Synthetic Food, Smart Pills and… Kangaroo Butlers?

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“Orwellian” illustration from the 1965 comic strip, “Our New Age”

According to Athelstan Spilhaus, writing the comic strip “Our New Age” was his way of slipping a little subliminal education into the Sunday funnies. Each week the strip took a different topic—such as  ocean currents or heredity or the moons of Mars—and explained in a very straightforward way just what made that area of scientific discovery so interesting. Sometimes, he would dabble in futurism, looking at automated hospitals or the robot teachers of tomorrow—but the December 26, 1965 edition of the strip stands out as its most forward-looking. Spilhaus clearly had some fun writing about these mid-’60s predictions that included everything from citizens voting on specific laws by telephone to the dapper-looking kangaroo servants of the future.

Temples of Stainless Steel in Thailand

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Extreme Close-Ups: 16 Mind-Blowing Macro Nature Photos

By Steph in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems

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Have you ever watched a grasshopper scratch its chin, or examined all of the tiny hairs on the face of a bee? Have you seen the world around you reflected in a drop of dew? Unless you’re a macro photographer – taking extreme close-up images of insects, flowers and other objects – you’ve probably never had the chance. These 16 amazing photographs give us up-close-and-personal views of flowers, creepy-crawlies, geckos and water droplets.

Best Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011

Was originally pulled from www.nnm.ru, post not there anymore...

Dr. Marek Kukula (Marek Kukula), an astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, invites readers to make a space trip by these photographs, which depicted the most vivid "tourist" attractions of our solar system. This collection of photographs was provided in connection with the start of the contest "Best Photographer astronomer-2011» (Astronomy Photographer of the Year), conducted by the Royal Observatory.The competition is only the photos taken by people.

By VC: Irrational Consumerism (or The Few Companies Who Feed the World)

By VC | April 15th, 2011 | Category: Vigilant Reports

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Not many people realize that most of the processed foods available on the market, whether they be in groceries or fast-food chains, all come from the same few companies.  Even less people realize that these companies are major actors in elite organizations who decide health, social and economic policies around the world. We’ll look at the big three companies who feed the world, their many brands and the tactics they undertake to make people crave their products.

If one were to carefully study the labels on packaged products in an average grocery store, one would probably notice that the same company names appear repeatedly: Nestlé, Kraft, General Mills and a few others. Many brands offering good ol’ fashioned homemade or all-natural/organic foods are nothing more than subsidiaries of these few world-wide mega-companies. The major difference between the main brand and the subsidiaries is packaging and advertising, which are targeted to reach different markets. In order to preserve the carefully crafted image surrounding a product, connections to the mother company are often conveniently hidden. Imagine an advertisement for bottled water going like this: “Drink pure, clear, refreshing Aquafina water, bottled with care from remote natural sources in the Himalayas … BROUGHT TO YOU BY PEPSICO, THE MAKER OF TACO BELL AND CHEETOS MIGHTY ZINGERS!” That would probably spoil the healthy, natural image they are trying to create for the product.