Friday, December 12, 2008

Friday Links!

Sure, it seems impossible, but that's what dreams are, aren't they? It's a pizza vending machine.

From the New York Times, a fascinating article about the life of H.M., who lost the ability to form new memories after brain surgery. Studies of his condition resulted in the discovery of multiple memory systems in the brain. Read about it here.

Here's a bizarre yet fascinating video of Aiko, a robot created by inventor Le Trung. She understands over 13,000 phrases, and the video is amazing. There's a freaky side-story of Le Trung inventing her to be his "partner," but ignore all the Vincent Price creepiness (if you can) and marvel at the technology.

From Sirius, a link to a story about scientists achieving, well, this:
The illusion of body-swapping -- making people perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own -- has been achieved by Swedish neuroscientists.

Also from Sirius, a fascinating story about differences in how dogs and cats evolved, particularly in the area of biomechanics. Then there's a link to a story over at Wired titled 12 Living Fossils, and the pictures are well-worth a look. And one more--a link to a story about computer scientist Douglas Engelbart. Here's the intro:
1968: Computer scientist Douglas Engelbart kicks off the personal computer revolution with a product demonstration that is so amazing it inspires a generation of technologists. It will become known as "the mother of all demos."

Wait-one more, and it's the most comprehensive collection of leaf mimics you'll ever see (the pictures are amazing).

From the Edwin Garcia Links Machine, it's Not Always Right, and that's in reference to customers, in case you're wondering. It's chock full of classics, including the woman who thought she had "Spartans" on her computer. Then a delightfully demented review of the new Ford Fiesta on Top Gear. Also, a link to the world's slimmest houses (not surprisingly, they're in Japan).

Via Neatorama, a link to The Ghosts of Antarctica: Abandoned Stations and Huts. Here's one more, and it's a real treasure: Google Books now has scanned copies of every issue of Popular Science--back to 1872!

From Jesse Leimkuehler, a link to a story with details of Blue Origin, the rocket program funded by Jeff Bezos.

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