Epigenetics is a very trippy area of research that is increasingly leading to completely new understanding of how the body works. The human DNA codebase if stretched out horizontally would stretch to 1.8 meters. Yet instead it winds around this material called chromatin and ends up being only tens of microns in width. This and…

In the past I mentioned a useful app called Orientation Control which provides more fine-grained control over when and how the screen rotates on an Android device (in my case a Galaxy Tab tablet).  But I was still annoyed by the fact that with certain apps that I always want to launch in one particular…

[hana-flv-player video=”http://techne.alaya.net/files/2012/11/NHK-solar-fabric-2012.11.28.mp4″ width=”600″ description=”” player=”5″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” /]

[hana-flv-player video=”http://techne.alaya.net/files/2012/11/Qiantang-river-tidal-bore.flv” width=”600″ description=”Qiantang river tidal bore” player=”5″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” /] Tidal bores are when the water from a rising tide causes a current flow upstream against the flow of a river. It only happens with a small number of rivers on Earth and is a wondrous phenomenon.

REDWOOD CITY — A pickup truck hit and killed a 14-year-old girl Monday morning as she rode her bike to school in what officials said appears to be a horrible accident. The girl, whose name was not released, was struck around 8:30 a.m. at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas, Redwood…

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health Anand Grover has made public statements criticizing the Japanese government for lack of comprehensive care of all those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is really inexcusable on the part of Japan and is somewhat shocking if it was not providing rigorous, consistent, comprehensive,…

This video is of historical linguist Edward Vajda who has been conducting extensive research on the Ket language and its possible link to the Na-Dene languages of various indigenous North American populations. If true, it would be the oldest known link between two languages and the first link between North American and Eurasian langauges. But…

WHAT: The latest update to the Mozilla Firefox browser, version 17, is not compatible with the latest release of the Tab Mix Plus addon. Tab Mix Plus is an essential addon which I cannot live without. HOW: There is a solution to the problem: Install the development version of Tab Mix Plus. Firefox will ask…

A new record has been set for the oldest galaxy ever observed by humans. “MACS0647-JD” was viewed by using the gravitational lensing effect of a massive galaxy cluster. It dates to only 420 million years after the Big Bang. At that time the Universe was inconceivably smaller than it is today. The size of the…

One thing that is truly sickening about Apple is that they will not allow their dock to be used by other device manufacturers. Many appliances feature iPad or iPhone docks – for example things like clock radios or car stereos – where one can connect their iPhone and play music. Obviously there should be an…