correlated with changes in both brain size and ecological variables (diet and social group size). Given the known functions of the parvocellular pathway, these results suggest that the relatively large brains of frugivorous species are products of selection on the ability to perceive and select fruits using specifc visual cues such as colour. The separate correlation between group size and visual brain evolution, on the other hand, may indicate the visual basis of social information processing in the primate brain.
This article is required reading if you want to read his 2004 PNAS article since the PNAS article uses his previous findings to make speculative and receive counterintuitive results on the role of the parvocellular layers and magnocellular layers on binocularity. Both articles provide highly speculative hypotheses that can provide a long critique/thought/thinktank sessions. Nevertheless, these articles both provide information on the role of binocularity and speculates on whether the brain evolved due to more internal or external forces.
David Foster Wallace’s notes from a tax accounting class
Zachary M. Seward, qz.comIn the late 1990s, the novelist David Foster Wallace enrolled in an accounting class.
He was preparing to write The Pale King, about American tax collectors, which was ultimately published in unfinished form after Wallace’s…
