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The Mystery of the Missing Brains Has Seemingly Been Solved

9Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

World

The Mystery of the Missing Brains Has Seemingly Been Solved

If you had a bunch of brains floating in jars, you probably wouldn't lose them too easily. However, that's precisely what the University of Texas in Austin did over 10 years ago. Luckily, the mystery of the missing brains has seemingly been solved. Apparently, about 100 of them were accidentally destroyed. From the 1950s through to the 1970s, a resident pathologist at the Austin State Hospital, which was formerly known as the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, began collecting the brains of deceased patients in jars of formaldehyde. This was during a time when surgical lobotomies and electroshock therapy were quite common. When Dr. Coleman de Chenar -- the pathologist collecting the specimens -- died in 1985, he'd amassed about 200 brains. Rumor had it that one of the brains in the collection w...

Mobile Apps and Websites Aim to Transform How Apartments Are Advertised

8Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

Business

Mobile Apps and Websites Aim to Transform How Apartments Are Advertised

For a long time, apartment hunting was quite the ordeal, and anyone seeking a new place to live had to drive around looking for yard signs, sort through cryptic classified ads, and play phone tag with landlords and property managers.Thankfully, the times are a changin'.Mobile app startup companies, online real estate heavy hitters, and even good ol' local listing firms are preparing to streamline the fragmented business of apartment advertising and hunting, hoping to make it more reliable for landlords and property managers as well as more user-friendly for prospective tenants. The goal is to transform a thriving business -- nearly 2.3 million households rent apartments, rather than own their home, in Los Angeles and Orange Counties -- into a modern, successful marketplace, making the p...

New York Attorney General Launches App to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure Scams

8Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

Local

New York Attorney General Launches App to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure Scams

A new web-based app, designed to help New Yorkers determine the legitimacy of foreclosure rescue offers, was launched on Tuesday by New York State's attorney general. The goal of the new app is to make it easier for New York homeowners to identify foreclosure scams. As the basis for the new app, called AGScamHelp, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman organized a network of 86 counseling and legal services who have agreed to provide free help to struggling homeowners in the state. "While my office is committed to cracking down on scam operations that target struggling New Yorkers, the most powerful tool against these frauds is to ensure that consumers are informed and aware of the free services that are available to them," said Schneiderman, according to News 10 NBC. With the app, homeowne...

New Ultrasound Technology Lets Users See and Touch 3D Shapes in Thin Air

6Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

Business

New Ultrasound Technology Lets Users See and Touch 3D Shapes in Thin Air

Haptics, or touch feedback technology, has changed rapidly over the course of the past few years. Now, the Bristol Interaction and Graphics group has developed technology that can create an invisible 3D haptic shape using ultrasound, which can be both seen and felt. The research paper, which has been published in the current issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics, describes how a new device sends out complex patterns of ultrasound waves. By focusing the ultrasound waves and creating air disturbances, the device creates haptic feedback in mid-air. The system also generates an invisible 3D shape. In other words, the new device is a projector that can create floating, 3D shapes, which can also be touched. The researchers believe that this new device could change the way people use 3D shapes...

Baz Luhrmann Designs Barney’s Holiday Party At the Zoo

5Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

Fashion

Baz Luhrmann Designs Barney’s Holiday Party At the Zoo

If there's anyone that knows how to throw a holiday party, it's Baz Luhrman. The famed director of such spectacles as Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby has quite a grandiose vision, which he is able to bring to life offscreen as well. This year, Barney's hired Luhrman to helm the decoration of their holiday windows, which were revealed in grand style on November 13. In true Luhrman style, the unveiling involved ice dancers, step-troupers, opera singers, a-cappella warblers and two break-dancing elves. The spectacle continues through the Christmas holiday, with opera singers appearing every now and again on the Barney's balconies for brief performances. After the unveiling, guests adjourned to the Central Park Zoo, for a holiday dinner party hosted by Barney's and designed by Lu...

New Battery Belt is the Solution for All Your First World Problems

3Dec

By rocitoutNo Comments

Lifestyle

New Battery Belt is the Solution for All Your First World Problems

Arguably the biggest "first world problems" that modern day young people suffer from are their smart phone batteries dying, and their skinny jeans falling off of their hips. Fortunately, there's a new product that can solve both of those problems. The new XOO Belt is not just a belt -- it's also a battery charger. The XOO Belt contains a 1,300mAh lithium ceramic polymer flexible battery that is sandwiched between the leather in the belt itself. The buckle is an additional 800mAh battery (giving you 2,100mAh total). The buckle does even more than that, though. It acts as a ratchet to tighten the belt around the waist. It's a plug that you can connect your USB adapter to. There is a set of five LED lights along the base of the buckle that tells you how much charge is left in the belt batte...

The United States’ First Ever Website Was For a Laboratory

26Nov

By rocitoutNo Comments

Business

The United States’ First Ever Website Was For a Laboratory

Sure, Stanford's Linear Accelerator Laboratory has produced some of the most important work on particle physics, and sure, work there has earned three Nobel Prizes in Physics, but Gizmodo recently shined some light on one of the lab's most important contributions to modern scientific achievement -- it hosted the very first web site in the United States. Despite the popular legend that Al Gore invented the Internet, it was really the product of English computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The idea for what would eventually reshape the way humans communicated and interacted with each other came to Berners-Lee while he worked at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research located in France. In 1989, he proposed the idea of the web, and two years later, he'd go on to publish the ...

Future is Bright for Solar Energy, According to New Reports

26Nov

By rocitoutNo Comments

Business

Future is Bright for Solar Energy, According to New Reports

The solar energy takeover might be possible sooner than we think, according to a new report out of the Environment America Research and Policy Center. Even though solar panel technology is the environmentally friendly answer to more traditional energy solutions that consume limited resources and damage the environment, Americans have been slow to adopt solar energy systems. High installation costs are often blamed, along with a lack of government support. However, the new report claims that the United States "has the potential to produce more than 100 times as much electricity from solar PV and concentrating solar power (CSP) installations as the nation consumes each year." It adds that every state could use solar power to generate more electricity than residents currently consume. The ...

Missouri Could Become One of the Next States to Legalize Medical Marijuana

25Nov

By rocitoutNo Comments

Local

Missouri Could Become One of the Next States to Legalize Medical Marijuana

This year's midterm elections saw Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. bring the total number of states where medical marijuana is legal up to 23. Four states, including the District of Columbia, now allow recreational use of marijuana. In the aftermath of this news, it's already beginning to look like the state of Missouri could be next in line on the path to statewide marijuana legalization. According to a Nov. 13 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, Show-Me Cannabis, a pro-pot organization, filed a constitutional amendment with the secretary of state's office that would make legal the sale and production of marijuana for Missouri residents 21 and older. However, it's uncertain as to whether this amendment will ultimately be placed on the Missouri ballot in the 2016 election. For this year...

Texas Couple Arrested for Stealing $100,000 in Roofing Scam, Prosecutors Say

21Nov

By rocitoutNo Comments

Local

Texas Couple Arrested for Stealing $100,000 in Roofing Scam, Prosecutors Say

A married couple has been arrested for theft after their Fort Worth-area roofing company took in more than $100,000 from homeowners without doing any work, prosecutors say. Raul Garcia, 40, and his wife Melissa Garcia, 39, own R and M Construction and allegedly took money from more than 27 homeowners. The charge brought against them, a second-degree felony, can be punished with a sentence of between two and 20 years in prison. Eddie Moore, 83, and his wife Syble, 84, say Raul came to their door after a bad hailstorm caused damage to their roof. “He was real friendly,” Syble told the local NBC station Nov. 13. “He brought his little boy out with him.” She says that she paid him $2,000 up front, but he then disappeared. "He vanished and didn't come back,” she said. “I kept trying to call...