Strawberries now cure alcohol poisoning?

Strawberries are delicious. In fact, they're second only to the great mango in terms of tastiness. But now they're not just delicious - they can cure the effects of alcohol poisoning!

Heavy drinking can bring serious problems. And not the 'I-got-drunk-last-night' kind of drinking, but the 'I-got-drunk-every-week-this-month' kind of drinking. It can cause long-term damage to the mucous membrane of your stomach that can give rise to all manner of gastrointestinal disorders, including ulcers, colorectal cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease. Not cool.

Now a European team has found that strawberries, or more accurately the anthocyanins and antioxidants found in strawberries, can help mitigate these effects and even improve treatment of stomach ulcers.

Sara Tulipani, University of Barcelona researcher and co-author of the study, explains that "the positive effects of strawberries are not only linked to their antioxidant capacity and high content of phenolic compounds, but also to the fact that they activate the antioxidant defenses and enzymes of the body."

TC;DR: Gastrointestinal diseases like stomach ulcers caused by heavy drinking are caused by 'free radical' atoms and molecules that are highly unstable and cause chain reactions in trying to gain stability. That's why the damage accumulates over time. Antioxidants in strawberries activate the 'defense systems' of the body, and reduce the production of these free radicals in the first place.

Life lesson here: If you plan on doing some heavy drinking during the holidays, minimise damage by loading up with strawberries in the days beforehand. It won't stop the damage, but it'll help reduce it.

via i09, while the original research paper can be found here.

Shoot first, re-focus later - New Lytro Camera!

Now this is actually pretty cool. Lytro have unveiled a new camera that's completely different to anything else out there on the market at the moment. The key? You can focus and re-focus your images after you've taken the shot.

The Lytro camera, named after the company, is about 11cm long, and 4cm square, and has a lens on one end, and an LCD touch screen display at the other. Along the sides are the shutter button, USB port, and a strip that controls the zoom function - 8x. It's a pretty different design to your standard camera, which is generally loaded with more buttons than you actually know how to use. (true story).

On the inside, is where it's really different. Conventional digital cameras use lenses to focus a subject so it's sharp on the image sensor, then it takes the picture. That means that for an in-focus part of the image, light from only one direction reaches the sensor. In the Lytro though, light from multiple directions hits each patch of the sensor; the camera records this directional information, and after-the-shot computing converts it into something a human eye can understand. This means that the focal point of the image can be re-adjusted multiple times on the computer, even after the image has been taken.

This means that you can whip it out, take a photo of a scene before it changes (a bird flying away, someone's smile, a fast-paced scene) and then fix it up later. In addition, this kind of photographic technology (known as light-field photography) allows the images taken to be shown in 3D - because you have an image with potential multiple depths-of-field.

There are three models - the $399 cameras with 'electric blue' and 'graphite' exteriors whose 8GB of built-in memory is enough for about 350 shots and the 'red hot,' 16GB camera that can record 750 shots. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you can expand the storage space once it's purchased.
US residents can apparently order one online now, according to Chief Executive Ren Ng, and they'll be shipped in the first quarter of 2012. No word yet on a international release, but you could probably just import one if you wanted to.

via Cnet

Want to float in the clouds? "Niiiiimbus!"

I've always liked clouds. They look like a great big jumping castle in the sky. Seriously, imagine if they were bouncy? That's be awesome. Tiago Barros also likes clouds, but in a more sedate, float-amongst-them kind of way.

His 'Passing Cloud' concept allows people to float in the sky amongst the clouds, wherever the wind takes them, sitting on top of the zeppelin-like, nylon-covered and steel-skeletoned structure. It's environmentally friendly, and is completely reliant on wind-power.  

According to Barros, "nowadays, traveling is achieved with this idea of having a fixed destination and an estimated time of arrival. Passing Cloud completely inverts this system. A floating device is introduced that travels around the entire USA territory according to current predominant winds. It has no fixed time of arrival or place for arrival. The journey becomes the essence. Imagine traveling at wind speeds in a totally sustainable object that leaves no Human trace behind."

This actually looks pretty awesome. The idea of just travelling wherever, without any fixed plan or destination sounds pretty relaxing... and it reminds me of Flying Nimbus from Dragonball. Which is awesome. Although personally, I'd like to see some simple shelters on the structure, basic cabins or even tents, so that you weren't always exposed to the open air and weather.

via Dezeen

Create your own Portal 2 Level!?

Because the people over at Valve were concerned that we all weren't already in love with Portal 2, they are now working on an “a Photoshop for test chambers,”an easy way for amateurs to design their own Portal levels, and allow other users to download these created levels.

According to a report by Geoff Keighley, GTTV host, Valve are also developing a system that would allow Portal 2 players to access the new levels from within the game, without having to go outside the game to access them. “Now maps will appear on an easy to use menu, dramatically expanding the potential audience for fan-created content–and hopefully making it available on the consoles as well.”

If that doesn't seem exciting enough, Valve are also considering adding a personality to the level creator - a GLaDOS that would be watching how you did things, interjecting snide comments every now and again, and berating you if you spelt a word wrong.

Valve haven't confirmed all of this of course - they're definately working on it, but they haven't said as to whether it will actually be released, or if it's just an experiment.

For now, have a fun Cave Johnson quote. "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take back the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons! What the hell are these?! Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!"

PS Vita Australian launch dated and priced

Sony's new handheld gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, will hit Australian shores on the 22nd of February next year, according to Michael Ephraim, the Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and New Zealand.

It will cost $349.95 for the wifi version, and $449.95 for the 3G version.

“PlayStation Vita is a revolutionary device, which will offer the best possible portable gaming experiences available on the market," said Ephraim. “Its impressive feature set is designed to provide the ultimate gaming experiences on the go. This, combined with social connectivity means there will be not only innovative new ways to play, but also new ways to connect with others. We are incredibly excited about the upcoming launch of PlayStation Vita.”

I've got to admit, that's actually pretty tempting. The graphics far outstrip Nintendo's 3DS, but it'll come down to the games available, specifically the launch titles. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

via Kotaku

Halo concept art is awesome.

Halo is awesome. Everyone loves Halo, right? Know what's almost as awesome? This apparently brand-new, never-seen-before concept art by Alex Chu, Ashley Wood, and Frank Capezzuto. These works, among others, are being packaged in a new book, Halo: The Art of Building Worlds, which will be chock full of pretty concept art for the entire Halo trilogy. If you're interested in the book, which is a decent $18 from Amazon, check it out here.

Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the (free) pictures here.

Happy Birthday!

So this isn't general news as such, and it's been awhile since I posted (dammit uni), but it's a friend of mine's birthday today. So I figured I'd upload this for him:

And don't worry, regular posts are coming back soon!