Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic creatures that have possibly taken over the lunar surface.  Scientists believe that these animals are now thriving on the moon after an Israeli spacecraft crash-landed on the Moon in 2019. The spacecraft contained a ‘library of life,’ which included a stack of disks archiving 30 million pages of information about Earth, a copy of the entire English-language Wikipedia, human DNA samples, and thousands of tardigrades: 

Beresheet's strange occupants were dehydrated tardigrades, a process which essentially slows their metabolism down and suspends them in a near-life state. The idea was that, if they were to be rehydrated by someone or something, then they would come back to life, ostensibly telling future lunar explorers about life on Earth today.

But the spacecraft carrying the tardigrades didn’t land on the Moon according to plan, instead crashing on the lunar surface and losing contact with ground control.

Despite the impact, scientists believe that if anything survived the crash intact, it may well have been the tardigrades. The microscopic creatures were sandwiched between micron-thin sheets of nickel and suspended in epoxy, a resin-like preservative that acts like a jelly — potentially enough to cushion their landing.

This is not a totally outlandish idea. Tardigrades have been shown to survive the harsh conditions of space in the past.

Image via Inverse

Imagine earning up to $29.5 million at the age of nine? Can’t relate! Forbes magazine has named the young Texan YouTuber named Ryan Kaji as the highest-paid YouTuber of 2020. Kaji has earned $29.5 million from June 2019 to June 2020. Just wow. The majority of his earnings actually come from licensing, as Mashable details: 

But while Ryan's video content has earned him fat bucks, the majority of his earnings actually come from licensing deals on over 5,000 Ryan's World products that range from action figures to clothes to electronic gadgets.

Also, Ryan also has a series called Ryan's Mystery Playdate on the children's network Nickelodeon that sees him tackle physical challenges and mental puzzles to uncover the identity of his secret playdate.

On the latest list by Forbes, Ryan managed to beat other YouTubers such as newcomer Mr. Beast (US$24 million), Dude Perfect (US$23 million), Rhett and Link (US$20 million), and Markiplier (US$19.5 million). Even more impressive is the fact that Ryan was also listed as YouTube's top earner for the previous two years.

Interestingly enough, Ryan isn't the only under-10 YouTuber within the list's top 10 highest earners. In seventh place sits six-year-old Russian Nastya with US$18.5 million in earnings coming from over 39 billion total views on her videos of her and her father playing with LEGO, doing household chores, and explaining viruses.

Elaborating on the list, Forbes also revealed that the top 10 earners on YouTube made an estimated US$211 million in total over the year ending June 2020 – a 30 percent increase over the previous year. They attributed the COVID-19 pandemic as the major reason for the uptick, with people being forced to sit at home way more than usual.

Image via Mashable 

Happy holidays indeed! These elephants wearing Santa hats are spreading holiday cheer, and making sure everyone stays safe during the pandemic. The animals handed out face masks to primary school students in central Thailand. Now this is also a reminder to us : wear a mask! Practice the necessary health protocols! But also, happy holidays!

(via Flipboard)

Image screenshot via Flipboard 

Listen, these designs may be terrible, but they did try to convey what they wanted to say. It just didn’t happen in the way they envisioned. Each ended up being funny or ridiculous, and a lesson on what not to do when designing book covers, user interfaces, and logos. Creative Bloq shares 12 epic design fails that can make you question why they were approved in the first place. 

Image via Creative Bloq

If you’re tired of the usual pop songs or lo-fi beats, maybe it’s time to listen to sounds from nature. It’s okay if you’re stuck in a major city, because this radio station brings you nature ASMR with a simple click to a website. Tree.fm is an online radio station for tree songs in stereo, as Open Culture details: 

Tree.fm “is a tool that gives you instant access to the sounds of the world’s forests,” Beth Skwarecki writes at Lifehacker. Many of those sounds, like the forests that produced them, are endangered, not only from the usual suspects but also the noise pollution of highways and housing developments. Listen to forest songs on repeat or hit “listen to a random forest” and be “transported to Madagascar to listen to some lemurs, or to Ghana to hear some peacefully rushing water, or to Russia, where a bird I’ve never heard of puts on a vocal performance.” This is good medicine. Discover the forest songs that best soothe your nervous system or delight ears at Tree.fm.

Image via wikimedia commons 

Hooray! Researchers have discovered a way to convert carbon dioxide into synthetic jet fuel. Researchers from Oxford University believe that if the new method becomes successful, the aviation industry could achieve net zero carbon emissions, as Newshub details: 

"It's viewed as part of a suite of approaches to mitigate climate change. It won't be the end, won't be the final story, there will be many other things and it might be a bridging technology as well," says Massey University Professor in Chemistry Shane Telfer.

Eight companies are already working on recycling carbon, including a Swiss company that's building capture facilities to take CO2 out of the atmosphere and Kiwi start-up Lanzatech which has a different way to turn industrial waste gases into ethanol.

Now based in America, Lanzatech provided the fuel that partially powered Richard Branson's first biofuel flight.

"In the next decade these fuels may become competitive with our traditional fuels," Prof Brent says.

Prof Brent believes they could be made in New Zealand - perhaps at the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter if it closes, or by repurposing the Marsden Point oil refinery, or capturing CO2 at a geothermal power plant.

The catch - it would use all of the electricity currently generated in New Zealand.

But that doesn't deter the scientists.

"These new technologies are much more efficient and recyclable and sustainable, so if they do make the grade then they will be a better solution," Prof Telfer says.

So when you do eventually take that overseas trip - you might be able to fly with a clean conscience.

Image via Newshub

The remains of a long-lost Byzantine church that is believed to have been near the site of the Last Supper has been uncovered in Jerusalem. In addition to the church, archaeologists have also found the foundations of a 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath. The area, known as the Church of the Agony and the Church of All Nations, was built on the spot where Judas is thought to have betrayed Jesus with a famous kiss:

The church is decorated with finely carved stone elements, indicating its importance. Alluding to Jesus’s sacrifice, Greek inscriptions on the building’s floor read: “for the memory and repose of the lovers of Christ… accept the offering of your servants and give them remission of sins.”

The bath, or mikveh, emerged during a construction project, and while many such baths have been found in ancient Jerusalem, this is the only one to have emerged in Gethsemane, reports Haaretz.

Gethsemane means “oil press” in Hebrew, and the name has been interpreted to refer to the manufacture of olive oil.

“The Jewish laws of purification obliged workers involved in oil and wine production to purify themselves,” Amit Re’em, an archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in the statement.

“The discovery of the ritual bath may therefore hint at the origin of the place’s ancient name, Gethsemane (Gat Shemanim, ‘oil press’), a place where ritually pure oil was produced near the city.”

“This is a significant discovery, shedding new light on how Gethsemane was used at the time it is mentioned in the Gospels,” says archaeologist Ken Dark, who recently identified what he believes may have been Jesus’s childhood home in Nazareth, about 95 miles to the north.

Image via ArtNet 

Well, KFC’s gravy has to come from somewhere, right? A one-hour documentary revealed how the company makes their famous gravy. Viewers of the documentary, Inside KFC at Christmas, felt physically sick after finding out the gravy-making process, as the Daily Record details: 

In the show, a worker explained that she makes the gravy by adding two scoops of 'crackling' to 3.5 litres of cold water.

The show's narrator goes on the reveal that the crackling is actually made up of leftovers from the bottom of the chicken fryer.

Before putting the mix into a microwave, a 'magic ingredient' is added - so secretive that it doesn't even say what it is on the packet, reports  Chronicle Live.

After whisking the concoction and putting it in the microwave, the worker declared: "I'm a great believer if you wouldn't eat it yourself you shouldn't expect anyone else to eat it."

Image via the Daily Record 

Traditional Islamic wood carving is a dying tradition, according to Mohammad Mohdar Anwar. Anwar is the founder of Mahajati, a company dedicated to preserving wood carving and making art more accessible at the same time. Anwar and his company are doing their utmost effort to promote the beauty of traditional Islamic wood carving, from their decorative wall pieces in full or partial 3D, to a large scale model of Mecca, as My Modern Met details: 

The main collections for sale include mubkhars, or incense burners, and decorative wall pieces that are either fully 3D or partially 3D with a flat back. While these are popular, Mahajati's greatest artistic achievement (which has garnered them global attention) is a large-scale model of Makkah al-Mukarramah, or Mecca. The photos of their process show artisans working at an impressive scale with unusual angles as buildings seem to peel off of a single piece of wood. Detailed façade work and rough textures across the extruded surfaces further help the piece stand out, and showcases the wide range of methods used to complete the composition.

The Makkah model is proof that though this art is traditional and has a long history, this does not mean that the work is static. The work is constantly changing and improving with more intricate and unique pieces constantly being produced. “Our artisans devote lots of time to learning and exploring,” Anwar explains. “In the pursuit of perfection, they find their voice to express emotions and ideas through shapes, colors, and textures on wood.” Mahajati's founder goes on to say that their products are different from ordinary wall art. “Every piece you purchase is not only an art, but it has identity, meaning, and purpose.”

Image via My Modern Met 

This artifact was finally found after 70 years! A 5-inch-long (13 centimeters) piece of cedar was one of the only three objects to have been removed from the Queen’s Chamber at Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. The wood was discovered in a cigar box at the University of Aberdeen Museums (UAM) in Scotland, as Live Science details: 

Back in the 19th century, British engineer Waynman Dixon was constructing a bridge in Cairo when he was contacted by Charles Piazzi Smyth, astronomer royal for Scotland, to assist in a survey of the Great Pyramid with the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, according to the NMS. During the 1872 survey, Dixon removed three objects from the Queen's Chamber: a piece of cedar, a ball and a hook. Together, they became known as the "Dixon relics," and while the ball and hook were later housed in the collection of The British Museum, the piece of wood embarked on a different journey, according to the UAM statement.

The cedar chip ended up in the possession of Dr. James Grant, a Scottish doctor who practiced medicine in Egypt during the late 19th century; he assisted Dixon with the Great Pyramid survey and was with Dixon when he found the so-called relics, UAM representatives said. Their records showed that Grant's daughter donated a "five-inch piece of cedar" to the museum in 1946.

Image via Live Science 

Meet the anyon (yes, that’s how it’s spelled), a one of a kind, extraordinary subatomic particle that only shows up in specific conditions. Scientists believe that this flat particle could be the key that will unlock quantum computing. The anyon only arise in realms confined to two dimensions, and at temperatures near absolute zero and in the presence of a strong magnetic field:  

Scientists have theorized about these flat, peculiar “particle-like objects” since the 1980s, and the very nature of them has made it sometimes seem impossible to ever verify them. But the qualities scientists believe anyons have also made them sound very valuable to quantum research and, now, quantum

The objects have many possible positions and "remember," in a way, what has happened. In a press release earlier this fall, Purdue University explains more about the value of anyons:

“Anyons have characteristics not seen in other subatomic particles, including exhibiting fractional charge and fractional statistics that maintain a ‘memory’ of their interactions with other quasiparticles by inducing quantum mechanical phase changes. Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek, professor of physics at MIT, gave these quasiparticles the tongue-in-cheek name ‘anyon’" due to their strange behavior because unlike other types of particles, they can adopt ‘any’ quantum phase when their positions are exchanged.”

Image via Popular Mechanics 

To celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30 long years in operation (good for them, really), NASA has released stunning images taken by the telescope. The images of celestial bodies, such as stars in different numbers, groups, and galaxies will be added to NASA’s Caldwell catalog. The Caldwell catalog is an compilation of star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies: 

These images will be added to the Caldwell catalog which draws inspiration from 18th-century French astronomer Charles Messiers’ own record of the heavens.

From NASA’s description, “The Messier catalog, begun by astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th Century and revised over the years, includes some of the most fascinating astronomical objects that can be observed from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. Among them are deep-sky objects that can be viewed in stunning detail using larger telescopes but are also bright enough to be seen through a small telescope. This characteristic makes Messier objects extremely popular targets for amateur astronomers possessing all levels of experience and equipment. They are so popular, in fact, that they have inspired a special award from the Astronomical League (an organization for amateur astronomers) given to observers who are able to spot each of these objects. Those who succeed receive a certificate and are given the distinction of being in the Messier Club.”

The Caldwell collection consists of 109 objects observable by a small telescope, Engadget reports. That website reports that the additional 30 pictures, the Hubble output consists of 87 of the 109 objects in that collection.

Image via Lighting Stalking

Kevin Kresen was trapped in his car for more than 10 hours after his car got buried underneath four feet of snow. The 58-year-old driver got stuck after a plow covered his car. A state trooper managed to find him and his vehicle after digging through the snow. He suffered from hypothermia and frostbite, and was taken to Lourdes Hospital for treatment. 

Image via the New York Post

Researchers from the University of Bristol have successfully reconstructed the brain of a dinosaur! The Thecodontosaurus was the size of a large dog in the late Triassic age (about 205 million years ago). Thanks to the help of advanced imaging and 3D modeling  techniques, experts are now able to study the dinosaur’s fragile fossils in detail without destroying them: 

According to Futurism, experts scanned the interior of a Thecodontosaurus fossil and identified anatomical details about the dinosaur’s brain that had not yet been revealed.

Antonio Ballell, a Ph.D. student at the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, recently shared his team’s findings in a statement reported by CNN:

“Our analysis of Thecodontosaurus’ brain uncovered many fascinating features, some of which were quite surprising. Whereas its later relatives moved around ponderously on all fours, our findings suggest this species may have walked on two legs and been occasionally carnivorous.

“Our analysis showed parts of the brain associated with keeping the head stable and eyes and gaze steady during movement were well-developed. This could also mean Thecodontosaurus could occasionally catch prey, although its tooth morphology suggests plants were the main component of its diet. It’s possible it adopted omnivorous habits.”

CNN reports that experts also digitally reconstructed the dinosaur’s inner ears, revealing that the Thecodontosaurus had a high hearing frequency and could recognize noises from other animals.

Image via Deseret

No, it’s not a way to manipulate time in general, it’s just your perception of time that slows down. A new study found that trying to conceal something can alter your perception of time. The study, which appeared in Biological Psychology, wanted to find how time is perceived during lying: 

In line with previous research, the researchers observed stronger physiological arousal when a concealed item was presented on the screen. They also found that the display of all items in the guilty condition was perceived as longer than that in the innocent condition. Response times were also longer in the guilty condition than in the innocent condition.

“When you are concealing something, you will feel that time passes more slowly than usual, because you are in an aroused and highly vigilant state. Not only the very thing to be concealed but also other items are perceived as lasting longer than usual during this state,” Matsuda and Nittono told PsyPost.

Image via PsyPost