YouTuber Schmooey admitted his fraud in a lengthy apology stating that most of his videos were fabricated. The 20-year-old had a legendary reputation in the Guitar Hero community for mastering the most difficult songs in the game. However, his December 2021 upload made viewers notice something fishy. The recent upload was a "flawless" run of 9 Patterns of Eternal Pain, which was the first-ever perfect performance for the song. 

Expert players noticed an inconsistency with the player's fingers and the notes on the screen. The most suspicious part was the last few seconds of the video, where a Windows Media Player overlay can be seen. It turns out that Schmooey was playing Clone Hero, the PC port of Guitar Hero. He then used Cheat Engine to slow down the songs and play them at an easier difficulty. The YouTuber also admits that he edits the recorded video by speeding it up and splicing it together with his webcam footage.

Image credit: Karl Jobst on YouTube

German artist Niclas Castello created a cube from pure 24-karat gold. The artwork was dropped in the middle of Central Park in New York City. While the special three-dimensional artwork is not for sale, it is valued at about $11.7 million. According to Axios, the cube was placed at the park to promote a digital coin, called Castello Coin that is trading at 0.39 euros. According to Castello, the cube is  “a conceptual work of art in all its facets.” The idea was to create an intangible object, he added. That’s certainly in theme with his digital coin. 

Image credit: Niclas Castello/ Sandra Mika 

Concept designer Amin Akhsi created the Hooded Crow, a conceptual flying machine that could help with reconnaissance and rescue missions. The robotic bird is part of the artist’s series of bionic birds. The crow is designed to be sleek and friendly, with the colors of black and light gray adorning the robot. 

This design for a more advanced drone adds flexibility in neck movement through fabric materials on its neck. In addition, Akhsi attached fabric inserts with soft cushioning in the bird’s wings to help maintain its aerodynamic stability. Read more about the concept here. 

Image credit: Bionic Birds via Yanko Design

Hawaiian residents Desha-Ann and Rashann Kealoha got charged with a whopping $18,000 electric bill from the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO). According to HECO, the couple were the legal owners of the street they lived on. Therefore, they were responsible for paying the outstanding balance of $17,860.09.  "Because you own the street upon which the streetlights are located, Hawaiian Electric believes that you are responsible for the payment of electric energy supplied to these streetlights." The company wrote in the letter. 

The couple was shocked, overwhelmed, and confused after receiving the letter. However, they remain hopeful that a solution can be found for this issue. The company said that it doesn’t expect the couple to pay the balance. They are now working with the Kealohas and the city to track down whoever should be responsible for paying the huge sum.

Image credit: Karsten Winegeart

Apparently, it’s not your fault if you suddenly lose interest or focus on your schoolwork or… work in general. According to writer and journalist Johann Hari, our attention fraying is part of a systemic crisis that is happening to all of us. Hari further explains that an average college student spends 65 seconds on each task while an average office worker spends just three minutes. 

We should not blame ourselves for the lack of focus, Hari claimed. This problem requires systemic solutions. Hari shared five key insights from his new book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again. Check the full piece here to learn how to regain back your focus and attention! 

Image credit: Avel Chuklanov

Ancient baobab trees are one of the most treasured foliage in Madagascar. Some of these trees in the area are about 1,400 years old and have provided food, fuel, and fiber to the people in the region for centuries. Now, however, a decline of these trees can be noticed, possibly due to old age and the current climate crisis damaging these trees. Bay Area photographer Beth Moon captures stunning, black-and-white photos showing the current state of the different baobab trees in the region. See more photos here and on her Instagram.  

Image credit: Beth Moon

Now that’s amazing!

The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated series adaptation of Critical Role’s first Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Critical Role is a web series featuring a group of voice actors playing the tabletop role-playing game. They are currently on their third campaign while the adaptation is airing. The show is currently airing on Amazon Prime Video and has a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The Legend of Vox Machina covers the story of a group of misfits as they end up on a quest to save the realm of Exandria from dark magical forces to pay off their mounting bar tab. The show was produced after raising $12 million in a Kickstarter campaign. Amazon Prime Video then picked up the series during production. 

Image credit: Prime Video

A 50-year-old bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and dropped a municipal bus along with it. Thankfully, no deaths were reported, but ten people were evaluated and treated for minor injuries. In addition, three people were taken to local hospitals for their injuries. The collapse caused a large gas leak due to ruptured lines. Because of this incident, federal investigators vowed to put the bridge under the microscope to see how the collapse happened and what could have possibly caused it. According to Jennifer Homendy, investigators may take back pieces for laboratory analysis. Read more about the incident here. 

Image credit:  AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Aiken Spring, located in China’s Gobi Desert, is also known as the “Devil's Eye.” Its memorable moniker may have been derived from its stark difference from the land surrounding it. Because of the sulfur content of the body of water, the land around the spring is barren. When looking at maps or photos, the spring looks like an eye surrounded by reddish brownish skin. 

Jonas Daley perfectly captured the beauty of Aiken Spring and the land surrounding it. The photographer took aerial photos that show the bright colors of the area and made it seem like the location was from a fantasy world. Learn more about his work here. 

Image credit: Jonas Daley 

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are great tools for protecting sensitive or personal information online. These programs hide internet activity from prying eyes. This feature earned them a top spot in the best recommendations for internet security. However, using VPNs for regular browsing may not be the best option anymore. According to Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "for most day-to-day browsing, a VPN isn't needed, and may make things worse." Tom’s Guide’s Emily Long writes more on this topic here. 

Image credit: Petter Lagson (via Unsplash) 

Hopefully, the next solar storm will be way, way far into the future! 

Solar storms are celestial phenomenons that occur when the magnetic fields on the sun get tangled up and snap back into place. These storms are a result of the magnetic reconnection in the sun’s corona. The storms can release magnetic fields known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that flow through space on solar winds. 

A solar storm that reached our planet 9,200 years ago has left experts concerned for the next one, if it ever happens. When the previous storm passed by our planet, it left permanent scars on the ice buried deep below Greenland and Antarctica. In addition, it would have crippled modern communications systems if it had hit Earth today. Read more about the phenomenon here. 

Image credit: NASA

Life is very good at throwing different problems and issues along our way. Sometimes, it gets to the point that we think about things way too much and we need to force ourselves to just stop thinking, or else we’ll never survive or solve these problems. A lot of mantras and tips online on how to relax usually just tell you to ‘empty your mind,’ or ‘respect your inner child.’ But how in the world do you actually do that? Because let’s get real, meditating does not work all the time. Psychologist and professor at the University of Michigan Ethan Kross sat down with Inverse to talk about how to help ourselves not to fully stop the inner voice in our brains, but to master and keep them at bay. Read more about it here. 

Image credit: kevin turcios (via Unsplash)

French artist Vincent Leroy revealed his latest artwork in Tokyo. The art piece, called Tokyo Metacloud, is a giant floating cloud that was designed to roam the streets of the city. The installation is made up of thin curved blades and was designed to showcase the balance between material, air, and transparency to create an impression of extreme lightness. Learn more about Leroy’s masterpiece here.  

Image credit: Vincent Leroy

Surprise? Nickie Hadley, a resident in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, woke up to a mural painted on her home. The 50-year-old initially knew nothing about the mural, which was created by street artist Mr. Eggs. "I woke up in the morning and two neighbors were stood outside", she told the Manchester Evening News."I went to the front window, they waved and said 'We love it. I came out and it was there."

The graffiti shows a boy towing a trailer and a plane with a “save our green belt” banner. It turns out that Hadley is part of the Save Tameside Greenbelt group on Facebook, a platform for people who are opposed to the city’s plans for a garden village near Godley Green. Hadley commented on the platform that anybody can put up a poster for the movement at her home. The street artist probably saw the post online and painted the mural.

Image credit: Manchester Evening News

How did they know what we were missing in the first place? Apparently, scientists can reconstruct the Earth’s history through fossils, rocks, and other trinkets preserved in the ground. Experts have found a giant lapse in the Earth’s history through the lack of evidence. The missing time, called The Great Unconformity, exceeds one billion years in some places. This means that some 550 million-year-old rocks are found that date back 1.7 billion years, but no other traces from the years in between were found. Learn more about this missing chunk of time here. 

Image credit: Tim Hart