TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

Podcasts are a great way for busy geeks to stay on top of their obsessions when they’re stuck in traffic (or a cubicle). A good podcast can encapsulate your favorite TV or radio show and even have that feel of “old-timey” radio. They’re also a great way for independent producers of various content to get their stuff “out there.” All you need to get your silky voice out there is a computer, some kind of compatible recording equipment and a program like GarageBand or Audacity. (more…)

The Spanish parliament has voted to extend some human rights to apes.

Yes, apes.

As reported by Reuters, the resolution pledges Spain’s commitment to the Declaration on Great Apes, a 1993 document that demands the protection of our wild genetic relatives’ right to life, individual liberty and freedom from torture.

If it becomes law in Spain, as is expected, it would also mean no apes in circuses, commercials or films.
GREAT APES PROJECT

This is likely the first time a human government has voted to give human rights to nonhumans. Will it be the last?

Once again scientists hasten the demise of mankind’s dominion over the Earth. CNN is reporting that scientists “have trained a group of monkeys to feed themselves marshmallows using a robot arm controlled by sensors implanted in their brains”. I’d like to know who thought this was a good idea.

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My teenage son came home from school yesterday with a lava lamp. Yes, a lava lamp. No, he wasn’t reeking of patchouli. He made it himself.

His science class was studying the densities of different liquids.

I dug up a video from About.com that shows how easy it is to do this project at home with your Little Einsteins. All you’ll need is a bottle, vegetable or mineral oil, food coloring, water and Alka Seltzer. And don’t forget to place the finished product near some light for a funky-cool effect. Groovy!

Time was you had to be a scholar and visit Cambridge University to study Charles Darwin’s manuscripts.

Now you can just click your way to them, for free: http://darwin-online.org.uk.

In addition to the naturalist’s notes and books, such as the PDF version of his On the Origin of Species, first edition, you’ll even find his wife’s recipes — perfect for when you need feed your strict creationist friends some humble pie!

The day the site went live it got more than 7 million hits and crashed.

2009 will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and will mark 200 years since Darwin’s birth.

Apparently, there really is such as thing as a born gamer. It’s called a man.

Gaming is hardwired into the male gender. So it would seem after reading about a Stanford University School of Medicine study that found guys become addicted to computer and video games more easily than the fairer sex do.

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The Star Wars trilogies are full of fantastic ideas - lightsabers, cyborgs, droids, hyperspace and more. A few months back the History Channel came out with a one-hour special called Star Wars Tech that explored many of these concepts from a realistic perspective - and it’s now available on DVD.

Was it great? No - don’t be too proud of this technological terror. Many would say it’s better than some of the prequels (and I wouldn’t go that far), but it was fun and digestible. And the DVD cover looks nice. (more…)

The newsmagazine program Wired Science airs 8 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. on the Valley’s PBS affiliate, KAET-TV (Channel 8). This week’s segment, “Peak Water,” will feature an Arizona issue that should concern all of us. PBS provides this description:

You might be familiar with the phrase “peak oil”—that’s the idea that oil, a finite resource, is running out. But there’s another impending crisis, one that all the Prius drivers in the world can’t stop: “peak water.” Water’s a disappearing commodity too and nowhere more so than in the American southwest. Wired Science visits Arizona and Nevada to see how the driest communities in the country are simultaneously managing a desert population explosion and ever scarce water supplies.

For a preview, head on over to http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/video/218-peak_water_preview_.html

You know those 360-degree holographic displays most of us have only been dreaming about since Princess Leia first popped out of R2-D2 in “Star Wars” and the Emperor called Vader on the carpet? Well, someone actually went and made one. (And they even used a TIE Fighter image as an example.) Source: Engadget

More background on the research can be found here.

And then there’s this. Holy help me Obi-Wan Kenobi!