Day: May 28, 2009

Battery Technologies of Mrs. Brisby

I sometimes find myself doing something so geeky I have no choice but to go outdoors without a computer for at least an hour to compensate.

After I filed some Shrek-related ratings with Netflix this evening, the site recommended The Secret of NIMH.  My first thought upon seeing the title was, “Wow, someone made a documentary about nickel-metal hydride batteries?”

My second thought was, “I might want to watch that…”  (After all, I not only watched but also immensely enjoyed the documentary about Helvetica.)

Glowing Monkeys and Glowing Monkey Babies

Rob Stein reports in this morning’s Boston Globe on a recent genetic modification scientists have made to some laboratory monkeys:

In this case, the Japanese researchers added genes that caused the animals to glow green under a fluorescent light and beget offspring with the same ability in order to test a technique they hope to use to produce animals with Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and other diseases.

First, let me state clearly and unequivocally that I want a gene that makes me glow green under fluorescent lighting.  That would kill at parties.

Second, proponents of animal testing would probably prefer not to describe it in terms of, ‘we really hope we can give this monkey some Parkinson’s or something.’