HARD TO GET RID OF: Europe got japanese knotweed, japan got the piano, courtesy Philipp von Siebold
LARGEST FEMALE ON EARTH: “Across Europe, there has only ever been that Siebold sample. It is a female plant (the largest female on Earth, some argue[…]

A brief dip into news territory for FT, as the web throws up this truly extraordinary story regarding the Californian budget negotiations. DON’T YAWN YET. It appears that Arnold Schwatzeneggar’s Republic’s have been unable to fix a […]

Can Electronic Cigarettes Beat The Smoking Ban?
“I think people need to be cautious,” warns Dr Roberta Ferrence, director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. “It’s an unknown.”
“The concern is that the product wi[…]

GASP! FEAR! London has been attacked by ALIEN INSECTS. Just like the ones in Starship Troopers, these MYSTERY BUGS have tried to infiltrate and destroy planes. When interrogated by Dr Horrible, or other staff at the Natural History Museum, the bugs j[…]

And perhaps more importantly – who cares? If the impending closure of the obnoxiously “Web 2.0” BBC Sound Index this Friday is any guide, the answer is pretty clear.
Oh sure, the site boasts more than 22 million “comments, pos[…]

“authentic” video released today (authentic here seems to mean that YES it is indeed a video, and not for example a sellotape dispenser)[…]

chaiten with lightning: i can’t get the pictures to embed, i guess they want you to click through — it’s well worth it (cf esp 12/35)[…]

huntin for images of BRANES in pulp culture i came across THIS via boingboing: “In November 2006 Till Nowak created the image SALAD. For this image he created 12 digital vegetable models in 3ds max using photographic references. They were combined […]

Tom Ewing joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss Fritz Leiber’s “A Pail of Air”, written in 1951. It’s a short story about a kid, some rugs, and an Earth so cold that helium crawls. Will it crawl onto YOU? Elisha rea[…]

This morning I discovered that the new toothpaste I bought had vanished. Knowing my 1-year-old son’s love of raiding shopping bags I worked out quickly what had happened to it: the where proved more elusive, and to avoid being late I decided to[…]