Dance Magers

Why animals sleep remains one of the enduring mysteries of biology, but new research suggests the primary reason might be to allow cerebrospinal fluid to wash all the gunk out from between your brain cells.

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Using a remote-controlled camera disguised as a sea turtle, marine biologists watched as young dolphins got themselves stoned by ingesting a nerve toxin released by puffer fish. And as if sharing a joint, the dolphins could be seen passing it around.

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Talk about a scene right out of Blade Runner: By zooming in on high-resolution photographs of faces, researchers recovered images of unseen bystanders from reflections in the subjects' eyes. The technique could eventually be used in criminal investigations.

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While we're used to seeing Michelangelo's majestic finished paintings, this shopping list gives us a look at the master's more hasty and practical drawing. This is an illustrated list that Michelangelo would have given to an illiterate servant.

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As heartfelt as Frozen's climax was, the movie musical could have benefited from a brief reprise of the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" at a key moment. So one fan wrote the lyrics to a reprise and another gave it voice. Spoilers below.

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Sure it feels nice, but it's no more effective (not at temperatures safe for humans, at least), and can actually irritate your skin. Plus, if you're washing with hot instead of cool, newly published research says you're actually contributing to global warming, too (womp womp).

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It's tough getting a game console for Christmas, because, sometimes, you get the wrong one.

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Once, they healed the sick. Now they're decomposing themselves. There's something especially tragic about a hospital that's fallen into squalor, once-sterile facilities gone to mold and rust. Here are some of the most beautifully desolate abandoned hospitals on Earth.

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Before there was life as we know it, there were molecules. And after many seemingly unlikely steps these molecules underwent a magnificent transition: they became complex systems with the capability to reproduce, pass along information and drive chemical reactions.

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Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet (Wag The Dog, The Unit, Hoffa) is developing is turning Christianity's Seven Deadly Sins into a television miniseries. Color us intrigued.

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Could quantum mechanics save the soul? In the light of 20th century physics, is free will plausible? Such as been the hope of some philosophers, scientists (and pretenders to those titles) - but neuroscientist Peter Clarke argues that it's just not happening, in an interesting new paper: Neuroscience, quantum indeterminism and the Cartesian soul Clarke first outlines the dualism of Rene Descartes, who famously believed in an immaterial human soul separate from the brain, and respon

Women overreacting is an old and tired stereotype — but there's some truth to it, at least immunologically speaking. In a new study, researchers found that women's immune systems responded more strongly than men's to flu vaccine. Old and young women alike produced both more antibodies and a higher inflammatory cytokine count — one sign of potential immunological overreaction — than male participants. His vs. Hers Immune System While the gender gap in immune reactions has long been known,

Erotica featuring Sasquatch, minotaurs, aliens, and boar gods may not fit everyone's tastes, but some authors have made a killing selling monster sex ebooks. But some ebook retailers, notably Amazon, have been cracking down on cryptozoological smut, making it harder for writers to sell their books to readers who are hot for Bigfoot.

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I recently learned that suicide rates don't peak during the holidays, but in the spring. This was a surprise to me for two reasons — 1) I presumed the bleakness of winter combined with the inevitable disappointment that accompanies any major joyous event would be the most major inspiration for people to kill themselves, and 2) the fucking ALF Christmas Special.

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To date, we know of only two things that can reverse the effects of aging: caloric restriction and extensive exercise. But in a recent experiment, researchers applied a new compound to 2-year old mice, causing their muscles to regenerate to 6-month old levels. Incredibly, human trials may start next year.

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This is a Han Solo frozen in carbonite door decal. It costs $140 (although I saw different ones for cheaper -- do your own search, I'm not your personal shopper) and can be removed so you can reposition it (after you screw up applying it the first time) or taken with you when you move. That's a nice feature. You should buy one. "I already did." Cool, I'm coming over. Wow, it looks even better in real life. "Did you just kiss my door?" Please, Han and I would like a minute alone.

This is a video created by Hungarian animation firm Delov Digital featuring Chuck Norris one-upping Jean Claude Van Damme's Volvo leg-split commercial. It's not real though, it's all CG -- including Chuck. Still, I bet you show it to your mom and convince her it's real. "If he's not careful, he's gonna kill himself!" I imagine her saying while taking a break from prepping Christmas dinner to watch the video on your phone. Keep going for the video. Thanks to Conrad and BlueandWhite, who have actually performed the same stunt in real life before but there's no proof because it was part of a classified mission and no amount of Freedom of Information Act requests are going to get the documents unshredded.

There was a lot to love about 2013's video games — but also a lot of wipe-outs and things that didn't go according to plan. Here's Kotaku's list of the biggest letdowns of the year in gaming.

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Many Senate Democrats try to paint themselves as defenders of working people. They rail against their colleagues who are “in the pockets of corporations and the rich.”  But what they say, and what they do are two different things. This time, seven Democratic Senators are ready to screw poultry workers to please the owners of the poultry companies.

We’ve been writing for nearly two years on the USDA’s plan to “modernize poultry inspection” (e.g., here, here, here, here). It’s a plan that will give Tyson, Perdue, Pilgrims’ Pride and other poultry producers an additional $250 million a year in revenue. It will allow USDA to eliminate 800 inspectors, and it won’t improve, and could make worse, food safety. To “sell” poultry companies on the plan, USDA will allow them to increase line speeds up to 175 birds per minute.

The industry and USDA are well aware that poultry workers already suffer disabling repetitive motion injuries from the unrelenting speed of the dis-assembly lines. A recent study by the CDC revealed that more than 40 percent of poultry workers at one Pilgrims’ Pride plant suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. USDA’s plan will make this very bad situation even worse.

Seven Senate Democrats are behind the USDA plan. They are:

• Kay Hagen (D-NC)
• Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
• Chris Coons (D-DE)
• Mark Warner (D-VA)
• Heidi Heitkam (D-ND)
• Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
• Mark Pryor (D-AR).

These seven U.S. Senators sent a letter last week to USDA Secretary Vilsack urging quick action on the change. These Senators have chosen to ignore the evidence of harm that will come to these workers. The majority of poultry plant workers are women and people of color. These Senators are saying “too bad” to the workers, and giving the billion dollar poultry industry just what they want.

The Senators assert that USDA’s “peer-reviewed” risk assessment says food safety will be improved. The reviewers they refer to are indeed peers—peers of the poultry industry. One works for the USDA and the other is a professor at the University of Arkansas, in a position funded by the Tyson (poultry) Family Foundation. The seven Senators are also ignoring the evidence from two GAO reports that reveal USDA’s plan is based on shoddy science.

It’s bad enough having President Obama and his USDA pushing for this change. Now we have seven Democratic Senators eager to screw poultry workers. With crippled hands that can’t hold a pen or dial the phone, the Senators don’t have to worry about hearing their complaints.

 

This is Princess Bubblegum's castle recreated in gingerbread and candy by Redditor IHaveAFluffyCat. Cool, IHaveASmoothTurtle. She posted a pictorial of the entire operation on Imgur, so if you're interested in trying and failing to repeat the process you're more than welcome. Hey, even if it turns out crappy looking, I'll still help you eat it. Mmmm, this is actually good -- what's your secret ingredient? "Strychnine." Heck yeah, $10 says I can finish the rest before I die. Keep going for a couple more shots of the finished product. Thanks to Leah, who agrees the best adventure times are the ones shared with good friends. Or that end in a pile of gold. I prefer the gold.

With its new show Dark Universe, the American Museum of Natural History in New York has turned an already-awesome planetarium experience into something mind-blowing. Not only will you be filled with wonder, but you'll be treated to an incredible science story about dark matter, dark energy, and all the other strange forces that shape our universe.

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DoubleClit Here (link is NSFW, vagina pictures) is a laptop trackpad cover with a photo of a vagina. This is just an emoticon vagina here, but I assure you they make them with ACTUAL pictures of vaginas too. I never knew they looked like that. They were created by feminist designer Eliza Dunaway and are supposed to carry a message. Apparently that message is not, "Watch me diddle this vagina while I pretend to pay attention to what you're saying."

"We are too often taught to feel grossed out by the sight of a body part that is beautiful and important just as it is. DoubleClit Here seeks to break this stigma by presenting the vagina in a new, hilariously interactive, OMG-inducing way."

$8 gets a trackpad in your choice of "Vanessa", "Kiki" or this emoticon one. I was going to post pictures of the others too but I decided against it on account of I'm at the coffee shop and there are people sitting behind me. I figure the less time I spend editing pictures of vaginas, the better. "But that's exactly what these are fighting against." You know what? You're right. I'm gonna do it! *screaming* Okaaaay, I forgot I was in the middle of Photoshopping a face on a penis. Thanks to PYY, who agrees they should make nipple stickers for the analog sticks on Xbox and Playstation controllers.

Because even people buying Pokemon themed engagement rings appreciate options (previously: this Pokeball engagement ring), these are the Pokeball engagement rings available from Paul Michael Design (of triforce engagement ring fame). The enamel version (above) starts at $1,000 for a 1/4 carat diamond. The all gem version (after the jump) includes black diamonds and other gems of your choice and starts at $2,500 for a 1/4 carat diamond. For reference, that's two months salary for a person who makes $1,250 a month. Two months salary for me? $60. I get a dollar a day if I do all my chores and make my bed. "That's not a salary, that's an allowance." Marry me? "And that's a mood ring." Hey, $60 only goes so far and I bought a bottle of champagne too. So, what do you say -- are you in the mood for love? "Like, love-love or sex-love?" As much as I'd love to just see your butt, I'm looking for something long term. "No deal." Fine, let's just get naked. Keep going for the all gem version. Thanks to lebeeps, who agrees the best engagement ring is a twist-tie.

All things being equal, the universe is set to continually expand, eventually ripping itself to shreds in about 22 billion years. But Danish scientists say an expanding bubble of existential doom could crush the Universe into a tiny ball. And crazily, the odds of this collapse is higher than previously thought.

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There are RPGs we love, and then there are RPGs that cause us to shudder and make the sign of the cross. Make your offerings to Saint Gygax, then gird yourself for this harrowing list of the most controversial and notorious RPGs ever published.

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Astronomical clocks are over 1,000 years old — some say the first was the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism. They predict the movements of the stars, sun, moon, and planets. They are also among the most beautifully-designed timepieces in the world. Here are some of the most glorious examples.

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When I was a kid around 1980 me and my buddies used to play in small tracts of woodland around where we lived. There we sometimes found woods porn, Sw. skogsporr: damp and fragmented pornographic magazines. We learned quite a lot from them that stood us in good stead later in life.

Back then, before porn went digital, woods porn was ubiquitous. Woodland deposition in fact seems to have been a major culturally sanctioned way to get rid of unwanted porn. It’s easy to imagine scenarios that would have given rise to the custom: you need to (use and?) get rid of something discreetly, you can’t leave it anywhere near your home or workplace, and you can’t draw attention to it by burning it. But though almost everybody I’ve talked to about woods porn has found some once, I have never heard any rumour from a person who deposited woods porn. Who were they? All I know is that they must have been older than us kids in order to be that interested in porn and to be able to afford it. And they probably weren’t comfortable talking about porn.

I knew some grown-up porn buyers: my friend’s big brother, their dad, another friend’s mom & dad. They all kept their porn in their nightstand drawers, quite unabashedly. I can’t really see why they would have hidden some of it in the woods. They were probably not woods porn depositors.

Do you, Dear Reader, have any tales to tell of woods porn deposition?

Image from Martin Nilsson’s blog.

Because, hey -- it's worth a shot, the Chinese government-run media recently released an article citing five "surprising benefits" of the smog covering its largest cities. Mmmm, air so good you can taste it. Drumroll sad trombone please:

1. It unifies the Chinese people. 2. It makes China more equal. 3. It raises citizen awareness of the cost of China's economic development. 4. It makes people funnier. 5. It makes people more knowledgeable (of things like meteorology)

LOL, your cough makes you funnier. But seriously, anybody who's ever lived in a smoggy city knows there's really only one real benefit of air pollution: the sunsets. I live in Los Angeles and a lot of times the sky is like, LASER RED before the sun goes down. So red sometimes I wonder if it's actually on fire, and it might be. Thanks to E V I L A R E S, who's so evil if he wishes his superpower was to breathe smog.

Because some people will actually follow advice found on 4chan (that's your bad), a number of users have ended up bricking their new X-Box Ones by following these fake instructions to make your console backwards compatible (because it's really that easy, Microsoft just doesn't want you to know about it!). In reality you're setting your system in a perpetual boot loop. It just goes to show, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet, and probably nothing you read on 4chan. Geekologie? Geekologie is probably 50% believable, unless my penis is typing (he never lies). Thanks to everyone who sent this, none of which admitted to doing it even though I bet someone did (not all Geekologie readers are MENSA material like you).

It's basically an audio time machine. Tech historian Emily Thompson, out of Princeton, has put together an interactive map of New York circa 1933, embedded with the old sounds of the city.

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