This looks a little concerning, don’t you think? Redditor dhl posted a picture that drew all sorts of speculation, the most obvious being that blood is draining from a dead body hidden up there. Or maybe cedar wood responding to temperature fluctuations by dripping sap. Or bees, of course. But since it’s dhl’s picture, he probably knows the real problem.

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The Underwater Photographer of the Year recognizes the best pictures from the adventurous photographers who take risks to bring the ocean to all of us. The 2021 awards have been announced. American photographer Renee Capozzola garnered the top prize for her photograph titled 'Sharks' Skylight.’ The photo also won in the Wide Angle category. The runner-up in the Wide Angle category is the image above by Martin Broen called ‘Gothic Chamber.’ The runner-up in the Macro category is this ‘Larval Lionfish’ by Steven Kovacs.  

You’ll see lots of amazing shots that show us life below the mysterious depths of sea at the winners gallery, plus hear the stories behind the images from the photographers themselves in their acceptance videos. -via Digg

In some cities, it is customary to mark a street-side parking spot as claimed by a person. To transgress upon a claimed parking spot may result in a duel. Thoughtful and civilized residents of such cities, such as Chicago, know these unwritten rules.

This is why Adam Selzer soaks his pants in water, then shapes them upright and places them in the street. His pants mark his spot. He says that in 20 minutes, the wet pants can be shaped. 20 minutes later, they're frozen solid. UPI says that other Chicagoans may use lawn chairs or traffic cones. Let us hope that Selzer's approach becomes the norm.

Photo: Adam Selzer

-via Dave Barry

It's cold enough in Calgary today that I used a frozen towel as a toboggan 😂 pic.twitter.com/i0itJmXp3U

— Kyle Brittain (@KyleTWN) February 7, 2021

As The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy informs us:

A towel . . . is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

You can also, as Kyle Brittain discovered, make a functional toboggan out of a towel by shaping it, then freezing it with water. It works well as a sled. Just be aware that the towel may not survive the process, so be sure to use someone else's.

-via Super Punch

Get ready to go fast as the Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO playset will be an actual product soon! The concept, which was proposed by 24-year old Viv Grannell, recently just got 10,000 supporters in the LEGO Ideas website. Grannell’s concept also had won the approval of LEGO.

LEGO is still finalizing the set’s design, although I hope it’s as close to Viv’s original “Green Hill Zone” submission as possible because that looks like a fun playset. Just not to step on – especially not Doctor Robotnik’s drill hands. My toes curled in pain just thinking about it.

Are you excited for this one?

(Image Credit: toastergrl/ LEGO IDEAS/ Technabob)

Katie Wickens wanted to prove that Dave (probably her friend) was wrong when he stated that the most famous computer in the world would probably be an Apple device. But in order to disprove his claim, Katie has to do some research. Thankfully, she…

just stumbled upon StarringtheComputer. It's a brilliant resource for anyone wondering where each of their favourite computers starred in media productions.

Not only does the site include endless lists of shows and movies with computers in them, for each one there are also screenshots of its airtime, and a short overview of its role in the production. The site also gives each feature ratings that relate to the devices importance, realism and visibility. 

They even have a twitter account if you want to keep track of when the site gets updated, or even help out in identifying some of the more esoteric models that have been spotted on screen.

In the end, Katie was able to prove that the most famous computer of all time (based on the amount of air-time) is not an Apple device. The most famous is the one pictured above: the IBM AN/FSQ-7.

More about this over at PC Gamer.

(Image Credit: United States Air Force/ Wikimedia Commons)

Fluoxetine, which is sold under brand names like Prozac and Sarafem, is an antidepressant used to treat various disorders such as OCD and bulimia. While it is a medication helpful to humans, fluoxetine can be damaging to guppies.

Researchers have found that long-term exposure to the drug makes guppies act more alike, wiping out some of the typical behavioral differences that distinguish them. That could be a big problem when the medication… washes into streams and rivers, potentially making fish populations more vulnerable to predators and other threats.

[...]

Fish raised in drug-free water displayed a wide range of behaviors. Some darted about, whereas others were much “lazier.” But fish exposed to fluoxetine showed fewer differences; most were moderately active, making them all more like an average fish, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The drugged guppies were like zombies who did “not have their individuality anymore,”...

Now that’s some scary drug.

Learn more about the study over at Science Magazine.

(Image Credit: Benjah-bmm27/ Wikimedia Commons)

Five cars suddenly hit their brake pedals to avoid smashing the innocent koala on the road. The car pile-up happened while the adorable creature was trying to cross the six-lane freeway in South Australia.

Fortunately, the marsupial was saved. It even made a lovely pose inside its rescuer's car.

(Image Credit: Nadia Tugwell via AP)

Is it just me or are cyberattacks becoming common lately? The video game developer who created The Witcher game series, as well as Cyberpunk 2077, has “become a victim of a targeted cyberattack” just recently.

In a message the developer shared on Twitter Tuesday morning, the hackers allege that they stole the closely guarded source code for Cyberpunk 2077, Gwent, and The Witcher 3 (including an unreleased prototype of the last). Documents "relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investors relations and more" were also allegedly compromised.

CD Projekt Red assures people, however, that “to the best of our knowledge, the compromised systems did not contain any personal data of our players or users of our services.” The company also stands firm that they “will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data.”

CAPCOM and Nintendo have also been victims of cyberattacks in the previous year.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: CD Projekt Red/ Ars Technica)

Common advice says that the best time for creative work is in the morning. Popular figures of the past, such as Benjamin Franklin and Margaret Mead, arose early in the day to do their work. But is the morning really the time when people are most creative? It turns out that it depends on the person’s chronotype (his preferred times of activity and sleep), according to new research published in the Academy of Management Journal.

The overall measure of creativity – composed of fluency, flexibility, and originality – showed that idea generation was most successful for late chronotypes at the end of the workday and for the early chronotypes at the start of the workday.

Head over at Psychology Today to learn more about this topic.

(Image Credit: geralt/ Pixabay)

Scripps scientist Phil Hasting found pleasure in selecting a name for the newly discovered species of fish. His current experience of being contained in the four corners of his house gave him the idea to name the new sea creature Pandemic Blenney.

Pandemic Blenney (Coralliozetus clausus) are small in size at a maximum of 18 millimeters long. They are said to be found only around Cocos Island in Costa Rica.

“One of the pleasurable tasks of describing a new species is selecting a unique name for it. I originally thought about naming the fish in reference to its small size - the largest specimen is only 15 mm long,” said Hastings. “But then, when considering its restricted distribution, I decided to give it the Latin specific name of clausus which means ‘enclosed’ or ‘having been shut off.’ As I stared at the four walls of my home office, I thought about my own and others’ isolation during the pandemic, so I gave it the common name of Pandemic Blenny.”

(Image Credit: UC San Diego News Center )

Taking care of the diverse and diminishing species of wild animals in Africa requires constant management of populations for their own good. You can imagine that moving a rhinoceros from one area to another is a massive undertaking, no matter how you do it. Believe it or not, veterinarians and scientists have determined that the best way to move rhino is the method you see above: hanging by its feet from a helicopter.  

“We’ve been picking animals up by their feet for 20 years now,” says Pete Morkel, a wildlife veterinarian who is considered the world’s foremost expert in black rhinos. The options were either moving the animal by the feet or flat on its side—and placing straps around the feet was much easier than hoisting a sometimes-enormous animal onto a stretcher for transport. The animals sport a blindfold and earplugs to help limit stimuli. “We started small, with zebra and antelope, and then moved on to the big stuff,” Morkel says. “There was a lot of trial and error—and luckily, we haven’t had much error.”

While ease of movement plays a part in determining best practices, the effect on the animal is the top priority. Read about the experiments that revealed it was safe and effective to hang a rhino by its feet at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine)

A video posted on Twitter is showing how Disney handled its animation process during its hand-drawn animation era. The clip shows various clips of different Disney films side-by-side, showcasing instances of recycled animations. Same movement or actions, different characters or movies. The video has been viewed over 11 million times, and people have mixed reactions to it: 

The montage beings with a clip of Winnie the Pooh's Christopher Robin alongside one of The Jungle Book's Mowgli, both clambering over rocks. Although the films were released 10 years apart (1977 and 1967 respectively), the characters' actions are eerily identical. The clip also reveals the Jungle Book also borrowed animations from The Sword in the Stone, released a year previously.

It seems the responses fall into one of three categories: confused, indignant or impressed. Many are are simply stunned to see that some of their favourite childhood films recycled animations, while others decry the practice as lazy. But many point out how laborious the animation process was in the 1960s and 70s (if only a few of today's best laptops for video editing had been knocking about), and call the recycling practice efficient, and even inspired.

Image via CreativeBloq

Eighteen-year old Andrey Esipenko could not hide his huge smiles after beating the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in Round 8 of Tata Steel 2021.

It was a great opportunity for the young challenger to face Carlsen, and a greater one to beat him in his own game. 

I could also imagine the mental arsenal that Esipenko went through to vanquish Carlson’s great technique. In the end, it was a well-earned grin. 

“Yes, he defeated Magnus. But it looks like Magnus has shaved off 20 years of Andrey's life expectancy during that match,” said one in the comments.

(Image Credit: Chess.com/Youtube)

YouTuber Khalid SM Shahin digitally added the voices of Beavis and Butt-Head from the cartoon of the same name to the 1989 Legend of Zelda cartoon. Beavis is obnoxiously eager to develop a deeper relationship with Princess Zelda, daughter of King Butt-Head.

Beavis, an incarnation of the Hero with a Thousand Faces, prevails and acquires his reward. It is, perhaps, not what he expected. Then, in the final two minutes of the cartoon, things get really weird.

-via Geekologie