The 'Demise of Guys' Likely Real: DNews Nuggets

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Are Men Being Ruined?: Genius marketing and easy access have drawn men to play video games and surf the web's darker side, but is it ruining the male sex? Researchers are starting to think it's possible. While video game and sex addiction are still debated, the idea of a buzz or arousal from either activity is understood. The more you experience it the more you have need for the same buzz. When men overuse online pornography and video games they can develop a brain that expects constant excitement, which can ruin their enjoymentof activities that don't provide it. To learn more watch the TEDTalk on the 'Demise of Guys.' (4:15 p.m.) via CNN

Doodle Music: Procrastination can really hurt your working day, so if you were trying to avoid any distractions don't search for anything using Google. If you do, you might get sucked into today's Google Doodle — in celebration of Robert Moog's 78th birthday. A digital version of Moog's analog creation, the Moog synthesizer, is there for you to enjoy. But once you've mastered "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" take some time to listen to the creations of others who procrastinated their hearts out with Moog renditions of the Dr Who theme, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye and the Tetris theme. (2:15 p.m.) via Sciencebase

Juicebox-Shaped Fruit

:Yes, it sounds like it should be the other way around — fruit-shaped juiceboxes — but a Briazilian company figured out how to grow fruit in the shape of one of its products: a juicebox. It's not as hard as it sounds, either, The Week reports. They made plastic molds in the shape of one of its juiceboxes, then wrapped burgeoning fruit in the plastic. The lemons, oranges, apples, guava, papayas and passion fruit all grew to fill the mold, complete with the logo embedded! The whole thing was a marketing ploy to show that camp Nectar's juice boxes contain real fruit. (12:41 p.m.) via The Week

Robotic Barista Powered by Text Messages: Seattle, Wash., the home of Starbucks and Seattle’s Best coffee, is now home to a coffee machine that’s able to send and receive text messages. Zipwhip's Textspresso allows coffee drinkers to text their order directly to the machine and then pick it up later — hopefully not too much later, or that bevvie will get tepid. The machine also uses edible ink to add a personalized messages on the froth.(10:45 a.m.) via BBC News

Edible Stop Signs: Ever start in on a bag of chips, then look down minutes later and wonder where it all went? Researchers at Cornell University have come up with one way to halt this kind of mindless snacking — edible stop signs. When they slipped in a red dye-colored chip within a stack of potato chips, students got the message and ate about 50 percent less than their peers whose stacks of chips contained no marker. Brian Wansink, Cornell Food and Brand Lab director, explained, "some people use visual indication — such as a clean plate or bottom of a bowl — to tell them when to stop eating. By inserting visual markers in a snack food package, we may be helping them to monitor how much they are eating and interrupt their semiautomated eating habits." Of course this would require companies like Lays to insert these kinds of markers in their products, and that, from a financial perspective, could be a hard sell. (9:45 a.m.) via Cornell Chronicle Online

 

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