STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

Please Don't Get Mauled by a Bear This Weekend

Look, I'm not a "woods" guy. People who enjoy camping may or may not be deranged. But if you are Outdoors McGee, at least know your bear etiquette. Rule #1: Do not engage a massive bear to a battle royale while only wielding a bow and arrow.

Canadian Richard Wesley doesn't like Rule #1, so he disregarded it and got mauled by a bear. For some reason, he seemed primarily concerned at a number of points with the GoPro that was strapped to his head. We all want to go viral, in fairness, but he is very lucky to be alive:

[Fuzz]

20 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Please Don't Get Mauled by a Bear This Weekend

 

Silly human. The bear just wanted to give him a hug.

[MIKA27]

SHIMMER LAKE

The story of a robbery in a small town told backward — and one of the three perpetrators is the sheriff's brother. When a bank robbery goes terribly wrong, local law enforcement goes on the hunt for the criminals in this darkly comedic thriller. Shimmer Lake stars Rainn Wilson, Benjamin Walker, and Wyatt Russell. Watch it on Netflix now.

[MIKA27]

WELLER 12 BOURBON

Named after William LaRue Weller, a bourbon pioneer who substituted wheat into his bourbon recipes in place of Rye, Weller 12 is consistently mentioned among some of the best bourbons being made today. And just like its namesake, the entire Weller line has reached legendary status in recent years due to its affordability and the fact that it shares a home distillery and mashbill with another wheater known as Pappy Van Winkle. Aged for 12 years and boasting a brand new bottle design, it's one of the best deals in the bourbon world — if you can find it.

[MIKA27]

PERSOL 100TH ANNIVERSARY PILOT SUNGLASSES

Created to celebrate the Italian firm's centennial, these Persol 100th Anniversary Pilot Sunglasses are an exclusive take on one of the company's most beloved designs. Polarized 55mm crystal lenses sit inside the tortoise acetate frame and provide outstanding optics, but the detail that sets these apart from more pedestrian versions are the 18K yellow gold arrows on both temples. Available exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue.

[MIKA27]

OZARK

Making yourself disappear in today's world isn't easy. It's even harder when you're trying to make your entire family vanish with you. Marty Byrde is trying to quit his job and ditch his employer — except that his job is laundering money for a massive drug cartel. Starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, Ozark comes to Netflix in July 2017.

[MIKA27]

6 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Silly human. The bear just wanted to give him a hug.

[MIKA27]

Oh Look, It's A Drone-Riding Ball Delivery Person

Yep, you're seeing that right. It's a person on a drone delivering a ball during a football match. Or the Green Goblin in disguise, either way - this is awesome.

Fantasy is real life now and I can't tell what's going on anymore.

[MIKA27]

Teaser Trailer Released For Unbelievably Cool Voldemort Fan Film

J.K. Rowling may be busy working on the second film in her Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trilogy, but one fan film is getting reading to tell us a much cooler story: How He Who Shall Not Be Named became, well, He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Tryangle Films has released the debut trailer for Voldemort: Origins of the Heir, a high-production (and non-profit) fan film based in the Harry Potter universe. According to the plot synopsis, it's inspired by events in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, detailing how Tom Riddle collected the Horcruxes and amassed power... to better understand the man who failed to kill The Boy Who Lived.

Quote

What made Tom Riddle become Voldemort? What happened in those years, and what really went down at Hogwarts when he came back? There are some clues in the books which have not been transposed at all in the movies, but a lot goes unspoken. This is the story we want to tell: the rise of the Dark Lord before Harry Potter and his first demise.

The production company is currently raising funds to complete the film, which they said will come out this October (assuming they raise the funds). In a statement to BuzzFeed, the production company says they have an agreement with Warner Bros. to release it on YouTube, though Warner Bros. didn't confirm. Check out the trailer below, and marvel at how far fan films have come in the past decade, growing from home videos in the garage to fully professional feature-length presentations. Wands up for this one.

 

[MIKA27]

Gunman At Phoenix Comicon, Claiming To Be The Punisher, Targeted Jason David Frank

A man was arrested Thursday for sneaking into Phoenix Comicon with a collection of guns and other weapons, saying he wanted to hurt law enforcement. More details have since emerged that paint a disturbing picture about the incident, including a vendetta against one of the Power Rangers.

According to a report in the Phoenix New Times, 31-year-old Matthew Sterling told police he was targeting "bad police officers" because he was the real-life version of The Punisher, Marvel's uncompromising vigilante. Sterling told police he was aware that real weapons were banned from the con, but said the rule didn't apply to him because, as he previously claimed, he was the Punisher.

Police said Sterling offered "numerous fantastical stories" to detectives, including saying he wanted to kill "Aphrodite officers," — his term for bad police officers — if they tried to hurt or stop him. This is interesting, though not connected, when you consider the fact that the Punisher has been used as an inspirational figure and logo for Blue Lives Matter, a pro-police movement.

Sterling also claimed he had a vendetta against a celebrity who was making an appearance at Phoenix Comicon, which was later determined to be Mighty Morphin Power Rangers star Jason David Frank, who played the Green Ranger. Police found a message on Sterling's calendar for May 25, the day of the attack, that said "Kill JDF."

Frank appeared at a press conference to thank the police for their hard work and request that attendees do not bring prop knives for him to sign (Phoenix Comicon banned all props from the event, including non-weapon ones, in response to the incident). He later went into further detail on Facebook Live, thanking fans for their support of both him and the convention.

"You will start hearing stuff on social media. I'm fine. I'm ok. Love y'all. Even though it looks like things don't faze me, I refuse to have a situation tear me apart mentally. You gotta remember, things could always be worse. Things could've been worse. But it wasn't. You know, everyone is safe, things are ok, and it's a great thing," Frank said.

Sterling was charged with attempted murder and booked on a $US1 million bond. He's set to appear in court early next month.

[MIKA27]

EERIE PHOTOS FROM A MENTAL HOSPITAL FARM IN THE 1930S

Have you ever wondered why people will sometimes refer to insane asylums as funny farms? These eerie photos by LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt might shed a little light on the subject.

Shot in 1938, the photos are a rare glimpse within the walls of State Hospital, a massive mental hospital that sprawled for over a thousand acres in Long Island.

Though it was originally meant to serve as a utopian "farm colony" for the mentally ill, it soon became as overcrowded as the inner-city hospitals it was designed to replace.

Pilgrim State Hospital, along with its two neighboring farm colonies, became examples of a state-run incompetence and poor handling of vulnerable people.

These were the dreaded "funny farms" that one could be sentenced to work on if you failed to meet society's standards. Thankfully, Pilgrim State Hospital downsized over the years and is much smaller today, which we hope means the patients are able to receive better care.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

[Fuzz]

49 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Gunman At Phoenix Comicon, Claiming To Be The Punisher, Targeted Jason David Frank

 

There was a bit of a kerfuffle over the prop ban. Some attendees were scathing over the Con's organisers reaction, especially one vendor who was ejected after not following the updated rules, then sneaking back in to the con to hand out flyers giving a contradictory story for the ejection.

[MIKA27]

Own Elvis Presley’s Private Lockheed Jetstar Jet

Elvis and his father owned a 1962 Lockheed Jetstar Jet that’s been featured on National Geographic and was a huge tourist attraction at the Roswell airport. Now, you can own Elvis Presley’s private Lockheed Jetstar Jet if you’re willing to pony up the cash. As you can tell, the exterior and the cockpit need some serious TLC, and the plane won’t be leaving the ground any time soon, because it has no engines. But take one step into the cabin area of the plane and it’s fit for The King. Gold-tone hardware on top of custom woodwork on top of red velvet seats and red carpet. According to the seller, the jet sits in the same condition Elvis left it in… down to the velvet seat that covers the toilet. All you need to do is restore it and put it on display with the rest of your barn finds. Presley’s private Lockheed Jetstar Jet will be available as part of the A-List Celebrities & Icons Memorabilia Auction that starts May 27 at 12pm CDT. It’s estimated to go for anywhere from $2,000,000 to $3,500,000, but the current bid is just over $400,000.

 

[MIKA27]

Paul Allen Shows Off The World's Largest Aeroplane For The First Time

You can't be a Silicon Valley billionaire without having your own initiative to build a big arse aircraft. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is most definitely a Silicon Valley billionaire, and today he proved that by pulling the world's largest aeroplane out of its hanger for the first time and showing the world what the future of rocket launches might look like.

Allen first announced the Stratolaunch way back in 2011. Test flights were supposed to begin in 2016, but that deadline came and went. Aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his team have been hard at work on the massive aeroplane all this time. Though no test flights were performed today, we did get our first look at this bad boy in a ton of hi-res photos that will put a smile on the face of anyone who fancies aircraft gear porn.

Being the largest aeroplane in the world would be enough to make the Stratolaunch interesting in its own right, but its intended use is what makes it so cool. Today was reserved for fuelling tests, but when its operational, the plane will hopefully fly into low Earth orbit and launch a Orbital ATK's Pegasus XL rocket into space. The rocket is designed to carry small satellites that weigh up to 454kg into orbit. One the Stratolaunch hits an altitude of 10,668m, the rocket that's tethered to its belly will finish out the journey. If Allen's full ambitions are realised, the company will be able to send crewed missions into space at a lower price than Russia is charging NASA.

Get ready for a dump of technical specs. The Stratolaunch has a wingspan of 117m, it uses six 747 jet engines, sits on 26 wheels, can carry 113,400kg of fuel, and weighs 226,800kg without fuel. In order to take off, it needs about 3660m of runway. That's a bit of a problem because most commercial aircraft require around 2440m of runway.

In a statement, Stratolaunch's chief executive, Jean Floyd, said that ground tests and flight tests will be conducted "over the coming weeks and months", and its first launch is set for 2019. Floyd also said that the company is "actively exploring a broad spectrum of launch vehicles that will enable us to provide more flexibility to customers".

[MIKA27]

Watching An Underground Water Pipe Explode Is Like Seeing The Earth Fart

When thing go wrong underground, we're often reminded that the Earth is nothing but a big ball of hot rocks, covered in a delicate skin of smaller, slightly cooler rocks. That became clear on Monday, when an underground water pipe exploded in Kiev, Ukraine. It actually looked kinda hilarious.

The explosion sent water, mud and debris as high as seven storeys, but luckily the only things that got hurt in the incident were some nearby cars, the neighbouring building and, well, the Earth's thin skin. Workers who had installed the pipe still don't know the cause of the explosion, but it's highly possible that Earth was just feeling a little gassy.

[MIKA27]

Godzilla Vs. Kong Just Landed An Unexpected But Inspired Choice As Its Director

You've seen Godzilla. You've seen Kong: Skull Island. Godzilla is coming back next year for sequel King of the Monsters, and then, finally, the two will fight. Now, a director for that epic clash has been chosen.

Adam Wingard, the director of You're Next, The Guest, and most recently Blair Witch, has just signed to direct 2020's Godzilla vs. Kong. He'll work from a story that was developed over the last few months in a robust writers room led by Pirates of the Caribbean writer Terry Rossio.

After exhibiting exciting style in his first several films, Wingard's name has been a mainstay when it comes to high-profile films over the past few years. This, however, is the biggest one yet. It's basically a monster movie version of Civil War, pitting two of the most famous beasts of all time against each other. Much like Gareth Edwards and Jordan Vogt-Roberts before him, Wingard is likely to bring a fresh, fun take to the material.

Next for Wingard is the adaptation Death Note for Netflix, which will be out in August. Then he'll likely have to get started on this film, whose story is being kept under wraps.

And he certainly has a sense of humour about it.

Quote

Cue the tweets telling me I've already ruined Godzilla and Kong.

Godzilla vs. Kong is scheduled for release in the US 22 May 2020.

[MIKA27]

This Freaky Frog Is So Transparent You Can See Its Internal Organs

Introducing Hyalinobatrachium yaku, a newly-discovered species of glassfrog that lives in the Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador. Like other glassfrogs, it features transparent skin on its belly, but this tiny critter takes things to another level by exposing the entire contents of its underside — heart and head included.

A new study published in ZooKeys describes the frog, which was discovered by Juan M. Guayasamin from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. The distinctly Kermit-like creature features dark green spots at the back of its head and back, and measures just 2cm in length. The males of H. yaku use a long call to attract mates, which they do from the underside of leaves. But this frog's most notable feature is its translucent pericardium, a membrane enclosing the heart which extends from its belly all the way up into its chest and lower jaw.

Looking at its underside, you can see the frog's kidneys, urinary bladder, reproductive system and, most remarkable of all, its heart. Many glassfrogs, such as C. resplendens, H. munozorum and T. midas, have transparent bellies, but H. yaku features one of the clearest transparent undersides ever seen in a glassfrog species. Scientists aren't sure why the bellies of glassfrogs are see-through, but it may help them avoid or confuse predators.

Guayasamin's team found the new species at three distinct locations in Amazonian Ecuador, all within 110km of one another. The populations exhibited similar physical characteristics, but distinct behaviours. In two of the locations, the frogs were spotted underneath leaves in slow moving rivers. In the third location, where human activity is rampant, the frogs were seen perching on leaves of small shrubs, ferns and grasses. The glassfrogs in this third location were as far as 30m from the nearest stream, which they need to reproduce.

Sadly, these fascinating amphibians are threatened by human activity. Oil extraction in the region, and related water pollution, road development, habitat degradation and isolation, are making it exceptionally difficult for this delicate species to thrive.

"Considering the current scenario of development in the Ecuadorian Amazon, alternatives that contemplate both conservation and different levels of exploitation have been put forward by the scientific community," write the researchers in their study. "These alternatives need to be seriously considered, especially when biodiversity research and conservation are clearly identified, at least in theory, as priorities for the Ecuadorian Government."

[MIKA27]

Australian Scientists Just Created A New Algorithm To Detect Cancer

Early diagnosis of malignant tumours and improved success rates of treatment is now possible thanks to a new algorithm that detects the early formation of blood vessels.

CSIRO's Data61 researchers are developing the software tool.
The development of new blood vessels – angiogenesis - is known to precede the growth of cancers. Earlier detection of this blood vessel growth may lead to a faster diagnosis of malignant tumour growth, which is a key factor in successful treatment and patient survival.

In the study, Data61 researchers teamed up with researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences to produce images of the brains and livers of mice at various stages of cancer growth.

The researchers analysed 26 high-resolution 3D micro-CT images from 26 mice, produced by the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF). Using the images, the team developed an algorithm to generate an accurate representation of the vasculature, preserving the length and shape information of the blood vessel and its branches.

This new development was done using a technique called end-point constraints. End-points are critical in preserving the geometrical features of new blood vessels, including branching patterns and the lengths of terminal vessels. Until now, images of blood vessel structure taken from high-resolution imaging have only been able to produce a skeletonised view of blood vessel structure which provided limited detail and accuracy.

Anti-angiogenesis treatment aims at preventing cancers from growing blood vessels. The ability to continuously monitor subtle changes in blood vessels over time is essential, especially since patients might react to anti-angiogenesis treatment differently.

The new software means researchers can measure subtle changes in the blood vessels - including the number and length of the blood vessel branches - and produce significantly clearer skeletons of the vasculature than previously possible.

Cancer Council Australia CEO Professor Sanchia Aranda said the capacity of cancers to form new blood vessels (angiogenesis) was a critical feature enabling cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body.

"This exciting project seeks to bring to life the tumour micro-environment through 3D synchrotron images of the vessels and will help to advance our understanding of this critical cancer progression process," Professor Aranda said. "The hope is that through improved understanding new opportunities to disrupt angiogenesis will be identified and open pathways to new treatments.

"If we can stop cancers spreading we can reduce the number of people who die from the disease."

While the development of this new technique is a significant step forward, the Shanghai Synchrotron Beamline used to produce the images generates radiation levels unsafe for human imaging. In order to progress clinical trials in humans, the researchers are looking for 3D imaging technologies and partnering with a hardware manufacturer that can produce high-resolution images with safe levels of radiation for humans.

Dr Dadong Wang, lead researcher on this project from Data61's Quantitative Imaging team, said that the applications of the software could be extended beyond 3D angiogenesis analysis.

"Our robust algorithms for the early detection and quantification of angiogenesis could potentially be a great step forward in the detection and treatment of cancer," Dr Wang said. "However, they can also be applied to a wide range of other applications, such as analysis of 3D neurite outgrowth for drug development."

Dr Wang says there is great interest in taking these findings further, but there is still a long way to go before this new development can be applied to human patients.

"But we are very hopeful, and currently looking for collaborators and partners to take the technology to the next stage."

[MIKA27]

Lovecraftian Horror Has Never Looked More Adorable Than It Does In This Animated Short

That's probably a strange thing to say, but really, this super adorable little short film managed to make a dog transforming into a tentacled eldritch nightmare into something rather cute, which is quite the feat.

Featuring a blend of hand-drawn art and 3D assets, Kris Theorin's Mary & Marsha in The Manor of Madness is a cutesy tale of two women in love, and their attempts to escape a manor staffed by tentacle-head butlers and sinister cultists in something that ends up being a fun mix between Scooby Doo-esque goofballery and creepy cosmic horror.
 

[MIKA27]

Neill Blomkamp's Next Project Teases New Horrors And An Alien Invasion

The man behind Elysium, Chappie and District 9 is embarking on a strange new project called Oat Studios Volume 1, and although it's a bizarre left-turn for the director in terms of how you'll see it, a new teaser trailer for the series shows he'll at least be treading some familiar sci-fi grounds.

Blomkamp has been teasing the prospect of Oat Studios for a while now, as well as his plans to sell a series of short films through Steam, Valve's PC distribution service probably best known as that place where you buy oodles of dirt cheap PC games you'll never have time to play whenever there's a sale on. But now we have the our first look look at just what the studio is making, and it's pretty much a smorgasbord of alien invasion delights.

The teaser gives us shots of an overgrown Eiffel Tower; some seriously creepy, lizard-like aliens; what looked like some Vietnam-era zombie soldiers; and in general, a pretty bizarre and grim future for humanity at large — done in the style of the short films that Blomkamp made his name with before landing District 9.

Whatever Oat Studios ends up being, we'll find out in the near future — the first volume is supposedly streaming "soon", according to the teaser. We'll bring you more on Blomkamp's mystery project as we learn it.

 

[MIKA27]

Joseph Walsh designs bespoke watch cabinet to mirror the intricacy of clockwork

Source: @Jeremy Festa

Irish furniture workshop Joseph Walsh Studio has showcased new commissions at an exhibition in New York, including a towering watch cabinet and intertwined bench for the private collection of a father and son.

The Cork-based studio presented the designs at the American Irish Historical Society's Reveal exhibition, which brought together a number of private commissions from Walsh's patrons to coincide with the NYCxDesign festival.

The watch cabinet, titled A Piece of Time, is sculpted from fumed oak with drawers carved from pear wood and detailed in suede. Shaped like a bulging seed case, the vessel is more than two metres tall and houses a collection of 108 watches in separate pockets spread out over 11 levels.

Described by Joseph Walsh Studio as "an object that at its very essence is horological", the cabinet contains an intricate bronze mechanism – made from over 700 parts – which references the inner workings of the watches within.

Each of the 22 drawers fan out from the main body of the cabinet to reveal the individual compartments that hold the watches. Glimpses of the internal bronze apparatus are revealed as the drawers slide out from the sculptural piece.

Accompanying the cabinet is a seat from Walsh's Enignum collection, made from ebonised ash wood with black leather upholstery. The seat snakes around the cabinet, curving around the structure so the clients can sit while appreciating their collection.

"My idea was to create a vessel form that would contain the watches, a sculpture, with a seat connected to it, so that one could spend time enjoying the watches," designer Joseph Walsh told Dezeen.

"The form of the seat wraps around the user but also the vessel, and the compartments within pivot open with a fluid movement that follows the spirit of the piece's form."

Walsh said the clients, a father and son, had requested a cabinet that would enhance the "hundreds of hours of mastery and making" that went into each watch.

"My idea for this commission was to create a piece which would be a joy to engage with and would expand the experience of collecting the timepieces," Walsh continued. "A way to enjoy the collection, the story of each watch and their relationship to each other."

Other designs in the show included the Lilium table, an intricately geometric-patterned wooden table, sculpted and carved into undulating spiral forms. Four of the Enignum collection chairs were also on display as part of a series of 24 unique seats created for the private dining room at Chatsworth House.

MIKA: Thanks @Jeremy Festa certainly is amazing, anything that is BESPOKE is bound to have my attention. Imagine such work on a humidor

[Jeremy Festa]

40 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Joseph Walsh designs bespoke watch cabinet to mirror the intricacy of clockwork

Imagine such work on a humidor

Sweet, sweet, baby Jesus!

[MIKA27]

Collapse Of Enormous Antarctic Ice Shelf Imminent

In a dramatic development, the giant rift in the Larsen C ice shelf has grown an additional 17km since last week, and the leading tip of the crack is now exceptionally close to the ocean. There's now very little to prevent a complete collapse — an event that will produce one of the largest icebergs in recorded history.

As documented by scientists at Project MIDAS, a mere 13km now separates the leading tip of the 142km-long crack and the ice front. Between May 25 and May 31, the rift grew an additional 17km, marking its biggest advance since January. What's more, the rift has taken a sharp turn towards the ocean, and it has breached a zone of soft "suture" ice near the Cole Peninsula. As noted by Project MIDAS, "there appears to be very little to prevent the iceberg from breaking away completely."

Scientists have been monitoring the crack in Larsen C for several years, but the rift experienced a major growth spurt this past December when it lengthened by 20km. The 92m-wide crack advanced an additional 10km in January, and earlier this month a second crack appeared at the leading edge. It's the tip of this second crack that's now headed straight for the ocean.

When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10 per cent of its total surface area. The resulting iceberg will feature an area around 6000km2, and measure 350m thick. If the shelf calves without breaking, it will be the size of Trinidad and Tobago, or twice the size of Rhode Island, and be among the largest icebergs ever recorded.

Back in 2000, a 11,000km2 chunk of ice dubbed B-15 emerged from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, and in 1998, a 6900km2 iceberg called A-38 broke free from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. While calving events are a natural process on ice shelves, the big ones like this are an dramatic sight to behold.

 

[MIKA27]

Physicists Find Another Gravitational Wave to Suggest Einstein Was Right

Three Billion years ago, two black holes collided to form a larger one. In the process, they produced a massive wave rolling through the fabric of spacetime at the speed of light. When the wave finally arrived at Earth on January 4 this year, it had faded into a light tickle upon the super-sensitive instruments of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, and for the third time ever, physicists observed a ripple in spacetime known as a gravitational wave. More detections means that physicists have a more precise understanding of how gravity works than ever—and they might have a new way to study the deepest mysteries of the universe.

The previously detected gravitational waves—the first of which was announced last year—also came from black hole collisions. “The event was a lot like our first detection, but the black holes were another two times further away,” says physicist David Shoemaker, the spokesperson for the LIGO collaboration, which includes over a thousand members. Through number-crunching and star-simulating, the researchers determined the wave originated from a black hole 30 times the mass of the sun merging with another 20 times the mass of the sun.

LIGO hunts for gravitational waves by looking for tiny compressions they cause on Earth. From above, LIGO’s observatories look like an L, with two 2.5 mile-long arms stretched at right angles. If a gravitational wave sweeps through, it will momentarily change the lengths of one of these arms—and using lasers, LIGO measures these extremely small fluctuations with painstaking precision. It can pick up a compression or stretch that’s 10,000 times smaller than the width of a proton. To confirm that change is caused by a gravitational wave and not noise from a truck thundering by on the highway, LIGO looks for simultaneous signals at its two observatories: one in Livingston, Louisiana, and the other in Hanford, Washington.

This detection is just the latest clue in physicists’ search for the true nature of gravity. The best-known theory of gravity is Einstein’s general relativity, which first predicted the existence of gravitational waves over a hundred years ago. But because physicists can’t yet say for sure that all of Einstein’s predictions are right, they’ve prepared an assortment of alternative theories to counter general relativity.

Some alternative theories predict that as a gravitational wave moves through space, it should exhibit a property known as dispersion. Dispersion is a bit like how sunlight turns into a rainbow: As white light passes through water vapor, different colors travel in different paths. These theories predict that the different components of a gravitational wave should do the same moving through spacetime.

General relativity, though, doesn’t predict dispersion—if that theory holds true, the wave should stay together. The LIGO researchers didn’t find any evidence for dispersion, so 50 points to Einstein. “This looks more like general relativity really is the correct theory,” says physicist Rob Owen of Oberlin College, who works with Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes, a group that makes simulations of gravitational waves. “This measurement is killing off more of these alternative theories.”

Soon LIGO won’t be the only gravity watchdog in the galaxy. Its team is working with researchers around the world to establish more gravitational wave observatories: LIGO’s European collaborators have built an observatory, Virgo, set to go online this summer. The more sites physicists have, the more precisely they can measure properties of the gravitational waves to further test general relativity.

So good job for now, Einstein. But LIGO isn’t just about patting that mustachioed old guy on the back. Gravitational waves can help scientists characterize the black holes at the center of many galaxies, including Earth’s. Studying them could help answer some basic questions about how the galaxy came to be. “They’re really kind of mysterious,” Owen says. “We don’t know how many there are in the universe or how they form.”

Even the most basic facts about black holes can shed some light on their enigmatic pasts. This gravitational wave measurement implies that the two black holes likely spun tilted with respect to each other. Physicists generally think that binary black holes, like the ones that produced this gravitational wave, might have formed in two ways: They were born together in the same dense gas cloud, or they migrated toward each other over their lifetime. This tilt suggests that these black holes did the latter. “This is an important clue in understanding how black holes form,” says astrophysicist Laura Cadonati of Georgia Tech, a member of LIGO.

Even though this is just LIGO’s third detection, it helps to establish that the observatory can consistently detect these waves. Eventually, the collaboration would like to measure hundreds of these things. “The analogy I like to use is that measuring gravitational waves is like listening to the universe,” Owen says. The “sounds” of the gravitational waves, accompanying the visual maps captured with telescopes, would turn scientists’ understanding of the universe into a far richer multimedia experience.

[MIKA27]

This Huevos Rancheros Sandwich And Mexican Coffee Recipe Is the Key to a Good Morning

 

Any sandwich can be eaten as breakfast if you put your mind to it, but not every sandwich is worthy of the title "breakfast sandwich." Add some kick to your basic BEC (that's bacon, egg, and cheese, for the uninitiated) with this recipe...and, while you're at it, do the same for your cup of Joe, too.

Ingredients Mexican-Style Simple Syrup

¾ c. Piloncillo sugar (or brown sugar)
½ c. Water
½ c. whole cloves
peel of one orange
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp. chopped raw almonds
Sandwich
soft sandwich roll, toasted
¼ c. refried beans
2 tsp. Olive oil
½ tsp. chili powder
Fried Egg
¼ Sliced avocado
2 slices crispy bacon
Hot Sauce
cilantro

Directions

Make the syrup: Chop the Piloncillo sugar (if using) to break it up. Add all ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil. Boil for about six minutes until liquid is reduced. Remove from heat and strain into heatproof jar to cool. Use as desired in cup of coffee. We brewed our cup with Krups Savoy Digital Coffee Maker.

Make the sandwich: Mix refried beans with chili powder and olive oil and spread on both sides of toasted roll. To bottom roll, add a fried egg and top with sliced avocado and bacon. Spoon some hot sauce on top and garnish with cilantro. Top sandwich with bun and serve with Mexican spiced coffee.