butterfly

3D scanning shows a butterfly's metamorphosis

Thanks to the magic of dissection, we have a pretty good idea of the changes that occur when a caterpillar spins its chrysalis and enters its metamorphosis -- the developmental stage that sees it move from the juvenile larval stage to the gorgeous adult life of a butterfly.

However, as you might have already guessed, dissection destroys the specimen, meaning that researchers are unable to follow the full development of a creature. We do know that the caterpillar will use enzymes to break down some of its proteins to reform; Scientific American called this a cocoon full of "caterpillar soup." However, scientists have performed research revealing that while some breakdown occurs, the idea of caterpillar soup is mostly wrong (but still gross).

Using micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT scanning, which uses X-ray imaging to re-create 3D cross-sections of the scanned object, Tristan Rowe and Russell Garwood from the U.K's University of Manchester and Thomas Simonsen from London's Natural History Museum have discovered exactly what happens to a painted lady butterfly inside the chrysalis. … Read more

HTC to launch follow-up to Droid DNA, says marketing chief

A successor to HTC's Droid DNA phone is in the works, says HTC Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Ho said that HTC would soon launch a second-generation Butterfly to take advantage of consumer appetite for large-screen smartphones, the Focus Taiwan news site reported.

The current 5-inch model is known as the Droid DNA in the U.S., but flies by the name of Butterfly in Taiwan and elsewhere.

Whatever its name, the current phone has seen robust demand and healthy sales, especially in Japan and Taiwan. Butterfly topped the iPhone 5 as the best … Read more

Is HTC's next flagship Android the 5-inch M7?

It's no secret that the last few quarters have been rocky for HTC. If this fresh batch of rumors prove true, the unannounced HTC M7 could get them back on track.

The Droid DNA and its Japanese counterpart, the J Butterfly, may have just launched, but HTC is allegedly hard at work on its next big thing. Known only by its M7 code name, the smartphone could be exactly what HTC needs to jump-start its comeback. Again.

Details so far point to a 5-inch HD display with a 1920x1080-pixel resolution, a quad-core Qualcomm S4 Pro processor, and a 13-megapixel … Read more

The 404 1,023: Where we go one step beyond (podcast)

Out of all the silly headlines that squirmed into my Google Reader feed yesterday, "Ashton Kutcher signed on to play Steve Jobs in upcoming biopic" stood out as the most obvious April Fools' prank, but the joke's on us when we find out today that it's true -- the star of such films as "The Butterfly Effect" and "What Happens in Vegas" will portray the Apple luminary in an indie film simply called "Jobs."… Read more

Redbox partners up to challenge Netflix

Google is working on augmented-reality goggles, say goodbye to Blockbuster Express kiosks, and Redbox and Verizon team up to take on Netflix.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Bungled butterflies

Spring is our favorite season and we happen to love butterflies, so we were excited about trying Free 3D Butterfly Screensaver. Unfortunately, the program did not live up to our expectations. Functional problems and poor graphics plague this disappointing program.

Our first beef with Free 3D Butterfly Screensaver was that it didn't automatically install itself in the proper directory for screensavers as most similar programs do. We had to move the file to its proper place in order to get it to show up among the options in our Display Properties menu. We were also able to access it … Read more

Madama Butterfly to flutter in 3D

If you can't make it to London this summer, you can fake it with a 3D virtual visit to the Royal Opera House's production of "Madama Butterfly."

RealD, the 3D technology developer, will team up with one of opera's greatest venues and production companies to film the Puccini masterpiece in 3D for release in RealD 3D-equipped theaters.

The obvious challenge here is to get a decent-size moviegoing audience to care about the technology-rich extravaganza.

Don't shoot the singing-telegram messenger, but the truth is the average moviegoer isn't going to rush out to two-plus hours of opera regardless of how legitimately cool the technology that captures it. If they find opera stuffy and pretentious under normal entertainment circumstances, the advanced filming techniques will only render that tedium in unsurpassed depth and detail. … Read more

Majestic monarch butterflies face population crisis

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--When I lived in this beach town on the central California coast in the early 1990s, I loved visiting a stunning local state park where each winter you could find more than 120,000 monarch butterflies swarming, clustering, and flying everywhere you looked.

It was an awesome sight.

Today, a visit to the monarch grove at Natural Bridges State Beach reveals a much grimmer situation--just 2,000 monarchs during the peak of their "overwintering" season, the period from late October through early March when the colorful butterflies rest in the trees here, protected from the … Read more

Vestalife Butterfly flies in the face of audio sensibilities

For the slew of companies creating speaker docks for the Apple iPod, distinguishing their products from the masses can be a bit of a challenge. Creating an eye-catching design is just one of the many ways to tackle this issue, and an increasing design trend is the animal-inspired speaker. Such is the case with the Vestalife Butterfly, a funky speaker dock that every iPod-toting 11-year-old girl will be scrambling to obtain. At $79, the Vestalife Butterfly is priced fairly, given the neat design and fair amount of features, but sound quality is definitely not its strong suit.

Read the Vestalife Butterfly review.… Read more

Butterfly iPod dock takes flight

I don't know why, but somehow I can't resist butterflies (or puppies, teddy bears, or anything pink). For this reason, even though I don't have an iPod, I think the new iPod dock from Vestalife is cool.

It's called, well, the Butterfly, and it sports interchangeable colored faceplates shaped somewhat like a butterfly. The Butterfly runs on either four AA batteries (not included) or AC. When plugged in, it can charge the iPod too.

You can also connect the Butterfly to a computer via USB so you can sync the iPod. Apart from the built-in speaker, … Read more