Rafael Genaro

In 1951, a small 210-gram Wedderburn meteorite, edscottite, was found along the side of a road in a remote Australian gold rush town. It was named after a meteorite expert and cosmochemist, Edward Scott.

For decades, scientists have been analyzing its components and they just found one recently! The meteorite contains a rare form of iron-carbide mineral, one that’s only created in laboratories but never been found in nature.

Such a confirmation is important, because it's a prerequisite for minerals to be officially recognized as such by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA).

Thanks to the new analysis by Chi Ma and UCLA geophysicist Alan Rubin, edscottite is now an official member of the IMA's mineral club, which is more exclusive than you might think.

There are several theories as to how this piece of natural edscottite ended up just outside of a rural town. We are uncertain, but one thing’s sure – our understanding of the universe gets richer and richer as the years go by.

Image Credit: Museums Victoria / CC BY 4.0

This is a video of a trio of kittens wrastlin' in a little WrestleMania ring made for action figures. I wonder if they chose wrestling names for themselves first. Gosh, I'd sure like to think so. Things like *Googles punny cat wrestling name because of course they exist, this is the internet after all* Stone Cold Steve Pawstin or The Ultimate Purrior. "You're getting lazy, GW." Only recently? You're too sweet to me. Keep going for the video while I buy one of these rings online and invite all the neighborhood cats over.

Different coins from various countries have really interesting patterns and designs. Artist Micah Adams removed these embossed patterns to create trinkets, knick knacks, accessories, and other jewelry which he sells on Etsy.

“I was making small assemblages from things I’d collected over the years, tiny things like toys, bottle caps, beach finds and even teeth,” Adams tells Colossal.

“Then I cast them in metal. They were like tiny bronzes or miniature monuments. That lead me to look for tiny things that were already metal that I could use. So I looked at coins and their designs for things I could cut-out.”

(Image credit: Micah Adams)

This is a very worthwhile video of BMX rider Tate Roskelley demonstrating some of the very creative tricks he's developed. It really is worth a watch, even if you aren't into BMX riding. Personally, I don't ride anything but a lawnmower around my neighborhood anymore, and I still loved it. "MY FLOWERS!" Haha -- suck it, Old Jerk Tom! (It's cool he can't run and doesn't own a gun) Keep going for the video.

This is a short video of a cat learning how to operate a Carno whack-a-mole style cat toy on its own. It's like you can actually see the gears in its head turning. Of course not literally because cat heads aren't clear and they don't have actually gears in their heads, they're all levers and pulleys. Keep going for the video with a much better framerate.

"My camera sucks." This is a video shot by Casper, Wyoming resident Bradley Ries of a small fleet of UFOs moving across the night sky. The brief commentary between he and his wife and kid is definitely value add too. Now remember: UFO stands for unidentified flying objects, that doesn't mean these are alien spaceships, although they 100% are, no questions. Per some Youtube commenters:

Cupcakes and Sunshine One morning about two years ago I saw six of those orbs. As I drove closer to them, they appeared to morph into silvery birds of some sort. True story. And no I don't drink or do drugs and am very much sane. Coody Caster I just call them orbs.I have been watching them for about three years in the daytime out here in N.M. My opinion at this point is that they are alive and possibly from here and maybe not from somewhere else.

Some very powerful insight. Also I like how Youtuber Cupcakes and Sunshine felt the need to point out that they don't drink or do drugs and are very much sane. That's one of the tell-tale signs of a crazy person. So -- what are they? Aliens? Government drones? Aliens? "You already said that." Aliens? "You--" ALIENS. Keep going for the video.

Nara Japan, is famed for its large population of free-roaming deer, where some of them get up close to tourists to get some of their tasty rice crackers. During the summer, however, you’ll find the deer casually sitting in a particular spot in Nara Park. SoraNews24 detailed this deer summer gathering turned phenomenon, aptly called shikadamari (“deer gathering spot”):

around 6:30 p.m. in the evening, deer had come from around Nara Park to settle on this particular location, opposite the Nara National Museum, which is located in a corner of the park. most baffling about the occurrence is the fact that they come together to sit at the same spot at the same time each day, and for the same amount of time as well.

The deer gathering begins at around 6:30 p.m. and reaches its peak just before 7:00 p.m. The deer sit quietly together, and then, after 7:00 p.m., they stand up and go back to different areas of the park.

A whopping 623 animals at the gathering spot. One of the most plausible explanations for this phenomenon is that the deer come to this particular spot to cool down. After all, there appears to be a large vent in the vicinity, which may provide the animals with some cool air.

As to the reason behind the seasonal deer gathering, Nara Deer Preservation Foundation told SoraNews24 that even they do not know why the deer gather in front of the Nara National Museum. For now, the reason behind the shikadamari will remain as a mystery.

image credit: via SoraNews24

A técnica é incrível e o resultado mais ainda. Usando tinta invisível, o quadro ganha nova vida quando a luz está apagada. Cristoforo Scorpiniti, ou Crisco é o responsável por essas imagens sensacionais.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Note: Larger version HERE. This is a composite image of the entirety of the Milky Way galaxy, seen from both hemispheres of earth as taken by astrophotographer Maroun Habib. How did he do it? Let me copy/paste that for you while I try to convince a coworker to go get me a breakfast sandwich:

Is it possible to capture the entire plane of our galaxy in a single image? Yes, but not in one exposure -- and it took some planning to do it in two. The top part of the featured image is the night sky above Lebanon, north of the equator, taken in 2017 June. The image was taken at a time when the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy passed directly overhead. The bottom half was similarly captured six months later in latitude-opposite Chile, south of Earth's equator. Each image therefore captured the night sky in exactly the opposite direction of the other, when fully half the Galactic plane was visible.

Beautiful, isn't it? And it's crazy to think that every single one of those points of light is an alien waving a flashlight at earth. "That is crazy to think." Oh -- it looks like Greg is back with breakfast. Hey Greg, what'd you get me? *Greg reaches into Dunkin' Donuts bag, pulls out empty hand brandishing middle finger* My coworker Greg, ladies and gentlemen! Dumbass thinks I won't eat his hand. Thanks to Ryan WL, who agrees space is all we've got left.

These are two videos from Maru (hands down one of my favorite box-sitting internet cats) and sister Hana's caretaker, who set up experiments to see just how low a narrow crack and how small a hole the cats will squish themselves through, with increasing difficulty. The results may surprise you. They may surprise me too because I didn't watch the videos. I'm kidding *lifts shirt to reveal Maru tattoo on belly* I live for this stuff. "That looks like a really shitty Garfield." I know, it's like the tattoo artist only knew how to draw one cat. "Were you in prison?" Like literally or figuratively? Figuratively, yes. Also literally. Keep going for the videos.

Arcangelo Ambrosi is an Italian woodworker who specializes in handcrafted smoking pipes. Each one is a whimsical work of art. Simple pieces of wood become fantastic beasts at play and work. For Ambrosi, the pipe "is an object that I’ve always loved and I’ve found it to be a wonderful means of expression."

Nancy Tuttle, an artist in Oregon, makes extraordinarily vivid sculptures from driftwood. She finds monsters, fairies, beasts, and mages deep within the grains of wood. Tuttle carves eye-popping faces that direct their sometimes unwelcome attention at the viewer.

You can see even more of her work on DeviantART.

This is an ultra-high-definition timelapse video made by photographer Aryeh Nirenberg using a camera atop an equatorial tracking mount, "which fixed the lens focus on the subject [in this case the center of the Milky Way galaxy] despite any outward movement, such as the Earth's rotation." Beautiful, isn't it? And it's crazy to think in less than six years there won't be any humans left on earth to see this view. "Because we'll all be living in space?!" That's cute -- you're cute. Keep going for the video.

You might be surprised to learn that the U.S. Army owns a huge collection of fossils of dinosaurs and other extinct species. It wasn't on purpose. The Army Corps of Engineers controls eight million acres of land, procured through their flood control projects that began in the 1930s and moved vast amounts of earth up through the 1970s. All that digging revealed archaeological and paleontological treasures.

While many of these fossils are left in situ, like in Coralville, the Corps has taken pains to excavate certain superstar specimens. In 1988 in the Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana, amateur fossil hunter Kathy Wankel saw something sticking out of a slope in the Hell Creek Formation, a spectacularly rich fossil site. Wankel remembers the fortuitous way the light fell on the cornice of stone, illuminating a webby pattern of bone marrow, she told The Washington Post. It was Corps land, so in the years that followed, the Army brushed away the dirt to reveal a 38-foot-long Tyrannosaurs rex skeleton, almost 90 percent intact. Known scientifically as MOR555 and casually as “Wankel’s T. Rex,” the skeleton was a paleontological gold mine—the first tyrannosaurus found with a complete, laughably tiny arm.

Wankel’s T. Rex is on display to the public, as are other army fossils, but the vast majority are still waiting too be studied and cataloged. Read about the Army Corps of Engineers' fossils at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Greg Goebel)

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is one of the most well-known features of our Solar System. Earlier this year, amateur astronomers began noticing something peculiar about the Spot: it looked to be distorted.

By April, it seemed to be shedding red flakes. In May, that flaking grew so extreme that the spot looked as though it might disintegrate.

The amateur community, a tight-knit group that regularly communicates and shares photos over social media, was charged with excitement and anxiety. It had never seen anything like this before, and members worried what it might mean. On a warm Australian night in early May, the longtime amateur and software engineer Anthony Wesley was floored when his telescope captured an image of a bright streamer curling away from the spot. That, he thought, is not something you see every day.

Humans have been observing the Great Red Spot since the invention of the telescope in the 1600s, and at its peak, the storm was three times wider than the Earth. Since the late 19th century, though, it has been shrinking, slowly but steadily. In 2012, amateur astronomers noticed that its diminution had accelerated. And in May, when they saw it flaking, they feared that it might be on the verge of extinction.

What is really happening on the Great Red Spot? Find out on The Atlantic.

(Image Credit: NASA)

It's real and it's amazing. And for $52,000, you can have your own Godzilla guitar. This officially licensed guitar was designed for Japanese rock star Takamizawa Toshihiko. It comes with glowing purple LEDs in the body and red LEDs in the fingerboard to create a spectacular show in darkness.

-via Technabob

You know that someone loves you - and completely gets you - when you receive a personalised cake for your birthday. Like this one.

Emily Williams-McGuire, a 39-year-old-lady from North Carolina, recently received a cake from her husband Mac. The cake embodied her personal delight: online shopping. Perhaps Emily’s orders from Amazon, which arrive at their door at least three times a week, is what drove Mac to choose this design.

The fine lady posted photos of the cake with a caption, “You know you order from Amazon a little too much if your husband gets this cake…”

Photo Credit: Emily Williams-Mcguire/Facebook

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria already killed around 700,000 people each year, and that number could increase dramatically as new superbugs appear. On a medical quest to defeat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a 25 year old female scientist has developed a novel solution: a substance that may treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infection by beating the bacteria to pieces: 

Shu Lam, a 25-year-old PhD student at the University of Melbourne in Australia, has developed a star-shaped polymer that can kill six different superbug strains without antibiotics, simply by ripping apart their cell walls.

"We've discovered that [the polymers] actually target the bacteria and kill it in multiple ways," Lam told Nicola Smith from The Telegraph. "One method is by physically disrupting or breaking apart the cell wall of the bacteria. This creates a lot of stress on the bacteria and causes it to start killing itself."

Lam’s approach has been tested only on mice (in the lab), but it is a potential solution to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Sometimes physical action is the solution, huh?  

image credit: Shu Lam via Science Alert

This is an excavator operator demonstrating his dexterity with the machine by using a knife attached to one of its claws to cut a cucumber in half without popping the balloon its resting on, then picking up and plugging in a lightbulb. Impressive, but I really just wanted that hole dug like I paid you for. Keep going for the video.

Magnets are usually solids. But for the first time, scientists have made a permanently magnetic liquid and they made it by accident. The serendipitous creation which was made at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California allowed scientists to alter the magnetic matter.

Thomas Russell, a distinguished professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was a senior author on the paper, told LiveScience that scientists could "make magnets that are liquid and they could conform to different shapes—and the shapes are really up to you."

More details of this accidental creation on Popular Mechanics.

(Video Credit: Berkeley Lab/ YouTube)

These are a bunch of Super Mario themed scenes created out of 127,055 total dominos (some being used multiple times obviously) by TheDominoKing to celebrate the release of Super Mario Maker 2. It really is impressive, both in scope and execution. "Look at you and your buzzwords!" Thanks, I've been taking business classes in my spare time. "You don't have any spare time, do you GW?" Between video games and constantly disappointing my friends and family, no I do not. Keep going for the video, which really is worth a watch.

NÃO ENTRE EM PÂNICO!

The post Série de O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias está em desenvolvimento appeared first on Jovem Nerd.

The Neolithic people of Great Britain are great builders. The British Isles are a great example of this one — covered with countless ancient megaliths, hill forts, monumental graves, ritual sites, and structures that have baffled archaeologists for centuries.

An entirely different structure can be found in Ireland, and to some extent, in Scotland. The structures on this part of Great Britain are artificial islands known as crannogs which are constructed by “pounding wooden piles into the beds of lakes and waterways and topping them with dirt.”

In places where timber was unavailable, such as in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, crannogs were built entirely of stones. Why did Neolithic people invest so much time, effort and resources hauling stones, some up to 250 kilograms, to build islets at a place where there was no dearth of habitable lands or natural islands is a mystery.

One theory goes that Ireland at that time was densely wooded, and apart from the upland areas, the lakes were practically the only place where one could see the sky. So the Neolithic people started building homes on artificial islands. Being surrounded by water also protected them from wild animals, so crannogs could also have served a defensive purpose. Many crannogs show signs of habitation and over multiple periods of time, starting from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages, right into Medieval times. During Iron ages, crannogs were probably the centers of prosperous farms, where people lived in an easily-defended location to protect themselves and their livestock from passing raiders. The settlement would have consisted of a farm house, with cattle and crops being tended in nearby fields, and sheep on hill pastures.

Crannogs are pretty widespread in Ireland, with an estimated 1,200 examples, while in Scotland approximately 600 sites have been identified. Actual figures could be higher as a lot of crannogs have now been completely submerged. Many are difficult to distinguish from natural islets, unless properly investigated. Millenniums of disuse have cloaked them with vegetation and now they look like tiny tree-covered islands.

Amazing!

(Image Credit: F. Sturt)

This is a compilation video of a bunch of different cookie cutter designs being made, both being pressed by hand, and hydraulics. I don't know what it is, but there's just something oddly satisfying about watching the process. Maybe it's how perfectly precise the pieces press together? I can honestly say I have a newfound appreciation for cookie cutters now, and I guarantee this Christmas season when I'm at the store with my girlfriend and she's looking at purchasing new some holiday cookie cutters, I won't just think about what great penis ornaments they would make. I mean it'll still be my first thought, it just won't be my only thought. Keep going for the video.