Why Phone Fraud Starts With A Silent Call

NPR: "Why Phone Fraud Starts With A Silent Call"

Calculus Animations

"This Professor Can Teach Anyone Calculus Using These Simple, Beautiful Animations". (Via H.R.)

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Because of the holiday weekend, posting may be lighter than usual for the next few days.

Good Overview Of Bad Science

"Science Isn't Broken: It's just a hell of a lot harder than we give it credit for"

The Science of Melting Cheese

"The Science of Melting Cheese". (Via VAViper.)

The Science of a Messy Desk

"In Defense of My Messy Desk: Researchers from the Netherlands report a disordered environment can inspire people to set, and achieve, goals".

You don't want to be a science-denier.

Deep Learning Update

"Jeremy Howard: The wonderful and terrifying implications of computers that can learn"

Google Cars Vs. People

Google's Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers"

“The real problem is that the car is too safe,” said Donald Norman, director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, who studies autonomous vehicles. “They have to learn to be aggressive in the right amount, and the right amount depends on the culture.”

Market For Perfect Poop

CNN: "One man's poop is another's medicine".

Donors who qualify can earn $40 per sample of "perfect poop", to be used for fecal transplantation to treat patients with C. difficile infection:

To donate, Eric had to pass a 109-point clinical assessment. There is a laundry list of factors that would disqualify a donor: obesity, illicit drug use, antibiotic use, travel to regions with high risk of contracting diseases, even recent tattoos. His stools and blood also had to clear a battery of laboratory screenings to make sure he didn't have any infections. 

After all that screening, only 3% of prospective donors are healthy enough to give. "I had no idea," he says about his poop. "It turns out that it's fairly close to perfect."

And that, unlike most people's poop, makes Eric's worth money. OpenBiome pays its 22 active donors $40 per sample. They're encouraged to donate often, every day if they can. Eric has earned about $1,000.

The poop also has to have the acceptable texture, either types 3, 4, or 5, on the Bristol Stool Chart:

Google Explains New Logo

Google designers explain the new logo.

Periodic Table Battleship

"Periodic Table Battleship". (Includes instructions on how to make your own set.)

A World Without Drivers

"A Roadmap for a World Without Drivers". (Via A.B.)

iPad Wi-Fi Visualizer App

"iPad app reveals the hidden waves of Wi-Fi and cell signals flowing around us".  (Scheduled to be released December 2015.)

Phone And Laptop Encryption Guide

"Phone and laptop encryption guide: Protect your stuff and yourself"

Hsieh Forbes Column: The Positive Value of Negative Drug Trials

My latest Forbes piece is now out: "The Positive Value of Negative Drug Trials".

I discuss the unfortunate bias against publishing "negative" scientific results that show a drug doesn't have much clinical benefit, and why it's in the self-interest of drug companies to still report these.

In particular, I highlighted two interesting facts:

1) Most drug trial results are still not being reported to a central registry.

2) Negative results funded by private industry (e.g., pharmaceutical companies) are more likely to be reported than from government-funded research.

Fortunately, free market incentives are driving more drug companies towards full disclosure of both positive and negative study results -- which will benefit patients.

For more details, read the full text of "The Positive Value of Negative Drug Trials".

Supercut of Improbable Weapons

"Supercut of Improbable Weapons":

Quest Across A Hyperbolic Surface

"Take an Epic Quest across a Hyperbolic Surface"

Lembas For Mordor

"Simply Walking into Mordor: How Much Lembas Would The Fellowship Need?"

The full analysis is in the paper (PDF).  Their conclusion:

Using hourly metabolic rates for the species, this is approximately 304 pieces for the hobbits, 214 for the ‘men’, 99 for Gimli and 60 for Legolas, assuming that they only eat their daily required amounts.

Chinese Military Tactics

Very, very clever:

How Buffer Overflow Works

Ars Technica: "How security flaws work: The buffer overflow"

Real NASA Technologies in 'The Martian'

"Nine Real NASA Technologies in The Martian". (Via H.R.)

Infinite Earring

The topology of the Infinite Earring.

Fusion Update

"How Close Are We To Nuclear Fusion?"

How El Nino Shifts Energy Around

The Economist: "How El Nino shifts so much energy around, with such big consequences"

Bosses Vs. Subordinates Emails

"The Linguistics of Writing an Email Like a Boss".

Includes an interesting list of "Top 40 phrases bosses use with subordinates" and "Top 40 phrases in emails people send to their bosses".

Interleaved Phone Books

"Physicists Solve the Mystery of Interleaved Phone Books":

A famous demonstration of the counterintuitive power of friction involves two telephone directories with their pages alternately interleaved. People are then invited to pull the directories apart, a futile task since the force required to do the job is mind-bogglingly huge.

Indeed, experimenters have variously tried to separate the directories with trucks and military tanks. They’ve even used them to lift a car off the ground...

Matrix Of Startup Ideas

"Is Your Startup Idea Already Taken?" (Click on image to see full size).

MultiFab

"One step closer to Star Trek: New 3-D printer builds with 10 materials at once"

Pencil Tip Sculptures

"This Artist Makes Mindblowing Sculptures Out of Pencil Tips"

The creation of Adam (Michelangelo Buonarroti) #pencil #sculpture #pencilsculpture #pencilcarving #art #the #creation #of #adam #michelangelo #buonarroti #amazing #instalike #sharingart #worldofpencils #world #instafollow #follow #cool #bosnia #tuzla #toldart

A photo posted by Jasenko Đorđević (@toldart) on Aug 4, 2015 at 8:08am PDT

Carrier Landings

"How Difficult Is It to Land on an Aircraft Carrier in Rough Seas?"

Artificial Spleen Update

"Wyss improves sepsis device: New model of blood-cleansing device has been simplified and is closer to clinical use". (Via H.R.)