Believe it or not, this is one of the most popular fast-food delicacies sold in Tokyo. It's known as the Black Terra Hot Dog, and it's over 30 cm long! The black color doesn't come from ink, but it's edible bamboo charcoal powder.

Bon Appétit

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One advantage of being a science major is knowing fancy scientific words for everyday things. Since my teenage years, I developed the habit of reading the ingredients list before purchasing any packaged food item. Recently while searching for a snack at the store, I stumbled upon the potato chips aisle (admittedly, salty, crunchy snacks have always been a weakness of mine). Given how expensive everything has gotten lately, the more affordable budget brands peaked my interest. After quickly glancing over the ingredients of one bag, I noticed that "silicon dioxide" was listed at the end; in fact, it was a common ingredient in that particular brand's entire line of products! Knowing that silicon dioxide is the main component of beach sand, my ...

Apparently, walking across this glass pedestrian bridge in Zhangjiajie’s Grand Canyon, China is meant to make you feel like you're floating in thin air. The bridge seems to float 1,300 feet above the ground, almost as though it were part of the clouds. The bridge will be open later on this year!

King Tut was riddled with physical impairments because his parents were probably brother and sister, a new genetic analysis and thousands of CT scans of his mummified body have suggested.

Anyone who used a PC in the 1990's most likely used one with the most popular operating system of its time, Windows 95. Although it reached EOL (end-of-life) status in 2003, Windows 95 doesn't appear to want to die. It has made appearances on smartphones, handheld devices, and tablets for quite some time now, and people don't seem to be getting enough of it. Thanks to a young programmer, we can now have Windows 95 running in almost any web browser using emscripten, an emulator that converts C++ code to JavaScript in real-time. It requires no downloads, plugins, or any special software.

The emulator takes a minute to load up, but once you’re inside it, it’s surprisingly snappy. It provides you with a full Windows 95 operating system and e ...

An enormous tomb has been unearthed in northern Greece, guarded by two beautifully preserved female figures. It’s been dated to the time of Alexander the Great.

Only about 100 cases are documented around the world. The true human tail upon birth is caused by a lack of cell destruction of the distal end of the embryonic tail.


According to some experts, the true human tail is not really a tail at all. It is thought to be linked to spina bifida or a hiccup in the natural human development process. While others thing that it is due to mutation of the genes that produce cellular destruction of the tail component

As it is well known that it is derived from the most distal remnant of the embryonic tail. It contains adipose and connective tissue, central bundles of striated muscle, blood vessels, and nerves and is covered by skin while it lacks Bone, cartilage, notochord, and spinal cord. The true tail aris ...

This is an acute idea

After two years of work, Martin Molin of the Swedish band Wintergatan debuted a fully custom-made machine that plays music using 2,000 marbles. The marble machine features multiple instruments including a bass guitar, cymbals, and a vibraphone all played by falling marbles. Apart from the 11 mm steel ball bearing marbles, he made all the gears powering the machine by hand.

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This photograph of a great white shark following a kayak is probably one of the most iconic and popular shark images of all time. Every time it pops up, it unsurprisingly garners a lot of accusations of being fake, or edited.

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural water terrace site located in the Denizli Province of southwestern Turkey. The site contains several hot springs contained by stark, white limestone deposits known as travertines, that are fed by the overflowing, mineral-rich spring waters. People have been bathing here for thousands of years. ...

This sand castle has been etched on a single grain of sand.

Could someone talk some sense into the five people that have bid on this item, please?

According to the description, this is one litre of bottled air from the area affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The anechoic chamber is located at Orfield Laboratory in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was designed for testing out hearing aid equipment. To make sure no outside noises are present, the chamber is hidden behind two vault doors and has sound-deadening wedges covering all of the flat surfaces. Rather than sound bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and floor like a traditional room, the sound is absorbed.

Fire rainbows are a rare phenomenon that only occur when the Sun is higher than 58° above the horizon and its light passes through cirrus clouds made of ice crystals.

These captivating atmospheric displays are scientifically known as circumhorizontal arcs. While the name "fire rainbow" might suggest a connection with fire or rainbows, it's essential to understand that this phenomenon has nothing to do with fire and isn't a true rainbow.

The process behind fire rainbows is intricate. When sunlight interacts with ice crystals in cirrus clouds, the light is refracted, or bent, in a specific way. For a circumhorizontal arc to form, the Sun must be at a relatively high angle in the sky, usually exceeding 58 degrees. This angle allows sunlight to e ...

This beautiful photograph of the aurora borealis lighting up a glacial lagoon in Iceland has won James Woodend the top prize in the 2014 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

I know this is a science blog, but hear me out. I'm not sure what sort of stunt McDonald's is pulling here, but apparently they are removing the world famous Big Mac off their menu. Currently, the Big Mac has a whopping 550 calories and 29g of fat. It's probably the only reason I ever go to McDonald's, so I guess from now on it's going to be the Whopper instead.

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It's that time of year again when the weather starts to change, and we're more prone to getting sick. One such symptom that accompanies these seasonal illnesses is a sore throat. Sore throats not only feel like you've swallowed sandpaper, but they are also accompanied by coughing, congestion, and the production of mucus, sometimes with spots of blood.

Firstly, mucus plays a crucial role in our respiratory system. It's a slippery, gel-like substance produced by the mucous membranes lining various parts of our body, including the respiratory tract. This viscous fluid serves as a protective barrier against invaders such as pathogens and irritants. It also helps keep these surfaces moist, allowing for proper functioning and efficient air exchang ...

Imagine blending modified palm oil, skim milk powder, cocoa, hazelnuts, and whole lot of sugar – that's how Nutella is technically made.

In fact, Nutella contains 10.4 percent of saturated fat and 58% of processed sugar by weight. A two-tablespoon (37-gram) serving of Nutella contains 200 calories, including 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5 g of which are saturated) and 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. The spread also contains 15 mg of sodium and 2 g of protein per serving.

You're probably thinking, what if I gather up these ingredients and do it myself, will I have homemade chocolate spread?

Not quite.

Nutella uses modified palm oil rather than regular vegetable oil because it remains solid at room temperature. This modified oil i ...

Engineers led by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson have unveiled plans for the tallest building in the world. Tall Tower would be 24 times the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, considered the tallest building in the world, and would double the maximum heights for commercial airspace, as the designers believe the tower could also be used to launch rockets into space. A building this high poses many structural issues, and we don’t know if it will ever be built.

One of the methods used by behavioral geneticists is selective breeding. Selective breeding often involves selecting animals that are very different on one measure of behavior. For instance, if scientists take 20 rats and test how quickly they can solve a maze, chances are that they will get some variability in the speed with which the rats can solve the maze. Scientists would take the two fastest animals and the two slowest animals and breed them together. They would continue to do this over 20 generations, until they had a group of animals that solved the maze very rapidly and a group of animals that solved the maze very slowly. They are then able to examine potential differences in their brains and behaviors that contribute to maze solvi ...

http://vimeo.com/74033442
You'll need to watch the whole thing, don't skip anywhere.

Great news! ReWalk, a motorised exoskeleton suit that helps people who are paralysed from the waist down to stand up and walk again, has been approved for personal use.

Italian artist Daniele Del Nero has created a really cool series of architectural scale models constructed with black paper and covered with flour and a layer of mould to create the effect of old abandoned buildings.

The rather impressive flight deck of NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour, a now-retired orbiter.

Try imagining for a second how it'd feel to lose your eyesight. It's almost unimaginable because your vision is perhaps the most valuable tool for survival. This is why we need to constantly protect our eyes and learn what could potentially ail them. Below is a list of five common illnesses that plague the precious eyes of people around the globe.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve, often caused by elevated intraocular pressure. It results from excessive production of aqueous humor or diminished ocular fluid outflow. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness, secondary to optic nerve damage.

As of yet, there is no cure. Everyone is at risk, and there may be no warning signs. It is six to eight times more common in African Americans ...

This periodic table shows the relative abundance of elements on Earth.

A new study has shown that managers rate workers who get an early start higher than those who get in and stay later, no matter how good they are at their jobs, or how many hours they work in total. So, no matter what your boss says about flex-time, get to work early!

Bulletproof glass manufacturer 3M Security Glass placed this advertisement at a bus stop. There's apparently $3 million in cash inside there, behind their bulletproof glass. If you can break it, it's yours.


Here's how bulletproof glass works...

At first glance, bullet-resistant glass looks identical to an ordinary pane of glass, but that's where the similarities end. An ordinary piece of glass shatters when struck by a single bullet. Bullet resistant glass is designed to withstand one or several rounds of bullets depending on the thickness of the glass and the weapon being fired at it. So, what gives bullet-resistant glass the ability to stop bullets?

Different manufacturers make different variations of bullet-resistant glass, but it is basic ...

This floor is completely flat.

If you are into purchasing organic foods, you are likely the type of person who reads the ingredients label of everything you buy. A common food ingredient found in organic foods is citric acid. The name of the chemical reminds us of citrusy fruits, but have you ever questioned why it is used, where it comes from, or how it is produced? Or do you simply trust the ingredients of products labelled 'organic'?

Most consumers will assume that citric acid is naturally extracted from fruit sources, such as lemons and limes, and used as a "natural" alternative to chemical preservatives, but that's far from the truth. The citric acid found in jarred foods and beverages is typically manufactured in factories using a species of black mold called Asperg ...

When it comes to the animal kingdom, we often find ourselves marveling at the diversity of species that inhabit our planet. Regardless of our differences, the more we delve into the intricacies of genetics and biology, the more we realize just how interconnected all life on Earth truly is. One remarkable example of this interconnectedness is the relationship between humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees. Despite the differences in their "personality" traits, our DNA tells a compelling story of our shared ancestry with these incredible primates.

Bonobos and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom, are often viewed as two sides of the same evolutionary coin. While they share approximately 98 percent of their DNA with each ot ...

Three 2,000-year-old Greek mosaics have been unearthed on the Syrian border. They're said to be among the most extraordinary mosaics to survive from the ancient world.

Described as the first “truly feasible” contraption to reduce ocean plastic, this little wheel has been clearing rubbish out of Baltimore's harbour since May.

Take a good look at this premature child. It's hard to deny that it isn't a fully formed human being, though in some parts of the world, abortions at the second and third trimester are perfectly legal

Thoughts are welcome.

This guy brings new meaning to the phrase “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”


The Venezuela Pebble Toad is a strange creature. It is typically found in mountainous regions, with many slopes and inclines. The toad is only about the size of a fingertip. As such, it is vulnerable to attacks from even a spider, like a tarantula.

The Pebble Toad has an ingenious defence mechanism. When faced with a danger, it tucks its limbs and head under its body and tenses its muscles. Forming a ball shape, it begins to roll down whatever slope it happens to be on. This allows it to evade whatever predator may be pursuing it. Since they are so tiny and their muscles are so rigid, they take no damage from the bouncing and rolling.

The Pebble Toad was featured in t ...

A reminder of how quickly we integrate technology into our lives.


St. Peter's Square in 2005 and yesterday.

Hidden within the vibrant red hues of a ripe tomato lies a secret that has excited taste buds and intrigued culinary experts for centuries. We're talking about monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG. While often associated with Chinese cuisine, MSG's natural presence in tomatoes adds a layer of complexity to the flavor profile of this beloved fruit (see vegetable).

MSG is a naturally occurring compound found in various foods. This flavor-enhancing substance gained notoriety in the mid-20th century when it was widely used as a food additive to intensify umami flavor – the so-called "fifth taste" that imparts a rich and savory sensation to dishes.

MSG was originally isolated from kombu seaweed by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908. Its ...

These lamps, designed by Yukio Takana from Japan, use mushroom-shaped LEDs, bits of driftwood, and salvage lumber to create something that has a kitsch or whimsical quality.

One use for matrix math is in programming 3D engines for video games. A single point on the screen can be defined as a vector. The TV or computer screen is two-dimensional only, so to create the look of depth, objects must change size as they come closer to the viewer or go farther back into the scene. An image is made up of hundreds or thousands of vectors. By multiplying this set or matrix, you can change its size. You can also multiply the vector array by another array, which allows you to rotate the image. In rotation, parts of the image become ...