Ran across this video of a quad copter tour of the large sinkhole part of the Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam. Imagine the size of the room this area made before the roof collapsed! I realized I read the National Geographic article a few years ago, it has better pictures of the interior portions of the cave.
[vimeo=https://vimeo.com/121736043]
National Geographic article(check out the interactive 3D fly through)
The world’s population today is about 7 Billion. Sounds like a lot. Is that too many people for this planet? What if all 7 Billion people stood in one place shoulder to shoulder, would it fill up a whole country? a state? Really, only one large city, Los Angeles, CA to be exact. Just 500 square miles.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111031-population-7-billion-earth-world-un-seven/
I ran across these amazing tiny sculptures. I would love to see some photos of the process.
NPR’s money blog ran an interesting graphic about how Americans spend their booze money compared with 30 years ago. The average spent has not changed, about one dollar of every 100. But what’s changed is where it’s bought and what type.
In our modern obsession of cleanliness and ubiquitous anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizers, we may have upset the unseen balance in our bodies. Is it possible to be TOO clean? Have we inadvertently scrubbed away the GOOD bacteria that make us healthy.
This NY Times article covers research into the five pounds of GOOD bacteria that live on and in our bodies.
In Good Health? Thank Your 100 Trillion Bacteria
Could being infected with a hook worm help your asthma? Listen or read the third act of This American Life episode.
Act Three. As The Worm Turns.
Fecal implant anyone? Cutting edge medicine or mad science quackery, you decide.
Freakonomics Radio: The Power of Poop
UPDATE 2/2015
Another Fecal implant story, plus get 40 bucks a poop!
NY Daily News article on OpenBiome
A story about an Indiana grandma who killed off a devastating superbug with a homemade fecal transplant and then embarked on a crusade to win over the FDA. Narratively web site
Those who have worked in television will appreciate this, I know I did.
Seems America had an “emissions” crisis near the turn of the 20th century. Although no one had an answer to the problem it seemed to take care of it self thanks to a new mode of transportation. I first read about this in Levitt and Dubners “Super Freakonomics,” and googling gave me a few articles that seem to predate the book.
http://www.uctc.net/access/30/Access%2030%20-%2002%20-%20Horse%20Power.pdf
Another:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/our-economic-past-the-great-horse-manure-crisis-of-1894/
http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/09/08/horse-manure-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
Tyler Cowen tells us that we should adjust our expectations for economic growth in the US.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134324066/Misconception-Will-U-S-Economy-Grow-Indefinitely
Think about it, every technology that has ever existed is still being manufactured new somewhere in the world!
Kevin Kelly (founding editor of Wired Magazine) tells NPRs Robert Krulwich:
“I say there is no species of technology that have ever gone globally extinct on this planet.”
He explains, “I can’t find any [invention, tool, technology] that has disappeared completely from Earth.”
Krulwich, as most would argue, this just can’t be true!
The debate begins:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/02/04/133188723/tools-never-die-waddaya-mean-never
The conclusion:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/02/24/133962028/tools-never-die-the-finale
According to a recent MIT graduate that’s a fact. He’s developing a way to capture the energy lost through a vehicle’s shock absorbers.