Technology Slice Blog

Royal Philharmonic Plants - The 33-member orchestra played a three-hour recital to an auditorium packed with greenery to help test the theory that plants grow better when played classical music. The unorthodox audience was made up of over 100 different varieties of plants and bulbs including geraniums, fuchsias and perennials. Scientists have claimed that classical music - and the reverberation of sound waves - is thought to stimulate protein production in plants. In theory, this is thought to lead to increased plant growth, although experts have long been divided on the subject. Researchers have previously exposed rice plants to classical music and noted that some samples responded to noise levels with increased gene activity. A 2007 study by the South Korea National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology showed two samples reacted positively to 14 different pieces of classical music. Royal Philharmonic Plants

Displaced People Global High - The number of internally displaced people worldwide reached 27.5 million in 2010, the highest number since the mid-1990s even though the situation in Africa improved, a refugee agency said on Wednesday. While refugees who cross a country's external border gain rights under international law, internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been forced to move due to conflict or hunger have no such rights in many countries. The number of IDPs in Africa fell by 4 percent to 11.1 million, while all other regions showed an increase, according to the annual report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center of the Norwegian Refugee Council. By comparison, there are about 15 million refugees worldwide, the report said. "This positive (African) trend gives us hope," said the report. "Indeed, the African continent remains at the forefront of policy development in support of IDP rights." The African Union (AU) in 2009 adopted the K...

Maya Rudolph Baby - Maya Rudolph will be a mama once again, as the pregnant actress is preparing to welcome her third child with her longtime partner, according to People.com sources. Soon to be starring as a bride in the upcoming comedy 'The Bridesmaids' (not to be confused with last year's Raven-Symone TV movie 'Revenge of the Bridesmaids'!), Rudolph is already mother to two daughters -- Pearl, born in 2005, and Lucille, born in 2009 -- with live-in love Paul Thomas Anderson, acclaimed director of 'Boogie Nights' and 'There Will Be Blood.' Rudolph was a 'Saturday Night Live' regular when she got pregnant the first time around, and she won critical raves on the big screen portraying a mom-to-be on a road trip with John Krasinski in 2009's 'Away We Go.' So the 38-year-old and her new baby bump should be right at home in front of the camera as she promotes 'Bridesmaids' (produced by Judd Apatow, and costarring Kristen ...

Ohio Boy Manly Scented Candles - A 13-year-old Ohio boy has launched his own line of scented candles meant for men, with fragrances that include bacon, New York-style pizza, sawdust and the smell of a fresh leather baseball mitt. Hart Main of Marysville in central Ohio says he got the idea for his "Mancans" when he was making fun of his sister for selling candles with girly scents for a school fundraiser. Columbus station WCMH-TV reports he launched his company last Thanksgiving, making the candles using scores of empty cans from soup he donated to a soup kitchen. Hart says so far he has sold 500 candles for $5 each, both online and at local stores. He says he's made enough profit to buy himself a nice bicycle. Ohio Boy Manly Scented Candles

Tiger Blood Drink - It all started with Charlie Sheen's humble description of his impeccable circulatory system. In a now legendary interview with NBC's Today Show, Sheen boasted that he was not like ordinary people in that "tiger blood" flows through his veins. With his words quickly becoming an internet meme, Sheen decided that putting some tiger blood in his stomach would also prove entertaining for his many fans. So, after being officially fired by Warner Brothers on Monday, Sheen took to a California rooftop with a machete, a bottle allegedly filled with tiger blood, and one of his two goddesses for a little showing off. 1. Tiger Blood a la Diddy Over the weekend, Diddy tweeted his recipe for a simple yet elegant Tiger Blood cocktail. 2. Tiger Blood energy potion For a limited time, Harcos Laboratories is offering Bi-Winning Tiger Blood, "specifically to make your brain fire in a way that's not from this particular terrestrial realm." The...

Mariah Carey Gushes Baby Shower Gift - Mariah Carey got a ton of presents for her baby shower Sunday night – but one heartfelt gift stood out from all the rest. "The Always Be My Babies 'Lamb Book' is definitely my new prized possession and I can't thank the Lambs around the world enough for your letters & well wishes," Carey, who often calls her most dedicated fans "lambs," wrote on her Web site Monday. The book cover is illustrated with a blue and a pink baby carriage, along with family photos of Carey and her husband, Nick Cannon, 31. It was created using short letters and poems her fans wrote to the babies. "We so had a 'moment' in the middle of the shower when they presented the book to me and everyone thought it was the cutest, most thoughtful thing ever!" Carey recalled. "Clearly, only the Lambs would swing something like that home!!! It was the best moment of the night. I can't wait for the twins to read the ...

Skeptical Meteorite Alien Life - The gaps and stringy fibers in these space rocks sure look like bacteria, and a NASA researcher has caused a stir with claims that they're fossils of alien life. But as NASA found 15 years ago, looks can be deceiving. Top scientists in different disciplines immediately found pitfalls in a newly published examination of three meteorites that went viral on the Internet over the weekend. NASA and its top scientists disavowed the work by noon Monday. Biologists said just because it looks as though the holes were made by bacteria doesn't make them fossils of extraterrestrial microbes. The meteorites could be riddled with Earthly contamination. And both astronomers and biologists complained that the study was not truly reviewed by peers. There are questions about the credentials of the study's author, Richard Hoover. And the work appeared in an online journal that raises eyebrows because even its editor acknowledges it may have to shut down...