Canada geese have a well-deserved reputation for their bad tempers, but I can tell you from experience that if you feed them, they become much friendlier. You might have noticed that there are more Canada geese everywhere now than when you were a child. The story of the Canada goose shows the danger of messing with Mother Nature. We over hunt, then we try to save a species, then it becomes invasive, and who knows what effects all those things have on other species. Vox brings us the history of these "homegrown honkers."
Learning can be fun depending on the method one uses to instruct or impart information. For kids with visual impairment, they can now learn Braille through LEGOs. The concept is an interesting take on learning through playing and certainly it would be a great way for the children not only to learn but to socialize.
The LEGO Foundation and LEGO Group announced yesterday at a conference in Paris that the company would be launching Braille Bricks kits in 2020. Each set has about 250 bricks containing studs that represent the letters and numbers of the Braille alphabet, which empowers people to learn spelling and punctuation, read books, type on a keyboard, and more.
(Image credit: Caleb Woods/Unsplash)
The universe we live in is so dynamic and expansive that we may not be able to keep up with it unless we make constant adjustments to our theories about its mechanisms. Astronomers have suggested that with the new rate at which the universe is expanding, scientists may need to revise their theories and add new physics to accommodate the rapid cosmic expansion.
The revised expansion rate is about 10% faster than that predicted by observations of the universe's trajectory shortly after the Big Bang, according to the new research. The study also significantly reduces the probability that this disparity is a coincidence, from 1 in 3,000 to just 1 in 100,000.
"This mismatch has been growing and has now reached a point that is really impossible to dismiss as a fluke," study lead author Adam Riess, a professor of physics and astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement.
It's unclear what's driving this surprising acceleration, but many astronomers invoke a mysterious, repulsive force called dark energy.
After making observations and gathering data, Riess and his colleagues recalculated the Hubble constant and found the new figure to be 46 miles (74.03 kilometers) per second per megaparsec, which is quite different from the expected rate which was about 41.9 miles (67.4 km) per second per megaparsec.
(Image credit: NASA/Unsplash)
The Matrix is a classic science fiction action film, made on a budget of $63 million, which was astronomical in 1999. Studio 188 goes out of their way to prove you can recreate the special effects, props, and settings of The Matrix without spending a lot of money. -via reddit
Scientist have found a way to translate brain signals into understandable speech using a prosthetic voice decoder.
They measured the brain activity made by the jaw, larynx, lips, and tongue when people were attempting to speak. Using this, they were able to translate the movements into the intended speech.
Researchers have developed other virtual speech aids. Those work by decoding the brain signals responsible for recognizing letters and words, the verbal representations of speech. But those approaches lack the speed and fluidity of natural speaking.
The new system, described on Wednesday in the journal Nature, deciphers the brain’s motor commands guiding vocal movement during speech — the tap of the tongue, the narrowing of the lips — and generates intelligible sentences that approximate a speaker’s natural cadence.
This study tends to benefit individuals with speech impairment to reconnect with the society.
Check the simulated vocal tract animation on New York Times.
(Image Credit: University of California, San Francisco)
I'm enjoying these fun and clever Scrabble ads by the Twiga ad agency.
via Ads of the World
Once upon a time, television featured programs known as variety shows. Though this genre is practically extinct today, variety shows were once the funniest things on television, and none were funnier than The Carol Burnett Show. I used to watch this - hey, comedy is comedy - and even today there is nothing that can touch it. Blessed with good writers, the fabulous comedienne Carol Burnett, and a stellar ensemble cast, including the underrated Tim Conway, The Carol Burnett Show was so good that it lasted for 11 seasons. Eleven! And this doesn't count at least one resurrection. From the IMDb:
The Carol Burnett Show was one of the most fabulous shows ever on TV, and certainly the best of its type, the variety show, which is gone now. Carol, her delightful ensemble cast of Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and her many guest stars always delivered a great show.
What stands out for me is her film takeoffs. I had the misfortune of seeing "Mildred Fierce" before I saw the real "Mildred Pierce." So I laughed all the way through Mildred Pierce. Her marvelous Joan Crawford - when I saw Mommie Dearest, all I could think of was Carol Burnett. Sunset Boulevard - when I saw the movie after seeing her takeoff, she was all I could think of.
But there was one movie takeoff that beat them all - Went With the Wind. An absolute classic. If Carol Burnett had in her entire career only walked down those stairs wearing the rods still in the drapes and said, "Thank you. I saw it in the window and I just couldn't resist it," it would have been enough to make her a superstar.
And it wasn't just the film parodies that were so good; ordinary life events became hilarity unbound, especially with Tim Conway and Harvey Norman playing off of each other. YouTube offers many episodes and segments and three are embedded below. The first is the famous and peerless Went With the Wind sketch. The second is the infamous 'elephant' sketch, wherein a deadpan Tim Conway cracks up the rest of the cast, who have to resort to hiding their faces to keep the audience from seeing them laughing. The third is the full 'Dentist' sketch, in which Harvey Korman is laughing so hard at Tim Conway that he actually wets his pants on stage. You won't find anything that funny on Saturday Night Live.
Spreading awareness about autism and getting people to understand the situation families who have members with autism, no matter where in the spectrum they may be located, should help in some way of easing the burden especially from societal forces and pressures such that they wouldn't feel as much discrimination or isolation.
But as much as social awareness about autism could help in dealing with it emotionally so that they may live normal lives, scientists are considering new paths still to address the genetics behind autism in order to hopefully develop treatments for affected individuals.
One such avenue being explored is a drug that has worked in "individual cells and rodents of one form of autism known as Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, which is caused by a specific genetic mutation." Furthermore, the researchers from the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and the Maltz Research Laboratories at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine say they will begin human trials in a year.
Because the genetic cause of Pitt-Hopkins is known, we can study the mutation in the lab to better understand how it changes brain function. The name of the mutated gene is transcription factor 4 (TCF4). It is highly active during early brain development in infancy. When the gene is turned on, it decreases the production of two ion channels. These proteins allow ions (specifically, sodium and potassium) to travel in and out of the cell and are found on the membrane of the brain’s neurons.
Specifically, these ion channels become overly active, modifying how nerve cells function and how they respond to signals from other neurons, and therefore how the brain works. When we tested this in rodent and cell models, we found that the Pitt-Hopkins mutation alters the function of the brain’s neurons, which are ultimately responsible for the cognitive and social abnormalities that we find in people.
(Image credit: Public Domain Pictures/Pixabay)
Stockholm syndrome is the sympathy that a victim, usually a hostage, develops toward their captor. Whether it is through the prolonged exposure to the captor whereby the victim's perspective is being changed and they see some humanity in the other or the captor's charisma or character persuades the other that they are doing such an act for a noble cause, the end is still the same.
It was first coined after the Norrmalmstorg robbery in which the hostages, four bankers, after being held captive for six days and released thereafter, developed a certain trust for their captor and even considered the police to be the ones endangering their lives.
But behind this whole episode there lurks some subtle perceptions and cultural attitudes that we might have on violent acts such as that.
But the original Stockholm hostage crisis revealed much more: Due to Olsson’s unique disguise, the robbery served as a commentary on the American outlaw—and demonstrated how poorly this swaggering figure translated.
In particular, most of the Swedish people had been surprised at such a thing happening in their country and would associate it more with other places like the US.
More than this, the hostage taker himself admitted that he was inspired by an American outlaw he saw in a movie which he used to come up with his disguise. And so began the six-day standoff between Jan-Erik Olsson, the captor, and the Swedish police.
(Image credit: Tage Olsin/Wikimedia Commons)
One wouldn't know it from watching the pathetic Disneyfied versions, but the original Muppet Show of 1976 was in its prime one of the slickest and smartest series ever seen on television. The writing was wonderful, the characters unique and appealing, and their execution was flawlessly funny. Every so often they would use a running gag that ran for the length of the show (early in its history, the Pigs once took over the show as a prime example of such) and that is what we have here.
When Mac Davis was the guest star in a late 1980 episode, a running gag involving Beaker, the hapless laboratory assistant performed and voiced by Richard Hunt, ran throughout the episode, culminating in a very unique ending. Below are linked the segments of this show that comprise the running gag in full, followed by its IMDb data. So grab the kids and watch wholesome comedy at its peak; you won't find it many places today.
Don’t be fooled. They may look like fangs, but they are actually tusks. This is the Chinese Water Deer (or “Vampire Deer” if you want to call it this way), but despite its name it is found across Europe “and possess remarkable survival tactics that allow them to thrive in varied climates.”
When you look closely at the Chinese water or “vampire” deer, it is obvious that they are different from any other type of deer you’ve seen. The most noticeable aspect of its appearance is the two robust tusks that protrude from the edges of the Chinese water deer’s mouth followed by a relatively adorable set of teddy bear-like ears.
These unusual “fangs” have earned the water deer the nickname “vampire deer” and when combined with the soft round ears, give the deer’s otherwise cuddly appearance a goofy and somewhat intimidating look. Aside from their prominent tusks, the Chinese water deer appears harmless. But just like any other natural defense, its protruding tusks can cause serious damage against threats and other animals.
The fangs may indicate that this deer is a primitive type of the species.
More fun facts about this creature at ATI.
(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A couple of the stereotypes about Germany are efficiency and engineering, but this story shows the opposite. Construction began on the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2006, but it has yet to land a plane. Half As Interesting tells the Story.
The rest of the world wonders why the US doesn't use the metric system of measurement. The easy answer is our resistance to change, but that's not the entire picture. There have been various plans to change America over to metric since we broke away from the British Empire. In 1793, French scientist Joseph Dombey set out on a mission to discuss metric measurements with Thomas Jefferson. He never made it, which set the tone for conversion schemes ever since, including the 1975 Metric Conversion Act.
Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, in the decades since, the United States actually has largely switched to the metric system, just the general public (both domestic and international) seem largely ignorant of this. The U.S. military almost exclusively uses the metric system. Since the early 1990s, the Federal government has largely been converted, and the majority of big businesses have made the switch in one form or another wherever possible. In fact, with the passage of the Metric Conversion Act of 1988, the metric system became the “preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce”.
In the medical field and pharmaceuticals. the metric system is also used almost exclusively. In fact, since the Mendenhall Order of 1893, even the units of measure used by the layperson in the U.S., the yard, foot, inch, and pound, have all been officially defined by the meter and kilogram.
Schoolchildren learn more about the metric system than ever before, and even change-resistant folks know what a 5K run, a 2-liter bottle, or a gram of weed is. Read the history of the metric system in the United States at Today I Found Out.
(Image credit: Scott Brody)
We know that males and females have minor and major differences in many aspects — attitude included. Generally, males of most species are more aggressive, while the females are less aggressive. Researchers from China, Taiwan, U.S, and U.K have found evidence that might suggest that aggressive tendencies may lead to a shorter lifespan.
Scientists have been theorizing about the reason for females of most species living longer than males for many years. Some have suggested it has something to do with the differences in hormones, others that it has to do with deleterious mutations in mtDNA passed down from mothers. But the strongest argument has been that it comes down to aggression in males—mostly due to competing for a mate. In many species, fighting for a mate results in both injuries and high stress levels.
(Image Credit: Wen-Sang Huang)
