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The Mozilla Foundation, the entity that oversees the Mozilla Firefox internet browser, is now accepting donations in cryptocurrency. One of the browser's founders is not happy about it. The company tweeted on Dec. 31: "Dabble in @dogecoin? HODLing some #Bitcoin & Ethereum? We're using @BitPay to accept donations in #cryptocurrency." Jamie "jwz" Zawinski, who helped build the Mozilla Project that was released in 2002, tweeted in response that he's "here to say f.. you and f... this."... ...He wasn't the only one to level criticism at Mozilla's move on Twitter this week. Peter Linss, the founder of Gecko — the...

Dr. Claire Simeone, the director of the Kei Kai Ola hospital for Hawaiian monk seals..." Earlier this week, Simeone had just left work for lunch when her phone started ringing. A lot. "I thought maybe someone had a seal-related question," Simeone wrote on Twitter earlier today (Oct. 5). "I picked up. Silence." Seconds later, Simeone's phone rang again — and then again, and again. Each time she answered, there was nothing but eerie silence. After receiving nine identical calls in 15 minutes, Simeone "started to panic," she said. The calls were apparently coming from inside the hospital, so she rushed...

A team of California researchers has developed a robotic gripper that combines the adhesive properties of gecko toes and the adaptability of air-powered soft robots to grasp a much wider variety of objects than the state of the art... The gecko is one of nature's best climbers, thanks to millions of microscopic hairs, with features about 20 to 30 times smaller than a human hair, that allow it to climb on virtually any surface. The hairs end in tiny nanostructures that interact at the atomic level with molecules on the surface the gecko is trying to grip...

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2012) — For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall. Doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett in Alfred Crosby's polymer science and engineering lab at UMass Amherst is the lead author of their article describing the...

CAMBRIDGE, New Zealand, - New Zealand's Maungatautari Restoration Project said a giant gecko found dead in a mouse trap was the first spotted on the mainland in nearly 100 years. Officials with the project, which aims to restore native species to the Maungatautari mountain region near Cambridge, said the Duvaucel's gecko was found in a mouse trap last month, raising hope that more of the large lizards could be living in the area, the Waikato Times reported Thursday. Chris Smuts-Kennedy, an ecologist with the project, said the gecko was "in the size range for an adult male." He said the...

BIDEFORD, England, - A woman in southwestern England was surprised when she discovered a gecko, a small lizard native to warmer climes, in the bottom of a bag of apples. The gecko had survived a week in Wendy Newbury's refrigerator, The Daily Telegraph reported. She did not notice it until she took the bag out of the refrigerator after the apples had been eaten. "It then must have started warming up and he started moving around," Newbury said. "He was such a sweet and amazing little thing and me and my husband, Brian, are both animal lovers so we didn't...

Forget that little guy selling insurance. Geckos are a lot more than that. Need proof? Just visit the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia from now through Sept. 7 and check out “Geckos: Tails to Toepads,” an interactive exhibit featuring dozens of the small, agile – and surprisingly noisy – creatures. “Geckos are among the most diverse and interesting of all reptiles,” said Dr. Aaron Bauer, a Villanova University professor and an Academy research associate who is a world expert on geckos. “This exhibit will give people a good look at their unique specializations and an appreciation for why they...

Geckos have long inspired scientists and super-hero fans alike with their ability to scamper up vertical walls and cling to ceilings with a single toe. In recent years, people have attempted to create materials that match those spectacular abilities, in the hope of creating new advanced adhesives, or even car braking systems.Now US chemists claim to have made one based on nanotubes that it is 10 times stickier than some gecko feet. Even more impressively, like a real gecko foot, it can also be easily unstuck with a tug in the right direction.Gecko's superhero toes are covered in microscopic hairs,...

A bizarre relationship between a gecko and a sap-sucking insect has been caught on camera for the first time. The day gecko, which lives in the forests of Madagascar, has been recorded begging a bug for its dinner. The lizard repeatedly nods its head at the insect, called a plant hopper, until it flicks over small balls of honeydew for the gecko to dine upon. It is not yet understood why the insect so willingly offers up honeydew at the lizard's behest. Some believe that the presence of the hungry geckos may keep other predators away from the insect. The...

  Gecko lizards inspire 'Spiderman gloves' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor  Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 23/01/2008       Prototype "Spiderman gloves" that will enable window cleaners to scale walls, robots to scurry across ceilings and rock climbers to hang about could be ready within three years.There has been popular interest in how to mimic his extraordinary wall climbing ability since 1962, when the web-slinging hero with superhuman strength was born in the pages of Marvel Comics.   'Spiderman gloves' could be ready within three years Shy, nerdy Peter Parker managed the feat after being bitten by a radioactive spider on...

LAWRENCE, Kan.(AP) - There's a new creature crawling around Kansas. Herpetologists have confirmed that the Mediterranean gecko is taking up residence in the state, spreading north from the southeast United States over the past decade. "We knew it got as far as Norman, Oklahoma, in the early 1990s," said Joe Collins, University of Kansas herpetologist. "Well, it's here." And one is now on display at the Prairie Park Nature Center in Lawrence, feeding on crickets. "Ours has been hiding under rocks in its cage since we got him," said Marty Birrell, the center's director. "They are nocturnal, so we don't...

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that the Islamic Republic would give soon give “good news” about its nuclear advancements, the official state news agency reported. The United Nations Security Council adopted a “Presidential Statement” unanimously on March 29 giving Iran 30 days to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities and resume its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney got good news Friday during his annual heart checkup, with a pacemaker detecting no irregular heartbeat, his office said. Cheney has had four heart attacks, and a pacemaker was placed in his chest in June 2001. The checkup determined that the pacemaker, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was working fine and never had to be activated. The device is designed to activate automatically if needed to regulate the patient's heartbeat. Cheney underwent the routine exam at George Washington University Medical Center. It included a physical exam, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and a stress test....