Robots are increasingly taking over the roles and jobs that humans commonly do manually. Now let's get this slime robot inside you to go rooting around and see what it can find.

The Guardian reports that Li Zhang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his research team developed this robot out of polyvinyl alcohol, borax, and neodymium particles. It can be manipulated magnetically to navigate narrow confines of machines or bodies to perform repairs or extract foreign objects.

The magnetic particles are toxic, so Zhang explains that it will be necessary to develop a silica coating for the slime before using it inside human bodies. Adding pigments may make the robot more pleasant to look at.

Certainly improving the appearance of what has been called a "magnetic turd" could make it easier for future times when the use of it inside human bodies becomes permissible and, later, mandatory

-via David Burge

(Avogadro take my number t-shirt on sale at the NeatoShop)

Aside from ordinary compensation issues, such as paying rent and eating occasionally, scholars prioritize getting published and getting their published works cited by other scholars. Therefore any means to increase citation rates should be considered.

Scholars Stephen B. Heard, Chloe A. Cull, and Easton R. White report in bioRxiv the results of their recent study in the correlation between the humorous nature of titles among ecology and evolutionary biology papers and the citation rate of those articles.

The authors conclude that, at first glance, having a humorous title tends to correlate with lower citation rates. But this is only because scholars tend to give less important papers humorous titles. When the importance of an article is corrected statistically, it would appear that humorous titles correlate with higher citation rates.

So try cracking some jokes and maybe you’ll get a full-time appointment.

-via Marginal Revolution

Do breasts normally generate sound effects? I mean outside of anime, of course. The answer, in my admittedly limited experience, is no.

Nonetheless, one woman reported to her physician that her breasts made a "swishing sound". Weird Universe shares her story, which was reported in a 1994 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. She had saline breast implants and asserted that the swishing sound generally came when she was at high altitudes.

Why? Dr. James J. Bachman attributed the noise to Boyle's Law, which provides a formula for the expansion and contraction of gas that varies with temperature and pressure. The woman's breast implants contained a quantity of air, which expanded when the woman was at higher altitutudes and thus lower air pressure.

Photo: Docteur Spitalier Philippe

The would-be viral skateboarding star failed on his first attempt at the trick. Although he did flip successfully, he also lost control of his board. It was up to a Mercedes Sprinter work van passing by to rescue the recording. It performed an impromptu trick when the errant skateboard slipped under a back wheel.

Although the driver brought the van to a quick halt, it was a lot of force for a board to hold. Still, it held together remarkably well and the human was able to complete the trick, despite the damage to at least one truck.

-via Born in Space

Sin taxes are taxes on behaviors that the taxing authority (a government) wishes to discourage. They are punishments for socially disreputable actions such as, for example, remaining unmarried. This specific type of tax is called a bachelor tax, as it is designed to encourage men to settle down, get married, and have children in wedlock.

In Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages, economists Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod describe how some of these taxes have resulted in unintended consquences.

In 1900, Argentina had a bachelor tax in place. To avoid paying the tax while remaining single, the bachelor had to swear that he had proposed marriage to a woman, but was rejected.

This situation created a perverse incentive: some women, dubbed "professional lady rejectors", would reject marriage proposals for a fee.

-via Super Punch | Photo: Pixabay

(Hell Yeah t-shirt on sale at the NeatoShop)

Today, on Twitter, I ran across the calculated weight of Koolaid-Man, the mascot of the Kool-Aid drink brand. Canonically, he's 6 feet tall. So, assuming that he's made of glass 3.6 inches thick that contains 607.6 gallons of water (plus the Kool-Aid mix and sugar), then he would weigh 11,000 pounds.

Kool-Aid man already exists as a monster in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. He has many powers, including magic resistance, the ability to charge an enemy, and what amounts to bardic inspiration.

These statistics made me wonder how much damage Kool-Aid Man could do if he was dropped on top of someone, which would be a useful action during combat. Although official sources address falling damage (how much damage a character takes by falling), it is silent on damage inflicted by falling objects. There is, though, some online debate upon it.

​One set of house rules assumes that an object in excess of 200 pounds falling 10 feet would do 20d6 (twenty six-sided dice) points of damage. For Kool-Aid Man, that would scale up to 1,100d6, which would be, on average, 3,850 hit points. Since almost all player characters would have hit points in the low double digits, a drop attack by Kool-Aid Man would leave a mark.

I am, of course, assuming a straight drop. If Kool-Aid Man is moving along a parabolic trajectory, the damage could be different. We might need to consult a physicist. Alex hired me for Neatorama based on my good looks, not my brains.

So, in short: Kool-Aid Man can do lot of damage. Maybe your party could avoid combat by having the bard attempt to seduce Kool-Aid Man.

After Colin Darke went to art school, he proceeded to law school and became a practicing attorney. That's not the usual career path for artists or lawyers, but Darke is definitely unusual. Among his other skills is his ability to draw with both hands.

Yes, he's ambidextrous, but he can also draw with both hands at the same time!

Darke worked as an attorney until he asked himself "what would my 80-year-old self tell myself right now?" His goal is to make his 80-year old self happy, so he began drawing more actively and posting his content on TikTok. Now Darke is a viral sensation as he draws precise images, usually with both hands, requested by his followers.

You can see more of Darke's work on Instagram.

-via Laughing Squid

Leon Hanika is a German champion in the sport of canoe slalom, which is navigating rapids in a kayak or canoe. In this video, he is navigating still waters, but it is still a perilous feat. Hanika must ensure that he does not drop his beer in the water as he rolls his kayak.

Without the use of a paddle (that's the advanced version), Hanika rolls his canoe, switches his beer between his hands, and returns to the surface without spilling much of it. Then he takes a celebratory drink.

We have a similar sport here in the South, except that we use ATVs.

-via Born in Space

Would you like for a stranger to silent and still, but present as you do something?

Okay, it sounds weird. But it also makes sense. Shoji Morimoto, 38, of Tokyo works as a silent stranger. He tells the Washington Post (paywalled article) that his service is most often hired by people who are undergoing a major life experience, such as visiting a loved one's grave or filing divorce papers, and have no one to invite to join them. Give Morimoto money and he'll silently and attentively be present as you experience what you need.

If you have friends, you could call upon them to help you. But there may be a relationship cost to doing so, or it could just be awkward. Morimoto thus fills a niche because the cost is spelled out clearly and paid immediately: $85.

-via Althouse | Photo: Pxhere

The Mary Sue introduces us to a meme trending on Twitter. What is depicted in the above image? Some people see a fish. Some see a mermaid. I'm skeptical that those people actually exist.

My first thought was a seal. Some Twitter users think of a donkey, which seems a reasonable interpretation. But it's definitely not a fish or a mermaid; those people are just trolling us. And the whole idea of being left brained or right brained is a pseudoscientific myth.

Snuff is finely powdered tobacco that is snorted. It's fairly rare in the United States these days, and was uncommon even two generations ago, when smoking tobacco was a widespread practice thought to be not unhealthy, or even enviograting.

It was 1954. Using tobacco was normal, as was reading comic books--especially among the young. Can the youth market be turned to using snuff? The George W. Helme Snuff Company evidently hoped so and commissioned a promotional comic book by the studio operated by cartoonist Vic Herman.

The Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware owns a copy of this bizarre comic book. It has digitized the entire issue, which you can read online.

Futility Closet introduces us to the story of a wild hoax which I have verified through authoritative information sources. It begins with Jean Shepherd, a radio host for WOR-AM in New York City. Shepherd was a published author who was frustrated with the misleading way that bestseller lists were created. So, in 1956, he repeatedly told his listeners about the classic erotic novel I, Libertine by Frederick R. Ewing. Shepherd extolled the virtues merits of this saucy tale and urged his listeners to visit bookstores to request it.

I, Libertine did not exist. But there was, suddenly, massive demand for it to exist.

Shepherd sketched a plot outline for the novel. Publisher Ian Ballantine sent it to science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, asking him to ghostwrite the novel very quickly. Sturgeon fell asleep before finishing the text, which was completed by the publisher's wife, Betty Ballantine.

The book included a biography of the fictional Frederick R. Ewing, who was an Oxford graduate, a scholar of the history of erotica, and a retired Royal Navy officer. Ewing's book sold very well for several weeks and was on bestseller lists before journalists exposed the hoax.

Sources:

Bisbort, Alan. Media Scandals, ABC-CLIO, 2008.

Delany, Samuel R. Starboard Wine : More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, 2012.

Italie, Hillel. “Betty Ballantine, Who Helped Invent the Modern Paperback, Dies at 99.” Los Angeles Times, Feb 14, 2019.

Photo: University of Tulsa

Trooper Toni Schuck, a 26-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol, was, last Sunuday, providing protection to 7,000 runners participating in the Skyway 10K in New Port Richey, Florida. She heard a radio report that a woman in a BMW blew through barricades blocking off the runners' route. Schuck swung around and moved to intercept the suspected drunk driver.

Fox 13 News reports that Schuck's Chevrolet Tahoe cruiser was the last obstacle between the BMW and the runners. As you can see in the above footage, she took a head-on collision to bring the drunk driver to a complete stop.

This is what her cruiser looked like afterward:

Police arrested the driver, who, at a hospital, tested three times over the legal limit for alcohol. Trooper Schuck was seriously injured and remains on medical leave until she has recovered and can resume her heroic duties.

-via Marilyn Terrell | Photo: Florida Highway Patrol

New record: Longest underwater walk with one breath (male) - 107 metres (351ft 0.5in)

Free diver Croatian Vitomir Maricic went for a gentle stroll along his local swimming pool 🏊 pic.twitter.com/CA3nnt4Yte

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) March 9, 2022

Vitomir Maričić, a Croatian freediver, is a master athelete in his sport. Last year, he smashed through the Guinness World Record for the longest underwater walk. That record had also been held by a Croatian freediver and was almost 315 feet.

Maričić conducted his attempt at the pool of Thalassotherapia Opatija, a rehabilitation center in Croatia, in September of last year. Maričić says that he didn't actually train for this project. As a world-class freediver, he didn't need to. Instead, he held a weight (to keep himself from rising) and walked back and forth along the 164-foot pool for 3 minutes and 6 seconds.

YouTube member Name Undecided (which is a decidedly good name) offers a wide variety of piano tunes, some of which are played with his fingers on the keys. Others involve Nerf guns or a badminton racket.

Sometimes, although he wants to play with his fingers on the keys, the task just requires too much effort because his piano is all the way on the other side of the room. To make the task easier, he taped strings from the keys to plastic rings, which permits him to play effectively while, as he calls it, he is "socially distancing" from his piano.

-via Laughing Squid