The Hobbit illustrated by Tove Jansson

Is your brain male or female? An online test from the BBC accompanying a recent programme. I scored zero, which makes me exactly androgynous, but I think I rushed some of the tests (the whole thing takes 20 minutes). Some other recent views.

Big Butt Ants Has the Civet-cat-poo coffee mania left you feeling passed by? Here to offer solace, allow me to intrtoduce you to your latest Columbian craze, and all its legs.

The Art Menagerie. A guide to modern artists

The battle of Long Tan. On August 18th 1966 at 3:40 in the afternoon 11th Platoon, D Company, while patrolling in the rubber plantations around Nui Dat, encountered six Viet Cong who then fled east. more inside

Insect closeups. Get to know the housefly, ant, hornet, honeybee, and many other friends up close and personal!

Photos taken from the Z Backscatter X-Ray machine. via Coudal

Escher for Real The work of M.C. Escher needs no introduction. We have all learned to appreciate the impossibilities that this master of illusion's artwork presents to the layman's eye. Nevertheless, it may come as a surprise for some, but many of the so-called 'impossible' drawings of M. C. Escher can be realized as actual physical objects. more inside

No! No! No! Are you an overly protective parent, and want everyone else to know? Concerned that some other caregiver may give your precious offspring something they shouldn't have? Then this is the product for you! more inside

Adjust Your Scales . It was a bit of a shake-up then!

What's it like to attend a movie publicity junket? A freelance writer named Eric Snider found out on the publicity tour for World Trade Center. And when he wrote honestly about the experience, the studio retaliated.

James Van Allen dies James Van Allen, discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belt and designer of the instrumentation on Explorer I (the United States' first artificial satellite), winner of the National Medal of Science, and all around nice guy, died Wednesday at 91. So, next time you look up and see an aurora, think of Van. more inside

GIGANTOR! Cartoonist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Gigantor's creator, died two years ago. more inside

Curious, George-slash-MOFI EURO MEETUPS!!11!1 It's the classtool family European vacation! Hey kids! Big Ben! Parliament! Exclamation point! And there's more inside

A short video (warning: Flash) about severl of the photos we have heard about recently involving Lebanon This is a short flash video from Aish that points out several of the faked and staged photos that we have seen from Lebanon. Some of photos you have almost certainly seen, some you may not have. more inside

Emotions and the brain. Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux seeks a biological rather than psychological understanding of our emotions. He explores the differences between emotional memories (implicit--unconscious--memories) processed in pathways that take information into the amygdala, and memories of emotion (explicit--conscious--memories) processed at the level of the hippocampus and neocortex.

YOU ARE A PIRATE! (video, audio)

Baby Rock Are you one of those parents who thinks Baby Mozart is crap? Me too. Good news - now you can rock out with your tot out: Metallica, Zep and Tool among others. more inside

a novel user interface that goes into your face

NASA Lost the Tape! But just 37 years after Apollo 11, it is feared the magnetic tapes that recorded the first moon walk . . .have gone missing at NASA's Goddard Space Centre in Maryland. Misplaced the evidence eh? Perhaps it was all a hoax! Or was it? /theremin via /.