anatomy

Pocket Brain app offers searchable 3D atlas of the brain

Of all the subjects best taught in 3D, anatomy has got to be up there. And when it comes to human anatomy, the brain is arguably the most complex organ, if not system, of them all.

So it's fitting that 3-year-old medical education app publisher eMedia out of Ireland is adding the Pocket Brain app to its suite of 3D Pocket Anatomy offerings. (First came the body and the heart.) For $19.99, the interactive app for iPhone and iPad renders the old-fashioned textbook pretty close to obsolete.… Read more

Muscle-covered leggings take the skin out of skintight

We've got just the tights to wear to your upcoming anatomy exam.

With these "Muscles Leggings"--whipped up by designer James Lillis for Black Milk Clothing--there's no way you'll fail (at least not when it comes to the waist-down part of the test).

Then again, it might be more fun to think about slipping into these the next time you visit one of those Body Worlds-type exhibits--you know, the ones with real flayed bodies riding horses or playing basketball? How many people would frantically hail a security guard to report an errant artifact?

Or you could don them for that other, hands-on anatomy class of yours--the one with the cadavers and instrument trays--and run teary-eyed to the instructor crying, "Damn it! I told you Bart needed glasses!"

The possibilities for pranking seem plentiful.… Read more

Use Kinect to teach anatomy? It's a 'Mirracle'!

Kinect hacks have been used for many a grand feat, from a tool that helps the blind navigate more easily to hands-free questing in World of Warcraft and virtual cat brushing.

So why not integrate the powers of Microsoft Kinect with a mirror to teach such subjects as basic anatomy?

For the past year, a team out of the Technical University of Munich in Germany has been working on just that. The researchers use Kinect to estimate the position of a person in front of an augmented-reality mirror in order to create the illusion that the user can see inside … Read more

A $55 million atlas of the human brain

Any time someone concatenates the words "Paul Allen," "brain," and "science" in one sentence, two assumptions can safely be made: What's being described will be expensive; what's being described will be newsworthy.

And so it comes as little surprise that the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science announced this week a world first: a highly detailed guide to both the anatomy and the genes of the human brain that includes 1,000 anatomical landmarks backed by 100 million data points measuring the strength of gene activity at each landmark. The cost of … Read more

Netflix signs new Disney-ABC deal, shows up doubters

Netflix has signed a new licensing agreement with one of the biggest Hollywood studios, allowing the Web's top video-rental store to begin streaming TV shows from the Disney Channel and ABC TV, the company announced today. The deal calls for Netflix to acquire episodes from some shows 15 days after their original broadcast date.

Talk about good timing. News of the deal comes a day after Netflix bashing in the entertainment sector reached a crescendo and after Netflix announced the departure of Barry McCarthy, the company's chief financial officer.

As execs from the cable industry and Hollywood--including HDNet … Read more

The 404 560: Where Uncle Sam traps Jeff in a dutch oven (podcast)

The IRS gods must have tuned in to yesterday's episode and heard Jeff complaining about the tax system, because he woke up this morning to a very lofty charge from his bank to the tune of $600 owed to the state of New Jersey. We're all doing our best to cheer him up, but it doesn't help that the Devils lost game one of the Eastern Conference quarters to the Arkansas Fliers last night.

On the other hand, if Natali Del Conte Thursdays on The 404 aren't enough to cheer him up, all hope might be lost for our beloved Haterader. The first story on the table is about Amanda Flowers, a woman in the U.K. who's blaming the Wii Fit for an injury that's left with her a rare affliction called "persistent sexual arousal syndrome." Seriously, it's a real thing, not an ironic joke made up by the writers of "Grey's Anatomy." Flowers claims that a fall from her Wii Fit balance board damaged a nerve in her "lady garden" and made her into a nympho, which begs the question: where's the CNET office in the U.K.?

A recent study in Time Magazine shows that spanking leads to aggressive behavior as an adult, but one clever clown in the U.K. is offering alternative disciplinary action. For a small fee, you can hire Dominic Deville to dress up in a horrifying clown costume and stalk your misbehaving kid for a week!

Deville will send "chilling text messages," make prank calls, and set traps warning of an impending attack before the entire operation culminates in a cake to the face. Did we mention the service is supposed to be in celebration of a child's birthday? If the young child manages to "avoid the hit," they are given the cake as a present. Yes, it's all fun and games until your kid grows up to be a serial clown killer.

It's no surprise that 3D TVs are making big waves in 2010, but Natali and her n00b in beta might have more to worry about than those silly glasses. A disclaimer on the Samsung 3D LEDTV site dictates important safety information that warns children, teenagers, pregnant woman, elderly, the sleep-deprived, and alcoholics about the health issues associated with viewing in 3D.

A laundry list of symptoms could potentially occur after long periods of time, including altered vision (duh), nausea, convulsions, cramps, confusion, and more. In fact, we're starting to notice an alarming parallel between those side effects and the ones in those Extenze commercials, and we're praying ED isn't one of them. Click that play button down yonder, and enjoy the show!

EPISODE 559 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Knitted-frog dissection skips the formaldehyde

Not all of us were cut out for the graphic task of dissecting frogs--and that's one reason we ended up majoring in liberal arts.

Maybe if we could have skipped the organ prodding and learned anatomy through this far less slimy knitted frog dissection kit, we would have ended up as doctors (of course, then we wouldn't be working at CNET, which would be really sad).

We spotted "Knitting in Biology 101" on crafts site Etsy. Its creator, CraftyHedgehog, hand-knit the frog from a silk/wool blend, with its little innards needle-felted by hand out of … Read more

ABC.com makes watching TV at work better

Among the networks, ABC.com has been one of the most aggressive in terms of streaming full versions of its shows online after they've aired on TV. During those quieter moments at work--some call them smoking breaks without the smoking--you can watch episodes of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and more, right on your computer screen. Until a few days ago, however, the picture was rather small. Now ABC.com has launched a new full-screen "HD-quality" video player, and the "broadcast" looks shockingly good.

Meanwhile, NBC also has spruced up its online video player, … Read more

Calling Dr. Izzie Stevens

I guess we know what Izzie did with that huge check from Denny. She bought a Samsung BlackJack. Some of you may not know what I'm talking about. I am a huge Grey's Anatomy fan, and I urge you to check out Grey's Anatomy Season 2. Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy, currently sports the Samsung BlackJack. It's a great phone if you are looking for e-mail and MP3 functionality, and if you want to be as cute as Izzie.