Russian photographer Katerina Plotnikova is an admirer of the natural world, a lover of animals and wilderness who decided to cast both alongside the human subject in her latest photo series.

The photos may look photoshopped, but they’re not- the animals are able to take part in these shoots thanks to on-location animal trainers who help keep them calm while the shot is taken, resulting in a very casual and stress free environment for the animals.

Katerina’s series is full of mysteriously beautiful moments where model and creature meet for the first time, both gentle members of the natural world meeting without fear of harm.

-Via LifeBuzz

With the ocean levels sure to rise in the next few centuries it’s probably a good idea for humans to get a handle on the whole breathing underwater thing, either that or it’s to the moon, Alice!

Good thing scientists are already hard at work developing a microparticle filled with oxygen that can be injected into the bloodstream, so we can live on without breathing and possibly live out our dreams of becoming Aquaman.

Here's how this scientific step forward in un-breathing works:

Scientists have developed a new microparticle filled with oxygen that can be injected into the blood stream, keeping you alive even if you can’t intake air into your lungs. The microparticles are actually tiny capsules (2-4 micrometers tiny) made of a single layer of lipids surrounding a small bubble of oxygen gas. The capsule is suspended in a liquid so that the bubbles don’t get any bigger (which would make them deadly, FYI).

Upon injecting the capsule-filled liquid into the bloodstream, the capsules crash into your red blood cells, transferring the oxygen gas from the capsule to the cell. About 70% of the oxygen injected successfully makes its way into the blood stream this way.

-Via Geekosystem

It’s safe to say that Tyrannosaurus Rex would not have been a very good disco dancer, what with the short arms and all, but they would have excelled at the two-step and the Irish jig.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Of Natural History wants to know- How did the T-Rex get its groove on?

The Natural History Museum recently added a T. Rex to their collection, so they’re asking people to submit videos showing what they think a T. Rex would look like dancing to the song “National Rex” by Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers, which was created to commemorate this epic acquisition.

If you feel up to channeling your inner T. Rex simply record a 30 second video, upload it to YouTube then email the link to NMNHsocial@si.edu, and if you need more info on the contest you can visit the NMNH website here.

-Via io9

(Image Via AP)

In the last decade Sriracha has gone from that sauce you see on the table at Asian restaurants to a spicy staple in many homes, rivaling the fame enjoyed by spicy celebrities Tapatio and Cholula. People like Sriracha so much that Lay's even made Sriracha flavored chips, although their recipe could have used a little more Sriracha.

Recently, a Sriracha factory in Irwindale, California was declared a public nuisance by the South Coast Air Quality Management District after nearby residents complained of burning eyes and throats due to the odor emanating from the factory.

So, is the spice going to disappear from our lives? Huy Fong Foods, makers of Sriracha, have until June 1st to install carbon filters in their factory or it's bye-bye red rooster sauce.

-Via Gawker

There are all kinds of competitions, galleries, fairs, and conventions full of good, useful inventions, but where is a budding inventor supposed to show off their C list, and fairly useless, inventions?

Some may say the local dump is a good place to start, but to those who have a vision of making something that sets the bar low, like a 3D printed mask of your own face or an energy generator that only works when you twerk, there's the Stupid S**t No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon.

The Hackathon was started by NYU students looking for a way to display their incredible creations in a stress, and competition, free zone so that all the inventors would go home winners!

-Via Kotaku

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Star Wars, crazy Star Wars, it's a blast from sci-fi history, with those kooky ewoks George Lucas kept it all PG... (sung to the tune of The Flintstones Theme Song).

If you have two and a half hours to spare, and a deep seated love of those wars in the stars, then you’ll likely settle in to watch this documentary called Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, which first aired in edited form on A&E back in 2004.

Now restored to its gloriously feature length and available to view in its entirety on YouTube since 2012, it's an enjoyable way to renew your faith in the Force and remind yourself why you loved the original trilogy so much.

-Via GeekTyrant

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Kids who grew up with a healthy love of robots, particularly the Transformers, most likely thought about what a real life vehicle would look like transforming just like their favorite robo-former toy.

One particularly cool example of a vehicle that never got the Transformers treatment is the Bagger 288 excavator, one of the largest vehicles of its kind in the world.

Animator Dan DeEntremont couldn't pass up the opportunity to turn the Bagger into a dream come true for robo-obsessed kids, using his considerable 3D modeling and animation skills to bring the Bagger's transformation to life in full detail.

-Via Jalopnik

(Image Via Architectural Afterlife)

(Image Via Detroiturbex.com)

(Image Via Flickr:Binkled)

There are malls all across America lying derelict and abandoned, gutted and left to the elements like an ice cream cone that has been dropped on the sidewalk.

A retail boom and subsequent economic crash left nothing but empty buildings full of empty racks in its wake, and now these haunting spaces serve as nothing but reminders of all the Gap sales and Hot Dogs on a Stick that could have been.

A Facebook group calling themselves the Dead Mall Enthusiasts have been accepting submissions from photographers and urban explorers who have braved the horrors of an abandoned JC Penney's and lived to talk about their experience.

The images in their collection are a horrible sight to behold, especially if you're a shopaholic!

-Via Beautiful/Decay

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If we could take flight simply by swallowing a bunch of helium, like characters often do in cartoons, then the world would be virtually devoid of children and those who consider themselves kids at heart.

They’d all be floating their way across the globe, hoping they don’t get snagged on a branch and pop, and then we’d have to clean up a bunch of exploded carcasses that look like human shaped balloons.

Thankfully this animated short called Helium Harvey doesn’t stray into the real very much, preferring to show a lighthearted and fanciful version of what a kid floating free would look like.

Helium Harvey was created by Daniel Savage, a Brooklynite who has always dreamt of taking to the skies in his pajamas so he can see the world and take a nap at the same time!

-Via Laughing Squid

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Everyone knows you shouldn’t text and drive, as according to a NHTSA study distracted drivers account for 80% of all traffic accidents each year, but if you simply have to LOL back at your BFFs make sure you've trained to become a Textpert first.

Online video superstars Rhett and Link are here to demonstrate the power of Textpert training, battling it out to prove they have what it takes to text and drive at the same time.

This silly video was created in conjunction with distraction.gov to remind drivers - if you're texting you're not driving, so save the LOLs until you're parked!

-Via 22 Words

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Pixar movies look so good you know that loads of cutting edge software, mighty powerful hardware and months worth of rendering are the forces at work behind their studio productions, but the ultimate weapon in the Pixar arsenal, or any 3D arsenal for that matter, is math.

This TED Ed talk focuses on how math plays a major role in the creation of a 3D movie, with Pixar Research Lead Tony DeRose demonstrating how math is the major force behind CGI.

If you'd rather see the math at work within Pixar's proprietary software Presto you should head over to GeekTyrant and watch the included bonus video Presto Demonstration at NVIDIA's GTC Conference, which gives us a rare look at how Presto works.

Classic album art is the one thing sorely missing from this world of mp3 downloads and digital music. The large, colorful artworks from such famous artists as Roger Dean, Hipgnosis, H.R. Giger and Andy Warhol, just to name a few, were an enjoyable bonus to the audible delights that awaited listeners in-between the grooves.

But what did the back side of classic album covers look like? Generally they had very little to do with the front, choosing to contain the track listings instead, but Flickr user Harvezt wasn't content with only seeing half the scene, so they used their formidable illustrative skills to finally reveal the back sides of classic album covers in a series called "The Dark Side of the Covers".

-Via Laughing Squid

Nothing says "I have a wild sense of style" quite like wearing a pair of shoes from Masaya Kushino’s collection Bird-Watched, which were inspired by the artwork of Jakuchu Ito.

Masaya specializes in creating women's shoes inspired by nature, and although he claims "...shoes are just as visually stimulating as sculpture or any other three-dimensional art piece, but they also fundamentally have to be wearable" he has created many pieces which simply cannot be worn, either because elements of the shoe are too delicate to support any weight or simply because there's no place to put your feet in them!

The wearable shoes look like they'd make a bold statement when worn, and the whole footwear menagerie will surely look amazing on display.

-Via Juxtapoz

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Gentleman Norman is a very fancy dog, he’s a fashion forward little fellow who likes to help his humans look their best. He may not have opposable thumbs, or very many occasions to wear a necktie, but that doesn’t mean this haute couture hound can’t pass his knowledge of neckties on to the fashion challenged. 

Okay, so Gentleman Norman doesn’t do much more for the whole tie tying tutorial than sit and coach the demonstrating human, but if you don’t know how to tie a necktie I can think of far more boring and unenjoyable ways to learn than by watching this Pet Collective video!

-Via Tastefully Offensive

Internet memes are so timely nowadays that they spring up from pop culture the minute the source of their inspiration is released, often before many people have even seen whatever the meme is referencing.

The newest addition to this timely geek fare is the Hail Hydra meme, which sprang from a scene in Captain America Winter Soldier (no spoilers!) where one character whispers "Hail Hydra" into the ear of another character in a sinister manner.

Suddenly the internet is full of secret agents announcing their allegiance to Hydra with a whisper, in the greatest meme conspiracy of all time.

-Via Gamma Squad