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Sheep with human brains and other organs.
or
Google Search
- The glow from the firefly has been inserted into tobacco plants making them glow in the dark.
or Google Search
- A human embryo cloned using a cell from a man's leg and a cow's ovum lived and developed for twelve days until it was terminated.
or Google Search
- Goats bred with a spider gene produce milk which is processed to make "BioSteel".. The US military has set up their own goat farm to make bulletproof vests, aerospace and medical supplies.
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- Extended Life Spans
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This is not just a turning point in history. It's also the fulcrum upon which technology balances our very evolution. ted

Read about how chess computers work. There are 10^120 possible moves for a certain "tree" sequence of moves. Today's chess computers evaluate millions of moves per second, far short of all possible moves, due to computing limitations.

It's interesting to note that both grandmasters and amateurs have been shown to think only 3-5 moves in the future, while computers calculate for 10-20. Despite that, humans are still competitive with computers in chess (losing some games, winning others), showing there's more to the game than how far one can predict. Those 3-5 predictions of a grandmaster will differ from those of the amateur, and those 10-20 of the computer.

DYI it's easy and you get geek points.

this is part of a nice PR campaign where the batman begins ppl are pimping "oh batman is just a normal guy" to journalists to help hype the movie.

For example http://www.howstuffworks.com/batsuit.htm

which is actually better than this forbes piece of trash article.

God the state of journalism today makes the state of democracy today a small wonder.

I hope to god "teh internets" will put an end to this madness by creating 20 times as many trolls as current journalism, 10 times as much good commentary and some new ways of filtering between them.

ACs confirm it, slashdot is going downhill.

> The theory of which you refer to is only applicable to using stable wormholes for time travel.

No, unless I remember wrong it is a general result that does not depend on the mechanism.

I'm having trouble framing a google search that turns up relevant articles, though the last sentence on this page makes passing mention of it.

> Never use the word "proven" around scientists. They'll kick your butt for it.

Yes, strictly speaking we only "prove" stuff in formal systems. However, we often use the word even in the empirical sciences. It goes without saying that if our understanding of spacetime is wrong, the "proof" fails as well.

Cool magazine, I also subscribe. But I want to know when they will publish plans for a DIY BatSuit?

Fortunately Katie Holmes is apparently still sporting that feature.

I remember back in the glory days when howstuffworks.com used to have articles about actual products and phenomena. They still do that sometimes, right?

Sure, just last month they had an article on lightsabers!

I was trying to follow it and build one of my own, but I'm having a hell of a time aligning the crystal.

Forget Batman, that woman on http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/batsuit4.ht m certainly has some interesting equipment.

.. to cause the nipples of any damsel in distress to stand to attention. (or it it a personal phermone field?)

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/batsuit4.ht m

Also helps the most dull looking people to pick up women easy.

They even have a How Lightsabers Work write-up.

Fabulous (sic) idea - but more fundamentally (and I can't remember if this is an original idea, or else absorbed from some sci-fi book somewhere) is there ever going to be a complete "technology tree" for all man-kind...

So, like if I like crash on some strange planet that just so happens to have ore-rich rocks a N/O^2 atmosphere and plenty of organic materials (damn, no matches) - I could then recreate civilization from the ground up. Minus a few bombs and things...

That would be cool. Standard Technology Templates.

You would think this would be something Wikipedia or How Stuff Works would get into.

You're both wrong.

See here for the newtonian explanation (and why it's wrong) and here for the longer path explanation (and why it's also wrong).

The truth is a lot more complicated, but it's a mixture of the two as well as some other factors presented by neither explanation. Basically, both factors help, but aren't the entire picture.

You're both wrong.

See here for the newtonian explanation (and why it's wrong) and here for the longer path explanation (and why it's also wrong).

The truth is a lot more complicated, but it's a mixture of the two as well as some other factors presented by neither explanation. Basically, both factors help, but aren't the entire picture.

European Jewish culture tranditionally encourages being "smart". Families and communities would push children to (a) get an independent means of income so they can drop everything and easily run away from a pogrom and at the same time (b) to excel in their Jewish studies that involves Talmud/Mishna/Gemara, comprising of a challenging discipline of logic and debate.

Culling is a good way to enable evolution, but Jewish persecution (even today) is mostly indiscriminate and doesn't neccesarily allow only the "smart" to survive.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer.htm That's it. Are judges that dumb?

How breathalyzers work is already public, if you just want the basic information on the process:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer.htm

And listening devices? That's common knowledge, and there are also publicly available regulations on how they can be used, like how only certain portions of the conversation can be recorded (pre-PATRIOT Act).

Too bad they didn't have an internet connection.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer1.htm
through
http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer6.htm
Google is your friend.

Too bad they didn't have an internet connection.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer1.htm
through
http://science.howstuffworks.com/breathalyzer6.htm
Google is your friend.

The most modern displays, digital light processing (DLP) large screens, have gone back to using a color wheel.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/projection-tv 5.htm

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory1. htm

So Rush was snorting a morning after nasal spray? You're killing me!

It also looks like their engine gives a higher weightage to .com sites when the slider is towards "Shopping", and to .org, .edu, .gov sites when it is towards "Researching". For most purposes, I would go with the slider at the extreme end towards "Researching", so I can exclude spam/advertisement sites. But sadly, it looks like that would skip over *many* useful sites which end in .com .

For example, http://howstuffworks.com/ seems to be categorized as a "Shopping" site, presumably due to it's suffix, and doesn't turn up with the slider at the "Researching" end.

Needs more work, IMHO./p

It also looks like their engine gives a higher weightage to .com sites when the slider is towards "Shopping", and to .org, .edu, .gov sites when it is towards "Researching". For most purposes, I would go with the slider at the extreme end towards "Researching", so I can exclude spam/advertisement sites. But sadly, it looks like that would skip over *many* useful sites which end in .com .

For example, http://howstuffworks.com/ seems to be categorized as a "Shopping" site, presumably due to it's suffix, and doesn't turn up with the slider at the "Researching" end.

Needs more work, IMHO.

Maybe instead of a large number of batteries, they could use a Diesel-Electric Hybrid. much like trains do. I'm sure it would be a more practicle solution than thousands of pounds of batteries.

Actually, some high performance cars do use multiple engines, like the W-16 (two V-8's that share a crank shaft). See this: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/bugatti2.htm

Burn high quality CDs at slow speeds for deeper pits

This isn't how CDR media works at all. Instead of burning pits in the aluminum foil (which isn't how mass produced cds are made either; the substrate is injection molded w/ pits & lands and then the foil is mashed onto that rough surface) the laser's heat causes a state change in dye. (Reference)

The only thing burn speed really affects is mechanical precision.

That "Water Powered Clock" is as good as fake. Though I guess most of you already have figured out that it doesn't really get power out of water. It works just like a regular car battery.

You can read more about how batteries work at howstuffworks.com

If you're really in the mood to geek out and read what some folks have drawn as conclusions based on the movies, video games, books, etc, check out this article at howstuffworks:

http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/sith.htm

Not sure how much, if any, of what is in there is "canon" but it should give you some ideas of how and why the Sith limit themselves to this weird system.

Thanks to the good folks at How Stuff Works.com, the terrorists already know how to build a light saber.

The good news is that the info won't do them much good, as you have to have a strong affinity with The Force to actually build one. However, that small fact probably won't stop the Dept. of Homeland Security from taking action.

Thanks to the good folks at How Stuff Works.com, the terrorists already know how to build a light saber.

The good news is that the info won't do them much good, as you have to have a strong affinity with The Force to actually build one. However, that small fact probably won't stop the Dept. of Homeland Security from taking action.

Why oh why didn't they just use Glow Sticks? Here is a nice article on how they work. Crack them, cut them open, and dump into some sort of clear plastic tubing and seal. From what I understand, Glow Sticks are nontoxic and come in nifty colors! I guess the force just isn't that strong with them. :)

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bittorrent.htm google for the rest

The formats used in HDTV are:

* 720p - 1280x720 pixels progressive
* 1080i - 1920x1080 pixels interlaced
* 1080p - 1920x1080 pixels progressive

Ever wondered how oxygen generators work?

Ever wondered how oxygen generators work?

Actually we do. There are several different methods. How Stuff Works explains it better than I can.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-station4.ht m

"Hyper-oxygenated water" -- what a great name for H2O2 which releases oxygen when poured on wounds. Wikipedia article

Mod parent down as disinformative..

The Prius does not use any belt or cone system. That is the older CVT used in other cars many years ago.

The Prius uses a planetary gear set to transfer power around between its various inputs/outputs.

See this article for more details:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car16.htm

It's called a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission), and uses a belt and cone instead of discrete gears. This allows the engine to get the optimal power (or efficiency) for whatever travelling speed you want.

More info here: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt.htm

Babies have a certain type of fat cell whose sole purpose is to be "inefficient". It burns fat (instead of sugar) in order to keep their small bodies warm.

Exercise is still important for a variety of reasons. Still, I can imagine an implant in ten to twenty years whose sole purpose is to burn off unneeded blood sugars.

"That's because what you download is an approximation of the original"

I've gotten plenty of copied, full 16/44 PCM quality CD's from friends of mine. I've still gone out and bought the CD's in the store. In fact, CD's that I like a lot, and that apparently others do too because they keep getting stolen, I've bought two or three times. I've bought 99% by Meat Beat Manifesto no less that four. So *ding!* you're wrong - full quality copies of CD's serve just as much as free promotion as mp3's do.

"You can get from me everything you can get from the copy in the record store."

Really? I can get a CD and not a CDR from you? I can give you money and know that some of it at least theoretically supports an artist I like? Wow, you're pretty cool. I mean wrong. *Dingding!*

"since the artists get paid nothing for a copy of their work"

You appear to have a very poor understanding of how the recording and music industries operate.

OK, so you think the artists should be paid more money for their work. The logical extension of that admirable sentiment is this - let's abolish recorded music. All of it. Let's get rid of this thing that lets a band play in your living room every night for a one-time fee of $10-20. Let's get back to the business model where, if you want to hear a band you like, you have to travel physically to where they are performing that night and pay $15-250 for a ticket. As somebody who's been in way more bands than you have I can say with authority that *that's* the only thing that's gonna get the artist paid.

Tell me, Mr. Expert, how many people do you think have attended concerts, payed for tickets, bought T-shirts and merchandise, for the sole reason that they either heard an artist over a P2P network or were given a copy of a store-bought CD by a friend? How on Earth can you possible say those artists get paid nothing and pretend to be rational? Much less not *dingdingding!* wrong?

Because, as a veteran of several bands and a former chief engineer of a grammy award producing studio, I'll be the first to tell you that musicians don't make shit off record deals, especially ones with major labels. They're given a very high-interest loan, called an "advance" in record company slang (*cough* USURY *cough*), which, if they're lucky, will cover the expense of making and promoting a record. But 99 times out of 100 it doesn't. So then the musicians are left owing some very exploitative and unscrupulous people money. Whatever pathetic half-a-cent-per-$18-CD royalties do get supposedly paid to the artist don't even pay the interest on what they're left owing the label.

The only recording artists who are rich today are rich becuase of their concert tours and merchandising deals, not their record contracts. Not even the Beatles got rich off their records.

"you have the money"

Bullshit. I've spend my last $10 in the world on a really good CD more times that I can count. And I know dozens of others who have too. I've had rent checks bounce because I bought too many CD's. In fact, I've had the check to the record store bounce. So again, you're *dingdingdingding!* wrong - having the money has nothing to do with it.

"Most people don't."

Wow. You appear to think that most music-lovers are like you, and are cynical, cold-hearted, exploitative assholes. I prefer to think that most music-lovers are like me, and are loving, generous, and supportive.

I would say that time will tell, except that it already has. Neither the invention of magnetic tape, nor of cassette recorders spelled the end of music or the RIAA. Neither did the advent of cassette clubs. Neither did the bootlegging of live performances or studio albums that the RIAA didn't deign to sell through their own channels. Some of the most wildly successful bands ever have gained that success by encouraging home taping, by encouraging show bootlegging, and by recording

Thanks for the correction, everyone...I found full details here:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question375.htm

For more (basic) information on worms and virii, see http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus1.htm .

RTFM

A light saber's workings is well known. See for instance this article

For full description of lightsaber.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm

the person who wrote the lightsaber slide never read this.

Clearly they've not seen this article: http://www.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm/