Just Plain WEIRD #2
Merry Christmas, indeed! By Johnathan J. Dalzell – Christmas and mistletoe: Have you ever simply asked yourself … why? I have studied plant parasites like mistletoe for almost 10 years, and I’m here to tell you that the answer is absolutely fascinating. In …
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN – Nepali Buddhist nuns practise kung fu at the Amitabha Drukpa Nunnery on the outskirts of Kathmandu. – (CNN) Blades swirl around their bodies, coming perilously close to piercing flesh. Swords flashing in the morning sun, the young women …
The mythical holiday beast is once again on the prowl, but beware, he’s making his way across the Atlantic A man dressed in a traditional Perchten costume and mask performs during a Perchten festival in the western Austrian village of Kappl, November 13, …
SmartNews Keeping you current The Tennessee Aquarium’s internet-famous eel, Miguel Wattson, is powering Christmas lights in the exhibit. By Jason Daley, Smithsonian.Com – Stringing up holiday lights may add a few dollars to the December power bill, but the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga …
By BBC – Ruja Ignatova called herself the Cryptoqueen. She told people she had invented a cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin, and persuaded them to invest billions. Then, two years ago, she disappeared. Jamie Bartlett spent months investigating how she did it for the …
An orangutan has settled into a Florida home after a court granted her personhood rights. But what is the basis for personhood? By Molly Hanson – Sandra the orangutan. Photo Credit: TheDman / Getty Images. An orangutan named Sandra was granted non-human personhood …
Freeze it, boil it, or expose it to radiation. The water bear shrugs it off. Now we know why. By Philip Perry – Medically accurate model of a tardigrade or water bear. – The tardigrade, also known as the moss piglet or water …
Two cattle worm infections in human hosts within two years suggests that they might be an “emerging zoonotic disease in the United States,” according to a recent case report. by Maddie Bender – Left: Flickr/Geoffrey Fairchild. Right: Bradbury, Gustafson et. al. – A parasitic worm …
How deep are America’s cultural fault lines? Depends on which data you crunch. By Frank Jacobs – America is a divided nation, but perhaps its divisions are as much in the eye of the beholder. This map charts the geographic fault lines between …
By Adam Williams – Steampunk is currently installed in Estonia’s Tallinn Architecture Biennial event. Tonu Tunnel. – Installed at this year’s Tallinn Architecture Biennial event in Estonia, Steampunk is an impressive-looking pavilion that has been painstakingly created by steam-bending lengths of hardwood. The …
