Happy St. David`s Day!

St David’s Day is celebrated in Wales on 1 March, in honour of Dewi Sant or St David, the patron saint of Wales. Little is known about him for certain. What little information we have is based on an account of his life written by Rhigyfarch towards the end of the 11th century.

According to this Latin manuscript, Dewi died in the year 589. His mother was called Non, and his father, Sant, was the son of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion. After being educated in Cardiganshire, he went on pilgrimage through south Wales and the west of England, where it is said that he founded religious centres such as Glastonbury and Croyland. He even went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he was made archbishop. (more at: museumwales.ac.uk)

B2B or Brain-to-Brain connection via internet!

Scientists have connected the brains of a pair of animals and allowed them to share sensory information in a major step towards what the researchers call the world’s first “organic computer”.

The US team fitted two rats with devices called brain-to-brain interfaces that let the animals collaborate on simple tasks to earn rewards, such as a drink of water.

In one radical demonstration of the technology, the scientists used the internet to link the brains of two rats separated by thousands of miles, with one in the researchers’ lab at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the other in Natal, Brazil. (more at: guardian.co.uk)

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason is “expired deal”

Twenty-four hours after reporting disappointing first-quarter earnings (a move that sent its stock down more than 25% in after-hours), Groupon announced Thursday afternoon that co-founder and CEO Andrew Mason will no longer hold the top post at the company.

Groupon Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis will assume leadership of the four-and-a-half-year-old daily deals business while its board of directors seeks out a new chief executive, according to a release issued by the company. (read more at: mashable.com).

When Bill and Mark are speaking even coding is interesting

In just two days, Code.org’s short film encouraging kids to learn computer programming has surpassed 5 million YouTube views, and garnered mass interest and participation.

According to the non-profit organization, its viral video, which enlisted famous faces including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, will.i.am, Jack Dorsey, and Chris Bosh, has inspired more than 260,000 petition signatures and a number of donations on the site. (read more at: pcmag.com)

A planet is born!

An international team of researchers said the so-called protoplanet has a mass that appears to be at least the size of Jupiter, and perhaps two to three times its size. It is located about 335 light years from Earth, within the Milky Way. That isn’t too far in cosmic terms; the Milky Way itself is about 100,000 light years across.

“If we are correct, this is the first time we are seeing a planet forming inside its natal environment,” said Sascha Quanz, an astronomer at the Swiss university ETH Zurich and leader of the team. The findings are reported in Astrophysical Journal Letters, a scientific publication. (read more at: wsj.com)