A video on Twitter has left fans and casual viewers of the TV show The Late Late Show with James Cordon segment Carpool Karaoke aghast. In the segment, James Corden drives around LA and sings along with a celebrity guest. Apparently, they are being towed by a bigger truck as they sing along! While this video left people to speculate and feel betrayed that the host of carpool karaoke doesn’t really drive the car, a statement from the show clarified that he does drive some of the time, and he doesn’t on the rare occasion where producers feel that it is unsafe to drive. 

Saw James corden and Justin Bieber filming carpool karaoke and this is why I have trust issues — he isn't even driving! pic.twitter.com/bkP9moGJmu

— Zoli ⚡️ (@zolihonig) January 23, 2020

(via Cosmopolitan)

image screenshot via Youtube

A new role-playing game has been released, where you catch adorable elemental monsters and fight against other players’ own elemental monsters.  No, this is not Pokemon, this is Temtem. While having similar elements to Pokemon, the game is also an MMO. You can also fight against fellow players of the game around the globe! Geek.com has more details: 

The game’s focus on double battles, something we wish Pokemon embraced more, aids cooperation. And Temtem’s arguably harsher stamina system, limiting how many powerful moves the monsters can use on each turn, amps up the competitive factor.

Obviously, a Pokemon MMO is something a lot of folks want to check out. So Temtem’s servers are currently swamped. But things are getting steadier as the game continues its early access run on PC before hopefully moving to consoles.

image via Geek.com

Utah is home to a lot of rock art, carved and painted by North American tribes on the red,  sprawling canyons and cliff faces. These people depicted war, hunting scenes, animals, maps, and early calendars on the rocks. These thousands of pieces of art have yet to be recognized and protected by the government. Utah’s rock art has been vandalized and damaged, and is at a risk of being destroyed completely. The National Park Service wants each site (where the rock art lies) documented separately. This tedious process will take a long time and effort, as Hyperallergic detailed: 

“They said they had to do a single nomination for every site,” Loftin told the Salt Lake Tribune. “For [the BLM archaeologists] to go back and do this for each site would be a huge chunk of work they don’t have the time for.”

“We need to say this has national significance, and it’s what makes Moab special.” Pam Baker told the Salt Lake Tribune. “The process is too labor intensive for the BLM to do on their own. Once we were here full time, we recruited others to help, dozens of people.”

The National Park Service says it recognizes the historical significance of Moab’s rock art, but since new leadership has taken over, surveyors are requiring more consistency across the sites’ documentation and a more thorough description of their importance.

The BLM plans to resubmit the sites for listing on the registry even though it will take thousands of hours and significant manpower. Many people think this delay in protection could lead to further vandalization and destruction of the sites.

image via wikimedia commons

Amp up the romance this coming Valentine’s Day by taking your lover to a vacation in Juliet’s historic home in Verona, Italy. Yes, you heard that right, Juliet’s home (from the Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet) is available for reservation. Airbnb will grant one lucky couple a stay at Casa di Giulietta, letting them use the actual bed used in the 1968 movie adaptation of the play. It’s all romance and fate, no poison included, as CBS News details: 

"Juliet's House is the most important museum in the City of Verona, attracting millions of visitors every year. Partnering with Airbnb brings the widely-known Shakespearian myth of Romeo and Juliet to life in a way never before offered," said Mayor of Verona Municipality Federico Sboarina. "We are excited to promote our cultural heritage, share traditions that were previously safeguarded, and bring international visibility to the City of Verona."

The trip also includes a personal butler, a candlelight dinner and cooking demonstration by two Michelin starred Italian chef Giancarlo Perbellini, an opportunity to read and answer some of the 50,000 letters addressed to Juliet every year, a private tour of the home and a tour of Verona, the city of love, through the eyes of Shakespeare himself.

"This stay will give one couple the unique chance to celebrate their love in what is possibly the most romantic home in the history of literature," said Giacomo Trovato, Airbnb's general manager for Italy.

image via CBS News

The current transportation system is not at its best, with longer commute times, the extreme traffic, and the hassle of finding a public transport you can hop in for the day. It seems by 2030, things might get better. Transportation options such as hover cars are projected to be available by 2030. This is because of improvements in technology, as USA Today details: 

"Transportation planning has always been around how to get a vehicle from place to place using roads and traffic lights. But that's changing," said Thom Rickert, a risk and insurance specialist at Trident Public Risk Solutions. 

The mobility industry's next objective is to focus on moving a person through multiple modes of connected travel.

That's where air taxis, e-scooters, connected trains and semiautonomous cars come into play, powered by widespread 5G connectivity, Rickert said.

image via USA Today

Sugar is one of the essential ingredients in our food. From confectionaries to actual main course dishes, our sugar intake might be more than what we can imagine. In a time where many would worry of excessive consumption of sugar, it’s better to know more about sugar. Katie Couric consults Dr. Mark Hyman, a family physician, on what sugar does to our bodies: 

Our hormones, taste buds, and brain chemistry are all hijacked by sugar. Not metaphorically, but biologically. Simply put, you get addicted, like you would be to some of the deadliest drugs on the planet, to sugar and anything that turns to sugar in your body, like white flour.

This is because food contains not just calories or energy to fuel our cells; food contains information. When we eat sugar, it increases our blood glucose and it tells our body to increase insulin, in order to shuttle that glucose into cells. But when we constantly eat sugar and have chronically high blood glucose, we develop insulin resistance, which is the predicator to developing type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance usually comes with increased fat storage, high blood pressure, and a poor cholesterol profile. Elevated blood sugar and insulin promote inflammation and cause a hormonal cascade that makes it hard to think clearly, maintain a healthy weight, stay in a good mood, have a healthy sex drive, and so much more.

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It’s time to address the elephant in the room, er, hotel. An elephant in Sri Lanka wandered into a hotel, and surprisingly enough, is on its best behaviour. Twitter user upidaisy shared a video of the wild elephant, gently wandering around and poking stuff with his trunk. Maybe the elephant is aware that it might cause further disturbance if it thrashes around the hotel! 

(via Digg)

image screenshot via Twitter

A new type of T-cell has been accidentally discovered by researchers at Cardiff University. The researchers were analysing blood from a bank in Wales when they found the new type of immune cell. The cell carries a receptor that has never been seen before, allowing the newly-discovered immune cell to latch on to most human cancers, ignoring the healthy cells. Yahoo News has more details: 

Professor Andrew Sewell, lead author on the study and an expert in T-cells from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, said it was “highly unusual” to find a cell that had broad cancer-fighting therapies, and raised the prospect of a universal therapy.

“This was a serendipitous finding, nobody knew this cell existed,” Prof Sewell told The Telegraph.

“Our finding raises the prospect of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ cancer treatment, a single type of T-cell that could be capable of destroying many different types of cancers across the population. Previously nobody believed this could be possible.”

Asked if it meant that someone in Wales was walking around completely immune to cancer, Prof Sewell said: “Possibly. This immune cell could be quite rare, or it could be that lots of people have this receptor but for some reason it is not activated. We just don't know yet.” 

image via Yahoo News

Having a day off work is one of the ways you can sit back and relax away from the stress of your job. It may be a day that you can sleep, play games, or just laze around your home the whole day. If you’re running out of options on your plans for your next day off, maybe these points from The New York Times can give you an idea of what to do the next time you get the chance to take a little free time: 

Embrace laziness

Yes, yes, you’re busy, I’m busy, we’re busy-ing ourselves to exhaustion. But if you have today off, take a conscious stand against all this busyness. Being busy — if we even are busy — is rarely the status indicator we’ve come to believe it is. Nonetheless, the impact is real, and instances of burnout, anxiety disorders and stress-related diseases are on the rise.

Evaluate your career

When was the last time you were completely honest with yourself about your career and whether you’re doing what you want to be doing? If you’re like most people, probably not recently. A full-time worker will spend roughly 80,000 hours at work over the course of her working life, so if you’re in the wrong career that could mean tens of thousands of hours spent devoted to something you don’t even really care about, much less feel is your passion.

Have a family meal

It can be tough to get the whole family together for a meal. Work, school, sports practices and other obligations all seem to get in the way. But studies show that families who dine at home together are happier and healthier.

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On the Surface is a project by Seoul-based Studio PESI. The project features a series of wireless charger solutions for Samsung phones. The wireless chargers are in five different forms: container, clock, mirror, speaker, and tray. The chargers are both functional and decorative, and can be a minimalist table accessory. The project aims to elevate the act of charging into a more enjoyable experience. Would you charge your phones using these? 

(via Plain)

image via Plain

When you’re invited to attend a funeral, it’s highly recommended that you don’t post it on social media, take photos of the service, and to not badmouth the deceased. It’s a very solemn ceremony, sad and painful for the deceased family’s members. To show proper respect in a funeral, one must observe a few rules, and be on their best behaviour. The Huffington Post shares a few rude things that one mustn't do in a funeral, and bringing coffee is one of them. 

image via The Huffington Post

We use Google a lot of times for searching even the most mundane things. From your assignment to finding Shrek’s height, it’s been a very helpful tool for finding information. Have you ever reached a point where you can’t find the exact answer from Google search results, or worse, no results matched your inquiry? Maybe the issue lies in how you use the famed search engine. The Guardian’s Jack Schofield shares how we can get better at using Google search: 

The easiest way to create advanced search queries in Google is to use the form on the Advanced Search page, though I suspect very few people do. You can type different words, phrases or numbers that you want to include or exclude into the various boxes. When you run the search, it converts your input into a single string using search shortcuts such as quotation marks (to find an exact word or phrase) and minus signs (to exclude words).

You can also use the form to narrow your search to a particular language, region, website or domain, or to a type of file, how recently it was published and so on. Of course, nobody wants to fill in forms. However, using the forms will teach you most of the commands mentioned below, and it’s a fallback if you forget any.

Happily, many commands work on other search engines too, so skills are transferable.

image screenshot from Google

Feral cats were caught on camera feasting on human corpses at a  decomposition research facility in Colorado. The two cats were reportedly looking for specific corpses to feed on, suggesting that they might have a preference. A study has tapped into this rare occurrence to document and analyze the cats’ behaviour, and try to explain their preference for specific corpses, as ScienceAlert detailed: 

It's actually pretty well established that house-cats (and dogs) will take a nibble of a deceased owner. And, well, it makes sense: if Tom Tildrum is locked in a house with a cornucopia of ripe meat, and no other food source, of course he will make do with what's available.

Generally, such pets go for soft, exposed bits. This can include (warning, very graphic images at next link) the lips and nose, or the hands and feet. The feral cats, notably, did not go near these regions, perhaps partially because the bodies were unclothed and other parts of the body were easier to access.

"In both cases reported here, the feral cats targeted areas where the skin had been previously penetrated," the researchers wrote.

"Both cats showed preference for bodies in relatively early decomposition. Scavenging began when the bodies showed early signs of decomposition and ended at the onset of moist decomposition. The cessation of scavenging at the onset of moist decomposition may be explained by felids' preference for fresh tissue."

Although it can be confronting to think of our furry pets merrily chowing down on our cooling flesh, the research is important for establishing scavenger behaviour profiles to aid forensic analysis.

image via wikimedia commons

Faking a smile or a cheery positive attitude backfires when used on coworkers, as University of Arizona researchers led by Allison Gabriel found out in their study. From studying groups of people from different industries, such as education and manufacturing, the researchers discovered that employees who fake their emotions at work tend to feel more emotionally exhausted and inauthentic at work. EurekAlert has more details: 

While some managers Gabriel spoke to during the course of her research still believe emotions have little to do with the workplace, the study results suggest there is a benefit to displaying positive emotions during interactions at work, she said.

"I think the 'fake it until you make it' idea suggests a survival tactic at work," Gabriel said. "Maybe plastering on a smile to simply get out of an interaction is easier in the short run, but long term, it will undermine efforts to improve your health and the relationships you have at work."

"In many ways," Gabriel added, "it all boils down to, 'Let's be nice to each other.' Not only will people feel better, but people's performance and social relationships can also improve."

image via wikimedia commons

The Volga river in Russia is the highest-rated river in Google Maps, with over six thousand reviews. The Volga scored 4.7, defeating other major rivers such as Don (Russia) and Sao Francisco (Brazil). Isn’t it funny that the application lets you review a natural location on Earth as if it was a cafe or a product? Google said that it allows its users review these places so that it can be a basis of informed decisions, as Quartz detailed: 

The idea of rating rivers, as if they were coffee shop or dry cleaners, may strike some as peculiar. Why does Google allow it? “Generally speaking, we allow ratings and reviews on places that have an address or are open to the public, and that includes places like castles, beaches, rivers and even mountains,” a Google spokesperson told Quartz.

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