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Everyone's favorite mosquito repellent, DEET, works by making a smell that mosquitoes can't stand, or by blocking their ability to smell humans, depending on who you ask. The thing is, even the greatest repellents won't stop all mosquitoes, and new evidence suggest why. It turns out that the Anopheles gambiae have a second family of olfactory sensors, previously unknown, which sniff out and activate due to completely different smells than the ones we already knew about. This could help explain why it's so hard to develop efficient repellents, and maybe help stop the spread of diseases from the insects. More »

“Case Study: LSD”, a film produced by Lockheed Aircraft in 1969 warns of the dangers of eating a hot dog while on acid.
via Boing Boing

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Nearly two centuries ago, famed scientists Charles Darwin and Joseph Hooker transformed the barren volcanic island of Ascension into a lush artificial ecosystem, unwittingly inventing terraforming. Now, Darwin's incredible achievement could help us transform Mars into a livable environment. More »

Something this horrific can't possibly be an accident. I mean, it takes genius to come up with something so offensive to the eye. Sure enough, the crazily appalling carpets that adorn Vegas casinos are designed to keep you gambling. More »

We've heard that Apple launched Ping without Facebook support because the two companies couldn't agree on some terms, but today AllThingsD explains that Apple actually ignored the fact that negotiations failed and incorporated Facebook's API—until Facebook blocked things. More »

When we heard about Wicked Lasers' Spyder III Pro Arctic laser, an ultra powerful portable laser with a lightsaberesque design selling for only $200, it almost seemed too good to be true. Turns out it might have been. More »

Yes, I'm certain that this will work; we just needed someone with the balls to prove the rocket jump works in real life, just like our thought balloons are visible to the naked eye! So if you have a bazooka at home, and a platform you just can't reach, please, go ahead and give it a shot -- literally! Now you know! And knowing when someone is being sarcastic is half the battle! (Via Unreality)

Rendezvous With Rama author Arthur C. Clarke predicts telemedicine, telecommuting and mobile phones, in a 1964 BBC interview. Too bad we don't have space colonies or mentally enhanced chimpanzee servants yet. More »

Skype's latest Windows-only 5.0 beta 2 doubles their five-way video calling to ten. TEN. How does ten-way video calling look? Like this. If you add two. We could only get eight, and four of them was me. More »

Nerf guns these days are very scary. They have reloadable magazines and fire automatically and look like they could provide a suitable defense during an alien invasion. But how to render one even scarier? Make it heat-seeking. Video, please: More »

Plants are extremely efficient converters of light into energy, setting the bar for researchers creating photovoltaic cells. A team of MIT scientists believe they've created a synthetic chloroplast that can be broken down and reassembled repeatedly, restoring sun-damaged solar cells. More »

Carole Barrowman talks about growing up as a fan of Doctor Who alongside her younger brother John — who became famous as the Doctor's sexiest companion, Captain Jack Harkness, in this excerpt from the book Chicks Dig Time Lords. More »