Dr. Vasilis K. Pozios is a forensic psychiatrist and reader of superhero comic books. He's spent his career studying dangerous criminals and is now applying that knowledge to comic book villains and the way in which Batman interacts with them:

"As a mental health professional, Batman comes across as insensitive," Pozios told HuffPost Weird News. "He could definitely use more training in that area."

Pozios's colleague, H. Eric Bender, would also like to clear up a misconception about the Joker:

Bender uses the example of the Joker, the most famous Batman villain, as a character who has incorrectly been called "psychotic" many times throughout Batman's 72-year history.

"Someone who is 'psychotic' is experiencing symptoms of psychosis, a mental disorder, which can include auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices; visual hallucinations, where they see objects that are not truly there; or have delusional thoughts, despite evidence to show that such beliefs are incorrect -- such as believing that one's movements are being tracked by deep space satellites -- or disorganized behavior," Bender said. "In the vast majority of depictions, the Joker is not experiencing such symptoms; rather, the Joker has shown symptoms of psychopathy."

Link -via Glenn Reynolds | Image: deviantART user MZ09

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In 1953, satirist Stan Freberg released an audio spoof of the radio show Dragnet which imagined the legend of St. George and the Dragon as a hard-boiled cop show. Here's a stop-motion animated version of it. It's a pity that it doesn't feature Jack Webb with bunny ears. -via Nag on the Lake

Anja Markiewicz creates amazing, tiny works of origami. This crane was formed from a 9mm sheet of paper. Link -via Colossal | Artist's Website (Google Translate)

Previously: The Tiny Origami of Mui-Ling Teh

Chandrashekhar Chawan, an optometrist, wanted to offer his customers an extra sparkle for their eyes. Initially, he tried gold, but it didn't work that well. After his wife had diamonds mounted into her teeth, Chawan then realized that jewels present the luminous effect for which he was searching. Now he sells thick contact lenses with diamonds inside for $15,000 a set. Link -via The Presurfer | Photo: Shekhar Eye Research

A purse snatcher in Severini, Brazil dropped his false teeth while trying to get away from the scene of his crime. Police used the dentures to confirm his identity:

The UOL Internet news portal quotes Oliveira as saying that the homeless man turned the dentures over to police and gave them a physical description matching that of de Jesus.

Oliveira told UOL on Friday that De Jesus at first denied owning the dentures, but then confessed to the crime after they fit perfectly in his partially toothless mouth.

Link -via Stuff | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Thirteen of Clubs used under Creative Commons license

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A cow escaped from a slaughterhouse in Queens and made a mad dash through the streets for freedom. Police eventually wrangled the 500-pound animal into a horse trailer and took her to an animal control facility in Brooklyn. Despite her capture, the cow was ultimately successful: city officials have decided to send her to an animal sanctuary. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-05-06/local/17924080_1_slaughterhouse-cow-cops -via Nerdcore

Andy Denzler, an artist based in Zurich, has composed a series of paintings that look like screen shots from paused VHS recordings. It's an expression of his rejection of the "hegemony and the aesthetic of the jpeg..." http://www.andydenzler.com/html/paintings-01.html -via Flavorwire

Sadly, this is not a functional mecha. That's a pity, because it would be awesome to drive around town in a Spider Bug. Web Urbanist has a roundup of fifteen Spider Bugs around the world erected by various artists. This particular one is outside a Jehovah's Witnesses kingdom hall in Oklahoma.

Link -via Dude Craft | Photo by Flickr user meltedplastic used under Creative Commons license

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Sometimes, tapping your fingers in bored frustration doesn't really seem to make time more forward at a faster clip. This hand-cranked automaton by Etsy seller automatonman will probably help. Link -via Technabob

This fossilized Polycotylus latippinus, a carnivorous marine reptile that lived 78 million years ago, contains a smaller, less developed skeleton inside of her. Scientists are therefore speculating that this creature did not lay eggs like other dinosaurs, but gave birth to live young. If true, then this dinosaur may have exhibited maternal care behavior similar to modern marine mammals, such as dolphins. This fossil is on public display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, so if you live in that area, you can get a close look for yourself.

Link -via reddit | Photo: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Count

According to Greek myth, Cronus, the leader of the Titans, was destined to be overthrown by one of his own children. He was aware of this prophecy. Consequently, Cronus ate any child that Rhea bore. Zeus, however, survived and fulfilled the prophecy. It's kind of funny, in a gruesome way, as Graham Annable depicts the scene. Link -via Super Punch | Artist's Website

Previously by Graham Annable: Brilliant Dog and Ordinary Cat

Kung Fu, which aired from 1972-1975, was an unusual blend of the social questioning of 70s America, an emerging fascination with the martial arts, and the introduction of Eastern thought into American pop culture. It was one of the last Westerns of American television and thus straddled a great cultural shift that occurred during that era. It was also a fine show that earned high ratings and continues to entertain legions of fans to this day. Let's take a look at some things that you might not know about the series.

1. Kwai Chaing Caine’s last name is a reference to the Cain of the Bible. Cain, having murdered his brother, was marked and cast into the wilderness. So, too, was Kwai Chang Caine marked by the dragon and tiger branded into his forearms and wanted for murder in China. The $10,000 bounty on his head was a constant source of trouble for Caine throughout the series.

2. David Carradine shaved his head once, when shooting the pilot movie. He never cut it again for the rest of the series. So it’s possible to gauge when an episode was shot during the series by looking at Carradine’s hair.


3. Caine must walk a strip of rice paper to demonstrate the lightness of his footsteps. To prepare David Carradine for this task, kung fu consultant Kam Yuen had him step on eggs without breaking them.

The training turned out to be unnecessary. When it finally came time to film the rice paper scenes, no one could locate rice paper. The directors tried butcher paper, but it wouldn’t tear under the feet of Radames Pera, the actor who portrayed Caine as a child. They even attached sandpaper to Pera’s feet, but the paper stayed intact. Finally they pre-tore the strip of paper and had Pera walk over it. To show the adult Caine walking without leaving a trace, they simply left the butcher paper untorn.

Aled Lewis has made pixelated, video game-style versions of several classic works of art. The above piece is a mashup of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure and Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory. He's also altered works of Van Gogh, da Vinci, and Edward Hopper. They're his contribution to an upcoming art show called iam8bit.

Artist's Website -via Uniblog | Art Show Site

Previously by Aled Lewis:
The Upper Hand
Video Game Characters in Real Life

People look at you funny if you roll around in public in a realistic R2R2 costume. This sweater by Etsy seller Erica Schoenberger is a more discreet and possibly even workplace-friendly alternative. Link -via OhGizmo!

The loss of sphincter control is a common and humiliating problem for aging adults. Researchers led by Shreya Rhagavan of the University of Michigan Medical School may have developed a solution: a replacement sphincter grown inside a laboratory. So far, eight such bioengineered anal sphincters have been successfully implanted in mice. The team hopes to work on human subjects in the future.

Link -via io9 | Photo: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Previously: Bionic Butt