(Photo: UK Parliament)
Put that snifter away! You’re not allowed to sip on whisky while sitting in the House of Commons. No one is—except for one person. It’s the Chancellor of the Exchequer and for a good reason.
Marcus Ethridge and Howard Handelman write in Politics in a Changing World that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is permitted a single drink when delivering the annual Budget Statement. I’m sure that he needs it.
-via Messy Nessy Chic
The daughter of Imgur member Cymcherrytree picked a rose. There was a special gift hidden inside: a little lizard taking a nap. Noting that it was a special moment, she remarked “As long as I live I will probably never see this again.”
-via Messy Nessy Chic
It’s snowing heavily wherever redditor anneewanee lives. Her two dogs want to play outside, so she shoveled and shaped the snow in her yard into a maze.
The dogs are really enjoying it! For a while, they ran head-first into walls before they realized that some paths had dead-ends. You can see more photos here.
-via Boing Boing
(Photo: University of Tokyo and Kyoto University)
People may lose their ears in accidents or are born with disfigured ears. For these unfortunates, there’s a new hope: artificially-grown ears. Scientists at the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University took human cells and grew them in an ear-like shape with a mold. This ear form was then implanted on the back of a living rat and left to grow, nourished by the rat’s body, for 2 months. The result is a living human ear measuring about 2 inches long. Discovery reports on the development of tissue engineering:
So-called tissue engineering is being explored to grow other kinds of body parts, too, including noses and windpipes.
The Japanese researchers say because their ear is a living part, it would develop as a child grew.
They hope to start clinical trials in about five years.
-via Dave Barry
Dexter is a Boerboel, a working and guard dog of South African origin. At 175 pounds, he’s a lot for the vet techs to handle. Here he is at the veterinary clinic getting his nails trimmed. Two techs appear to have him under control while the third works on his nails. But when a 175-pound dog decides to leave, nothing is going to stop him. Dexter bolts and one tech rides him like he’s a bucking bronco at a rodeo.
The remaining vet tech appears to crack up laughing.
-via Tastefully Offensive
(Images: Kirsten Dirksen)
Charles Sacilotto and Marie Granmar of Stockholm, Sweden, found a novel way to keep their summer house warm all year around, even during brutal Scandinavian winters. They built an entire greenhouse around the outside of their home. The 4-militmeter thick glass keeps it toasty inside. Sacilotto says “At the end of January it can be -2°C outside and it can be 15 to 20°C upstairs.”
(Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis)
These aren't mutant ewoks. They're Kukeri--ceremonial protectors from Bulgaria who annually drive out evil spirits. On January 23, men don these elaborate, hairy costumes and set about the task of combating dark forces (note the red swords that look like light sabers) in order to protect the fertility of their towns.
The Kukeri are one of many wild men of Europe--old pagan shamanistic traditions that endure to this day. Photographer Charles Fréger, who previously showed us the painted elephants of India, explores this continent-wide tradition in his book Wilder Mann: The Image of the Savage. You can see photos of 18 of these wild men at Flashbak.
(Photo: The Telegraph)
January 25 is Burns Night, an annual celebration of the works of Scottish poet Robert Burns, as well as all things Scottish. To participate, you should prepare a haggis dinner. Ideally, you should catch your own wild haggis and cook it yourself.
But as wild haggis are rare in an increasingly urbanized Scotland and the animal has never been successfully domesticated, then you may use a common substitute: the ground heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep boiled in its own stomach.
Or you can get creative, as chef Paul Wedgwood did under the tutelage of Peruvian chef Mitsuhara Tsumura. Guinea pigs may be pets elsewhere, but in some parts of South America, they're also a food source. The chefs found a way to make haggis using guinea pigs. The Telegraph reports:
Wedgwood, who prides himself of "raising haggis up to new gastronomic levels", decided to deviate from the traditional sheep's-pluck-and-oats dish after travelling in South America and tasting local dishes.
He joined Peruvian chef Mitsuhara Tsumura (one of Latin America's best chefs) at his restaurant to make the twist on a traditional haggis, using a popular Peruvian food, guinea pig.
Wedgwood said: "The whole experience was amazing and the haggis tasted awesome."
-via Dave Barry
(Image: IFW Dresden)
Medical researchers at the Dresden Institute for Integrative Nanosciences wanted to find new ways to deliver drugs to targeted parts of the body. Prof. Oliver G. Schmidt led the search for what he calls a "biological motor"--a microscopic delivery system.
Human sperm cells are very fast, strong, and determined swimmers. They're easily available in large quantities. So the researchers realized that if pharmaceutical payloads could be attached to these cells and then the sperm aimed in a particular direction, they could be used to treat illnesses. Discovery reports:
To create these tiny robots, the scientists first had to catch a few. First, they designed microtubes, which are essentially thin sheets of titanium and iron — which have a magnetic property — rolled into conical tubes, with one end wider than the other. Next, they put the microtubes into a solution in a Petri dish and added bovine sperm cells, which are similar size to human sperm. When a live sperm entered the wider end of the tube, it became trapped down near the narrow end. The scientists also closed the wider end, so the sperm wouldn’t swim out. And because sperm are so determined, the trapped cell pushed against the tube, moving it forward.
Next, the scientists used a magnetic field to guide the tube in the direction they wanted it to go, relying on the sperm for the propulsion.
Each spermbot is capable of traveling up to 100 micrometers per second, which is similar to a 6-foot-tall human swimming 160 ft (50 meters) in 14 seconds.
-via Kevin D. Willamson
(Photo: Felicity McCabe/The Guardian)
Charles Foster has long been fascinated with the lives of animals. But reading about them in books or observing them in the wild wasn't enough for him. He wanted to do more than simply examine how an animal lives its daily life. Foster wanted to experience it himself.
That's why, for a week, he lived in a remote area of Nova Scotia as a badger. He ate worms and grubs, dug a den in the dirt and slept inside, and tried to mimic the physical movement of a wild badger as much as possible. Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian talked to Foster about his musteline adventure:
Did he enjoy it? “Enjoy isn’t the word. But I could feel a lot of toxins were being washed out. That seeded in me something – that in living the life we normally live, we are living a life that isn’t natural. And in order to be properly human, we’ve got to be properly animal.” Foster pauses and looks at me. “Do you think I’m insane?”
Foster has written a book about his experiences as a badger, a fox, a deer, a swift, and an otter. It's called Being a Beast. You can find an excerpt covering his badger time here. He took along his 8-year old son, Tom, for this adventure. Foster writes:
We stumbled up the bank and hollowed out a nest in the bracken. Lying up outside the sett during the day isn’t unbadgerish, although it’s far from the rule. Badgers sometimes, just like we did, crawl into dense vegetation and lie there until dusk comes. We don’t know why; perhaps there’s tension at home and they can’t bear the thought of a day close to wretched, cantankerous, odious X. And sometimes, no doubt, they’ve been caught short a long way from home and don’t want to run the gauntlet of early-morning dog walkers.
Tom needed to sleep, so he did, curled foetally on bracken, his paws, earth-brown from digging, clasped under his chin. I, too, needed to sleep, so I didn’t. We had to change our rhythm to that of the badgers, which meant sleeping in the day, but, at least at first, I found the sett a threatening place. Was this an old fear of burial? A worm fell into my mouth. I gagged quietly and went back to sleep.
-via VA Viper
If you have to wear a post-surgical device, such as a cervical collar, the look at it not as a burden, but a chance to get creative! That's what Maddie did when she learned that she had to wear a back brace following surgery for a fractured T12 vertebrae. She and a friend used their theater design skills to make the brace into an elegant, steampunk-style accessory. You can see more photos at Epbot.
8 inches of snow has fallen on Nashville, Tennessee. So when life hands you snow, make snowmen. Jeremy Skates and his friend made this BB-8 droid from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Hopefully he can roll through snow as easily as he traverses the sand on Jakku.
-via Amanda Brennan
(Photo: US Department of the Interior)
To get through heavy snowfall, the bison living at Yellowstone National Park walk single-file. The line leader pushes through the snow, clearing a path for followers. They take turns in the front position, letting herd members rest along the journey.
-via Kevin D. Williamson
Tian Tian is an 18-year old panda that lives at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The winter snow storm has hit that region hard, but Tian Tian and his friends are having a great time there. This morning, caretakers spotted him rolling playfully in the snow. Pandas have thick coats and the cold doesn't bother them at all.
-via Jonah Goldberg
We have children for two reasons: to play pranks on and put to practical use around the home. This young boy isn't ready for the latter, but he is for the former. Just strap on a full size leaf blower and send him on a fun trip.
-via Gizmodo
