Months after the devastating bushfires that ravaged the lands of Australia, koalas can now and are slowly being released back into the wild. In the state of New South Wales, four adult koalas and a baby koala (called a joe) have been released in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park.

They're the first of 12 koalas rescued from the Blue Mountains area during the bushfires, which have been sheltering at Sydney's Taronga Zoo since January.

The four (well, five) lucky koalas have been returned to the wild by Sydney-based not-for-profit wildlife conservation organisation Science for Wildlife, with the help of San Diego Zoo Global, the U.S. zoo's nonprofit that works with partners on international conservation projects.

It is said that in the bushfires as well as in the drought, around 10,000 koala lives — a third of the koala population in the aforementioned state — have been taken away.

"While they have coped well in care we are delighted to finally send our koalas home," said Dr. Kellie Leigh, executive director of Science for Wildlife in a press statement.

Glad to hear that the koalas can finally go back to their homes safe and sound.

(Image Credit: Mashable)

We know that the fastest man in this world right now is Usain Bolt, who has a top speed of 27.8 mph (44.72 km/hr). But even he, however, would be completely outran by the ostrich, the lion, brown hare, and the cheetah. Humans, apparently, are bad at running on foot. But what if we could double our running speed? This is what researchers Amanda Sutrisno and David Braun are thinking of.

The idea presented by Sutrisno and Braun is to build a device that attaches to the body to serve as an assist. The device would have springs, one for each leg. The springs would be pulled by leg action during air time. The knee joint serves as a hinge that extends the leg—it is during that extension that the spring would pull, storing energy that could be expended once the foot comes back to the ground. That energy would then be combined with normal muscle energy, allowing the foot to push back harder than normal against the ground, propelling the person forward faster than they would normally be able to achieve on their own. When the researchers ran simulations with such a device, they found that it could help people run nearly twice as fast as normal.

So, theoretically, if we put this device on Usain Bolt, he would be able to run much faster than the animals mentioned above, except the cheetah. However, this device would probably not be available in the real world for quite a while.

Unfortunately, there is a hitch with the idea: Materials such as carbon fiber lack the energy-holding capacity that would be needed to realize the device the team has envisioned. Something new will have to be developed before they are able to test their idea in the real world.

(Image Credit: Amanda Sutrisno and David J. Braun / Vanderbilt University)

Tired of ordinary-looking waffles? Complain no more, as you’ll be able to make waffles that look like LEGO bricks via this Building Brick Waffle Maker. You can also make structures with these waffles, so it’s just like playing with LEGOs, but this time, they’re edible!

If you want this waffle market to get into the market, you could help the company in raising funds through their Kickstarter!

Yum!

(Image Credit: Kickstarter)

Some video games are really great in terms of graphics, story, and just overall gameplay experience. But if there’s something that can be considered a not-so-cool feature of a cool video game, it would be stupid puzzles.

(Video Credit: Viva la Dirt League/ YouTube)

Three days ago, Twitter user @meghanbits adopted a puppy. Yesterday, that puppy adopted a potato as his best friend. Such is the way with almost all young children.

His sibling, whom I gather is named Kash, is equally normal.

There are plenty of lists of good cars and beautiful cars, but what fun are those? Instead, let's be glad we never bought one of the truly ugly cars the automotive industry tried out. Often that was because they sold so poorly that few were made. And you can see why. Shown above is the 1951 Allard P2 Safari.

There are a few things in life we simply cannot wrap our heads around, and this is one of them: Who thought it was a good idea to graft the front of a sports car onto the back of a woody wagon? British automaker Allard did, and the results are every bit as revolting as one might expect. Production estimates for this Ford-powered eyesore range between 10 and 13, some five of which are known to exist. We imagine the rest were destroyed by mobs with torches and pitchforks.

As in any list, you may not agree with some of the choices -some of the newer cars don't really stand out in ugliness the way old ones do. But you might get a kick out of reading what made these cars ugly at Automobile magazine. -via Digg

Here we see video footage of a grizzly bear emerging from his winter hibernation, or more accurately, dormancy. Boo Grizzly was orphaned as a cub in 2002. He lives at the Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge in Golden, British Columbia, a facility created for Boo and his brother when they were rescued.

Among other things, the refuge permits a rare in-depth analysis of grizzly bear hibernation. A log den was constructed within the refuge for the cubs to use in the winter. This custom-built den includes a motion-activated camera in the roof that allows continuous monitoring of activity inside. As a result, we now know that grizzly bears engage in limited activity during the winter, unlike true hibernators. For that reason we now use the more accurate term winter dormancy rather than hibernation when referring to a bear’s winter slumber.

Boo's caretaker Nicole Marie caught footage of him coming back from his months of dormancy, and she's quite delighted. -via Geekologie

KVTM reporter Deion Broxton was reporting when a herd of bison began to walk toward him. Broxton was in Yellowstone National Park when the animals approached. The reporter did not want to mess with the large animals, and walked away to a further distance. His reaction to the approaching herd was quite something, and it became a perfect side-eye reaction gif. 

(via Digg)

Here's the video of the bison I shot once I got a safe distance away lol pic.twitter.com/uL3XiR2ISR

— Deion Broxton KTVM (@DeionNBCMT) March 26, 2020

If you’re running out of ideas on how to bond with your furry companion during quarantine, why not try doing yoga with your pet? Twitter user @ATLnewsgirl shared a video of a dog doing yoga with its owner. The dog seems like a yoga veteran, as it awaits the next yoga pose its owner instructs him to do. Watch as the dog follows its owner as they go through a whole yoga routine! 

Just in case you need it, here’s a dog doing yoga in Italian. You’re welcome. pic.twitter.com/zTKp3MbI8e

— Amanda in Atlanta (@ATLnewsgirl) March 25, 2020

image screenshot via Twitter

Researchers from the University Hospital of Bonn, Germany have found that eating too much salt can impair the body’s ability to fight against bacteria. The researchers studied mice and ten human volunteers to see the effect of salt intake. Eating too much salt in your diet causes your body’s immune cells, the neutrophils, to be impaired. NewScientist has the details:

Next, the team gave 10 healthy women and men who were 20 to 50 years old an extra 6 grams of salt a day on top of their normal diet, in the form of three tablets a day. After a week, some of their immune cells, called neutrophils, had a greatly impaired ability to engulf and kill bacteria compared with the same tests done on each individual before they took extra salt.

The team didn’t examine the effect of high salt intake on the body’s ability to fight viral infections.

The World Health Organization recommends that people eat no more than 5 grams of salt a day to avoid high blood pressure, which can cause strokes and heart disease. In the UK, people eat 8 grams on average, suggesting many consume as much or more than the volunteers in the study.

image via wikimedia commons

Several years ago I was at a party (BRAG!), and I spotted a box of Triscuits. I asked everyone, "What does the word 'Triscuit' mean? It's clearly based on the word "BISCUIT," but what does the "TRI" mean?" (I'm great at parties.)

— Sage Boggs (@sageboggs) March 26, 2020

You've seen Triscuit brand crackers in stores all your life- the product is 120 years old. Have you ever wondered how the name came about? Sage Boggs asked friends, and the consensus was that the "tri" meant three, so there was three of something that went into the recipe or manufacturing process. Checking with the company debunked that idea, yet yielded no further information.

"The "TRI" does not mean 3." How... how do they know what it DOESN'T mean, but NOT know what it DOES mean? HOW??

— Sage Boggs (@sageboggs) March 26, 2020

The answer lies with Triscuit's early advertising in the 1900s. And if you were to guess, you'd have to place yourself back into that time frame to realize what was impressive about the cracker and its ads. Read the Twitter thread to find the answer, and don't miss an intriguing typo in one of the ads. -via Metafilter

Keeping our bodies healthy is an essential factor if we want to live long, full lives. And now that there is this pandemic going on, keeping ourselves healthy has become ever more crucial. And so it is only right to ask how we can keep healthy amidst this major global threat.

The answer lies in following the latest guidelines on social distancing, proper handwashing and your local stay-at-home directives.

But there are also ways to strengthen your own immune system. Diet is one of them…

But a good diet is only one factor of having a healthy lifestyle. In pursuing this kind of lifestyle, other factors, such as physical activity, stress management, and amount of sleep, should also be considered.

CNN gives us some tips on how to address these factors which lead to a healthy body and a healthy mind. See them over at the site.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Guess he loved his music so much that he wanted everybody to hear it. Unfortunately, not everyone loves his kind of jam.

Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, state that this 47-year-old man named Benjamin Layland allegedly chased a man down a hall with a two-and-a-half-foot-long sword (76 centimeters) after the aforementioned man knocked on his door and told him to turn down his music. Fortunately, the man was able to get away uninjured. Layland, on the other hand, is charged with criminal threatening.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately known if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

I guess headphones will do him better next time.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Manchester Police Deparment via AP)

Forget the mattress! Keeping large sums of cash at home is risky. The best place to protect your money is in an FDIC-insured bank where it’s safe and sound. Learn how the FDIC safeguards your #money at https://t.co/O2cb1bTUJs pic.twitter.com/R8pFVxBPrM

— FDIC Gov (@FDICgov) March 24, 2020

The coronavirus indeed has caused massive fear and panic across the world. Places are locked down, and people hoard sanitizing materials like toilet tissue and alcohol just to keep themselves safe from the deadly virus. But it’s not just sanitizing materials that are hoarded; there also have been increased demands on paper money.

Banks are seeing more cash withdrawals as nervous customers try to protect themselves from the uncertainty of the coronavirus clampdown.

There are reports — especially from wealthy neighborhoods — of people pulling tens of thousands of dollars out of their bank accounts. Demand was so high that one bank branch in Midtown Manhattan temporarily ran out of $100 bills, The New York Times reported. The bank was quickly resupplied the following day.

An official from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), however, states that this is a risky thing to do.

“You don’t want to be walking around with large wads of cash, and you certainly don’t want to be hoarding cash in your mattress,” FDIC Chairman Jelena McWiliams states in the video above.

"Just as it is not necessarily rational to hoard toilet paper, it is also not rational to hoard cash," McWilliams said.

More details about this over at NPR.

Keep your money safe!

(Video Credit: FDIC Gov/ Twitter)

We know that Roald Amundsen led the first expedition to reach the South Pole. We also know Robert Falcon Scott because he led the crew that all died trying to be the first. But there were other polar explorers who made significant discoveries and aren't as well-known. Charles Wilkes was commander of the United States Exploring Expedition in 1840, sailing on the ship Vincennes, which was the first to establish that Antarctica was a vast continent instead of a few frozen islands only seen from a distance before that. Wilkes mapped 1500 miles of Antarctica's coast, but gets little credit for his accomplishment, as his discovery led to an international mess. It was a case of serious exploration running up against claiming lands for one's country.

In a remarkable coincidence, a French expedition led by the legendary Jules Dumont D’Urville reached the same stretch of coastline on the same day. But D’Urville stayed just long enough to plant the French flag on a tiny offshore island before sailing back north. Wilkes, meanwhile, against the advice of his medical staff and officers, braved the cold, ice, and howling katabatic winds to claim glory for the Vincennes.

Charles Wilkes barely had time to announce his Antarctic triumph before British rival James Clark Ross (celebrated discoverer of the North Magnetic Pole) began to steal his thunder. Wilkes’s mistake was to send the lagging Ross his historic first chart of the east Antarctic coast. A year later, when Ross retraced Wilkes’s route, he found the American had been deceived in places by glacial reflections and had mistaken ice shelves for actual coastline, marking it several degrees too far north. These errors did nothing to undermine the substance of Wilkes’s discoveries, yet Ross and the British Admiralty built a public case against the American claim—with great success. Most 19th-century maps of Antarctica do not recognize Wilkes’s remarkable 1840 feat. Even his obituaries in American newspapers made only passing mention of Wilkes’ polar discoveries.  

Wilkes' findings are getting more notice today, when the melting ice of the Antarctic is making resource mining possible. Read about Wilkes' feat and what it means for the continent at Smithsonian.