Phantom Sequel
Twenty-six years after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” premiered, the evil genius is back with his sequel “Love Never Dies” being unveiled in London today.
Twenty-six years after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "The Phantom of the Opera" premiered, the evil genius is back with his sequel "Love Never Dies" being unveiled in London today. It is due to hit Broadway in November and Australia in 2011. NPR’s Jeff Lunden explains: "Lush and romantic, ‘Love Never Dies’ picks up the story 10 years after the chandelier-crashing events of Phantom, with its love triangle involving the disfigured genius composer, his beautiful opera-singer muse and the dashing count Raoul. The new show is set at New York's Coney Island, where the Phantom has become a rich impresario running a freak show. The singer, Christine, now has a 10-year-old son, who's a musical genius himself. Lloyd Webber says the idea of writing the sequel came to him some 15 years ago, in a conversation with Maria Bjornson, the set designer of the original Phantom. ‘I remember saying to her, 'You know, I think it's slightly unfinished business, because all we do is we just leave a mask on a chair,' and what happened?’ he explains. ‘What did happen? Did Christine really live with Raoul happily ever after? I doubt it. So, there had to be a continuation of the story.’"
3D printing might save your life one day. It's transforming medicine and health care.
What can 3D printing do for medicine? The "sky is the limit," says Northwell Health researcher Dr. Todd Goldstein.
- Medical professionals are currently using 3D printers to create prosthetics and patient-specific organ models that doctors can use to prepare for surgery.
- Eventually, scientists hope to print patient-specific organs that can be transplanted safely into the human body.
- Northwell Health, New York State's largest health care provider, is pioneering 3D printing in medicine in three key ways.
Neuroprosthetics and deep brain stimulation: Two big neuroscience breakthroughs
Neuroscience is working to conquer some of the human body's cruelest conditions: Paralysis, brain disease, and schizophrenia.
- Neuroscience and engineering are uniting in mind-blowing ways that will drastically improve the quality of life for people with conditions like epilepsy, paralysis or schizophrenia.
- Researchers have developed a brain-computer interface the size of a baby aspirin that can restore mobility to people with paralysis or amputated limbs. It rewires neural messages from the brain's motor cortex to a robotic arm, or reroutes it to the person's own muscles.
- Deep brain stimulation is another wonder of neuroscience that can effectively manage brain conditions like epilepsy, Parkinson's, and may one day mitigate schizophrenia so people can live normal, independent lives.
Why the south of Westeros is the north of Ireland
As Game of Thrones ends, a revealing resolution to its perplexing geography.
- The fantasy world of Game of Thrones was inspired by real places and events.
- But the map of Westeros is a good example of the perplexing relation between fantasy and reality.
- Like Britain, it has a Wall in the North, but the map only really clicks into place if you add Ireland.
Why it’s hard to tell when high-class people are incompetent
A recent study gives new meaning to the saying "fake it 'til you make it."
- The study involves four experiments that measured individuals' socioeconomic status, overconfidence and actual performance.
- Results consistently showed that high-class people tend to overestimate their abilities.
- However, this overconfidence was misinterpreted as genuine competence in one study, suggesting overestimating your abilities can have social advantages.
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