Thank heavens for blue-sky dreamers

Here's a cool little listicle of the five strangest contraptions ever designed in Toronto. Where would we be without people willing to experiment? These are some crazy contraptions, but my heart is with the iconoclasts. I'm still hoping for an Avro-dream revival.

http://www.blogto.com/city/2014/02/the_5_strangest_machines_designed_in_toronto/

Diversity is the spice of life

Word to the wise: If you’re making decisions today (especially *those* kinds of decisions), you should choose the most far-out option. Do it to mix things up a little. Do it for the surprise element. Do it for posterity.

And happy Valentine's Day.

"Mixed genes: Interactive world map of human genetic history reveals likely genetic impacts of historical events"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/…/140213142305.htm

The Rogue of X-Frogs

Took a trip today to the Canadian Museum of Nature and was fascinated by the frog exhibit they currently have on. So many beautiful creatures, some of them deadly. This little guy is the Blue Poison Dart Frog, mostly found in South and Central America and Hawaii. One of the poisoniest creatures on earth, its glands contain batrachotoxin, a toxin that blocks nerve signals to muscles, causing paralysis and death. It's the Rogue of x-frogs.

Like the Earth slowly reclaiming its swag

I've been really kind of mesmerized by this minute of creeping suspense. Watch a lava flow fully envelop a can of Coke -- twice: First shot with a Nikon D800 and then an old GoPro Hero 2. It's like the 2000-degree molten rock is taking back the precious metals that were borrowed from the Earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaSjwAu3yrI

An elegant medium, for a civilized age

Last summer, Science published a study from researchers at Harvard who had successfully encoded bits of digital information in strands of DNA. A few days ago, another paper was published demonstrating that researchers had done it again, this time having improved the accuracy, capacity and efficiency of the technique. This recent experiment successfully converted 739 kilobytes of digital data into genetic code, which was then retrieved without a single error. Among the information translated was the entire collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Anyway, it got me thinking about the sonnets and inspired me to revisit several of them. And I am so glad I did because golly they’re good. Four hundred years of distance and they're still relevant. One of them, Sonnet 55, especially stands out to me in light of all of the current public discussions about The Information. It recalls another way of preserving and imparting information... an age-old method, both accessible and powerful. And unlike other media used for recording information, it is not static. In fact, I would say that it is persistent precisely because of its mutability. It is adaptable and interpretive and imperfect. It can't be buried or owned or pinned down. And because of this, it can link people through time and space. What I'm talking about is language.

LV
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents 
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn

The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

- William Shakespeare

I appreciate the reminder to get out and play today.

Check out the awesomeness of this sledding crow.

That Elusive Higgs Boson

Tomorrow at CERN, researchers will announce their latest findings in the search for the last undiscovered particle in the current model of subatomic particles – the Higgs boson. Canadian researchers have a big role in one of the two experiments involved. Perimeter Institute is holding a webinar to discuss the results tomorrow at 12:30 ET http://goo.gl/8kJG0. Also, in Vancouver, TRIUMF will host a public seminar in its auditorium at 2:30 p.m. PT [http://goo.gl/g9YQG].