The Latest from Boing Boing

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• Researchers expand clinical study of brain implant
• Giant code wheel for sale, proceeds to EFF
• Turn zombie game into Benny Hill game
• You get better results asking for stuff when you talk to the right ear
• Britain's secret plan for surviving a nuclear war
• Woodsy themed laptop and iPhone cases
• Bozeman, Montana changes its mind about job applicants' social networking passwords
• Goopymart's paper taco trucks
• Canadian government expresses cautious enthusiasm for Internet
• Comatose robot symbolizes the de-industrialization of America
• Why "new novelists" are all old
• Squelettes: buildings that never made it
• Price Is Right's midcentury modern tech
• Moussavi the architect
• The Pyramid of North Dakota
• Dancing manias
• Water drums for kids
• Today at Boing Boing Gadgets
• Half-man / half-Pooh Bear takes a break next to decapitated patriotic Mickey Mouse
• Tadpoles falling from the sky in Japan?
• Jury reports that Steon's Orbo does not produce free energy
• Connections: Atlas Obscura Edition
• Mathematically modelling phantom traffic jams
• Boing Boing Video gets a website makeover, a guest tweet-blog, and a new url: boingboingvideo.com
• A library of the world's most unusual compounds
• Today on Offworld: the 15 games you need for your new iPhone
• Nanoscale gear
• Girl who claimed her face was tattooed while sleeping comes clean
• Consumer groups around the world demand transparency on secret copyright treaty
• BB Video: "Ssshhh," by Hess is More, dir: m ss ng p eces (music video)

Researchers expand clinical study of brain implant Posted: 24 Jun 2009 04:01 AM PDT Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras. I'm excited to see that the BrainGate Neural Interface System is moving to phase-II clinical testing. BrainGate is: A baby aspirin-size brain sensor containing 100 electrodes, each thinner than a human hair, that connects to the surface of the motor cortex (the part of the brain that enables voluntary movement), registers electrical signals from nearby neurons, and transmits them through gold wires to a set of computers, processors and monitors. The goal is for patients with brain stem stroke, ALS, and spinal cord injuries to eventually be able to control prosthetic limbs directly form their brains. An earlier version of the BrainGate system helped a young tetraplegic named Matt Nagle control a mouse cursor and operate a very basic prosthetic hand. Last fall, I met a 25-year-old locked-in patient named Erik Ramsey, who is participating in the only other FDA-approved clinical trial of a brain-computer interface. Ever since a car accident nine years ago, the only part of Erik's body that has been under his control has been his eyeballs, and even those he can only move up and down. The hope is that he might someday use his neural implant to control a digital voice: When Erik thinks about puckering his mouth into an o or stretching his lips into an e, a unique pattern of neurons fires--even though his body doesn't respond. It's like flicking switches that connect to a burned-out bulb. The electrode implant picks up the noisy firing signals of about fifty different neurons, amplifies them, and transmits them across Erik's skull to two small receivers glued to shaved spots on the crown of his head. Those receivers then feed the signal into a computer, which uses a sophisticated algorithm to compare the pattern of neural firings to a library of patterns Kennedy recorded earlier. It takes about fifty milliseconds for the computer to figure out what Erik is trying to say and translate those thoughts into sound. Like the BrainGate sensor, Erik's neural implant was inserted into the motor cortex (in his case, the specific region that controls the mouth, lips, and jaw). But Erik's implant only has a single electrode, whereas the BrainGate has 100, which means it should, theoretically, be able to differentiate signals from a far greater number of neurons. Plug and Play: Researchers Expand Clinical Study of Neural Interface Brain Implant The Unspeakable Odyssey of the Motionless Boy

Giant code wheel for sale, proceeds to EFF Posted: 24 Jun 2009 03:59 AM PDT The Mythbusters gang built a gigantic code-wheel for a demo at the RSA conference and now they're auctioning it off, with proceeds to the Electronic Frontier Foundation: What we have here is a genuine functioning coding cryptex built by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters. They used it for a demonstration at the RSA Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, April 24th, 2009. See a video of the demonstration at the following link: http://media.omediaweb.com/rsa2009/keynote_catalog.htm. The client wanted a unique demonstration of something to do with encryption and secrecy, and Jamie Hyneman, and Adam Savage designed, built and used this machine to encode the phrase "Cryptologists do it in secret". Then they went on stage at RSA and used the machine to DECRYPT the secret message. The appearance was a smash success. The crowd was great. The machine worked great. THE MACHINE: at 13' long, and just over 6' high, it's made to be highly visible, even from the back of the audience. It's composed of a long pole, holding 29 distinct wheels, built from MDF and Cintra, with applied vinyl letters. There are 4 different alphabet wheels randomly distributed among the 29, making this a moderately robust coding machine (save for the fact that pictures here compromise it's secrecy). All of this sits on a custom welded steel frame and heavy-duty castors. Although it weighs approximately 300 pounds, it rolls around quite easily. Coding Cryptex built by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman Video (via Make)

Turn zombie game into Benny Hill game Posted: 24 Jun 2009 01:21 AM PDT StevenF has a great lazyweb idea: a simple game-mod would turn the terrifying and brilliant multiplayer zombie combat game Left 4 Dead into Benny Hill, the Game: 1. Start with "Left 4 Dead" 2. Replace all weapons with slapping attacks 3. Replace all zombie models with half naked women, nuns, and policemen 4. Replace writing-on-wall textures with terrible puns and one-liners 5. Replace music with "Yakety Sax" Result: Benny Hill, The Video Game this is stevenf.com (via Wonderland) Previously: Left 4 Dead 2 screenshots -- Offworld - Boing Boing

You get better results asking for stuff when you talk to the right ear Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:23 PM PDT Researchers at University "Gabriele d'Annunzio" in Chieti, Italy have published the results of three cleverly designed studies that indicate that humans are more apt to act on information heard through their right ears than through their left. Tommasi and Marzoli's three studies specifically observed ear preference during social interactions in noisy night club environments. In the first study, 286 clubbers were observed while they were talking, with loud music in the background. In total, 72 percent of interactions occurred on the right side of the listener. These results are consistent with the right ear preference found in both laboratory studies and questionnaires and they demonstrate that the side bias is spontaneously displayed outside the laboratory. In the second study, the researchers approached 160 clubbers and mumbled an inaudible, meaningless utterance and waited for the subjects to turn their head and offer either their left of their right ear. They then asked them for a cigarette. Overall, 58 percent offered their right ear for listening and 42 percent their left. Only women showed a consistent right-ear preference. In this study, there was no link between the number of cigarettes obtained and the ear receiving the request. In the third study, the researchers intentionally addressed 176 clubbers in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette. They obtained significantly more cigarettes when they spoke to the clubbers' right ear compared with their left. Need Something? Talk To My Right Ear

Britain's secret plan for surviving a nuclear war Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:18 PM PDT Britain recently released its "War Book," detailing the national plan for life after a nuclear attack. By all accounts, it's a hair raising document, but I'm damned if I can find a copy on the web, or on the National Archives' site. Can you? Post links in the comments section, please! The country would have been divided into 12 regions, each governed by cabinet ministers with wide powers, aided by senior military officers, chief constables and judges and based in bunkers. Other senior figures would have retreated to a central government shelter under the Cotswolds. The plans all assumed that the confrontation would be with the Soviet Union. Among the possible scenarios spelled out in the autumn of 1968 was escalating tension following a Soviet moon landing and troop movements in eastern Europe... The book apparently formed the basis for regular exercises every two years by senior civil servants, with daily internal briefings, the organisation of national preparedness schemes including the stockpiling of food and building materials for shelters and, as the threat grew more imminent, the removal of art treasures from London to Scotland and the emptying of hospitals of all but the most acutely ill. David Young, a former Ministry of Defence civil servant who took part in the mock exercises, told the programme: "R-hour would be the final release of nuclear weapons. There may have been an earlier tactical use ... but R-hour was [when] everything that's left goes. That's not an easy decision to participate in. Even though you know it is just an exercise, it makes you think." Young said ministers were not encouraged to take part in the exercises: "They would be disinclined to play by the rules. Some of them quite liked talking, so you'd get behind time and there would be a fear that if they showed a reluctance to do what the military believed was necessary, that this would weaken deterrence..." "My favourite measure, the one which always aroused a lot of debate ... was the introduction of censorship for private correspondence. You can imagine that was something that ministers would only agree to right at the very end when it was clear that war was inevitable." War Book reveals how Britain planned to cope with nuclear attack (via Futurismic)

Woodsy themed laptop and iPhone cases Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:55 PM PDT Yogi Bear-style Laptop sleeve and iPhone case from HunterGatherer. Very nice! HunterGatherer iPhone Case & Laptop Sleeve

Bozeman, Montana changes its mind about job applicants' social networking passwords Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:46 PM PDT The town of Bozeman, Montana has rescinded its policy requiring job applicants to submit their logins and passwords for all social network sites, email accounts, etc, as part of its background check process. The city announced in a meeting (PDF) on Monday that it had suspended the practice as of Friday, June 19 and that it would update its hiring procedures within 30 days to determine a more appropriate level of screening for employees... It's clear now, however, that the city has gotten a major whiff of its own bad PR and has decided to back off. In its meeting yesterday, city officials clarified that no candidate was ever disqualified for not disclosing the login info, and that the only staff to review password-protect information was the HR department. Still, the city is red-faced over the incident. "We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the City of Bozeman," City Manager Chris A. Kukulski said in a statement. "This was an honest mistake," he continued. "Human Resources, our Police and Fire Departments were doing something they believed was consistent with our core values. I take full responsibility for this decision and we will work hard to regain the trust and confidence of the City Commission and our community." Bozeman apologizes, backs down over Facebook login request

Goopymart's paper taco trucks Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:43 PM PDT Goopymart has created a set of print-and-fold taco trucks for you to enjoy, celebrating the Taco Trucker's art even as city officials around the world struggle to stamp it out. paper taco trucks (via Andre Torrez) Previously: Saveourtacotrucks.org - Boing Boing Goopy's Polynesian monster cartoons - Boing Boing Hallowe'en art from Goopymart - Boing Boing

Canadian government expresses cautious enthusiasm for Internet Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:40 PM PDT A reader writes, "Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore gave a speech this week that appears to suggest a surprising shift in Canadian policy on copyright. Moore talked about the great opportunities presented by the Internet and how many older politicians don't understand these opportunities." For context, this is the same government that recently tried to ram through a super-restrictive version of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, refusing to meet with Canadian artists, filmmakers, academics, librarians or user-rights groups. As Michael Geist says, "Last year's experience with Bill C-61 left thousands of Canadians deeply disappointed with government on copyright policy. Yesterday's remarks signal an important shift with both Clement and Moore clearly committed to more open consultation and to the development of a balanced copyright bill that better reflects the real-world realities of new technologies, innovation, new creators, and the reasonable expectations of Canadian consumers." The old way of doing things is over. These things are all now one. And it's great. And it's never been better. And we need to be enthusiastic and embrace these things. I point out the average age of a member of parliament because don't assume that those who are making the decisions and who are driving the debate understand all the dynamics that are at play here. Don't assume that everybody understands the opportunities that are at play here and how great this can be for Canada. Tony is doing his job and I'm going to do my job and be a cheerleader and push this and to fight for the right balance as we go forward. The opportunities are unbelievable and unparalleled in human history. Reflecting on the Digital Economy Conference

Comatose robot symbolizes the de-industrialization of America Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:36 PM PDT This huge, comatose robot sculpture graces the quad at the University of Alabama: But the artwork and its sculptor - UA graduate student Joe McCreary - have a serious story to tell. Goldie symbolizes the closing of Birmingham's Sloss Furnaces in 1972 and America's passage into the post-industrial era. The robot is not so much dead or sleeping as turned off. "The robot's been decommissioned, shut off," McCreary says. "It's not needed anymore..." In some ways, Goldie reflects all the shut-down equipment that visitors can see at Sloss. Tons of equipment left over from the furnaces' heyday still litter the site. "All around the site there's heavy equipment - locomotive cranes, big scoops - that's been decommissioned," says McCreary, who earned a B.F.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi. "They're points of interest for the walking tour of the site. The idea is that the robot is a simulacrum for the people who worked at the furnaces and are no longer there. Then there's the bigger picture of the iron industry in this country - how it's slowly in decline." Woods Quad Robot Sculpture Draws Attention, Provokes Thought (Thanks, Chris!)

Why "new novelists" are all old Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:33 PM PDT John Scalzi explains why most "new novelists" are in their thirties or older. Amen -- my first book came out when I was 30, and I was considered a young turk: Finding an agent is a slog. One has to query the agent, wait to see if the query is accepted, and then if it is sample chapters and an outline go out in the mail. Then more waiting to see if the agent asks for more. If he or she does, it's time to send the whole manuscript and then wait again to see if he or she thinks the writer is worth their time to represent. At any point the agent can say "no," at which point our budding novelist will have to start over again. But if the agent says "yes," then comes the part where he or she starts schlepping the novel to publishers. Presuming the agent gets a publishing house interested in looking at the manuscript, it could be weeks or even months before there's response, either positive or negative. If it's the latter, it's on to the next publisher. The second path is the Path of the Slush Pile. This gets the work out there quicker but fewer publishers still accept unagented manuscripts, and as you might guess from the name "slush pile," the rate at which editors work through the slush pile is pretty slow. Baen Books, which accepts unagented manuscripts, lists their response time as nine to twelve months: Yes, you could make a baby (if you can make a baby) before our poor theoretical writer here would hear back about their literary child. And if at the end of those nine months to a year Baen (or whomever) said no, the poor writer have to start all over again. Why New Novelists Are Kinda Old, or, Hey, Publishing is Slow

Squelettes: buildings that never made it Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:31 PM PDT Bruce Sterling wants a new word to describe buildings that are abandoned part way through construction due to economic bad times: *Another version is the abandoned, incomplete high-rise. Commonly a steel and cement framework is erected (because that's pretty easy), and then there's some legal or economic brouhaha and the builders just down tools and walk off. In Brazil a skeleton framework of this kind is called a "squelette." *Occasionally squatters move into "squelettes" and bring in some breeze-block, corrugated tin and plastic hoses, transforming squelettes into high-rise favelas. This doesn't work very well because it's tough to manage the utilities, especially the water... *It bothers me to use clumsy circumlocutions like "unfinished ruins" or "partially built, yet abandoned structures" or "stillborn highrises" for a phenomenon that is so common and so obvious to billions of urban people, so henceforth I am going to call them "squelettes." They don't have to be Brazilian, French, or 80 stories tall, either. *The thing I find most intriguing and modern about the squelette is the concept of living in a structure that never made it as a structure. Since I spend some time in Belgrade and Turin, I'm quite familiar with the idea of living in ruins. The idea of living in *abandoned prototypes* or giant failed larval husks is very contemporary, very New Depression. Very "Favela Chic." Ruins of the Present

Price Is Right's midcentury modern tech Posted: 23 Jun 2009 09:38 PM PDT BB pal Drew Carey snapped the photo above in the Price Is Right studio. From Drew's Twitter stream: A patch panel from the 1950's that we still use. Surprised our studio monitors don't use vacuum tubes. :) Drew Carey on Twitter

Moussavi the architect Posted: 23 Jun 2009 05:52 PM PDT Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras. I wouldn't have ever guessed that there could be an Atlas Obscura angle on the Iran situation (the country's pigeon towers and salt-cured mummies feel rather trivial at the moment), but then along comes this slide show put together by the architecture critic James Gardner about Moussavi's life as a practicing architect: Over the past century, not a few powerful men, among them Churchill, Eisenhower, and even Hitler, have fancied themselves painters and have displayed at times a lively interest in architecture. What is different about Mir-Hossein Moussavi, Iran's leading opposition candidate, is that he has actually earned a living through these disciplines, and not in his long ago youth, but as recently as this past year, just before he sought the presidency of Iran. Unfortunately, there seem to be very few online images of Moussavi's most famous commission, the Iran Ministry of Energy building, and so the slide show is necessarily a bit speculative. The above photograph is of the Iran Art Portico on Valiasr Street in Tehran, a Moussavi project completed just before the start of the presidential campaign. Moussavi the Architect

The Pyramid of North Dakota Posted: 23 Jun 2009 05:24 PM PDT Dylan Thuras is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Dylan is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer. In the middle of the expansive North Dakota landscape a small pyramid appears, but there is nothing ancient about this pyramid The Safeguard Program was developed in the 1960s to shoot down incoming Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built at a cost of 6 billion dollars in Nekoma, North Dakota, the site was a massive complex of missile silos, a giant pyramid-shaped radar system, and dozens of launching silos for surface-to-air missiles tipped with thermonuclear warheads. However due to both its expense, and concern over its effectiveness and the danger of detonating defensive nuclear warheads over friendly territory, the program was shut down before it was even operational. Today its a military-industrial shell in the middle of nowhere, or in the words of Kaluz who added this great site to the Atlas, "a monument to man's fear and ignorance." More on the Atlas, and thanks Kaluz for the great submission!

Dancing manias Posted: 23 Jun 2009 03:09 PM PDT In 1374, hundreds of people along the River Rhine compulsively danced for days at a time, swept up in a terrifying mania of mass, compulsive, dancing. The hysteria spread through north-Eastern France and the Netherlands, lasting for months. Similar "dancing epidemics" broke out over the next two centuries. The new issue of The Psychologist features a scientific look at this incredibly strange kind of hysteria. From The Psychologist: An important clue to the cause of these bizarre outbreaks lies in the fact that they appear to have involved dissociative trance, a condition involving (among other things) a dramatic loss of self-control. It is hard to imagine people dancing for several days, with bruised and bloodied feet, except in an altered state of consciousness. But we also have eyewitness evidence that they were not fully conscious. Onlookers spoke of the dancing maniacs of 1374 as wild, frenzied and seeing visions. One noted that while 'they danced their minds were no longer clear' and another spoke of how, having wearied themselves through dancing and jumping, they went 'raging like beasts over the land' (Backman, 1952). The hundreds of possessed nuns described in chronicles, legal records, theological texts or the archives of the Catholic Inquisition were equally subject to dissociative trance (Newman, 1998; Rosen, 1968). Some may have simulated the behaviour of the demoniac as a means of eliciting positive attention (Walker, 1981), but the detailed descriptions of astute and cautious inquisitors leave little doubt that most were genuinely entranced. How might we explain these epidemics of dissociation? Ergot could have induced hallucinations and convulsions in nuns who ate bread made from contaminated flour, but it is highly unlikely that ergotism would cause remorseless bouts of dancing (Berger, 1931). Nor is there any evidence that what the victims of mass possession ate or drank made any difference. Rather, as explained below, there are very strong indications that fearful and depressed communities were unusually prone to epidemic possession. And given that there is a well-established link between psychological stress and dissociation, this correlation is immediately suggestive of mass psychogenic illness. "Looking Back: Dancing plagues and mass hysteria" (via Mind Hacks)

Water drums for kids Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:53 PM PDT My 3-year-old is pretty deep into music -- listening to it, playing instruments, talking about songs, etc. Sometimes it's hard to get him away from his djembe and into the bathtub. My wife found Tub Tunes Water Drums and they are a huge, er, hit with my son. The idea is simple. The plastic drums float on the surface of the water and you can vary the pitch by raising or lowering the water level inside them. The tone is pretty terrific too. They're only $12 to buy on Amazon (or you could probably make your own pretty easily). One caveat: Last night, my son said, "They work even if I'm not in the bath." Indeed. Tub Tunes Water Drums

Today at Boing Boing Gadgets Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:53 PM PDT Today was Camping Day at Boing Boing Gadgets. Steven and Lisa took some friends and two cars full of gear to Lake Mendocino and churned out a series of reviews, including: * Sleeping bags and technical blankets; * An ultra-light tent and an ultra-roomy tent; * Headlamps; * Camping gear for dogs; * iPhone apps for camping; * A car tarp; * A solar-powered briefcase and power hub; * A gravity-based water filter; and * 10 non-gadget essentials to take with you on a car camping trip. Other stories on the site today include a video of a better British power plug, Joel's analysis of why the reseller market for the iPhone 3G is a lot like that of used Macs, and Lisztomania!

Half-man / half-Pooh Bear takes a break next to decapitated patriotic Mickey Mouse Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:40 PM PDT Photo by Left Hand Rotation

Tadpoles falling from the sky in Japan? Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:24 PM PDT Dead tadpoles and frogs were found in fields, gardens, a tennis court, and on car roofs near the Japan Sea coast last week. Was this an example of the classic Fortean phenomenon of animals raining from the heavens? From Discover: Various objects and animals do occasionally fall from the sky: It's called "Fafrotskies," short for "fall from the skies." These events generally occur when water spouts, storms, and strong winds suck objects from bodies of water and deposit them on land. But because there had been no reports of strong wind, many officials and meteorologists say this explanation can't explain the torrent of tadpoles. An alternative explanation is that birds who eat tadpoles and fish carried the animals in their mouths, then dropped them while flying. Still, some bird experts say that if this had happen, the tadpole carnage would have covered a more sizable area. "It's Raining Tadpoles?" (Discover.com) Falling fish and frog news round-up (Cabinet of Wonders) Previously: Philosophy of Charles Fort - Boing Boing Far Out: 101 Strange Tales From Science's Outer Edge - Boing Boing

Jury reports that Steon's Orbo does not produce free energy Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:21 PM PDT The Orbo doesn't work, reports a jury of scientists and engineers selected by perpetual motion company Steorn to analyze its technology. Twenty-two independent scientists and engineers were selected by Steorn to form this jury. It has for the past two years examined evidence presented by the company. The unanimous verdict of the Jury is that Steorn's attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy. The jury is therefore ceasing work. The blogger who runs a blog about Steorn says: As I see it there have always been three possibilities for Steorn: either they truly have free energy technology, or they're a fraud, or they're mistaken and delusional. Today's development can be taken as weighty evidence that they are, in fact, mistaken and delusional. Steorn Jury Announcement Previously: Steorn has "technical difficulties" with "free energy" machine ... Video of Steorn CEO explaining why its perpetual motion device ... Intelligent design proponents champion Steorn's perpetual motion ... Exploded view of Steorn's perpetual motion device - Boing Boing Steorn's "free energy machine" to be unveiled today - Boing Boing Huffington Post on Steorn's "free energy" - Boing Boing Interview with Steorn CEO - Boing Boing Video of YAPMM (Yet Another Perpetual Motion Machine) - Boing Boing

Connections: Atlas Obscura Edition Posted: 23 Jun 2009 02:07 PM PDT Dylan Thuras is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Dylan is a travel blogger and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Joshua Foer. If you've never seen the BBC show Connections with James Burke, you are missing out. Aired in 1979 the show attempted to connect various elements of history of science into a narrative web. I adore the show and in an homage I am going to try and do a few small Atlas version of connections, taking two disparate places, and finding an unexpected connection that links them together. Here goes! 1. Colossal Squid on display at the New Zealand Te Papa Museum The San Aspiring, a New Zealand fishing boat, caught the colossal squid in February 2007. "The crew were fishing with longlines - single lines with many baited hooks - for a large species of fish, the Antarctic toothfish. But on one line they caught more than they bargained for! There was a toothfish on the line, but eating the fish was a colossal squid - nearly 500 kg of it." The Colossal squid, featuring one of the largest beaks in nature, is now on display at the Te Papa Museum in New Zealand. 2. Cuban Perfume Museum In Old Havana stands the perfume museum, a collection of bottles, ingredients, and historical artifacts all related to perfume. The museum has a collection of French perfumes, including Chanel No. 5, as well as great Cuban perfumers Gravi, Sebatés and Crusellas. Most of the Cuban perfumes on display predate 1960, with the exception of one large collection. Suchel Fragrencia is the state perfume and soap maker, and the official state perfume produced in the country. The museum has their complete collection. The Connection: Whale excrement Squid, be they giant or colossal, make up between 50 and 70% percent of a sperm whale's diet. Unfortunately for the whale those sharp, pointy squid beaks can irritate their stomaches. It seems that some whales develop a rather curious response. Their intestines coat the beaks in a fatty goo and expel the resulting substance. (Recent consensus is that it generally goes out the back, unless too large and then it is vomited up.) Known as Ambergris and used in Chanel No. 5 and other famous perfumes the whale excrement was, and still is, one of the most valued ingredients in scent making. Though it stinks terribly when first expelled "over time, the odour becomes softer and more perfumistic." Ambergris costs upwards of 4000 dollars a pound and is still used today in high end perfumes. So it is that the smell of the Chanel No. 5 found at the Cuban Perfume Museum is, in part at least, the smell of "the inglorious bowels of a sick whale" caused by the beaks of colossal squid, like the one on display at the New Zealand Te Papa Museum.

Mathematically modelling phantom traffic jams Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:41 AM PDT You know how high traffic density always seems to lead to self-perpetuating traffic jams that have no visible cause other than the fact that everyone has slowed down? There's math to describe it: The mathematics of such traffic jams are strikingly similar to the equations that describe detonation waves produced by explosions, said Aslan Kasimov, a lecturer in MIT's Department of Mathematics. Realizing this allowed the reseachers to solve traffic jam equations that were first theorized in the 1950s. The MIT researchers even came up with a name for this kind of gridlock - "jamiton." It's a riff on "soliton," a term used in math and physics to desribe a self-sustaining wave that maintains its shape while moving. The equations MIT came up with are similar to those used to describe fluid mechanics, and they model traffic jams as a self-sustaining wave... The MIT team found speed, traffic density and other factors can determine conditions that will lead to a jamiton and how quickly it will spread. Once the jam forms, the researchers say, drivers have no choice but to wait for it to clear. The new model could lead to roads designed with sufficient capacity to keep traffic density below the point at which a jamiton can form. Kasimov found that jamitons have a "sonic point," which separates traffic flow into upstream and downstream components, much like the event horizon of a black hole. This sonic point prevents communication between these distinct components so information about free-flowing conditions just beyond the front of the jam can't reach drivers behind the sonic point. Ergo, there you sit, stuck in traffic and have no idea that the jam has no external cause, your blood pressure racing toward the stratosphere. MIT Hopes to Exorcise 'Phantom' Traffic Jams (via Futurismic)

Boing Boing Video gets a website makeover, a guest tweet-blog, and a new url: boingboingvideo.com Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:15 AM PDT I'm very happy to blog that our two-year-old, Webby-honored video project has undergone a web makeover, thanks to the fine design talents of Boing Boing Gadgets' Rob Beschizza. We have a new url shortcut that's a little easier to remember, too: boingboingvideo.com. You'll notice a large Flash video embed at the top of the new layout -- yeah! A big fat 962 pixel doublewide, baby! This is what video on the web is all about! And, a number of new video-centric, visually pleasing ways to search through our archives. You can sort by category, too: "animation," "sci-tech," "music video," and so on. The new UI is still under development, and we're sorting out some kinks here and there, so feel free to provide feedback in the comments or by email: boingboingvideo@boingboing.net. By way of that email address, we also welcome suggestions on stuff you'd like us to cover in future episodes, content submissions if you've created something yourself, and, (gotta pay the bills, y'all) -- sponsorship inquiries. Here's a feature I'm super excited about: We've launched a guest-curated sidebar blog, @BBVBOX, where people whose taste in internet video we dig can tweet short pointers to web clips they like. The team right now: Sean Bonner, Susannah Breslin, Andrea James, Richard Metzger, R. Stevens, Jesse Thorn, Robin Sloan and Laughing Squid, aka Scott Beale. The @BBVBOX archives are here. Huge thanks to all who made the makeover possible -- Rob Beschizza, Dean "mustardhamsters" Putney, Joel Johnson, and our tireless and awesome sysadmin Ken Snider, among them! Big thanks also to our hosting and distribution partners, including YouTube, iTunes, Miro, Plex, Boxee, Dotsub (where we'll begin uploading daily videos soon for foreign language subtitling!), and Episodic.com.

A library of the world's most unusual compounds Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:57 AM PDT Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras. George Pendle has done a nice write-up of the Materials Library at King's College London for the Finanical Times. It's a place I badly want to visit on my next trip to London: Deep in the bowels of a brutalist concrete building on the Strand, long shelves are packed - crammed, really - with some of the world's strangest substances, from the past, present and sometimes, it seems, the future. Take Aerogel: the world's lightest solid consists of 99.8 per cent air and looks like a vague, hazy mass. And yet despite its insubstantial nature, it is remarkably strong; and because of its ability to nullify convection, conduction and radiation, it also happens to be the best insulator in the world. Sitting next to the Aerogel is its thermal opposite, a piece of aluminium nitride, which is such an effective conductor of heat that if you grasp a blunt wafer of it in your hand, the warmth of your body alone allows it to cut through ice. Nearby are panes of glass that clean themselves, metal that remembers the last shape it was twisted into, and a thin tube of Tin Stick which, when bent, emits a sound like a human cry. There's a tub of totally inert fluorocarbon liquid into which any electronic device can be placed and continue to function. The same liquid has been used to replace the blood in lab rats, which also, oddly enough, continue to function... All these, and more than 900 others, including everyday materials suchas aluminium, steel and copper, are here for one purpose - to instil a sense of wonder in the visitor. A Library of the World's Most Unusual Compounds

Today on Offworld: the 15 games you need for your new iPhone Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:52 AM PDT As any new or vet iPhone owner will know, trying to wade through the App Store's overwhelming selection of games and apps is a daunting process, so we've whipped together this guide to the first 15 games you should seek out, with another 30 to consider (from a wider variety of genres [shooting, word games]) thrown in for good measure, which should hopefully better ease you into what the device has to offer. Elsewhere we looked at more iPhone games about to make their way to the store -- Hand Circus's trip into the savage/Indy Jones-ish wild in their Rolando sequel, and a revival of EA's classic board/strategy game Archon (which is indeed now live). We also saw Rockstar's formerly DS-exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars making the leap to the new PSP Go, new stickers from Offworld-favorite illustrator Jon Burgerman coming to LittleBigPlanet, hand-crafted drink coasters to commemorate the worst day of your gaming life, and beautiful new King of Games T-shirts celebrating Q-games' PS3 PixelJunk franchise. Finally, we listened to the chiptune remixes coming to the PS3 revival of Katamari Damacy, and our 'one shot's for the day: Fez, paused, and accidentally gorgeous long-exposure phone-cam photos of Galaga.

Nanoscale gear Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:22 AM PDT Seen here is a gear that's just 1.2 nanometers in diameter. For comparison, a human hair is about 80,000 nanometers in diameter. Developed by researchers from A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore, the gear is reportedly the smallest in the world with controllable rotation. From ScienceDaily: (Professor Christian) Joachim and his team discovered that the way to successfully control the rotation of a single-molecule gear is via the optimization of molecular design, molecular manipulation and surface atomic chemistry. This was a breakthrough because before the team's discovery, motions of molecular rotors and gears were random and typically consisted of a mix of rotation and lateral displacement. The scientists at IMRE solved this scientific conundrum by proving that the rotation of the molecule-gear could be well-controlled by manipulating the electrical connection between the molecule and the tip of a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope while it was pinned on an atom axis. Said Dr Lim Khiang Wee, Executive Director of IMRE, "Christian and his team's discovery shows that it may one day be possible to create and manipulate molecular-level machines. Such machines may, for example, walk on DNA tracks in the future to deliver therapeutics to heal and cure. World's First Controllable Molecular Gear At Nanoscale Created

Girl who claimed her face was tattooed while sleeping comes clean Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:15 AM PDT Kimberly Vlaeminck, 18, made headlines when she claimed last week to have woken up from a tattoo session with 56 stars on her face. She said she had asked for just three small ones. Turns out though, Vlaeminck was lying. From the Sydney Morning Herald: "I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and that the tattooist had made a mistake," Ms Vlaeminck told Dutch TV. (Tattoo artist Rouslan) Toumaniantz - who is covered in tattoos and piercings - had insisted Vlaeminck wanted 56 stars tattooed on her face. But he had said he would pay for half of the laser treatment to remove the tattoos, The Telegraph said. "Kimberley is unhappy and it is not my wish to have an unsatisfied client," Mr Toumaniantz said. But after Ms Vlaeminck's confession he had withdrawn the offer, The Telegraph said. Girl who said she woke up with 56 tattoos on her face admits lying

Consumer groups around the world demand transparency on secret copyright treaty Posted: 23 Jun 2009 10:06 AM PDT Glyn sez, "The Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement [ed: a secret, non-UN treaty that rich countries are cooking up that will criminalize copyright infringement, sending non-commercial file-sharers to prison; authorize border guards to search your hard-drive and personal electronics for copyright infringements; and require governments to give media giants the power to decide who should and shouldn't have Internet access, without having to prove anything in a court of law] has been making its way in secret for some time, a coalition of consumer groups have now demanded that the text of the directive be made public. The resolution calls for a halt to the plurilateral negotiation of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) led by the United States, until the negotiating texts are made available to consumer groups and other conditions are met. TACD wants future negotiations to be respectful of civil liberties such as the right to privacy and also demands the inclusion of developing countries in ACTA negotiations as the stated intention is to extend and apply the treaty to them. The resolution offers recommendations to ensure IP enforcement policies and practices address issues such as transparency, evidence and process, competitiveness, consumer protection, human rights, access to knowledge, and digital rights. The resolution reflects discussions TACD had with representatives from the EU and the US government on 9 June, during the TACD 10th annual meeting in Brussels (IPW, Enforcement, 11 June 2009). But the resolution was released for the first time on 18 June and forms part of a larger effort by TACD to push back on the IP rights enforcement issues, according to consumer representatives. EU, US Consumer Groups Issue Resolution On Enforcement; Demand Role In ACTA (Thanks, Glyn!)

BB Video: "Ssshhh," by Hess is More, dir: m ss ng p eces (music video) Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:57 AM PDT (Download MP4) Boing Boing Video today debuts a new music video: "Ssshhhh," by Hess is More, from the new album "Hits." Produced and directed by m ss ng p eces. "Playful techno" artist Mikkel Hess hails from Denmark, and currently calls New York City his home -- and that's where these guys shot this quirky, colorful video, using some interesting camera gear. Ari Kuschnir, Producer and co-founder of m ss ng peces, on the shoot: Shhhhh is such an intense, infectious beat that -- we wanted the video to complement the arc of the track. I've been a big fan of HESS since 2006, and we've collaborated on a number of projects. Knowing that the single and album were his official US debut, we wanted to show HESS running through NYC and training to earn his 'spot' in the US charts. We chose to shoot at 59.97 frames per second on the Panasonic HPX-170 to give it a crisp 'video' look. The Bodymount (by Doggicam) we attached to HESS for a number of scenes was brought in to match the energy and tempo of Shhhh. More from director and m ss ng peces co-founder Scott Thrift: The first time i heard Shhhhhh I was experiementing with a resistance work out using large rubber bands. I imagined HESS using the same workout, training his arms to be a great drummer. The music video format is a lot of fun to play with. Right now, we're putting the finishing touches on our next music video for DFA Records' outstanding new band Free Energy. You really gotta watch it in HD -- select the higher-quality option in the embed above, or try the MP4 download. The visual progression of the video got stuck in my head as much as the catchy, poppy, nerdy tune. I really love this piece. NYC folks: Don't miss Hess is More's upcoming live shows in Brooklyn at Coco66 and the Sycamore. Details here. Below, another use of the body-mounted camera chosen to create the unique look and sense of motion in this video. - XJ

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