Barkha Kumari encountered a street snack in India that intrigued her. The vendor was cutting paper-thin slices off of what looked like a log, but was obviously softer. This was Ram Kand Mool. But what kind of a plant did it come from?

“It’s a root. It can grow five feet deep and 300kg,” he explained, in response to my shock. He sources it, he said, from the neighbouring state of Kerala, from people who “get it from the forests.” He hasn’t seen anybody extract the root, but has seen the tree it comes from. “It’s like a climber. It gives flowers. It grows near the sea. It’s called Bhoochakara Gadda in south India and Ram Kand Mool up north.”

Can a root be this massive? Especially the root of a climber or vine? Before I could ask Google, my snack was ready. It was seasoned with salt, chili powder, and lime; my husband’s had sugar and lime. It was crunchy, juicy, and refreshing, but had no taste of its own.

The snack sent Kumari down a rabbit hole trying to identify the plant that this food came from. She quickly figured out that the vendor, and others, either did not know or did not want to divulge the exact source of the "root." So she consulted food scientists and botanists, who did not know, either.

Soon enough, I’d learn that my idle curiosity was, in fact, a mystery that has baffled and, at times, infuriated botanists for decades. This snack has been widely sold on the streets for decades—from the city of Haridwar in the north to Pune in the west and in several places in the south—and yet, somehow, no one seems to know what it is.

But Kumari kept searching and asking questions. She may have found the answer, but there are always more questions, which you can read about at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Kailash Mohankar)

New York City is a mecca for those who want to try out restaurants, and authentic Italian restaurants have been rising in popularity for the last decade or so. But how far can one stretch the definition of "authentic"? Food writer David Farley thought it would be an interesting experiment to take Italian tourists to an Olive Garden. You might be horrified by the ethics of this experiment, but through a friend, Farley managed to recruit an Italian couple who are living in New York temporarily and agreed to be taken to dinner at a surprise location. On the way, Marco and Giovanna speculated about which Italian restaurant they would be visiting.

That’s when I said, “ta dah!” and fanned my arm up at the Olive Garden logo, like I were a model standing next to a car on display at an automobile show. (This location has since closed, leaving the Times Square location the sole Olive Garden in Manhattan.)

Marco covered his face in disbelief. Giovanna said, “I’m not sure we’re going to survive this.”

We were seated in a large booth immediately. Nathan, our waiter, doled out the menus, which were big on photos and little on description.

My Italians scanned the menu. “This might as well be a Chinese menu,” Marco said.

 “True,” Giovanna said. “There is nothing remotely similar here to anything you would find in Italy.”

Read the adventure that the evening turned out to be, and more about the difficulty of recreating authentic Italian cuisine in America, at Trip Out. -via Kottke

(Image credit: Andreas Praefcke)

Some people are just overachievers. Brian May is the guitarist for Queen, and also has a PhD in astrophysics. We know he is an avid gardener, and in his spare time, he collects stereographs, photographs in pairs taken from slightly different angles in order to produce a 3D effect. But this story isn't about Brian May, it's about one of his stereographs. It was taken by photographer Henry Brooks and shows his wife Caroline and their daughter Caroline Jane posing in front of Stonehenge in the 1860s.

It was discovered by the curators of the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy following a public appeal by English Heritage to find the earliest family photo taken at the stones.

"I've been fascinated by stereo cards since I was a boy and got one in a cereal packet," said the Queen guitarist.

"This is a fantastic early example and exciting because it's one of the oldest family snaps taken at Stonehenge.

"It feels even more evocative when set to music - a bit like a silent movie and we thought it would be great fun to recreate the image as a stereo view at Stonehenge and breathe new life into an old photo," he added.

And they did just that- set up a stereograph viewer at Stonehenge to view the picture accompanied by piano music by May, available through September. Read more about the image at BBC News. -via Nag on the Lake

The Braizer family of Silverton, Oregon, had a collie named Bobbie. In August of 1923, the family took a road trip to Wolcott, Indiana, to visit relatives, and naturally took their beloved pet with them. But a pack of dogs chased Bobbie off at a gas station stop in Wolcott. The heartbroken family searched for a week, and placed ads in the local paper. They eventually returned home without Bobbie, thinking they would never see him again.

To everyone’s surprise, Bobbie did return, six months after he had disappeared. He hobbled back into Silverton one February day in 1924, ragged, dirty and scrawny with his toenails worn down to nothing. Unbelievable as it may seem, the two-year old puppy had walked 2,550 miles all by himself to get home.

The news of Bobbie’s incredible feat soon spread across the nation, and the Braizer family was flooded with fan mail, some addressed to Bobbie himself. Some people claimed they had seen Bobbie at various places and were able to identify him by his distinguishing features.

The publicity surrounding the dog's feat led to a recreation of his journey, since he had interacted with quite a few people along the way, including a stay with a Portland woman after being injured. Read about Bobbie's incredible journey and his legacy that's still celebrated almost 100 years later, at Amusing Planet. -via Strange Company 

(Image credit: Flickr user Rick Obst)

Plaincourault Chapel is a medieval church in France. It holds a 13th-century fresco depicting Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Between them is what we generally recognize as the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which Eve ate from and convinced Adam to do so as well. But in this fresco, it looks more like a bunch of mushrooms. Could it have been a hallucinogenic mushroom? After all, a "mind-expanding drug" fits in neatly with an enlightenment we call the knowledge of good and evil.

It’s this tree that has attracted visitors from around the world to the sleepy village of Mérigny, some 200 miles south of Paris. Tourists, scholars, and influencers come to see the tree that, according to some enthusiasts, depicts the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria. Not everyone agrees, however, and controversy over the fresco has polarized researchers, helped ruin at least one career, and inspired an idea—unproven but wildly popular, in some circles—that early Christians used hallucinogenic mushrooms.

There are quite a few possibilities attached to this idea. Least likely is that, while the Bible definitely calls it a tree, the oral tradition that the Bible drew from may have included mushrooms in the story. More likely, the 13th-century artist may have surmised that possibility. Or did the early Christians use mushrooms themselves? But does the fresco even depict a mushroom, since the entire painting is stylized? Maybe it was just a poor attempt at a tree. There are plenty of academics who have argued about the fresco, which you can read about at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Aranthama)

A hundred years later, movie fans are aware of Rudolph Valentino as the biggest male sex symbol of his era. They may not be as familiar with his second wife Natacha Rambova.

Many considered the Hollywood couple to be “lavender lovers,” a name given to a male-female pair who marry for convenience and to conceal the true nature of their stigmatized sexual orientation. Whether it was a marriage of convenience or a romantic affair, Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova became one of Hollywood’s power couples of the 1920s. He was Hollywood’s first sex symbol. She was a spiritualist costume designer who dabbled in acting but would later abandon her career to become an Egyptologist. Both talented performers, the couple starred in films and toured the world in dance troupes. Rambova even became Valentino’s manager during the height of his film career. Yet, despite their success in Hollywood, the pair could never seem to escape controversy or scandal. One thing is sure, Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova’s relationship was never conventional.

Valentino and Rambova set themselves up for gossip and scandal from the beginning, as he was still married to his first wife when they wed in Mexico. But considering the way Hollywood engineered what was known about their stars in those days, rumor is most of what we have. Read about this lives of the reluctant Hollywood sex symbol and the talented woman who fought misogyny her whole life at Messy Messy Chic.

The year 1899 saw a shocking news story from Australia, in which a dead man won a bicycle race. For this to be at all plausible, you must know that 23-year-old James Somerville was very much alive at the start of the race, but died on the last stretch where he led the field of 50 competitors.

At the start he quickly forged ahead, closely followed by another crack rider named Percy Cliff. They left 48 riders away in the rear and shot around the track almost wheel to wheel. When within 25 yards of the tape Somerville, who still led by half a wheel, was seen to relax his hold on the handlebars. His pedals whirled around, however, and he pluckily held his position. Five yards from the tape Cliff put on a tremendous spurt and struck Somerville’s hind wheel, shooting the machine with its then almost inanimate burden, like a rocket under the tape.

The crowd yelled wildly, but silence ensued when Somerville, after crossing the tape, plunged head foremost from the machine. When picked up he was dead. Physicians who examined his body said he must have had an attack of heart failure on the last lap. Jackson [MI] Citizen Patriot 25 February 1899: p. 1

It was in all the papers, so it must be so, right? It turns out that in the month between the time the race was held in Australia and when the story was published in the US, a lot of details were dropped, assumed, and embellished. Read the true story of James Somerville, who both died and won the race, but not as it was reported, at The Victorian Book of the Dead. -via Strange Company 

(Image source: Flickr user James Vaughan)

If you know English pretty well and love word games, then you'll want to try the Divergent Association Task. Yes, it's a research task, but it's fun, too. Your job is to think of ten English nouns that are as different from each other as possible. Try to think of words that have no association at all. It's harder than you might think, but I did pretty well for a first try.

Your score is 90.0, higher than 96.37% of the people who have completed this task

I will post my words and their scores in the comments, in case you want to avoid any influence before you try it yourself. -via Metafilter

PS: In looking for an illustration for this post, I first searched for "fish on a bicycle" and found that was quite common. My next idea was "cow kayak," and lo and behold, the perfect image came up.

The new Star Wars-themed hotel opening at Walt Disney World in Florida next year is more like a fantasy camp experience. Attached to the new Galaxy's Edge theme park, the hotel called Galactic Starcruiser will offer accommodations, meals, and a two-night immersive Star Wars experience for the whole family. It will cost you, though.

The lowest announced pricing tier is $4,809 for two guests. That includes a standard cabin, food and drink (except alcohol, which is extra) and an experience that includes activities such as lightsaber training, bridge crew training and a planet excursion to Batuu (a.k.a. the Galaxy’s Edge park). A family of four can expect to pay a minimum of $5,999.

There are no prices yet listed for the hotel’s upgraded rooms, dubbed the Galaxy Chess Suite — which includes two windows, instead of one, looking out into “space” — and the Grand Captain Suite (three space windows!), but one assumes those prices are most impressive. There are other add-ons too such as Captain’s Table seating rather than eating at communal tables in the “Crown of Corellia Dining Room.”

And that's why people are already calling this resort Canto Bight. If you're willing to pay for it, I'm sure you can extend your stay to four nights or more (or you could send your kids to Space Camp for a week at a fraction of the price). Read more about Disney's Galactic Starcruiser and see the trailer here. -via reddit

In its 3rd season, “When Irish Eyes Are Crying,” Detective Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago) falls for an Irish philanthropist—played by Liam Neeson—who turns out to be a former IRA member and current terrorist. pic.twitter.com/tVnjUxRl65

— Daniel Holland🎗 (@DannyDutch) August 4, 2021

The TV series Miami Vice ran for five seasons back in the 1980s. It was extremely popular and had quite an influence on music and fashion, if not drug-smuggling itself. The bad guys changed every episode, so there was a parade of guest actors each week. Some were already stars, while others were up-and-coming actors who are much better known today, almost 40 years later. Daniel Holland put together a Twitter list of those stars, with screenshots as evidence. In fact, you didn't even have to be an actor to play a drug dealer on Miami Vice.

Frank Zappa was known for many things but acting wasn’t really one of them. That’s why it was such a surprise to see him on Miami Vice. Here he plays an intimidatingly persistent character hell-bent on recovering a large sum of money. pic.twitter.com/1t41j61VoM

— Daniel Holland🎗 (@DannyDutch) August 4, 2021

Some you may remember, others may surprise you. See the whole thing at Twitter, with additional contributions in the replies, or at Threadreader. -via Laughing Squid

Watch a bobcat frolicking with her kitten on the roof of a home in Phoenix, Arizona. It was all fun and games for a minute or so, but then she noticed the homeowners recording her through a window. That's where it get weird. Imagine a wild predator staring at you with dilated eyes, just inches away. Sure, there's glass to protect you, but her gaze is enough to make one's stomach twist a little, even on video. -via Boing Boing

One of the most mind-bending ideas in medical science is the concept of growing spare parts to use when ours break down. Andrew Pelling wants to do this using vegetables, by harnessing what makes plants different from animals- their fibrous cellular walls. Believe it or not, Pelling's work was inspired by Audrey II in the movie Little Shop of Horrors.

Around 10 years ago, Pelling, a biophysicist, started thinking with his team about materials that could be used to reconstruct damaged or diseased human tissues. Surrounded by a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables at his University of Ottawa lab, Pelling and his team dismantle biological systems, mixing and matching parts, and put them back together in new and creative ways. It’s a little bit like a hacker who takes parts from a phone, a computer, and a car to build a robotic arm. Or like Mary Shelly’s Dr. Frankenstein, who built a monster out of cadavers. Except Pelling’s team has turned an apple into an ear and, most recently, a piece of asparagus into a scaffold for spinal-cord implants.

Pelling believes the future of regenerative medicine—which uses external therapies to help the body heal, the same way a cut heals by itself or a broken bone can mend without surgery—is in the supermarket produce aisle. He calls it “augmented biology,” and it’s a lot less expensive—by thousands and thousands of dollars—than implanting organs donated by humans, taken from animals, or manmade or bioengineered from animal tissue.

Read about Pelling's research, including spinal cord regeneration using asparagus spears at Atlas Obscura.

Yeah, there's nothing random at all about the number they issued you. Considering how many times people cancel a credit card number due to losing the card or suspected fraud, I'm surprised that they haven't had to add digits like crazy already. Warning: this video involves math, but you don't have to do it yourself. Just be impressed at the way computers can validate a credit card number in an instant. The video is only four minutes long, the rest is an ad. -via Boing Boing

Remains of a "giant vampire bat" were discovered in an Argentinian cave. The fossil remains are of a species called, dramatically, Desmodus draculae after Bram Stoker's vampire.

Their study, published in Ameghiniana, says that fossils of the giant vampire bat were found inside a cave located near the city of Miramar and date back 100,000 years ago. Research indicates that this cave was a burrow used by giant sloths that were nearly five metres tall, which were possibly prey of the giant vampire bats.

The researchers estimate that the giant vampire bat was approximately the size of a computer keyboard. The fossils that were discovered include a lower jaw bone and currently reside in the Paleontological Laboratory of the Miramar Museum of Natural Sciences.

Um, yikes? My keyboard is 11 inches long, which is only about twice the size of the little mosquito-eating bats that hang out in my chimney. Some fruit bats have 16-inch bodies. Then again, some keyboards may be 16 inches long. So how big was the giant vampire bat? It turns out that the find in Argentina is not a newly-discovered species. Wikipedia tells us more about Desmodus draculae.

It is the largest-known vampire bat to have ever lived. The length of its skull is 31.2 mm (1.23 in), and its humerus length was approximately 51 mm (2.0 in), as compared to the extant common vampire bat at 32.4–42.4 mm (1.28–1.67 in). Its skull was long and narrow, and its face had an upturned snout.[6]

So while the giant vampire bat wasn't all that big, it was much bigger than the puny vampire bats we have today. They would have to use quite a bit of artistic license to make a horror film about Desmodus draculae. Still, you have to give credit to a monster that sucked blood from a 20-foot-tall sloth. Read more about the latest discovery at the Weather Network. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Miramar Museum of Natural Sciences)

The most entertaining thing that happened at the Yankees-Orioles game Monday was that a cat wandered onto the field and found himself the center of attention. The grounds crew made a lame attempt to remove him, but the crowd was cheering for the cat. -via Digg