After a major storm or earthquake or other disaster, trees keep standing when even our strongest structures fall. So why not make a house out of trees?

Certain trees have bendable roots which can be grown in air, forming into shapes roughly resembling a house. The roots are then guided into soil and harden to create a solid structure. This can be supplemented by metal framing to create architectural spaces.

Looks like a cool idea, but I wonder if you lose the advantages of the tree once you add metal. And the tree bends, does it not? Not sure if you want a bending house.

At the very least, the park bench with built in shade from its included tree is a pretty cool idea.

But if you do ... this link's for you.

Filed under: trees, houses, and architecture

Testing of a new drug on mice has shown that it can simulate the effects of exercise - without requiring any of that tiresome running, jumping and stepping!

"We have exercise in a pill," said Ron Evans, an author of the study. "With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it."

Long term testing is needed to find out if this works on humans, and if it is consistently safe for the long term use that would be required for effectiveness.

For people like me, who absolutely loathe exercise, and the larger group of people that can't exercise due to severe pain, this drug could really be just what the doctor ordered.

More at the link, of course.

Filed under: exercise, drug, and simulation

Put a little cornstarch mixed with a bit of water on a piece of paper.

Set the paper on a subwoofer

Play some music and watch it dance, dance, dance!

Filed under: cornstarch, subwoofer, and dance

Ever wonder how your fancy German car was made? Here's your answer in some spectacular videos of what life in a high-tech factory is really like.

All your favorites, including Audi, Mercedes, BMW and more.

Filed under: mercedes, bmw, audi, and vw

The research began by asking whether certain promiscuous gay men were able to have sex with AIDS carriers without getting the disease themselves.

The AIDS virus, like other disease carriers, needs a foothold in the body in order to invade cell and do its destructive work. A certain gene pattern, carried by the aforementioned gay men, made this foothold possible.

By removing that gene pattern, scientists were able to run successful experiments on mice. When they were injected with HIV they did not get the disease.

Even people who already have AIDS may be helped. By injecting cells with the new gene pattern into the body, they may be able to overwhelm the existing AIDS-carrying cells and reduce the impacts of the disease.

Further research will, of course, be necessary but this is a very promising field of inquiry.

Filed under: aids, research, and medicine

The Wii Fit, an add-on for the Nintendo Wii game console, is encouraging people all over to jump and gyrate in response to commands from the popular device.

Unfortunately, there are some interesting side effects: Bumped furniture, upturned flower pots, and kicked televisions.

Apparently exercising in close quarters isn't such a great idea after all.

Filed under: wii fit, exercise, and damage

An earlier story showed that if you use the Nintendo Wii to play its version of sports, you wave your hands around a lot but don't really get much exercise.

So Nintendo struck back with a dedicated exercise system, which seems to be working for the person in this review. Basically, it consists of a thing you step on and sensors that show your weight and monitor your exercise rate.

Check out the link for details.

Filed under: wii fit, exercise, and geek

Here's something crazy for the day: A private, people-powered zeppelin.

Video of it flying at the link.

Filed under: zeppelin, airship, aircraft, and flying

This is a trailer for a longer documentary, but it's fairly long and gives a beautiful overview of the event.

Plenty of great still pictures too.

Filed under: SR-71, airplane, and rc

It looks like this, in the world's largest "meet me" room, thousands of thick cables and tons of pricey equipment speed data to its ultimate destination, across the street or around the globe.

One Wilshire is a drab, unremarkable office building, barely a high-rise, in Downtown Los Angeles ... but most of California's Internet traffic winds up in there somewhere.

Filed under: meet me, internet, california, and interconnect