With love from the proud parents, @KFC and #Cheetos. Available nationwide July 1st. #KFCCheetosSandwich pic.twitter.com/tFfZeWn8ak

— Chester Cheetah (@ChesterCheetah) June 20, 2019

KFC will be releasing a limited edition KFC Cheetos Chicken Sandwich on July 1. It is a fried chicken sandwich with mayo and Cheetos sauce, with crunchy Cheetos at the bottom. Does it taste good? I guess we’ll just have to find out along the way. For now, we’ll have to patiently wait for the first day of July.

Chester Cheetah, the official mascot of Cheetos, promoted the product via his tweet. The replies on his tweet were divided. One stated that she loves Chester, but the said sandwich “was unholy”, and that the “sandwich gods are weeping”. Another stated that he’s “sickened but curious.”

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Chester Cheetah/ Twitter)

Two papers, one for each respective animal, were published on June 20. The papers show that Egyptian fruit bats and mice, respectively, can “sync” brain waves” in social situations. Two years ago, there was a previous study that showed that the “rhythms of brainwaves between two people taking part in a conversation begin to match each other”. But why was this current study on the Egyptian fruit bats and mice important?

"Animal models are really important for being able to study brain phenomena at levels that we can't normally access in humans," says Michael Yartsev of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and senior author of one of the papers. "Because bats are extremely social and naturally live in highly complex social environments, they are a great model for tackling important scientific questions about social behavior and the neural mechanisms underlying it."

"If you think of the brain like a black box that receives input and gives some kind of output in response, studying social interactions is like trying to understand how the output of one box provides input to another, and how those two boxes work together and create a loop," says Weizhe Hong of the Departments of Biological Chemistry and Neurobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and senior author of the other paper. "Our research in mice allows us to peer inside these black boxes and get a better look at the internal machinery."

Previous studies showing how neural activity in humans becomes synchronized during social interactions have used technologies like fMRI and EEG, which look at brain activity with relatively coarse spatial and temporal resolutions. These studies found that when two people interact, structures in their brain simultaneously decode and respond to signals from the other person.

Because the new studies looked at neural activity at a level of detail that is difficult to obtain in humans, they could explore the detailed neural mechanism underlying this phenomenon.

Learn more about this brain synchronization study over at Science Daily.

(Image Credit: Dawson/ Wikimedia Commons)

Juliane Loeffler of BuzzFeed visited Japan and saw clever inventions, gadgets, and amenities that she encountered. Some of them you probably already know about, such as Japan's futuristic toilets. Others are simpler, such as this baby seat inside a toilet stall. Where are you going to put your baby while using the toilet? There's a better place than the floor in this stall.

Of all the countries in the world, Japan is number one on my wish list to visit. It seems almost like a fabled wonderland. Even if the reality differs greatly from the photos and stories, I'd love to see what is there.

May 30. Kitakyushu City. At about 9:40 in the morning a power failure occurred on the JR Kagoshima Line between Moji Station and Space World Station. This also happened at the Nippo Line running between Kokura and Jono Stations.

In total, 26 train routes were affected running in all directions and approximately 12,000 people were affected by delays that lasted about an hour.

The source of the blackout was found out to be a disconnector switch. It is a switching device used to isolate an element of the electrical network so that the network operators can proceed to repairs safely.

...because their purpose is safety, they must be guarded from people and the elements. In this case, the switch was housed in a box with all its openings sealed with glue to prevent insects or small animals from wandering inside.

However, when rail crews opened a disconnector switch on the Kagoshima Line between Moji and Kokura Stations, they found the body of a slug that appeared to have been electrocuted. More impressive than the JR workers’ ability to determine the slug’s cause of death is the fact that it got in the highly-sealed container to begin with.

(Image Credit: Michel_van_der_Vegt/ Pixabay)

I've dug around and determined that the C by GE Smart Light Bulb is not an elaborate hoax. This video is apparently real. If it isn't, then GE is playing a long con.

How many early adopters does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it takes a long, long time to do it and requires a complex procedure that must be conducted precisely.

C by GE Smart Light Bulbs are a General Electric product that, unlike conventional light bulbs that normal and sane people would use, can be controlled by smartphones, Bluetooth, and Alexa. My lamps have switches on them that permit me to turn them on and off, but that's apparently insufficient in modern times.

Would you like to reset your smart bulbs? Then follow these instructions. You will need a timer and more patience than I have.

Ready? Okay. First update your firmware (light bulbs now come with firmware) to version 2.7. Then:

OFF (minimum 5 seconds)

ON (8 secs)

OFF (2 secs)

ON (2 secs) – yes, two seconds, not eight

OFF (2 secs)

ON (2 secs)

OFF (2 secs)

ON (2 secs)

OFF (2 secs)

ON (8 secs) – BACK TO EIGHT SECONDS!

OFF (2 secs)

ON (8 secs) – again

OFF (2 secs)

ON

Wait for the three flashes

-via Dave Barry

The tree that people say inspired one of Dr. Seuss's classic tales 'The Lorax' has died and a lot of Dr. Seuss fans are mourning over its death.

According to the story, the Lorax was supposed to be the voice of the trees because the trees can't speak for themselves. But, as with all things, we cannot avoid the natural course of life, and the Monterey Cypress standing on La Jolla California has gone the way of the world. However, the city of San Diego will still investigate on the possible causes of the tree's untimely death.

"The city is still trying to determine the cause and the Monterrey Cypress was estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old," Graham said. The city hopes to plant a replacement tree nearby, he said.

Seuss fans far and wide are devastated to hear the news not only because of the connection to their childhoods, but because the themes of The Lorax still ring so true. With shows like Netflix’s Our Planet being produced left and right, it’s clear that the battle for environmental protection is on, and at higher stakes than ever.

(Image credit: City of San Diego)

Because of the release of the film Toy Story 4, the newest entry to the Toy Story series, the old-age question has resurfaced once again: Which is the best Pixar film? Our answers could vary depending on which state we live in.

Cabletv.com “toyed around with Google Trends” to see the most popular Pixar movie in each state.

What’s your favorite Pixar movie? Does your favorite match with what the map says?

Via Gizmodo

(Image Credit: cabletv.com)

Humans seem to get easily angry at some of the pettiest things. When you look at social media, you see a lot of people ranting about, well, just about anything. And it seems to be ingrained in our need to find solidarity with other people.

“Broadcasting threats may have the effect of forcing people to provide information…people who agree with you signal that they are ready to follow your cause… By contrast, those who ask for evidence, or debate the plausibility of your claims, signal that any solidarity with you would be conditional, which is of course not what we want of allies.”

In short, we sometimes use controversial events as litmus tests to see who is really on our side. If you express the right amount of outrage, then I know you’re part of my group. But if you don’t, then maybe I need to question where your loyalties really lie.

But this can also go haywire real quick, especially when it already involves prejudice. Now, on the flip side, the energy from this outrage could be channeled to address and resolve issues that would benefit many people without stepping on other's toes or infringing on their rights.

(Image credit: Tim Gouw/Unsplash)

Cartoonist Gemma Corell images a period-themed theme park. Although she's been kicking around the idea of a Menstrual Sponge Bob for years, it's only now that she's fleshed her idea out into what would clearly be a popular amusement park. Check out the attractions, rides, and snacks at The Lily.

In the hands of a master chef, a knife is a precision, almost surgical instrument. How many years does it take to perfect this skill? It looks simple to turn a carrot into a finely cut net, but only because of what must have been long, long hours of practice.

There's a lot more than you can do with a carrot. Sushi chef Davy Deveaux applies his skills to carrots, turning them into "gangster chain" garnishes.

-via Nag on the Lake

When she was 7 years old, Ella Casano was diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura, an autoimmune disorder. Her treatments require regular IV infusions. To a child of her age, the IV equipment was scary. So she invented a way to make it friendlier to children like her.

It's called Medi Teddy. This plush bear hangs on a standard IV pole in front of an IV bag, blocking it from sight. CNN talked to Ella's mother about her daughter's invention:

"So, she cut up a stuffed animal and used a hot glue gun and made her very first Medi Teddy," Casano said.

Seeing how delighted the nurses were with the idea, Ella and her mother started the process to patent, manufacture and distribute the invention they named Medi Teddy. [///]

The back side of the pouch is made of mesh so that nurses and doctors can see the status of the medicine the patient is receiving. Ella made several prototypes and gave them to her nurses to use for feedback on how to make it better.

-via Dave Reaboi | Photo: Medi Teddy

When the Industrial era boomed in England, everything started to run at a fast pace. Developments were happening wherever you go and people started to adapt a mindset of efficiency because things became more timebound. It's either you keep up with how things went or you get left by the wayside.

The steam engine was the first invention that kickstarted the whole industrial revolution but it was the later developments that provided the necessary elements to boost the speed of industrialization. One such is natural gas.

Coal and gasoline have earned their reputation as fossil fuel boogeymen. Both have played extremely visible roles as the principal feedstocks for electricity generation and automobiles, respectively. But, scholar Leslie Tomory writes, methane gas was actually the first fuel to be delivered in an integrated network that provided hydrocarbon energy to the masses at the flip of a switch, back in Regency-era London.

In the process, the Gas Light and Coke Company (GLCC) confronted and solved problems of industrial politics, time coordination, machine standardization, contractor management, and even customer relations that have often been attributed to the later railway or electricity industries.

It was even once called the "green" fossil fuel but now, of course, times have changed and we know that fossil fuels all contribute to the pollution of our atmosphere and the destruction of the environment. Still, they have provided us with fuel for much of the machines we use to make our lives more convenient today.

(Image credit: Ethan Chan H C/Flickr; Wikimedia Commons)

With the help of 3D printing technology, we've produced tissues, a heart, and an air sac to help advance medical procedures and provide treatment for patients. But there are other uses for 3D printing in the medical field such as having them print replicas of organs for surgeons to demonstrate how to operate.

Cleveland Clinic gastroenterologist Nizar Zein first considered the idea of printing organ models in 2012 after reading about people constructing houses with 3-D printers and the technology’s potential uses in space exploration. He wondered if the method could make liver transplants from living donors safer.

The first prototype was crude — “really like a child playing with Play-Doh,” Zein recalls. Zein refined the model, and in 2013 started studying how a life-size 3-D liver model, in addition to 2-D scans, would change how surgeons planned operations. Zein’s team has gone on to print 3-D models of complex liver tumors to understand how they are connected to the organ, and thus inform surgical planning.

(Image credit: N.N. Zein et al)

Mario is one of the most iconic video games of all time and it has inspired several iterations and spinoffs, as well as cameo appearances in various other games. But somebody took it one step further with Mario Royale (now named DMCA Royale, for IP reasons).

Mario Royale, which can currently be played in web browsers, is the creation of a YouTuber and programmer named InfernoPlus and pits 75 players against each other in a race through one world of Super Mario Bros. or The Lost Levels.

Players can’t directly interact with each other⁠—a Mario can’t stomp on another Mario⁠—but power-ups like fire flowers and invincibility stars do allow players to take each other out.

That’s not really the point, though; Mario Royale is a sort of collective race to the finish. Only the first three players to make it to the end of four levels will end up on the winner’s pedestal.

The real challenge is making sure your platforming skills are up to par and that you can avoid goombas and clear jumps amidst all the chaos.

-via Kottke

(Image credit: Kotaku)

Valdivia, Chile. Like stray dogs, sea lions prowl the fish market, waiting for food. A solar-powered water taxi then comes at them. A young scientist named David Ebmer stretches out his hand from the water taxi, reaching out to a massive sea lion . In his hand is a long stick with a lice comb taped on its end.

As a student of the parasitologist Carlos Hermosilla at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, Ebmer came to Valdivia to advance the team’s goal of studying marine mammals in the least disruptive way possible.

As human activities including fishing, shipping, and drilling encroach on marine mammals worldwide, scientists are striving to reduce the impact of their research. Flashy new technology, such as the drones that collect whale snot, can help. But sometimes all you need is a comb, a stick, and some tape. As Ebmer reported in May 2019 in the journal Parasitology Research, his “telescopic lice comb” performs beautifully, collecting sea lion fur and loose skin in addition to lice. With these samples, scientists can probe the curious biology of marine lice—some of the world’s only seafaring insects—as well as the genetics and health of the sea lions themselves.

Find out more about the sea lions and the study over at Atlas Obscura.

(Image Credit: David Ebmer)