Even though I’m not a professional photographer, I will stick to using my phone, thank you very much. Sure, you could make things look pretty enough with your skill, but let’s not forget that the quality of an artwork, or in this case, a photograph, is also dependent on the camera or gadgets a photographer decides to use as he takes the photo. There is of course, no shame in not using a very expensive professional camera, as some photos taken by phones look really good. But can photographers really make it work with a cheap camera, let alone a children’s camera? Well, check the video to find out!

Artist Eliza Reinhardt and her beloved pup Finn took part in the Getty Museum Challenge that took place in 2020. Reinhardt and her furry friend recreated works of art every day for nearly a year. With the right props and a fully-costumed Finn, the artist was able to recreate a lot of artworks beautifully. My Modern Met interviews Reinhardt about the logistics of working with a dog and creating compositions each day. Check the full interview here. 

Image via My Modern Met 

Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new material that could recycle the 6.8 billion face masks we use each day. The material integrates shredded single-use face masks with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Adding this new material to roads could make them stronger, according to a  study:

Single-use face masks generate significant waste. In a July report, the UN called the influx of single-use masks a “toxic problem” and estimated that 75% of used masks and other pandemic-related waste will end up in landfills or floating in the oceans.

Roads might seem like an unlikely way to reuse masks, but some roads are already made of recycled materials. According to Jie Li, a professor at RMIT University who led the study, results from their experiment suggest that RCA mixed with face masks could be used for two of the four layers generally used to make roads. They estimate that paving a two-lane road that’s 0.62 miles (or one kilometer) long will require about 3 million face masks, rerouting 93 tons of waste from landfills.

Not only could the solution mitigate the environmental impacts of COVID-19, but it could also actually make the road work better. They found that the recycled concrete concoction can actually improve the road’s strength, ductility, and flexibility compared to a control sample of RCA without shredded fact masks in the mix.

Image via Fast Company

Different kinds of tea require specific steeping times and water temperatures. It’s not enough that we use boiling water to brew our favorite tea, we have to consider the temperature of the liquid we’re pouring. Tea specialist Kyle Stewart says that brewing temperature matters because some tea leaves are delicate than others: 

Stewart explains that when it comes to how long to steep tea, the duration varies for a similar reason: some types of tea have a stronger flavor profile than others. But he says letting it steep too long ends up making the tea taste more bitter than it’s meant to.

“Often, people will leave their tea bag in their mug while they drink their tea thinking that this is making the tea stronger so they’re getting more of the benefits from the tea leaves or herbs, but that’s actually not the case,” says Neva Cochran, RD, a registered dietitian who is friends with Stewart and a knowledgable tea expert in her own right. “Scientists have actually studied this and found that at a certain point, the benefits you’re getting from the tea reaches a saturation point.”

Both Stewart and Cochran recommend brewing tea using either an infuser or tea bags. They aren’t fans of the commonly used tea ball strainers. “People inevitably pack the ball too full and the outer tea leaves get more water exposure than the inner leaves, so it isn’t even,” Stewart says. 

Image via wikimedia commons 

No words, just wow. The French police raided an 81-person orgy at a warehouse outside of Paris for breaking the city’s coronavirus curfew. The participants were fined 135 euros each, for breaching the curfew. An investigator also stated that the party lacked masks and social distancing (of course):  

"Those involved in the libertine party cooperated with the police, and there was no resistance to the police."

Police also confiscated sound and lighting systems set up for the "libertine party" and alcohol.

The orgy raid comes a little over a month after police in Belgium raided a 52-person orgy at a birthday party in a house in front of a coronavirus clinic.

All of the participants were fined for breaking coronavirus gathering rules.

"I’m angry, François Culot, mayor of a nearby town, said, according to the Independent. "Some people really don’t respect anything! Organizing an illegal party in the middle of the night in front of a clinic where Covid patients are treated? This is unacceptable!"

Image via the independent

It’s very expensive, though. The YInMn Blue was discovered in 2009 at an Oregon State University lab. The discovery of the pigment was serendipitous, with chemist Mas Subramanian and his team coming upon the color after conducting experiments with rare elements. YInMn Blue’s name comes from the elements Yttrium, Indium, and Manganese, as Artnet details:

YInMn Blue’s appeal stems in part from its high opacity, which means you don’t need to apply much of it to get a good coating. (Ultramarine, by comparison is quite transparent.) It also has unusual hyper-spectral properties, reflecting most infrared radiation, which keeps the pigment cool.

That makes it especially well-suited for energy-saving applications on building exteriors—which was part of what attracted Shepherd Color, which sells pigments for industrial use.

“The art world likes it because of the color. The industrial world likes it because of what it can do in terms of environmental regulations for building products,” Shepherd Color marketing manger Mark Ryan told Artnet News.

The pigment also has a great deal to offer anyone more focused on the visual appeal.

“It is very vivid compared to Cobalt blue or Prussian blue, and it comes with some additional advantages in terms of the durability and stability of the pigment,” Subramanian told Artnet News.

Described as something of a cross between Ultramarine blue and Cobalt blue, YInMn Blue fills “a gap in the range of colors,” Georg Kremer, Kremer’s founder and president, said. “Our customers loved it from the very first moment they had seen it.”

Image via Artnet 

Jang Ji-sung was able to reunite with her seven-year-old daughter Nayeon thanks to virtual reality. Their reunion was part of a special documentary called “I Met You,” produced by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Nayeon died of an incurable disease in 2016, and technology was able to let her mother see her (sort of) and have a birthday party: 

“Maybe it’s a real paradise,” Jang said of the reunion in VR, according to Aju Business Daily. “I met Nayeon, who called me with a smile, for a very short time, but it’s a very happy time. I think I’ve had the dream I’ve always wanted.”

According to Aju Business Daily, the production team spent eight months on the project. They designed the virtual park after one the mother and daughter had visited in the real world, and used motion capture technology to record the movements of a child actor that they could later use as a model for their virtual Nayeon.

All that to say: the process might not be simple and the final product might not be perfect, but we now have the technology to recreate the dead in VR — convincingly enough to move their loved ones to tears.

And the implications of that are impossible to predict.

It may have taken an entire team of experts to produce “I Met You,” but how far can we be from a platform that lets anyone upload footage of a deceased love one and then interact with a virtual version of that person? Years? Months?

Image via Futurism 

If you wished to have a device that can help you understand other languages in real time, well, these earphones are for you! Meet the Timekettle WT2 Edge, designed by  Leal Tian & Alex Qin. The ‘translator-buds’ can perform bi-directional translation in as many as 40 languages and 93 accents. The earphones also offer offline translation with the top seven most spoken languages in the world: 

The earphones are powered by 6 leading translation engines (DeepL, Google, Microsoft, iFlytek, AmiVoice, and Hoya) along with Timekettle’s own translation engine to provide translations between both languages and accents. Just pop these in-ear translators in and they can be used in 3 different modes. A “Simul Mode” lets you share one earpiece with the person you’re talking to, and both earphones work as individual translators, actively translating both input and output in realtime to ensure you have a seamless conversation. 

For shorter conversations, the “Speaker Mode” lets you turn your smartphone into a speaker. Just say what you want into the earpieces and the phone plays it back for the opposite person in the translated language. The phone can even display the text back in both languages, working well in noisy environments like bars and restaurants where you want to quickly communicate with someone but you don’t speak the local language. The third “Touch Mode” facilitates cross-cultural conversations, and gives you the ability to touch the earpiece to activate your mic (and mute the others), like a smart walkie-talkie that translates your speech in real-time for as many as 6 people. Beyond the “Touch Mode” function, the WT2 Edge can handle group chats of 30 people speaking thirty different languages at once, and the earphones translate everything. Pair this with Zoom and you could have a multi-lingual conference with your entire global team practically seamlessly, and with everyone on the same page.

Image via Yanko Design 

In an interesting turn of events, plants can now send us emails. Sort of. The situation is a bit more complicated than that. Scientists have engineered spinach plants into sensors. The plants can now detect explosive materials and wirelessly relay the information back to scientists. If the spinach roots detect an explosive compound in groundwater, the plant will emit a signal, which will be read by an infrared camera that will send an email alert to the scientists: 

This experiment is part of a wider field of research which involves engineering electronic components and systems into plants. The technology is known as “plant nanobionics”, and is effectively the process of giving plants new abilities.

“Plants are very good analytical chemists,” explains Professor Michael Strano who led the research. “They have an extensive root network in the soil, are constantly sampling groundwater, and have a way to self-power the transport of that water up into the leaves.”

“This is a novel demonstration of how we have overcome the plant/human communication barrier,” he adds.

Image via Euronews 

Restoring old items is an art and a meticulous process. From recreating new parts for the item to repainting the item, the process takes time and a lot of effort. There is also a certain art to it of course, as the main objective is to restore the item to its original glory, as if time has never touched it.A video from Art Insider features Kerchie, a YouTuber who repairs vintage Polly Pocket sets. Check out how she restores a 28-year-old Polly Pocket set. 

Well, if you want a cat so bad but can’t afford the expenses of having one, or if your current home does not allow you to have one, you can always make a figurine! Sure, it’s not better than the actual living furry companion, but it could be a nice addition to your home. Frederic Chen shows how to make a replica of a Minecraft cat. This one could soothe the want of adopting a cat for my own! 

The NCaved is a residence lodged into the slope of a hill in Serifos Island, Greece. The residence, created by Mold Architects, looks like a 3-dimensional chess board from an aerial view. With three levels housing the living areas, bedrooms, and guesthouse, the home is able to combine functionality with its unique location and design: 

Designed to spoil its visitors with uninterrupted vistas of its surroundings, NCaved’s views from the open sea-front terraces and pool area are generous. Moving deeper into the home, towards the hill’s ascent, we are treated with interior spaces that are punctuated by small patios and pathways that draw our eyes towards the sky. 

NCaved’s three levels house the living areas, bedrooms and guesthouse, a series of atypical spaces that are connected to each other by an external staircase running down the length of the slope. Dressed in a material and color palette inspired by its seaside location – stone, exposed concrete, wooden slats, metal and glass – the interiors are kept minimal yet elegant, subdued in the face of such natural beauty. A contemporary home in a rustic setting, this is a dwelling that rightfully lets nature take the reins in dictating its presence in this incredible Greek isle.

Image via Plain Magazine 

When we think about geniuses, we turn to famous scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, or popular artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh. Musicologist turned professor Craig Wright also thought the same, but his idea of what makes a genius has shifted over time. Through research and conversations with people of different backgrounds, Wright has disproved a couple of incorrect ideas about geniuses. Check the full piece here.

Image via Inc

This cat has decided on the lucky human household that will be graced with her company! A cat from a feral cat colony decided to self-domesticate and invited herself in a human home. This Tumblr blogger shared the story of how her furry companion invaded their home and their hearts. Check BoredPanda’s full piece on the topic here. 

Image via BoredPanda 

Often, when kids go outside and venture on their own, they go home with a new companion, either a kitten or a puppy. This kid however, brought a different animal back home. After casually walking into the woods, four-year-old Dominic brought home a confused deer, much to the surprise of his parents: 

In a Facebook post shared by his mother, Stephanie Brown on January 26, 2021, the little fella had apparently walked into the woods at the national park where his family was holidaying before returning to the front porch of his accommodation with the surprise package.

Brown said that the family were packing their bags to return home when Dominic had wandered off into the woods.

She first heard him cleaning his boots against the floor mat before she looked up to find a slightly puzzled fawn next to a smiling Dominic.

“I couldn’t even tell you, I was in shock. I was like, ‘No way. My mind is playing games with me,'” she said to 8News.

His mother then instructed Dominic to walk the deer, whom he named Flash, home.

If that's not adeerable, we don't know what it.

Image via Mashable