"Mars Crew" of Six to Spend 520 Days in Shipping Container in Russia

"Mars Crew" of Six to Spend 520 Days in Shipping Container in Russia: "

It’s bad enough, it would seem from reality television, to spend a few weeks in the same house as only a few others, but imagine spending your time, with five others, for 520 days, in a shipping container with barely enough space to stretch your legs. This is the setup the European Space Agency has created to test the psychological and physiological effects of such isolation which would be required in a journey to Mars. Two crew members have already been chosen, and once four more are found, the ‘journey’ will begin.

There will be communication with the outside world via radio and email, but radio communications will be delayed a full 20 minutes as they would be on a real interplanetary mission and emails will take twice that time to get through. Both will be disrupted periodically, because what’s the point of locking six men in a container if you don’t mess with their heads a bit?

Link – via mentalfloss

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by nmiller.

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Challenging the Inexplicability of the Transgendered

Challenging the Inexplicability of the Transgendered: "

Amanda brought our attention to a photo project that is designed to draw our attention to how the kinds of questions we ask transgendered people makes them feel like inexplicable Others. From a description of the project:

The subjects, self-identified people of transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, gender-variant, or gender non-conforming experience, hold signs depicting questions that each has had posed to them personally — some by strangers, others by loved ones, friends, or colleagues. Presented on white wooden boards, the questions are turned on the viewer, shifting the dynamics under which they were originally asked, and prompting the viewer to cast a reflective, self-critical eye upon him or herself, revealing how invasive this frame of reference can be.

In other words, these questions get asked not only because transgendered people break the rules, they get asked because the rest of us can be so inflexible, utterly confounded when other around us challenge our assumptions about the world.

The photographs:

(View original at http://contexts.org/socimages)

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That's RIGHT NEW YORK TIMES. I ALREADY TALKED ABOUT this.

The Curious Cook: Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap, for Some: "Why an herb loved by much of the world is reviled by a loud minority.


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Although that dude's movies can still make me cry. I'm not ashamed. But really I am truly ashamed and you shouldn't tell anyone about this.

Why every chick flick is exactly the same: "

Truckers Take to Knitting and Quilting

Truckers Take to Knitting and Quilting: "

My friend, Niku, passed this story on to me from the Wall Street Journal about truckers who have taken to knitting and quilting during their downtime on the road. It's a beautiful piece about defying expectations and appreciating the work and art of creating with your hands. One of the truckers talks of daydreaming about quilt patterns during long drives, and another shares that he has a stash of yarn in his cab to make 'really cute slippers.' Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the story:

'The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that's awesome I think,' he said. 'It's pretty cool stuff, man.'

and

Quilting, he said, 'gives you a little bit of ownership. You've actually accomplished something with your time off.'

The story is rich with imagery and wonderful anecdotes of crafting from unlikely characters, and is well worth the read. I also posted the link up on our Facebook page, and there is already great conversation going on over there about it. Join in!

Read this article | Comment on this article"

The Letter “Z” Will Be Removed from the English Alphabet

The Letter “Z” Will Be Removed from the English Alphabet: "

Surprising as it sounds, it looks like the English alphabet will be losing one of its letters on June 1st. The announcement came from the English Language Central Commission (ELCC).

Here is a quote from the press release:

After carefully considering and debating the matter for over two years, the ELCC came to the conclusion that the letter “Z” should be removed from the English alphabet. The main objective of this change is to simplify the phonetic aspect of the language, and to unify the American and British spellings.

What will happen to the words that have the letter “z” in them? It depends on the word. According to the ELCC, words that started with a “z” will now start with an “x”. Examples include:

• zero becomes xero


• zoo becomes xoo


• zone becomes xone


• zodiac becomes xodiac

Words that featured a “z” with the “s” sound, on the other hand, will now be officially written with the “s” (i.e., unifying the American and British spelling). Examples include:

• visualize becomes visualise


• analyze becomes analyse


• materialize becomes materialise

What do you think about this change? Will it really simplify the English language, or will it make things more confusing?

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Brain Scan Shows Vegetative Patient Responding To Yes-or-No Questions

Brain Scan Shows Vegetative Patient Responding To Yes-or-No Questions: "

When a conscious person answers a yes or no question, certain parts of the brain become active. A new medical study revealed that people thought to be in a vegetative state demonstrate the same brain response, even if they can’t express themselves:

In the current experiment, the researchers found that three other patients identified as vegetative showed similar responses. To open a channel of communication, they instructed one of them, the 29-year-old man, to associate thoughts about tennis with “yes” and thoughts about being in his house with “no.”

They then asked questions, repeating the procedure numerous times, switching the associations — tennis with yes, then with no — to make sure the patient was in fact making conscious choices. The researchers had previously tested the technique in healthy volunteers.

“We asked basic biographical questions, like ‘Is your father’s name Thomas?’ and ‘Have you ever been to the United States?’ ” said Adrian M. Owen, a neuroscientist at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, England, who developed the method and was a co-author of the paper. “We then checked whether the answers were correct. They were.”

Video at the link.

Link via Popular Science | Image: New York Times

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