Each country has its own peculiarities. Culture gives people a sense of identity and belonging, something on which they can be rooted. Their behaviors, perspectives, worldviews, norms, customs, and traditions rise from the particular culture in which they were brought up. In this modern globalized age, we can mingle with one another and learn from other people's culture.

However, sometimes, we cannot avoid being perplexed about certain things people do that would be considered normal in their culture. And that's what Nathan Koh of Rice Media set out to do. He collected tourists' opinions about things that Singaporeans did that confused them.

"Singaporeans not only walk fast, but I feel that they actually enjoy walking."

"I understand the concept of ‘choping’ seats with tissue packets, name cards, and umbrellas–I see it all the time and I do it too. It guarantees that I’ll have a seat. But ever so often, I’ll see a table ‘choped’ with phones and sometimes, laptops."

After reading several of these observations from foreigners, I feel like this may not be particular to just Singaporeans as I have seen this done by Japanese and Koreans as well. So, maybe there are actually some similarities in cultures as well and it would be great for us to learn from them, and take from that what we can.

(Image credit: Singapore Stock Photos/Unsplash)

Out of all the five senses, smell and taste don't get as much attention, especially the loss of it. Perhaps it's because we can still live a relatively normal life even without the full sensation of smell or taste, unlike sight or hearing. But Julian Meeks, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester asserts the greater need for the loss of smell, or anosmia, to be studied.

Growing up, Julian Meeks knew what a life without a sense of smell could look like. He’d watched his grandfather navigate the condition, known as anosmia, observing that he didn’t perceive flavor and only enjoyed eating very salty or meaty foods.

The experience influenced him, in part, to study chemosensation, which involves both smell and taste. Meeks, now a professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester, told Undark that neither gets much attention compared to other senses: “Often, they’re thought of as second or third in order of importance.”

Hannah Docter-Loeb of Undark sat down with Prof. Meeks to talk about anosmia and the struggle he's had to support the study of it.

(Image credit: Battlecreek Coffee Roasters/Unsplash)

Sol Neelman is a sports photographer who once dreamed of being a pro wrestler. Now, he has published his third photobook titled More Weird Sports in which he documents sports like mashed potato wrestling and cosmic bowling.

Weird sports is loosely defined, but for Neelman’s purposes, it’s any athletic gathering he deems out-of-the-norm, often prizing performance art and a good time over competition and athletics.

Atlas Obscura's Roxanne Hoorn writes about the different weird sports covered in Neelman's new book.

(Image credit: Sol Neelman/Twitter)

With its shiny blue hue, this electric blue tarantula named Chilobrachys natanicharum surely mesmerizes those that gaze upon it, since it's quite rare to see anything in nature that would be akin to something like phosphorescence. Now, a study had given this explanation as to why the tarantula would have such a pigmentation:

According to the study, the secret behind the electric blue tarantula’s wild color comes from the unique structure of their hair and not from a presence of blue pigment. Their hair incorporates nanostructures that manipulate the light shining on it to create the blue appearance. Their hair can also display a more violet hue depending on the light, which creates an iridescent effect. 

Learn more about the electric blue tarantula on Pop Sci.

(Video credit: JoCho Sippawat/Pensoft Publishers)

At that moment, he drops everything else and hones in on trying to impress a potential mate. Researches have found that there is a mechanism in the zebra finch's brain that could help explain the way we shift priorities.

“The males stop worrying about anything else and, for the first time, we have found signs of that re-prioritization in the behavior of specific brain cells,” said Vikram Gadagkar, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and a co-first author, along with graduate student Andrea Roeser of Cornell University, on a new paper in Nature that documents these findings. 

“Our findings could help explain what our brains are doing when they shift gears as different opportunities arise and as our priorities change,” said Dr. Gadagkar, who also is an assistant professor of neuroscience at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Eurekalert shares details of the findings by Dr. Gadagkar and his colleagues as well as a link to their paper titled "Dopaminergic error signals retune to social feedback during courtship".

(Image credit: Margaret Strickland/Unsplash)

The photo was posted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) about a week ago, and it served as a testament of the capability of the camera system onboard its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which had launched on September 6, to help SLIM land on the moon.

The image, which JAXA posted Sept. 21 via its SLIM account on X (formerly known as Twitter), was taken around 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth. The image is monochromatic, as the dual-camera, vision-based navigation system is designed to identify crater positions from data stored aboard the spacecraft.

(Image credit: JAXA/SLIM)

Researchers have published a new study in Animal Behavior that demonstrated just how intelligent elephants can be. We know that elephants along with dolphins and chimpanzees were some of the most erudite mammals, but these researchers tested elephants intelligence through a series of puzzles.

"This is the first research study to show that individual wild elephants have different willingness and abilities to problem solve in order to get food," said the study's lead author Sarah Jacobson, a psychology doctoral candidate studying animal cognition at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College.

"This is important knowledge, because how animals think and innovate may influence their ability to survive in environments that are rapidly changing due to human presence."

You may watch a video of one of the elephants solving a puzzle on Phys.

(Image credit: Wolfgang Hasselmann/Unsplash)

Smartphones were a game-changer, in that they offered users multiple functions in a single device which can be carried wherever. One of the things that have become a part of people's lives with the smartphone is taking pictures and videos of their experiences and sharing them online.

However, one possible limitation of this is that while you're capturing the moment, you won't exactly be able to take part and the scope of what you can capture is also dependent on where you point your phone. That's where the Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses might come in. On Tech Crunch:

Unveiled this morning at Meta Connect in Menlo Park, California, the new sunglasses are capable of livestreaming video to (naturally) Facebook and Instagram.

The systems come in the standard classic Wayfarer design, along with a new Headliner style. They look like standard sunglasses (or eyeglasses, depending on the lens), save for two round modules on the side of either eye. On the right is a 12-megapixel camera that can take stills and record video in 1080p. The other side — that looks more or less identical (for symmetry’s sake) — is actually an LED light that flips on to alert others that you’re recording.

Apart from livestreaming video, there are also plans of including a feature which would allow the wearer to translate text on signs and the like.

(Image credit: cavebear42/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0)

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.

(Image credit: Ivar Leidus)

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.

(Image credit: Emmeli M/Unsplash)

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.

(Image credit: Zbynek Burival/Unsplash)

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

(Image credit: Wild Spirit/Unsplash)