We usually associate Ancient Egypt with pharaohs and pyramids, which belong in the Dynastic period which starts about 3,100 B.C. But unknown to many, behind this ancient civilization were mysterious Neolithic people.

Indeed, it was the lifestyles and cultural innovations of these peoples that provided the very foundation for the advanced civilisations to come.

But who were they? As it turns out, they haven’t actually been studied much, at least relative to their successors. But our excavations of six burial sites – with some of the analyses recently published – have now provided important insights into their mysterious ways of life.

One reason why we know so little about Neolithic Egypt is that the sites are often inaccessible, lying beneath the Nile’s former flood plain or in outlying deserts.

Head over at The Conversation for more details.

(Image Credit: The Conversation)

Many people say that mentors can only help others that have similar experiences with them. After all, how can you coach a person if you don’t know where he or she is coming from? However, this is not the case. Mentors can still help people even if they don’t share similar experiences. What’s important is that mentors are able to see their mentees’ potential. From there, mentors help their mentees achieve their potential. From the words of Bishop Omar Jahwar, “I will introduce you to your future self, and then I’m going to bring you back to who you are right now.”

See the video on Big Think.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Tumisu/ Pixabay)

Did you know that the Hubble Space Telescope only takes photos in black and white? Scientists only add color later by using a technique that imitates how our eyes see color.

Only a fraction of the range of frequencies of light and their wavelengths, called the electromagnetic spectrum, is visible to humans. The photoreceptors in our eyes, called “cone cells,” perceive wavelengths of light that appear roughly red, green, and blue. All other colors are combinations of these three, and they’re known as the primary colors of light.

When Hubble scientists take photos of space, they use filters to record specific wavelengths of light. Later, they add red, green, or blue to color the exposures taken through those filters. The result is full-color images that have a variety of purposes for scientific analysis.

Check out the video on Vox.

(Image Credit: geralt/ Pixabay)

It's here. GERRY. A font created by your congressional districts. Log on to https://t.co/WkuVp7oDpu and use the font to tell congress how happy you are that your vote doesn't matter. pic.twitter.com/j9U5W7qmTz

— Gerry (@UglyGerry) July 23, 2019

Gerrymandering is a term that goes back to an 1812 political cartoon that mocks the redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry. Somebody took inspiration from this and made a font typeface out of it.

The font is called Ugly Gerry and serves as a fun reminder that our political system is fundamentally dysfunctional.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Gerry/ Twitter)

This disturbing research could result in monkeys capable of producing human organs for transplants, which will lead to a host of ethical concerns.

A researcher involved in the experiment, biologist Estrella Núñez from the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), confirmed the achievement to Spanish news site El País. The project is being led by Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, who runs a lab at the Salk Institute in the United States.

Few details are known, but the experiment, in which the researchers created chimeric, or hybridized, human-monkey embryos using human stem cells, is “an important step towards [Izpisúa Belmonte’s] final goal of converting animals of other species into factories of organs for transplants,” reports El País. All hybridized embryos were destroyed after 14 days, and no monkey was produced during the experiment.

[...]

Previously, Izpisúa Belmonte tried to grow pig embryos using human stem cells, but these cells failed to sufficiently take hold after the hybridized pig fetuses were implanted into sows. The purpose of this experiment was to test the viability of using pigs to grow human organs for transplants. The shortcomings of this experiment, however, may have led Izpisúa Belmonte to his alleged experiments on monkeys—and by consequence, to an undisclosed laboratory in China.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: AP)

On June 21, the captain of the El Monte Police Department in California, Chris Williams, reminded the staff via email about their new incentive for crime witnesses in exchange for information. Instead of cash reward used by some programs, El Monte decided to give out camera-equipped doorbells made by Ring, a home security company. The camera-equipped doorbells retail starting at $99.

“The Ring Home Security Camera system provides not only intelligence about suspect’s action and descriptions, but serves as a deterrent to crime,” Williams wrote, according to documents obtained in response to a public records request.

Earlier that year, El Monte had entered into an official partnership with Ring, which gives officers access to an online platform where they can ask citizens for footage from their doorbell cameras that may be connected to a crime investigation. In exchange, police departments promote the use of Ring’s cameras and its associated crime watch app, Neighbors. A few weeks after Williams sent out a reminder about the rewards program, a Ring employee emailed him with a congratulatory note: “Since EMPD first onboarded on 5/1, you have all increased your Neighbors app users (El Monte residents) by 1,058 users! Great job!”

What are your thoughts on this one? Do you think this is a good way to make people collaborate with the police?

(Video Credit: Ring/ YouTube)

Who eats just mustard @Frenchs? Condiments were made for Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Say hello to the Oscar Mayer Ice Dog Sandwich - 🌭 flavored ice cream, made with our better hot dogs, sandwiched with spicy mustard 🍦. Do you want to try this? Coming in August🔥 #OscarMayerIceCream

— Oscar Mayer (@oscarmayer) August 1, 2019

To mark the National Mustard Day, which is to be celebrated on August 3, French and Coolhaus Ice Cream collaborated and gave birth to a mustard-flavored ice cream. Upon seeing this weirdly flavored ice cream, Oscar Mayer decided the perfect pair for this was hot dog ice cream.

That unholy combination will be smooshed into hot dog shape, served on a cookie bun, and dubbed the Ice Dog Sandwich to mark the definitely not-made-up holiday of National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, aka August 2. That faux holiday is no excuse for this behavior, Oscar Mayer. The hot dog-flavored ice cream sandwiches will be bestowed upon the unlucky people of New York the week of August 12, when the Weinermobile is done being an Airbnb, and now you know why everyone flees New York in the summer.

What are your thoughts on this one?

See more details over at Fast Company.

(Image Credit: Oscar Mayer/ Twitter)

You’ve read the title correctly. You can now own a volcano at a price cheaper than the most expensive cars out there. For only $60,890, you can buy the Posbury Clump found in Devonshire, England. It is a 4.9-acre woodland sitting on top of the volcano.

This volcano is extremely affordable by most geological standards, for a couple of reasons. One, it’s been extinct for more than 250 million years, meaning it’s less a volcano than a fossil of one. Two, it’s got a rather stodgy British name. The land is called Posbury Clump, a self-effacing moniker for a plot of land that once streamed red-hot lava on a daily basis. Think of it as the Sir Ian McKellen of volcanoes—Posbury paid its magmatic dues long ago and is now very happy to cash in on that clout in an upcoming movie about humanoid cats.

Like many extinct volcanoes, Posbury isn’t what it used to be. The elderly volcano is just 500 feet high, providing visitors with a sweeping but not particularly expansive view of the surrounding area, according to a description provided by the Jackson stops real-estate agency. But that view is beautiful, featuring farms and woodlands in the rolling hills of the Devonshire countryside.

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Stephen Wensley/ Wikimedia Commons)

Matt Benedetto strikes back once again with his unnecessary inventions. And this time, it may perhaps be one of the most horrifying inventions ever made. Matt has created the unthinkable: the first ever pair of Crocs Gloves.

If this was a real product, would you buy it? If yes, what would you use it for?

(Video Credit: Unnecessary Inventions/ YouTube)

so my 13 year old dog has arthritis in her back legs and has a hard time walking, so here’s what my dad made for her so she can get around the house comfortably #queenforlife pic.twitter.com/EBSvc3Yn7z

— 𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚊🌙 (@SM0RRiS4) July 28, 2019

This dog named Kaylee has been around with Sara Morris and her family for 13 thirteen years, faithfully coming with them with every step of the way. But now that she’s old, she’s finding it hard to keep up with the family.

“She has trouble walking due to her arthritis in her back legs, and recently it has gotten a little worse," Sara Morris, Kaylee's owner, told The Dodo. "She can still walk but not for long periods of time."

Watching Kaylee try to cope with her mobility has been heartbreaking for her family; she still insists on being by their side as they move about the house, but it's clearly a painful struggle at times.

To ensure that Kaylee won’t ever feel left behind, Morris’s father decided to create something for Kaylee.

"On his day off, he spent it in the garage making her something that would make it easier for her to be with us. She loves being around us and always near my dad," Morris said. "So, he made her a cart with wheels, so we can pull her around with us."

It was just the thing that Kaylee needed.

Now, as the family walks from room to room, or outdoors for a stroll, Kaylee is able to keep pace without her body aching.

(Video Credit: SM0RRiS4/ Twitter)

This is a “sand” Zen garden clock made by the London-based design duo, Bike and Begum Ayaskan from Studio Ayaskan. This creation is “a meditative play on the landscape art of kare-sansui”.

For the first 12 hours of the day, the rake-edge of the zen garden clock’s single hand creates a series of concentric rings through its sandy surface. Then, in preparation for the next 12 hours, the clock hand flips over and smoothes it all out again.

It’s not a practical clock, but it is a clock nonetheless. 

What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Studio Ayaskan)

“Seeshall”

Yulia Brodskaya is an artist known for her large-scale paper-centric works such as Seeing, Seeshall, and Pull to The Light, which are three of her most recent works, which feature female subjects in a variety of traditional dresses.

Brodskaya’s signature technique of ‘painting with paper’ is a contemporary interpretation of quilling, wherein the artist folds, bends, and spirals strips of colored paper. Rather than densely filling the entire surface with the manipulated paper strips, Brodskaya also incorporates flat fields of color underneath and between each textural element. This two-part technique allows the viewer’s eye to take in the dramatic shapes and shadows.

After developing and evolving this technique over the last twelve years, Brodskaya has compiled a deep dive into her creative process in a forthcoming book, “Painting With Paper”...

She shares with Colossal that her book is not a collection of DIY projects, but rather, her book is “an insight into [her] creative process with practical tips on how to work with [her] methods in various ways of your own.”

Brodskaya’s book is set to publish on September, but you can pre-order now on Amazon. You can look at her multi-dimensional works on Instagram, or see the time-lapse process videos on YouTube.

(Image Credit: Yulia Brodskaya/ Colossal)

This is cataloged as G292.0+1.8, a young supernova remnant around 20,000 light years away toward the southern constellation Centaurus. The light from the initial supernova explosion reached the Earth around 1,600 years ago. This false-color x-ray image is from the orbiting Chandra Observatory.

But how do stars live their lives before going to its demise in the form of a supernova? Find out on NASA.

(Image Credit: NASA/ CXC/ SAO)

A Cape Cod beach was closed after a white shark was spotted near the place last Wednesday. The aerial photo even showed the great aquatic predator swimming right near the shore.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s spotter pilot, Wayne Davis, observed the shark lurking in the water off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, Boston.com reported. The photo, which was shared on Facebook by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, shows the white shark in close proximity to the beach after beachgoers were ordered to get out of the water.

“August to October are peak months of white shark activity off Cape Cod,” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy wrote on Facebook. “Whether or not a sighting is reported, we advise caution and recommend not venturing beyond waist-deep water.”

I’m relieved to hear that no one was harmed.

(Image Credit: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy / Facebook)

Oxytocin, popularly known as the love hormone, plays a crucial role in regulating social and maternal behavior. The oxytocin system in the brain has received a great amount of attention in recent years as key to new treatments for a number of mental health disorders, such as anxiety, postpartum depression, and autism spectrum disorders. A new study led by a biologist and his students at LSU sheds light on how oxytocin can be linked to “maternal instinct.”

[They] have discovered a group of cells that are activated by oxytocin in one area of female mouse brains that are not present in the same area in male mouse brains.

"Many researchers have attempted to investigate the difference between the oxytocin system in females versus males, but no one has successfully found conclusive evidence until now. Our discovery was a big surprise," said Ryoichi Teruyama, LSU Department of Biological Sciences associate professor, who led this study published in PLOS ONE.

The oxytocin receptor cells are present in the brain area thought to be involved in the regulation of maternal behavior. Moreover, the expression of oxytocin receptors in these cells are only present when estrogen is also present. These imply that these cells are involved in inducing maternal behavior. In addition, it confirms what many recent human studies have shown: there is a connection between an altered expression of oxytocin receptors and postpartum depression.

[...]

This new discovery that occurred at LSU opens doors to potential new treatments and drugs for postpartum depression targeting oxytocin receptor cells.

"I think our discovery could be universal to all mammals that exhibit maternal behavior, including humans," Teruyama said.

(Image Credit: tiburi/ Pixabay)