XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Thursday 24 October 2013

Royal bath time: Kate Middleton and Prince William 'pictured' looking after new arrival Prince George -

Royal bath time: Kate Middleton and Prince William 'pictured' looking after new arrival Prince George - 



Well, this is how it might look in the royal household if the young family ever climbed into the tub together

It's not often you'll get to see such intimate shots of Kate and William looking after their new arrival Prince George.

The couple share a foamy bath with the tot, dad mimics breast feeding using a bottle strapped to his chest and the Queen struggles as her great grandson throws up.

But take a closer look, all is not what it seems - these royals are lookalikes.

The pictures were taken by artist Alison Jackson who is renowned for her spoof reproductions of palace and celebrity life.

And if the bath shot is anything to go by, she certainly knows about exposure...








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Cockroaches: the new miracle cure for China's ailments - cheaper medicines for its rapidly ageing population -

Cockroaches: the new miracle cure for China's ailments - cheaper medicines for its rapidly ageing population - 

Healthy portion ... cockroach farms in China are trying to produce enough insects to satisfy demand for food markets and pharmaceutical companies there.

The correct way to eat a cockroach, at least in this corner of northern China, is to fry it not once but twice in a wok of smoking hot oil.
"The second time makes the shell crispy and the inside succulent," said 43-year-old Wang Fuming, as he tipped a bowl of freshly harvested bugs, one or two of their legs still twitching, into the sizzling pan.

Mr Wang is the leading cockroach farmer in Shandong province, with more than 22 million of the insects living in a series of nondescript, concrete bunkers in the suburbs of Jinan.
After cooking, Mr Wang gently ladled them onto a plate, their bodies plumped with the oil and their wings slightly spread, before sprinkling a packet of instant noodle powder – pickled cabbage flavour – over the dish.

"It would be better if we had some chilli," he apologised.
The cockroach, whose innards resemble cottage cheese, has an earthy taste, with a slight twinge of ammonia. But they have become popular in China not for their taste, but for their medicinal benefits.
"They really are a miracle drug," said Liu Yusheng, a professor at the Shandong Agricultural university and the head of Shandong province's Insect Association. "They can cure a number of ailments and they work much faster than other medicine."

Prof Liu said a cream made from powdered cockroaches is in use in some Chinese hospitals as a treatment for burns and in Korea for cosmetic facial masks.
Meanwhile, a syrup invented by a pharmaceutical company in Sichuan promises to cure gastroenteritis, duodenal ulcers and pulmonary tuberculosis.
"China has the problem of an ageing population," explained Prof Liu. "So we are trying to find new medicines for older people, and these are generally cheaper than Western medicine. Also we have a tradition of eating bugs here in Shandong."
For a decade, Mr Wang farmed another type of insect, Eupolyphaga Sinensis, which is also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
But in the past two years, the demand for cockroaches has soared, and Mr Wang has switched his entire production to Periplaneta americana, or the American cockroach, a copper-coloured insect that grows to just over an inch and a half.
"These are not the same ones you see in your home, those are German cockroaches," he said. "There are hundreds of species of cockroaches, but only this one has any medicinal value. It is native to Guangdong province."

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New line of wearable technology lets users control drones with fingernails, eyelashes -

New line of wearable technology lets users control drones with fingernails, eyelashes - 



A scientist has created a new line of wearable technology that combines conductive materials and beauty items to allow users to remotely control drones and other mechanical devices.

Beauty Tech Designer Katia Vega created the line of beauty technology.

She uses designs such as metalized eyelashes, RFID nails and conductive makeup in her work.

Wireless signals are sent from the wearable attachments to different devices. For example, blinking and eye that was fitted with metalized eyelashes would create a circuit which could be used to power a motor in a drone.

Vega’s website says practical uses of Beauty Tech would include using fingernails to pay for goods instead of credit cards and blinking to levitate objects.

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Avoid traffic jams like a champ with the Aeromobile 2.5 flying car prototype -

Avoid traffic jams like a champ with the Aeromobile 2.5 flying car prototype - 

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Would you buy a flying car? How about one from Slovakia?

This Eastern European country isn’t known for its car industry, which might explain why it birthed such an outlandish vehicle.

The Aeromobil 2.5 made its first test flight this week, a culmination of more than two decades of development. Aeromobil co-founder and chief designer Štefan Klein started with the 1.0 back in 1990, and hopes to begin selling the 3.0 production model (rendering above) soon.



Like the Terrafugia Transition, the Aeromobil is more plane than car. After landing, the wings fold behind the cabin, along a boom that houses the propeller shaft.

The rear-mounted propeller is driven by a Rotax 912 aircraft engine – the same one used in the Transition. In the air, the Aeromobil will reach a top speed of 124 mph. That top speed, however, drops to around 100 mph when the wheels are on the ground.

Terrafugia says the Transition will top out at 100 mph in the air and 65 mph on the ground. It looks like the Aeromobil is the sports car of the pair.

The chassis (fuselage?) is composed of a steel frame with carbon fiber bodywork. Aeromobil says its creation weighs 992 pounds empty.

Maximum flying range is 430 miles, or 310 miles in driving mode.

Since the production Aeromobil 3.0 is still a ways off, the company isn’t talking price. Buyers will have to factor in the cost of flying lessons if it ever make it to the United States, though.

According to science-fiction, flying cars are a harbinger of the future. Road-legal aircraft like the Aeromobil and Transition will help us find out if that’s a future we actually want.

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Mysterious hum from mating fish keep residents in nearby town awake at night... -

Mysterious hum from mating fish keep residents in nearby town awake at night... - 



A mysterious hum has been keeping people in Hampshire awake all night, and scientists have said there could be something fishy about it.

The noise “pulsates” through homes, forcing some residents of Hythe near Southampton to evacuate the area just to get a good night’s sleep.

People have complained to their local council, and the blame has been put on everything from heavy industry to the large cargo ships coming in at Southampton Docks – some residents have even gone to the doctor thinking they had tinnitus.

Scientists now think that the noise is being caused by fish, competing to out-hum one another as part of an unusual mating ritual.

Male Midshipman fish let out a deep, resonating drone which attracts females and acts as a challenge to other males. They are nocturnal creatures, but once they get going can keep up the distracting hum all night.

Unfortunately for the residents of Hythe, the noise created by the Midshipman is of such a low frequency and long wavelength that it can carry through the ground, walls, and into homes.

This is not the first time fish have been blamed for keeping people up at night – a number of US cities suffer their droning on a regular basis.

But it was a problem which stumped various authorities in Southampton, including the National Oceanography Centre based there.

An investigation earlier this month launched by the Environment Agency and the New Forest District Council also produced no results, and it wasn’t until the Scottish Association for Marine Science waded in that a possible answer was found.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Dr Ben Wilson said: “It's not beyond the realms of possibility.

“There are certainly 'sonic fish' in the north Atlantic and the approaches to the English Channel.”

New Forest District Council received more than 30 complaints about the noise, with Linda Zammit from Woolston, Southampton, saying: “I thought I was going mad at first. I hear it every night unless it's windy or raining.

“It doesn't keep me awake but it stops me getting back to sleep if I do happen to wake up.”

Maria Dennett from Sholing, Southampton, said: “We regularly experience a humming noise at night.

“A few times we put it down to a neighbour's washing machine or dishwasher but it's happening so frequently that we know it's not the case.

“It's a really low pitched sound that literally pulsates through the house.”

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Japanese 'Space cannon' to be fired into asteroid - in search for origins of the universe -

Japanese 'Space cannon' to be fired into asteroid - in search for origins of the universe - 



Japan's space agency has successfully test-fired a "space cannon" designed to launch a projectile into an asteroid as part of the search for the origins of the universe.
The device will be aboard the Hayabusa-2 space probe that is scheduled to take off in 2014 and rendezvous with an asteroid identified as 1999JU3 that orbits between Earth and Mars in 2018.
Once in position close to the asteroid, the space cannon will detach itself and remotely fire a 4lb metal projectile into the surface of the miniature planet.
"An artificial crater that can be created by the device is expected to be a small one, a few meters in diameter, but ... by acquiring samples from the surface that is exposed by the collision, we can get fresh samples that are less weathered by the space environment or heat," the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said in a statement.
The mother craft will then land close to the crater and user a small rover to collect samples that would have otherwise been below the surface of the asteroid and return to Earth in late 2020. In all, JAXA scientists say the craft will shadow the 2,950-foot-diameter asteroid for around 18 months.

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