Cassini’s Hyperion Flyby
Posted by Ryan on December 5th, 2010Here are the pictures of Cassini’s flyby of Saturn’s moon Hyperion stitched together in an awesome video.
[Discover]
Hairless Creature Captured, Dubbed “Oriental Yeti”
Posted by Ryan on December 5th, 2010
Hunters in the remote woodlands of the Sichuan province in China caught a small hairless creatures that is said to resemble a bear with a kangaroo tail. The creature has been shipped to Beijing for scientists to examine and DNA test. The creature has been named the “Oriental Yeti” because the hunters believe the creature is a legendary animal that was once human.
“There are local legends of a bear that used to be a man and some people think that’s what we caught,” said hunter Lu Chin.
While local legends are well and good, everybody knows that if you find a hairless, mangy creature of any kind, the answer is chupacabra. This is a bold new direction for hairless animal discoveries that will resonate around the world.
Assassin Bug Uses Aggressive Mimicry To Catch Spiders
Posted by Ryan on December 3rd, 2010A species of assassin bug, Stenolemus bituberus, sneaks onto spiders’ webs and pretends to be prey, then captures and eats the spider when it comes to investigate. It was noted that on occasion the ploy of the assassin bug failed and it ended up being a meal for the spider regardless.
“The assassin bug slowly approaches the spider on its web, using its forelegs to pluck the silk threads in a manner that simulates the vibrations of a fly struggling after being caught. Wignall studied the behavior of the bugs, and found that the response of the spider to the predator was the same as its response to when a vinegar fly or aphid was caught in the web.”
[Wired]
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Wormhole
Posted by Justin on December 3rd, 2010That cute little star that you’ve pointed out to your son/daughter/neice/ward you’re training to fight crime? It could be an insanely badass wormhole big enough to fit a human or spaceship.
So the next time you’re telling the story of the sky make sure not to skip the part where we could all be sucked in a sweet wormhole and battle beings from another dimension. And stuff.
[Wired]
Will Wikileaks Publish Cables On UFOs?
Posted by Justin on December 3rd, 2010
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke with The Guardian including this awesome tidbit:
Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.
1) that the documents not be self-authored;
2) that they be original.
However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.
So causing an international kerfuffle revealing covert forces for freedom and democracy in the regions most in need of it, putting in danger deep cover assets and confirming Moammar Gadhafi as a cold pimp is totally within bounds, but UFO cable is a little too dicey to reveal?
Podcast: Alien Gun Fetish
Posted by Editor on December 2nd, 2010
Brian and Justin gleefully seek to tear down a forest in favor of a superhighway despite the locals pleas to protect a dangerous secret. Andrew makes everyone nervous with his delight over a new weapon.
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Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings120210.mp3
[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings120210.mp3[/podcast]
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Jamaican Ghost [Hoax Or Real?]
Posted by Justin on December 2nd, 2010This news report on a Jamaican Ghost was sent to us today. Our question to you the reader, was this set up from the start or did the news crew genuinely stumble upon an afflicted family? Thanks to Nathan for sending this in.
Vote in the comments!
We Will Just Walk in Circles When We Are Lost
Posted by Ryan on December 1st, 2010
Researchers from the Multisensory Perception and Action Group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany have provided evidence that if you ever become lost in the desert you are more than likely going to cross your own path. Using GPS tracking, the scientists dropped people off in the Sahara and forests in Germany and monitored their movements. As long as the subjects had visible cues as to their direction from the sun or the moon, they managed to walk a relatively straight line. However, as soon as they had no indicators, they immediately started walking in circles.
“The results from these experiments show that even though people may be convinced that they are walking in a straight line, their perception is not always reliable. Additional, more cognitive, strategies are necessary to really walk in a straight line. People need to use reliable cues for walking direction in their environment, for example a tower or mountain in the distance, or the position of the sun.”
Real Life Swamp Things
Posted by Justin on December 1st, 2010Scientific American takes a good long look at the crossroads between moss and animal: the bryozoan. To celebrate, we are reposting one of the most disgusting bryozoan videos we’ve ever posted. Hooray!
The Honey At Red Hook
Posted by Ryan on November 30th, 2010
In Red Hook, Brooklyn, a beekeeper noticed that a hive had begun to transform and display mysterious stripes of color in their honey stomachs. Even stranger, instead of honey, the hive began to produce a bright red substance that resembled maraschino cherries or Robitussin. The beekeeper began to suspect that the hive was bypassing the local flora and heading straight for the maraschino cherry juice at the local Dell’s Maraschino Cherries Company.
“A fellow beekeeper sent samples of the red substance that the bees were producing to an apiculturalist who works for New York State, and that expert, acting as a kind of forensic foodie, found the samples riddled with Red Dye No. 40, the same dye used in the maraschino cherry juice.”
Additionally, the beekeeper noticed that, “When the sun is a bit down, they glow red in the evenings,” he said. “They were slightly fluorescent. And it was beautiful.” Repeat: We have red, glowing bees in Red Hook! There is no word yet if the maraschino cherry honey is delicious.
NASA WILL SHOW US AN IMPRISONED ALIEN OR SOMETHING THIS THURSDAY*
Posted by Justin on November 30th, 2010*probably not
But still, they did release this totally ominous press advisory:
NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2
WASHINGTON — NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.
I, for one, welcome our new overlords!
Is Jupiter’s Evil Twin Hiding At The Edge of Our Solar System?
Posted by Ryan on November 29th, 2010
Scientists have studied a centuries worth of comet data and come to the conclusion that at least 20 percent of visible comets were kicked out of the Oort Cloud by a Jupiter-sized object lurking at the solar system’s outer edge. Eighty percent of objects pushed out of the Oort cloud could be explained by the gravity of the galaxy, but the remaining comets would have required an object 1.4 times the mass of Jupiter to kick them out.In 1999, Matese and colleague Daniel Whitmire suggested the sun has a hidden companion that boots icy bodies from the Oort Cloud, a spherical haze of comets at the solar system’s fringes, into the inner solar system where we can see them.
In a new analysis of observations dating back to 1898, Matese and Whitmire confirm their original idea: About 20 percent of the comets visible from Earth were sent by a dark, distant planet.
An object such as a brown dwarf would knock out more than 20 percent, but “Something smaller than Jovian mass wouldn’t be strong enough to do the deed,” Matese said.
[Wired]
Scientists Discover Squidworm
Posted by Ryan on November 28th, 2010
U.S. and Filipino scientists have announced the discovery of a new species Teuthidodrilus samae, which they immediately named “squidworm.” It is a flat, eyeless, free-swimming worm with up to ten squid-like appendages. It also has twenty five or more pairs of translucent fins arranged on its sides for swimming. The creatures were found between 6,650 and 9,550 feet below the surface of the ocean in the Celebes Sea between Indonesia and The Philippines.That having been noted, the squidworm differs dramatically from all known worms in that it is a polychaete — a type of bristly annelid that is generally found in marine environments — and seems to be a missing link between benthic polychaetes living on the seafloor and pelagic ones dwelling much further up.