“Thankfully, Dr. Richard Stephens and his team at Keele University in the United Kingdom just published a study that says swearing actually has a pain-lessening effect. (See Mom? It’s healthy!) When we swear, we increase our threshold for pain, meaning we can bear it longer and don’t feel it as much. Stephens is not sure why this happens, only that for some reason, ‘swearing appears to increase our pain tolerance.’”

“The frantic hunt for the right cell-phone charger will soon be a thing of the past — in Europe at least — as major manufacturers on Monday agreed to introduce a universal adaptor within six months.”

“The amazing spectacle is one of the largest in a growing number of ‘plant walls’ or ‘vertical gardens’ that are taking root across the world, as architects search for environmentally friendly ways to create beautiful buildings.”

“Ireland’s largest Irish language newspaper, Foinse, has closed down.

“The paper which was published weekly on Saturdays had been struggling since 2007.

“It is the second Irish language newspaper to fail in the last seven months – Lá Nua was closed in December 2008.”

(June 26, 2009)

“Was the Tunguska explosion of 1908 caused by a comet hitting Earth? That’s the claim of a new study based on the behaviour of water vapour from the space shuttle’s exhaust. But other scientists dispute the claim, and say the evidence still points to a stony meteoroid as the culprit.” (June 25, 2009)

“We all got a little excited earlier this week when it sounded like the head of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia would reveal the Ark of the Covenant to the public…. There’s just one minor detail that everyone seems to have missed.” (June 26, 2009)

“The Obama Administration will lend Tesla Motors $465 million to build an electric sedan and the battery packs needed to propel it. It’s one of three loans totaling almost $8 billion that the Department of Energy awarded Tuesday to spur the development of fuel-efficient vehicles.” (June 24, 2009)

“Scientists in the United States are developing a ‘synthetic tree’ capable of collecting carbon around 1,000 times faster than the real thing.

“As the wind blows though plastic ‘leaves,’ the carbon is trapped in a chamber, compressed and stored as liquid carbon dioxide.”

“For some, the idea of time travel is about fantasy. For others it’s science. But for Ronald Mallett, it was love — a son’s love for his father.

“You might even call it his lifelong mission.

“‘I thought if I could build a time machine to save my father’s life and see him again,’ said Mallett, whose father died when he was just 10.”

(June 21 2009, via Phantoms & Monsters)

“Like autumn leaves floating in a sunlit pond, this vast expanse of magnificent stingrays animates the bright blue seas of the Gulf of Mexico.” (June 25, 2008)