funnel
Latest
World's longest lab experiment still going strong, via webcam
In 1927, a physics professor named Thomas Parnell launched an experiment on viscous liquids. 85 years later, we're still waiting for his results. It all began with a funnel, a beaker, and some melted tar pitch. Parnell, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, was hoping to demonstrate that brittle tar pitch actually behaves as a liquid when kept at room temperature. To prove this, he melted some tar pitch, let it cool for three years, and placed it within the funnel, held over the beaker. The first drop rolled down the funnel eight years later. The second came nine years after that. By the time the third rolled around, Parnell had already passed away. Following his death, the experiment was shelved, quite literally, in a closet, before Professor John Mainstone revived it shortly after joining the University of Queensland in 1961. In 1975, Mainstone successfully lobbied the university to put the experiment on display, but he likely could've never imagined how large an audience it would ultimately have. Today, in fact, the experiment is on display 24 hours a day, via a dedicated webcam. It's been hailed as the world's longest running lab experiment, and it's available for gazing at the source link below. Mainstone expects the next drop to come down the pipeline sometime next year, but you probably shouldn't hold your breath. The last drop ran down the funnel in 2000. Unfortunately, it was never recorded on video, due to a very untimely camera malfunction.
Quick and clean Funnel news app is free today
Funnel is a quick way to scan the Google News headlines. It has a simple interface. Sections are color coded, and the size of the headlines gives you a quick visual idea of the importance of the story based on the number of related articles. The app supports news from the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K. You can set the app to display in the appropriate language for the country selected. If you touch an item, you get the first paragraph. Tap 'read more' and you get the content in the built-in browser. You can't search, or see related stories. In the app preferences you can select the kind of news you want in broad categories. I don't think Funnel is a substitute for more feature-rich apps such as Pulse, but it's nice for a quick dive into the news. The app worked reliably, but was a little slow at times to load the full stories into the viewer. The app is free today only and requires iOS 3.2 or later. It also runs on the iPod touch and the iPad but it is not iPad native. %Gallery-124720%
