In a move regarded as unusual by the media, the French research group refused to provide copies of the journal paper to reporters in advance of its publication, unless they signed non-disclosure agreements. The NDAs would have prevented the journalists from approaching third-party researchers for comment.

- "Group Promoting Rat Study of Engineered Corn Forced Coverage Rush", The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin.

I'm not a fan of GMOs, but I don't believe in pursuing lesser evils for a greater good, either. This kind of behaviour harms the credibility of journalists as well as scientists for a public whose interests are already so fractured that they're quick to find reasons to write things off as bullshit.

Explosive Orange! Tropicana's 'Energie Naturelle'

DDB Paris is on a crazy creative roll right now. For Tropicana, it came up with the idea of illuminating a sign using only natural energy from oranges. Part of me went, "Wow, that's a lot of oranges for not a ton of payoff,"* but part of me also exclaimed, "I would now like a cool and refreshing orange beverage."

For those worried about food waste, the oranges were later all recuperated for use as biofuel or compost. That probably doesn't make you feel better as it could have all gone down your throat, smooth and sweet like fish of Gollum, but such is life.

Humor me ››

Clarifying Cloning

...oh, why the hell not.

Our First Synthetically-Created Living Organism...

...a wee bacteria, "written" into being by using a sequence of four DNA nucleotides like programming code.

"We can write anything we want," said [Frances Arnold, a synthetic biologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena]. "The problem is that we don't know what to write."

'Geometry, Light and a Wee Bit of Magic.'

High hopes for invisibility cloak. And if you seriously, seriously need any other reason to click on that link besides those five words, you should really be ashamed of yourself.*

Guess I should also add that this isn't the one and only time anybody's gotten close (or felt like they got close) to perfecting the invisibility cloak. Some Japanese dudes were working on an invisibility windbreaker-looking thing a few years back, which, if I remember properly (and I probably don't), worked a lot the way a mirror does, except backwards: the front of the jacket is a video screen reflecting what's behind the wearer. Or something.

How Stuff Works explains in more accurate terms the science behind invisibility apparel.

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*Chelsi, you non-link-clicking harlot she-bitch, I'm talking to you.

Reason #486 to NEVER. WALK. IN. PUBLIC.

Woman's gait betrays her orgiastic history.

There's information I never wanted shared with Creepy Neighbors & Co.