Bubblegum Sequencer

Move aside ABI and 454, here comes a new class of sequencers with more balls than your whimpering machines.

They will beat you, hands down.



Doesn't colour you impressed?

Then check out its latest incarnation made by a bunch of kids over the weekend using a desktop PC and an unlimited number of beer bottles.



Needs more cowbell.


Would you like to know more?

Videos of other bizarre electronic music gadgets:
- Monome 40h
- 8x16 Monome
- Tenori-On

Seal Loves Penguin: Alas It Was Not To Be

An Antarctic fur seal has been caught on camera trying to have sex with a king penguin.











Biologist Nico de Bruyn and a colleague were studying elephant seals on Marion Island (a territory of South Africa) when they noticed a young, adult male Antarctic fur seal attempting to copulate with an adult king penguin of unknown sex.

"At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin," says Mr. de Bruyn, a PhD student at the Department of Zoology and Entomology in the University of Pretoria.

BBC describes the process in graphic detail:

The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.

The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.

The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.

After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted.

The penguin did not appear to have been injured by the seal.

Scientists note that while sexual coercion among animals is extremely common, this bizarre incident is thought to be the first recorded example of a mammal trying to have sex with a member of another class of vertebrate, such as a bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian.

Of course the question you are asking is: WHY?!??!!

The researchers speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal.

Equally, it might be been an aggressive, predatory act; or even a playful one that turned sexual.

While these are plausible explanations, here at Fresh Brainz we propose a much simpler possibility.

To the best of our knowledge, only one situation can cause an individual to suddenly lose all normal inhibitions and engage in unpredictable, indiscriminate sexual behaviour...















Pass the beer googles, Randy.

*Hic*


Would you like to know more?
- Original research article: Sexual harassment of a king penguin by an Antarctic fur seal (de Bruyn et al. 2008, Journal of Ethology)

Counterintuitive Science: Child Prodigies, Adult Mediocrities

Here's a fun question for you - what does Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Augustin-Jean Fresnel have in common?

You are thinking: "Duh, they are all scientists."

Of course, duh, this is a science blog.

Try again.

"Their last names run in the alphabetical progression of D,E and F?"

Hmm... close enough.

They were all mediocre-performing kids.

Darwin sucked in mathematics, Einstein was slow in learning to speak and Fresnel couldn't even read at eight.

If you met any one of them when they were seven, you'd probably tell their parents something like: "Oh, it's too bad that little Charlie failed his classics again, I'm sure there are plenty of ditches left to dig and french fries to sell. My son? Bobby got 97% for his classics and 99% for mathematics - just a 2% improvement from last year, NO BIG DEAL, hahahaha..."

Heh.

In today's competitive society, it seems that the rat race begins right from the get go.

Not surprising that many parents would be envious of other parents whose children surpass their peers in academic and artistic performance by so much that they are called child "prodigies" or "geniuses".

Some parents even claim to have developed the technique for turning any kid into a child prodigy.

But the question is: even if a child is a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious prodigy, does it guarantee that she will become super-successful as an adult?

The short answer: No.

Why?

I won't go into the details here - you can read the references for the research data and in-depth insights.

Here's an exerpt that I especially like:

When someone is put on a pedestal, it’s likely that person will fall off at some point in time. How much damage is done in the fall is largely dependent upon the individual’s emotional maturity and the support received from others. If not managed carefully, permanent damage is done in the fall.















To summarize, I believe that there are three important reasons why:

1. You can't choose to become super-successful

2. Success is fleeting

3. Human beings are not cannonballs

You are thinking: "Well I suppose you didn't accidentally fail to mention Isaac Newton, Thomas Young, Marie Curie, as well as dozens of other prominent precocious kids who did in fact succeed later in life."

Here at Fresh Brainz, we focus on the downtrodden, disillusioned and desperate, the decrepit has-beens and the distraught nearly-theres.

Of course there are many people who went from being smart to smarter, rich to richer and from a big winner to a even bigger winner in life.

However, based on our intimate understanding of the human condition, we believe that most Fresh Brainz readers will not enjoy those sort of stories.

Because while everyone hates a winner, nobody hates a winner like a winner.


Would you like to know more?
- Educating the Very Able (OFSTED Reviews of Research)
- Child prodigy: Two sides of genius (TheStar Online)
- Child prodigies (BrainConnection.com)

Spiders With Sexy Ultraviolet Bling

A team of scientists in China and Singapore, led by Prof. Li Daiqin at the NUS, has discovered that the "Jumping Spider" Phintella vittata is able to see ultraviolet light in the UVB (280–315nm) range.














UVB reflective patches are found on the abdomens of male jumping spiders and are likely used for mating displays.

To find out if females of the species can see these patches, Prof. Li's team put a number of male and female spiders into adjacent cages that can be fitted with transparent filters which only block off UVB wavelengths.

Under normal lighting conditions, some female spiders responded positively to the male spiders' courtship display in the next cage. However, when the UVB filters were added, these females lost interest. This demonstrates that the UVB patches on the male spiders are essential to attract the females.

While many species of insects, crustaceans, birds, fish, and mammals can see ultraviolet light in the UVA (315-400nm) range, this discovery is novel because Phintella vittata is the first species found to be capable of seeing the shorter UVB wavelengths. Since UVB rays can cause eye damage and skin cancer, scientists had previously thought that it is unlikely that animals can perceive it.

How these spiders see in the UVB range is unknown, since UVB receptors have not yet been found (although one of the UVA receptors in the mantis shrimp may have overlapping sensitivity to UVB). It is also not known how their eyes are protected from the damaging effects of UVB.

To me, only one thing is for sure.

Nobody can resist the Power of Bling!














Wearing my bling, doing my thang, rappin' 213, uh huh uh huh...

You are thinking: "Dude, human bling is so not synapomorphic to spider bling - it's obviously a homoplasy!"

Fresh Brainz readers are such smarty pants.

Shut up, real audience, I'm trying to talk to my target audience here!

*awkward silence*

*tumbleweed rolls by*


Would you like to know more?
- Original research article: UVB-Based Mate-Choice Cues Used by Females of the Jumping Spider Phintella vittata (Li et al. 2008, Current Biology)
- Jumping spiders can see UVB! (The Biodiversity Crew @ NUS)
- Seeing Love in a Different Light (ScienceNow Daily News)

Demotivational Posters Galore!

On this Labour Day, Fresh Brainz is happy to bring you our fine selection of demotivational posters.

I should say that I've been collecting these for years from humour websites like funlol.com and other random sources, so I didn't make any of them. Do contact me to link your site if you made one of these.

I've grouped the posters into seven categories for your enjoyment. A minor warning - one of these categories (Sexy As Hell) is slightly NSFW (not safe for work).

Which reminds me: to double the enjoyment, savour the thought that while you are having fun on your holiday, I still have to return to the lab to be a slave to my cell culture.

Oh the tears of joy!


What A Cruel Whorl



















































































































































Only In Japan

















































The Internets































































Star Wars
































































Sexy As Hell
















































































































































Still Smarter Than You
































































































WTF?!??


































































Would you like to know more?
- Despair, Inc: Bursting your bubble since 1998
- Caught@Work Productions: They'd be funnier if they're not so painfully true