Countries which observe Daylight Saving Time have switched their clocks back to standard time once again because it’s November. For almost a century, countries in Europe as well as North America have followed this practice of setting clocks forward by one hour. But is it time to end this practice?

This system’s twice-a-year transitions have become increasingly unpopular. Scientists have been calling attention to the damaging effects of the time changes—which include a general reduction in mental and physical well-being, as well as a potential increased risk of serious complications, such as strokes and heart attacks, soon after the shifts. There is also evidence of increases in traffic fatalities and harmful medical errors shortly following when clocks are moved forward in the spring.

In many countries, this might be the one of the last instances in which people make the adjustment. Governments around the world have been in discussions about scrapping the seasonal clock changes and sticking to one time—either permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving. In the U.S., many states are considering, or have already passed, legislation to adopt one of the two. Hawaii and most of Arizona decided to adopt just standard time more than 50 years ago. Last year the European Parliament voted to abolish the time shifts, but the member states of the European Union have yet to agree on how to implement the decision.

More about this over at Scientific American.

How about you? What do you think about Daylight Saving Time?

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It is a common experience to be matched up with or against a toxic player in an online game. Of course, we don’t like it when it happens. But we’re not quitters, and so we just bear with it until the match ends, and we hope that there will be no toxic players in the next game. But what if that can be a reality? Where all the non-toxic players can enjoy the game, while the toxic ones get to play with each other? It seems that these will soon come true if this new patent from Amazon pushes through.

Instead of just giving them the boot, Business Insider reports that the system would instead give the most toxic gamers a taste of their own medicine by putting them all in the same matches with each other. Then, all the people who would otherwise ruin your game end up harassing and trolling each other instead.

[...]

But this new patent would track gamers throughout all of their matches, minding the names they call teammates and opponents as well as other metrics for their behavior. Similar idea, but more ambitious in terms of how people get sorted. It’s sort of like a gaming version of the algorithms already used and abused by real-world law enforcement, but with vastly lower stakes — and no one is actually prevented from playing the game as a result.

What are your thoughts about this one?

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We know that platypuses are weird enough that even scientists are baffled by their existence, but can these egg-laying mammals get any weirder? It turns out they can. When scientists put platypuses under UV light, they discovered that these mammals glow green and blue.

Under visible light a platypus’s extremely dense fur — which insulates and protects them in cold water — is a drab brown, so the trippy glow revealed under UV light on a stuffed museum specimen was a big surprise. 

Biofluorescence — absorbing and re-emitting light as a different color — is widespread in fish, amphibians, birds and reptiles. But the trait is much rarer in mammals, and this is the first evidence of biofluorescence in egg-laying mammals, also known as monotremes, scientists reported in a new study.

Learn more about why platypuses are strange over at Live Science.

(Image Credit: Mammalia 2020; 10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027/ Live Science)

How does the brain work? Nobody knows for sure. But we know that through the signals that our brain sends and receives, we can move, speak, and do many tasks within the day.

Sophisticated imaging technologies like functional magnetic resonance can give you some clues. But it’d be great to have something more direct. For decades, technologists have been trying to get brains to interface with computer keyboards or robot arms, to get meat to commune with silicon.

A team of scientists on Wednesday have revealed promising results on a new approach to the brain-computer interface.

It involves mounting electrodes on an expandable, springy tube called a stent and threading it through a blood vessel that leads to the brain… In an article published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, the Australian and US researchers describe how two people with paralysis due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) used such a device to send texts and fool around online by brain-control alone.

Now that’s phenomenal work.

Learn more details about this method over at Ars Technica.

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The Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery located in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the resting place of many famous artists and musicians like Leonard Bernstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat. But of all the many famous figures buried in this 478-acre cemetery, they are not who get the most visits. Rather, many people visit this place not to pay tribute to men, but to a humble dog named Rex.

Rex was the faithful companion of John E. Stow, one of NYC's leading fruit merchants who died in 1884. Green-Wood’s files from the 19th century include a note that refers to the placement of a “bronze likeness of a dog,” next to Stow’s grave. However, it’s unclear if Rex is actually buried there. “I think people like to believe that there is a dog interred there and there very well might be,” Stacy Locke, Communications Manager at Green-Wood Cemetery says. “But it’s hard to say.”

But it seems that it doesn’t matter whether Rex is buried there or not. It doesn't change the fact that he was, is, and always will be a good boy.

Over the past months, people have gone by the cemetery just to leave sticks on Rex’s gravestone.

If you’re in NYC, you can find Rex’s memorial at Green-Wood Cemetery, Lot 2925, Section 81.

Wholesome.

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… and other restaurants and independent food outlets as well.

The fast food chain that usually throws shade at McDonald’s states that they “never thought [they’d] be asking you to do this.”

Is it just me or is it really weird to see Burger King like this? I have to say, however, that this is easily one of the most wholesome things to happen this year.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: Burger King UK on Facebook)

Can your neighbor sue you if you decide to follow his herd of cows, record bits of audio from them, and use this audio for a song? Reddit user ProfessionalTom seems to have been very curious when he asked this question at the discussion website.

“I plan on using these sounds in my tracks. He saw me following the herd and recording a plethora of samples of his cows,” Tom writes.

“When he asked me what it is for, I said I will use them in a song. He laughed and didn't seem to mind. His son was there though, and he knows my artist name.

“Now I wonder whether they can take over my song if they change their minds because it contains sounds of their cows.

Many Reddit users were quick to answer Tom’s question, and most of them said that his neighbor wouldn’t be able to sue him.

“How would he prove that the recording uses the sound of his cows, specifically?” he asks (fair point). “Do they sound more distinctive than other cows? There’s no claim to be made here whatsoever; you made the recording and it belongs to you.”

What are your thoughts about this one?

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A research study recently published in the journal Animals seems to have strengthened the case against using whips on horses. The study found out that “whips make no difference to horse steering, jockey safety, or even a horse's speed.” Previous studies years ago had already established that whipping horses can potentially be “both painful and dangerous”.

We analysed reports for 126 races involving a total of 1,178 starters (horses and jockeys). These included all 67 hands and heels "whipping-free" races in the period starting January 2017 and ending December 2019. For these, we were able to case-match 59 traditional "whipping-permitted" races.

Thus, we were able to compare the performance of racehorses under both "whipping-free" and "whipping-permitted" conditions in real racing environments, to figure out whether whipping makes horses easier to steer, safer to ride, and/or more likely to win.

Our results indicated no significant differences between horse movement on the course, interference on the course, the frequency of incidents related to jockey behaviour, or average race finishing times.

Put simply, whip use had no impact on steering, safety, or speed. Contrary to longstanding beliefs, whipping racehorses just doesn't work.

Learn more details about this over at Science Alert.

What are your thoughts about this one?

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Have you ever wondered how animals choose their leaders in their respective groups? For us humans, we get to choose our leaders through elections, but how about them? How do these creatures build their social hierarchies? IFL Science tells us how chickens, bees, baboons, and African wild dogs establish social order.

Read more about this over at the site.

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You wouldn’t expect The Home Depot to sell cute products, because they are known for their hardware and construction products. That’s why Paul Strauss of Technabob was surprised when he saw this Elvis-inspired squirrel, called “Elmer the Rock and Roll Squirrel,” alongside the store’s usual line of products.

I’m not sure what it was about my shopping for PVC deck parts that made Home Depot’s ad retargeting vendor recommend this Elvis-inspired squirrel, but now I must have one for my yard. So I guess the technology is working properly. Somehow the algorithm knew that I would want one of these. Not only that, it must have known that I edit a website filled with strange and wonderful products, and would tell all of my readers about it.

You can get your hands on the king of rock and roll squirrels over at The Home Depot for $23.98.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: The Home Depot/ Technabob)

With the many types of chargers for different types of devices, it can be very difficult for a blind person to charge a device. Fortunately, there are charger manufacturing companies that have thought of addressing this problem by putting Braille on the charger, so that the blind person can identify which charger is which.

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Even without direction from its brain, the octopus’s arms can snatch food on the ocean floor without much difficulty. That’s because the arms can operate semi-independently from the brain. But how can the arms identify what is food and what is not even without the guidance of the brain? It would seem that this feat could be attributed to the ability of the octopus arms to “taste.”

… researchers have identified specialized cells not seen in other animals that allow octopuses to “taste” with their arms. Embedded in the suckers, these cells enable the arms to do double duty of touch and taste by detecting chemicals produced by many aquatic creatures. This may help an arm quickly distinguish food from rocks or poisonous prey, Harvard University molecular biologist Nicholas Bellono and his colleagues report online October 29 in Cell.

Just imagine being able to taste stuff with just your limbs. I don’t know if that’s creepy or amazing.

More details about this over at Science News.

What are your thoughts about this one?

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It would seem that living in green spaces is very beneficial for us. In a study published in 2014, it was stated that living in green spaces could improve one’s mental health. Now, a new study seems to suggest that the people living in such areas are also less likely to smoke, and smokers who live here are more likely to quit their vice.

The study is the first to demonstrate that access to neighbourhood greenspace is linked to lower rates of current smoking, and that this is due to higher rates of smoking cessation rather than lower uptake in these areas.

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In addition, among people who had smoked at some point during their lives, those living in greener neighbourhoods were up to 12% more likely to have successfully quit smoking.

The authors suggest that improving access to greenspace may constitute an overlooked public health strategy for reducing smoking prevalence, especially given that smoking uptake and cessation are affected by stress.

Learn more details about the study over at EurekAlert.

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If you were not able to see Mars last month, then you just missed the opportunity to see Mars in the best time possible. But it’s okay. Mars can still be seen this month, but it will seem to be darker and smaller than it was last month (because it will go farther from Earth). Other than the Red Planet, there might also be other planets which you would like to observe, and Space.com tells us which planets are the best ones to observe this month.

Find out more about this over at the site.

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Bees are known to be diurnal creatures, and are usually seen foraging for food in broad daylight. However, not all bees are diurnal. Some are capable of foraging at night, like these two bee species recently discovered by scientists.

The study by a team of ecology researchers has observed night time foraging behaviour by a nomiine (Reepenia bituberculata) and masked (Meroglossa gemmata) bee species, with both developing enlarged compound and simple eyes which allow more light to be gathered when compared to their daytime kin.

Published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, the researchers explain that this improved low-light ability could potentially also exist in other Australian species secretly active at night, with their image processing ability best observed through high-resolution close-up images.

Now this is new.

Learn more details about the study over at PHYS.org.

(Image Credit: James Dorey, Flinders University/ PHYS.org)