The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research.

Gutsy Explosions in the Northern Hemisphere
compiled by A.S. Kaswell and S. Drew, AIR staff

Here is a brief and somewhat haphazardly selected guide to some unfortunate, and probably embarrassing, explosions of a particular type.

Boom (Italy, 1952)
“Unusual Complication in Electrosurgery: Explosion of Gases in the Cecum During Operation of Cecal Fistula” [article in Italian], G. Pezzuoli and C. Ghiringhelli, L’Ospedale Maggiore, vol. 40, no. 9, September 1952, pp. 443-6.

Boom (Spain, 1964)
“Pneumatic Explosion of the Cecum in Patients with Carcinoma of the Colon” [article in Spanish], N. Antonelli and E. Borenstein, Prensa Medica Argentina, vol. 51, October 23, 1964, pp. 999-1002.

Boom (Germany, 1974)
“Intestinal Gas Explosion As a Rare Cause of Traumatic Colon Perforation” [article in German], F.J. Stucker and H. Molzberger, Chirurg, vol. 45, no. 8, August 1974, pp. 373-5.

Boom (America, 1974)
“Explosions of Colonic Gas,” B.H. Rogers, New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 291, no. 20, November 1974, p. 1089.

Left: Mrs. Casey, the wife of the minister to the Australian Legation in Washington, D.C., and two children studying global phenomena in 1942. Photo: Marjory Collins, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

There’s nothing like parenthood to make you appreciate what your own parents went through. But even if you aren’t a parent, you can bet your bottom dollar that you weren’t easy to deal with as an infant (or toddler, or teenager). This revelation is brought to you by Lunarbaboon.

Look at this beautiful suit of custom-made armor! It was fashioned by Samuel Lee of Prince Armory (previously), who specializes in one-of-a-kind cosplay armor. It’s made of leather with brass hardware, and it’s not for sale. Yes, Lee can make you something just as awesome, but he’s got a substantial waiting list. See more pictures at Geeks Are Sexy.

Take a look at this gravestone. It would certainly give you pause if you came across it, wouldn’t it? Lily Gray died in her seventies, and was buried in Salt Lake City over 50 years ago, but is still the subject of urban legends. Was she killed by demonic spirits, or even Satan? What would cause someone to think that? There are plenty of colorful tales, but the real, or at least the most believable, explanation is found at Urban Ghosts.

(Image credit: Flickr user Noel Fields)

Valencia, Spain’s historic Silk Exchange is a 15th-century building of amazing opulence, “like a church devoted to the god of commerce.” The city had plenty of money at the time, and the mercantile building was designed to intimidate those who came to trade. In fact, the main business was conducted in a room 17 meters tall -that’s almost 56 feet!

Other features include stained glass, vaulted ceilings, tile mosaics, carved ceilings, and sinful gargoyles. La Lonja de la Seda is also Valencia’s only UNESCO World Heritage site. Take a tour with scads of pictures at For 91 Days.

A new toy/pet/science experiment from Vat19 is like sea monkeys on steroids. Dino Pet is a plastic shell shaped like a dinosaur, but it’s actually an aquarium for plankton. The living plankton are called dinoflagellates, which is the bioluminescent species that makes some beaches glow at night.

(YouTube link)

According to FAQ on the sales page, dinoflagellates can live one to three months on sunshine alone, or several months with food. After that, you can order more. And if you decide to buy a Dino Pet, prepare yourself for questions from your children about the ethics of keeping living beings in a small aquarium, even if they are plankton. -via Laughing Squid

The Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the U.S. is causing a few awkward moments. The most common joke is about commitment-phobic partners who are suddenly put on the spot about marriage. A 3-year-old Key and Peele routine illustrates that perfectly. In the scenario above, it’s a case of crossed signals and dashed hopes. Poor Robin! This is from the webcomic BatsVsupes. -via Geeks Are Sexy

A World War II bomb shelter 100 feet below the streets London once had room to protect 8,000 people. Now it’s a farm! Last year, we told you about the plans to open an underground vegetable farm called Growing Underground, where leafy greens are grown under LEDs. Now the project is reality.  

Crops will be grown in a sealed clean-room environment with a bespoke ventilation system, advanced LED lighting and a sophisticated irrigation system that enable the farm to produce crops with very little energy.

The farm’s mission is to deliver fresh produce with zero effect on the environment and all energy is sourced from green suppliers.

The farm says its advanced systems mean crops can be grown year-round in a perfect, pesticide-free environment because there is no risk of pests or disease.

“Because we have total control over their environment, each tiny leaf tastes as amazing as the last and because they are unaffected by the weather and seasonal changes, we can reduce the need to import crops and drastically reduce the food miles for retailers and consumers.”

Growing Underground is expected to deliver pea shoots, radishes, coriander, celery, parsley, and other vegetables sometime in July. Read more about the project in two articles at Farmer’s Weekly. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Growing Underground)

What would it look like if you got shot in the eyes with Nerf darts -those little missiles with suction cups on them? Charles Tietjen shows us. It’s not pretty, but it’s not beyond your capacity to handle.

(YouTube link)

It gets even better when he starts looking around. The secret is that he’s wearing contact lenses already. Did that make you feel better about it? I didn’t think so. -via Viral Viral Videos

Today, the rare Smoky Mountain fireflies are a tourist attraction. Twenty years ago, science didn’t believe they existed.  

(Image credit: Flickr user Ryan Atkins)

At exactly 9:27 P.M., when dusk slips into darkness in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the “light show” begins. It’s June, and for two weeks in Elkmont, Tennessee, the fireflies pool their efforts. Instead of scattershot blips of light in the summer sky, the fireflies—thousands of them—pulse this way for hours, together in eerie, quiet harmony. It’s as if the trees were strung up with Christmas lights: bright for three seconds, dark for six, and then bright again, over and over. It continues this way for hours.

As a child, Lynn Faust would huddle with her family on the cabin porch to watch the spectacle. They’d sit, mesmerized by the “drumbeat with no sound.” And though they’d appreciated the show for generations, Faust never thought the event was newsworthy. “I’d assumed there was only one kind of firefly and thought they did a nice show in the Smokies,” she says.

The natural world has long enchanted Faust. In college, she majored in forensic anthropology and minored in forestry. In her twenties, she circumnavigated the globe for three years, visiting islands you could only get to by boat, learning about cultures before they disappeared, pursuing underwater photography. Today, at 60, she’s a naturalist who writes scientific papers and field guides about fireflies. But she wasn’t always obsessed with the insect. In fact, her academic interest began only in the ’90s, when she read an article by Steven Strogatz, a Cornell mathematician, in which he marveled at a species of Southeast Asian firefly that synchronized its flashes. Highlighting how rare this phenomenon was, Strogatz noted that there were no synchronous fireflies in the Western Hemisphere.

This struck Faust as odd. It contradicted the light shows she had seen growing up. As she dug deeper, Faust found that while there had been more than 100 years of colloquial accounts of North American fireflies flashing in sync, scientists discounted those reports, attributing them to lore or optical illusion. Faust knew the truth: that her Tennessse fireflies were every bit as special as the species in Asia. But how could she prove it?

We’ve seen plenty of nursing mammals take in orphan babies of a different species, but it’s a totally different story with marsupials. Kangaroos and wallabies are born very underdeveloped, and stay in their mother’s pouch for months while nursing and growing. At the Adelaide Zoo, a Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo died while nursing a joey. Zookeepers transferred the baby to the pouch of a a Yellow-foot rock wallaby, a completely different species. That had never been done before, but the joey, named Makaia, survived and thrived with his surrogate wallaby mother.

(YouTube link)

Now he’s a healthy and adorable young kangaroo being spoiled and fostered by zoo staff. -via Metafilter 

Tiny Hamster is back and getting ready for the 4th of July celebrations with a tiny barbecue! That means a tiny little cookout with tiny little veggie burgers and vegetable shish-kabob, a pool to cool off in, tiny holiday hats, and a picnic table set for friends (rabbit, guinea pig, and hedgehog).  

(YouTube link)

The critters obviously cared way more about the food than the patriotic occasion, but a good time was had by all. -Thanks, Jake!

We once posted about the business of hauling pollinating bees across country by truck for agricultural purposes. And it had to happen sooner or later. A truck carrying bees through Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, overturned on I-90 and spilled up to a million bees on Sunday. Traffic was backed up for a couple of miles, and drivers were warned to keep their windows rolled up. To make matters worse, Coeur d'Alene was hosting an Iron Man Triathlon event at the same time. That couldn’t have been pleasant. -via reddit

(Image credit: Taylor_Satine)

(YouTube link)

The question is, do you let the cat in at night, or not? Before watching Call of Tutu, I would’ve said, “Of course!” But as it goes on, I changed my mind. This unsettling short film was obviously influenced by H.P. Lovecraft; in fact, filmmaker Aaron Vanek says as much. I do believe they gave just a little too much of it away at the end, but it’s still terrifically creepy. -via Metafilter

The street artist Mobstr found a wall in East London that was partially red and decided to have a little fun with it. It turned into a battle of wits that lasted an entire year.

I cycled past this wall on the way to work for years. I noticed that graffiti painted within the red area was “buffed” with red paint. However, graffiti outside of the red area would be removed via pressure washing. This prompted the start of an experiment. Unlike other works, I was very uncertain as to what results it would yield. Here is what transpired over the course of a year. --Mobstr

You can see each stage of the graffiti “battle” individually at StreetArtNews. Contains profane language in graffiti. -via reddit