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futurejournalismproject:
tpmmedia:
You’re The Drive: Digital Data Can Now Be Stored In DNA
TPM’s Carl Franzen reports on a rather cyber-punk development in human-computer relations:
Forget saving files to flash drives and cloud servers. Now, digital information can be stored in the DNA of living organisms, thanks to a breakthrough discovery by researchers at Stanford University in California.
A trio of scientists successfully demonstrated the ability to flip the direction of DNA molecules in sample E.coli bacteria in two directions, mimicking the “1s” and “0s” of binary code, which is at the root of all modern computer calculations.
“Essentially, if the DNA section points in one direction, it’s a zero. If it points the other way, it’s a one,” said Pakpoom Subsoontorn, a bioengineering graduate student at Stanford involved in the research, in an article on the Stanford School of Medicine website.
As a result, the researchers were able to get bacteria cells to glow either red or green under ultraviolet light, and were even able to arrange the colors to spell out specific messages in petri dishes holding the bacteria. (Photo above)
(Hear both the practical and imaginative possibilities envisioned by the inventors—check out the full story)
FJP: Woah.
comedycentral:
When we make fun of people in power, when we talk about corrupt or malfunctioning institutions but refuse to “take them seriously,” we’re strengthening the American political organism. In its mildest forms, comedy adds to the national conversation, perhaps broadens it. In its strongest, most scathing forms, comedy focuses attention and forces reaction. Whether that reaction is outrage or an eye-roll, it’s important. American democracy gets weak when we forget that it’s there, it’s flawed and it’s ours to improve.
Indecision’s editorial producer Mary Phillips-Sandy wrote this great piece about comedy in politics for HuffPo.
(via crazedandveryconfused)
reallyfoxnews:
After weeks of blaming Obama for rising gas prices, Fox News now asks if the lowering prices may be a bad thing by linking a drop in gas prices to a weak economy and, again, blaming Obama.
Logic is hard.
![Obiwan Kenobi Arrested For Hit and Run Incident in California [via WTF News, WTSP]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3dkv9phJ01qbc5qvo1_500.jpg)
Obiwan Kenobi Arrested For Hit and Run Incident in California [via WTF News, WTSP]
“ On May 16 last year, a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin was being questioned by police in Berlin. He had recently returned from Pakistan via Budapest, Hungary, and then traveled overland to Germany. His interrogators were surprised to find that hidden in his underpants were a digital storage device and memory cards.
Buried inside them was a pornographic video called “Kick Ass” — and a file marked “Sexy Tanja.”
Several weeks later, after laborious efforts to crack a password and software to make the file almost invisible, German investigators discovered encoded inside the actual video a treasure trove of intelligence — more than 100 al Qaeda documents that included an inside track on some of the terror group’s most audacious plots and a road map for future operations.
Future plots include the idea of seizing cruise ships and carrying out attacks in Europe similar to the gun attacks by Pakistani militants that paralyzed the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. Ten gunmen killed 164 people in that three-day rampage. ”
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Documents hidden in pornography file reveal al Qaeda’s plans for seizing cruise ships, carnage in Europe
Yes, you read that correctly.
(via mohandasgandhi)
(via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
nrdc:
America’s best cities for public transportation
This week, Walk Score is releasing its first ranking of city transit systems, revealing which, by their calculations, offer residents the best access to public transportation. The rankings are based on the organization’s Transit Score, a GIS-based set of calculations that is a companion service to the organization’s flagship walkability rankings. Transit Score, according to the organization in a press release, “measures how well a location is served by public transportation, and is based on data released in a standard open format by public transit agencies.”
Here are the top 25 cities, listed with the Transit Score for each:
(1) New York (Transit Score: 81)
(2) San Francisco (Transit Score: 80)
(3) Boston (Transit Score: 74)
(4) Washington, DC (Transit Score: 69)
(5) Philadelphia (Transit Score: 68)
(6) Chicago (Transit Score: 65)
(7) Seattle (Transit Score: 59)
(8) Miami (Transit Score: 57)
(9) Baltimore (Transit Score: 57)
(10) Portland (Transit Score: 50)
(11) Los Angeles (Transit Score: 49)
(12) Milwaukee (Transit Score: 49)
(13) Denver (Transit Score: 47)
(14) Cleveland (Transit Score: 45)
(15) San Jose (Transit Score; 40)
(16) Dallas (Transit Score: 39)
(17) Houston (Transit Score: 36)
(18) San Diego (Transit Score: 36)
(19) San Antonio (Transit Score: 35)
(20) Kansas City (Transit Score: 34)
(21) Austin (Transit Score: 33)
(22) Sacramento (Transit Score: 32)
(23) Las Vegas (Transit Score: 32)
(24) Columbus (Transit Score: 29)
(25) Raleigh (Transit Score: 23)
Read more.
Photo: the DC Metro (by MJM/Mike, creative commons license)
(via sociopoliticaldribble)
stfuconservatives:
Two of my dear friends have started a Tumblr with job postings. From their blog:
“Looking to exchange labour for currency in our hegemonic capitalist society? We’ve got you covered. Expect postings for all manners of employment, especially for nonprofit and academic positions. Submissions always welcome.”
I know lots of my readers are on the hunt for a job, so… go forth and labor!
-Jess
(via timekiller-s)
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