The way the human immune system works is pretty well known. It only goes into activation when a foreign invader is present, then it rushes antibodies and other chemicals in to destroy a virus, bacteria, fungus, or parasite. A virus invades our cells, so the immune system destroys those infected cells. That can be pretty destructive, which is why our immune system stays dormant until we need it.

However, in a pregnant mother's placenta, the immune system works differently. It switches on even when there is no infectious agent present. To do this, it manufactures its own "fake virus" from its DNA! This causes the placenta to produce interferon lambda and activates a low-level, gentle immune response that does not attack cells the way a normal immune response would. This system keeps the fetus' responses always on, ready to fight any possible infection that the mother may contract. That's important, since the mothers' immune response is weakened during pregnancy to keep her body from rejecting the fetus as an invader.

Read up on this new discovery and how it was found at Quanta magazine. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Kristina Armitage/Quanta Magazine)

The Haggis Wildlife Foundation understands that people outside Scotland are not all that familiar with haggis, so they have made a video to help the first-time haggis hunter. The cute little creature is native to Scotland, and not endangered, but they want to make sure they never become endangered. Nevertheless, tourists are often offered the opportunity to go haggis hunting on their first trip to the highlands. The foundation offers valuable tips and tricks, with emphasis on safety and the proper respect for the environment. For a hunting video, this has some wonderful landscape photography. And now I have to go watch all their other videos. -via Boing Boing

Of course, most longtime Neatorama readers are well familiar with the wild haggis (Haggis scoticus) from our previous posts about the animal. As you might guess, John Farrier is a haggis connoseur and chef. He'll eat anything, even if it's cute.  

199 and counting. That's how many members the late Pu Ziona's family has. He died at the age of 76 in 2021, with 38 wives, 89 children, and 36 grandchildren, arguably the world's largest family. It's enough to fill a whole town, but they all live in one big mansion in the village of Baktawng, located in the northeastern state of Mizoram in India.

Ziona was the head of the Christian sect Chhuan Thar Kohhran or Church of the New Generation, after his father Chana died in 1997, who also succeeded his elder brother Khuangtuahthanga in 1955. The sect promotes polygamy and believes that they will live in a utopian society during a golden age period after the end of time, where they will be spared from wrath as well as receive rewards and privileges.

Right now, the family is being managed by Ziona's eldest son, Nunparliana who feels that he will not be able to live up to the legacy that his father left behind. Furthermore, the family has started to undergo changes with Nunparliana being the only one among his half-siblings who has continued the practice of polygamy. For now, Ziona's family has lived peacefully but only time will tell what the future holds for them. At the very least, Nunparliana hopes that he and his siblings, and future descendants would remain a tight-knit unit and live happily together. -via Oddity Central

(Image credit: Jugo Tlana/The Straits Times)

The condition called uterine didelphys or double uterus happens in less than 1% or about three per 1,000 women according to Dr. Richard Davis, and the chances of getting pregnant in both uteruses is even rarer. Kelsey Hatcher from Alabama is one such medical rarity and although it's a cause for celebration for her and her husband, Caleb, her ob-gyn, Dr. Shweta Patel, considers it a high-risk pregnancy as it is unknown how the baby in each womb would come out at the end of their term.

Doctors are monitoring the growth of each baby and they will especially focus during labor as, depending on the contractions for each uterus, the babies might be born together or separately. It is possible, according to Davis, that the twins will be born hours, days, or weeks apart. At the moment, the tentative date for her babies' birth is December 25th. Currently, the couple already have three children and are considering this to be their last pregnancy.

(Image credit: John Looy/Unsplash)

Some children are prodigies in math, music, or chess, displaying capabilities far beyond what children at their age normally can do. Other children are physically gifted, being able to perform amazing feats like acrobatics or gymnastics as early as three years old. But this two-year-old girl from Utah, Mayzee Evans can apparently ride full-grown horses. Her mom, Brynlee Evans, has dubbed her a 'horse whisperer' because she seems to share a bond with the horses.

Having lived at the family farm, Mayzee has been around animals since she was born. Her mom is also a horse-lover and has shared that passion with her daughter from such a young age that Mayzee has become accustomed to the routine of grooming and cleaning up after the horses. Mayzee's first contact with a horse came when she was just three months old and spends almost half her day with them when she was a baby. No wonder why Mayzee has formed a special relationship with the horses.

(Video credit: We Love Animals/Youtube)

In the video above from The Infographics Show, they try to explore the scenario in which the entire human race gets wiped out and only two people survive, one male and one female who are unrelated to each other. The question is whether they will be able to repopulate the earth. And the answer has several layers to it, using a hypothetical couple named Aiden and Ellie to sort out the intricacies of the scenario.

The primary consideration was the effects of inbreeding in future generations. There have been a lot of cases documented in which children born from first-degree parents had short lifespans, birth defects, or other anomalies that hampered their physical, emotional, and mental development. However, there were cases in which they lived long and had no glaring issues. But one can argue that that must have been a matter of luck in which they were simply the statistical outlier. Still, if the Aiden-Ellie couple had many children and those children had just as many children as well, there was a greater probability that some of their grandchildren would come out okay.

There have been previous studies however, which examined the minimum number of people to repopulate the earth after an apocalypse scenario. The video above actually states 98 unrelated individuals is the minimum number. In any case, the answer to the question is a hesitant yes but with many caveats. Hopefully, we won't have to face such a situation.

(Video credit: The Infographics Show/Youtube)

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call a couple weeks ago from a young boy at around 12:41 PM, and soon thereafter, Deputy Scott Pracht went to the house to respond to the call. However, when he arrived, the boy's mother was perplexed why there was an officer at the door. Deputy Pracht said that they had received a 911 call from their residence, specifically from her son.

In disbelief, the mom called out to her son, and went to check their phone records as she believed it must have been a mistake, saying that she doesn't think her son even knows what 911 is about. Her son, running toward the door, happily confirms that he did call the police officer, not for any kind of emergency but because he simply wanted to hug an officer. Afterward, Deputy Pracht explains to the little boy what the purpose of 911 was, the boy apologized in return, and the office told him not to worry about it.

It's great that the little boy wanted to give out some positive vibes to a police officer but it's also important to note that 911 is mainly for emergencies. Nevertheless, it's nice to be able to be surprised like this once in a while and receive some appreciation from the public. No harm, no foul.

(Video credit: NBC 6 South Florida/Youtube)

I love free things. If somebody were to stop me on the street to give me a free sample of a product, then who am I to refuse? Now, there's a new vending machine installed at the Tokyo Department Store in Kichijoji, Tokyo. At first glance, it looks like a very simple vending machine. But upon a closer look, you would find that there's no slit where coins, bills, or cards can be inserted so that you can pay for your purchase. Instead, there are instructions printed on the side which tells you what you need to do to get something inside the vending machine.

The vending machine is called "Moraeru Jihanki" which loosely translates to "the vending machine where you can get" or "you can have what's inside vending machine". It was created by Sukima Design Lab, and the process of using the machine is by adding the official Moraeru Jihanki account online, answering a short survey, and using the QR code sent to you to scan on the machine. Afterward, the machine will drop the item at the receptacle.

It's actually a very cool marketing concept since the main point of the vending machine is to get consumers to answer the survey. As for what kind of products are being given away, they have a selection of skin care and hair care products including masks, essences, serums, and a shampoo and treatment set.

(Image credit: Moraeru Jihanki)

We can't be sure how many Ukrainians will be putting up Christmas trees this year, but in peacetime, many of those trees would be adorned with spiders and spider webs. Not real spiders, but ornaments of silver or gold or tinsel of some sort. The tradition of hanging spider ornaments on a tree isn't all that old. It started in the late 19th or early 20th century, and it can be traced to a much older Ukrainian folk tale about a Christmas spider. Without giving away the plot, I can assure you that it ends better than Charlotte's Web.

Spiders are now considered to be a lucky symbol in Ukraine, and it is traditional to leave any real spiderwebs alone during the holidays, to ensure good luck in the new year ahead. After all, you don't know if the one that spun a web under your stairs might be the Christmas spider! Read about the connection between spiders and Christmas trees at Mental floss.

(Image credit: Erika Smith)

While attending the Constitutional Convention in July of 1787, George Washington found the brutal summer heat unbearable and decided to purchase a "fan chair". This photo shows one owned by the museum collections of Mount Vernon, but is likely not the specific design owned by Washington.

It does, though, show the ingenuity of inventors before the age of air conditioning. John Cram, a craftsman in Philadelphia, designed this chair in 1786. Tapping one's feet on the pedals pulled the overhead fan back and forth.

-via Core77 | Photo: Mount Vernon

Twitter user @markvchase is a thriving YouTuber who focuses on film criticism. He had an early brush with movie fame in 2005 when, as a child, he took a family trip to Disney World in Florida.

His family used to joke that George Lucas was in the background of this photo, but now Mark is convinced that it actually happened. Lucas is wearing his iconic plaid shirt and jeans. It could be a cosplayer. But an online news story confirms that Lucas was in Disney World on the day of Mark's family trip. The press release shows him wearing what looks like the same outfit.

Tom Scott announced some time ago that he will stop making weekly videos at the end of the year. That doesn't mean he will stop making videos; it's just that trying to keep the quality up on such a tight schedule is too much. While all those videos have been enjoyable, they aren't perfect. It's embarrassing to have an error pointed out after all the editing is done and the video is posted, but it's inevitable that someone in the audience will know exactly what you did wrong. Tom regularly owns up to those errors and adds corrections to the YouTube page. Today, however, he is going back through them, or at least ten years of them, and telling us about the times he screwed up. You have to applaud his transparency, but then you realize it's also a restrospective of his videos on a wide range of subjects you haven't seen. If one catches your fancy, you might be able to search for it, or find it at his YouTube channel. The last minute of this video is an ad.

If you want to really see how much Tom has aged, check out the first of his videos that we posted here at Neatorama.

Warner Bros. made a movie called Coyote vs. Acme. It's a combination of animation and live action surrounding a lawsuit that Wile E. Coyote brings against Acme Corporation when one of their mail order products almost kills him. It stars John Cena, Will Forte, and Lana Condor, among others. The movie was filmed in 2022, and completed early this year. Test audiences loved it. It was supposed be released on July 21st, but was bumped in order to release Barbie that weekend.

So when will we see Coyote vs. Acme? Possibly not at all. The completed film was cancelled last Thursday in order for the studio to take a $30 million tax write off (on a $70 million budget), and to avoid millions in marketing costs. Warner bros. has previously canceled two other films, Batgirl and Scoob Holiday Haunt!, but those movies were not completed. The cancelation of Coyote vs. Acme came as a surprise to the producers, cast, and crew who made it, and they are not happy at all.

Following the backlash to its decision, Warner Bros. has now "un-cancelled" the movie. But that doesn't mean they will release Coyote vs. Acme. For now, the studio is allowing the producers to offer the movie to other distributors. So we might see Coyote vs. Acme, but we don't know if, when, or where it will happen. -via Kottke

How can a game in which the objective is to simply name all the stations on London's Tube map be so popular? That's probably the charm in it. It's simple and addictive, and it taps into the deeper part in our psyche wherein we want to test our knowledge about something that is part of our daily routine, which for many Londoners is going through the London Underground. There are currently 500,000 players who are obsessed with the game, and with the popularity that it has now, that number might grow even further.

The creator of the Metro Memory game, Benjamin Tran Dinh, says that the game was brought about by his memories of his time studying in London when he was in his twenties. The memories form another means by which players can connect deeply with the game, because as they look through the map and try to remember the names of different stations, they inevitably draw from their experiences through the years. Perhaps, a similar thing can happen if one were to make a game on the New York subway, the Chicago L, or the Washington Metro. You may check out the game here.

(Image credit: Felix Hanspach/Unsplash)

Thanksgiving is in ten days and consumers might be worried how much they will need to spend to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Although experts say that consumers might have to spend a little bit more on Thanksgiving this year, it won't be a dramatic leap like in 2022. According to the American Farm Bureau, the average consumer spending for 2021 was $53.31 and for 2022, $64.05. Despite the increase in prices, Thanksgiving dinner must still go on although shoppers have expressed their displeasure about the rising costs.

Based on the estimates done by Olivia Evans and Kathryn Gregory of the Louisville Courier Journal, depending on which store you buy items from, you might expect to spend from between $40.03 to $108.54. In assessing these costs, they went to three local grocery stores: Kroger, Rainbow Blossom, and ValuMarket. They looked at the same 10 items needed to make the turkey along with sides and dessert. In picking the items, they bought store-brand items if available, otherwise, they sourced the lowest-priced products.

(Image credit: Pro Church Media/Unsplash)