Did you know that Harvard scientists have this controversial plan to dim sunlight? It's been in the news for years, but it's becoming closer to reality as the scientists propose a "June 2021 test flight of a research balloon designed to drop small amounts of chalky dust and observe its effects."

This first flight would not inject the particles; it would only be a dry run of the steerable balloon and instruments needed to study chemical reactions in the stratosphere, the calm, cold layer more than 10 kilometers up. Even so, the project, called the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), must first win the approval of an independent advisory board, a decision that could come in February 2021.

The need to study the real-world effects of releasing reflective particles is pressing, says David Keith, a Harvard energy and climate scientist and one of SCoPEx’s lead scientists. Solar geoengineering is no substitute for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, he says, but it could ameliorate the worst damage of global warming, such as the extreme heat waves and storms that claim many lives today. “There is a real potential, maybe a significant potential, to reduce the risks of climate change this century—by a lot.”

Inasmuch as there's a great potential for solar geoengineering, there's also a downside.

But research in solar geoengineering has long been taboo, says Faye McNeill, an atmospheric chemist at Columbia University who is unaffiliated with SCoPEx. “We didn’t want it to appear that we were encouraging it.” One fear is that solar geoengineering could be done unilaterally by groups or nations, with unknown effects on plant growth and rainfall patterns. Another worry is that it would encourage a sort of addiction, adding more and more particles to block warming while not addressing the root problem of mounting emissions. But now, with so much warming already locked in, “the urgency of the climate problem has escalated,” McNeill says.

Read more at Science and Big Think.

Image Credits: BENZA IMG/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

If you've been a fan of C.S. Lewis' writings, you won't want to miss this virtual dramatic presentation of William Nicholson's Shadowlands. It's a two-hour story showing the love story of Clive Staples Lewis (or Jack, as known by his friends) and Helen Joy Davidman.

As I've just watched it, I didn't know that I could relate that much to Joy's enthusiasm! She's indeed such an extraordinary woman, and it's no wonder why she captivated CS Lewis.

All thanks to the Fellowship for Performing Arts for this wonderful presentation.

Photo and Video Credits to Fellowship for Performing Arts

The structure looks  straight from a video game. Meet the IH Residence, a family home in Bundung, Indonesia. Designed by andramatin, the home’s design was influenced by the natural topography and the climate in the region. The eye-catching oversized roof has a purpose- to offer shelter and protection from the heavy rainfall as well as from direct sunlight, as Homedit details: 

The house also engages with the site and its surroundings in a really cool and interesting way. The sloping terrain allowed for a series of spaces to be created below the floor level of the main section of the house. They’re mainly a service area and a basement. The house also features several outdoor-oriented functions such as a series of terrain, balconies and reflective pools which surround the living areas and help them transition towards the landscape surrounding the house. 

Image via Homedit

Neel Veterinary Hospital in Oklahoma City shows us a four-day-old puppy that has six legs! The veterinarians cannot find any record of such a case where a puppy has survived birth, but the female puppy, named Miracle and called Skipper, seems to be relatively healthy.   

She has a type of congenital conjoining disorders called monocephalus dipygus and monocephalus rachipagus dibrachius tetrapus which simply means she has 1 head and chest cavity but 2 pelvic regions, 2 lower urinary tracts, 2 reproductive systems, 2 tails and 6 legs among other things.

Skipper now has her own Facebook feed so you can find out more, keep up with her progress, and see videos. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Neel Veterinary Hospital)

Woofbowl, a food truck in New York City, offers visually appealing foods for non-human consumption. Trot up to the side window to order your favorite snacks or ask your two-legs to do it for you. The gourmet menu includes non-alcoholic beer, hamburgers, and goat milk donuts.

Last year, Washington Business Journal interviewed Ron and Solo Holloway, the founders and owners of Woofbowl. Solo described the origin of this novel business:

For most millennials, our dogs are our kids. Therefore, I made all of our dogs’ meals and treats. One day, I was just exhausted and I said to Ron, it would be nice if I could just buy it and not have to make everything myself. He simply said to me with a smile, “Then make it a business.” Necessity is the mother of all inventions. Since the day I met Ron, he had the entrepreneurial spirit; he can be very persuasive. And the more I felt discouraged at work, the more Woofbowl became a reality.

-via Laughing Squid | Photo: Woofbowl

3D Bee Air Freshener

For many of us it's been a stinging and painful winter. Swipe away those winter blues with the 3D Bee Air Freshener from the NeatoShop. 

The bee-witching 3D Bee Air Freshener comes in honey scent. No we aren't pollen-your-leg. 

The 3D Bee Air Freshener is an un-bee-lievably fun way to add a little spring to your home or vehicle. It also makes a lovely token of affection for your honey or queen bee.  

Looking for more buzz worthy gifts? Be sure to check out the NeatoShop. 

Don't forget to also stop by the shop to see our large selection of customizable apparel and bags. We feature thousands of pieces of art by amazing indie artists. We specialize in Big and Tall and Curvy sizes. We carry baby 6 mo. all the way to 10XL adult shirts. We know that fun, fabulous, and bee-uatiful people come in every size. 

What topics do you like reading on this site? What do you love about Neatorama? Just curious about what everyone thinks!

Different species have different lifespans. Some live only for a day like the adult mayflies, while others are able to live for a hundred years, like the sea turtles. The question is, how do we calculate lifespan? It seems that the DNA could be the key to answering this question, and it could be the key to helping animals and humans live longer.

DNA is the biological blueprint that makes each living creature unique. Everything from a person’s height to the iconic orange scales on a clownfish ties back to DNA instructions. When it comes to determining lifespans, DNA might be relevant, too. More specifically, methylation, a biological process inside cells, might hold clues to lifespan and the aging process in humans and animals.

Learn more about this over at Discover Magazine.

(Image Credit: LaCasadeGoethe/ Pixabay)

Thirty years after the original release of Street Fighter II, video game publisher Capcom has released the Capcom Arcade Stadium for the Nintendo Switch. The Capcom Arcade Stadium is a compilation of video games which include multiple versions of Street Fighter II, such as the original game and its Turbo versions. The re-release, however, has had some changes, specifically in the E. Honda stage.

… the rising sun and its rays have disappeared from the stage’s background mural.

In the original versions of the games, the gray sun would also light up in alternating colors of red and yellow when the round was over.

This has now been changed to the entire left half of the mural changing color as a solid block, as shown in these screen captures.

[...]

No official reason has been announced for the change, but the most likely explanation is that Capcom wants to avoid a negative reaction in other parts of Asia to the rising sun imagery…

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: @pomegd/Twitter)

Beef Wellington is a British dish consisting of a steak wrapped with mushrooms duxelles and a pastry shell. Legend holds that it was named to honor Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington and vanquisher of Napoleon Bonaparte. Cooking one is difficult and thus commonly a challenge among cooking hobbyists and culinary students.

It had never occurred to me before I saw these photos, but beef Wellington is a pastry dish. So should not the fine arts of a pastry chef be applied to its shell? That's what chef Anthony Rush at Restaurant Siena in Honolulu does. The results are stunning.

Young people never fail to amaze me. Meet 21-year-old Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Harrison completed a 3,000 mile (4,000 kilometer) journey from Spain to Antigua all alone. She set a new record with her adventure, as she was able to complete the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in 70 days, three hours, and 48 minutes, as CNN details: 

Along the way, she had a "near collision with a drilling ship, two capsizes, lots of peanut butter and Nutella consumed," Harrison said on Twitter.

Harrison, from the landlocked town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire, England, wrote on her website that she was inspired to take part in the challenge when she saw the 2018 race finish while teaching swimming in the Caribbean.

"It wasn't just watching and holding the flares at Nelson's Dockyard for a race finish that inspired me, it was also talking to a family member of a lad that had just completed who told me just how much of an amazing thing it was. I didn't say 'not a chance I would do that,' it was more a fact of why not do it?" she wrote.

Image via CNN 

What could possibly go wrong? Absolutely everything in this commercial for Etisalat, a telecommunications company. Helsinki-based filmmaker Nalle Sjoblad made this ad titled Moonwalk.

It makes no obvious sense at all. Why is it called Moonwalk? How does it promote Etisalat's services? Why are the people featured in 1 minute and 9 seconds of video making so many poor life choices?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I want to watch this commercial over and over again.

-via Colossal

Anchorage, Alaska — We expect to be relieved when we go to the toilet, and that’s what Shannon Stevens expected as well when she went to the outhouse. But, as she sat down on the toilet, she felt something bite her butt, causing her to jump up and scream. Her brother Erik heard her scream from their yurt (which was about 150 feet away) and immediately carried with him his headlamp, and went to the outhouse.

“I opened the toilet seat and there’s just a bear face just right there at the level of the toilet seat, just looking right back up through the hole, right at me,” he said.

Once safely inside, they treated Shannon with a first aid kit. They determined it wasn’t that serious, but they would head to Haines if it worsened.

The next morning, they found bear tracks all over the property, but the bear had left the area. “You could see them across the snow, coming up to the side of the outhouse,” she said.

They figure the bear got inside the outhouse through an opening at the bottom of the back door.

Carl Koch, a biologist from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Management, suspects that the bear who bit Shannon might have been a black bear. He also suspects that the bear did not really bite Shannon, but rather only swatted her with a paw. Nevertheless, Koch states that Shannon’s case is unique.

“As far as getting swatted on the butt when you’re sitting down in winter, she could be the only person on Earth that this has ever happened to, for all I know,” Koch said.

Read more about this unusual story over at AP News.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Julia Heinz MD via AP)

You’ve seen pizzas filled with pepperoni, cheese, or pineapples, but you might not have seen a pizza filled with marshmallows and bubble tea. That’s right. Something like that exists, but only for a limited time. Pizza Hut Singapore is offering the Bubble Tea Blossom Pizza until March 30, 2021. Of course, “but why?” would be a normal question to such weirdness.

Pizza Hut Singapore's Head of Marketing and Food Innovation Jayss Rajoo said the team put in some thought into the creation of the pizza.

“The team at Pizza Hut, Singapore’s leading pizza restaurant, takes pride in offering customers a moment’s relaxation from their busy, complex lives with a slice of simple, delicious pizza.

"We know that pizza is a firm family favorite of Singaporeans; so, we thought, why not combine it with another great Singaporean love – bubble tea?" he said in a statement.

Would you eat this pizza?

(Image Credit: AsiaOne/ Mashable)

You might expect that imported pop culture would be changed somewhat in order to be better understood in a different country, or to make it more relatable. That's not the only reason things get changed. Sometimes it's to make the finished product more lucrative, as in getting enough episodes of a TV show to sell in syndication. But one movie in this list was changed beyond all reason.

It's mind-blowing to think of Casablanca without Nazis, and without World War II. That's the whole point of the story! You can imagine it turned out to be about ten minutes long. I had to look that story up, and it's true. The German version of Casablanca brought the movie down from an hour and 42 minutes to an hour and 17 minutes, and wasn't particularly well received. See other movies and TV shows that changed dramatically when they crossed borders at Cracked.