When Ernő Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube (originally called Magic Cube) in 1974, he did not expect it to be as popular as it is today. Over 40 years after its invention, the three-dimensional combination puzzle is still a subject of many books and videos. This isn’t surprising, considering that this puzzle has over 43 quintillion combinations. But this might just be the most challenging Rubik’s Cube of all.

That’s because it’s only .39 inches tall.

Japanese toy company Mega House has introduced an officially-licensed Rubik’s Cube that was made in collaboration with metal precision processing company Iriso Seimitsu Co. Ltd. using precision metallurgy to craft a diversion sized for a Keebler elf. Each colored piece is only .10 inches. And instead of having a white side, Mega House left the metal unpainted. There’s even an engraved Rubik’s logo.

While it’s totally functional, you’ll need to have some nimble fingers to manipulate it.

But don’t think that this cube is cheap because of its tiny size.

Mega House is selling it for 180,000 yen, or about $1700, and will begin shipping it at the end of December.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: MegahouseJP/ YouTube)

Imagine having such a hard time playing a piece that you ask for help from a professor, and then finding out that your professor is only a 13-year-old kid. I don’t know if there’s something more intimidating than this kind of situation.

In this video, Brett and Eddy get schooled by prodigy violinist Chloe Chua.

(Image Credit: TwoSetViolin/ YouTube)

The Hood Internet is back with another nostalgic mashup, this one from the year 1990 featuring 60 songs in three and a half minutes. It's nice to hear all this familiar music from 30 years ago and realize that 1990 wasn't yet the point where I no longer recognize what the kids are listening to. -via Metafilter

See also: previous Hood Internet mashups of music from a particular year.

The Cerulean Coffee Shop, located in Jongno-gu, South Korea is housed in a reinterpreted hanok, a Korean traditional house. Studio Stof managed to turn the hanok into a modern coffee shop without losing the traditional feel of the hanok. ArchDaily shares how the studio managed to complete the coffee shop: 

The cafe is mainly divided into two zones, which are the newly built zone where baristas make coffee and the traditional hanok zone where customers can sit and drink coffee. There are only coffee scents, conversation sounds, and skylights in the new zone, a platform for entry and exit. There is even no sound of music. Stof imagined that customers would be able to watch leaves falling in autumn and snowflakes in winter while waiting for coffee though the open ceiling of the waiting area in the new zone.

The other space of traditional hanok has a long stretch of seats along with the structure of the old house, allowing customers to see the yard and the sky. This is the space where the eyes would naturally stay outside of the room by intentionally lowering the lighting level inside. A method of indirect lighting was used as a whole for natural mood of the indoor spaces. In particular, the custom-made floor stand lamp designed by [stof] is adjustable to control the direction of light. The design was inspired by traditional Korean candle holder which the direction of emitted light varies depending on the type of decor installed behind the candlesticks.

Image via ArchDaily 

This pop socket can transform your iPhone into another gadget. Meet the Magic Mouse Mini, a pop socket that can turn your iPhone into a mouse for your computer! Unfortunately, the pop socket is still a concept, so you won’t find it in stores. Created by Yongbin Kim, the Magic Mouse Mini has a switch that turns the optical sensor on, turning your iPhone into a magic mouse: 

Switch the device on, and the optical sensor above the Apple logo powers on, turning your iPhone into a magic mouse!

The iPhone and the socket at the back work in tandem to replicate the Magic Mouse experience. The optical sensor on the socket helps with cursor-tracking, while the iPhone’s touchscreen shoulders the responsibility of providing the control surface, allowing you to left-click, right-click, pinch, zoom, scroll, and do a variety of other gestures, just like you would on a Magic Mouse.

I’d surmise the Magic Mouse Mini concept would work remarkably well with iMacs and MacBooks, but would even probably do a pretty good job with iPads too! It’s a small, clever addon that helps your phone (by allowing you to grip it better), and helps your MacOS devices too, by giving you a Magic Mouse experience without having to shell out a hundred bucks for a new Magic Mouse. 

Image via Yanko Design

The Briiv Air Filter is a gadget and an aesthetic piece at the same time. The self-proclaimed  “world's most sustainable air purifier” contains a miniature forest that provides fresh air in any indoor space. Isn’t that amazing? The air purifier contains a beautiful terrarium with natural filters and high-tech design, proving that plant-based designs can be effective, as My Modern Met details: 

The innovative air filter has a minimalist appearance, but it contains an ingenious four-layer filtration system which removes 97.84% of airborne particles. The top layer of moss inside the glass terrarium first traps the largest particles—such as pollen and allergens. Next, a layer of coconut fibers filters bacteria and mold spores. The two final layers then ensure maximum air purity. Crafted from the cocoons of humanely raised silkworms, a silk matrix of nanoscale mesh traps the floating dust which is invisible to the naked eye. Finally, a layer of activated carbon removes unpleasant odors and gases. The result is healthy air with a fresh, clean feel. In fact, one Briiv Air Filter efficiently provides the air quality benefits of 3,043 houseplants.

Developed by sustainable design experts Sean Sykes and James Whitfield, Briiv is guided by a circular design process. This means the designers consider the “circle” through which a product moves from conception to eventual disposal. To ensure true sustainability, each of the four filter layers is completely natural and biodegradable. When the affordable replacements are inserted every six months, the old filters can go straight into a compost bin. This is in contrast to the standard HEPA filters used in most air purifiers which take thousands of years to decompose. With Briiv, consumers can avoid contributing to the problem of landfill accumulation.

Image via My Modern Met 

Period is a candy apple shade, intended to draw cheerful attention to the fact that periods are normal and shouldn’t be stigmatized. The “energizing and dynamic red” aims to embolden those who menstruate to not be ashamed of themselves. Period is a partnership of Pantone with the menstrual cup company Intimina, as Glamour details: 

 “To own their period with self-assurance; to stand up and passionately celebrate the exciting and powerful life force they are born with; to urge everyone, regardless of gender, to feel comfortable to talk spontaneously and openly about this pure and natural bodily function.” 

Well, huzzah. Is it possible to be laughing very hard at corporate-speak and quite moved by it at the same time? The fact that, at any given time, a woman could be quietly seeping into her underpants and is fully expected to hide it—even though it can be incredibly painful!—is one of patriarchal society's most clownish rules. If color institutes want to do their part changing this, well, governments, politicians, religious leaders, and celebrities, get in line behind Pantone! 

Pantone says the shade is “an original red color emblematic of a steady flow during menstruation,” adding that it worked with a gynecologist and examined research before landing on the shade. But Pressman adds in a P.R. statement, “By no means is this supposed to be an accurate depiction. Instead, we created a visual identifier of a red shade that would help Intimina leverage the power of color to share their story.” But wouldn't a more realistic warm rust-colored red-brown with hints of deep scarlet be just as great?  

Image via Glamour 

Coffee cups are now available without the traditional plastic lid. The Unocup is a coffee cup with an origami lid that lets you fold into place to seal the cup. The cup is a 100% plastic-free, compostable unit that replaces the traditional lid with paper folds that seal the drink tightly, as FastCompany details: 

“When people think of sustainable solutions,” Papo says, “they think of certain compromises that have to be made. What’s really exciting about this is that it’s a sustainable and practical solution at the same time.” Currently fulfilling small orders, ranging from 10 to 2,000 cups, that have come off Kickstarter, Chan and Papo are meeting with investors and aiming for a larger rollout to restaurants, coffee shops, and airports by early 2021.

Image via FastCompany

Mac Lethal brought us Alphabet Insanity in 2014, in which he constructed a rap around the letters of the alphabet in order. Yeah, that was awesome, but now he's upped it a notch with a new version with all new words, and yes, he speeds it up as he goes along, getting through all the letters in less than two minutes. Just listening to this made me feel tired, but impressed. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Utmost respect for the cameraman there.

— Gareth🇮🇹 (@ErfinderRotwang) September 30, 2020

When the Nazis occupied much of Europe in the 1940s, they built 10-foot-tall concrete walls along the beaches to thwart invading Allies. To breach these walls, the British military came up with the Panjandrum, a rocket-powered device on two wheels that was filled with explosives. Aim it at the wall, and it would rush up and demolish it. Or that was the idea. A series of tests highlighted all the things that could possibly go wrong. Fortunately, those tests were filmed. Twitter user Dreadnought Holiday tells the story of the Great Panjandrum, illustrated with actual footage of the device plus unrelated memes that make the tale resemble a Three Stooges short. -via Metafilter

Even if you are a true-crime literature fan, there are plenty of horrific  murderers who were never the subject of a bestselling book or a hit movie. They may have killed long before local news became global news. You've heard of some of them, but I would bet not all of them. For example, there are the men pictured above.

5. Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris (the Tool Box Killers) kidnapped, raped, and killed five teenage girls in Southern California. In addition to those heinous crimes, they also tortured their victims with items found in household toolboxes — like ice picks, screwdrivers, and pliers.

Check out the list of 26 real-life serial killers at Buzzfeed. The list only gives an overview of each, but there are links to read more.

Okay, for the record, they aren’t actual gigantic humans. A black and white image of dancers performing a tango-inspired dip can be seen from Residences at La Colombe d’Or, a 34-story apartment and boutique hotel tower on Montrose Boulevard. Called ‘Last Tango,’ the artwork is Blek le Rat’s largest mural, which he completed at the age of 69. The Houston Chronicle has more details: 

“I don’t want to make horrible, aggressive images,” Blek says. “I prefer to give people some happiness.” He purchased the tango image from a British photographer and has adapted it recently in smaller murals in France, Germany and Italy — minus the dove with golden wings. “This image is about something positive,” Blek says.

The partners liked Blek’s design because it reflects the ethos of the Residences at La Colombe d’Or project. “This is a place where people can come together and enjoy life. That appealed to us more than abstract possibilities or landscapes,” says Dan Zimmerman, who redeveloped his family’s property with his older brother, Steve Zimmerman.

The image strikes a balance between fine and street art and also the brothers’ slightly different generations, adds Lea Weingarten, the consultant. “It’s an art historical image being used as street art.” Zimmerman notes that tango is inherently democratic, often performed in the streets, so the image also speaks to the democracy of street art — and his project. “This is on a major street where everybody can enjoy it…. It’s a surprise, a gift for a lot of people,” he says.

Image via the Houston Chronicle 

It’s always a heartbreaking moment, for the clothes, at least, when you have to give them to the launderer for him/her to wash them. You might feel the same way, too, and so it is heartwarming to see this laundry bag communicate for them through this ode written on it.

Image via Engrish.com

Neanderthal DNA is quite rare. Most of the samples we have are from women. But a deep dive into what male DNA is available shows that the Y chromosome from Neanderthal men came to resemble that of modern men more than that of Denisovans, another group of extinct humans that lived in the same era. This implies that when modern humans mated with Neanderthals, eventually the Neanderthal Y chromosome was pretty much wiped out.  

The Y chromosome data—the first from Denisovans and the first high-coverage from Neanderthals—suggest that earlier Neanderthals had a Denisovan-like Y chromosome, but that this was replaced by the Y chromosome of modern humans after Neanderthals interbred with them between 370,000 and 100,000 years ago.

“It’s a really a great surprise,” says Mikkel Heide Schierup, an evolutionary biologist at Aarhus University who did not participate in the study but wrote an accompanying commentary. Only a few percent of the rest of the Neanderthal genome appears to be made up of modern human DNA, yet this study found that three different Neanderthal individuals, unearthed at sites spread across Eurasia and dating to periods tens of thousands of years apart, all carried modern human–like Y chromosomes. This suggests the widespread replacement of the Y across the Neanderthal population, he explains. “It’s a pretty dramatic event.”

There is now speculation that the modern human Y chromosome may have had some advantage in survival or reproduction. The Neanderthals suffered from a low population compared to other human species, which may have multiplied harmful mutations. Read about the study at TheScientist. -via Smithsonian

(Image credit: Paul Hermans)

An art project called Traverse is a series of self-guided tours around murals created by the city of Guelph’s local artists. This campaign is part of the city’s new tourism initiative to encourage their residents to explore their own community. Thirty-nine transit shelters across the city have been turned into exhibits, with each one displaying a different mural, as Guelph Today details; 

The bus shelters are scattered throughout the six wards, along routes set up to provide different sights, entertainment, drink or food options for residents to experience. 

All artists asked to be part of Traverse were selected by the city based on past performance and involvement in other city initiatives. These artists are Abby Novakowski, Chanel DesRoches, Christopher Cape, Greg Denton, Jessie Buchanan, and Robert John Paterson. To learn more about murals, click here.

According to a release from the city, residents can drive, bike or walk these tour routes from 

September 25 to November 25.

Traverse aligns with Culture Days, a national celebration of arts and culture, which is celebrated at the end of September. 

The release adds that Traverse was made possible by The Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF), who offer financial relief and supports economic recovery efforts in the Tourism sector due to impacts from COVID-19.

Image via Guelph Today