Triple-Decker Weekly, 102

Vancouver has banned doorknobs in all new buildings.

The Italian Tourist Board spends 98 percent of its budget on salaries, with basically nothing left for its actual job of tourism promotion. [NY Times]

The XM-25 denies cover to the enemy in that the operator fires a laser at the target, then selects how close to that impact point he wants the shell to explode. Once he fires the weapon the 25mm shell explodes over or near where the laser was pointed, rendering most forms of cover ineffective. [Quora]

Method and apparatus for preserving human and animal remains

Missing boy existed only on Facebook

Man sues hospital and doctor after they allegedly forgot to remove his appendix during his appendectomy

New research shows people are thinking about their health early in the week

Vein geometry is just as unique as irises and fingerprints. The serpentine network of your vascular system is determined by many factors, including random influences in the womb. The result is a chaotic, singular print. Even twins have different vein structure in their hands. Vein patterns don’t change much as you age, so a scan of your palm can serve as biometric identification for the rest of your life. [Quartz]

The more alcoholic drinks customers consumed, the more attractive they thought they were

Uniter of Sperm and Egg Is Found

The average person misplaces up to nine items a day, and one-third of respondents in a poll said they spend an average of 15 minutes each day searching for items—cellphones, keys and paperwork top the list, according to an online survey of 3,000 people published in 2012 by a British insurance company. […] In a recent study, researchers in Germany found that the majority of people surveyed about forgetfulness and distraction had a variation in the so-called dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2), leading to a higher incidence of forgetfulness. According to the study, 75% of people carry a variation that makes them more prone to forgetfulness.

Processing new information during sleep compromises memory

Scientists discover brain's anti-distraction system

What do you want to hear first: Good news or bad news? As it turns out, our answer to this question is different depending on whether we’re the one delivering the news or we’re the one receiving the news. [Jeremiah Stanghini]

The researchers were interested in how people jump to conclusions based on limited information. The key part of the experiment was that the participants were fully aware of the setup. [via Mind Hacks]

Syncopation, Body-Movement and Pleasure in Groove Music

Firing a shotgun to calculate the approximate value of ?

Physicists have confirmed the existence of an exotic particle that cannot be explained by current theories.

How CERN's discovery of exotic particles may affect astrophysics

Bioengineers created nanoscale robots from DNA strands, injected them into live cockroaches and watched as the bots got to work.

The Art of Antarctic Cooking

In humans, as in many other animals, the appetite prioritizes protein over carbohydrate or fat. The evolutionary explanation is straightforward: eating too little protein compromises growth, development and reproduction. Many processed food products are protein-poor but are engineered to taste like protein. Many people therefore eat far too much fat and carbohydrate in their attempt to ingest enough protein. In this way, engineered foods subvert the appetite control systems that should be helping to balance the consumption of macronutrients. The results are striking. In the United States, the typical diet saw a 0.8% decline in protein concentration between 1971 and 2006. During this same period, the consumption of calories from carbohydrates and fats increased by 8%, a trend reflected in the rising prevalence of obesity, but protein intake remained almost unchanged. [Nature]

Yawning as a brain cooling mechanism

Study suggest that having an increased familial morbid risk for schizophrenia may be the underlying basis for schizophrenia in cannabis users and not cannabis use by itself.

These observations indicate that even causal cannabis use can lead to significant structural changes in key areas of the brain during development, including disruption of how the neurons themselves are organised.

Criminals Using Drones To Find Illegal Cannabis Farms and Steal Crops

How the stock market became “rigged”

Dark patterns are deliberate acts of manipulative design whose intent is to push users toward choices that harm their interests.

Google pays Apple $1 billion a year in commissions so that it is the default search engine for iOS devices

Bill Gates vs. Google Glass: Pending patent would thwart video snooping

How Social Media Users Avoid Getting Turned Into Big Data

How to Detect Criminal Gangs Using Mobile Phone Data

Bitcoin Creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ Unmasked–Again?

Blogger Pulls Off $30,000 Sting to Get Her Stolen Site Back

He won the IgNobel Award in 2000 for levitating a live frog with magnets—and then [won the Nobel] for isolating graphene 10 years later

The first emoticon may have appeared in 1648

How Neuroscientists in the 1800s Studied Blood Flow in the Brain