Usually, when one finds a secret section in any place, they can expect something good. Well, this one is a good find, it’s just not what those mystery novels are about. A Washington state’s library mystery section (yes, it was found where the mystery novels were stored) was found to contain a stash of beer and chewing gum from the 1980s, as UPI detailed: 

The Walla Walla Public Library said employees have been performing renovations at the facility during the COVID-19 shutdown, and they recently removed a corner panel from the shelf housing the mystery book section and found a disintegrated paper bag containing five unopened cans of Hamm's beer and an opened back of Godzilla Heads gum.

Library officials said their research determined Godzilla Heads gum dates from the 1980s and the Hamm's beer cans don't include health warnings that were required from 1988 on, leading staff to believe the snack stash is more than 30 years old.

"It looked like somebody had just stashed it there and maybe thought they could get it later ... but there was no way to get it out," library director Erin Wells told CNN. "There were probably six beers that they bought and there was only five that we found so they might not have been thinking straight when they did it."

The City of Walla Walla said the "artifacts" were transferred "to another city facility."

"The abandoned relics now reside in the Sudbury Landfill," the city said.

Image via UPI

The second largest species in the world, the fin whale, has been captured on camera off the Irish coast. The whale is capable of reaching up to 65 feet in length, only second in size to the blue whale! Mammal ecologist Emer Keaveney was able to take video footage of a fin whale enjoying its swim, as the Irish Post detailed: 

A large and streamlined mammal, fin whales are characterised by their pointed heads, pectoral fin and tall, curved, dorsal fin. 

Keaveney is only the second person to captured a fin whale on drone camera in Irish waters. 

In fact, just over 60 fin whales have been photographed in Irish waters to date, with the majority coming on the South coast of Ireland. 

ORC Ireland's Fluke Follow Project was set up to further examine the health and behaviour of otherwise elusive animal species.

Image via the Irish Post

It’s all for self-protection. New research has found that narcissists are less likely to reflect on their mistakes and are more inclined to blame them on the unpredictability of the universe. Researchers tested the various levels of narcissism present among different people, as ScienceAlert detailed: 

"We argue that, due to their exaggerated self-enhancement and self-protection tendencies, narcissists show stronger hindsight bias when their predictions are accurate and a reverse hindsight bias when their predictions are inaccurate, both of which harm their learning and future decision making," the authors of the new study argue.

To do this, volunteers were asked in an online survey whether they identified more with statements like "I think I am a special person" than statements like "I am no better or worse than most people."

Shortly after this quiz, applicants were offered an opportunity to sign up for another in-person study. To avoid influencing expectations, the researchers took efforts to keep the participants unaware that the questionnaire was connected to the follow-up study.

This more personal half of the study involved groups being asked to read a bunch of qualifications for a hypothetical job and choose who to hire. They were then given their pick's performance assessment and asked whether they made the right decision. 

Subtle variations in the methodology and performance outcomes of all four experiments allowed researchers to analyse how narcissism can impact hindsight bias and our ability to reflect on what we should have done, known as 'should counterfactual thinking'.

Image via ScienceAlert 

The Milky Way is a huge galaxy. It seems that astronomers aren’t even sure how many there are in the galaxy. Various estimates range from 100 billion to 400 billion, because some stars are not visible from Earth for multiple reasons: some of them being too far, too faint, or obscured by gas or dust.. If someone asks you the question though, just give them the estimate! That’s a better answer than nothing! 

Image via Science Focus 

Scientists are measuring how far the moon has gotten away from us. Yes, the moon is drifting away from us every year. For decades, scientists have been measuring the moon’s retreat by firing a laser at the moon’s surface. Don’t worry, they’re not aiming to destroy the lunar surface. The laser hits the light-reflecting panels left on the surface, as The New York Times detail: 

But the moon’s five retroreflectors are old, and they’re now much less efficient at flinging back light. To determine whether a layer of moon dust might be the culprit, researchers devised an audacious plan: They bounced laser light off a much smaller but newer retroreflector mounted aboard a NASA spacecraft that was skimming over the moon’s surface at thousands of miles per hour. And it worked.

These results were published this month in the journal Earth, Planets and Space.

Of all the stuff humans have left on the moon, the five retroreflectors, which were delivered by Apollo astronauts and two Soviet robotic rovers, are among the most scientifically important. They’re akin to really long yardsticks: By precisely timing how long it takes laser light to travel to the moon, bounce off a retroreflector and return to Earth (roughly 2.5 seconds, give or take), scientists can calculate the distance between the moon and Earth.

Image via The New York Times 

An important yet easily unnoticed part of games is their graphic design. A game can be enjoyed well if it can convey not just the gameplay, but also the information a player needs to play the game. This is done through the menu, user interface, a good color scheme, and font choice. Watch Design Doc as he analyses the graphic design choices made in some popular games. 

The producer behind The Skyscraper Camera Project started a new project right in front of his home - his door, to be exact. Kyle Roper transformed his front door into a large-format analog camera to safely capture portraits during the pandemic. His new photo series called Door Frames, showcased the portraits he was able to take thanks to his front-door camera, as Digital Photography Review detailed: 

Given ample time at home and the desire to continue creating images while observing social distancing restrictions, Roper converted his front door into a camera obscura using magnetic dry erase board, gaffer's tape, cardboard boxes, a dark cloth, c-stand, clamps and sandbags. For photo paper and film, Roper uses Ilford RC IV Multigrade Photo Paper, Ilford Direct Positive Paper and Ilford Ortho 80 Plus. His lens of choice is a Nikkor-W 300mm F5.6 lens in a Copal shutter.

Roper states that he was inspired by his friend, Brendan Barry, an artist and camera builder we've featured many times before. Roper was also inspirited by the work of Dorothea Lange and Francesca Woodman. The former is a particularly interesting inspiration given Lange's famous documentary and photojournalism work for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression.

Image via Digital Photography Review 

The twist here is that they never dated back then. Greg Dabice and Janet Fenner were crowned homecoming royalty during their senior year at Montclair State University in 1992. They parted ways after homecoming, and married other people. But fate had other plans, after they both got divorced in 2016, they found each other: 

"I had a few glasses of wine. I went back on the dating app, and I was like, 'Ah, let's just take a look,'" she said of the night she saw him on the app. She swiped right on Dabice, but she didn't know it was him because he sported a beard in his photos that she didn't remember from her college days.

But Dabice recognized Fenner right away. He reached out to a friend from college with a good memory to confirm it was Fenner, and the friend reminded Dabice that he and Fenner had been on homecoming court together. He told him to "go get his queen," according to Fenner.

Dabice reached out to Fenner on Facebook, teasing her for swiping right on him. Fenner quickly remembered who he was, and the duo decided to meet up for drinks.

Dabice and Fenner got married on Montclair State’s football field this year,

Image via Insider

In a surprising turn of events, the developer of the well-loved game Fortnite has filed a lawsuit against Apple. Epic Games filed the lawsuit after Apple removed the iOS version of Fortnite from the App Store. Apple removed the game from its store after Epic Games implemented its own payment processing system into the iOS version of the battle royale hit. This move was an apparent violation of Apple’s App Store guidelines, as The Verge detailed: 

“Epic brings this suit to end Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive actions that Apple undertakes to unlawfully maintain its monopoly in two distinct, multibillion dollar markets: (i) the iOS App Distribution Market, and (ii) the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market(each as defined below),” the complaint reads.

“Epic is not seeking monetary compensation from this Court for the injuries it has suffered. Nor is Epic seeking favorable treatment for itself, a single company. Instead, Epic is seeking injunctive relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers.”

image via The Verge

A limited number of people observing social distancing in open venues for concerts? Sign me up for that! Here’s how the producers implemented social distancing in an outdoor concert in Newcastle, England: they set up five hundred pods with five people in each pod. This setup was done for Sam Fender’s gig at the Virgin Money Unity Arena. Will this be how future concerts look? 

image via Buzzfeed

The magic of tectonic plate movements, right? A recent study has found the Victoria microplate moving counterclockwise against the African plate (the tectonic plate holding most of Africa). While this gives insight into splitting processes, the movement will likely give birth to a new ocean, as QZ details: 

the “Y” shaped end of the rift at the Afar region is getting more attention, as to where an ocean will likely be formed if the splits continue. The “Y” shaped junction is where the African, Somalian, and Arabian tectonic plates meet near Djibouti and Eritrea and it is associated with active volcanos including the Erta Ale volcano.

Researchers believe the volcanic activity in the region suggests a rift-to-ridge transition. The Erta Ale has been erupting constantly for over 50 years and it is believed that as the Erta Ale continues to erupt, a new narrow ocean basin with its mid-ocean ridge will be formed.

However, researchers are uncertain about the future of the East African rift—whether the split will continue and an ocean will eventually be formed. At the rate at which the Afar rift is splitting, it will take tens of million years for an ocean to eventually be formed.

image via QZ

I know most of us would say 2020 in a heartbeat, because of the Coronavirus and global unrest. But there are some who are willing to counter our answers and give insight into other terrible years. Check out Cheddar’s interviews with different historians who each pitched their pick for the "worst year to be alive".

image screenshot via Cheddar

Well, sort of. A washing-machine sized meteorite crashed into a village, but this particular space rock was unlike the others: it was practically alive! The fragments of the meteorite, called Aguas Zarcas, contain a remnant of the early solar system. The Aguas Zarcas has organic molecules as complex as amino acids, the building blocks of life. Science Magazine has more details: 

From the beginning, the inky Aguas Zarcas resembled a legendary carbonaceous chondrite that exploded in 1969 over Murchison, an Australian cattle town. Geology students helped collect about 100 kilograms of Murchison, and a local postmaster mailed pieces of it to labs across the world. To date, scientists have recognized nearly 100 different amino acids in it, many used by organisms on Earth and many others rare or nonexistent in known life. Hundreds more amino acids have been inferred but not yet identified.

Murchison also contained nucleobases, the building blocks of genetic molecules such as RNA, and in November 2019, researchers found a major component of RNA’s backbone: the sugar molecule ribose. This half-century parade of discoveries jump-started the now-flourishing field of astrobiology. “We’re not detecting life itself, but the components are all there,” says Daniel Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “I wouldn’t have a job without Murchison.”

image via Science Magazine 

Most of a video game’s narrative is relayed in cutscenes, flavor texts (the random bits of information about a game’s setting scattered all around the game), or through simple dialogue between characters. But some games are now telling the bits and pieces of their narratives through dungeons, buildings, and other environmental spaces. Watch Game Maker’s Toolkit as he provides the best examples of this very practice. 

Thanks to technology, most of the resources we obtain are in digital form. We view our textbooks, documents, and other resources as PDFs on our phones. While these files are easy to retrieve, we can’t deny that it is difficult to zoom in and out to read. But that’s not the only shortcoming of PDFs. According to Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of the user experience research and consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, PDFs are still problematic, even after twenty years: 

In the article, co-published this week with user experience specialist Anna Kaley, several reasons are given as to why PDFs are problematic when used for online reading. Some of the usability issues mentioned include a jarring user experience, slow load times, unnecessary content, unnavigable content masses, and the fact that PDFs are sized for paper and not screens. 

“The format is intended and optimized for print. It’s inherently inaccessible, unpleasant to read, and cumbersome to navigate online. Neither time nor changes in user behavior have softened our evidence-based stance on this subject,” the article reads. “Even 20 years later, PDFs are still unfit for human consumption in the digital space.” 

image via Vice