It’s been many months since many of us were introduced to a work-from-home setup, and by now we’re used to it. Many places in our homes, such as tables and sofas now have become makeshift offices. But if there’s a place that is rarely converted to a workplace, it would be the bed, and that is for good reason.

“When we use our bed for other activities, like working,... we create an association with wakefulness. We want the bed to be a cue for sleep, and working in bed weakens this association,” behavioral sleep medicine therapist Annie Miller told Healthline.

But working from bed has its pros, too.

Counsellor Kerry Quigley, accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, has also linked working from bed to lower anxiety. “Working from the comfort of your bed can feel like a safe calming space, particularly when anxiety is an issue,” she’s said.

Snigdha Bansal has documented her experience working from bed for a week. See her story over at Vice.

(Image Credit: Snigdha Bansal/ Vice)

Have you read Facebook’s privacy policies? Chances are you haven’t. And if you did read them, chances are you didn’t read them all. Thankfully, there are those, like Shoshana Wodinsky of Gizmodo, who read that stuff and then share with us what they’ve read. And what did Wodinsky find out about Facebook’s privacy policies? Lots of things, and many of them are scary stuff.

Facebook’s privacy policies are a master class in divulging just enough to satisfy most people’s curiosities about the company’s creepiest practices, without giving them enough details to actually protect themselves. It’s a privacy policy loaded with dead ends and tech tangents designed to give you the illusion of control—but that’s it.

See more about Wodinsky’s findings over at Gizmodo.

(Image Credit: TheDigitalArtist/ Pixabay)

From beaded dresses and corsets spring forth various plants and flowers, which can act as a skirt, or a part of the body, such as the legs, the arms, and the head. In this series of paintings, artist Amy Laskin “juxtaposes decorative fashions and organic beauty.”

Each piece is figurative but non-representational, a decision Laskin shares stems from the idea that “nature is anonymous. She needs no name. She is everything.”

The artist’s studio is located in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica, the place she’s drawn inspiration from since moving to the island as a Peace Corps volunteer years ago. You can find more of Laskin’s work that’s brimming with the flora native to the region on her site and Artsy.

See some of Laskin’s paintings over at Colossal.

(Image Credit: Amy Laskin/ Colossal)

If you haven’t slept in a hammock yet, then you wouldn’t know how comfy it is to sleep in one. However, sometimes what happened to this poor kid, happens when you rest on a hammock, so make sure you don’t end up in this position as you sleep.

Thankfully, the baby did not suffocate while in this position.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: Noor Doing Things/ Facebook)

Inside this establishment is a magical forest and a cave for children where they can spot a Sasquatch sleeping. The establishment also offers a variety of accessories, as well as guided Bigfoot-themed expeditions. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, you’re sure to have a fun experience in one of the top 10 wackiest places in Colorado — the Sasquatch Outpost.

[The owner of the establishment, Jim Myers,] originally opened a general grocery store at the location, but after talking with locals about Bigfoot sightings in the area, he decided to convert his store into what it is today.

Learn more about the place over at Atlas Obscura.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: LongDaysWithJenny/ Atlas Obscura)

Fetch. A simple game, yet dogs love it. In fact, they love this game so much that they want to play it with you for hours, if not the whole day. And it makes a great time killer, too. At least, that’s what Baloo realized when he observed that his mom, Natalie McAllister, takes some time inside the shower.

Usually Baloo just checks in on his mom [in the shower] and that’s it, but one day, as she showered and he waited, he came up with the best idea. 

He decided to bring his mom one of his toys. 

“His only goal in bringing me the toy was to play fetch, which is one of his favorite games,” McAllister said. “I don't often throw toys for him in the house, because he's crazy, but I think he felt like he had me cornered and that I would have to throw his toy back.” 

This was the first time that Baloo brought a toy in the shower, but his mom is sure that this won’t be the last time.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: Natalie McAllister/ The Dodo)

Hedgehogs, typically the African pygmy hedgehog, have become quite the popular household pet in Japan in recent years. I would say, however, that the hedgehog’s popularity is not exclusive to Japan, as it has become popular as a pet worldwide as well.

If you’re someone who owns a hedgehog, then you know how hard it is to separate yourself from the tiny creature that you wish could be with you wherever you go. The person who created this miniature mobile home has the same sentiments.

Resembling a miniature tent, the hedgehog mobile home comes with a strap and window you can open to check in our your little buddy. And when you’re not carrying it around it can also be placed inside a cage where it functions as a crib. A washable floor cover and water-resistant material helps keep your hedgehog’s safe space nice and clean too. And when not in use, it folds up flat.

It’s available for 4,900 JPY ($47 USD) through retailer Solcion.

Cool!

(Image Credit: Solcion/ Spoon & Tamago)

Found in the rainforests of northern Madagascar is the Brookesia nana, the world’s smallest reptile. Scientists say that the fully grown male only measures half an inch from its snout to cloaca, which makes it the smallest adult reptile ever described.

In fact, the male B. nana measured even smaller than his female counterpart, which had a length of 0.75 inches (19.2 mm) from snout to cloaca. (Not only is she longer than her mate, but she is also slightly longer than the Caribbean gecko Sphaerodactylus ariasae, which currently holds the title for smallest female reptile, the researchers wrote.)

"Given that the general body plan of reptiles is rather similar to that of mammals and humans, it is fascinating to see how miniaturized these organisms and their organs can get," lead study author Frank Glaw, a herpetologist at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, told Live Science in an email.

Learn more about this over at Live Science.

Now this is cute!

(Image Credit: Frank Glaw/ Live Science)

It is one thing to discover that your child is a genius. It is another thing to raise him/her. When raised properly, the genius kid will be equipped to do great things when he/she grows up. The question is, how do you do that? Here is what Maye Musk, the mother of Elon Musk, has to say.

“People often ask me how I have raised such successful kids,” she wrote in her 20019 book “A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success,” as quoted by KLAS.

“I did it by letting them follow their interests,” she wrote. “If they prefer to start a business and you think it’s a good idea, support them. Teach your children good manners. But let them decide what they want.”

Simple, yet effective!

(Image Credit: Luan Luu/ Wikimedia Commons)

The diamond is known to be the hardest mineral in the world. Well, after being under a lot of pressure and under high temperatures, who wouldn’t be made tough? But when it comes to hardness, diamonds can’t get any harder. Scientists have discovered that the mineral in question is “metastable”.

In a series of new experiments, scientists have found that diamonds retain their crystal structure at pressures five times higher than that of Earth's core.

This contradicts predictions that diamond should transform into an even more stable structure under extremely high pressure, suggesting that diamond sticks to a form under conditions where another structure would be more stable, what is referred to as being 'metastable'.

The discovery has implications for modelling high-pressure environments such as the cores of planets rich in carbon.

More details about this over at ScienceAlert.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Have you ever wondered how the thumb, the most important finger in your hand, evolved? Scientists also wonder the same about the said finger, and they might finally have an answer to that question through this study modeling muscle in fossilized thumbs.

It’s a “thorough, robust analysis,” says Tracy Kivell, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Kent who was not involved with the work. But she and others caution that the research is too preliminary to provide a true smoking gun.

Figuring out how ancient thumbs worked isn’t easy. Fossils don’t preserve muscles, so most previous attempts to estimate ancient dexterity relied on how closely our ancient relatives’ hand bones resembled our own. Hand bones are also small and relatively rare in the fossil record. But resemblance can be deceiving: Depending on how the muscles are connected, some species with similar bone anatomy might have very different grip strengths, and vice versa.

Learn more about the study over at Science Magazine.

(Image Credit: geralt/ Pixabay)

A great sleep and dreams of chicken and gravy. If you’re the person who longs for these things, then you might consider getting yourself the Mocchiri Juicy Karaage (“Springy Juicy Fried Chicken”) pillow made by the Japanese brand Fellisimo. The pillows, which cost around $32 apiece, are available in three sizes.

The pillows include a pouch to hold your smartphone, and you’re encouraged to play the ASMR YouTube video of chicken sizzling and frying provided by Fellisimo…

Careful not to get hungry, though.

(Image Credit: Fellisimo/ Technabob)

January 28, 1986. It was the day when five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists lost their lives. It was the day that the Space Shuttle Challenger unexpectedly exploded after 73 seconds into its flight. It was a day worth learning from.

The shockwaves through NASA and its aerospace and defense partners were immense, and it took more than two years to resume flights after an external investigation, redesigns and other measures. The accident also caused a few program cancellations, such as an astronaut jetpack that flew spacewalkers on satellite rescue missions and a plan to launch space shuttles from California in addition to Florida.

NASA remembers and since then has learned from its mistakes that led to the tragedy 35 years ago.

More about this story over at Space.com.

(Image Credit: NASA/ Wikimedia Commons)

It seems that humans are not alone when it comes to having diverse languages and dialects. Mole rat colonies have those, too. And much like how we humans sometimes identify ourselves with those who have the same dialect as ours, mole rats also do the same.

Shared dialect [in mole rats] also strengthens cohesion within a colony, a team led by MDC researcher Gary Lewin reports in Science.

[...]

Lewin worked with Dr. Alison Barker from his own team and other researchers from the MDC and the University of Pretoria in South Africa—Professor Nigel Bennett and Dr. Daniel Hart—to more closely analyze the chirps that the naked mole-rats use to greet one another. "In so doing, we established that each colony has its own dialect," reports Barker, lead author of the study published in Science. "The development of a shared dialect strengthens cohesion and a sense of belonging among the naked mole-rats of a specific colony."

Foreigners are not welcome in an established naked mole rat colony. "You might even say that these animals are extreme xenophobes," says Lewin, who has been studying naked mole rats for around 20 years at the MDC.

Learn more details about this over at PHYS.org.

(Image Credit: Felix Petermann, MDC/ PHYS.org)

For years, desktop and laptop users have been stuck with displays that only run at 60 Hz, while smartphone users enjoy having displays which run at 120 Hz. But it seems that laptop and desktop displays will be catching up to the refresh rates of smartphone displays soon.

Samsung Display, a subsidiary of The Samsung Group, has announced that it will begin production of its new 14-inch OLED screen that runs at 90 Hz for laptops this spring. In their announcement on their blog, CEO Choi Choo-sun claimed that the screens will be in full production starting March 21 of this year.

[...]

In introducing the new screens, representatives for the company claimed that their goal was to introduce a major shift in the video screen market—toward higher refresh rates and a better viewing experience for consumers. They believe that consumers will warm to the new screens very quickly, making them willing to pay extra for the faster screens and souped-up graphics cards.

It is indeed something to look forward to this year.

(Image Credit: Samsung)