(Photo: Creative Arts)
This is really clever! Children can be frightened of the lengthy and uncomfortable process of a CT scan. That's why some hospitals have toy versions in waiting rooms. These can help kids get used to the experience. This particular model by the design firm Creative Arts comes with 3 plush toys. When the child sends a stuffed animal through the scanner, the screen displays cartoon images of the internal organs.
-via reddit
(Photo: China News)
This is Xiao Mei, a teacher at Jiujiang University in southwestern China. Although you may not be able to tell from the photo, she's not human. She's a robot built by researchers at that school, allegedly after only a month of work. According to China News, she can deliver a lecture, use PowerPoint, and interact with students. I can't find a listing for her at Rate My Professors.
-via Marginal Revolution
(Photo: Kathryn)
There are times of the year on which tradition demands that we cease from our work to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Yes, Christmas and New Year's Day are important. But let us not forget National Donut Day, which is today. To mark the occasion, Incredible Things rounded up photos of the most artful donuts you've ever seen, including these bacon and egg donuts by Dixie Donuts in Richmond, Virginia. Resident donut artist Carol Brown whipped up these wonders that look like a complete breakfast. Check out the rest at Incredible Things.
The most common spoken language in Brazil is Portuguese. Then it's German, which is spoken by about 3 million people. Olivet Nazarene University in Olivet, Illinois created an interactive map of the world that shows which languages are the second most widely spoken in each country. The author also describes the prevelance of English around the world:
While many people would guess that English is the second most commonly spoken language in a majority of countries, that’s only true for some areas. For example, despite its proximity to North America, the only Central American countries to list English as their second most spoken language are Costa Rica and Panama. Similarly, in South America, Chile is the only country to have English as its second most spoken language, which just over 10% of the population claims to speak as a primary language. Throughout the rest of South America, regional indigenous languages are commonly the second most spoken, replacing English as a second language. […]
Interestingly, the area of the world where English is the second most commonly spoken language is Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, and India are becoming increasingly common, especially as speakers of various ethnic languages and dialect use English as a common language. Many schools in Japan and South Korea also teach English from a very early age, increasing its prevalence throughout the country.
-via The Presurfer
(Image: Julius T. Csotonyi/Royal Tyrrell Museum)
This may be a risky proposal approach, as it assumes that someone other than the editor and peer reviewers will actually read the article--especially the notes. But for paleontologist Caleb M. Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, it was completely successful. Lorna O'Brien said yes!
Brown's article in Current Biology was about the dinosaur Regaliceratops peterhewsi, of which an artist rendering is pictured above. Here's Brown's smooth move in the acknowledgements portion:
Retraction Watch reports that the editors of Current Biology were aware of the proposal (as one would hope). This is the first time that the publication has printed such a romantic overture.
-via BuzzFeed
As we've previously noted in 17 Facts You Might Not Know about Gilligan's Island, producer Sherwood Schwartz had to make many changes to the premise of the show to get it on the air. Studio executives were very skeptical that it could work. At one point, an executive known as "the Smiling Cobra" told Schwartz that he had to turn in the lyrics to a theme song for the show . . . the next morning! Schwartz was no song writer, but he realized that with a deadline like that, he'd have to do the work himself:
I has several friends who were songwriters, but who could I call at 8:00 p.m. to write a song by morning? I would have to explain the whole idea of the show and get someone to incorporate in the lyrics all the exposition I wanted in the song. No, that was hopeless.
Ignoring the fact that I was trying to do something that couldn’t possibly be done, I began to write the lyrics for Gilligan’s Island.
The result was this odd song. Unlike the song which eventually aired, you can't sing the words to "Amazing Grace" to its melody. Also, the Professor, Mary Ann, and Ginger have different professions. You can read more at Dangerous Minds (content warning: foul language).
Colin Furze, the mad British inventor, must be clearing a space in his home for his Nobel Prize. He’s sure to win one after building the FurzoToasto—an electric knife that cuts through bread and toasts it at the same time. It uses electric power to make the blade extremely hot. Furze uses it to easily cut through a loaf of bread. He can also toast pre-sliced bread by scraping the knife blade over it.
Does the FurzoToasto seem a bit dangerous to you? Then you may wish to try Furze’s more mundane inventions, such as jet-powered bicycle or his pneumatic Wolverine claws.
-via Laughing Squid
(Photo: Stian Fjelldal)
Ah, fresh eggs! There’s nothing like that taste. And in this case, the service was perfect. A pigeon laid her egg directly in this man’s frying pan!
Stian Fjelldal of Norway found that a pair of pigeons got into his apartment, pooped everywhere, and built a nest in a frying pan that he had left on his stove. He recorded the encounter on video, which you can watch here.
Fjelldal hasn’t decided what he’s going to do with the egg. He works with the Norwegian Environment Agency and may bring the egg in for testing to detect pollutants.
This man, allegedly found in a Liverpool pub, is a master of the saxophone. Watch him play the opening bars to Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme, even though he doesn’t have a saxophone. I’d like to see him lead a jazz band.
-via 22 Words
Master woodworker Barry Shields has become internet famous for making coffee tables that look like the Enterprise from Star Trek. But he’s more than just a Trekkie. He also loves Star Wars, so he built a table that looks like an X-wing fighter. It took him 6 months of work, off and on. It’s sturdy, elegant, and comes with a pre-installed R2 unit to assist on complicated missions. Shields offers it for sale at a price of $5,500.
-via Home Crux
Visitors to the Skylon Tower, an observation tower in Ontario that overlooks Niagara Falls, spotted this incredible meteorological find: a rainbow that arced a full 360⁰ degrees. Watch the video to see the full span. It’s a highly unusual event, but another one was photographed in 2013 in Australia.
-via The Geek Twins
(Photo: Mikael Buck)
Some people wear swim caps to protect their hair from the ravages of water, to keep hair out of pool filters, or reduce water drag while racing. The first of these is, of course, a concern for men with high-grade beards. They don’t want their perfectly designed facial arrangements to be harmed.
So it was inevitable that Virgin Trains, a British railroad company, would invent a device to protect the beards of swimmers. The beard cap is a Lycra swim cap that includes a wrap for beards and mustaches. PSFK reports that it’s a necessity for bearded athletic swimmers:
Virgin Trains, the official train partner to the Great North Swim, commissioned research after reading debates on swimming forums about beards causing drag. The findings revealed that 12 percent of men connect their beard to slower swim times and nearly a quarter feel their beards hinder their sports performance. Sporting men reported the reasons for this, with 11 percent saying their beard is irritating, 32 percent claiming it is a source of discomfort, and 42 percent saying they find it distracting.
-via Hopes & Fears
We’re living in a Nintendo world and this dog is totally cool with it. In this video from the marketing channel Petcentric, a German Shepherd journeys from the Mushroom Neighborhood in search of his bone. Hopefully we can someday see him play Mario Kart, too.
-via Gifsboom
I’ve never done this, but now I really want to! Of course, I’ll have to wait until winter and go someplace other than Texas. But the satisfying thud at the end of this quick video will make the journey worth it. YouTube user Patrick Kienzler, who enjoys blowing things up with rockets, understands.
-via Gizmodo
(Photo: Keng Susumpow)
Why would you need a toilet on an elevator? Because of earthquakes. Japan has them frequently. People can get stuck in elevators and can be forced to wait for long periods of time to be rescued.
That’s a problem if you have to go.
During the 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Tokyo last Saturday, 14 people got stuck in elevators. Some of them had to wait up to 70 minutes before getting out. Many elevators in Japan already provide water, blankets, and boxes that can serve as toilets if absolutely necessary, and trapped people can make use of them.
Elevator toilets have already existed for years, such as the bucket seat featured in the video above. But now the Japanese government wants to make running water available to people trapped in elevators for extended periods of time.
-via The Geek Twins
