The diving bell spider breathes air, but spends its life underwater! To achieve this feat, this spider spins a cocoon that works as an aqualung. The spider traps tiny bubbles of air in the hairs of her legs and brings them underwater to store in the cocoon. The air bubble is also a nest for its young. See more pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link -via Unique Daily

Marvin Heemeyer spent a year and a half modifying a Komatsu D335A bulldozer into an "armored vehicle of vengeance". On June 4th, 2004, he rampaged through the town of Granby, Colorado, smashing vehicles and buildings, including the homes of those he felt had plotted against him.

The overencumbered vehicle was obviously difficult to control, and swerved widely through the streets, but Heemeyer was still able to seek out and and hit his specific targets. The bulldozer effortlessly demolished cars and buildings, including the home of a former mayor, the office of a newspaper that had sided against him in an editorial, the businesses of a former city councilman, and the city hall. Despite the destruction of property, no people had been injured or killed. killdozer_city_hallThe remains of Granby city hallThe Granby Police requisitioned an industrial scraper to pit heavy equipment against heavy equipment, but the Killdozer merely shoved the lighter adversary aside.

Over $7 million in damage was done that day. Read the entire story at Damn Interesting. Link

Jake Bronstein of Zoomdoggle (featured previously on Neatorama) set a record for longest whisper chain, passing a message successfully through 59 people. The message was a marriage proposal to his girlfriend! Link (embedded video) -via Metafilter

Cheeming Boey creates small pieces of art by sketching on foam coffee cups! His friends told him they would never sell, but that was before Marion Meyer saw them.

“I personally liked them,” says the former president of the Laguna Beach Art Walk. “And that's how I select artists. When I connect to the energy and passion someone creates in their art, that's when I like it.”

Meyer invited Boey to display his cups at her gallery during the monthly Art Walk. They sell for $120 to $220.

Link to story. Link to Flickr set. -via Buzzfeed

Also see Boey's website.

Robots that served in Afghanistan by remotely detonating explosives are now repurposed as "firebots" in London. These machines can safely get much closer to the source of the fire than human firefighters, which is particularly useful for gas fires.

The three robots are the Talon, a small, manoeuvrable machine with thermal-image cameras; the Black Max, which is similar to a quad bike and has a high-pressure hose, and the Brokk 90, which is a heavy-duty digger that removes debris.

The robots, manufactured by QinetiQ, went into service in London yesterday. Link -via Unique Daily

The Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey has a permanent display called "Musical Machines & Living Dolls", featuring over 700 antique automata, including quite a few fancily-dressed mechanical monkeys from France.

Though largely lost on passing schoolchildren and tourists at the Morris Museum, these monkeys were once a scathing critique on French aristocracy. There is a monkey on a early sort of bicycle called a velocipede, a monkey harpist, a monkey violinist, two small monkey musicians, and an incredible monkey dandy under a large glass dome. All are dressed in fine silks with hair done up in the style of French Royalty. These automata were a post-French-revolution joke on the former rulers and current dandies of France. So popular was the theme of foolish aristocratic monkeys that it was common in French homes, and whole rooms were decorated around the theme.

Read more about the mechanical monkey fad at Curious Expeditions. Link

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Warning: adorableness alert. 5-year-old Wesley performs Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" at the 2009 Spring Coffee Shop Jam in Seattle. Link -via Videogum

Researchers weren't looking for the effects of blue dye on spinal cord injuries, but there it is. What researcher were looking for was any chemical that was similar to the P2X7 receptor that blocks ATP, which causes inflammation of spinal cord injuries. FD&C blue dye No. 1 just happened to fit the description.

By lucky accident, researchers discovered that the commonly used food additive FD&C blue dye No. 1 is remarkably similar to a lab compound that blocks a key step in nerve inflammation. When rats with spinal cord injury were given an infusion of blue dye, they recovered much faster than rats that didn’t get the treatment. And researchers reported only one adverse effect: The rats turned blue.

“One of the reasons no one had done this before is that food science is very separate from neuroscience,” said neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center, who co-authored the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. “Those two fields don’t interact at all.”

The only problem with further research is the funding. The blue dye is so common that no underwriting company is likely to reap a profit from any medical breakthroughs. Link

22-year-old Tyler Bradt plunged over Palouse Falls in eastern Washington and set a world record for a kayak descent. The fall was 186 feet, which he covered in less than four seconds.

As rescue teams waited at the base of the falls Bradt calmly steered his fiberglass kayak into the raging water.

After disappearing under the water he emerged within six seconds with his broken paddle and sprained wrist.

'Considering the waterfall, the injuries were pretty minor,' he said.

The previous record for a kayak descent was 127 feet. Link -via Unique Daily

Duetto buffo di due gatti {wiki} translates as "humorous duet for two cats". Just try not to giggle as two members of a boys choir perform this number at a concert in Seoul, South Korea. Then compare that to an animated version with two cats. Link (embedded YouTube videos)

After two years of economic blockade, the zoos in Gaza are suffering. Only one has a zebra, but there's something about this zebra that seems, um, un-zebralike.

"It's really a painted donkey," admitted Mahmud Berghat, the director of Marah, when asked about the creature. Making a fake zebra isn't easy—henna didn't work and wood paint was deemed inhumane, so they finally settled on human hair dye. "We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes," Berghat explained behind the closed door of his office.

It did the trick—if not for zoologists, then at least for legions of Gaza schoolchildren who have never seen a real zebra. When I asked him whether anyone had ever caught the ruse, the director admitted that two sharp university students had IDed the counterfeit creature. "But don't tell anyone," he said. "The children love him."

Most zoo animals have to be smuggled in through tunnels, but a zebra was too expensive for the Marah zoo. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: Sharon Weinberger)

This anti-burglar mat works just like flypaper! Leave the super sticky mat inside your doorway when you leave or go to bed. If a burglar breaks in, he will be confounded and frustrated. He will probably free himself, but won't be interested in whatever else he thinks you might have in store for him. What could possibly go wrong?

Of course on the other hand that might just make them angry and want to tear up the place a bit, in addition to robbing you.

The anti-burglar mat will be on sale in Japan this fall. Link -via J-walk Blog

This is just as cute as it can be! You can make your own sliceable panda bread with a recipe translated from the original Chinese Japanese and posted at Perfect Pandas. Link -via Everlasting Blort

To celebrate the (temporary) return of the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" mental_floss is featuring questions from the show in today's Lunchtime Quiz. But these are not ordinary questions; they are questions for which people have actually won a million dollars! So even if you get just one right, you can pat yourself on the back. I scored 67%. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/29891

One of the charms of Britain is the array of friendly, locally owned neighborhood pubs and their interesting historic names.

Britain’s colourful pub signs speak volumes about the country’s equally colourful history, as well as depicting folklore, heraldry and social customs. Pubs were never named by accident and each sign invariably has a story behind it. The artwork on Britain’s pub signs is inspired by royalty and nobility, religion and the church, military heroes and battles, occupations and trades, myths and legends, sporting activities and pastimes, along with numerous other sources.

Read some of those stories at Dark Roasted Blend. Link