modelsaresmart:

Models know good science writing.

Submitted by Alex Berg

Animation of Pirates Pitcher Dock Ellis Telling The Story of When He Pitched a No-Hitter on LSD

From Laughing Squid

“In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.”

From the New York Times

Clash of the Titans trailer is out.

Not so fond of the rock music score they chose for this trailer, but I caught a glimpse of Liam Neeson as Zeus in there. Looks great.

You may notice that this is the umptillionth fanboy fantasy film by Legendary Pictures. That’s no mistake, and there is a good little article about that in the latest Wired.

This is SO cool!

1 Million Spiders Make Golden Silk for Rare Cloth

“…during the 1880s and 1890s…Camboué built a small, hand-driven machine to extract silk from up to 24 spiders at once, without harming them.”

“Simon managed to build a replica of this 24-spider-silking machine that was used at the turn of the century,” said Nicholas Godley, who co-led the project with Peers. As an experiment, the pair collected an initial batch of about 20 spiders. “When we stuck them in the machine and started turning it, lo and behold, this beautiful gold-colored silk started coming out,” Godley said.

Oldest Preserved Spider Web Dates Back to Dinosaurs

Interactive photo (zooming, moving around, etc) here.

“…students who were asked about their intentions to vote in upcoming elections became more likely to vote than students who were not asked.”

from latfh