American college dormitory living is fairly unique. Students at European colleges live mostly off-campus, and find the idea of sharing a bedroom with a stranger to be odd. The system we have has evolved over the course of more than 300 years, beginning from an initial philosophy of togetherness.

In the colonial period, college buildings were often single, multipurpose structures that housed all the functions of a school, including the president’s home, faculty apartments, student bedrooms, chapel, library, dining hall, and classrooms. Harvard’s first governing board reported in 1671, “It is well known … what advantage to Learning accrues by the multitude of persons cohabiting for scholasticall communion, whereby to acuate the minds of one another, and other waies to promote the ends of a Colledge-Society.” Since the actual curriculum was limited, Christian morality was a large part of what boys absorbed at the colonial college. This character formation was gained by observing role models; professors and students sharing living space was good for moral development. This attitude was an essential intellectual and emotional precondition for the American dormitory.

One can only imagine how that arrangement stifled faculty lives and inhibited recruiting. As more students went for higher education, colleges sprouted fraternity houses, then dormitories to compete with them, then special facilities for women. All that time, the philosophy of bringing students together strained against the philosophy of keeping them apart. Read the history of American college dormitories at Smithsonian.

While Vanessa and Alex, the founders of Messy Messy Chic, are off getting married, the rest of the team decided to post pictures of traditional bridal costumes from all over the world. Above, you see a Muslim bride from the Bulgarian village of Ribnovo, where the tradition is to cover the bride's face in thick gelena makeup and adorn her with sequins. Other regions of Bulgaria have their own particular wedding day makeup, elaborate but different.

In Ribnovo, however, the female in-laws are tasked with laying the bride down for the face painting sesh as she closes her eyes, and top off her look with a veil of tinsel, a necklace of money (which the groom will also often wear) and other trinkets. Perhaps most impressively, it’s only when the priest blesses the couple that the bride can open her eyes. It’s a two-day ceremony, but one that relishes in the gradual reveal of the bride, and her transition from single to married life.

Read of the different traditional ways the bride is made to look like queen for a day, from Mongolia to Morocco, at Messy Nessy Chic.

(Image credit: Flickr user Ali Eminov)

As we head into autumn, the hype surrounding episode nine of the Star Wars saga will intensify greatly -after all, there are toys to be sold! Meanwhile, there are eleven existing Star Wars films to review. Eleven? Yeah, and that doesn't even count the Ewok movies or the holiday special. The Daily Dot ranked them not by opinion, or at least not by their opinions, but by scores from Metacritic, IMDb, and Rotten Tomatoes, sites which crunch the numbers on a lot of opinions. Those of us who have been around long enough to see all the movies in theaters know that those opinions rise and fall over time, but go see how all eleven films rank against each other as of today. The list will grow to twelve in December when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens. Let's just hope it doesn't end up at the bottom.

During World War II, the US government was concerned about lice. Groups of people living in close quarters under primitive conditions (as in war) were an invitation to lice, which could spread typhus. In 1942, the government partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to conduct an experiment to test various anti-lice preparations, headed by public health physician Dr. William A. Davis and entomologist Charles M. Wheeler. They needed lice and volunteers to be infested with them. Finding the lice was no problem, but finding volunteers was tricky. They first paid homeless people for their time, but found they were unreliable and would not follow instructions.

Eventually Davis and Wheeler hit upon conscientious objectors (COs) as potential guinea pigs. The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 allowed young men with religious objections to fighting to serve their country in alternative, nonviolent ways. At first they were put to work domestically at jobs such as building roads, harvesting timber, and fighting forest fires. But in 1942, inspired by the example of the British government, it occurred to U.S. officials that these young men were also a potential pool of experimental subjects for research, and they began to be made available to scientists for this purpose.

In theory, the COs were always given a choice about whether or not to serve as guinea pigs. In practice, it wasn't that simple. Controversy lingers about how voluntary their choice really was since their options were rather limited: be a guinea pig for science, or do back-breaking manual labor. But for their part, the COs have reported that they were often eager to volunteer for experiments. Sensitive to accusations that they were cowardly and unpatriotic, serving as a test subject offered the young men a chance to do something that seemed more heroic than manual labor.

Surprise: the volunteer guinea pigs were not paid for their scientific efforts, and therefore continued to do manual labor during the experiment. Read the details and results of the lice-infested underwear experiment at Weird Universe. -via Strange Company

(Image credit: National Museum of Health and Medicine via Flickr)

Delaware is a tiny state that stands out by making itself important to business- as an all-American tax haven. Half As Interesting explains how that works, which involves one very important address and presumably a very busy mail clerk. Be aware that at 4:55, this video slides into an ad without any notice. -via Digg 

Steffen Kraft, also known as ICONEO, produces lovely artworks that are often fantastical, but always relatable. Some are just clever images, while many illustrate what's wrong with our modern world in simple and often wordless fashion.  



You can see all of ICONEO's works at Instagram, and check out a ranked list of his social commentary images at Bored Panda.

ICONEO prints can be bought through Etsy.

In March of 1898, British surgeon Dr. William Brown attended a livestock auction. He was summoned to an emergency on the grounds, as a 14-year-old boy just had his ear bitten off by a horse! A slice of his scalp was gone, too.  

Although the case looked so hopeless (as regards disfigurement) I determined to make an attempt to save the ear, as the patient could be no worse off than he was then if the attempt failed. I asked for the ear and after about ten minutes’ search it was brought to me, having been found near the horse in the stable yard.

It was of a dirty drab colour and the posterior flap was curled up in a roll. I had no instruments or dressing with me, and it would have taken half an hour or more to procure them, which delay would have rendered the attempt to preserve the ear useless. I therefore procured some common needles and thread and after washing the ear in warm water I proceeded to sew it on by inserting a suture above and another below, followed by three behind and three before.

Although R.J. eventually lost a small portion of the ear, the surgery was successful. It may have been due the boy's natural healing powers, as he was accident-prone and had undergone skin grafts earlier in his life. More likely, his recovery was due to the careful battle against infection taken by Dr. Brown, as he related in his account at Thomas Morris's blog.  -via Strange Company

A young black bear climbed into the window of the ladies' room at Buck's T-4 Lodge in Big Sky, Montana. He couldn't get back out the window he came in, and didn't know how to open the door. Hotel staff knew what to do, though- call for help and pull out the phones to take video, which they uploaded to Facebook.

The sheriff arrived at the lodge quickly after the hotel staff called, but guests and the bear had to hang out for a few hours while waiting for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to show up due to distance. The little guy was "pretty spooked" by the people gathered outside the bathroom door. He dealt with his fear by doing what we've all done when faced with trouble: nap.

"He made himself at home in the bathroom counter where the sinks are and went to sleep," O'Connor said.

The game warden and his team tranquilized the bear and set a phone in the restroom and monitored the bear through FaceTime. He was eventually removed and taken to a remote location for release. The bear left behind some damage, though- a shredded towel dispenser and a sink full of poop. No word on whether the bear scat was full of berry seeds and squirrel fur. Read the full story of the bear in the bathroom at Mashable.

This is only appropriate use of "scientists are baffled" I've ever seen.

Large Underwater Observatory Disappears Without a Trace, Baffling Scientists https://t.co/RGJMjiyzMY pic.twitter.com/z72MJnDVuH

— Andrew Thaler (@DrAndrewThaler) September 6, 2019

The Boknis Eck Observatory is an automated monitoring station gathering scientific data on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Or it was. Launched in 2016, the 800-pound device transmits data to ocean researchers, or it did until August 21st, when the signals stopped. A team of divers went down to see what was wrong, and found the entire station gone. The data transmission cable was shredded.

The observatory was in a restricted area off the northern coast of Germany. Boats, including fishing vessels, are not allowed into the area, the BBC reported. That somebody, or a group of individuals, removed the observatory remains the most plausible explanation. Other factors, such as a massive storm, heavy currents, or even marine animals, were ruled out as potential causes owing to the weight of the instrument. Who or what removed the science station, and why, is a complete mystery. German police were alerted to the incident and are now investigating, according to GEOMAR.

Well, it was obviously the kraken. Or possibly a supervillain, the type with unlimited funds and an incomprehensible but nefarious plan, like you'd find in a James Bond novel. Then again, it could have been aliens from outer space. Scientists involved with the project are asking anyone with information to come forward. Read more about the Boknis Eck Observatory at Gizmodo.

The lesser ape known as the siamang is the largest of all gibbons, and is native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Unkie and Ellie are a siamang couple at the San Diego Zoo who have been together since 1987. In that time, they've produced five healthy female baby siamangs, and Ellie was on contraception for her retirement. But last November, the zoo staff were shocked to find Elllie with a tiny new baby! The hairless offspring was premature, weak, and underweight, and showed signs of a possible spinal anomaly.

While Ellie carried and cuddled her infant 24 hours a day, veterinary staff stood by. They were concerned enough to check the infant again about two weeks later, but intervention wasn’t necessary. To everyone’s relief, any potential problems resolved as the infant developed. Everyone was thrilled to celebrate her two-month milestone, and then see her continue to grow into a strong, healthy youngster. They give all the credit to Ellie’s maternal skills. “It was all Ellie,” says Julie. Keepers named the infant Selamat, and affectionately call her Sela. The name is an especially appropriate Malay word: its most common meaning is “congratulations,” but a lesser-used definition is “survivor.”

As Sela grew, she became friends with a 6-year-old orangutan named Aisha. Although Aisha is many times Sela's size, they play together with joy. Ellie still keeps a close eye on her baby.

Read Sela's story at the San Diego Zoo's website.  -via Metafilter

There are a lot of place names in the world that are considered rude, explicit, and even downright obscene, especially in a different language. These place names are collected in the Really Rude Map.  You can scan the entire world, or zoom in to bring up more place names. Be warned that your co-workers will consider this NSFW. It was difficult enough for me to find a section tame enough for a screenshot to post here. -via Boing Boing

Collaborations and innovations are made over drinks. Or at least, that's what we hear. Mike Andrew heard it, too, and began to look into the geography of collaboration, to find out exactly where great minds get together to bounce around ideas. To test whether saloons had an effect on innovation, he looked into data on Prohibition in the US.

Across the United States, these new laws promptly shuttered the imbibing regions’ bars and taverns. A century or so later, Andrews realized this was the holy grail of social-science research: a natural experiment. He downloaded patent data, compared the number granted to inventors in the wet and dry counties before and after statewide prohibition began, and came up with a measurement of the importance of slightly drunken discussion to invention.

The result? A 15 percent decrease in the number of patents. The areas whose saloons shuttered had become less inventive.

This is a meaningful change, comparable to the effect the Great Depression had on invention across the United States. In other work, Andrews has calculated that the establishment of a new university results (eventually) in a roughly 45 percent increase in local patents. This suggests that the bars’ closure had an effect one-third as strong as a county gaining a university—albeit in the opposite direction. Which is pretty remarkable! After all, universities are centers of knowledge, and bars are businesses that exchange beer for money.

Andrews tested the data in other ways to check his hypothesis, such as measuring the effect of Prohibition on patents by women and patents by corporations, and the effects of the Great Depression and World War II on patents. Read what he found at Atlas Obscura.

The word "dinosaur" wasn't coined until 1842, but fossilized bones of extinct creatures have been encountered for as long as humans have been digging in the ground. Those who found them would ascribe their origin to whatever they could relate to, such as dragons or giants. Which leads us to a chicken-or-egg question: did the legends come from the fossils, or were the fossils just further evidence of the legends? However, the science of paleontology inched forward over time, with some wonderful stories along the way, like that of the first Megalosaurus bones that were seriously studied.  

But before it was called the Megalosaurus, it had a rather more humorous name. You see, in 1763 a physician called Richard Brookes studying Plot’s drawings dubbed it “Scrotum Humanum” because he thought it looked like a set of petrified testicles. (To be clear, Brookes knew it wasn’t a fossil of a giant scrotum, but nevertheless decided to name it thus because apparently men of all eras of human history can’t help but make genital jokes at every opportunity.)

While hilarious, in the 20th century, this posed a problem for the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature when it eventually came time to formally classify the Megalosaurus as such. The problem was, of course, that Brookes had named it first.

Eventually the ICZN decided that since nobody after Brookes had called it Scrotum Humanum, even though he was the first to name it, that name could safely be deemed invalid. Thus Megalosaurus won out, which is unfortunate because discussion of the rather large Scrotum Humanum would have provided great companion jokes to ones about Uranus in science classes the world over.

Read about how the science of dinosaurs developed at Today I Found Out.

El helicóptero de #LaVuelta19 descubre una plantación de marihuana en una azotea. pic.twitter.com/Zhry3x1rng

— AUGC Guardia Civil (@AUGC_Comunica) September 3, 2019

It seemed like a good idea: grow your weed on the rooftop, where the sun shines but no one can see. No one except the cameraman covering a bike race from a moving helicopter, broadcasting the results live!

Catalan cops seized over 40 cannabis plants from a rooftop near Barcelona yesterday thanks to information from an unexpected source: a TV helicopter broadcasting this month’s Vuelta a España. Stage 8 of the race finished in the town of Igualada on Saturday, and as the race made its way through the city streets at the end of the stage, helicopter footage showed a whole bunch of (presumably) dank weed on someone’s rooftop.

Apparently, the cannibis was only noticed when the video hit social media, where rewinding is easier. The owner of the plants has not been found. -via Boing Boing

No matter what time it is, there are people all over the world joining, contributing, and editing Wikipedia. At 4AM local time, there were 49 edits per minute. Listen to Wikipedia monitors that activity and renders it as a data visualization with sound.

Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell. You can welcome him or her by clicking the blue banner and adding a note on their talk page.

Click on the circles as they appear to go to the page that being edited and see what changes are being made. You can also scroll down on the page to filter the data by type or by language. Even if you aren't sucked into exploring the world of Wikipedia edits, the plucks and chimes are quite soothing to listen to as you do something else. -via Metafilter