Thinking of a way to make wearing face masks “more pleasant and approachable”, Danish design studio Hej decided to create this set of face masks made out of food. While these face masks are not designed to protect you from infectious germs in the air, they sure do give one a more approachable look. But maybe you can wear one of these over a regular face mask.

Well, what do you think?

Via Laughing Squid

(Image Credit: Hejstudio_/ Instagram)

Impossible Foods is no longer just focused on creating alternative meat products. The company has recently announced at a press conference that they are planning on creating plant-based milk. That’s right. Artificial milk, and they will call it Impossible Milk.

According to the company, it is not designed to be just another soy milk or nut-based milk alternative. Instead, it’s designed to function and behave just like the animal-derived cow’s milk.

In a demonstration from the company’s food lab, a researcher showed samples of Impossible Milk side by side [with] other plant-based milks like almond milk and soy milk, to show that the Impossible Milk looks much more like cow milk than the others. According to her, Impossible Milk is designed to be just as creamy as regular milk, and will not curdle in hot beverages like other plant-based milks will. She demonstrated this by mixing it in a cup of hot coffee, and it did not appear to curdle. Impossible Milk can also apparently be frothed just regular milk.

[...]

Impossible Milk is still very much in the development phase, and won’t be available for consumers any time soon.

More details about this over at Engadget.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Impossible Foods/ Engadget)

We humans need comfy beds to rest after hours of back-breaking work from home. Our pets need comfy beds, too, after they spend the whole day spreading happiness, joy, cuteness, and love. 

And what better way to show your pets you love them than to get an IKEA bed to snooze in. I'm talking about the IKEA 'DUKTIG' doll bed. The perfect size for a cat or a small dog.

The IKEA 'DUKTIG' is made of fiberboard and solid pine, and it comes complete with a pillow, mattress, and blanket.

According to the product details on IKEA's website, it's made for children ages 18 months and above. It also "encourages make-believe play".

Well, if you don't have any human children, I bet your cats (or small dogs) would appreciate it.

Check out more details and see the photos over at Mashable.

(Image Credit: IKEA Malaysia/ Mashable)

With the many things happening this year, one can become easily stressed and find it very difficult to relax. But if there are creatures who can find time to relax amidst trying times, it would be animals, and I think we can learn from them.

Ozzy Man Reviews brings to us a compilation of animals relaxing.

See the video. It’s cute and calming.

(Image Credit: Ozzy Man Reviews/ YouTube)

We all want to save money, and I think that’s why we’re always into promos, deals, and discounts. With that in mind, Uber Eats Japan offers a great deal to its citizens: a 35% off the cost of your food.

All you have to do is utilize the app’s omochikaeri option when ordering.

And what’s omochikaeri mean? “Pickup.” In other words, Uber Eats is offering the discount to customers who are willing to go pick up their order themselves.

It’s pretty much a complete role reversal for a company whose whole business model is “give us money and we’ll bring you food,”...

But does this mean Uber Eats is unnecessary, or the same as just ordering takeout? Not really.

As strange as the promotion may be, a discount is still a discount, and since using the self-pickup option means you’re not paying any service or delivery fee, the entire discount is extra money in your pocket compared to placing an ordinary non-Uber Eats takeout order. Essentially you use Uber Eats as an ordering app in order to get the discount (which caps at 1,000 yen [US$9.50], which would be your discount for an order of 2,857 yen or more). Uber Eats itself also points out that placing your order through its app cuts down on time spent waiting in line and for your order to be cooked, since it’ll be ready and waiting for you at the counter (or fried chicken locker, if you’re ordering from certain Tokyo KFC branches).

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Uber Eats/ SoraNews 24)

Simone Giertz wanted to get her dog to take a photo using her smartphone. Unfortunately, smartphones aren’t designed for dog paws, and so the dog, Westie Scraps, wasn’t able to take her photo. But is there a way for dogs to take their own photos? Giertz thought about it, and then came up with a brilliant idea of creating a photo booth for Westie.

And it really, really worked.

The automated machine has a pedal which can be triggered by the dog's paw and takes a photo but also dispenses a treat - so everyone is happy.

Simone shared the cute photos on Twitter - where they cheered up everyone.

Genius!

(Image Credit: Simone Giertz/ Twitter)

Gibbons love to swing on treetops. It’s in their nature. Unfortunately, it has become hard for them to do that because of the landslide that formed a huge gap on their forest in Hainan, China. The landslide has made roaming across the region to find food and potential mates very difficult for the gibbons. Thankfully, conservation scientists came up with a temporary solution to address the problem: by making a rope bridge that reconnected the trees.

And scientists have filmed the ape, a type of gibbon, climbing or swinging across in seconds.

Some used the ropes as a handrail, others swung by their arms and the most daring walked the tightrope.

[...]

All nine in the group mastered the rope bridge, save one adult male, which made a mighty jump from one tree to another, sometimes accompanied by athletic teenage companions.

Conservation scientists say the 18-metre-long structure could be an essential lifeline for the endangered species, while the forests are restored to their former glory.

Wholesome!

Learn more about this story over at BBC.

(Image Credit: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden/ BBC)

Solar cells have greatly improved over the years. Back in the 1950s, solar cells converted only 6% of sunlight into electricity. Today, solar cells can now convert up to 22% of sunlight into electricity. Unfortunately, the efficiency of today’s silicon-based solar cells are nearly maxed out. However, this doesn’t mean that we can no longer improve our solar cells. Enter perovskite.

A group of materials called perovskites are being used to create the next generation of solar panels, which could eventually be twice as efficient as current models, and flexible enough to wrap around entire buildings.

[...]

Researchers at Oxford PV, a company spun out of the University of Oxford, made a major breakthrough in 2018. By coating silicon with perovskite they achieved 28% efficiency. The company believes it can eventually reach 40%, or higher.

Improved solar cell efficiency will enable installations to pump out more power with fewer panels, reducing costs, and the amount of land, labor and equipment needed to operate them.

Learn more about perovskite over at CNN.

(Image Credit: CNN)

It’s not just humans who have it difficult in life. Monsters, too, find living in this world difficult. One finds it hard to accept modern architecture, while another finds it hard to spell its own name.

Check out the images made by Teo Zirinis over at Out of Mana on Facebook.

Police in southern Germany responded to a call from a woman who got an uninvited guest inside her home — a 25-centimeter (10-inch) Chinese mitten crab, which went from the terrace to the open door unhindered.

Before they arrived, police say, the woman captured the crustacean by putting an upside-down garbage can on top of it.

Officers were able to put the crab into a container and then take it to a local veterinary clinic.

The invasive species, native to Asia, is now found in many rivers in Germany, and the woman’s residence was not far from the Rhine, though the Chinese mitten crab has never been reported in the area before. They’re not considered dangerous.

Thankfully nobody was harmed.

(Image Credit: Police Headquarters Freiburg via AP)

Water usually flows faster than honey. But when liquids are put in narrow tubes coated with liquid-repelling compounds, liquids with higher viscosity, flow faster.

And that’s more than just a physics fun fact. The speed at which fluids flow through pipes is important for a large range of applications, from industrial processes to biological systems.

Scientists were surprised to find this out when they experimented with superhydrophobic coatings. Their findings are reported in the journal Science Advances.

“A superhydrophobic surface consists of tiny bumps that trap air within the coating, so that a liquid droplet that rests on the surface sits as if on a cushion of air,” says research leader Robin Ras.

The coatings themselves don’t speed up the flow of the more viscous liquids, Ras explains. If you place a drop of honey and a drop of water on a coated surface then tilt it to let gravity do its work, the low-viscosity water will flow more quickly.

However, when a droplet is confined to one of the very narrow tubes used in microfluidics, things change drastically. The superhydrophobic coating creates a small air gap between the inside wall of the tube and the outside of the droplet.

More about this over at Cosmos Magazine.

(Image Credit: Aalto University)

Back in 2018, there was a viral video of a female orca in the Pacific Northwest. The orca, named Tahlequah, had just lost her calf, but she did not abandon the corpse. Instead, she kept on pushing it around for over 17 days. It was almost as if the orca was grieving for the loss of her calf. But is the orca really grieving?

Scientists are tempted to draw those conclusions, too. But even if researchers feel that an animal’s behaviors mean it is mourning, that’s not how their job works. “We need documented evidence that this is indeed an analogue to grief,” says Elizabeth Lonsdorf, a primatologist at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, that proof is hard to get. “In terms of emotion, animal cognition is tricky,” she says. “It would be a lot nicer if you could ask them what they’re feeling.”

Since that option is off the table, scientists resort to observations, analysis and testing hypotheses to figure out why animals interact with their dead, and whether those interactions count as grief. And it’s going to take a lot more than just observations in the wild to get an answer. “The short answer is this is one of these great scientific problems that will take people working from all areas to sort out,” Lonsdorf says.

More details about this over at Discover Magazine.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Foto-Rabe/ Pixabay)

To be able to keep yourself awake for eleven days is nothing but amazing. To be able to keep yourself awake for eleven days while flying is even more amazing. A male bar-tailed godwit was just recorded doing those things as it migrated from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird flew over the Pacific Ocean and covered over 7,500 miles.

Last year, researchers from the Global Flyway Network, a conservation group that tracks the migration of shorebirds, tracked the bird by outfitting it with a custom set of colorful bands around its legs. The bird—known as 4BBRW for the colors of the bands on its legs: two blue, one red, and one white—was also equipped with a tiny satellite tag that tracked its every move. The data revealed that the bird reached a max speed of 55 miles per hour and flew nonstop for 11 days, likely without sleeping, reports George Dvorsky for Gizmodo.

The previous record was set by a female bar-tailed godwit in 2007 who flew 7,250 miles during her migration, reports Chris Baynes for the Independent. Scientists say that for this year’s record-breaker, strong easterly winds likely lengthened his journey, helping him break the record.

Now that’s awesome!

(Image Credit: Paul van de Velde/ Wikimedia Commons)

The first planes before and during World War I didn’t pose much danger. Back then, they were only used for reconnaissance and surveillance of enemy territory. Information back then was as valuable as it is today. However, once opposing forces used the same tactic against each other, there became a realization to add weapons on the rather new invention. With the addition of weapons on planes came dogfights.

The first dogfights were made with pistols. The pilot held the airplane’s control stick with one hand and fired off his pistol to the sides with the other. Then a second crew member, the gunner, was added. Sitting on the backseat, his job was to operate a movable machine gun leaving the flying to the pilot. It was German aviator August Euler, who first saw the advantage of a forward-firing gun that could bring down an enemy from behind. Euler patented his design in 1910—four years before war started.

Euler’s design was met with criticism, however.

“The idea of coupling the firing mechanism to the propeller's rotation is an affectation. The objection is the same as to any gun position which is fixed along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft: the pilot is forced to fly directly at the enemy in order to fire. Under certain circumstances this is highly undesirable”, wrote German Major Siegert.

Nevertheless, airplane designers continued to file patents.

But putting a forward-firing gun on a plane proved to be very difficult. It wasn’t until Anthony Fokker came into the scene with his synchronization gear that the first true fighter aircraft would be born.

More about this over at Amusing Planet.

(Image Credit: The Illustrated London News/ Amusing Planet)

Composting is good for the environment for many reasons. Just to name one, composting enriches the soil, and this could lead to healthy plant growth.

There are two problems when making compost, however. One, it takes a long time. Two, it produces an undesirable smell that could attract pests. But a German team has developed a device that addresses both problems.

Created by a German team of "material scientists, engineers, and hobby gardeners," Kalea is about the size of a kitchen garbage can and it sits (appropriately enough) in the kitchen. As users generate food waste – including meat, fish or dairy products – they deposit those items in a lidded bin on top of the device.

Once activated via the press of a button, Kalea starts by dropping the waste from the bin into a chamber where it's shredded and dried. Once that process is complete, the organic material is dropped into a second chamber where it's tumbled.

It is said that the device can produce compost in just two days. It has also been said that there is not much odor involved in the composting process.

Cool!

(Image Credit: Kalea/ New Atlas)