Meet Ememem, an artist known for filling broken sidewalks with colorful mosaics. Also known as ‘the pavement surgeon,’ he believes that repairing the sidewalks is “a poem that everybody can read.” The beautiful and bright additions to the cracks and broken areas of the city serves as a memory notebook of the city, as Colossal details: 

“Here cobblestones have been picked up and thrown. There a truck from the vegetable market tore off a piece of asphalt…”

Ememem’s first mosaic dates back 10 years when he found himself in a damaged alley in Lyon. At that time, he already was working in ceramic and translated that practice to revitalizing the outdoor area. Since 2016, he’s been consistently filling potholes and other divots throughout France. “It’s a succession of a lot of places and reflections, experiments I did before. I had done similar things, with other techniques, other supports, and finally, when this one emerged, I knew I found something that I was going to keep doing for the rest of my life,” he says.

Image via Colossal

Scientists have managed to capture a giant squid hunting down prey. The video, which is the subject of a new paper in Deep Sea Research Part 1: Oceanographic Research Papers, shows the giant squid’s prey experience before they were eaten. Brutal, I know. The question here now is, how did the researchers manage to get the hunting process on video? Well, they used bait platforms to lure large squids: 

 Of course, even a giant squid isn’t going to try to take down a full-sized whale and is likely more comfortable snatching smaller prey that they can handle with ease. With that in mind, the researchers used fake jellyfish with built-in lights that give them the appearance of a bioluminescent species of jelly that may be a tasty treat for large squid species.

The researchers got exactly what they wanted, capturing video footage of multiple squids attacking the bait. Some of the squids remain unidentified and could be new species not yet described, but at least one of the attacks came from the famed giant squid, Architeuthis dux.

The footage is incredible, and while these types of squid aren’t normally seen near the surface, it might still give you pause the next time you want to take a dip in the ocean. The good news is that, as far as we know, no human has ever been attacked by a giant squid. The smaller Humboldt squid, on the other hand? Well, you’ll want to stay out of their way.

We all know that the classic Coke bottles come with a red cap, right? So imagine my surprise when I found out that they were selling Coca Cola bottles with yellow caps instead of red earlier this year. Is it a manufacturing mistake? No, definitely not. A special edition? Sort of. The yellow cap actually signifies that the recipe is kosher for Passover, as Reader’s Digest details: 

If you’re unfamiliar with Passover, it’s a Jewish religious holiday that occurs during spring and lasts for seven days in total. During the holiday, Jewish people are prohibited from owning or consuming leavened foods (known as chametz), which include five main grains: wheat, spelt, oats, rye, and barley.

However, it’s common for some Jewish people to recognize another category of forbidden foods (known as kitniyot) that includes corn, rice, and beans.

How does all of this affect Coke? While the regular Coke formula is kosher year-round, it contains corn syrup, so it isn’t considered kosher for Passover by Jews of Eastern European descent. Because of this, Coke temporarily replaces the corn syrup in its recipe with sugar. This kosher Coke is marked with a sunny yellow cap!

While intended for Jewish people who celebrate Passover, these “Original Taste” Cokes are a favorite for many Coca-Cola fans. Plenty of people buy the yellow-capped Coke because they love the flavor or want to avoid high fructose corn syrup.



Image via Reader’s Digest 

Why would people even do that? Not only will your luggage stink, it’s also unhygienic!  According to the US Customs and Border Protection agency, people have been packing cow dung in their luggage because of the belief that it offers protection against COVID-19. Agents from the organization have discovered two cow dung patties in a suitcase left behind an Air India flight last month, as Slash Gear details: 

Of note, the US CBP warns that cow dung is one of the items prohibited for transportation from India to the US. Despite some beliefs that cow dung may offer health benefits — including, increasingly, beliefs that it may protect against COVID-19 — the reality is that these products pose a risk of transmitting Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

This disease is found all over the world and is of particular concern for farms as it spread rapidly through livestock. The US has been free of Foot and Mouth Disease since 1929, and the US CBP warns that reintroducing it could be devastating to the international livestock market.

A single case of FMD would likely result in international livestock trade being temporarily suspended until the source of the disease can be eradicated. Concerns about the potential distribution of cow dung are higher than usual due to India’s tragic COVID-19 situation and the belief among some in the country that cow dung can boost immunity and help protect against infections.

Image via Slash Gear

This is a sci-fi flick prompt coming to life. Sergei Shoigu, the Defense Minister of Russia, has come up with a new strategic idea that makes you wonder if it’s actually achievable. Shoigu wants to clone an entire army of ancient warriors! He proposes to use the DNA of 3,000-year-old Scythian warriors, as Popular Mechanics details: 

“Of course, we would like very much to find the organic matter and I believe you understand what would follow that,” Shoigu told the Russian Geographical Society. “It would be possible to make something of it, if not Dolly the Sheep. In general, it will be very interesting.”

Shoigu subtly suggested going through some kind of human cloning process. But is that even possible?

To date, no one has cloned a human being. But scientists have successfully executed the therapeutic cloning of individual kinds of cells and other specific gene-editing work, and of course, there are high-profile examples of cloning pretty complex animals. Earlier this year, for example, scientists cloned an endangered U.S. species for the first time: a black-footed ferret whose donor has been dead for more than 30 years.

Image via Popular Mechanics 

Listen, I know mosquito bites aren’t usually lethal - but they sure are itchy. Did you know that you can drive the bugs away with the light bulbs you have at home? Entomologists suggest switching out your light bulbs with LED lights! However, make sure you have the right color to chase the bugs away: 

Bugs are most drawn to the blue end of the color spectrum and ultraviolet light in particular. “Incandescent lights have a much broader spectrum of colors that are generated along with much more heat generated, both of which are attractive to many insects,” Webb explains.

Enter: LEDs, which “do not output much UV light,” Matts says, so it’s possible that switching your bulbs may make a difference. The wavelengths in typical LED household lights “are simply not the wavelengths that are most attractive to insects,” Webb adds.

In fact, in one 2016 study, researchers compared different types of light bulbs between July and September in open grassland around sunset (to ensure there was nothing else attracting the bugs). They collected insects in custom-made traps, and found that the worst option for outdoor lighting was traditional incandescent bulbs, which attracted the most bugs. LEDs on the other hand—both “cool‐white” and “warm‐white”—were the least attractive to insects.

Yellow-hued light bulbs are worth trying, too. “Yellow lights—and red lights—do not attract insects as much as regular white lights,” Russell says.

Image via Prevention 

Voyager 1 has detected a weak but persistent signal from outer space. At first, scientists were skeptical as to whether it was legitimate. Cornell University Ph.D. candidate Stella Koch Ocker initially asked herself if she was starting to see things. She wasn’t. Koch Ocker and colleagues reported the signal in a new study published in Nature Astrophysics: 

By looking back at the last three years of observations from Voyager 1, the researchers were able to assemble consistent measurements of this elusive interstellar plasma. They continue to monitor it as Voyager 1 speeds out of the Solar System at more than 38,000 miles per hour. It is approximately 14.1 billion miles from Earth.

What’s new — Prior methods of measuring the plasma density relied on picking up strong, intermittent bursts of signal from Voyager 1, which seemed to occur about once every year. The intermittency of the signal made it akin to a once-a-year massive “storm” of large plasma oscillation events.

Emerging in data taken from 2017 to 2020, the new signal is only a few times stronger than the sensitivity of the instrument, making it barely noticeable. The Plasma Wave System allows Voyager 1 to measure vibrations of plasma at specific frequencies — the newly detected signal is a low-frequency “hum” at roughly 3 kHz.

And rather than being associated with intermittent events, the signal came across steadily over the entire duration of the three years, with little change in its character.

“When we looked between and below these plasma oscillation events, we found this very weak persistent signal of plasma waves that appears to not be related to solar activity,” says Koch Ocker.

The continuity of the new signal means the researchers can produce measurements of plasma density all along the trajectory of the spacecraft, rather than at the isolated locations of the “storms.” Discovering this trickle in the furthest reaches of space was almost entirely unexpected.

Image via Unsplash 

A new implant developed by engineers from Columbia University is the smallest single-chip system ever created. The chip, only visible under a microscope, can be implanted with a hypodermic needle to measure temperature inside the body (and more features could be added too). According to the creators of the implant, the chip may use radio frequency modules to transmit and receive information for wireless powering and communication: 

This combines with an onboard low-power temperature sensor to turn the chip into a probe for real-time temperature sensing, enabling it to monitor body temperature and also fluctuations in temperature driven by the therapeutic application of ultrasound. The implant's capabilities were demonstrated in live mice where it was used for ultrasound neurostimulation, and up to seven were implanted into the mice at a time via intramuscular injection with a syringe.

The scientists imagine these types of chips being implanted into the human body, and then wirelessly communicating information on what they measure via ultrasound. In its current form this is limited to body temperature, but other possibilities include blood pressure, glucose levels and respiratory function.

"We wanted to see how far we could push the limits on how small a functioning chip we could make," says the study's leader Ken Shepard. "This is a new idea of 'chip as system' – this is a chip that alone, with nothing else, is a complete functioning electronic system. This should be revolutionary for developing wireless, miniaturized implantable medical devices that can sense different things, be used in clinical applications, and eventually approved for human use."

Image via New Atlas 

Serving bubble tea in a hot pot is something I didn’t expect to see. Instead of sipping it through straws, people can now treat it as a soup, thanks to the taro bell desert hot pot sold at Avery Restaurant in Canada! The desert option, which went viral after the restaurant started selling it, looks aesthetically pleasing and delicious. If you like bubble tea, that is! 

Image screenshot via Food Insider

Finally, a gym I agree with! Esports Gym (seriously, that’s the establishment’s name), located in Tokyo, lets its members take lessons from esports professionals. Founded by Tokyo Metro and esports start-up Gecipe, the gym aims to train a new generation of players. The business will open this May, according to Kotaku. 

Image via Kotaku 

TikTok-famous ‘talking’ dog Bunny is now asking some heavy existential questions. The Sheepadoodle, who is popular for communicating using her augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device's buttons, is now interested in her own sense of self. Alexis Devine, Bunny’s human companion, shared that Bunny started questioning her existence when she stared at herself in a mirror and asked, ‘who this?’

Now, Bunny's followers have become obsessed with the notion that her language-learning is making her develop some kind of self-awareness. Is that possible? 

And if so, does learning language have something to do with it?

"The question here is, is this a behavior that has been trained — like, look, I'm going to show you this individual here, this is 'you' or 'dog,' and don't be afraid of it, and then over time the dog learns that," [Federico] Rossano told Salon. "Or to what degree is this spontaneous?"

If it is spontaneous, the research around the ethology for canines could get really interesting. Scientific evidence has previously suggested that dogs don't recognize themselves in the mirror. The so-called mirror test is used to determine whether an animal has the ability of visual self-recognition, and is considered a marker of intelligence in animals. Elephants, chimpanzees, and dolphins are among the animals who have passed the test, but dogs typically don't.

Image via Salon 

Personally, I don’t think so. However, it would be nice to know how the phenomenon actually works. Did you know that more than 50 per cent of students regularly procrastinate? Procrastination is so widespread that scientists found pigeons displaying the same behaviour! According to  Dr Fuschia Sirois, a researcher who dedicated 20 years to learning about the phenomenon, procrastination is not the result of poor time management:  

“There hasn’t been any convincing scientific evidence to say procrastination is the result of poor time management. But we can easily say it’s all to do with mood management,” Sirois says.

“At its core, procrastination is about not being able to manage your moods and emotions. Although many think impulsivity and self-control are the problems – and they do play a factor – underneath is a poor emotional response.”

As Sirois explains, every person faces stressful situations, demanding tasks that trigger brain activity that involves a brain region known amygdala. And it’s the amygdala that processes emotions and signals threats, capable of prompting a ‘fight or flight’ response linked to procrastination.

“Interestingly, people who say they are chronic procrastinators tend to have larger grey matter volume in the amygdala,” says Sirois.

“This means they will also be more sensitive to the potential negative consequences of their actions, leading to more negative emotions and procrastination.”

Psychologists have discussed and searched for methods on how to stop or at least tackle procrastination. There are many quick-fixes that we could do to try and stop procrastinating, as Science Focus details: 

For example, one compelling Psychological Science paper described how downsizing larger metrics of time (think 48 hours instead of 2 days, or 10,950 days instead of 30 years) can make events seem more immediate, prompting people to engage in upcoming tasks. 

However, for Sirois, there are two primary ways of reducing procrastination at its root cause: self-compassion and cognitive re-framing.

“I think people don’t realise that procrastinators, especially chronic procrastinators, are extremely hard on themselves – before and after the task. And rather than getting on with the job, they just go round and round spinning their wheels,” she says.

“My advice is to not go full in overidentifying and becoming that frustration. Step back from it for a minute and just acknowledge that you’re not happy with yourself. And then move forward.

Image via Science Focus 

Meet the Salton Sea, a lake in California known as one of the biggest disasters in California history. Ouch. The largest lake in California is murky, and full of toxic materials and algae. For decades, the Salton Sea has been semi-abandoned thanks to disagreements, errors, and bureaucratic bottlenecks, and the continuous debates over what people could do to actually restore the lake. The Daily Californian’s Landon Iannamico and Sage Alexander travel to the area to learn about the events that made the Salton Sea the worst lake in the world. Check their full piece here.

image via the Daily Californian

The remains of a Middle Stone Age child were discovered at the mouth of a Kenyan cave. The burial was composed of a cluster of 78,000-year-old bones of a child believed to have been between 2.5 and 3 years old when the child was buried. In addition to the bones, researchers have found historical artifacts such as beads and tools:  

When archaeologists found Mototo's highly decomposed remains, they couldn't immediately identify them as human. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers from Germany's Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the National Museums of Kenya detail how they came to conclude, through microscopic analysis of the bones and the surrounding soil, that the skeleton in a cave's shallow circular pit belonged to a child who'd intentionally been laid to rest. 

"Deliberate burial of the dead is so far confined to just Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, setting us apart from all other ancient hominins, and any other animal," Nicole Boivin, an archaeological scientist and director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, tells me. "Study of mortuary and burial practices gives us insight into the evolution of our own species, our thoughts, emotions and cosmological beliefs, and what it means to be human."  

Image via CNET 

George Upson has been painting on pavements to get potholes filled. The New Zealand resident understands the power of dick graffiti, as he managed to draw attention to local potholes in need of repair by drawing penises on them. AV Club has the details: 

Upson says he’s “spent about NZ$400 ($286 [USD]) on spray paint this year” and estimates that he’s tagged more than 100 holes to date (though some get shafted, receiving less eye-catching paint circles instead of cartoon dicks). Aside from helping drivers avoid the potholes, the graffiti tends to speed up road repairs when the media reports on the pictures.

The results of his penis praxis have inspired others across New Zealand to join in the practice, but Upson has also been in trouble with the police over his work. He says he’s cooperated when asked to provide formal statements even though he’s concerned about facing “potential charges” or possible jail time.

Image via AV Club