Radioactive particles released in the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami were detected in giant kelp along the California coast, according to a recently published study.
Radioactive iodine was found in samples collected from beds of kelp in locations along the coast from Laguna Beach to as far north as Santa Cruz about a month after the explosion, according to the study by two marine biologists at Cal State Long Beach.
The levels, while most likely not harmful to humans, were significantly higher than measurements prior to the explosion and comparable to those found in British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington state following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, according to the study published in March in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The highest levels were found in Corona del Mar.
via LA Times
The new W hotel in Paris – brings in the invisible crime-scene art of Zevs
If you’re a fan of W hotels then the new W Paris Opéra is going to delight you.
Among the many artists brought in to remodel the 1870s Haussmann era building was French artist Zevs, known for his style of “exploring not what is seen, but what is left to the imagination.”
For the Suite 112 installation, Zevs worked with invisible ink that he created in a laboratory in New York City, mimicking the special red pigment used by police at crime scenes. “This red reminds you of the blood of a crime scene, but it’s also the most visible color, so I like the extreme aspect between the invisibility of the ink and the extreme visibility of the color,” he says.
We caught up with the artist at the opening night party, where a man dressed as a CSI expert shone a UV light slowly over the walls to reveal patterned Louis Vuitton wallpaper with Zevs’ signature dripping logos. “With the idea to place logos into a crime scene, I think simply the idea is to continue to investigate the territory of this fashion victim project I did last year,” he says, referring to a Sao Paolo Fashion Week event in which a naked model was “murdered” by a Louis Vuitton logo and Zevs outlined her body on the street in chalk.
via Cool Hunting
Take the White House Public Tour using Google Street View
Members of the Google Art project and the Google Street View team recently came to the White House to create a new way for people to tour the White House.
Take a look at the process that went into creating a 360 degree virtual walk through of the White House public tour.
Take a look inside the White House at http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/the-white-house/museumview/
Gas prices have peaked – $3.70+ is the new normal
This year’s surge in gasoline prices appears over, falling short of the record highs some had feared heading into peak summer driving season.
Prices have held at a national average of $3.92 a gallon the past week, below 2011’s $3.99 high and July 2008’s record $4.11.
“By the behavior of the market, things are just running out of steam,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior analyst for price tracker gasbuddy.com. “Barring any major event — refinery problems, Iran — I think prices have peaked.”
DeHaan said the national average could dip to $3.70 a gallon by early May.
via USA Today
Infograph – timeline of Instagram photos – from zero to a billion in 17 months
Meryl Streep’s Heartfelt Thank You to Hillary Clinton (scrunchie time!)
Last month at The Women in the World Summit, Meryl Streep delivered a rousing tribute to U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, which seemed to make even the consummate actress and orator a little nervous and tongue-tied.
Streep struck home the point that while the world has been busy “judging [Hillary], assessing her hair, her jackets, supporting her, worrying about her – is she getting enough sleep?” our Madame Secretary has been “busy working, doing it, making those words ‘Women’s rights are human rights’ into something every leader in every country now knows is a linchpin of American policy.”
Streep also reminded the audience:
“…it is not a simple job to be a role model. It is not just being endlessly compassionate, polite, and well-groomed. It’s equal parts being who you actually are and what people hope you will be. It’s representing, for all women, our very best selves. It’s an enormous burden to be placed upon any sweetly rounded shoulders. But that’s what we ask of her.”
And she thanked Hillary for “her willingness to take it all on – the hostility and the sniping and the special scrutiny and the heavy artillery.”
In light of the recent “Texts from Hillary” phenomenon, I sincerely hope “scrunchie time” makes it into the inevitable Hillary-Clinton-Played-By-Meryl-Streep-Biopic.
Thx 4 the LOLZ, Hillz. But more importantly, thanks for being the inveterate leader and fighter that you are.
More women in Computer Science – a simple solution from Harvey Mudd
An interesting story from the New York Times shows how current president of Harvey Mudd College, Maria Klawe, turned her school into a computer science powerhouse for women.
She started her work in 2006, amidst a big downturn in female computer science graduates. “As recently as 1985, 37 percent of graduates in the field were women; by 2005 it was down to 22 percent, and sinking.”
Harvey Mudd was even worse with graduates in the single digits. This year that rate is nearly 40% and here’s how it happened:
In 2005, the year before Dr. Klawe arrived, a group of faculty members embarked on a full makeover of the introductory computer science course, a requirement at Mudd.
Known as CS 5, the course focused on hard-core programming, appealing to a particular kind of student — young men, already seasoned programmers, who dominated the class. This only reinforced the women’s sense that computer science was for geeky know-it-alls.
To reduce the intimidation factor, the course was divided into two sections — “gold,” for those with no prior experience, and “black” for everyone else. Java, a notoriously opaque programming language, was replaced by a more accessible language called Python. And the focus of the course changed to computational approaches to solving problems across science.
“We realized that we needed to show students computer science is not all about programming,” said Ran Libeskind-Hadas, chairman of the department. “It has intellectual depth and connections to other disciplines.”
Dr. Klawe supported the cause wholeheartedly, and provided money from the college for every female freshman to travel to the annual Grace Hopper conference, named after a pioneering programmer. The conference, where freshmen are surrounded by female role models, has inspired many a first-year “Mudder” to explore computer science more seriously.
via NY Times
Infograph – comparing the app stores for Android, iPhone, & Blackberry
Key Points:
- 13% of Blackberry developers have made more than $100,000.
- iPhone app sales were 4x that of Android.
- Android has more free apps than iTunes.
Continue reading “Infograph – comparing the app stores for Android, iPhone, & Blackberry”
Inside the Bentley factory – “we only make 6 cars a day”
On this episode of The Downshift, we tour Bentley’s landmark factory in Crewe, where engineers, mechanics and artisans have been designing, building and sculpting Rolls Royce and Bentley motors and vehicles for over 70 years.
Photos from inside Apple Headquarters
It’s the Chocolate Factory for tech nerds.
Search the web for “Apple HQ,” and most of the results you get will be pictures of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters — from the outside. Usually with some fanboy standing next to the “1 Infinite Loop” sign. But what we really want to see is what’s inside the ultra-top-secret place where all our favorite gizmos are dreamed up.
This discussion will be moot a few years down the road when Apple opens its gigantic new wheel-shaped campus. But for now, this is the ultimate Nerdvana.
via Apple Gazette (w/ 20+ more photos)
