So, the question is, did Polish artist Paul Marcinkowski make his infographic love permanent as part of a school project? We doubt it, but if the unthinkable is true, he’ll just have to point to that spot under his belly button to explain.

Via Forbes.

Like infographics? Not that much.

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You resisted the hype for so long, but now, curiosity has gotten the better of you and it’s simply not possible to live another minute without knowing what all the excitement was about.

Lucky for you, catching up won’t involve spending a valuable week’s vacation holed up with a ten-pound book in hand thanks to the efforts of Ian Holliday and company.

If you like what you see, be sure to follow the YouTube link and give them a hand winning the Virgin Radio Fake Film Festival 2012 contest. It’s what Dumbledore would have wanted.

Full story at YouTube via The Mary Sue.

Harry Potter in brief.

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Directed by Alberto Corral and filmed with an iPhone 4 and Steadicam Smoothee, SYNC takes a unique approach to retelling a classic story of love at first sight.

Full story at YouTube via PetaPixel.

Unique movies.

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If dodgeball day in gym class left you nursing wounds both physical and psychological during the eternity that is a bad grade school experience, you might not appreciate the efforts of 4,979 people at the University of Alberta trying to set a new world record.

On the other hand, if dodgeball marked the high point of your glory days, revel in the chaos…

Full story at Vimeo via Official Hype.

Games from the good old days.

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If you’re ever twisted your ankle off a curb, bumped a stranger, or walked into a street post while texting—you need this app. ‘Transparent Screen’ for Android allows you to look through your device so you can anticipate any dangerous obstacles in your way while you’re texting on-the-go by harnessing the power of your camera to create the illusion of transparency. Just watch out for your battery life while using the app, as it’ll drain quickly.

Full story at GeekOSystem.

All the top tech.

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Clear out room in your closets, gamers. Converse is releasing their ‘One Star Super Mario Bros.’ shoe this March!

Via Like Cool.

Get your Nintendo fix.

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Via Online Schools.

Depressing infographics.

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The thing about bibliophiles is that, before you know it, the bookcase is full and it’s time to drag in a few more boards and cinder blocks to accommodate the newcomers.

With the REK, such worries are a thing of the past, as the system accordions out when more space is needed and collapses into a handy rectangle when it’s time to pack up shop and move on to greener pastures.

Unfortunately, the price is listed as “on request” meaning the 99% is out of luck, but perhaps it’ll inspire you to hit the workshop for a little DIY action if you can drag your nose out of that book.

Full story at Reinier De Jong via Boing Boing.

Handy design.

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Via Online Universities. (H/T Muhammad Saleem)

The scoop on education.

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A devastating 2004 hurricane that wiped out a Caribbean lizard population offered an unprecedented opportunity to put an evolutionary theory known as the “founder effect” to the test.

The founder effect describes the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population.

“Founder effects are very hard to study,” says Thomas Schoener, a professor of evolution and ecology at University of California, Davis and a co-author of the study.

“One must be in exactly the right place at the right time to observe the founder event—and then fortunate enough to be able to follow a population through time.”

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Manuel Leal, Duke University

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It's an odd year for the Oscars' Best Original Song category. Thanks to the Academy's ever-changing and increasingly labyrinthine rules, only two songs earned nominations. At first, critics weren't too troubled by the abbreviated list, since it included the comically existential Muppets ballad "Man or Muppet," written by Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie and performed by Jason Segel and Walter the Muppet.

But alas, producers are planning to scrap the Best Original Song performances to shave precious minutes off the perennially overlong broadcast. Early reaction is fierce: Judd Apatow, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, and an incensed legion of bloggers are loudly protesting the thought of an Oscar ceremony sans singing Muppets. 

The fallout and video of the Muppets, at The Week.

All the top stories from The Week.

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Think. Punctuate.

A lesson in grammar.

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Cancer in animals appears less resilient, judging by a study that found chemotherapy drugs work better when combined with cycles of short, severe fasting.

Even fasting on its own effectively treated a majority of cancers tested in animals, including cancers from human cells.

The study shows five out of eight cancer types in mice responded to fasting alone: Just as with chemotherapy, fasting slowed the growth and spread of tumors.

Without exception, “the combination of fasting cycles plus chemotherapy was either more or much more effective than chemo alone,” says senior author Valter Longo, professor of gerontology and biological sciences at the University of Southern California.

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

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Everybody's social media needs are a little different, so there's no use in fretting over whether you're spending too much time or not enough time on social networks, writes Jeremy Victor. Instead, focus on ways you can make the time you spend on social media more efficient, he argues in SmartBrief's SmartBlog on Social Media.

Full story at SmartBlog on Social Media by SmartBrief.

More SmartBrief stories.

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Ice caps and glaciers outside the regions of Greenland and Antarctica are shedding roughly 150 billion tons of ice annually.

The finding by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder is from the first comprehensive satellite study of the contribution of the world’s melting glaciers and ice caps to global sea level rise.

The research indicates they are adding roughly 0.4 millimeters annually, says physics professor John Wahr, who helped lead the study. The measurements are important because the melting of the world’s glaciers and ice caps, along with Greenland and Antarctica, pose the greatest threat to sea level increases in the future, Wahr says.

“The Earth is losing an incredible amount of ice to the oceans annually, and these new results will help us answer important questions in terms of both sea rise and how the planet’s cold regions are responding to global change.”

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: NASA

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Cleaning umbilical cord stumps with a cheap antiseptic can dramatically reduce newborn deaths in poor countries.

“Chlorhexidine cord cleansing is a simple, safe, effective, and inexpensive intervention,” says Abdullah Baqui, principal investigator and professor of international health at Johns Hopkins University.

“Large-scale implementation of this intervention with universal coverage has the potential to avert an estimated half a million neonatal deaths per year.”

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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McDonald's McRib has grown from just another test sandwich to perhaps the biggest limited-time offering success story. One team of researchers say the company brings the sandwich back when rivals are planning to launch new pork-based items, a claim McDonald's denies; but whatever the reason, McRib wins big buzz each time it reappears on the menu.

Full story at SmartBlog on Restaurants by SmartBrief.

More SmartBrief stories.

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Via Frugal Dad.

XOXO.

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Lurking in the dark corners of the web, internet trolls comprise our connected society’s most shameless members. Usually cloaked in the veil of anonymity, BBC’s Declan Lawn exposes one such troll in a segment for the television show Panorama.

Via TNW.

Don't be a troll; do something good.

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If you feel the judgmental eyes of Mother Earth stare pointedly at you every time you tidy up the kids’ pile of not-so-eco-friendly plastic toys, then relieve a bit of that greeny guilt with Earth Blocks. Modeled after the popular (but not so earth-friendly) LEGOs, the muted-colored bricks are made from natural materials like cedar bark scraps and coffee beans that are blended with a minimal amount of polypropylene to help the blocks keep their shape.

Via Gizmodo.

Go green.

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