10 years ago, if somebody accidentally swallowed poison you’d probably run to that oversized paperweight known as the Yellow Pages to find out who to call. These days, you’d just Google it, which is why Google have added a special search result with a big red phone and thenumber for the poisons hotline if you happen to search for the term “poisoning”. More »
Did you know that your HDTV has a gas in it that could make you and your family sick and destroy the planet? It’s true, a gas called Nitrogen Trifluoride, and it’s bad stuff. Apparently thousands of times worse for the planet than CO2, it’s a greenhouse compound that could significantly contribute to global warming. And it’s bad to inhale, poisoning your liver and kidneys. It’s not a real issue right now, but when landfills of the future start filling up with older HDTVs, it could be a problem. Luckily by then we’ll have colonised another planet to mess up. [CrunchGear]
Although the press release doesn’t mention my beloved chicken sashimi, it does say that the CulinaryPrep home unit, which went on sale today for $400, “removes e.coli, listeria, salmonella and other dangerous impurities from food.” Still, something about it smells fishy.
The key to the patented Grovac bacteria-killing process is some kind of “all-natural” antimicrobial “neutralizer” solution invented by a pharmacist named Bill Groves who wanted to remove the “muddy” taste from his catfish. I hope it’s not lemon juice, because I can get that without spending $400. More »
Foraging for mushrooms can be fun, but getting poisoned by the wrong species always ruins a nice afternoon. Researchers at the Hagenberg College in Austria have developed software that can identify which mushrooms are safe to eat and which are poisonous, just from a photograph. This means it could easily be run on a mobile phone with a camera, to create a handy tool for foragers. It’s not sure yet clear whether magic mushrooms have been placed in the safe or poisonous category – maybe that will be a user option. [Metro] More »
