They Might Be Giants continues its cerebral dominance of the pop music world with Here Comes Science, a CD/DVD release created for kids but smart enough for the adults in the mosh pit.

Exclusively available digitally on iTunes and physically on Amazon.com starting Tuesday, the follow-up to John Flansburgh and John Linnell’s Grammy-winning 2008 effort Here Come the 123s builds on the brainy foundation laid down by the band more than 25 years ago. But since the subject this time around is science, They Might Be Giants‘ latest sonic workbook might not go over too well with the intelligent-design crowd.

(read more @ Underwire – Wired.com)

And here’s a great animation video from the album:

Very impressive indeed.

(read more @ Hacked Gadgets)

Imagine taking your holidays on a hotel near the Moon and nipping off on a pre-lunch excursion around some its hills and craters

Fanciful? Well, maybe, but that’s the dream of Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic space company.

A new era in private space tourism might just have been launched this week with the first public showing of WhiteKnighttwo, Virgin Galactic’s “mothership”, which will take private tourists on their first journey into space.

(read more @ mirror.co.uk)

If Richard Branson turns up somewhere, you can be fairly certain there’ll be a photo opportunity attached. But Branson’s appearance on Monday at EAA Airventure, the world’s largest private air show, was more than a PR stunt. It also marked the first public flight of Virgin Galactic’s “Mothership” Eve, and signaled space tourism is now closer than ever.

(read more @ gizmag)

Aabar Investments’ buy-in gives British billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism venture a big financial kickstart at a time when many funding sources have dried up because of the global recession. It also gives the wealthy Persian Gulf sheikdom of Abu Dhabi a chance to build its own space flight industry as it broadens its economy. The Mideast investment fund that recently bet big on Mercedes-Benz said Tuesday it will pay about $280 million to buy nearly a third of commercial space travel startup Virgin Galactic.

(read more @ Sci-Tech Today)

A Taser stun gun capable of shocking three people without being reloaded has been unveiled. The demonstration at the Scottsdale-based company’s annual conference was performed by Taser International chairman Tom Smith, and his brother, CEO Rick Smith, who says the device will become the new standard for police officers who want greater tactical abilities.

(read more @ Yahoo News)

Samsung has a new phone coming out, but you would have never guessed it by the buzz surrounding the presentations the company has been giving. At product launches in London, Dubai, and Singapore, Samsung partnered up with Korean design firm d’strict to showcase its Jet phone in a holographic-like interactive display that’s one part Star Trek Holodeck, one part Project Natal, three parts awesome.

(read more @ PC World and d’strict)

Here is the presentation:

And here is the ad film for the phone itself (which also seems awesome, by the way):

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, Google today released a new version of its Google Earth exploratory software that includes a map of the Moon with enough goodies to tie you up for hours. Google’s clickable data not only includes photos and videos, but also short stories about the Apollo missions’ activities on the Moon and some of the more intriguing facets of the Moon’s surface.

(read more @ Venture Beat and cbc.news.ca)

The Futuris series on Euronews produced an excellent segment focusing on advanced robotics research taking place in Italy and Spain that will eventually enable robots to co-exist with humans on city sidewalks and streets while performing helpful services.

It’s really interesting to see the difference in approach between the groups in the two countries. To us, the Italian group appears to have paid much more attention to the overall estetic design and outer appearance so that the robot projects an open and welcoming presence, while the Spanish group seems to be more focused on the technical challenges.

(via ROBOT DREAMS)

Here’s a video of a billboard in Papakura, New Zealand, that bleeds when it rains. Rather scaring, isn’t it? Well, according to the ad agency that , it works, as there hasn’t been a fatality in the area since they started the campaign.

An “Einstein” robot has taught itself to smile, frown and make other human facial expressions, using machine learning.