Harald Wolf at the University of Ulm, Germany and colleagues wondered how desert ants can find their way back home. (Previously, scientists found that ants use the sun as a compass, but this would be useless in the desert).

When they shortened the ants’ legs, the insects have trouble finding home. When they put stilts on the ants’ legs, the insects traveled further and had to backtrack looking for home.

So, Harald and colleagues concluded that ants have an internal pedometer: they "count" (well, kind of) their steps!

Wolf says that the findings show that ants have an internal system that somehow keeps track of now many the steps they have taken, though he is quick to point out that the insects probably cannot "count" as such.

He suspects that the ants’ automatic step counter is part of their nervous system and that it gets reset each time they return to the nest.

Link – via digg

Duo, the two-nosed dog Staffordshire bull terrier, is homeless and can’t find a home:

A dog that appears to have two noses because of a condition similar to a harelip in humans is looking for a new home. Duo, a three-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, was handed in to a dog and cat shelter in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Staff at the centre are having problems finding a home for the well-trained dog because people who have seen him rejected him as a “freak”.

Link – Thanks sasa

Take a look at photos of these giant sculptures of Lord of the Rings characters in Australia New Zealand. Link – Thanks Vurdlak!

Update 6/30/06: Thanks to Neatorama readers Kiwi JD and Erueti, we now know that this is on top of the Embassy Theater (which Peter Jackson [wiki] helped restore) in Wellington, New Zealand – not Australia. Mea culpa, New Zealanders!

Given the advances in inkjet technology, Gregory Daigle reviewed the exciting possibilities of "printing" your own battery, communication, display, and artificial muscle to create a "printable" robot.

The first printed robot may more resemble a paper origami insect than an octopus. It would operate as a digital ugoku (moving) origami capable of locomotion under its own power and even performing preprogrammed physical tasks.

Link – Thanks gdaigle!

In 1889, psychologist Joseph Jastrow asked this question: which one of the two bars are larger? Easy – the bottom one, right?

Wrong (or else it wouldn’t be an illusion now, would it?) Find out the right answer: Link – Thanks Walt!

Can you find seven birds in this picture? Link

Rain during the 2008 Beijing Olympics? Heaven forbid! Well, not wanting to leave it to chance, the Chinese government is taking proactive steps to control the weather!

When he’s not tending cherry orchards outside Beijing, Yu Yonggang can be found behind the twin barrels of a 37mm anti-aircraft gun, blasting shells at passing clouds. …

Now Yu and the other rainmakers face their toughest challenge: making sure it stays dry for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The idea is for the peasant gunners to work with meteorologists watching radar in the capital. Together, they will hunt pregnant rain clouds and pound them with rockets containing silver iodide. The hope is that any moisture will fall before the clouds can threaten the parade of athletes and lighting of the Olympic flame at the new National Stadium.

Link

The Hidden Door Company specializes in making secret, hidden doors for your house! They come in various guises like wine racks, bookshelves, cabinets and so forth…

Link

From the Atlas of Plucked Instrument, a wonderful website dedicated to string musical instruments, comes this weird contraption called a "ramkie" from Southern Africa:

The ramkie is the famous "blik kitaar" from Southern Africa; a home made guitar, using an empty oilcan for the body.

The wooden neck is sometimes stuck all the way through the can; sometimes it is fixed to a wooden "lid" on the top. The 4 to 6 strings (if not of nylon) are made of unraveled bicycle brake wire. The frets are made from U-shaped pieces of wire stuck in the front of the neck.

The kind of capodastre construction is usually just an upside-down bridge and can not be moved.

The ramkie is mainly found in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

See much, much more at Atlas of Plucked Instrument

From Improv Everywhere, the folks who brought you the infamous Best Buy Prank, is this clip Meet a Black Person, where a black guy opened a stand in Aspen, Colorado, where the population is 94.9% white and just 0.44% black.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Steco!

Amongst many other weird novelty items, Stupididiotic sells these silly looking Black Bars sunglasses to give yourself that coveted "censored" look.

Link – Thanks Daniel Morvec!

Neatorama reader Craig Conley wrote us about Do-Re-Midi: the Funkamentals of a Text-Based Musical Notation:

Do-Re-Midi allows musical ideas, melody lines, riffs, arrangements, and even full scores to be easily shared via e-mail or other text-based (ASCII) English communication. Now, when a friend writes asking how that bass line of Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" goes, you can type it out and save humming it over a long-distance call. Or you can compose a new song on an airplane when all you have is a PowerBook with a word processor. No special composing software or music font is needed. Each voice of a composition is typed as if in sentences using familiar and intuitive syllables, symbols, and phonemes. Novices can read Do-Re-Midi more easily than standard musical notation, as no more than a rudimentary familiarity with the musical scale is requisite.

Link – Thanks Craig!

Archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral of the Amapa State Scientific and Technical Research Institute and colleagues working in the Amazon have discovered what could be a centuries-old astronomical observatory dubbed the Brazilian Stongehenge.

The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter.

On the shortest day of the year — Dec. 21 — the shadow of one of the blocks, which is set at an angle, disappears.

"It is this block’s alignment with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once an astronomical observatory,” said Mariana Petry Cabral…

Link

Former test pilot Larry Neal of Boyd, Texas created this awesome flying machine called the Super Sky Cycle (basically a flying bike – technically a cross between a motorcycle and an autogyro).

The flying bike goes as fast as 70 mph in the air and 60 mph on the road, and sells for around $25 grand!

Neal’s company: Butterfly LLC, YouTube Link – via comagz

A fantastic list of funny shope names from Shop Horror: the Best of the Worst in British Shop Names: Link via the Presurfer

Devorah Sperber built this life-sized replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper from 20,763 thread spools strung onto aluminum ball chain. As if that’s not awesome enough, when seen through the sphere, the familiar image of Jesus and his disciples come into focus …

Link – Devorah Sperber’s other thread spool artworks, via Jaf Project

Barcodes are ubiquitous … and boring. But not anymore, thanks to the Japanese company Design Barcode.

Link | Cannes Lion Live 2006 – Thanks Rohin!

That Christopher Gilbert guy sure is really talented with photoshop… Link [some are NSFW]

Update 6/29/06: Neatorama reader Uw Moeder pointed us to the right guy: Christophe Gilbert, a very talented Belgian photographer. Link

No one knows who built this 40-foot sculpture of Transformer’s Optimus Prime [wiki] in Yunnan, China – or why. From the website:

Deep in the mountainous regions of southern China, in a province named Yunnan, or “over the clouds”, by Emperor Wu in 109 BC due to its remoteness from the capital, there is a 40 ft statue of the new great Chinese leader, Optimus Prime. My pilgrimage to find him wasn’t without trial, but as they say:

Nothing of real value is easy.

Link

Yes – that’s right, a single serving of pork brain in milk gravy has 3,500 mg of cholesterol or 1,170% of the daily recommended intake! Found at Jeff Kay’s West Virginia Surf Report.

Voffka has this interesting photo collection of everyday life in old Soviet: Link [banner NSFW] – via Error 101

Update 6/30/06: Neatorama reader Peter Vasilyev pointed that Vladimir Rolov (the photographer) has a website

These red metal bookshelves, designed by Studio de Lange and made from laser cut metals, are like clothesrack, but for books!

Link

Brookstone has got this unusual globe fan that circulates air 360° all around the room:

Modeled after bankers’ fans of the 1920s and 1930s, this 3-speed fan has a blade that spins on a horizontal axis to take in air at the top and blow it out of the center of the fan cage housing. Integrated carry handle makes it easy to move. Metal construction with plastic blade.

Link – via Cribcandy

Jason Hackenwerth is a balloon artist – actually, he’s like a balloon artist on steroids! See his amazingly complex, fantastic, sci-fi inspired balloon creations at Site Project, The Proposition, Little John Contemporary, Savannah College – via Drawn!

Mary Wales Loomis makes her own shoes from scratch – here’s how: Link – via Information Junk

Pump It Up is like Dance Dance Revolution, and this guy named smidget plays it very, very well.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube], another Link [YouTube] – via Bifurcated Rivets

Phyllis Smith is waging a war with worms in her tomato garden. She’s clearly losing the battle, as she recently found a "hi" message from the worms on one of her tomatoes:

"We got down and was pruning and got down there and just pulled open those tomato vines," Smith said. "There was a message that that bold bug had left on that tomato, and it said, ‘hi.’ And it just blew our minds. I laughed so hard."

Link – via Bits & Pieces

Joan C. Gratz is an artist and animator who pioneered the animation technique called claypainting. In this technique, bits of clays were used as if they were oil or acrylic paint and the effects are marvelous.

In one of her best-known works, MONA LISA DESCENDING A STAIRCASE, images of the human face are subtly transformed to communicate the graphic style and emotional content of key artworks of the 20th century, creating an animated history of art. The film won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, among many other awards and prizes at festivals worldwide.

Hit play or go to Link [Google Video], Joan’s website – Thanks Ajit!

Do you remember those Cracker Jack "winkies"? You know, the lenticular images that magically change as the view angle changes. Well, Barry Wood found this neat guitar with this winkie – must be for those scary metal bands!

Link

Seattle has pigs, Chicago has cows, Riverside has … oranges? Yes – giant oranges are now on display in Riverside as a street art project.

A orange-tastic post at grow-a-brain: Link