Zombies, vampires, and revenants are known to rise up from the graves of dead people and wander the earth, terrorizing and killing the living- or even eating them. These tales have been around so long and in so many places that cultures have developed quite a few methods for keeping the dead underground. We know this because ancient graves are excavated for archaeological purposes, and the evidence is there. Before being buried, bodies have undergone such indignities as tooth removal, stakes through the heart, chains holding them down, or even decapitation.

While the idea of keeping the bodies from digging their way out is the most common reason for these measures, it's not the only possibility. Interpreting ancient burial practices is a guessing game, and some cultures may have used these things for religious reasons, or to signify something about the person or the way they died. Some barrier methods may also have been used to keep the living from robbing those graves. Read about eight historical methods for keeping buried bodies buried that we've discovered, and what we know about each, at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: Bin im Garten)

I had some training in the art of illusion, or "magic tricks," many years ago when I worked at an amusement park during college summers. I can tell you from experience that it is easy to see how a trick is done once you get used to it, but it is hard to make it work in front of viewers. That takes practice, and lots of it, to make it seem natural. Making a coin vanish from your hand is the simplest and most basic magic trick you'll ever do, but if you can get it right, and understand the effort it takes, you can go on to learn many astounding illusions and impress everyone you meet. Magician Oscar Owen is glad to teach you many more illusions through his YouTube channel. He also offers a free magic course that emphasizes how fast you can learn magic tricks. But illusions are like chess; it takes about five minutes to learn it, but a lifetime to master it.

That said, the static image in this video still bothers me, because it looks like he's got a crusty wound on his hand. I don't know where that came from, but it's not relevant to the trick. -via Digg

Think of the delicious sweet aroma that comes from marzipan, or Amaretto liqueur, or anything with a touch of almond extract. That scent comes from benzaldehyde. It is a part of nature's underhanded scheme to destroy mankind, although the plants that produce it would tell you it's just a defense mechanism so they can reproduce successfully.

Some plants produce amygdalin in their fruit pits. When that chemical is released by crushing or chewing, the amygdalin breaks down into two chemicals: the benzaldehyde that smells so good, and cyanide. The way these plants evolved, any creature that eats it is supposed to learn to stay away when they encounter that smell -or else just die. However, humans love it. Amygdalin is present in the seeds of peaches, apricots, cherries, mamey sapote fruit, cassava, and most of all, almonds.

But don't let that keep you from eating those foods. Cultivation of almond trees has given us the sweet almond, which has way less cyanide than natural bitter almonds, and people have learned to process the other foods to reduce their toxicity. You have to wonder how many people were killed on the way to learning those methods. Read about the cyanide in natural fruits and nuts at Atlas Obscura.

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From superstitions about throwing shoes to belief in Patagonian giants, Khalid Elhassan from History Collection gives us an interesting list of some of the most bizarre rituals and beliefs that people have held in history.

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Oil has been the king of all natural resources for the past century, and for the past five years, the US has been at the top of the world's largest oil producers. But apart from the US, do you know which countries have big shares in the global supply of oil? The Visual Capitalist gives us a concise infographic showing the different countries with stakes in oil production.

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The construction of Hoormem's facility was completed in May of this year, and the project was spearheaded by Cun Panda Nana, the creative studio who also developed the 1/2 Coffee & Bar in Xiamen. Through the design, Hoormem wanted to create an atmosphere conducive to utmost rest and relaxation.

Underpinned by a subtle interplay of curved and rectilinear forms, and complemented by a mix of soothing sounds and dreamy aromas, Hoormem’s flagship facility is a tranquil, therapeutic space full of vitality despite the gentleness of its design, promoting healing through all five of the senses.

Learn more about Hoormem at Yatzer.

(Video Credit: Amazing Architecture/Youtube)

Misdirected amplexus is the scientific term that describes male frogs' odd behavior of trying to mate with things other than frog-kind. And there is now evidence that suggests that this behavior began as far back as 220 million years ago.

Mating frogs may have been occasionally getting it wrong for hundreds of millions of years. We know that males today will sometimes select an inappropriate partner during the breeding season – a frog from a different species, a turtle, a fish or even an inanimate object.

“For a male facing huge competition with rivals to reproduce, it would be advantageous for males to arbitrarily be attracted to – and thus clasp – any female-looking object in order to increase mating probabilities,” says François Brischoux at La Rochelle University in France.

More on this from Veterinary Daily. - via Weird Universe

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If you're a fan of the Final Fantasy series, then you might find this new sweets lineup by Fujiya quite delectable. They will be selling Fat Chocobo Cake, Cloud macarons and other character macarons for 800 yen each.

The Fujiya/Final Fantasy collaboration is technically a promotion for the recently released "Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis" mobile game, but the specific branding is subtle enough for it to be fun for fans of the franchise as a whole, and all of the items go on sale October 6.

(Image credit: Fujiya)

Through the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have been able to find multiple other galaxies like the Milky Way which they say should fundamentally alter our view of the universe.

In a new study by a team of international researchers, the JWST has been used to reveal galaxies similar to the Milky Way – ‘flat’ disc galaxies that rotate around a centre point, like CDs, and often contain vast spiral arms – in the early universe.

This involved looking “back in time” ten billion years or more, to a turbulent period that occurred in the wake of the Big Bang, which is just what the pioneering telescope was made for.

What does this mean? Apparently, these types of galaxies are the perfect places where life could have formed.

(Image credit: ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons)

The video above is only of the top 15 videos from this year's Audubon Photography Awards, and to me, it was quite a marvel to see what seemed like thousands of snow geese honking and flying across Freezeout Lake Wildlife in Montana. The video was taken by Ben Pierce and he shares the story behind it here on Audubon. You may also check out 14 other videos and how the photographers caught them in film.

(Video credit: Ben Pierce/National Audubon Society)

It's been over decade since China and the Philippines have had tensions over the contested islands west of the Philippine island of Luzon, and Reuters gives us a quick summary of the salient points in this dispute and why it's significant in the grand scheme of things.

(Video credit: Reuters)

Studio Ghibli fans are in for a treat with the 25th feature film, The Boy and The Heron, set to release in the US this coming December 8th. The new film is currently showing in Japanese theaters, and has been since July, and so far, it has received a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic consensus of 89. So, in view of the upcoming new film, Vulture has republished their ranking of Studio Ghibli films.

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English has become the common international language for communication between countries that don't share similar languages. And with its assimilation into different cultures, it also adapted and evolved into various forms that incorporated features from the cultures in which it thrived. One pair of countries in which English has taken on its own character is Singapore and Malaysia.

Two unique varieties of English have emerged in neighboring nations, Malaysia and Singapore, known as Manglish and Singlish, respectively.

Now, outsiders may feel a little out of the loop in their first exposure to Singlish and Manglish, so we’ve put together this list of some of the most common words you may hear during everyday conversation, and their subtle differences between Singapore and Malaysia. Learn some of these and you’ll be on your way, lah.

Coconuts Singapore has compiled these five words that you'll often hear when you travel to Singapore or Malaysia, and it would definitely be best to familiarize yourself with them if you ever feel like going to either of those countries.

(Image credit: Lionel Lim/Flickr, CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons)

It has been three years since Studio Ghibli made its last feature film with Earwig and the Witch, and 10 years since Hayao Miyazaki had last written and directed a film, his previous one being The Wind Rises in 2013. The Boy and The Heron will be the ninth feature film that Miyazaki has directed. Tokyo Otaku Mode shares more details about the film.

(Video Credit: GKIDS Films/Youtube)

It was in the summer of 1955 when Connecticut was hit by two devastating hurricanes, Connie and Diane, which left the whole state reeling from the damages. In the meanwhile, Steve Ditko, who is known for co-creating Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strage, was struggling to find work back then as a comic book artist. After a series of unforeseen circumstances, it led him to Marvel Comics.

One surprising effect of the flooding was that the career path of Steve Ditko, one of the greatest comic book artists of the 20th Century was waylaid, and so Marvel Comics saw ITS path altered by Ditko being forced to go work for Marvel in 1955.

CBR's Brian Cronin tells the story of how Ditko was forced to work for Marvel in 1955.

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