There Weren't Enough Robots in Washington Already?
A bunch of teenagers demonstrated their award-winning robot to President George W. Bush earlier this week as he honored them for encouraging other students' interest in science, technology, math and engineering.

The 33 winners of the FIRST Robotics Competition 2007 Chairman's Award — Miracle Workerz of MOE Robotics Group, based in Wilmington, Delaware — were among 100 students and mentors from winning teams who visited the White House on Monday.

Although MOEzilla, the grammatically liberal Miracle Workerz' robot, lost in the quarterfinals, the team won the Chairman's Award for its community outreach to excite other students about technology and engineering.

PSA: Exercise Helps People Lose Weight
In an astonishing, outlandish, unbelievably far-fetched and wholly inconceivable report that we at IMT are considerably skeptical of, a new study shows that "people who consistently engage in high levels of exercise over the long haul are the most successful at losing weight and keeping it off."

In case you didn't know.

Crabby Summer Days
Thursday was Martin Z. Mollusk Day. Similar to Groundhog Day, it involves placing a hermit crab on a beach and checking to see if it casts a shadow. If the crab sees its shadow, summer will supposedly arrive one week early.

Not surprisingly, he saw it this year.

In 32 years of trotting Martin Z. Mollusk onto the beach, there has been an early summer 31½ times in Ocean City, New Jersey, the (only?) town where the crab is celebrated.

"One day, he saw half of his shadow," crab-keeper Mark Soifer explained to The Press of Atlantic City. "Suspense is not the big thing in Martin Z. Mollusk Day."

Zombies Seen Smiling Smugly
There may be a state of being between life and death, suggest the authors of a new research paper.

The paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Medical Hypothesis, argues that certain organisms, tissues and cells can survive in an in-between, limbo-like state.

"We think that viability, the middle state between life and death, can best be defined as 'resting life,'" said Rene Severijnen, a pediatric surgeon at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, as Discovery News reports.

Microorganisms stored in glycerol mixtures at low temperatures and sperm cells stored in liquid nitrogen can exist in that middle state, Severijnen wrote with co-author Ger Bongaerts in the new paper. Likewise, certain brine shrimp can enter into a state of life known as cryptobiosis in response to adverse environmental conditions, such as freezing or drying. The shrimp eggs are sun-dried in salt evaporation flats.

"When released into the aquarium, they leave this state," Bongaerts said. "In fact, this cryptobiosis is also 'resting life.'"

"Night of the Living Dead"… argh.

Brutal Firings
Robbs has been a department store in a UK market town for 189 years. In recent years, however, the landmark has fallen on hard times.

So it laid off 140 staff members, according to UK's The Daily Mail this week. But the way the workers were told of the layoffs has been described as "brutal."

Workers gathered outside after the alarm was deliberately set off to clear the store on Wednesday morning. Then, in the parking lot, managers read the workers a statement telling them the store would be closing in less than two weeks and that the 140 employees were "sacked."

The town's Member of Parliament, Peter Atkinson, said: "I understand that the alarm was sounded to gather them all in the same place, where they were given notice of redundancy.

"It is a rather brutal way of doing things, especially when you consider that many of the staff have given many years of loyal service to the store."

Speaking of layoffs, guess what General Motors is up to…

"This is our Country, This is Our Autobot"
We're getting pretty tired of the Down Shortly for Maintenance message that's been up on Chevrolet's "Build Your Own Autobot" Web site.

In conjunction with the forthcoming live-action "Transformers" movie, based on the Hasbro toys and set to hit theaters on July 4, GM is launching a design-your-own-Autobot site that allows visitors to build their own bot from a pre-selected assortment of Chevys, challenge their friends to a fight, and win prizes for their efforts. Prizes include a free month of XM, tickets to see the movie and even a trip to the movie premiere. You can register and play for the prizes or do it all without registering just because, well... it's awesome fun to build and fight robots.

But the site has been down for a couple of days now.

While We're on the Topic of Blockbuster Action Movies…
A scientist has proposed a type of suit using technology based on geckos to allow people to climb walls, à la Peter Parker's alter ego.

In a paper to be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Nicola Pugno, a professor of structural engineering at the Polytechnic University in Turin, Italy, discusses formulas for fashioning carbon nanotubes into superadhesive gloves and boots that could be used to create a Spider Man-like suit in the near future, according to Real Tech News.

The designs for the materials are modeled from the adhesive properties of the gecko, a tropical lizard whose sticky feet can scale trees, reports CNET News, which goes on to quote from Pugno's paper:

A replication of the characteristics of the gecko or spider feet would enable the development of a self-cleaning, superadhesive and releasable hierarchical material and, with the conjunction of large invisible cables, of a preliminary Spider-Man suit.

Pugno also outlines a theory for using carbon nanotubes to create large invisible cables that could act as human-strength cobwebs.

Tired of Commuting? Take a Cue from Fusion Man
According to AVweb, European Yves Rossy jumps out of aircraft with four jet engines strapped to his "wings."

The idea is to stay airborne 'till his fuel runs out. The self-proclaimed "Fusion Man" was due to make his maiden flight in Geneva last month, but he was grounded due to inclement weather.

AVWeb explains that Rossy plans to cross the Grand Canyon, so you might want to be on the lookout (if the Department of Homeland Security doesn't see him first). Or you might see him jump from a hot air balloon. Either way, wouldn't this make your commute exciting? (Video)

Credit: FUSIONMAN

Swap Tuesday for Friday?
It's time to toss out the five-day workweek and allow hardworking Americans a little more down time — preferably in western North Carolina, according to a straight-faced campaign message this week.

On Tuesday, "with a straight face," a group calling itself Friends of the Five Day Weekend tried to convince Congress to change the way Americans work… or don't work, whatever.

The grassroots group wants Congress adopt a five-day weekend, said an Associated Press report this week.

"Maybe our message is crazy," said Roy McCrerey, the organization's campaign director, told AP. "But I say our current situation is crazy. We need to fight crazy with crazy."

McCrerey points to the fact that Congress was in session 104 days last year — which averages out to two days a week — to further his campaign argument.

Those Guys at Google
Recently, while looking through a long list of languages on Google's site for language tools, we spotted "Elmer Fudd" — right before English and immediately after Dutch. Where would people speak Elmer Fudd? Toontown comes to mind. Those guys at Google must take their animated world pretty seriously.

Credit: Looney Tunes

Speaking of languages, we can now get our language training with video games. A game called "Tactical Iraqi" teaches soldiers how to speak Arabic and understand cultural differences that might affect interactions. "Players get immediate feedback and move on to the next assignment when they successfully complete an interaction," according to a news piece at Scripps Howard News.

The company that developed this game also recently released "Tactical Pashto" and is set to release another game for sub-Saharan African French this summer. By the end of the year, a civilian version of the Arabic program will be available, according to Scripps Howard.

Bill Gates on…
… his rush to support Digital Rights management: Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.
(via Network World)

… the number of H-1B visas that should be permitted in the US over the current 65,000 currently allowed: 300,000 would be a fantastic improvement.
(via Network World)

… computing, in 1981: Who in their right mind would ever need more than 640k of ram!?
(via Supply Chain Network)

… automobiles: If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG.
(via Network World)

… nerds: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
(via BrainyQuote)

… his place in the world: I have 100 billion dollars — You realize I could spend 3 million dollars a day, every day, for the next 100 years? And that's if I don't make another dime. Tell you what — I'll buy your right arm for a million dollars. I give you a million bucks, and I get to sever your arm right here.
(via Network World)

Middle Ages Tech Support
You don't like tech support… which is fine, because tech support doesn't like you. You can't avoid it, as this antagonistic relationship goes way back.

Way back to the Middle Ages, in fact:

Cheers.