Interesting Information

By its very definition, charity is selfless. Whether it’s dropping a few pennies in a collection box or shipping our old T-shirts off to Africa, a spot of charity is a quick and easy way to net some karma. At least it would be if it didn’t usually harm the very people we’re trying to help. Take our practice of sending old clothes to Africa. Objectively, it makes sense: People living on under a dollar a day probably don’t have much of a clothing budget, so why not redistribute the stuff we’re not using? In fact, it makes so much sense that millions of us pack and ship off our novelty Christmas jumpers every year - resulting in the complete collapse of the African textile industry. Think about it: If you flood a market with free goods, you’ll bankrupt the traders and manufacturers trying to sell them. And that’s exactly what’s happened here. Across the continent, whole communities have lost their livelihoods in exchange for your old Slayer T-shirts.

Volunteering for organ donation is shorthand for showing you think about other people. Each year in the US, 9,000 people die waiting for a transplant, and it’s not like you’ll need your liver in heaven or Jannah or wherever. So by all means, sign up, but for the love of God make sure you’re healthy beforehand, because the hospital sure won’t. In the early 2000s, organs from a deceased alcoholic were sent to around 40 patients. Within two years, eight recipients had come down with Hepatitis C, a disease you may recognize as one you really don’t want to have. According to the Wall Street Journal this happens more often than we’d like to think. One woman donated a kidney, unaware she was infected with the parasite Strongyloides. The man who received it felt fine for three months, then began vomiting blood and quickly expired. All told, at least 97 serious infections from donated organs were recorded in a 2007 study, with many more thought to go unreported by hospitals. The troub...

The area between a person’s wrist and elbow serves a very important function. Specifically, it keeps your wrist connected to your elbow. But to Simon Oberding and his team at Singapore University, that area is nothing more than wasted space. What Oberding plans to do with the forearms of the future is turn them into digital displays. He’s developed a prototype that straps onto the forearm and has four separate screens, each of which shows a different set of data. For example, one screen can display GPS directions while another scans YouTube for interesting videos.

Your smartphone is the one thing that never leaves your side because it can do it all. But the best smartphones do everything well. A great handset takes amazing photos, offers a bright and crisp HD screen and has enough speed to help you multitask with ease. There’s also plenty of variety out there when it comes to software and the overall user experience. That’s where we come in. Once you’ve decided on your platform of choice - Android, iOS, Windows Phone or BlackBerry - then it’s time to pick a device. At LAPTOP we test every major smartphone on the market and rate each one based on design, features, performance and battery life to help you make the right call. Here are our top 10 smartphones, ranging from the most sleek and compact handsets to the biggest phablets. Samsung Galaxy S4 The Samsung Galaxy S4 takes Android phones to the next level with an awesome camera, innovative gesture controls and best-in-class multitasking.

Medicine is one of the cornerstones of modern civilization - so much so that we take it for granted. It wasn’t always the case that you could just waltz into a doctor’s office to have them cure what ailed you. In medieval times, for example, things were a lot more dangerous, and a lot stranger. Boar Bile Enemas Enemas in medieval times were performed by devices called clysters. A clyster was a long metal tube with a cup on the end. The tube would be entered into the anus and a medicinal fluid poured into the cup. The fluid would then be introduced into the colon by a series of pumping actions. Although warm soapy water is used for enemas today, things were a little more earthy back then: one of the most common fluids finding its way into a clyster was a concoction of boar’s bile. Even kings were high up on the clyster. King Louis XIV of France is said to have had over 2,000 enemas during his reign - some even administered while he sat on his throne.

Sunny day for a drive Imagine never having to fill your fuel tank again. With the cost of gas these days, that may sound like wishful thinking. But as solar technology becomes more advanced, that dream could soon become a reality. In fact, vehicles that run entirely on solar power are nothing new; the first solar vehicles were built in the 1950s. Those early models weren't very practical, but modern designs have made impressive progress. Solar milestones have been made for just about every form of transportation that you can imagine. There are solar cars, of course, but there are also solar buses, trains, boats, and even a solar helicopter. Here's our rundown of seven modern solar-powered vehicles.

Les Apaches were a French street gang that operated in turn-of-the-century Paris before the advent of World War I. They were called Apaches because they were so ferocious during attacks that a policeman, upon hearing of their crimes, exclaimed that they were as vicious as Apache warriors. They were stylishly dressed, looking like old-timey French hipsters with fancy, striped shirts and berets, creating their own distinct style that would catch on and end up becoming popular in Bohemian circles. But they weren’t just fashion victims - they could actually fight. They practiced their own

fastest growing industries of 2013e created an infographic detailing the seven fastest growing industries in 2013. The report is based on data collected by market research firm Ibis World, which said “these industries are expected to continue their meteoric rise and far outpace the rest of the economy.” Five of these seven sectors relate to emerging forms of technology - green tech, online education, social games, mobile apps, and 3D printing - underscoring the idea that innovation leads to job creation. Furthermore, many of the businesses in these areas are contributing in other ways as well. Development and adoption of green tech is instrumental in curbing the growing dangers of climate change and online education can cut down on the massive amount of student debt in this country, while also giving people the skills they need to find gainful employment. 3D printing has led to a revolution in manufacturing and is causing amazing innovations in healthcare. Information is prol...

Getting into your house, protecting your data, and finding your stuff gets help with sophisticated devices new to the market. Here are eight security products that will help get you indoors, safeguard your valuables, and help you find things. Goji The Goji Smart Lock is a lock for your front door that replaces your deadbolt, and that you can control with your smartphone. Via the Goji app, your phone can receive a picture, text, or app alert whenever someone is at your door. You can schedule access via the app, text, or email, if you want to let a friend inside while you're away. And for people in your life who don't own smartphones, Goji comes with old-fashioned keys and programmable Bluetooth Low Energy fobs. The lock runs on batteries, though, so make sure you have spares on hand.

Most Amazing The Pavilion Protects Your Car and and VOLVO Developers The 'NO DEATH' CAR Although solar power is a resource that most of us agree we should be taking far more advantage of, the truth is that solar panels are often just as visually uncool as they are inefficient relative to other sources of energy. However, as manufacturing processes evolve to allow for more adventurous designs, the shift to aesthetically pleasing solar harvesters is gathering momentum, as exemplified by this new device created as an add-on to Volvo's V60 electric vehicle. Designed by Los Angles-based architecture studio Synthesis, the idea is the winner of the international "Switch to Pure Volvo" competition that called for an innovative solution to showcase the automaker's latest electric vehicle. The collapsible pavilion uses integrated photovoltaic panels tensioned over carbon fibre rods to create an attractively futuristic butterfly wing-like covering that bot...

The human brain weighs approximately 3.0 pounds. Human skin (all three layers) weighs approximately 20 pounds, intestines 7.5 pounds (large intestine: 4.0 lbs., small intestine: 3.5 lbs.), lungs 5 pounds (2.5 lbs. each), the liver 3.2 pounds, and the heart 0.6 pounds. Déjà vu (French for “already seen”) has never been fully explained, though some scientists believe that a neurological glitch causes an experience to be registered in the memory before reaching consciousness. The brain takes the longest of any organ to develop and goes through more changes than any other organ. A UCLA study found that both Caucasians and African Americans have similar brain activity when seeing photographs of African Americans. Both races showed more activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain associated with alarm, when shown expressionless photographs of African Americans than when they were shown expressionless photographs of Caucasians. What appears as random bursts of light when people h...

In today's culture, body art and piercings are a popular form of self-expression. Tattoos in particular are a common way of displaying your individuality. Because they are permanent, however, a lot of consideration should go into the decision to get a tattoo. The first question you may have is whether or not a tattoo will have a harmful effect on your skin. The process does involve, of course, needles and ink. The tattoo itself, once healed, is not bad for your skin. Issues arise, in fact, when complications occur during the healing process. A tattoo is essentially a series of punctures that insert dye into different levels of the skin, so it is by nature an invasive process. When done correctly and in a sterile environment, complications are uncommon, and the only immediate discomforts may be bleeding or pain. It's important to keep potential complications in mind, however. One potential risk is a bacterial infection at the tattoo site. Symptoms of this include r...

Wartime diseases such as scurvy and rickets are on the rise among British children because their junk food diets are worse than during rationing, doctors have warned. Health chiefs said a the resurgence of such disease is being caused by parents' reliance on takeaways and microwave meals to feed their children. Dr Mark Temple, chairman of the British Medical Association's public health medicine committee, warned: "Food standards in the UK are worse now that they were during the rationing during the war." Dr Temple said it was a "great tragedy" that children’s diets today are as unhealthy as the wartime diet. He added: "That's a strong indictment on the food industry. Obesity is a major health threat and we ought to be doing something about it." Dr Temple spoke out after a rise in the "old-fashioned wartime" illnesses in the former coal and steel areas of the Welsh valleys. Dietician Sioned Quirke, who wor...

A rigorous exercise regimen makes us all feel good but it is difficult to make time for it, Arslan  sohail suggests quick and easy ways to stay fit at work Exercising at work seems impossible. While we find it difficult to keep our hands off that packet of chips lying on our desks, the rest of us make frequent visits to the canteen to admire the spicy and tangy nibbles. It is okay to pander to your favourite food sometimes as long as you manage to burn those extra calories. So, how do you stay active and fit at work? To be fit, one has to be mentally and physically agile along with a lot of energy and a positive frame of mind. "Fitness comes with a combination of willpower and determination. At work, one can do several things in order to be active. Activities such as bending down to pull out a file, stretching, walking up to your colleagues to deliver or receive messages or documents rather than using e-mails, getting up and fetching yourself a cup of coffee/ tea and...