Okay, lets start with the science stuff. Nissan plans to mass launch an affordable and usable fully electric car, the Leaf. A girl who never ages is considered a possible key to the aging mystery. See that here.

The Chinese have made and iPad knock-off called the “iPed”. New research uses microbes to generate clean hydrogen. And how acupuncture might relieve pain.

The possible discovery of a whole new class of particles, via a particle accelerator might get the geeks like me going.

They have developed a new helium filled Airship (yeah like a old fashioned zeppelin!) for use in research.

Okay, now onto the drug news. First up, toxicologists have linked one of the deaths in the UK, with Mephedrone. Keep in mind though, the many years of use before such an event, and the two other deaths have been ruled as unrelated to Mephedrone. Read about it here.

Not entirely new news, but a contaminant in cocaine may cause flesh rot! Read it here. Like the UK, Ireland has just banned a bunch of legal highs.

An American company is working on a drug test for JWH-018, to test for use of things like spice.

And The last interview with Alexander Shulgin (The drug god is pictured above) , is here.

A reasonably efficient flexible solar panel has been developed, that may even be transparent (IE put into windows). Read more.

They have developed a system for self-breaking cars that can detect collisions with pedestrians. This article also delves further into technologies for self-driving cars. More.

Using specially modified fruit-flies they have been able to, with computers, map a large part of the fruit fly brain. Techniques like this will bring us closer to understanding our own brains. More here.

Of course the LHC is back up and running now, colliding at a record 7 TeV. Is that the hint of the higgs boson circular patterns? (Pic above is current collision @ 7 TeV, pic below is expected high energy higgs boson collision. Note the circular virtual particle formations)

DARPA is developing a self-piloting flying car. Cool.

And I imagine connected to last weekends MAPS conference (see also my LSD research post), here’s another mainstream article covering psychedelics as medicine. Medicinal Magic Mushrooms

And of course you may know California is going to vote on cannabis legalization. Here’s a related opinion piece.

First some funny news stuff. I thought this first one was pretty funny. Mayor sends in troops after alien April Fool panic

I’m sort of confused about what this sign is for myself...
Prostitutes sign confuses motorists

Now for the science stuff. People have been worried that the CERN large hadron collider (LHC) might cause black holes to form from the high energies created. Turns out there’s new evidence to suggest that very  possibility.  Einstein equations indicate possibility of black hole formation at the LHC

And super promising for lazy asses like me, they are making headway into robots that can do your laundry. Researchers develop a robot that folds towels

There’s a new theory regarding illnesses treated effectively by marijuana, such as chronic fatigue. It explains these illnesses better than any current theory, I think. Are you cannabis deficient?
And, back to the more light-hearted, while we are on pot, Toke of the Town put together a top ten “Chicks on You-Tube smoking weed”

And this is an article about how games are being designed to be more addictive. It’s an amusing and quite true observation of where gaming is heading to more and more. 5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted

Typing with your brain. They have developed a prototype mind speller, based on a portable EEG device, that allows users to select letters or phrases from a grid. Not only is this promising for people with disabilities, but future technology could allow anyone to use their brain to control a PC, or other device, even communicate via a portable device wordlessly with each other.

Is the universe virtual? Do we live in a virtual reality, like the matrix movies? Its seems increasingly people are proposing this theory, to explain the very weird things that happen in physics. To think about this possibility is trippy, and raises even more questions. Where did the reality simulation come from, who or what created it and for what reason? Here’s a taster.

Our Virtual Reality Universe

The Universe is a Quantum Computer

This next one is interesting, because the “Higgs Boson” is exactly what the Large Hadron Collider is looking for (which powering back up March 30th). If they find this particle, it will show that mass is basically an illusion. It's confirmed matter is merely vacuum fluctuations

Also they found a way to make hydrogen with crystals, sound and electricity. Its not more efficient, but its safe and easy, which may be useful if we ever get to using hydrogen. Its partly powered on sound, which is a handy way to use all that unused noise. Crystals, water, sound = Clean Hydrogen