Wired.com has a fun gallery of robotic spiders and critters. This one, created by Stanford mechanical engineer Sangbae Kim, was based on a cockroach. It has an aluminum chassis, an… Read the rest of the article: Wired's robotic spider gallery

In a recent survey conducted in Aichi Prefecture in Japan, 70% of teenage prostitutes said (in Japanese) they didn't want to end up in family lives like their parents. via… Read the rest of the article: Teenage prostitutes don't want to end up like their parents

From NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory today, this gorgeous new image from The Herschel Space Observatory: "a cosmic garden of budding stars, each expected to grow to 10 times the mass… Read the rest of the article: Stars budding near the Rosette Nebula: new image from Herschel Space Observatory

The good folks at Defcon have donated a wicked goodie-bag worth of prizes for an Electronic Frontier Foundation contest. You win by talking your friends into joining EFF. Just register… Read the rest of the article: Get your friends to join EFF, go to Defcon!

Jana sez, "Check out this fantastic zombie girl birthday cake (complete with brain!) a mom made for her daughter's 8th birthday! Pretty sure she's the coolest mom ever." Oh, I… Read the rest of the article: Zombie birthday cake

A teenager in Iowa made her prom dress — and a matching vest for her date — out of blue gum wrappers. It's actually kind of pretty!

How to get all the benefits of being infested with parasitic worms without, you know, being infested with parasitic worms? Science is hard at work on a solution! (Via Kristina… Read the rest of the article: Fun with parasitic worms

So where the hell was Abraham Lincoln's bodyguard detail the night he was assassinated? The answer, via Smithsonian: Getting drunk at a nearby saloon.

The Great Firewall of Britain, a preview. (Thanks, _Gower!)

From the early days of computerized publisher, Tor editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden explains the mystical thing they did with the rock: "For years, Tor had one computer: an IBM PC… Read the rest of the article: Hitting computers with rocks: the history of publishing

Yesterday, my Awesome Friend Leah introduced me to the wonders of Animal Review, the blog that reviews animals, as though they were books, albums or snooty French restaurants. For instance,… Read the rest of the article: Animal Review combines insult comedy, fun zoology facts

Young adult author Lorie-Ann Grover sez, "In 2008 and 2009, readergirlz, GuysLitWire, and YALSA orchestrated publishers' donations of 20,000 new young adult books to hospitalized teens across the country. For… Read the rest of the article: Operation Teen Book Drop: getting 10,000 books into the hands of native American teens

[Cubo 3 via Yanko Design]

Would a lava lamp work properly on Jupiter? Google software engineer Neil Fraser built his own centrifuge in order to find out, using an Android phone app to measure the… Read the rest of the article: Homemade centrifuge solves pressing questions of our time

This desk, designed by Roderick Vos of the Netherlands, is made to look like an Art Deco skyscraper. It's a bit much for my liking, but fun to look at.… Read the rest of the article: Art deco skyscraper desk

Strange Maps points us to an interesting collection of 577 "map backs" published by pulp magazine company Dell Publishing — illustrations that pinpoint exactly where incidents happened in famous detective… Read the rest of the article: Maps on the back of detective novels

Comic book historian Craig Yoe has a knack for finding long-forgotten comic book gems. His latest full-color hardback book contains all three issues of Jetta, a Judy Jetson-esque space girl… Read the rest of the article: Jetta: cute space girl from the 1960s by famous Archie artist Dan DeCarlo

Tom Watson — the principled and technologically savvy UK Labour MP who led the fight against the Digital Economy Bill — has begun to campaign for re-election, starting with a… Read the rest of the article: Digital Pledges for the UK election

Guy from Power2010 sez, "Power2010 have released a brief report showing examples of hypocrisy by UK ministers and MPs when it comes to privacy and personal information. We are timing… Read the rest of the article: UK MPs call for ID cards and surveillance, but demand privacy for themselves

Colin Jackson, a commenter on a blog, on the miserable state of international law: "What a pity international governments don't seem to be able to make an agreement to ration… Read the rest of the article: International trade can't ration finite fossil fuels or tuna, but enthusiastically restricts infinite knowledge