Scientists Nathan Putman and Ken Lohmann have determined that turtles can navigate across entire oceans by using the earth's magnetic fields to determine their longitude and latitude. To test this hypothesis, they used a special water tank that permitted them to alter the magnetic fields inside. They then placed the turtles in the tank to see how they would respond to simulations of different locations:

Using his coil-surrounded tank, Lohmann could mimic the magnetic field at different parts of the Earth’s surface. If he simulated the field at the northern edge of the gyre, the hatchlings swam southwards. If he simulated the field at the gyre’s southern edge, the turtles swam west-northwest. These experiments showed that the turtles can use their magnetic sense to work out their latitude – their position on a north-south axis. Now, Putman has shown that they can also determine their longitude – their position on an east-west axis.

He tweaked his magnetic tanks to simulate the fields in two positions with the same latitude at opposite ends of the Atlantic. If the field simulated the west Atlantic near Puerto Rico, the turtles swam northeast. If the field matched that on the east Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, the turtles swam southwest. In the wild, both headings would keep them within the safe, warm embrace of the North Atlantic gyre.

Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo by Flickr user coda used under Creative Commons license

This design by Etsy seller West Art and Glass is simple but elegant. It's a glass bowl presenting pi to the first 1,498 decimal places in a spiral pattern. They're made to order in any color.

Link via Geek Crafts

The ad agency DDB Auckland altered benches to press an advertisement for Superette, a clothing chain in New Zealand, into the bare legs of people who sit on them. They read "Short shorts on sale Superette".

Link via The Presurfer | Photos: Bed Ads on TV

Allan Metcalf has recently written a book about the history of the word "okay" (in its various spellings). He has summarized his findings in an article for the BBC. This word, Metcalf argues, is phonetically structured in such a way that gave it the ability to easily transcend linguistic boundaries:

So both in speech and in writing OK stands out clearly, easily distinguished from other words, and yet it uses simple sounds that are familiar to a multitude of languages.

Almost every language has an O vowel, a K consonant, and an A vowel. So OK is a very distinctive combination of very familiar elements. And that's one reason it's so successful. OK stands apart.

Ordinarily a word so odd, so distinctive from others, wouldn't be allowed in a language to begin with. As a general rule, a language allows new words only when they resemble familiar ones.

Metcalf's article briefly traces the development of the word, but also states his claim of its true origin:

On 23 March 1839, OK was introduced to the world on the second page of the Boston Morning Post, in the midst of a long paragraph, as "o.k. (all correct)".

Link via First Things | Photo by Flickr user A National Acrobat used under Creative Commons license

Photographer John Crane went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park and captured pictures of ice formations. At one point, he realized that he needed a green flash gel to get a certain shot just right. But Crane didn't have one. He did, however, have a Fruit Roll-Up (a kind of sugary snack) in his pocket:

Behind the flow there was a nice little cave carved out, full of tiny wonders. Between climbing we were in there geeking out shooting pics and I was trying to get the right mood on the ceiling of the cave. I'd brought my SB-600, SB-800 and SU-800 and was running wireless off the D3S. Crazy white balance adjustment wasn't getting it done, and in my effort to (for once) minimize the kit brought to keep the pack light, flash accessories were limited. The ceiling of the cave was full of a beautiful, green, soft moss and "Lord of the Rings" style blades of pure, crystal-clear, perfectly smooth ice. "Wish I had a green gel..." I said. And that's when it happened; the flash of synergistic genius fired. "What about one of your fruit roll-ups?" Ben said. I looked at him for a moment and thought hey-great idea.

Link via CrunchGear

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A two-toed sloth was recently born at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Baby loves Mama and Mama clearly loves Baby very much.

via Super Punch

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Incredible Ape, a company consisting of Josh Schonstal and Ian Brock, developed a computer game called Pew Pew Pew. It's a simple shooting game. When you need to fire your weapon, just say into the microphone "pew pew pew". The above video is from a demonstration at Global Game Jam 2011.

http://incredibleape.com/blog via DVICE

Artist Andrew Myers drives screws at varying depths into plywood and paints them, creating unique 3D images:

"For me, I consider this a traditional sculpture and all my screws are at different depths," he said. "There's nothing planned out. I draw out a figure on the board and figure out the depths.

"The real challenge comes when the sculpture is done and I have to get rid of the flat drawing. It's hard because of the screws -- you can't get a brush behind them. I did figure out a way to do it, but I'm keeping it a secret."

Link via Flavorwire | Artist's Website | Photo: Baldemar Fierro Photography

Surely you don't want your dog to live in some bourgeois Cape Cod style house, do you? That's so old fashioned. Try the CUBIX Modern Dog House instead:

The Cubix Dog Mansion by German company Best Friend’s was designed to pay homage to the Bauhaus style. The raised roof and rectangular windows are nice architectural details, that will make any modern furniture lover’s pet feel right at home. Clear lines, puristic colors, glass cladding: Following the connotative Bauhaus architecture spacious Cubix offers lots of light and room for small and big dogs.

Link via The Presurfer | Photo: AnimalsLook

According to a Chinese-language website run through Google Translate, a man in Huizhou, China, built a 5-ton steel model of Megatron in tank mode as he was depicted in the movie Transformers 2. Sadly, it does not appear to be functional...yet.

Link via blastr | Photo: ZCool

Previously: Man Changed Middle Name to Childhood Hero: Megatron

During the First World War, Allied nations painted their vessels with odd, angular shapes to break up their lines and make them harder to see at a distance. CV Dazzle is a thesis project by Adam Harvey of New York University that attempts to do the same thing with hair and makeup in order to disrupt facial recognition computer programs.

Link via Kottke

Hear Ring. Get it? It's a ring you can hear through. Hear Ring.

Well, anyway, Gina Hsu designed this ear horn that can be worn on your finger. She sells them for €345 ($474).

http://www.wannekes.com/categorie/gijs_bakker_conceptual_jewellery_contemporary/product/jewellery_ring_hear_gina_hsu via CrunchGear | Photo: Wannekes

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This isn't the carefree Riverdale from the Archie comics. It's a story of dark secrets, savage passions, and bitter rivalries. And before this fake trailer by Point Blank Productions ends, someone will die.

via Urlesque | Producers' Website

Anatoly Konenko, a Russian artist who specializes in miniatures, holds a Guinness World Record for having built the smallest aquarium in the world. It's 30 mm wide and holds 10 ml:

The water has to be applied using a syringe so as not to disturb the landscape the Siberia-artist lovingly created.

Konenko, who calls his art 'micro-miniatures', even made a minuscule fishing net which he used to place the fish, baby Danios.

The adults are usually a favourite with more normal sized tanks but the tiny fish look at home in Konenko's construction for which he has since added a specially built air pump.

You can view several large photos and a video at the link.

Link via Make | Artist's Website

Jonathan W. Stokes observed:

One can’t help but notice that algebraic chess notation maps almost perfectly to scientific pitch notation…

So he devised a means of expressing chess moves musically and then converted several famous chess games into piano compositions. Here, for example, is a 1858 game in which Paul Morphy defeated Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard.

Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo by Flickr user Muffet used under Creative Commons license