‘It’s a monster,’ the fishermen claimed as they managed to reel a seven-foot-long Warsaw grouper. Joshua Jorgensen, founder and producer of BlacktipH Fishing Show, alongside Capt. Jason Boyll of SoNar Fishing was able to nab a Warsaw grouper after a four-hour trip to  Pulley Ridge. The ridge is home to the grouper breed and other fish species, and Jorgensen and his companions didn’t have to wait for more than five minutes to get a bite on one of their reels: 

"Within five minutes of fishing, Jason got a bite on his reel. He started reeling and the line got very tight," BlacktipH Fishing’s news release reads. "A giant Warsaw had taken the bait!"

Boyll reportedly reeled the fish 150 feet up in a span of 10 minutes while Jorgensen switched places and "continued cranking the fish all the way to the surface."

Both men reeled in the large fish, which Jorgensen estimated took between 15 and 20 minutes of "fight time" and more than 400 feet of hand-cranked line.

"It was a monster! The fish floated to the surface and we all started screaming," Jorgensen explained. "We didn’t realize how difficult it would be to bring this fish in the boat. It took four grown men to lift this fish over the gunnels and into the boat."

The caught grouper measured longer than seven feet and had sharp dorsal spines that measured over two feet in length.

Image via Fox News 

Dallas resident Thomas Black posted an image to social media of icicles hanging off a ceiling fan in the hallway of an apartment building. If that doesn’t tell you how cold it was in Texas, then I don’t know what else could show that the winter weather has frozen much of Texas. From a frozen pool, to iced-over hallways, and to pipes bursting everywhere, the winter in the area is historically insane: 

"Pipes are busting everywhere,” said Black, whose apartment has lost water but mostly kept its power.

At least 20 people have died because of the intense cold and a series of storms that moved from coast to coast over the past few days. In Texas, about 3 million homes and businesses remained without power Wednesday.

The winter storm could be a "once in a generation" event for Texas when factoring in the brutally cold conditions, AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said earlier this week.

But the state is bracing for more winter weather in coming days, as over 100 million Americans are in the path of another winter storm tracking from the Plains to the East Coast, the National Weather Service said.

Image via USA Today

A video on Facebook of Turnip the tortoise dancing in the water has brightened people’s day. Posted by The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Turnip ‘dances’ when it rains heavily in its native habitat. Turnip is a 12-year-old female radiated tortoise(don’t worry, they’re not full of radiation; the name refers to the yellow lines on its shell) is known to shake it off really well:  

"All of our radiated tortoises do this to some degree, but Turnip really 'turns it up,'" said Tennessee Aquarium Animal Care Specialist Maggie Sipe to IFLScience. "Our older female doesn't dance so much as she just raises up on to her tiptoes and stretches out. The two boys in the habitat with her chase me around when I have the hose out because I think they've learned what it means, so it's hard to get videos of them doing the dance because they come right up to me for showers."

Sipe added that the reason for the dancing behavior is unknown. "They do have feeling in their shells and will often seek out sensations, like raindrops or low hanging branches. Here at the aquarium we sometimes give them scrub brushes to rub against and they do this behavior, but not quite as enthusiastically as they do with the showers. This is what makes us believe that they do really enjoy it, because they actively seek it out."

The reason is more endearing than you’d believe! Erin Askeland, Animal Health and Behavior Consultant for Camp Bow Wow shared with Popsugar that there are different reasons as to why cats would choose to lie at the edge of the bed or on their owners’ feet. The reasons are based on instinct, such as for security and safety purposes. When a cat goes to sleep, Askeland answers, they are aware of their vulnerability, so they would prefer to sleep at the foot of the bed for security: 

"The foot of the bed also provides a quicker escape, which is part of a cat's instincts, whereas at the head of the bed or even within the blankets, that escape route is not as clear. Often the foot of a bed is semi-centered in a room, so it not only gives the cat a perch and view from higher up, [and a] comfy place to sprawl, but also the ability to move in any direction quickly as needed."

Another reason as to why these feline creatures would decide to sleep at their owner’s feet is both sweet and honestly, self-serving: 

"While cats may be independent creatures, they are keen on who provides for them and are still quite social. They are aware of who puts down their food, water, and treats, who plays with them, and who gives them attention, so they will seek out that person (or persons) to be near and offer affection in return, or appease you so you continue providing for them," she said, which I thought was a sweet — though appropriately self-serving — notion.

However, Erin completely brought me back to earth with her last note, which for sure tracks: "Cats may also use you simply for your heat! This may be why some cats will move to your head or body during the night and then return to the foot of the bed. As your own body's temperature changes, your cat may move to warmer (or cooler) spots depending on their own needs."

Image via Popsugar 

Tom Bob is trying to spark life into cities by painting over random objects around these cities. From drain pipes to vents, to manhole covers, to pavement, to poles, and to fire hydrants, the graffiti artist paints his signature cartoonish creatures over these random objects to add more character and life to them. Tom started with the streets of New York, and has hopped from city to city to continue his colorful agenda. Bored Panda lists some of his creations here. What’s your favorite piece from the artist? 

Image via Bored Panda 

Well, sort of. It’s not Toy Story in real life, so apologies if you’re disappointed. Lego Vidiyo, made in collaboration with Universal Music Group, looks like the usual Lego toy. You follow the instructions and build a box to carry a Lego figurine in it. But where does the ‘bringing the figurine to life’ action come in? Well, it comes in via an accompanying smartphone app. Once you take a picture of that figurine from the app, it will dance and sing on the application. 

Image via Fast Company 

Twitter user Forest Of Illusion was able to obtain a development unit (prototype) of the Nintendo Switch, who obtained the item through Akfamilyhome. Forest Of Illusion reveals that the unit, which is the earliest model people have found, was referred to as DPRD, though the meaning behind the acronym is unclear. The unit also features some visual differences such as changed volume buttons and different screws.  

Image via Nintendo Life 

In all honesty, it’s very satisfying to watch people restore old items and make them look like they never aged a day. It’s also wonderful to be reminded that there’s a way to repair old items so that they could last for a longer time. The Small Workshop restores a rusty knife that they found where their grandpa’s house used to be. They estimate that the knife must be more or less around 100 years old, as the house stood there for 100 years. Watch as they turn the old knife into a small wood carving knife. 

This man shared his story of how he tried to raise a baby parakeet after it hatched from a small egg the man found on the floor of a cage at a pet store. There was no way that the egg was going to survive, if it wasn’t for the man’s split decision to take care of it, as the female parakeet in the cage was already sold. The Animal Rescue Site has more details: 

As he explained, he figured that if he could incubate it himself, then he might be able to save it and give it a chance. He stated, “Its mother had just been sold. This meant the egg would have no chance without me giving it a try.”

He took on the challenge whole-heartedly, but it wasn’t without some nerves. He was a little worried about his ability to raise the tiny bird if the egg survived. Still, he knew he had to try.

Once the egg hatched and a little male bird emerged, his fears dissipated and were replaced with tender, loving care towards the small creature.

Caring for the baby bird meant that he took on the big responsibility of feeding the little parakeet 8 times per day in order to help it grow.

Image via The Animal Rescue Site 

Scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research have achieved a breakthrough when it comes to  finding a way to regenerate hair cells and encourage continual hair growth. Surprisingly, the answers were found in stem cells! The researchers were able to find certain characteristics of stem cells in the skin responsible for hair cell regeneration and the ingredients needed for hair follicle growth: 

One challenge faced by researchers looking for ways to regenerate hair is finding a way to produce new hair follicles that continually cycle through this natural circle. Harvesting hair-follicle resident epithelial stem cells (HFSCs) is a possible way to regenerate hair in balding individuals, but not all HFSCs are capable of continually moving through these hair follicle phases. Many may grow a shaft of hair but fail to re-cycle into an anagen phase after that shaft is shed.

So the first breakthrough in the new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was uncovering the specific cellular biomarkers that distinguish the HFSCs most likely to present repetitive hair follicle cycling. Two HFSC markers (CD34 and CD49f) are generally used to identify these particular hair-producing stem cells, however, the new research discovered a third biomarker (Itgβ5) can most effectively distinguish the stem cells best suited to continual hair cycling.

Image via New Atlas

Wait... there’s a pattern? Besides the usual patterns in numbers that we see (ie. in multiples of twos or threes, odd or even numbers, the fibonacci sequence), this new AI ‘mathematician’ can potentially reveal hidden relationships and patterns between numbers. But how? The AI, known as the Ramanujan Machine, consists of algorithms that seek out mathematical conclusions that have not been proved: 

The set of algorithms is named after Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Born in 1887 to a store clerk and a homemaker, Ramanujan was a child prodigy who came up with many mathematical conjectures, proofs and solutions to equations that had never before been solved. In 1918, two years before his early death from disease, he was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society London, becoming only the second Indian man to be inducted after marine engineer Ardaseer Cursetjee in 1841. 

Ramanujan had an innate feel for numbers and an eye for patterns that eluded other people, said physicist Yaron Hadad, vice president of AI and data science at the medical device company Medtronic and one of the developers of the new Ramanujan Machine. The new AI mathematician is designed to pull out promising mathematical patterns from large sets of potential equations, Hadad told Live Science, making Ramanujan a fitting namesake. 

Image via Live Science

All it takes is one small box to do some quality improvement on all the speakers or audio devices in your home. The Dense Home is a stereo amplifier that boosts the abilities of audio devices by taking their input and amplifying the audio signal going in. Designed by Brian Han & Aron Han, the gadget will transform the music you hear on your devices as if it were produced in a studio: 

The amp comes with a Corian surface on top that mimics marble or granite, and routes all the wires at the back. It works with wireless devices too, amplifying the signal to your headphones to make your music sound top notch. The Class D stereo amplifier on the inside helps effectively enrich and amplify your sounds while efficiently saving power, and the Corian plate on top supports touch interaction, allowing you to slide your finger up or down to control the volume, or select your input and output. The Dense Home supports analog as well as digital inputs and outputs, which means you could either replay your vinyl records at lossless quality, or listen to audio files from your computer or phone at the highest definition. Support for wireless output devices effectively means your regular headphones now become high-quality ones, and the Dense team is working on integrating Spotify too, so your entire playlist gets turbocharged to its highest quality!

Image via Yanko Design

Sadly, we can’t ride this one yet. Scientists were able to make two small plastic plates float using, not any type of special cloth, but light! Yes, as in transparent light alone! Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania used the energy of bright LEDs in a vacuum chamber to make two Mylar plates hover: 

“When the two samples lifted, there was a gasp between all four of us,” UPenn engineering doctoral candidate Mohsen Azadi told the magazine.

If you’re hoping to pick up a light-powered magic carpet from Amazon anytime soon, you’ll have to keep waiting. Scientists are more interested in using this technology to research the mesosphere, a high-up region of the atmosphere that’s notoriously difficult to study.

“Sometimes it’s called ignorosphere, in joke,” Igor Bargatin, a mechanical engineering professor at UPenn, told Wired. “We just don’t have access to it. You can send a rocket for a few minutes at a time, but that’s very different from doing measurements using airplanes or balloons.” 

With the recent breakthrough, though, researchers hope to develop a flight system that can carry tiny sensors into the mesosphere using the light-powered hovering technology. 

Image via wikimedia commons

Possibly the oldest known beer factory has been discovered at an archaeological site in Egypt by American and Egyptian archaeologists. The factory, found in an ancient burial ground, dates back to the reign of King Narmer, who ruled during the First Dynastic Period (3150 B.C - 2613 B.C.) of ancient Egypt. Eight units, each about 65-feet long and 8-feet wide were found, as NBC News detailed: 

Archaeologists found eight huge units — each is about 65-feet long and 8-feet wide. Each unit includes some 40 pottery basins in two rows, which had been used to heat up a mixture of grains and water to produce beer, Waziri said.

The joint mission is co-chaired by Dr. Matthew Adams of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and Deborah Vischak, assistant professor of ancient Egyptian art history and archaeology at Princeton University.

Adams said the factory was apparently built in this area to provide royal rituals with beer, given that archaeologists found evidences showing the use of beer in sacrificial rites of ancient Egyptians.

British archaeologists were the first to mention the existence of the factory in the early 1900s, but they couldn’t determine its location, the antiquities ministry said.

Image via NBC News

The arrival of the new console generation means that some recently-released games on the predecessor of these new consoles should be playable on the newly-released consoles. When it comes to backwards compatibility, some games will simply load fast with no change to its graphics (to fully make use of the new console’s better processing power), while other games will actually take advantage of the new hardware and optimize the entire game, bringing a better experience to the players.The 2018 edition of God Of War, initially released for the PS4, is a good example of a game that took advantage of the prowess of the PS5, as Roland Moore-Coyler details: 

the new PS5 update for God of War changes that. While you can’t get a native 4K resolution image, you do get checkerboard 4K running at what felt like a locked 60 fps.

It’s properly glorious; a serious game-changer. All of the stunning details that Santa Monica Studio put into the environments, characters and textures of God of War were sharp and clear.

Navigating the world, as well as burying the Leviathan axe deep into the torso of a draugr, feels wonderful at 60 fps. Sure, it’s not quite the 120 fps gaming that the PS5 can provide in some games. But it’s a huge step up from the base PS4 experience.

In fact, I’d argue that if I hadn't played God of War before, I’d actually wait to play it on Sony’s new hardware, even though finding where to buy the PS5 is a deeply frustrating pursuit. And yes, I’m fully aware that I've previously declared you don’t need a PS5 or Xbox Series X yet.

image via Tom's Guide