Shinohara Yuta is an entomophagist who eats and makes dishes out of crickets (and other insects). His dream was to open an insect restaurant, a dream that he was able to hatch into reality! Watch as Asian Boss visits Yuta during his cricket ramen restaurant’s opening. Would you eat the dishes served in his restaurant? 

One of the things that people spend lots of their money on are dietary supplements, which is understandable, because we don’t want to get sick. It is said that the dietary supplement market is worth over $14 billion in Europe alone in 2018. It is also estimated that more than half of the American population take one or more nutrition supplements daily or on occasion. Unfortunately, some people heavily depend on these supplements, and they no longer care about their diet. They treat these supplements not as supplements, but as substitutes. 

Scientists, however, say that having a healthy diet is much better than taking pills.

"Anytime somebody is missing major food groups, the first question is, can we target the missing nutrients with food? If not, then we would look into a supplement," said registered dietitian nutritionist Melissa Majumdar, who is a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

[...]

"Eating a healthy diet is going to do far more for you than any supplement you can take, and yet we have a whole industry that is based on selling us all types of supplements," said Martha H. Stipanuk, James Jamison professor of nutrition emeritus in the division of nutritional sciences at Cornell University.

[...]

"Fruits and vegetables have phytochemicals and fiber; when you pop a pill, you never get the same outcomes," said Lisa Young, a registered dietitian nutritionist and adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University.

Experts worry that high doses of nutrients can give a false sense of promise.

More details about this over at CNN.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Efraimstochter/ Pixabay)

Imagine for a moment that you are a farmer in Kenya. You have taken good care of your crops for several months, when suddenly you notice a lump of ice fall to the ground from the sky, and then you realize what’s happening: a hailstorm — the event that you most fear — is now happening right in front of your eyes. And you can’t do anything about it. You’ve been caught unprepared. This has been what’s happening in Kenya recently.

Hailstorms have always been a part of life in Kenya, but many farmers have noticed the problem worsening. Peter Muniu, another farmer from central Kenya, also notes changes in hailstorms in the 37 years he has lived here. “Not only have the hailstorms become irregular but the falling objects have become bigger,” he says.

The latest hail shower struck at the beginning of January 2020, leaving his village littered with icy boulders. “Initially we would know when the hailstorms would come and be prepared. But these days it is very difficult to predict their arrival,” says Muniu. “This is bad for farmers like us who grow crops in open fields.”

During a good season when there are no weather extremes, Muniu’s quarter-acre parcel where he grows snow peas can yield as much as 100kg (220lb) of the vegetables at harvest. But when a hailstorm strikes, it can either uproot maturing plants, or make ripe beans appear as if they have been visited by disease, he says. A farmer can only use the damaged pods as feed for livestock.

Because of the worsening hailstorms happening in the country, some farmers almost gave up on farming, as they don’t get to harvest anything, because all of the crops were damaged. Others now struggle to make ends meet because of these irregular disasters.

More details about this over at BBC.

(Image Credit: SturmjaegerTobi/ Pixabay)

Sometimes the best things that happen in life (or in this case, basketball games) come in the form of happy accidents.

In this game, a man seems to be attempting to shoot the ball from the distance. In reality, he is passing the ball to his teammate. His teammate, however, thought he was gonna shoot, and so he wasn’t able to catch the ball properly. Luckily, when he saw the ball coming up to him, he put up his hands to prevent the ball from hitting his face, which made the ball fly towards and into the basket.

Lucky!

See the clip on Reddit.

(Image Credit: Ghost_Animator/ Reddit)

These guys are experts on skateboards, and they are fearless, too! But the real hero of the day is the guy who always has the ramp at the right place at the right time. Thrasher magazine gives him the props he deserves in this video. -via Digg

Two years before Wilisoni Lagi Vuatalevu retired from his clerical job, he noticed a boil on his leg that wouldn’t heal. Alarmed, he had it examined at the health center. The center assured him that it wasn’t diabetes, however, and that his blood sugar was fine. He then proceeded to carry on with his life and did not consider investigating the wound further. This would have horrific consequences to him. One month after he retired, his wound became unbearably painful and it bled profusely.

“When they checked, the doctor was very kind and pleasant as she told me it was clearly ‘that sugar disease’ and told me I’d lose that leg... I was frightened,” Wilisoni said.

[...]

While in many countries, diabetes is detected early and can be managed through diet, exercise and medication, in Fiji, the disease is often not caught until amputation, or even death, are imminent.

Nearly one-third of the people of Fiji suffer from this disease, and its cause is, sadly, their diets.

“I was never fat, I’m quite tall so I’ve always had a good body when I was growing up,” Vuatalevu said.

“But I ate everything and drank everything, I didn’t really choose food that was good for me or even thought about what was good for me and what wasn’t. I didn’t have to. Whatever was available and came my way, I ate. It was the same with alcohol.”

Thankfully, there are people who are taking steps to prevent other people from getting parts of their body amputated.

More details about this story over at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Jovesa Naisua/The Guardian)

Bob Geldof organized the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" in 1984 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. It raised more than $28 million, but it wasn't enough, so he decided to go bigger the next summer with an all-star concert. Thirty-five years later, Live Aid is still considered to be the biggest music event ever, featuring 50 of the music industry's biggest stars on two continents. It wasn't easy to pull off.

“He had to call Elton and say 'Queen are in and Bowie's in,' and of course they weren't,” production manager Andy Zweck told The Guardian of Geldof’s tactics. “Then he’d call Bowie and say 'Elton and Queen are in.' It was a game of bluff.”

With the help of producer Michael C. Mitchell, Live Aid sold broadcast rights to 150 countries, at least 22 of which aired telethons. Both MTV and ABC carried the feed in the United States, the latter in the form of a primetime special hosted by Dick Clark. All told, Live Aid raised approximately $140 million.

Read about the production of Live Aid, some of its unique stories, and its lasting legacy at Mental Floss.

Steve Martin performs his song "Office Supplies" from his new album The Long-Awaited Album, in collaboration with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who don't have anything else to do today. Cue the banjo jokes! -via Everlasting Blort

The Fourth of July always brings us warnings about keeping dogs indoors, because many of them are terrified of fireworks. It's the loud sounds that spark their fear, which you might also notice during thunderstorms. But some dogs are so nonchalant about booming noises that they can carry out their duties during a bomb attack or open warfare. What makes the difference between the two types of canine reactions?

Dogs that have little to no negative associations with loud sounds can still be found cowering during a storm, while others who had a scary early experience can learn, often through counterconditioning and desensitization, to overcome the fright. One explanation for this can be found in temperament. Unlike personality and mood, which are more fluid emotional states, temperament is a deeper, more hardwired system affected by genetics and early development. Temperament is shaped by epigenetics, or the way an animal’s genes are influenced by external factors, and this can play a significant role in the dogs’ inherent predisposition to stress, anxiety and fear.

For example, studies in humans and animals show that mothers who experience high levels of stress during pregnancy can pass on a propensity for anxiety to their young via the stress hormone cortisol. When signaled by a stress-inducing event, the brain’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) becomes active and produces cortisol, which then travels throughout the body keeping an individual on “high alert.” High cortisol levels in the mother’s bloodstream have subsequent negative effects on the developing baby, or in this case, puppy.

But that's just one factor. There are quite a few others that can determine how a dog reacts to fireworks, which you can read about at Smithsonian. They also have a technique you can try to help your dog become less fearful.

Sometimes love just finds a way to continue even beyond death. This story is a great example of that. This husband and wife may not have been together for a long time, but at least a part of them will still be together even beyond death.

Bryan Herrington died 16 years ago in a work accident, leaving his wife Terri widowed. A man named Jeff Granger received Bryan’s kidney, and along with it, a new friendship. Jeff became friends with Terri and her two small children, and everything was fine until last year, when the kidney began to fail.

"The first thing that crossed my mind was, golly, how am I going to tell Terri that Bryan's kidney is failing?" Jeff said. 

"It was like, 'OK, well, that's another piece of Bryan that has gone,'" Terri said. 

Terri said she didn't want to lose her husband all over again — not to mention her new friend. So without hesitation, she offered her kidney, to continue the life-saving mission her husband had started.

And so Terri continued the legacy that her husband left behind.

By sheer coincidence, they were a match, and the operation at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital was a success. Now the kidneys – from both husband and wife — lie side by side, together in purpose – all thanks to the silver lining that is organ donation.

"Seeing him going fishing and boating and just living life, it's just an amazing feeling that you're helping somebody," Terri said.

[...]

"They live together in me, so I'll try to keep 'em alive as long as I can," said Jeff Granger.

Very wholesome.

(Image Credit: UF Health/ CBS News)

Crime is much more meaningful when you can relate personally to the victim (or the killer, if you are that sort). We may find it hard to personally relate to people who died 8,000 years ago, but at least now we can put a face on one man whose head was erected on a stake after he was killed in a violent manner.

Researchers from Stockholm University and the Cultural Heritage Foundation found the original skull, along with several others, in 2011 at the Kanaljorden site near the Motala Ström river. The remains of 10 people—nine adults and one infant—were found stacked atop a thick layer of large stones. All adult skulls exhibited signs of blunt force trauma prior to death, which may explain how they died. Some skulls, including the reconstructed skull, had evidence of past injuries that healed. No mandibles were found at the site.

Strangely, three adult male skulls displayed signs of sharp force trauma after death, in manner consistent with the skulls having been mounted to stakes. And indeed, one of the specimens still had a wooden stake sticking out of the cranium. This was an odd post-death ritual for hunter-gatherers and not something seen commonly until the Middle Ages.

Swedish forensic artist Oscar Nilsson reconstructed the man's face from the blues in his DNA, evidence from the archaeological site, and what we know of the area's history. Read how he did it at Gizmodo.

(Image credit: Oscar Nilsson/S. Gummesson et al., 2018)

Experience the fear and thrills as you’re strapped into your seat! This haunted house in Tokyo, Japan is now letting customers experience the full haunted house thrill via drive-in. Hideous creatures drenched in blood will swarm towards guests in their cars. Producer Kenta Iwana believes that this new format might be scarier than a traditional haunted house, as Rappler details: 

"At the drive-in haunted house, guests are confined in a car so they can't escape the horror until the end," he said.

"It makes it even more scary for them."

Iwana came up with the drive-in solution after struggling with a string of cancellations as the coronavirus outbreak took hold.

"It's because a haunted house creates an environment with three Cs," he said, referring to the conditions Japanese experts warn risk spreading the virus: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.

"Orders for conventional-style haunted houses were cancelled one after another and we lost about 80% of our clients."

The squad is usually hired to set up haunted house experiences at amusement parks and similar venues.

A normal experience might involve a windowless facility with actors playing ghosts quietly following visitors and whispering directly into their ears to scare them -- all impossible in the age of coronavirus.

image via Rappler

Eggs are an important breakfast staple. Did you know other places have a different way of cooking this favourite ingredient? Watch Food Insider cover different ways on how eggs are consumed around the globe. Try not to drool over the food, okay? 

Tech giant Google has recently made available online a high-resolution scan of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic artworks — The Last Supper. The high-resolution scan of the oil painting was made possible by a partnership between Google Arts & Culture and England’s Royal Academy of Arts. The scan can be viewed here.

Google applied its Art Camera to scan The Last Supper, and 19 other works from the Royal Academy, in “gigapixel” resolution, creating a final image with over one billion pixels. With the new scan, users can zoom into the image as if observing it from inches away, as artnet News reports.

The oil painting held by the Royal Academy, however, is not attributed mainly to da Vinci, but rather to his pupils Giampietrino and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, as the original quickly faded after it was completed, since Leonardo only painted it using egg tempera and oil paint on plaster. 

The painting has been a useful resource for scholars because it is about the same size as the original Leonardo, though it lacks the top third of the piece, and it hasn’t faded as severely with time. The students’ copy was even used as a reference when the original was restored between 1979 and 1999. Yet another copy, this one painted by Leonardo himself, was rediscovered in 2018 and likely created based on the same cartoon—a full-scale guide—as the mural.

Learn more about the copy of da Vinci’s The Last Supper, as well as its slight differences with the original, over at Smithsonian Magazine.

(Image Credit: Smithsonian Magazine)

On one June morning in the year 1908, something bright and hot suddenly appeared in the skies over a forest in the Siberian Taiga. It was so hot that a hunter near the Middle Tunguska River tore his shirt, as he thought that it was on fire. Locals have testified to seeing a “fiery ball go north.” What happened next was catastrophic.

A loud explosion, releasing the equivalent of three to five megatons of TNT, followed. The resulting shock wave, the largest in recorded history (185 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb), spread out over 1,000 square miles. Some 30 people were in the vicinity. Many of them were knocked unconscious, and at least three were killed. Houses and millions of trees toppled over and charred. Somehow, hours later, astronomers in Europe and Asia witnessed a night sky so bright that, “at midnight,” according to one testimony, “it was possible to read the newspaper without artificial lights.”

This event was later known as the “Tunguska event”, and it remains a mystery up to this day because it left no trace whatsoever.

After decades of scientific expeditions, no one has found a crater or any debris from a meteorite or comet—nothing to conclusively indicate a violent collision with the Earth.

Numerous theories have been made throughout the years, and many of them were deemed implausible.

In their 2008 book, The Tunguska Meteorite: 100 Years of the Great Puzzle, authors A.I. Voitsekhovskii and V.A. Romeiko catalog 66 theories about the event.

Now, a new theory has been created by a pair of scientists from the Kirensky Institute of Physics in Siberia. They argue that the cause of the mysterious event was a rare type of meteor.

Check out their theory over at Nautilus.

(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)