It’s estimated that massive vegetarian dinosaurs produced as much as 520 million tons of methane a year… so much that they triggered global warming, possibly hastening their extinction While scientists are touting a new study of dinosaur flatulence as a “major new climate finding,” the media is greeting it with undisguised mirth. According to this …

“After my brain was jolted,” says author Sally Adee, “I had a near-spiritual experience” Have you ever wanted to take a vacation from your own head? You could do it easily enough with liberal applications of alcohol or hallucinogens, but that’s not the kind of vacation I’m talking about. What if you could take a …

A Shreveport, La., official has introduced a bill to ban the wearing of pajamas in public after seeing youths wearing pajama bottoms at a local Walmart. Only in America, our collection of strange revelations about the nation: A school that tracks obese students with electronic monitors, the child who was approached by police for her …

A short list of innovative products can help restaurants maintain top levels of food safety, starting with color-coded knives and cutting boards to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen, writes foodservice blogger Greg McGuire. Other gadgets on his top five include ice scoops that prevent direct contact with human hands and data loggers that record refrigerator …

America is a notoriously litigious nation. A 2005 study showed that our nation has 3.3 lawsuits for every 1,000 citizens. And while many suits are noble and just, countless legal battles seem to be pointless wastes of time, money, or both. Here, some of 2011’s more ridiculous lawsuits: The moviegoer who sued Drive for its …

Watch out, Clark Griswold. These 12 decked-out homes are gunning for the title of most extreme holiday lighting Above: The DeSario home in Ontario, Canada, uses the front lawn as the stage for a huge nativity scene that spreads up to the house to create a veritable funhouse of illumination. View slideshow at The Week. …

Students: Please open your books… and your legs? The world’s first sex school, aptly called the Austrian International School of Sex, is now open in Austria. With a curriculum that “is not theoretical, but very practical,” the AISOS aims to be the first institution to offer degrees in applied sexuality. As touted on its website, …

Scientists unveil their vision of the future by fitting a contact lens with a rudimentary LED display. Imagine having streams of helpful digital information beamed directly to the surface of your contact lenses. That’s the dream on which engineers from the University of Washington are working. They’ve already succeeded in creating a computerized contact lens …

The future means different things to different people, and that affects both individual priorities and corporate strategic decisions, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says in this Big Think video. For a contract worker, the future can be measured in weeks; other workers may think in terms of how far they are from bonus season; and …

Two humpback whales lunge feeding in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk by Kim Powell Reprinted with permission It started with an excited cry from Biology Teacher, Jane Orbuch “Kim, there’s a whale”. I had just led 14 San Lornezo Valley High School students by kayak to the kelp beds edging a surf break …

A week after being accused of plagiarism for her music video “Countdown,” Beyonce is once again being criticized for copycatting. This time, critics say the video for her single “Love on Top” is too similar to the clip for “If It Isn’t Love” by ’90s R&B group New Edition. Both videos feature a group dancing …

More than half of restaurants find good managers by promoting from within the ranks, a practice that can build morale by showing there’s opportunity for advancement but can also spark hurt feelings among those not chosen for promotions, writes SmartBrief’s corporate recruiter, Elmira Shahzeidi. Full story at SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Restaurants. More SmartBrief stories. Photo credit: …