Get Me out of This Slump: Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance

With the NCAA men's college basketball tournament set to begin, college basketball fans around the United States are in the throes of March Madness. Anyone who has seen a game knows that the fans are like extra players on the court, and this is especially true during critical free throws. Fans of the opposing team will wave anything they can, from giant inflatable noodles to big heads, to make it difficult for players to focus on the basket.

Continue Reading on ScienceDaily.com 

Jessica K. Witt
http://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~jkwitt/

Pinterest leads content curation boom

There’s been a lot of buzz lately around new social media networks focused on content curation.
Pinterest, a virtual pinboard that lets you collect and post your favourite things on the web, is driving the most interest. But others, such as Buyosphere, an online shopping destination based on community recommendations, are gaining traction.

Continue Reading on TheGlobeAndMail.com 

Buyosphere
http://buyosphere.com/

Whole Foods Market
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Pinterest Drives More Referral Traffic Than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined

http://blog.shareaholic.com/2012/01/pinterest-referral-traffic/

Billy Corgan on The Rock of Chris Jericho

Billy mentioned how hard it has been to write the book, saying it takes as much time as making a record. He mentioned how he had to be the one to write it, crediting Pumpkins fans as being able to see through it if someone else were to write it.

Continue Reading on Crestfallen.com

Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life's Components

Creating some of life's building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich -- you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a "kit" of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life.

Continue Reading on ScienceDaily.com 

NHL could force Cherry, MacLean off Hockey Night

Over the past 31 years, in a business in which 15 minutes of fame is often all you get, Don Cherry has probably lost count of the number of times somebody wanted him fired. 

If it wasn’t his own bosses or the more cerebral and dainty CBC upper management types, it was politicians in Quebec, or upset hockey executives, or angry European players, or Brian Burke, or somebody he tripped over who just didn’t like his inventive use of language. 

But soon, his own people at CBC Sports may be faced with a most difficult decision. Soon, as negotiations to renew Hockey Night In Canada’s contract with the National Hockey League commence, a determination on the future of Cherry and the ever-popular Coach’s Corner segment will have to be made.

Continue Reading on Canoe Slam! Sports

Sidney Crosby Targeting Return Sunday Versus Big Bad Boston Bruins

On Wednesday, superstar center Sidney Crosby began to participate in full-contact, on-ice drills at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
He made it through okay, with no setbacks, and now the countdown is on for when he will take the ice for his first game back.
He proved earlier in the season that his conditioning has been maintained, despite his post-concussion issues, by his rigorous on- and off-ice routines.

Continue Reading on BleacherReport.com

Ocean Acidification Rate May Be Unprecedented, Study Says

This might be more serious problem than the global warming. What can we do about it in next few decades?

"the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, some 56 million years ago, ... more than 5 to 10 percent of species ... (went extinct in) ... over less than 20,000 years," 

"During this time, ... ocean pH ... may have fallen as much as 0.45 units" 

"In the last hundred years, atmospheric CO₂ has risen about 30 percent, ... (and) ... ocean pH has fallen by 0.1 unit." 

"pH may fall another 0.3 units by the end of the century" 

"the larvae of bay scallops and hard clams grow best at pre-industrial pH levels, while their shells corrode at the levels projected for 2100."  

"The decisions we make over the next few decades could have significant implications on a geologic timescale."

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301143735.htm

Winning Makes People More Aggressive Toward the Defeated

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120229104746.htm

Depression: An Evolutionary Byproduct of Immune System?

Very interesting.

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301103756.htm

How Marijuana Impairs Memory

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301143424.htm

Primordial Weirdness: Did the Early Universe Have One Dimension? Scientists Outline Test for Theory

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110420152059.htm

Doodle Unto Others

Audio:

Artist:
David Shrigley (Wikipedia, Official)

Link:
http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/23/doodle-unto-others/

Chinese-English Bilinguals Are 'Automatic' Translators

This might change how you learn second language.

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110802113321.htm

Is Space Like a Chessboard?

Audio:


Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110319085514.htm