Amoebas are puny, stupid blobs, so scientists were surprised to learn that they contain 200 times more DNA than Einstein did. Because amoebas are made of just one cell, researchers assumed they would be simpler than humans genetically. Plus, amoebas date back farther in time than humans, and simplicity is considered an attribute of primitive beings. It just didn’t make sense. […]

Before the advent of rapid, accurate, and inexpensive DNA sequencing technology in the early 2000s, biologists guessed that genes would provide more evidence for increasing complexity in evolution. Simple, early organisms would have fewer genes than complex ones, they predicted. […] Instead, their assumptions of increasing complexity began to fall apart. […]

Then molecular analyses did something else. They rearranged the order of branches on evolutionary trees. Biologists pushed aside trees based on how similar organisms looked to one another, and made new ones based on similarities in DNA and protein sequences. The results suggested that complex body parts evolved multiple times and had also been lost. One study found that winged stick insects evolved from wingless stick insects who had winged ancestors. […]

Perhaps the fact that people are stunned whenever organisms become simpler says more about how the human mind organizes the world than about evolutionary processes. People are more comfortable envisioning increasing complexity through time instead of reversals or stasis.

{ Nautilus | Continue reading }

design { Sam Winston }

{ Lee Tzu-hsun, Sequential Aircraft No. 1, 2013 | acrylic, spray-paint, wood, plastic, metal, light, clear plastic ball, motor, mechanical appliances, electronic controller }

{ Sexology Magazine, November, 1949 }

The study found the simpler the design, the better. But why?

{ Design/Ux | Continue reading }

Lawsuit Accuses Hit Show New Girl of “Blatant Plagiarism”

[…]

In documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, it’s clear Counts and Gold aren’t fucking around.

{ Defamer | Continue reading }

images { 1 | Jayne Mansfield, 1964 }

{ Mark Jenkins | more }

{ Chino Otsuka superimposes her adult self into childhood photos }

Of all the modern artist-curator-collectors, one stands out for the eccentricity and extremity of his habit. Viktor Wynd is the grandson of the novelist Patrick O’Brian (who himself wrote a biography of perhaps the greatest collector of the 18th century, Sir Joseph Banks). His Little Shop of Horrorsin Hackney, London, presents an up-to-date collection of curiosities. Visitors are greeted by more taxidermied beasts, from crows to hyenas; the faint-hearted are advised not to proceed downstairs, into Wynd’s dim and dungeon-like cellar, which contains two-headed babies and antique pornography. (There’s a long tradition of such shock exhibits – guests arriving at the home of the celebrated 18th-century anatomist and collectorJohn Hunter were greeted by the preserved erect penis of a hanged man in his hallway.)

{ Guardian | Continue reading }

{ The World’s Best Ever }

{ Westinghouse demonstrates an electric razor using x-ray technology, May 1941 | Helmut Newton, Van Cleef + Arpels Diamond Necklace X-Ray, Paris 1979 }

“Recent studies show that when a person looks similar to ourselves, we automatically believe they are trustworthy. Here we show for the first time that the reverse is also true. When a person is shown to be more trustworthy, it can lead us to perceive that person as looking more similar to ourselves,” said researcher Harry Farmer.

{ EurekAlert | Continue reading }

art { Tim Geoghegan, Influence Deflection Helmet, 2013 }

I’ve been a massage therapist for many years, now. I know what people look like. People have been undressing for me for a long time. I know what you look like: a glance at you, and I can picture pretty well what you’d look like on my table.

Let’s start here with what nobody looks like: nobody looks like the people in magazines or movies. Not even models. Nobody. […]

Women have cellulite. All of them. It’s dimply and cute. It’s not a defect. It’s not a health problem. It’s the natural consequence of not consisting of photoshopped pixels, and not having emerged from an airbrush. […]

Adults sag. It doesn’t matter how fit they are. Every decade, an adult sags a little more.

{ Cory Doctorow | Continue reading | Thanks Tim }

image { Alis Pelleschi }

{ The Five Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done | PDF }

{ WalkNYC, a new program of pedestrian maps that makes it easier to navigate the city streets }

{ 1. Pavel Maria Smejkal | Adel Abdessemed }

previously { Nick Ut: From ‘Napalm Girl’ to a crying Paris Hilton }

Sitting in front of a computer monitor all day may soon be officially against doctors’ advice.

{ Bloomberg | Continue reading }

{ The Shepard tables use perspective and other contextual clues (such as the legs) to fool our visual system into thinking that two tabletops are different shapes, although measurement will confirm that they are in fact identical. | Natural selection has not equipped us with a truthful visual system }

A study by Swami and Furnham (2007) showed that tattooed women were rated as less physically attractive but more sexually promiscuous. Given that men interpret women’s sexual intent according to their physical appearance, we predicted that women with tattoos would be more favorably approached by men. A temporary tattoo was placed on confederates’ lower back, or not, and all confederates were instructed to read a book while lying flat on their stomach on a well-known beach. Two experiments were conducted. The first experiment showed that more men (N = 220) approached the tattooed confederates and that the mean latency of their approach was quicker. A second experiment showed that men (N = 440) estimated to have more chances to have a date and to have sex on the first date with tattooed confederates. However, the level of physical attractiveness attributed to the confederate was not influenced by the tattoo condition.

{ PubMed }

photo { Eric Marrian }

{ Graham Reznick, I can See You, 2008 | Asger Carlsen, 2011 }

{ I can See You, 2008, poster }

{ Left: Chris Cunningham, Rubber Johnny, 2005 | Right: Asger Carlsen: “I have a lot of respect for Cunningham’s work and I like rubber Johnny. But I also had a big fascination for Francis Bacon while I was doing the first Hester image.” }