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Don't try this at home
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A ganzfeld experiment is a technique used in the field of parapsychology to test individuals for extrasensory perception (ESP). It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce the ganzfeld effect, an effect similar to sensory deprivation.The ganzfeld effect has been utilized in many studies of the neuroscience of perception, not only parapsychology. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive to inwardly generated impressions.The technique was devised by Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s as part of his investigation into the gestalt theory. ...
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8007 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
When spiders and trees collide
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An unexpected side-effect of the 2010 flooding in parts of Sindh, Pakistan, was that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters; because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water took so long to recede, many trees became cocooned in spiders webs. People in the area had never seen this phenomenon before, but they also reported that there were less mosquitos than they would have expected, given the amount of standing water that was left. Not being bitten by mosquitoes was one small blessing for people that had lost everything in the floods. ...
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6672 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Are the laws of physics the same everywhere on Earth?
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The vortex is a spherical field of force, or a magnetic disturbance. The vortex is 165 feet in diameter and sits half way above ground and half below. The disturbance, or vortex causes unexplainable changes in perception, causing naturally occurring visual and perceptual phenomena that has been caught on film many times. Within the spherical distortion, people stand at an angle. The disturbance alters your relative gravity, causing you to stand at an angle of varying degrees. It is not possible for someone to stand vertical inside the vortex. It will also make someone who is walking away, seem taller, or shorter depending on where you stand. Balls roll uphill, brooms stand straight up and down on their own, and chairs appear to be held up b ...
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6577 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Preserved Baby Dinosaur!
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It’s a pretty rare event to find complete fossils in good condition. After millions of years any number of things could happen to destroy fossils before they are discovered and documented by scientists, if the animal even fossilizes at all. Finding well preserved baby animals is particularly hard, since they are more likely to have gotten trampled or eaten after their death. Phillip Currie from the University of Alberta has recently uncovered a juvenile Chasmosaurus belli that was so complete and intact, he was actually able to speculate about the cause of death. Chasmosaurus belli is commonly found in British Columbia, Canada. It is a relative of the triceratops and has the familiar ornamental frill. Up to this point, all of the skeletons h ...
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6953 |
ehd123 |
10 years ago |
Why do tigers swim?
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Often dealing with hot, sweaty climates, tigers have learned to enjoy water, using it as a way to cool off, capture prey and relax.
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7908 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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5336 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
See-through animal!
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The transparent glass frog is found in Venezuela. It is made up of many specialized cells that have different functions. They form different parts of this organism, which are easy to see through its “glass” skin.
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5895 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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6094 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Plants can be albino too!
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This is an albino redwood tree, with white needles instead of green because it's unable to produce chlorophyll. In order to survive, albino redwoods must join their roots to those of a normal redwood to obtain nutrients. Found in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Humboldt Redwoods State Park in the US, there are only around 20 known albino redwoods in the world, and their exact whereabouts have been kept secret as protection.
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5709 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's cleanest bacteria
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A bacterium previously unknown to science was found in two spacecraft clean rooms, one in Florida and the other in Guiana. Space agencies use these rooms to prepare spacecraft for launch and are considered two of the most sterile places on Earth.
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5727 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Massive predatory worm
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The king ragworm is a skilled hunter found in the northern hemisphere. The worm, which can grow over 120 cm long, also uses chemical signals to judge the risk of predation in the area.
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5254 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Zonkey?
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This is Ippo, a three-month-old Italian zonkey. She is the result of a union between a male zebra and a female Amiata donkey, which is an endangered breed of donkey native to southern Tuscany. Genetic differences between the zebra and the donkey - donkeys have 62 chromosomes and zebras have between 32 and 46 - mean that hybrids like this are most often the result of a male zebra pairing with a female donkey. So far there have only been three recorded cases of a male donkey siring a zebra hybrid. ...
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4474 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Why do men have bigger noses than women?
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Men’s noses are 10% larger than female's. Males generally have leaner muscles and need more oxygen for muscle growth and maintenance—and larger noses mean more oxygen can be breathed. A new study found that the difference in nose size between males and females of European descent starts showing in early puberty, when 95% of body weight gain in males comes from fat-free mass, compared to 85% in females.
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6480 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Crows are impressive
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Nature always finds a way. Natural materials can be hard to come by in large cities, so the very industrious crows living in Tokyo, Japan occasionally resort to stealing clothes hangers from people's apartments to carefully assemble them into nests.
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4389 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Metal-coated animal
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This little guy on the left is the iron sulphide secreting scaly-foot gastropod. It's the only animal known to plate itself with metal and lives in a thermal vent deep in the ocean. But last year scientists found a pale, genetically identical version of the species (on the right) that doesn't secrete metal, leading scientists to question what the purpose of the armour really is.
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6058 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Oldest recorded tortoise
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The oldest recorded tortoise was Tu'i Malila, who died in 1965 aged 188. The tortoise in the image was named Harriet, and was the third oldest recorded tortoise.
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5053 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Getting hit by lightning gives you a special scar
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Lasting on the skin for hours or days, the Lichtenberg Figure is caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin when the lightning current passes through it. They're a major way that forensic scientists can tell a lightning victim's cause of death.
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4886 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A fish that spits
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Besides what we probably have seen while watching The Little Mermaid - fish singing and playing instruments, Finding Nemo, Shark Tale - whale being cleaned at a whale wash! , or even Spongebob Square pants - making hamburgers that is, have you ever seen or heard of a spitting fish? Well, I have not, until today.. Apparently, the archerfish from the family Toxotidea, literally "spit" to catch their prey. It is like a frog, but upgraded, in the sense that it catches insects and land based prey without a weapon, or a physical means. It just teleports its prey from above water, into the water by knocking it out via shooting water droplets. The missile strength of the water droplet is created and altered based on how far and how big their prey is ...
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6248 |
ehd123 |
10 years ago |
Bipolar Vitamin C
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It is extremely essential, that it is your guardian angel in times of stress and need, maintaining your relaxed pain-free state, while keeping your internal pluming up an going.. I like to call it the secondary police of the cell, after the primary cell cycle genes, that is. Not only does it go around making sure all compounds are receiving and exchanging electrons, but it is also among the military forces of the cell. It stands loyal to the cell when it is being invaded. When the cell's economy is no longer stable, mischievous backstabbers- bacteria and viruses or even toxins- love to take action and bring the cell city down, and that happens when there is a lack of electrons circulating, which is when Vitamin C military forces are cut bac ...
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6276 |
ehd123 |
10 years ago |
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3858 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Are silent farts worse?
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On average, they are, because they tend to contain more sulphur, which is what gives farts their unpleasant smell. Loud farts, on the other hand, tend to contain more nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which are all odourless gases.
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5180 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
How to stand out in Australia
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A 2-year-old albino kangaroo has been spotted in Canberra’s Namadgi National Park. Albino kangaroos in the wild usually don’t survive because they stand out and become an easy target for predators. Albino animals also have a genetic predisposition towards sight and hearing issues, making life in the wild almost impossible—but Rene(e), which is always surrounded by its mob, has survived against all odds.
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4681 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Volcanic rings
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Mount Etna is blowing smoke rings! The volcano on the coast of Sicily, Italy, is emitting steam rings around 100 metres in diameter.
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3935 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
How much memory does our brain have?
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While it's hard to calculate the memory capacity of the human brain, some estimates have put the number closer to 2.5 petabytes. But this is a great rough comparison.
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7316 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Not all corals live underground
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This is beautiful but deceptive Clavaria zollingeri, also known as the violet or magenta coral. But contrary to its name, it doesn't live underwater - it's a species of fungus that grows in woodland areas in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
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6788 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Birds with purple crowns
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These beautiful birds are called purple-crowned fairy wrens, endemic to northern Australia. The picture was taken by ornithologists (bird banders) studying the birds as part of population monitoring in Australia. The way they are holding them is called "photographer's grip" which gently secures the legs while keeping the rest of the bird free. Handling time is generally very short.
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5925 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Meeting of the waters
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A pink Amazon river dolphin on the warm side of the "Meeting of the Waters." This is where the sandy Amazon River meets the dark waters of the Rio Negro in Manaus, Brazil. A strong density gradient contributes to their visible separation, as well as a significant temperature difference - the Amazon flows at around 22°C, while the Rio Negro is around 28°C.
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6630 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Dental hygiene and the rainforest
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Chewing sticks are used by many people instead of toothbrushes. The neem tree grows in many Asian, African, and Middle Eastern countries. Indigenous people in these areas know that chewing neem twigs is good for their teeth. The epidermal tissues contain chemicals that kill bacteria and reduce inflammation. The study of how indigenous (native) plants are used by different cultures is known as ethnobotany.
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7295 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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3811 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Wombats have cube-shaped poop
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Wombat droppings are cube-shaped. This prevents them from rolling away when marking their territory. These cube-shaped poop looks like, but doesn't taste like chocolate brownies.
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12065 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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6261 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Frozen methane bubbles
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Abraham Lake lies in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. The view is breathtaking, especially during wintertime, when methane bubbles freeze right underneath the surface, creating eerie cloud-like formations. The phenomenon has a simple explanation: plants on the lake bed release methane bubbles, which freeze once they’re close enough to the surface. In springtime, when the ice starts to thaw, the gas is released into the atmosphere.
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5240 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Butterfly tongue
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This is a coiled butterfly tongue magnified 60 times.
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5247 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Tree shaping and living furniture
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Artist Peter Cook sculpted this chair by controlling how the tree grew through a process he invented called "pooktre." Can you imagine the patience that must be needed to complete a project like this?
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5442 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Can you guess the length of a giraffe's tongue?
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Hungry? A snacking giraffe showing off its blue/black tongue, which can grow 45 to 50 cm long. The dark colour protects the species' prehensile tongues from sun damage during long periods of exposure, when its helping the giraffe navigate between thorns and leaves.
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8916 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Glow-in-the-dark ice cream
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And it's $235 a scoop! The ice cream was created by UK company Lick Me I'm Delicious in time for Halloween, and was inspired by glowing jellyfish. It's made using a synthetic, calcium-activated version of the protein that makes jellyfish luminescent, and lights up when you lick it. However, inventor Charlie Harry Francis didn't offer much reassurance on whether the product was safe to eat, writing on his blog: "Well I tried some and I don't seem to be glowing anywhere, so we'll go with a yes for now." ...
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3647 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
This is the way scientists doodle
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A glimpse into the mind of a Nobel Prize winner - this doodle was made by physicist T.D. Lee during talks with Chen Ning Yang, while both were visiting scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US in 1956. Their discussions led to radical questioning of one of physics' basic principles and resulted in the duo being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 for discovering that the supposedly absolute law of parity conservation had been violated. ...
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4238 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Tree climbing goats
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Found in Morocco, they climb these Argan tree in search of food. It's hard to imagine that animals with hooves could be so adept at climbing but these images are 100% real. Food is fairly sparse in this area, so they have to grab it when they can - even if it's high up in a tree! The secret to their ability to climb lies in the shape of their hooves. The keratin reinforced hoof wall adds strength, while the soft textured sole provides traction and grip. It's also capable of deforming inwards to counter irregularities in the terrain. Their toes are capable of operating independently giving them more of a "grip". These hooves evolved to allow the goats to climb rocky, mountainous areas - but they've shifted ecosystems to the trees! ...
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3883 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's rarest bird
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The Bali myna ( Leucopsar rothschildi) is one of the rarest birds in the world. Thanks to poaching, their wild population hit an all-time low of just six individuals in 2001, but their numbers have since increased to around 50 wild mature birds. And just this month, the Bali Starling Conservation Project, which is home to 100 Bali mynas, has celebrated the birth of four healthy chicks to add to their breeding program. ...
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3973 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2614 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Rare whale sighting
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Considered the rarest whale population in the world, a North Pacific right whale ( Eubalaena japonica) is an incredible sight to see. And for just the second time since 1951, one of these 17-metre-long creatures was spotted off the coast of British Columbia.
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2472 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Pareidolia
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It looks spooky, but this is actually an image of a salt lake in Western Australia's Gibson Desert taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station. It's an example of how our brains often take random patterns and see them as faces or other familiar figures (like a ghost in this case), a psychological phenomenon called pareidolia. ...
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3127 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2908 |
duddy |
10 years ago |