An old tree lives in front of the house of Reddit user SeanCole2. But unlike any other tree, this tree, for some reason, produces leaves with various colors. A reddit user commented that the tree is a red maple and likely suffers from chlorosis, and is lacking in iron or manganese.
Well, what do you think?
(Image Credit: u/ SeanCole2/ Reddit)
Tomoko Sato, a food artist in Kyoto, Japan, carves images and designs into fruits and vegetables, thereby transforming them into works of art. They're so beautiful that it would be obscene to eat them. You can follow her work on Instagram or her own website.
TYWKIWDBI brings to our attention this image of unknown provenance circulating the internet. What dark energy on the farm led to the spawning of this magnificent pumpkin? I don't know but don't even think of cutting into it as a jack-o'-lantern in order to find out. Lord Cthulhu has blessed it with his form.
The Natural History Museum in London has announced their Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners for 2020. The overall winner in the adult photographer category is Sergey Gorshkov for the above picture of an Amur tiger in a Siberian forest. He worked ten months to get this photo!
These solitary cats exchange vital information, such as the need for mates, by leaving scent, hairs, urine and other markers on prominent spots, including tree trunks. In the far east of Russia, a population of around 500 Amur tigers persists, occupying a fragment of its former land. Under threat from habitat loss and poaching, these tigers are close to extinction.
The Young Grand Title winner is Liina Heikkinen, who captured this image of a young fox with a piece of a barnacle goose for dinner on one of Helsinki's islands.
See more winning images from the various categories (although they are not labeled) at Mashable. Be warned that some involve prey, and a couple show animals in captivity.
Remains of a large temple, which was possibly built in the end of the 8th century, have been unearthed by archaeologists in Norway. The temple is said to have been a “god house” — a place where people worshipped and gave sacrifices to the Old Norse gods (like Thor and Odin) during the midsummer and midwinter solstices.
This is the first Old Norse temple found in the country, said archaeologist Søren Diinhoff of the University Museum of Bergen.
"This is the first time we've found one of these very special, very beautiful buildings," Diinhoff told Live Science. "We know them from Sweden and we know them from Denmark. … This shows that they also existed in Norway."
The Norse began building these large "god houses," as they're called, in the sixth century. The god houses were much more complex than the simple sites, often outdoors, that the people previously used to worship the Old Norse gods.
But how did archaeologists find out that this was a god house? The answer is over at Live Science.
(Image Credit: University Museum of Bergen/ Live Science)
She’s totally engrossed with the song alright! Watch as The Beaner’s lovely teacup chihuahua, named Beanie, sings along to her owner’s dad’s song. Turns out that the song The Bearner’s dad is singing was made for her furry companion. So adorable!
Thanks, solar system, for giving us something good the next couple of months. A special ‘blue moon’ is expected to appear in our night skies, a couple of meteor showers, and some harvest moons (not the game, how can a game appear in the sky?). Forbes has a full stargazing guide for the heavenly phenomena that will appear in the coming weeks. Mark your calendars and have fun stargazing!
Image via Forbes
Surprisingly, not a lot of oddball items(in terms of function). Some are actually for home use, small gadgets that can make organizing or cleaning easier at home. This is tame, considering that Amazon shoppers are willing to try out any products, even the outlandish items. When many shoppers buy one particular thing, you can bet it’s awesome. Inverse lists the genius products that are popular on Amazon right now, from a brush that can clean several blinds at once, to a folding board that can help you fold your shirts neatly. Check their full list here.
Image via Inverse
When one looks at the night sky above through his naked eye, he sees the beauty of the cosmos and learns to appreciate it. But one learns that it is more beautiful when he looks at it with more powerful eyes — through the lens of a telescope.
If you’re someone who wants to observe the Moon, the stars, planets, and nebulas in your backyard, then what you’ll need is a telescope. But what kind of telescope?
For the uninitiated, choosing a beginners' telescope can be a confusing affair — especially when you're bombarded with jargon. Space.com is here to make the search simpler for you.
The site recommends some telescopes that they believe are the best for beginners. Head over at Space.com to know more.
(Image Credit: Celestron/ Space.com)
Palmyra Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was once a paradise of coral, seabirds, marine life, and forest. But when the US military and other people moved in, they brought invasive species with them. Most notable and destructive were the black rats that always seem to find somewhere to hide in ships, and coconut palms, which made their way from plantations.
By the end of the century, the rats and palms had transformed the atoll’s entire ecosystem. Eight seabird species roaming the wider area were ominously missing – according to conservationists, possibly because the rats had driven them into local extinction. Some crab species were dwindling, or had even completely disappeared from sight. On other tropical islands, evidence emerged that rodent invasions were affecting species as ostensibly far-removed as coral reefs, by disrupting their supply of nutrient-rich seabird droppings.
The coconut palms also damaged the delicate chain of nutrients that sustained life on and around Palmyra. They took over half the atoll. Seabirds avoided nesting in the palms, preferring sturdy native trees with branches. As the supply of bird droppings declined, the impact rippled through the ecosystem. On islets with palm forests, the soil was poorer in nutrients than on those with native forests, as was the water running off them. The plankton along the palm forest coastlines was less abundant, and there were fewer manta rays, which feed on plankton, than along native forest coastlines.
There were about 20,000 rats when the Nature Conservatory bought Palmyra Atoll in 2000. Could they restore the island to its natural condition? The first thing they did was to call the world's most successful tropical exterminator. Find out what's happened since then at BBC Future. -via Nag on the Lake
(Image credit: Kevin Lafferty, U.S. Geological Survey)
Psychedelic drugs are illegal, but is that a good thing? Studies show there are clear benefits to the use of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, in treating a wide range of mental illnesses. But it also has a tendency to alter one's personality, shift their religious beliefs, and even channge their political views.
Although its precise therapeutic mechanisms remain unclear, clinically relevant doses of psilocybin can induce powerful mystical experiences more commonly associated with extended periods of fasting, prayer or meditation. Arguably, then, it is unsurprising that it can generate long-lasting changes in patients: studies report increased prosociality and aesthetic appreciation, plus robust shifts in personality, values and attitudes to life, even leading some atheists to find God. What’s more, these experiences appear to be a feature, rather than a bug, of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, with the intensity of the mystical experience correlating with the extent of clinical benefit.
There's a reason it's called a mind-expanding drug. Fully-informed individuals who get the chance to try this therapy might consider it worth the risk when they are suffering. But government approval of the drug, not to mention insurance coverage, might hit a snag. Read about the conundrum facing the use of psilocybin at Scientific American. -via Damn Interesting
Initially pitched as a one-stop-shop alternative to the mature but spatially fragmented system in Hollywood, Pinewood Atlanta was to be built as a great space for filming. After the initial company that handled the project left, the studio and town are now fully in the hands of local producers. The project is now called Trilith, a 235-acre town built within the 900-acre site of the studios. The town is a a dense, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use village, with a commercial town center, as FastCompany details:
About 500 people are currently living in the town, which is planned to have a total of 1,400 townhomes, apartments, cohousing units, and 500-square-foot “microhomes.” Housing is available to rent or buy, and Trilith’s developers say it’s luring residents from within the film industry as well as people from other walks of life.
The studio side, now named Trilith Studios, is also being redeveloped, with new facilities geared toward more parts of the business, such as development offices and space for tech companies. These spaces are intended to bring in new types of companies in addition to the 60 vendors already providing production and ancillary services to productions on-site. The town side feeds into this ecosystem, creating the kind of place where people can work on months-long productions or years-long TV series without feeling like they’re living out of a suitcase.
Image via FastCompany
Meet the Excalibur Superbia, dubbed as “the epitome of extravagance.” It sure is extravagant, as its listed price is a whopping $858,000. Just wow. This one-of-a-kind watch has six hundred triangular-cut diamonds and blue sapphires. The timepiece was a collaboration between Swiss watchmaker Roger Dubuis and Japanese interior design artists Kaz Shirane, as The New York Times details:
Introduced last month at the new fair Watches & Wonders Shanghai, the opulent white-gold timepiece now is on display in the Chinese resort city of Sanya, on the island of Hainan in the South China Sea, while the brand courts five men from China, Italy and the United States who have expressed interest in the piece.
Mr. Andreatta said the watch was not designed for the Chinese market: It actually was a collaboration with the Japanese interior design artist Kaz Shirane, inspired by the mirrored observation deck he created for the Tokyo Tower in 2018 for the landmark’s 60th anniversary.
Image via The New York Times
With these gloves, you might no longer need a shovel when you plant in your backyard. Unlike other garden gloves, these come with detachable fingertip claws, which are great for breaking up dirt. The gloves have other uses, too, such as for self-defense, or as part of a monster costume.
You can find a whole bunch of these weird but useful gloves over on Amazon.
Cool!
(Image Credit: Amazon/ Technabob)
