Derren Brown's Blog, page 81

Cows given waterbeds to improve milk

"A dairy farmer has supplied his herd with waterbeds to encourage them to produce better quality milk. Cows at Brue Valley Farms, in Glastonbury, Somerset, are also treated to classical music in the milking shed. The cattle can spend up to 18 hours a day lounging on their specially-designed rubber beds, which are cleaned and filled with 50 litres of fresh water every day.

Bosses at the farm, which has been producing Farmhouse Cheddar for half a century, say their unusual methods have helped...

The Pizza Burger: A 2,500-Calorie 'Fat Bomb'

"Burger King is set to launch the Pizza Burger – a two-in-one dish that contains more than 2,500 calories and is four times the size of the chain's Whoppers.

The meal will delight fast-food fans when it is exclusively introduced at Burger King's Whopper Bar in Times Square, New York, next month. Besides the beef and a 9.5-inch sesame bun, the Pizza Burger is topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, Tuscan pesto and marinara sauce. It also comes in six slices, just like a pizza.

According to blogger M...

Double meteorite strike 'caused dinosaur extinction'

"The dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by at least two meteorite impacts, rather than a single strike, a new study suggests. Previously, scientists had identified a huge impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico as the event that spelled doom for the dinosaurs. Now evidence for a second impact in Ukraine has been uncovered. This raises the possibility that the Earth may have been bombarded by a whole shower of meteorites.

The new findings are published in the journal Geology by a team...

Scheme to 'pull electricity from the air' sparks debate

"Tiny charges gathered directly from humid air could be harnessed to generate electricity, researchers say. Dr Fernando Galembeck told the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston that the technique exploited a little-known atmospheric effect. Tests had shown that metals could be used to gather the charges, he said, opening up a potential energy source in humid climates. However, experts disagree about the mechanism and the scale of the effect.

"The basic idea is that when you have any...

The 10 Greatest (Accidental) Inventions of All Time

""Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits," Thomas Edison once said. But is hustling all it takes? Is progress always deliberate? Sometimes genius arrives not by choice—but by chance." Head to the PopSci to view their ten favorite serendipitous innovations.

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"In 1943, Navy engineer Richard James was trying to figure out how to use springs to keep the sensitive instruments aboard ships from rocking themselves to death, when he knocked one of his prototypes over. Instead of crashing...

New Solar System Discovered

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"European astronomers on Tuesday said they had found a distant star orbited by at least five planets in the biggest discovery of so-called exoplanets since the first was logged 15 years ago.

The star is similar to our sun and its planetary lineup has an intriguing parallel with own solar system, although no clue has so far been found to suggest it could be a home from home, they said.

The star they studied, HD 10180, is located 127 light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus, the m...

Thought-controlled computers on the way: Intel

"Computers controlled by the mind are going a step further with Intel's development of mind-controlled computers. Existing computers operated by brain power require the user to mentally move a cursor on the screen, but the new computers will be designed to directly read the words thought by the user.

Intel scientists are currently mapping out brain activity produced when people think of particular words, by measuring activity at about 20,000 locations in the brain. The devices being used to...

Scientists develop 'dry water'

"The substance resembles powdered sugar and is expected to make a big commercial splash. Each particle of dry water contains a water droplet surrounded by a sandy silica coating. In fact, 95% of dry water is "wet" water. One of its key properties is a powerful ability to absorb gases.

Scientists believe dry water could be used to combat global warming by soaking up and trapping the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Tests show that it is more than three times better at absorbing carbon dioxide as ...

Micro Frog Discovered Inside Bornean Pitcher Plants

Scientists have discovered the Old World's smallest species of frog living inside pitcher plants in the jungles of Southeast Asia's Borneo.

The micro frogs, named Microhyla nepenthicola, grow to only 0.4 to 0.5 inches long — about the size of a pea. It was discovered living along the edge of a road in Kubah National Park in Borneo by a team of scientists searching for the world's lost amphibians, species considered to be extinct that may still have remnant populations.

"I saw some specimens in ...

Recommended Reading

We get a lot of emails asking for tips on how Derren learned to do this or that, how to help improve memory, thinking and personal skills.

Well this is a reminder to all those that want to get in the know that we publish a list of selected reading titles so that you to can become your own personal ninja.

We also accept any recommendations from people – so if you have come across a book that you've found to be rather insightful then please let us know by clicking here.

Recommended Reading Page