We have some great news, adult pot heads: weed doesn't make you stupid -- as long as you didn't start smoking it regularly until you're 18.

According to a recent study conducted by researchers at Duke University, kids under the age of 18 suffer a dramatic decrease in IQ if they smoke pot regularly before they hit adulthood. However, the study found no decline in IQ for people who hold off on becoming pot heads until they turn 18.

If you don't understand how this could potentially impact the debate over the legalization of/medical marijuana, you probably started smoking pot before you were 18.

The study tested the IQ of people at age 13 and again at age 38. A decline in IQ was only seen in subjects who smoked pot before they turned 18.

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A few weeks ago, my roommate and I decided to take a late-night bike ride up the West Side Highway. It was around midnight when we hit 59th Street and headed east towards Central Park. Dangerous, yes, but the air was calm until we decided to advance on the brilliant idea of biking through Times Square to head back Downtown to home base. Somehow, at that time of night, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of gawking pedestrians, amazed by the lights and sounds of the commercial hub. Given, it was almost 1am on a Wednesday night.
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C.S. Muncy

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Happy Manhattanhenge!

So what the hell is Manhattanhenge, you might ask?

On May 29 and July 12 every year, the sunset lines up with Manhattan's street grid which, as the Hayden Planetarium puts it, simultaneously illuminates "both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough."

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Forget Mother's Day; or Memorial Day; or Zuckerberg Weekend (what May 18th-20th should be called from now on); or any other important May event. Tonight is the annual solar eclipse and this one, as many astronomists are predicting, could be a rare spectacle to see.

At one point this evening, 80 percent of the Sun will be covered by the black Moon, creating what has been deemed a "ring of fire" because of the image it will provoke. The orb's trajectory over the Pacific, California and most of the West will guarantee great views for that side of the country.

And for the rest of us East Coasters... well, we might get a peek. But, thanks to our good, trust-worthy friends at Fox News, we have a bunch of live streams so no stargazer is left out of the fun. Here's a few to check out:

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Today's space-weather report tells of a different kind of sunny sky: Two flares, including the second biggest of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle, hit earth early this morning and could cause the biggest solar storm in five years, NASA says.

Now, what the hell does this mean, exactly?

Every so often, a chunk of charged particles -- called a coronal mass ejection -- spirals earthward, which can cause problems with electronic devices.

So, if your GPS, computer, or cell phone is in a funk, it might very well be the Sun's fault.

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Percifield

Last week, Runnin' Scared brought you news of Leif Percifield, a Parsons grad student who's working diligently to develop a phone app, DontFlushMe, that could prevent 27 billion gallons of shit from flowing into New York's waterways yearly. A lot of this raw sewage enters the City's harbors as overflow -- concisely, when the system gets backed up and people continue to flush. So Percifield's basic idea is this: He wants to hook up sensors to the plants where this excess travels, that would send text alerts to people notifying them of potential overflows. That way, they can change how they use water, preventing pollution. We had a chance to catch up with the Bushwick resident and chat a bit about his aqueous ambitions.

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Surely, you've heard that old chestnut that tall people make better leaders. That more presidents are tall. That tall people are smarter, hotter, funnier, more successful, better athletes, better models, and make more money -- and, even, that women like tall men better. Some of this may be true -- some of it may be too high up in the air for us to know any different. But, the latest scientific study adds a new twist to this learning. That is, powerful people think they're tall, taller than they actually are. Which changes EVERYTHING. Tall or not, powerful people are clearly off their rockers.

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www.opencage.info

Shit just got real in the world of genetics. Like Jurassic Park -bringing-monsters-back-from-extinction real, just without Jeff Goldblum.

Scientists have determined that a sub-species of Galapagos Islands tortoise -- long thought to be dead and gone -- might actually still kinda exist.

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via NASA

For a couple of hours after 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Quadrantids meteor shower will be putting on a show for anyone willing to get up (or stay up) for it. According to NASA, "the Quadrantids have a maximum rate of about 100 per hour," which, weather permitting, should make for a pretty cool sight. If your New Year's resolution was to sit outside in the cold while craning your neck, you're in luck. Video of the Quadrantids meteor shower from two years ago after the jump.

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