Making friends with people outside our age group can feel a bit weird or awkward, but building any kind of friendship with anyone almost always starts out that way. All it takes is for someone to have the courage to approach the other, find shared interests or other things in common, and make the effort to build on that budding bond.

For Devin Welsh, a 25-year-old college student, he made an unlikely friend in Victoria Huggins Peurifoy, who's 71 and attends the same literary arts program called Writers Room. Despite their age gap, it was their passion for writing that helped them to connect, and now they work together on projects for the Philadelphia writing community.

Eunice Lin Nichols, who heads an organization that brings people of different generations together, urges people to develop intergenerational friendships as the life experiences of someone older can provide perspective and insight to younger people. On the other hand, younger people can help older people see the world from fresh eyes and be able to adapt to the changing times.

As with any kind of friendship, openness and communication as well as a degree of empathy are key to understanding one another despite the differences two people may have. Here are a few other ways on how we can build intergenerational friendships and cultivate them.

And it does enrich our lives. Nichols shares how she connected with a group of older African American women who helped her through her pregnancy as well as to make their neighborhood and community better. And Peurifoy too found the joy of being able to make friends with younger people as she had recently been a 70-something student until she graduated from college in June this year.

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In a previous article, we looked at a study wherein researchers looked at how AI and children fared when tasked to solve some basic problems to measure their creativity and innovation. The result of that study showed how AI can be lacking in recognizing simple answers to basic questions, something the children had excelled at. Granted, the researchers admitted the difficulty of comparing and measuring human cognitive ability against an AI, but the study did show what some weaknesses in AI models might be.

This time around, in the saga of AI vs. Humans, a couple of researchers wanted to challenge humans with a game titled "How (not) to get hit by a self-driving car". The object of the game is simple. People must traverse a short crossing without being identified by the AI as a pedestrian. The goal of the study is to help AI models familiarize itself with various scenarios a self-driving car might encounter on the street. In so doing, it can help self-driving cars become safer.

As a prize for winning the game, players have the option of having their footage deleted or retained. Of course, it doesn't mean that employing tactics to avoid detection by a self-driving car implies that you will get hit, as self-driving cars use different algorithms. The researchers hope to bring their study to different parts of the world to gather as much data from various scenarios to help the algorithm learn.

(Video credit: Watershed/Youtube)

Here's another video of the game from Science Gallery London.

To many Americans, and later, to the rest of the world, the death of President John F. Kennedy was a big blow to the nation's morale. People had high hopes for the young president, and many expressed their support more than just at the polls. So, it came as a surprise when he was suddenly shot right in front of the public.

The American people had to cope with the grief somehow, and Weir Lundstedt's mother, Carolyn, did so by writing a letter to her children about what had just happened that day. He had discovered the sealed envelope containing the letter in 2008, but hadn't opened it until recently.

The letter expressed his mother's grief over the situation. It's a short letter, only four paragraphs long, but Weir felt what his mother must have been going through while she was writing the letter, as he read it, with tears in his eyes, for the first time, in front of WMUR 9's camera crew.

The letter reads:

"Friday, Nov. 22, 1963.

Dear Weir,

As you are sleeping now in your crib upstairs, you are too young to realize that a great tragedy has taken place in our United States of America.

The President of these United States, John F. Kennedy, has been assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

You will one day read about this in your history book. Know that he has been, we feel, a good, honest, and devoted young president. He has been energetic and tireless in his quest for lasting world peace.

What a pity that one of his own people should take it upon himself to destroy this vital man.

Lovingly, your mom and dad"

(Image credit: Weir Lundstedt/WMUR, public domain)

Your local vet probably won't tell you to stop getting pugs and bulldogs, but deep inside, they really want to urge dog lovers to think about buying these pure breeds. The reason is that the features people love about them so much - their cute faces, squished noses, and double-curled tails - are all genetic defects.

Having these anatomical features actually causes them pain and suffering such as difficulty breathing and eating which could lead to more serious conditions like overheating or cardiovascular stress. The British Veterinary Association has issued several statements expressing their concern over the popularity of these breeds, and they urged people to reconsider a different breed or a crossbreed instead.

Although there's some debate on whether mixed breeds are healthier than pure breeds, data from a study has shown that out of 24 genetic disorders, there is a higher incidence of 10 genetic disorders in pure breeds than in mixed breeds with only one disorder being higher in mixed breeds. The rest are equally distributed.

In fact, some of the more famous pets online actually had health problems. Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat both had genetic mutations that caused them to look funny, but in reality, they were going through some painful conditions. Lil Bub had osteoporosis and died of a bone infection, while Grumpy Cat had dwarfism and died from urinary tract infection.

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Despite being the carriers of the deadliest diseases known to humans like ebola, SARS, MERS, and even some precursor of COVID-19, bats rarely get sick or even get cancer. This has become the subject of increased research interest for scientists, as bats may hold the key to how we can combat pandemics and possibly how to treat deadly human diseases as well as slow aging.

One of the reasons why bats are impervious to deadly diseases, despite being hosts to them, may have something to do with their physiology and how they evolved. The fact that they are the only mammals that can fly may give us a hint to their extreme capabilities. Not only that, bats have long lifespans compared to other mammals, with some estimates going up as high as 200 years in human equivalents.

Scientists have now begun to receive heavy funding to research bats. From sequencing their genomes to studying their immune systems, many researchers have turned to bat biology for possible answers to pandemics, and possibly cancer although many say it will still be a long time before a cure for cancer or COVID-19 can be found in bats.

Although still in its infancy, research into bat biology has had a breakthrough when Dr. Thomas Zwaka, a stem cell researcher was able to turn bat tissue into pluripotent stem cells, which means they are capable of transforming into other kinds of cells.

(Video credit: Vox)

If people were stranded on an island with very limited resources, struggling for survival, would we chastise them if any were to turn to cannibalism just to survive? What if they were settlers who have been tasked to build a new colony and found themselves in the above scenario? That's something that Kelly and Zach Weinsersmith discussed in their book about the different aspects of building settlements and a city on Mars.

Of course, the ethical decision would be to exhaust all other options that don't sacrifice human life, at least from a humane standpoint. However, the question is whether one is willing to risk letting the whole crew die and failing the mission or sacrificing one's life for the sake of the mission and their fellow astronauts' lives.

So far, not much has been published on this subject, but the Weinsersmiths did find a book written by Dr. Erik Seedhouse titled Survival and Sacrifice in Mars Exploration, which not only discussed the topic of astronaut cannibalism but also stated in detail how exactly to go about it.

Still, if we were to go by legal precedent, there was one case of four seafarers whose ship capsized, and after being stranded for more than a week on a dinghy without any sign of rescue, decided to kill the youngest and weakest member of their crew, in order to survive. They were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

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From bloodbaths and betrayals to incest and illegitimate children, the history of kings, queens, princes, and princesses have always been fraught with spicy controversies which we, commoners, find both shocking and intriguing. The idea that the royals are the paragon of class, elegance, stature, and proper conduct no longer holds true, if it ever did. Much to our consternation, they are humans just like us, and equally susceptible to the foibles of ordinary human life.

Still, we hold them in high regard, if only as the symbols of what once was and the ideals that they should represent. However, in time, all things that have been hidden from public view come out, but unlike our bag of bones, theirs are just weightier being the figurehead of their nations as well as constantly being under the scrutiny of the public.

Although much talk has come about the British royal family, with Prince Harry and Meghan's self-exile and more recently, a bit of a spat between Prince William and his father, King Charles III, there are more scandalous royals throughout the world. There's Prince Frederik of Denmark's supposed affair with Genoveva Casanova, the dubious financial affairs of King Juan Carlos of Spain, the philandering exploits of Prince Albert of Monaco, and the familicide of Prince Dipendra of Nepal because of his family's objection to a marriage with an Indian princess.

All of these and more on The Daily Beast.

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The process by which Merriam-Webster's team of lexicographers choose the word of the year is simple. They look at how many hits and searches words receive, and among the words in the pool, they pick the one that represents the zeitgeist for that year. Last year, it was "gaslighting". And perhaps, it's no surprise then, that the word of the year for 2023 is "authentic".

In choosing the word, Merriam-Webster removes certain words that constantly get looked up like "love" and "affect". They also filter out words which people playing word games search in the dictionary from time to time. What they look at are unusual spikes in searches for certain words such as "EGOT" after Viola Davis' unofficial induction into the club, when she won a Grammy, or "X" when Elon Musk had changed Twitter's name in July.

This year, the rationale behind "authentic" was not from a particular event, but rather due to the continued and constant interest people have placed on the word. Perhaps, the pervasiveness of AI these days may have contributed to people's curiosity for what it means to be "authentic". Maybe the fact that we are constantly inundated with false information and fabricated facts online and even in the real world, provided impetus for lookups of the word.

One evidence as to the extent of our search and need for "authenticity" may be reflected by some other runners-up for word of the year which include "doppelganger" and "deepfake", which was also quite prevalent last year.

No matter what reason people may have in searching for the meaning of the word "authentic", this might just be a message that we, as a whole, are either lacking in authenticity or trying to be more so but are falling short.

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It was called Project Iceworm, inspired by Norwegian-born US Army colonel Bernt Balchen, who pushed for the US military's continued presence in Greenland as a strategic geographical midway point between the US and the Soviet Union.

The US Army had planned on digging trenches under Greenland's ice, in which they will burrow medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) as a means of deterring the Soviet Union from targeting the US. They had also wanted to build an underground city where they will presumably conduct operations undetected by Soviet satellites.

However, what foiled the US Army's plans was neither Soviet spies or budget constraints. It was nature, as Greenland's ice started to shift. After nine years of building the facility that was supposed to house 600 MRBMs, they were forced to abandon the site, which cost an estimated $2.37 billion.

However, this also led to some tension between Denmark and the US after the truth was exposed. Thankfully, the discovery of fossilized leaf and twig fragments under the ice helped ease those tensions as it suggested that there had been plants growing there before.

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Scientists may have finally found out how serotine bats reproduced, and it may be the first mammal to have such a reproductive process. Since bats are nocturnal, it's very difficult to observe their mating behavior especially since they would most often have their backs turned from their observers. But, with new footage taken by a Dutch bat enthusiast, researchers now have visual evidence of what exactly goes on when bats have their backs turned.

According to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology, serotine bats reproduce through touching, or something akin to the "cloacal kiss". In short, no penetration occurs during the process. And the researchers reasoned that this may be due to the structure of the bats' genitalia.

Despite now having footage of the bats' mating behavior, there is still no definitive proof of how the sperm transfers from the male to the female bats, but it provides scientists new avenues for further research on the matter.

With this information, researchers may now have the means of devising strategies on how to artificially inseminate bats or even help in understanding human infertility.

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Purple has been the color signifying royalty since time immemorial. The reason being that the purple dye was one of the rarest and most expensive to procure and process. But even among the purple hues, one sits atop them all, the Tyrian Purple or also called, shellfish purple.

The manufacture of Tyrian purple dyes had been the central industry of ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire. The dye was used on the robes of royalty, cardinals, and religious manuscripts. Originating from the ancient Phoenicians, neighboring regions of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia had all coveted the precious dye.

Though it is generally known to come from sea snails, the exact process and recipe had been lost after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. The dyeing industry had been very elusive and protective over their recipes that nobody had written records about them. Pliny perhaps comes closest to documenting how the dye was made, but it's no easy task.

First of all, extracting the mucous from the sea snail itself required laborious work and thousands upon thousands of snails. Then, to get the color just right, one would need to have the right conditions to turn the chemicals in the mucous into the purple dye.

However, one man who had a stroke of luck and serendipity, incidentally rediscovered Tyrian purple. His name is Mohammed Ghassen Nouira, and for 16 years, he had obsessed over the process of making Tyrian purple dyes. But perhaps he has finally found the right formula. Read more about it on BBC.

(Image credit: Mohammed Ghassen Nouira)

How did Messi’s bodyguard just spawn out of nowhere 😭 pic.twitter.com/AKMPxhIPcR

— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) November 23, 2023

This new tweet has gone viral over the past two days because it shows Lionel Messi walking on some grass, and after a few seconds later, his bodyguard just appears as if from thin air, without any sign where he came from.

Initially, I had thought that the bodyguard had been in the golf cart and possibly got down then started walking behind Messi, but the timing just isn't right, and if you looked closely at the golf cart, there was no one wearing a black shirt and joggers a few frames before. Perhaps it's a magic trick, or some kind of camera illusion, or video editing but it seems that the person who shared the video doesn't know where the bodyguard came from either.

Many people have been scrambling their brains trying to figure it out, but still nobody has provided any rational solution to the problem. You can check some of the funniest responses to the tweet on The Poke.

(Video credit: TheEuropeanLad/X)

Retro video game tunes are timeless pieces of cultural history as much as classical music is. One wouldn't think that these two would have anything in common, until the birth of Arcade, Classical California's new 24-hour streaming channel which is dedicated to playing some popular and nostalgic video game music alongside classical music.

Jennifer Miller Hammel hosts the stream, and plays a selection of video game music as well as requests from listeners. In proposing the concept to her producers, Hammel curated a 12-hour playlist of video game music which she remembered from when she was a kid. They agreed with the suggestion of adding classical music into the mix, which many video games now incorporate as well.

Reception for the streaming channel has been great so far with fans of both video games and classical music, as well as people who have no experience in either, finding it enjoyable with one major donor even remarking how she loves listening to the channel despite having no knowledge of video games.

Anyone can jump in and listen to the Arcade channel at anytime.

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The Mongol empire stretched as far as Eastern Europe and the Middle East to the west, parts of Russia to the north, and China to the south. With a formidable army riding on horseback, lending much speed to the Mongols' conquest of many strong kingdoms and empires, and good military tactics, they were able to subdue a large portion of Asia, perhaps one of the largest empires in history. However, despite the size of the Mongol army, it struggled to conquer the tiny kingdom of Goryeo, the first unified dynasty of the Korean peninsula.

It took them more than 25 years to subjugate the small state, and eight invasions before finally breaking through to the royal family. What had the hermit kingdom done in order to fend off the largest empire at the time?

The Goryeo dynasty of Korea was established in 918, right after the Later Three Kingdoms period. For the next 300 years, Goryeo would experience incursions from the Khitan Liao, out of which they gained valuable insight on how to use the two-pronged strategy of the quill and the sword - diplomacy and military prowess - to successfully resist the 100,000-strong Khitan army.

So, when the Mongols came knocking on Goryeo's door, the Koreans did not go down without a fight. Now, by the first invasion in 1231, the Goryeo dynasty was still under the military aristocracy who had fortified the kingdom's defenses with well-trained soldiers. This was further bolstered by wise diplomatic withdrawals and peace negotiations to bide them time to prepare for the next attack.

The dynasty continued on with this quill-and-sword strategy until their dictator suddenly died thus weakening the control of the military aristocracy. Add to this the fact that the Mongols burned fields whenever they were able to subdue villages, Goryeo's royal family would later sue for peace and make an alliance with the Mongols.

(Image credit: History Maps)

Nobody knows what airline company is operating a fleet of Boeing 737-600s which have no logo or name on it, except for a red line running through its side. It's dubbed the most secretive airline in the world, and some have named it Janet. But Janet is not really the name of the airline.

So, why is it called Janet? Apparently, it's an acronym which stands for 'Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation'. And it supposedly transports officers of the United States Air Force to Area 51. Not only that, but rumor has it, it's being housed in a secret terminal, which some have said is located in Las Vegas. 

Currently, Janet is looking for a new operator, and will host different players in the airline industry to acquire bids next month. Apparently, Janet also has its own Wikipedia page, so if you want to know more details about Janet's fleet or area of operations, you may want to go there to check them out.

(Image credit: Eddie Maloney/Wikimedia Commons)