This is a severed head of the Pleistocene wolf, an ancient species of wolves that existed in prehistoric times. Amazingly, because of permafrost, its mammoth-like fur and majestic fangs remained intact. This was found on the summer of 2018 by a local man named Pavel Efimov on shore of the Tirekhtyakh River, tributary of Indigirka.

The wolf… was fully grown and aged from two to four years old when it died.

The head was dated older than 40,000 years by Japanese scientists.

Scientists at the Swedish Museum of Natural History will examine the Pleistocene predator’s DNA.

‘This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved. We will be comparing it to modern-day wolves to understand how the species has evolved and to reconstruct its appearance,’ said an excited Albert Protopopov, from the Republic of Sakha Academy of Sciences. 

(Image Credit: Albert Protopopov)

We always hope for the best and prepare for the worst in all things, especially when the stakes involve human lives and freedom from a despotic overlord. And great leaders know how to move their people toward the goal they have set for themselves.

Former US President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower had led his forces on the Normandy Invasion which marked the beginning of the Allied Forces' counterattack. The series of events that followed it gave way to an Allied victory after the dust has settled. However, Eisenhower wasn't as certain of the result as we might think. Here's what he wrote before the invasion:

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

(Image credit: Imperial War Museum/Wikimedia Commons)

NASA is letting us take a peek as they assemble and test the Mars 2020 Rover and the great thing is... it’s free! You can watch the engineers and technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) via their YouTube channel.

"There is so much happening and changing in the clean room, I come here every opportunity I get," said Mars 2020 project manager John McNamee of JPL. "It is great that we can share this part of our journey to the Red Planet with the public anytime they want."

Affectionately called "Seeing 2020," the webcam provides the video feed (without audio) from a viewing gallery above the clean room floor. You can also watch and participate in live webchats with members of JPL's social media team and the Mars 2020 team as they answer questions from the public about the mission. These "Seeing 2020" webchats will occur Mon.-Thu. at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. PDT (2 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT), with additional moderated chats when special activities (like drive tests) occur.

Cool!

(Image Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/ YouTube)

Many people might have certain impressions about Japanese comics and animation, also known as manga and anime respectively, but as we have seen in recent years, these Japanese art forms are slowly but surely spreading its influence around the world.

It may not be mainstream yet but with the community of manga and anime fans having grown steadily, it is taking its place in pop culture.

The story of how the world fell in love with manga is all the more extraordinary because there was a time when it was regarded as too extreme, too niche, too Japanese for international tastes. 

Many Westerners found reading right to left too strange, and in any case it was difficult to find manga outside of Japan. Stories in the international media about hentai, or “perverse” manga, did much to sully its reputation. 

But thanks to the internet, people began to realise that hentai was not synonymous with manga, which spans a breathtaking range of styles, from the completely wacky and transgressive, to exquisite and sensitive, to macho and hardcore.

(Image credit: We Speak Japanese and English Blog)

To wrap this up: I didn't explicitly state this above, but the problem with the "spouse in the room" statement was that it was based on misreading a key variable, as I explained here. In an email, Prof. Dolan said he believes I'm correct about this. 16/16

— Gray 'serial millennial myth debunker' Kimbrough (@graykimbrough) June 1, 2019

Paul Dolan's book Happy Ever After was everywhere on the internet last week with its startling idea that women can have a happier life by never marrying. However, the research behind the book was based on publicly-available data that could be checked. The pull quote from Dolan that went viral was “Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are. When the spouse is not present: f***ing miserable.” Economist Gray Kimbrough wondered how that question was actually presented, and looked up the data.

The problem? That finding is the result of a grievous misunderstanding on Dolan’s part of how the American Time Use Survey works. The people conducting the survey didn’t ask married people how happy they were, shoo their spouses out of the room, and then ask again. Dolan had misinterpreted one of the categories in the survey, “spouse absent,” which refers to married people whose partner is no longer living in their household, as meaning the spouse stepped out of the room.

People whose spouse is no longer living in the household comprise a very particular category, and the reasons behind the absence may point to why the interviewee is miserable. Kimbrough posted his findings about the "absent spouse" question and some of Dolan's other conclusions in a Twitter thread. Dolan says that changes will be made to the book. However, it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle, or change the ideas in printed books that have already been sold. Read more on the story at Vox. 

We already know how much damage our plastic products have inflicted to the environment. It is everywhere - on land, in the air, and even at the bottom of the ocean. We even eat particles of plastic, which is really scary.

Despite knowing all this, organic farmers still rely on plastic. It’s not because they want to. It’s because they have no other choice. So how is plastic related to farming?

Spread over fields with giant rollers and held down with soil, the flat plastic blocks sunlight from hitting the ground and stimulating weed growth. That way, plants like tomatoes, set within a hole punched in the plastic, can grow unimpeded. Although conventional farmers use the material, organic produce farmers rely on it even more since they must avoid chemical weed killers, which are banned in organic farming.

[...]

Many organic farmers would love to find an alternative to plastic, but they say there isn't one at the moment. One conceivable solution, biodegradable plastic, isn't allowed under organic rules in its current form, though some think those rules should be changed. Others worry about the long-term effects of biodegradable plastic on soil health and the environment.

(Image Credit: Lisa Elaine Held/ NPR)

how I, a millennial, filter spam calls:

-if my phone rings, it's spam

— 🏳️‍🌈 ʙʀɪɢʜᴛsɪᴅᴇ 🏳️‍🌈 (@Raelet) May 28, 2019

I'm not a Millennial, but my phone rarely rings, and when it twice this morning, both calls were spam. Twitter user @Raelet might be on to something!

Apart from moving into a paperless economy, the issues of owning a printer from the occasional paper jam to running out of ink, to more hardware related problems, printers are a big nuisance. And they cost a lot to maintain. It would be a lot easier for one to just go to a nearby shop and have your documents printed there. It won't cost you money, time, or stress.

In these modern times, printers have become so shitty that it’s easier to just not own one and deal with whatever small inconveniences might result. I haven’t had one for about a decade, and have rarely missed it.

Specifically, a “good” printer costs about $180. In 2018, I went to the copy shop only once, and spent a total of $2.40. At this rate, it would take me about 75 years to spend the equivalent cost, without factoring in expensive ink refills.

-via Digg

(Image credit: Joe Veix/The Outline)

This is real, ladies and gentlemen, and this one really creeps me out as I write this sentence. It is so realistic with its misaligned teeth and its thin beard.

This creepy human mouth-shaped coin purse is designed by Japanese music producer and amateur artist ‘Doooo’ and was released on the first day of June. 

People have been asking the artist about the price of such an unusual coin purse, but he said that his was one of a kind and that he currently doesn’t have plans to commercialize it. Judging by the degree of realism alone, this thing would probably cost an arm and a leg.

All I can say is… Eek! This is next level horror.

人肉小銭入れ作りました pic.twitter.com/k6SIDETWD5

— doooo (@44doooo) June 1, 2019

Via Oddity Central

(Image Credit: doooo/ Twitter)

Dan Bullock wanted to become a firefighter or a policeman when he grew up. His father said he needed to get an education. Dan believed joining the military would get him an education quicker than school. So he enlisted in the Marines -at age 14.

An article on the front page of The New York Times in 1969 explained: “Dan Bullock was born Dec. 21, 1953. When he enlisted in the Marines last Sept. 18, he was 14. Pentagon officials said his birth certificate had been adjusted to show the year as 1949 so that he could pass for 18.”

As his younger sister Gloria Bullock put it recently, her voice flat with the interceding 50 years, “He was a kid.”

Bullock shipped out to Vietnam when he was 15, and was in country only a few weeks when he was killed. Read the story of Dan Bullock at the New York Times.  -via Damn Interesting

Turn your Disney or Barbie fantasies into Gothic or Halloween ones. Check out the photos of transformation. Soap Plant Wacko wrote on Facebook:

If you should find a saccharine sweet, plastic doll house at the Goodwill, don't dismiss it. Repaint it as a gothic mansion suitable for dolls or Halloween decor.

In my opinion, the Gothic style made the doll house look expensive with its black-and-gold color scheme. What are your thoughts?

Via BoingBoing

(Image Credit: Soap Plant Wacko/ Facebook)

If you think it's difficult to master French pronunciation, you should try being a native French speaker attempting to learn English. These people were shown a typed version of an English word, and challenged to give the English pronunciation. Some did admirably well, especially that one guy who speaks enough English to order a BLT. -via reddit 

Six-year old Morey Belanger is Dayton Consolidated School’s first deaf student. In order to make her feel welcome, the school decided that everyone, teachers and students alike, would learn sign language.

Sign language posters now line the walls of hallways, and students have learned how to sign more than 20 words including colors, letters and words related to school.

"Morey — without even knowing it — has taught us so much," said school Principal Kimberly Sampietro. "She has brought a culture to our building that we didn't have before."

[...]

Morey's mom, Shannon Belanger, said her family has been blown away by how supportive the school has been.

"I absolutely feel like it makes her feel welcomed," Belanger said. "I think all the kids feel excited that they know another language and I think they think it's fun."

To celebrate the students' hard work, the school invited a real-life princess who knows sign language to come speak to students this week.

Now that’s love!

(Image Credit: Shannon Belanger)

Broken ovens, dysfunctional washing machines, and wrecked cars. These are what you will see when you go to the Gaewern Slate Mine in Ceredigion, Wales. The story goes that after the cave’s useful resources were extracted between 1812 and 1960, the humans started dumping there things that were useless to them.

"It was dumping on a huge scale," says Robin Friend. He documented the surreal scene while visiting the mine a few years ago, capturing a mountain of metal junk that seemed to be tumbling toward its reflection in the murky water below. "I don't know how long it's been going on," Friend says, "but I looked up one of the license plates, and it was 40 or 50 years old."

Aside from the cave’s story, this photograph that you see above has its own story to tell as well. Find out how Robin took this photo over at Wired.

(Image Credit: Robin Friend)