Bowerbirds Arrange Objects to Make Themselves Look Bigger

The first time you visit your boyfriend’s place, he no doubt tidies up, to give you the illusion that he doesn’t live like an animal. Well, animals, too, can use optical illusions to woo a mate. Take the bowerbird. [More]

Optical illusion - Puzzles - Games - Brain Teasers - Bowerbird

Shot in the ARM: New chip design aims to boost mobile gadget speed and performance

Smart phones have become today's PCs, enabling mobile connection to the Internet, messaging and thousands of different apps. But for the smart phone to progress to an even higher level of sophistication and acceptance, it's going to need microprocessors, or chips, that can supply even more power, without draining the battery. No problem, says ARM Ltd. , a Cambridge, U.K. chip designer that specializes in mobile devices. [More]

ARM - Smartphone - ARM Holdings - Personal computer - Mobile device

Currents | Open: Armoires Made From Fallen Birch Trees

Holst's Planets Revisited: New York City Band Follows in Composer's Footsteps

In 1916, when British composer Gustav Holst finished his famous orchestral suite The Planets , the solar system was thought of as a relatively simple and unique place. Clyde Tombaugh, the American astronomer who would discover Pluto in 1930, was just a schoolboy when Holst's landmark composition was written, and the sum total of known planets was a tidy eight. [More]

Planet - Gustav Holst - Solar System - Astronomy - United States

Smart Jocks: Sports Helps Kids Classroom Performance (preview)

Despite frequent reports that regular exercise benefits the adult brain, when it comes to schoolchildren, the concept of the dumb jock persists. The star quarterback stands in stark contrast to the math-team champion. After all, the two types require seemingly disparate talents: physical prowess versus intellect. Letting kids run around or throw a ball seems, at best, tangential to the real work of learning and, at worst, a distraction from it.

Parents, teachers and education policy makers have pitted athletics against academics even as they trumpet exercise as an antidote to obesity and poor health. From preschool onward, teachers encourage children to sit still rather than scamper. Many schools have cut back on physical education to make room for the three R’s. And when student scores on standardized tests become of primary importance to parents, politicians or other stakeholders in the education system, educators may feel pressured to direct students toward academic pursuits and away from athletic ones.

Lunar Pencil Lead: Graphite Found in Moon Rock Collected During Apollo 17

Humans have not set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, but those missions are still producing surprises. An analysis of a collected rock has produced the first solid evidence for graphite, the form of carbon commonly used as pencil lead, in a lunar sample.

Andrew Steele, an astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and his colleagues reported in the July 2 Science that they found dozens of graphite particles in a small, dark patch on the sample--a region just 0.1 square millimeter in area--as well as seven needle-shaped rolls of carbon called graphite whiskers. Other samples have yielded traces of the element implanted by the solar wind or locked up in carbide compounds, but discrete pockets of graphite of this relatively large size appear to be a unique find.

Currents | Décor: A Mirror Framed in Copper

Shopping With Luke Ives Pontifell: Bookends