Twitter is now testing out a new feature for a limited number of users. Unfortunately, it still isn’t the edit button we all need. You can now tweet your voice with audio tweets, a feature that will be available to all users in the coming months. If you have early access to the new feature, here’s how to use it, as FastCompany details: 

• Compose a new tweet
• tap the audio button (beside the option to add a photo)
• tap the record button
• and then tap done

Twitter is limiting audio tweets to 140-second clips (like the original 140-character limit), but the company says it will automatically create a thread of tweets when users’ recordings stretch past that time limit. Twitter won’t allow users to reply to tweets with their voice, a decision presumably shaped by the social network’s failures to address harassment and abuse on the service.

image screenshot via FastCompany

Vitamins and other forms of supplements have been marketed to “boost one’s immune system.” During the pandemic, people have been inclined to purchase more of these to strengthen themselves against COVID-19. But do vitamins really do what they’re marketed to do so? James Hamblin and Katherine Wells discuss the effectiveness of these supplements in their podcast Social Distance. You can listen to the episode here. 

image via wikimedia commons

Just ready $16,000 for donations, of course. The actor is auctioning off a phone call via fundraising portal Greater Giving. Reeves is doing a phone call for a cancer charity, and the bidding for a special phone call from the star is up to $16,800 and climbing. Interested? MentalFloss has more details: 

The call is intended to benefit Camp Rainbow Gold, a nonprofit that provides support for patients and families in Idaho dealing with cancer. Reeves has reportedly long been active in various charitable efforts for the disease following his sister’s leukemia diagnosis in 1991.

Organizers have a few caveats. The call has to take place the week of July 6, pending the availability of both Reeves and the winning bidder. If the caller exhibits any “threatening or inappropriate behavior,” the conference will be terminated. Otherwise, the winner should feel free to discuss Reeves’s career, including the forthcoming Bill and Ted Face the Music, due out August 14.

image via MentalFloss

EndeavorRx is a FDA-approved prescription game that helps kids between ages eight to twelve who are struggling with ADHD. The game lets users dodge obstacles and collect targets as they traverse through icy wonderlands and lava rivers. Akili Interactive, EndeavorRx’ developer, says that the game stimulates neural systems that are intrinsic to attention function, as Slate details: 

The decision follows seven years of clinical trials. Over five separate studies, researchers examined more than 600 kids to determine whether EndeavorRx could affect their ADHD symptoms. One such study found that 30 percent of the children “no longer had a measurable attention deficit on at least one measure of objective attention” after playing EndeavorRx for 25 minutes a day, five days a week for four weeks. According to Akili, these changes persisted for up to one month following treatment with EndeavorRx. The most common side effects were frustration and headache, which seem mild in contrast to traditional medications.

Philosophy is a hard topic to decipher and teach, especially to younger students. RoadWorks, an organization that teaches social sciences use Drill Music as an opportunity to meet young people on their own intellectual turf. BBC has the details: 

It's been a couple of years since large sections of the media first started panicking about drill music, questioning if the genre's often violent lyrics were contributing to knife crime in London - sometimes claiming outright that they were.

For the youth workers helping young people navigate daily life, it was never that black and white.

Instead Ciaran Thapar saw drill as an opportunity to meet young people on their own terms.

"How can we use this undeniably organically popular type of music, and our understanding of that music, as a way of connecting with young people who otherwise are being lost to the system right now at unprecedented rates?"

Combining drill and education felt natural for Ciaran, a writer who studied political theory.

"You literally have kids that are coming into the classroom bouncing off the walls and by the end of it they're calm, they're having conversations. And that's because we've met them on their intellectual turf."

image via BBC

The cat that inspired A Street Cat Named Bob has died. James Bowen took care of the injured cat in 2007, and decided to look after him. Bowen wrote a book about his and Bob’s relationship that became a hit and was made into a movie. Did you know that Bob actually played himself in the movie (along with six lookalikes)? The Guardian has more details: 

In a statement on the official Facebook page for Bowen’s books, the author said Bob had saved his life.

He added: “It’s as simple as that. He gave me so much more than companionship. With him at my side, I found a direction and purpose that I’d been missing.”

He said the success they found together was “miraculous”, adding: “He’s met thousands of people, touched millions of lives.

“There’s never been a cat like him. And never will again. I feel like the light has gone out in my life. I will never forget him.”

Paul McNamee, editor of The Big Issue, said: “First Bob changed James Bowen’s life, then he changed the world. He meant a great deal to The Big Issue and was a huge part of our story, as The Big Issue was to his story.

“Over the years we’ve reported on his successes and each time we put him on the cover our vendors were delighted. They knew it meant fans would flock to purchase. He represented a second chance and hope and never giving up on somebody, things that are hardwired into The Big Issue DNA.

“Our condolences go to James, Bob’s loyal companion. Bob saved his life and he’s spoken of the success the pair enjoyed through their books and films as being miraculous. He said there’s never been a cat like him. We couldn’t agree more.”

image via The Guardian

If you’re a big fan of cold brew, here’s a new iced coffee recipe that you might enjoy! Japanese iced coffee is a faster-to-brew version of the regular cold brew, with enthusiasts claiming that the iced coffee is better than cold brew. Japanese iced coffee can be made in under ten minutes, as The Huffington Post details: 

“I think it is a superior method to cold brew, since you get a chance to unlock more flavor from coffee compounds with the hot water extraction, while still getting an equivalent body as if it were a cold brew,” said Julie Nguyen, co-owner of Contra Coffee and Tea in Orange, California.

The name derives from a method that’s been used in Japan since the 1920s, but it also refers to the use of Japanese coffee equipment, like Hario products, to brew it. Some coffee shops refer to this method of making coffee as flash-brewed, flash-chilled or just iced coffee.

image via The Huffington Post

If you’re looking forward to stepping up your presence and influence in your workplace, then try making small talk with your coworkers. It’s a necessary social practice that can build rapport, which then turns to trust. Licensed career coach Jamie Terran details on building rapport through office small talk: 

“Rapport is the feeling that allows you to extend a deadline, or overlook smaller mistakes, because it makes it easy for you to remember we’re only human. Right or wrong, building rapport through interaction with colleagues could be the thing that gets you the promotion or keeps you in the role you’re in.”

Building rapport applies when you’re interviewing, too. People hire people they want to work with, not necessarily who’s perfect for the job. Engaging in small talk with your interviewer helps make a positive impression.

image via wikimedia commons

Who doesn’t need an adorable clip of cats playing with their owners? Watch as Haeun plays along and takes care of her cats, even to the point of letting one of her cats sit atop of her homework! 

image screenshot via YouTube

This robber was arrested when he came back to the house that he robbed for his keys. The suspect had broken into the garage and was able to steal two bicycles, a laptop, and a bar fridge. His “operation” was close to being successful, except he left his apartment keys at the scene of the crime, as Oddee details: 

The suspect decided he would smash the glass door of his apartment building so that he could get in, but he still couldn’t get into his place without the keys. The robber returned to the garage he stole the items from to look for his keys and that’s when the homeowner apprehended him. 

The police reported that the suspect was intoxicated and in breach of two conditions of an undertaking. The 20-year-old Brandon man was arrested for break, enter and theft, two counts of failure to comply with an undertaking, two counts of mischief to property under $5000, and assaulting a police officer.

image via wikimedia commons

Alexis Arnold transforms printed media into crystallized sculptures. The San Francisco-based artist warps the pages and covers of books with water, and then applies a solution to grow crystals all over the book. The solution freezes the printed media, making it nonfunctional, as My Modern Met details: 

“The crystals remove the text and solidify the books into geological sculptures,” she continues.

Arnold has manipulated famous books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Moby Dick, and The Three Musketeers, as well as reference texts like the Smithsonian Nature Guide: Rocks and Minerals. Each book’s unique characteristics—cover, page number, illustrations—are emphasized when it is congealed by the borax solution. Some sculptures appear more colorful and flamboyant, others are unwieldy with stacks of hardened pages.

“Books hold a great significance as objects, stories, teachings, memories, and more, so they were ripe for investigation with the process of crystal growth I’d been exploring on different objects,” Arnold says. She was prompted to begin the series in 2011, during the surge of e-books. During this time, the artist came across dozens of abandoned paperbacks and hardcovers and used them as experiments for the effects of crystal growth. Arnold realized that the process transformed books—which are valuable in their reusability—into purely decorative, aesthetic artifacts. Instead of illuminating text and great stories, these geological sculptures contain a “history of time, use, and memories.” Arnold’s series equalizes renowned titles and defunct phone books as inoperative, beautiful objects.

image via My Modern Met

Bears are known to go down into populated areas from the San Gabriel Mountains. This time, a bear went to a residential area to beat the heat. A homeowner in Claremont, California spotted a bear casually taking a dip in their backyard pool. The bear was also seen climbing a wall and rooting through some trash in the neighborhood.

It seems that we aren’t running out of new edible inventions, as scientists have built an entire edible robot. Researchers from Johannes Kepler University in Australia built a robotic elephant trunk from an edible and biodegradable gel. The edible robot is a step forward for building child-friendly toys, as Futurism details: 

The robot is largely made of gelatin. In addition, it contains citric acid to stop bacteria from eating it, and glycerol to keep the whole thing soft and hydrated. The material itself didn’t dry out for over a year, and the elephant trunk was able to bend and straighten over 330,000 times before cracking, according to research published Monday in the journal Nature Materials.

image via NewScientist

Sometimes we need a drink. Honestly, I’ve gone through this quarantine period needing something stronger than the red wine available at home. If you’re looking for a different concoction to help you drown your worries away, Elle has found an online mixology resource that generates the cocktails for you based on what ingredients you have. Check out makemeacocktail.com and have a blast! 

image via wikimedia commons

PointCrow isn’t Link, the main character of Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, but he can most definitely emulate Link’s experience in the game. The Zelda gamer recreates Breath Of The Wild in his backyard, playing and interacting as if his backyard is actually Hyrule.