There are many mysterious creatures lurking in the depths of our oceans but you don't need to go on a journey down 20,000 leagues to find one. For only the second time in history, scientists from NOAA captured footage of a giant squid.

Now, a new video released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and already causing a sensation reveals the undulating tentacles of a rare giant squid in the deep currents of the Gulf of Mexico.

This amazing American squid was located at a depth of 2,490 feet and appeared to measure in at between 10-12 feet long. Scientists aboard the research vessel delivered the astonishing footage to NOAA Fisheries zoologist, Michael Vecchione, for immediate expert identification. He quickly confirmed the eerie animal as being a squid of the genus Architeuthis, or GIANT squid!

Here's a composite made of the squid showing how it approached the electronic jelly, attacked, and then left:

Image credit: NOAA/Dante Fenolio

From Veritasium:

Some things we know make mosquitoes more attracted to you:

Exercising, higher metabolism, higher body temperature, more body odor, being pregnant, type O blood, infrequent bathing, lactic acid, ammonia, acetone.

There are a number of folk remedies people believe protect them from mosquito bites like drinking alcohol, eating garlic, or taking vitamin B. These do not appear to provide any benefit in lab studies and in fact drinking alcohol is associated with increased mosquito activity because it causes blood vessels near the surface of the skin to dilate.

The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, has a fully-restored two-wheeled car: the 1967 Gyro-X prototype. This video is a demonstration of the vehicle's self-balancing gyroscopes that took place recently in Cernobbio, Italy. Despite the cool technology, the Gyro-X never went into production. Honestly, it seems like more trouble than it was worth.  

-via Laughing Squid

Planets generally start out as stars with the surrounding dust and gas clumping together to form masses that would eventually become planets. Scientists are hoping that they will get to observe this process as it happens with a star which ALMA sighted at the early stages of planetary formation.

ALMA discovered a blob of material as wide as the distance between the Sun and Earth, and as long as the distance between the Sun and Jupiter. Astronomers think clumps or blobs in the disk around young stars is one of the first stages of planet formation.

But the blob is at odds with some parts of astronomers’ theories as well. For one, it’s strange that a disk should form just a single protoplanet. Models and studies of other systems indicate multiple planets forming at the same time are more likely. Also, these protoplanet blobs are expected to be more rounded, instead of the distended shape found within TW Hydrae’s disk.

It’s possible the baby planet is merely a spinning vortex of gas, similar to a hurricane forming in the gases of Earth’s atmosphere. Or maybe astronomers are truly seeing the very first stage of planet formation for the first time.

(Image credit: ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO, Tsukagoshi et al.)

Several years ago, rumors circulated on Chinese social media about a rural village in Shaanxi province which purportedly vanished off the face of the earth without leaving any trace or clue as to the whereabouts of its inhabitants.

Here there once supposedly stood a rural village much like many others like it that dot the region, with nothing particularly out of the ordinary or exceptional about it other than its proximity to a rocket launch center, but it would suddenly begin making the Chinese news and generating buzz on social media in 2010 when the story came out about how this little village one day just completely vanished off the face of the earth.

Many conspiracy theories and eyewitness accounts state various events that led up to the strange disappearance of the rural village. Some say there were UFO sightings prior to the phenomenon, while others also noted that they saw military personnel and vehicles around the area before it happened. Other more bizarre explanations say that a large number of snakes suddenly appeared before the vanishing.

Whatever the reason was, it's still unknown and nobody has any knowledge of what happened to the residents of that rural village.

(Image credit: Mysterious Universe)

Tapioca bubble tea has been soaring in popularity in Japan in the recent months (because of tapioca bubble tea challenge), despite being unpopular in the country for several years. Because of this sudden trend, Mr. Sato of SoraNews24 have been thinking a lot about the sweet drink.

“Tapioca bubble tea is still a kind of tea, right?” our reporter mused while sipping from the drink’s signature large-capacity straw. “And here in Japan, we often eat a dish called ochazuke, which is rice with green tea, so shouldn’t we also be able to make rice with tapioca tea?”

And so they tried it. Instead of putting water into the rice, they put tapioca bubble tea. But what happened next?

After about 15 minutes, a sweet aroma began to emanate from the rice cooker as the milk tea and tapioca heated yup. 15 minutes after that, the rice cooker beeped its announcement that the cooking was done.

[...]

Okay, so it looks and smells good, but how does it taste?

Not bad at all. Rice and tea really do seem destined to go well with each other, and their flavors blended effortlessly together here. As a matter of fact, they’re so compatible that the stronger flavor here remains that of the rice itself, though each and every tapioca bubble is a sweet surprise with an interesting texture change.

I wonder how the taste was like. I might try this at home.

What are your thoughts?

(Image Credit: SoraNews24)

The short version of the story is that Willis Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902, founded the Carrier Corporation, which still makes air conditioners to this day, and changed our way of living and dealing with the environment. The more detailed story of air conditioning is about how long it took the public to believe it, accept it, and then to become dependent on it. That story began way before Carrier.

Experts are quick to point out that crediting Carrier as the father of modern cooling technology would overlook decades-long efforts by other inventors who used refrigeration to make hot days more productive or comfortable, though. Long before Carrier was even born, University of Glasgow professor William Cullen evaporated liquids in a vacuum thus creating refrigeration technology as early as 1748.

More than 100 years after that, John Gorrie, a Florida doctor, used a small steam engine to cool air so that his patients suffering from tropical illnesses could be more comfortable. Gorrie called his invention an “ice machine.” New machinery that could produce cool temperatures would seem like an exciting proposition during the Industrial Revolution, but Gorrie’s efforts to patent and popularize his invention were thwarted. Northern icemakers who profited from shipping ice to the South lobbied against Gorrie and benefited from a public skeptical of the artificially cooled air produced by Gorrie’s ice machine.

“That system was so revolutionary that he died penniless. He simply couldn’t get anyone to believe that it worked,” Basile says.

In fact, Carrier's first air conditioner was not even designed for human comfort. But he was a businessman as well as an engineer, and promoted air conditioning for decades despite the setbacks of two world wars and a depression. Read the story of modern air conditioning at Smithsonian.

Image: Williscarrier.com

They didn't set out deliberately to do it, and they never engaged in naval warfare, but at one time, the Pepsi Cola company once had 17 diesel attack submarines and a fleet of oil tankers. That made them, at the time, the sixth-largest navy in the world. It was part of a convoluted deal with the Soviet Union, which started when Pepsi marketing executive Donald M. Kendall managed to meet Nikita Khrushchev through his good friend, then-vice president Richard Nixon, at a cultural exchange exhibition.  

Against his company’s objections, Kendall, who had ambitious plans to expand Pepsi’s overseas markets, had agreed to sponsor a booth at the Exhibition, where he provided Pepsi-Cola that had been bottled both with American water and with local Russian. Recognizing the potential publicity coup, Kendall begged his friend Nixon to help him get a soda into Krushchev’s hands.

It went like clockwork. It was a hot July day in Moscow, and as the two toured the Exhibition, Nixon steered Krushchev towards Pepsi’s booth, where Kendall was waiting to offer him a nice cold Pepsi. As photographers flashed, the Soviet Premiere tried both the American and the Russian versions, and promptly announced that the Pepsi made with Moscow water was better. The photos of the communist Khrushchev drinking capitalist Pepsi went around the world. It was an advertising coup.

How did that lead to Pepsi owning a fleet of ships and submarines? The rest of that story is at Hidden History. -via Digg

Puppeteer Barnaby Dixon (previously at Neatorama) introduces us to his new creation- a quadruped puppet. This one is a dog, for which Dixon put in some real research on how dogs move in order to make him look real. Real, that is, besides being a fluorescent skeleton. Let's say the dog's movements are recognizable as canine, which is key to puppeteering. It's also cute! -via Laughing Squid

I loved this review of Aviation Gin someone sent me after I wrote it. pic.twitter.com/YZN4KI0ATD

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) June 22, 2019

What could happen if we drank this gin that had a 97-point rating in 2012 from the Wine Enthusiast magazine? A reviewer named “Champ Nightengale” shares to us his experience through his review of the Aviation American Gin on Amazon.

Turns out, this “Champ” was none other than our wacky actor Ryan Reynolds.

“I loved this review of Aviation Gin someone sent me after I wrote it,” said Reynolds via Twitter.

In a video posted on the product's website, Reynolds says he loved the gin so much he bought the company.

The review makes me want to try it, to be honest. I wonder how far the gin can take me.

(Image Credit: Ryan Reynolds/Twitter)

One of the justifications that Donald Trump had for wanting to build his beloved border wall is to stop the flow of drugs in the US. However, data from the US Customs and Border Protection  (CBP) proves that wrong:

In 2018, for example, 90% of heroin, 88% of cocaine, 87% of methamphetamine and 80% of fentanyl seized by officials was smuggled through legal crossings.

To prevent future entry of illegal drugs in the future, the CBP is relying on x-ray technology to detect attempts to smuggle such illegal drugs:

In all, a CBP spokesman told CNET, the agency has more than 300 drive-through scanners, 3,500 small-scale X-ray machines and 35,000 handheld devices deployed at US ports of entry. In the 2019 federal budget, CBP received an extra $520 million for additional nonintrusive inspection technology at land border ports of entry.

"The focus is not just to replace aging systems," Robert Perez, deputy commissioner of CBP, said before the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 9, "but to transform port operations in order to expertly facilitate legitimate travel and trade, while successfully interdicting deadly fentanyl and other contraband."

To know more about CBP’s attempts to prevent illegal drug smuggling in the US, go to cnet.com.

image taken from cnet.com

The phrase Kung Fu Tea brings us to Chengdu, where you’ll find the city’s famous intricate tea pouring performances. In these performances, men and women perform sequences of acrobatics, dances, and martial arts while maneuvering long-spout teapots and filling the teacups of their lucky patrons.

However, there is an underlying question with regards to Kung Fu Tea. Is it performance or tradition? Atlas Obscura's Jordan Porter gives us some insights:

Zeng’s style of kung fu tea has certainly become a calling card of the city of Chengdu, and synonymous throughout China with Sichuan tea culture.

However, tea culture in Chengdu is unpretentious, more the setting for socializing than the high art of the tea ceremony.

Wu Bo, a young local tea master tells us that true kung fu tea is the opposite of performance, and almost minimalist in its expression. “You can spend all your money on fancy teaware, or learn special movements, but a real tea master can make great tea in anything,” she says.

The creator of the performance type Kung Fu Tea admits that performance is not enough to give the art meaning, and that the real kung fu tea is the art of making great tea :

Zeng’s style of kung fu tea has certainly become a calling card of the city of Chengdu, and synonymous throughout China with Sichuan tea culture. However, he fears that performance itself is not enough to give the art meaning, and actively takes time to pursue the study of tea. He requires his disciples to study as well, sometimes forcing them away from their athletic training to sit down and actually learn how to pour. “I feel a responsibility,” he says. “I am the creator of the long-spout teapot performance. I need to make sure my students learn about the real kung fu tea as well."

image via atlas obscura

Don't be deceived by these adorable cats - they're actually bags. Felissimo, Japan’s premier provider of cat-themed lifestyle products released a new line of kitty kinchakus (traditional drawstring pouches carried by women wearing kimono). Sora News 24’s Casey Baseel reports:

The Nekomanmaru Kinchaku, as they’re officially called, are priced at 2,478 yen (US$23) each, and can be ordered here through Felissimo’s online store. As with many of the company’s products, the cat kinchaku are being offered in a subscription-like format, with customers receiving a different, non-specified design each month, but you can rest easy knowing that any of them will pair well with Japan’s enticing cat sandals this summer.

image via Felissimo

As numerous as the country’s stations are Japan’s ekiben. Ekiben comes from the words eki (which means station) and ben (short for bento, which means “boxed meal). Each ekiben is different on each station, which makes each ekiben very different from the other. Behind this boxed meal is its colorful origins and Japan’s rich food culture.

Ekiben is a bite-size representation of Japan’s food culture, portioned out in compartments of beautifully designed bentos that resemble gift boxes. Most contain pieces of chicken, cubes of breaded or grilled fish, tempura, an omelette, and a vegetable assortment of pickled daikon or seaweed arranged around balls of rice with a sprinkling of black sesame or nori. From this basic template (known as makunouchi, meaning “between act” and harkening to the bento served during intermission at kabuki and Noh shows in the Edo period), ekiben expands to include regionally specific novelties. At Hokkaido, for instance, this might mean celebrating the island’s cherished Pacific flying squid. Hokkaido’s Mori Station offers ikameshi (squid stuffed with a nub of rice and cooked in a special sauce), a dish that became famous during the Second World War when rice was scarce.

Ekiben has been part of Japanese rail travel almost since workers laid the earliest tracks. The first Japanese rail line, from Tokyo to Yokohama, began service in 1872. By 1885, records note, vendors were selling rice balls stuffed with pickled plums in bamboo leaf wrappers at Utsunomiya Station. By the turn of the century, a rapidly expanding rail network was matched in pace by the appearance of ekiben stalls selling boxes of local delicacies: tai meshi (sea bream rice) at Shizuoka station, ayu (fresh river trout) sushi at Yamakita. Initially, vendors peddled ekiben out of trays, coming right up to the train window to eager customers. With the advent of air-conditioned coaches, the call of the ekiben vendor has all but disappeared. Now passengers make a steady canter to ekiben stalls on the station platform during scheduled train stops—a feat that requires speed and hustle. Fortunately, train attendants also sell ekiben from pushcarts.

Know more about the ekiben on Atlas Obscura.

(Image Credit: Fozzibab/ Wikimedia Commons)

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A post shared by Tsubaki Office (@tsubakioffice) on Mar 29, 2019 at 5:07am PDT

White, orange, and sometimes hints of yellow. These are the colors that you will usually see in a goldfish. In the Chinese world, this fish represents “peace, beauty and richness”, and “to let more people” appreciate this fact, Taiwanese photographer Tsubaki shares to us his pictures.

People have been cultivating goldfish for thousands of years, Tsubaki explains, and their presence is replicated in patterns ranging from wood carving to textiles.

Tsubaki is especially drawn to Lionhead goldfish, but also documents Ranchu, Red Hat, Tosakin, and Ryukin breeds. Each photograph features a solitary fish, with a black background bringing out the translucent colors and elegant silhouettes of the aquatic animals.

Check out more of Tsubaki’s goldfish photos on his Instagram account or at Behance.net.

(Image Credit: tsubakioffice/ Instagram)