We may not all want to be invincible, because wouldn’t it just be depressing to outlive all of your friends and family? But..there are definitely some moments when we wish we were.
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Nature’s Terrifying Night Light
The Vampire Squid has big shoes to fill with its intimidating name. This “scary” critter is all bark and no bite. Measuring in at a mere 6 inches in length, this spiny fella can appear to be the Dracula of the deep sea. Starting with its head, you will see two “wings” that flap up and down to propel the squid through the water (at a leisurely pace). If the squid is in more of a hurry, it can use the jet propulsion of water through its mantle as a means of acceleration as other squids do. They may be tiny, but they are fast little suckers. Vampire squids can move at speeds upwards of two body lengths per second.
Moving down from its head-flaps, the eyes of the Vampire Squid can be as big as those of a large dog. Imagine if your eyes took up most of your face. And were red or blue depending on the light. You would probably look like you walked straight out of an anime illustration. Although they can move two body lengths per second, that sill don’t get far enough fast enough when speedy predators are on the hunt. When threatened, they pull their legs (with connecting webbing) up over their heads exposing their suction cups and rows of fleshy spines as an attempt at intimidating larger predators.
Due to their love for the deep sea, they are equipped with photophores that give them the ability to carry out the bioluminescence chemical process. In other words, they can literally turn themselves on and off, just like a nightlight. A nightlight with big red eyes and rows of spikes under its cape. Maybe not the best choice for a child who is afraid of the dark.
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Tardigrades: We are all Jealous
Tardigrades are water-dwelling micro-animals. They love mosses and lichens when they have a choice of habitat and measure in at approximately 1.5 millimeters long. Called “water bears” because of their appearance under a scanning electron microscope, these little guys actually resemble a cross between a gummy bear you found under your sofa and some fat creature from Star Wars.
Tardigrades aren’t a new species to the planet (fossils of Tardigrades have been found dating back to over 500 million years ago), nor have they just been recently discovered (they were first discovered by a German scientist in 1773). Their recent boom in popularity is a product of their incredible attributes and the power of social media. Many tardigrade enthusiasts stumbled upon an article about or a picture of these incredible creatures and got hooked after reading about them.
With such a glowing introduction, you are probably asking yourself, “Okay, so what is it that makes these tiny eight-legged water gummy bears so special?” The answer: they are pretty much invincible when it comes to environmental stresses. If you’re that jerk that is thinking “They aren’t invincible, they could be eaten,” then pat yourself on the back, but no one else cares that you felt the need to make this obvious point. Tardigrades are remarkable because they have the ability to survive the harshest of climates and atmospheric conditions by resorting to a state of deeply suspended animation. With a metabolic rate dropping to 0.01% of its norm, this state (called a “tun”) closely resembles death.
How do they do this? By retracting their heads and legs and essentially dehydrating themselves, they can withstand incredibly environmental stress. Think about it. The damage caused by extreme low and high temperatures has to do with the water in our cells. Without the water, these tuns are virtually indestructible. They have been tested and studied extensively, and have proven able to survive being heated to 150 degrees Celcius, frozen to almost absolute zero, exposed to extreme amounts of radiation, and even sent into space.
By simply adding water back to these tuns, even after almost a decade, they will reanimate and continue on with their lives. Talk about a power nap. Tardigrades are fascinating creatures because of their insane ability to cope with life, but also because of the mystery behind their powers. Many processes that other organisms use to survive extreme heat or cold do not occur in tardigrades. They seem to have their own unique ways of protecting or repairing their DNA after exposure to harmful environments. Expect to hear a lot about these water bears in the future, as they will surely be a hot topic among researchers. After all, they have an Octonauts episode about them. You know you’ve made it as an actor when you get invited to be on Sesame Street, and you know you’ve made it as a marine organism when you are the subject of an Octonauts episode.
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Are We Being Watched?
For as long as astronauts have been flying off into space, there have strange sightings of some kind- sometimes a bright light nearby, sometimes a far away light making acute right turns. However, many of these sightings have gone unheard of by the public, mostly because NASA censors such reports. Whether such censorship is meant to prevent public panic (which is highly unlikely considering decades of Hollywood conditioning) one can only speculate since NASA itself does not give any reason for it.
One of the most prominent UFO sighting made by a NASA astronaut was made by Major Gordon Cooper. Cooper was the last American astronaut to fly into space alone when he shot into space on May 5, 1963. During his final orbit around the earth, Cooper reported to a tracking station in Australia that he had seen a glowing, greenish object approaching his capsule. This sighting was confirmed by the tracking station in Australia which picked up the object on radar. In addition, the sighting of the UFO was reported by the National Broadcast Company which had been on a live coverage of the flight. However, when Cooper landed, reporters were instructed by NASA that they would be able to question him on anything other than the UFO sighting.
Major Cooper believed in the presence of UFOs. Twelve years earlier, he had observed saucer-shaped discs while flying over West Germany. While he filed a report over it, most astronauts were reluctant to discuss his findings, and so was NASA. A chain of other NASA astronauts have also reported UFO sightings. These include Donald Slayton (1951), Joseph Walker (1962), Frank Borman (1965) and even Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin in their historic flight in 1969. But even with the level-headed accounts of these astronauts, we may never be able to ascertain whether aliens are real as long as NASA keeps censoring these accounts.
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The Japanese Robot Car
Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a $130 billion research and development budget, the third largest in the world. Japanese are widely known for their politeness, industrious nature and conscientiousness. But did you know that Japan leads the world in robotics production and use, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world’s industrial robots? A robotic nation if you like! They never cease to amaze the world!
James Buchanan (1791-1868) was the 15th President of the United States. A Democrat from Pennsylvania, he was President from 1857-1861, and probably best remembered as one of the most negatively viewed presidents in our nation’s history. He is consistently ranked as one of our worst presidents, mainly because he was president as tensions between the abolitionist North and the slaveholding South rose to a boil. By the end of his term, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, with ten other Southern states following suit shortly thereafter, as a result of the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln. These events were succeeded by the Civil War, which roared from 1861-1865.
The Most Important Car in British Motoring History
Britain is known to produce some of the best cars in the world, but the highly rated to date is the Rolls Royce. The first model known as the Silver Ghost was launched in 1907, and it managed to cover over 14,371 miles non-stop.
Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce were the founders of the company. A lady once asked Sir Henry what would happen if a fault wasn’t picked up by any of the quality inspectors, to which he calmly replied; “Madam, the man on the gate would not allow the car to leave the premises.” Even more interesting is the fact that the original Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is possibly the most travelled, as well as the most valuable car in the entire world. Estimates of its value range from 10,000,000-30,000,000 Great Britain Pounds. It is also said that the air conditioning in a Rolls-Royce has the cooling power of at least 30 domestic refrigerators.
Ah, the rainy city of Seattle. Actually, the “rainy” part is a bit exaggerated, because while it does get a lot of overcast skies, it has fewer inches of annual rainfall than New York City, Chicago, or even Atlanta. Rain or shine, there is a multitude of photogenic scenes to be found in Seattle. Pike Place Market, the majestic views of Mount Rainier, the Olympic Mountains towards the west, the Fremont Troll, and the Experience Music Project to name a few. However, Seattle’s most photographed landmark is… NOT the Space Needle, as many would have probably guessed right off the bat! It’s certainly reasonable to assume that the highlight of Seattle’s skyline would be the most photographed landmark within its borders, but the cameras find their way to a particular nearby location even more often.
So what is it that can outshine the allure of Seattle’s defining landmark and draw photographers away?
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How California Got Its Name
The names of some states have pretty obvious origins: Virginia (known of course for its 100% population of virgins), Washington (OCD levels of personal hygene), Maryland (half your stuff disappears upon crossing the border), etc. California, though, doesn’t really have any obvious source unless you count the fact that it houses the pornography captial of the world, but “Californication” didn’t hit the airwaves until much later.
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Is There a Best Hangover Cure?
Of the hundreds of half baked hangover cures we’ve all heard are 100% sure-fire effective, there actually may be one that does in fact work, and not according to an equally hungover drinking buddy this time. This time it’s according to science!
The extra observant may have already deduced what it might be after having seen the thumbnail, but for the rest of us who don’t have the patience for time wasters like thumbnail viewing, science’s best hangover cure is a … (drumroll please) … bacon sandwich! That’s right. If bacon alone wasn’t already one of the highest rewards for having achieved our top-of-the-food-chain status, science has stepped in and declared that it comes with super powers to boot.