Many of us begin a new year hoping to become better versions of ourselves. Some aim to improve their health, others focus on personal goals, and of course, expanding our knowledge is always a win.
That’s why today we’ve compiled a collection of random and wonderfully weird facts from a popular Facebook page. Some are surprising, some are amusing, and all of them are worth a moment of your attention. Keep scrolling to discover facts that might just stick with you.
This post may include affiliate links.
Five cubs. One mother. A biological miracle.
For the first time in history, camera traps in China captured an Amur tigress traveling with 5 healthy cubs. This species was nearly extinct decades ago.
Nature is healing. One tiger family at a time.
Source: Wildlife Conservation Society
That photo is AI garbage. I will include an actual photo from the camera trap below.
"Nature is healing" is a wild claim at this point in history. There are a few good news stories here and there, but on the whole nature is facing catastrophic decline rather than "healing"
That's because the image is AI slop. For the real photo look at the first reply to Multa Nocte's top post
Load More Replies...For years doctors blamed hormones. Turns out bacteria might be the real cause.
Researchers found Fusobacterium linked to endometriosis lesions. Antibiotics reduced growth and pain in early tests.
Still early. But millions of women are watching closely.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Nagoya University
So you're telling me that my breasts *aren't* supported by my fallopian tubes?
Load More Replies...PLEASE keep an eye on it! Big Pharma/Insurance hears that there's something out there that might help, they'll buy out the patent and bury it so they can keep making money on pain and suffering!
howdylee 1/2: that's not how it works. Really. Current treatment for endometriosis is painkillers, which are mostly cheap generic medicines. "Big pharma" simply doesn't do much research into antibiotics any more because there's little profit to be made - new antibiotics are those intended to be used as a last resort, so sales have to be small. In this case: fusobacterium has been identified in "64% of individuals affected by endometriosis" with a "prevalence of under 10% in females not afflicted by the condition". Also: "this bacterium has been painstakingly pinpointed within the endometrial lining". Research has shown that existing antibiotics are effective in treating endometriosis in mice. Obvious this is no use for the 36% of women endometriosis sufferers without fusobacterium infection, but it's still hopeful.
Load More Replies..."Fusobacterium infection facilitates the development of endometriosis through the phenotypic transition of endometrial fibroblasts". "Fusobacterium was found in the endometrium and endometrial lesions of [64%] of patients with endometriosis, but only 7% of controls" Source: Science translational medicine. Full abstract freely available at the link following.
I am very sorry, but they mixed up endometritis and endometriosis...
Yayheterogeneity: I did a search for "endometritis fusobacterium". The research definitely links fusobacterium to endometriosis: "this specific bacterium has emerged as a prominent player, having been identified in a substantial 64% of individuals affected by endometriosis." Next post is the link to a letter published in J Midlife Health, 2024 Jul 5;15(2):131–132. "Unraveling Endometriosis: Is Fusobacterium the Culprit for Endometriosis"
Load More Replies...No lungs required. Oxygen delivered straight to your blood.
Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital developed an injectable foam packed with microscopic oxygen bubbles. It bypasses the lungs entirely and delivers oxygen directly into tissues.
This could buy 15 to 30 critical minutes during drowning, asthma attacks, or airway blockage. Enough time to save a life.
Source: Boston Children's Hospital / Science Translational Medicine
Can keep you alive long enough until you reach the space aliens at the bottom of the ocean. Not necessarily a one-way trip. But still keep the wedding ring as +1 armor.
...during drowning? Let me just whip out my oxygen foam filled syringe whilst I drown.
The Boston Children's Hospital says: "Sometimes, hypoxemia caused by airway obstruction or lung disease can be so severe that methods to boost low-oxygen levels (including the placement of a breathing tube) are ineffective. A patient can have cardiac arrest, potentially leading to severe organ damage. Research has shown that as many as 40 percent of in-hospital cardiac arrests are triggered by low-oxygen levels."
Load More Replies..."Oxygen delivered straight to your blood." But you get a note from DoorDash that the foam was out of stock, so they substituted it with drain cleaner because that was the only thing available that was the same price. (That will be a mandatory 25% tip.)
"The new gas carrier is a microbubble that’s engineered with a solid-like polymer shell which, after being triggered by blood pH, dissolves into tiny soluble molecules that can then be excreted from the body. That makeup keeps the drúg stable in storage and allows it to be injected during critical situations such as cardiac arrest." and “Injecting gas into your bloodstream is considered a horrible idea, and people would be afraid of that as a solution on its own,” Peng says. “But as long as that bubble dissolves quickly, you can actually inject a lot.” and "There are a lot of other gases we can put in and there are a lot of other medical situations suitable for a focused amount of gas delivery. " Boston Children's Hospital. Link follows.
All the facts in this post are fascinating, and yes, your brain really can remember them all. We tend to underestimate our memory, like it’s a small notebook that fills up fast. In reality, it’s closer to a massive library that keeps expanding. Every day, your brain quietly stores faces, sounds, skills, and random trivia without you even noticing. That ability is built into how the brain is wired. Forgetfulness isn’t about running out of space. It’s usually just about organization and attention.
It's not laziness. It's biology.
Studies show women's brains multitask more and use more neural pathways. That extra workload means more recovery time needed at night.
She's not oversleeping. Her brain just ran harder than yours.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Sleep Research
I'm a fella and I don't doubt this at all. My lady is brilliant and I'm a dofus.
Load More Replies...And researchers have found musician's brains are much more active and have more interconnections than non musicians.
This tree hasn’t existed since the Roman Empire. Until now.
Archaeologists germinated 2,000-year-old seeds from the Judean Desert. The resulting date palm, named Methuselah, is now growing and producing fruit.
A taste from antiquity brought back to life.
Source: Science Advances
Are the Methuselah's seeds true to its parent? Or what the eng name is for this? Edit true to seed?
According to Wikipedia the first one that germinated was a male plant, but several later ones produced female trees, and at least one of them was pollinated with pollen from the male tree, and the resulting seeds have also germinated.
Load More Replies...While a marvel, I'm greatly dismayed about all the weed seeds I'm hoping will d*****f over the years. My anticipated timeline may need adjustment.
We also have a kind of wheat that hasn't grown since Egyptian times. It seems to have been raised for beer.
Heart surgery is about to become an injection.
Researchers developed a pacemaker so small it fits inside a syringe needle. No incision. No operating room. It gets injected directly under the skin.
When you don't need it anymore, it dissolves harmlessly inside your body. No second surgery.
One tiny shot. Temporary protection. Then gone.
Source: Nature
"It dissolves harmlessly when you don't need it any more"? What keeps it from dissolving while you still need it?
"Not needed any more" means the vendor shut down the authentication servers.
Load More Replies...Oh dear, this is going to be food for the vaccination/5G conspiracy nuts, isn't it?
From Northwestern University: "the pacemaker is particularly well-suited to the tiny, fragile hearts of newborn babies with congenital heart defects." "the pacemaker is paired with a small, soft, flexible, wireless, wearable device that mounts onto a patient’s chest to control pacing. When the wearable device detects an irregular heartbeat, it automatically shines a light pulse to activate the pacemaker. These short pulses— which penetrate through the patient’s skin, breastbone and muscles — control the pacing. Designed for patients who only need temporary pacing, the pacemaker simply dissolves after it’s no longer needed. All the pacemaker’s components are biocompatible, so they naturally dissolve into the body’s biofluids, bypassing the need for surgical extraction." Link follows.
Thank you for the reasearched explanation. Now it makes sense.
Load More Replies...Who decides when you don't need it anymore? In the US, that's probably some cost-cutting drudge working for your health insurance provider, rather than your body or your doctor.
Lotekguy: it's a medical decision whether you need a permanent or temporary pacemaker. Medics won't give you a temporary pacemaker if you need a permanent one. That'd be unethical. A medical insurance company, such firms having no regard for ethics, might deny you a permanent pacemaker, but that's a different matter.
Load More Replies...One tiny shot? Really? And where do you buy your rice? Anything the size of a rice grain is going to take a very large needle and it's going to hurt like hell. (yes, better than surgery but certainly not the picnic being described) I worked with an asbestos lung victim and he had to have fluid drawn off his lungs every year, a needle that left a hole large enough to require a bandage but not big enough to pass a grain of rice. (No, I never saw it but he told me about it in great detail. Something I hate to even imagine enduring)
That's not how pacemakers work! They are basically a small defibrillator planted on your heart & when your heart starts beating irregularly or slows, it shocks you. It's not as big of a shock as a defib but enough to get things going.
Another b******t content. I'm sorry people these are all ia generated bs facts...
tameson: I suggest that you provide your helpful comments without a link, then add a second comment post containing just the link. The reason is that Bored Panda automatically hides and downvotes comments with links in them. If you make a comment without a link, it'll remain visible, and people will know to unhide the following comment. This particular story was released by Northwestern University on 2nd April 2025 - if they'd put it out the day before, no-one would have believed it. From tameson's link: "World’s smallest pacemaker is activated by light Tiny device can be inserted with a syringe, then dissolves after it’s no longer needed". Tameson's link follows.
Load More Replies...The human brain’s memory capacity is staggering when you look at the science behind it. Researchers estimate that the average adult brain can store trillions of bytes of information. To put that in perspective, that’s far beyond the storage of most personal computers. In one Stanford study, scientists focused on the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for thinking, perception, and memory. They found that it contains around 125 trillion synapses. That’s not cells, just the connections between them.
Lions have a secret frequency we never detected.
AI acoustic analysis revealed lions emit ultra-low infrasound “roars” inaudible to humans. This silent signal lets prides coordinate hunts across 5 miles without alerting prey.
They’ve been communicating in silence the whole time.
Source: Animal Behaviour
"Communicating in silence" is something Họmo Sapiens needs to work on.
Correction: it's something Trump needs to work on.
Load More Replies.......and here is me saying "oh, big kitty yawn" meanwhile he is gathering his pals for a feast!
There is a vast spectra of sound and light that humans can't see or hear. It's not that long ago that we couldn't "hear" bats - until someone made a device to reduce the frequencies to our hearing range. Same with light - infrared and ultraviolet are used by both plants and animals to communicate and we can't see either without special equipment.
This sentence was inherently wrong when it was typed: Lions have a secret frequency we never detected.
I doubt scientists have overlooked this, we've known for years that elephants communicate via infrasound. Elephants and lions share the same habitat, ergo listening for elephants is likely to show up lions too - and anything else that communicates that way.
Listen, infrasound is a real thing and it can pretty mess you up a lot...🙉
Infrasound is one of the few things that puts me immediately on edge. I live in an earthquate zone.
Load More Replies...Sarah Baker: "A common misconception suggests male lions do not participate in hunting, relying solely on lionesses for food. While females are often observed as primary hunters, male lions are capable and active hunters. They play a significant role in the pride’s sustenance and survival, with hunting behaviors adapted to their distinct physical attributes and social responsibilities." link follows.
Load More Replies...They were gone for nearly 20 years. Now they're flying free again.
Spix's macaws disappeared from the wild in the early 2000s due to habitat destruction and trafficking. Only captive birds remained.
After decades of breeding and habitat restoration, they've officially been reintroduced. Extinction isn't always permanent.
Source: Institute for Conservation of Tropical Environments
Yes. It's a headline grapping statement from someone who obviously doesn't know what the word 'extinct' actually means.
Load More Replies...What you're neglecting to mention is that it takes a near miracle and a LOT of money to bring back what we've destroyed.
Kyle Simonson: hmm. Often a lot of money and a lot of time, but not necessarily a "near miracle". The Thames in London had lost almost all of its life by the early 19th century, wiped out by pollution. The clean-up started with the construction of the London sewers (1865) and continued for well over a century. The Thames in London was still mostly dead when I was born (industrial pollution continued to be a problem). Now, it's not - the water isn't regarded as safe for swimming, but it's got high enough oxygen and low enough pollution that normal river life has returned.
Load More Replies...No injections. No pumps. Just cells doing what they were built to do.
Chinese researchers implanted stem cells programmed to produce insulin. Some patients maintained stable blood sugar for months without external help.
Still early. But this targets the cause, not the symptoms.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences / Diabetes Research
When I first glanced at the picture, whatever organ that is supposed to be in the picture, it look like some form of chicken nugget to me.
They can replace the calls which secrete insulin using stem cells, but as diabetes 1 is an autoimmune disease the killer T white blood cells will only destroy them again. Research needs to tackle the cause.
pipboo: the trial I've found out about involved Type 2 diabetes. "The 59-year-old man, who had Type 2 diabetes for 25 years, has been completely weaned off insulin for 33 months, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital announced on May 7. A paper about the medical breakthrough, achieved after more than a decade of endeavor by a team of doctors at the hospital, was published on the website of the journal Cell Discovery on April 30. It is the first reported instance in the world of a case of diabetes with severely impaired pancreatic islet function being cured via stem cell-derived autologous, regenerative islet transplantation, the hospital said. The most common pancreatic islet cells produce insulin." Link follows.
Load More Replies...Neurons are the brain’s messengers, constantly sending signals back and forth. Synapses act like tiny bridges, allowing those messages to cross from one neuron to another. Another study estimated that a single synapse can store about 4.7 bits of information. That might sound small, but the numbers add up fast. When billions of neurons are connected by trillions of synapses, the brain becomes incredibly efficient. It’s less like a filing cabinet and more like a living network.
Some moths don’t drink nectar. They drink tears.
In Madagascar, moths sneak up on sleeping birds and insert their proboscis directly into the bird’s eye to extract tears. They need the salt.
The bird stays asleep. The moth gets its fix. Nature is unsettling.
Source: Ecology and Evolution
They are not sleeping, they are sad because of mean Moths! "You fleabag!" 😢
SEE HONEY! It's Nature! (My girlfriend thinks it's creepy when I do this.)
A study found that octopuses rapidly change skin color and texture while sleeping, cycling through patterns used for camouflage when awake. Scientists believe this behavior resembles a REM like sleep state where the brain replays recent experiences. The discovery suggests complex neural activity during sleep in one of the ocean’s most intelligent animals.
If we ever find life on other planets, I expect it to be like these guys. Truly amazing creatures.
Fish gills inspired a plastic-catching breakthrough.
Engineers in Germany developed a filter that mimics how fish gills work. It removes 99% of microplastics from washing machine water without ever clogging.
Nature already solved the problem. We just copied it.
Source: University of Bonn / Environmental Science
It says something sad about the fish who struggle with this in the ocean.
Cuppa tea? The idea is that the microplastics could be pressed into a large plastic lump - a pellet that could be removed by hand and sent to landfill. In any case, better that the microplastics get sent to landfill in any form than sent straight out into the natural water cycle. Or, as happens with modern wastewater treatment plants, caught in sludge and spread on fields as fertilizer. See my link to the University of Bonn article.
Load More Replies...If it doesn't clog someone has to be cleaning or replacing it, then what happens to it?
University of Bonn: "The microplastics that it filters out of the washing water collect in the filter outlet and are then suctioned away several times a minute. According to the researcher, who has now moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, they could then, for example, be pressed in the machine to remove the remaining water. The plastic pellet created in this manner could then be removed every few dozen washes and disposed of with general waste." link follows.
Load More Replies...When you run the math, the scale becomes almost unreal. Take 125 trillion synapses and multiply them by 4.7 bits each. That comes out to roughly several hundred trillion bits of storage. Since about one trillion bytes equals one terabyte, the human brain is often estimated to rival dozens of terabytes of memory. And unlike a hard drive, it’s constantly reorganizing itself.
No scalpel. No drilling. Just drops up the nose.
Scientists loaded nanoparticles with DNA that woke up the brain's immune system. Cold tumors turned hot. The cancer vanished. And the immune system remembered.
Still early. But this could change everything.
Source: Washington University / Northwestern University
Scientific research involves *controlled* trials. I have no problem with this. Try it first on a situation that you know completely, thoroughly, and if that works, move on to trials on normally occurring tumors to see if it works in the general case.
Load More Replies...They call it popcorn lung. Once you have it, it's forever.
Heated vape chemicals destroy lung tissue in ways that don't heal. Most were never tested for inhalation.
The damage is real. And it's completely preventable.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Pulmonary Health Research
What? Sucking chemicals into your lungs might be bad? Why did no one ever think of this?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Multa Nocte: funny thing is, this isn't news to anyone. "Vaping damages young people’s lungs as much as smoking, study suggests" and "‘When I see kids vaping, I warn them: that’s what k****d my daughter’" and "It is telling that studies published by the e-cigarette and tobacco industry are approximately 90 times more likely to find that e-cigarettes cause no harm than those published without such conflicts of interest.” and "for the first time in 30 years, the youth smoking rate has increased in Canada, with e-cigarettes being the suspected cause. [...] E-cigarettes are smoking initiation devices" Links follow.
Load More Replies...Inhaling anything other than air is bad. Vaping hasn't been around long enough yet to know the long term effects such as lung cancer, COPD. I suspect that they'll be a lot of deaths caused by vaping in about 10-20 years.
Norfolk and good: vaping's been around long enough for the short-term harms to have been identified. Many vapes release known toxins such as lead (from the heating element), and none of the carrier fluids or flavourings have been properly tested for harm in humans. Vaping's also linked to an increase in smoking. Basically, kids start on vapes and many then progress on to smoking real cigarettes. I've put some links in another comment in this thread.
Load More Replies...It's a minor semantic quibble. 'Permanent' - Doesn't heal naturally; lasts forever if untreated. 'Irreversible' - Sorry, can't be treated, either.
Load More Replies...World is way overpopulated. If a few Darwin contenders want to fight it out with the anti-vaxxers for the most-promising-to-die, who are we to interfere?
Forget Blackbeard. The greatest pirate ever was a woman.
Ching Shih started as a prostitute. She ended commanding the Red Flag Fleet. Over 1,800 ships. More than 80,000 sailors. A navy that defeated the Chinese imperial fleet.
The wildest part? She's the only major pirate who retired peacefully. Full pardon. Kept her fortune. [Passed away] running a gambling house.
The real king of the seas was a queen.
Source: National Geographic History
You'd think someone would have made the effort.......
Load More Replies...She also forbade the men under her command from rap!ing female captives. Those who did were executed.
That’s the kind of government we are going to be creating.
Load More Replies...Henry Morgan was a very major pirate who retired peacefully. After he left piracy, he was knighted, served as a colonial governor, and died the modern equivalent of a millionaire.
Surely if you lead 80k sailors you're not a pirate but the leader of a people.
Walmart has over two million employees, but those employees don't comprise a separate people. The customers, on the other hand, certainly do.
Load More Replies...And that’s not all — your brain is basically a powerhouse wrapped in fat. In fact, about 60 percent of it is made up of fat, making it the fattiest organ in your entire body. That’s not a bad thing at all. Those fats help your brain cells communicate quickly and efficiently. Think of them as high-quality insulation for your mental wiring. This is why what you eat matters more than you think. Healthy fats help your brain stay sharp, focused, and energized.
It’s 15 inches long. And it hid for centuries.
Australian scientists found a new species of stick bug the size of a forearm. It survived undetected by perfectly mimicking a large tree branch.
Something that big was invisible this whole time. Camouflage taken to the extreme.
Source: Australian Journal of Entomology
We thought narwhal tusks were for fighting or sensing water.
New aerial footage shows them gently poking and flipping fish with their massive tusks. They aren't hunting. Researchers believe it's pure entertainment.
The ocean's most mysterious tooth is actually a giant toy.
Source: Marine Mammal Science
And yet in the AI generated pic the whale is poking the fish's eye out.
It's fun for narwhales to poke fish in the eyes though!
Load More Replies...This wasn't supposed to happen.
Scientists identified a "Grue Jay," the first-ever hybrid between a Green Jay and Blue Jay. These species have been evolving separately for 7 million years.
Two long-lost relatives just created something entirely new.
Source: Audubon Society
I'm tempted to make a joke about 'Of course - Texas wouldn't let them end the pregnancy', but I'll settle for returning to the early days of computer gaming and Zork's running gag, "You have been eaten by a Grue". Who knew it was a bird?
That’s the coolest thing I’ve heard all week! In fact, it’s the coolest thing I’ve heard all year.
Your brain also takes its time growing up. It isn’t fully developed until around age 25, which explains a lot about those early adult years. Brain development starts in the back and slowly moves forward. The final area to mature is the frontal lobe. This is the part responsible for planning, decision-making, and reasoning things through. So if younger people sometimes act before thinking, there’s science behind it. The brain is still finishing its construction project.
It has the eye of the dark lord but eats like a salad lover.
A new Pacu fish discovered in the Amazon has a black stripe that looks exactly like the Eye of Sauron. Despite the villainous name Myloplus sauron, it strictly eats plants.
Evolution has a sense of humor.
Source: Neotropical Ichthyology
Those look like the teeth of a predator. Plants don't usually try to escape their fate.
They showed a Piranha but mentioned a Pacu, not the same fish, Pacu have disturbingly human like teeth.
Load More Replies...Oh Evolution! You and your clever use of a LOTR reference! Are there limits to your pop culture knowledge to humorously use for humorous evolutionary designs with your sense of humour? /s
In parts of Africa honeyguide birds have evolved a rare partnership with humans by leading them to hidden beehives. After people collect the honey the birds feed on the leftover wax which they cannot access alone. This cooperation shows how animal intelligence and human behavior can shape each other over time.
These clever birds also change their call to let humans know when they're getting close to the hive. Not sure I'd want to tangle with African bees!
That's why the birds get the crazy humans to deal with the bees.
Load More Replies...Humans - and honey badgers, as I learned waaaay back on "Animals are Beautiful People"
Oh my god, something is seriously wrong with my brain today. I thought that said the birds do this in trade for earwax!
The Pantheon has stood for 2,000 years. Now we know why.
Researchers found raw Roman concrete ingredients at an unfinished Pompeii site. The secret? Volcanic ash that triggers a chemical reaction over time, sealing cracks automatically.
The concrete doesn't decay. It gets stronger.
Source: MIT / Science Advances
The actual "magic" ingredient in Roman concrete is the combination of quicklime and volcanic dust called pozzolana. Wikipedia says: "The strength and longevity of Roman 'marine' concrete is understood to benefit from a reaction of seawater with a mixture of volcanic ash and quicklime to create a rare crystal called tobermorite, which may resist fracturing. As seawater percolated within the tiny cracks in the Roman concrete, it reacted with phillipsite naturally found in the volcanic rock and created aluminous tobermorite crystals. The result is a candidate for "the most durable building material in human history". In contrast, modern concrete exposed to saltwater deteriorates within decades"
Load More Replies...I thought we had known this for years, but builders don't do it because it's too expensive
.. or planned obsolescence (why would you build something that lasts forever?)
Load More Replies...I remember seeing this on a programme in the 80's, so not exactly new.
Despite everything it does, the brain runs on about 20 watts of power. That’s roughly the same energy needed to light up a small bulb. All that nonstop activity means it needs regular downtime. Sleep is when the brain cleans up, strengthens connections, and keeps important pathways in shape. Without enough rest, those systems start to lag. Good sleep isn’t a luxury; it’s essential maintenance. Your brain works best when it’s well rested.
They were everywhere. Now they're gone.
Osedax worms swarm whale carcasses and devour the bones. But a 2025 deep-sea expedition found them completely missing from their usual habitats.
Something changed in the deep ocean. We don't know what.
Source: Deep-Sea Research
We're responsible for many extinctions, it should not be too difficult to pin this one on us, too.
Oxygen without sunlight. It shouldn't be possible. But it's happening.
Researchers discovered metallic nodules on the deep seafloor that split water and release oxygen like batteries. No photosynthesis required.
Life in the deep ocean may not depend on the sun at all. We've been wrong about how oxygen works down there.
Source: Nature Geoscience
Turn 'em loose on Horta Eggs. They'll get what they deserve.
Load More Replies...For years, scientists argued Nanotyrannus was just a teenage T. rex.
New microscopic analysis of a fossil's hyoid bone settled the debate. These were fully-grown pygmy tyrannosaurs.
The king of dinosaurs just got a terrifying little cousin.
Source: Journal of Paleontology
Still can't compete with the absolute terrors we have today called "children".
Load More Replies...And finally, your brain has an incredible sense of smell. It can recognize and remember more than 50,000 different scents. That’s why a single smell can instantly bring back a memory from years ago. Scent is deeply tied to emotion and memory in the brain. It’s faster and more powerful than sight or sound when it comes to recall. One whiff can transport you to another time and place. Your brain never forgets a good smell.
Google: "a recent study published in Ethology found that cats meow more frequently and louder at male owners compared to female owners, suggesting they adapt their vocalizations to get attention, possibly because men are perceived as responding less or needing clearer signals". Does this mean nagging is cross-species?
Yeah! Stop nagging! If a man says he'll fix the plumbing then he WILL fix the plumbing! There's no need to come at him about it every three weeks! /S The study did also state that "men are perceived as responding less or needing clearer signals", so pretty much the only way out seems to be to shut up and passive aggressively do whatever it is themselves - and then have men complain that their partners are standoffish, don't have time for them, and are no fun. (sorry, rant over, but it hit a sore spot) Jokes aside: We're all individuals in the end - even the cats.
Load More Replies...The reason apparently is due to men being less reactive, the cat has to put in more effort to get the desired response from men
"Manipulation" sonds somewhat negative. Technically every communication is "manipulation", because you cause someone else's behaviour to change - even if only by hearing you and then ignoring you. The cats likely do whatever proves to have the most effective result at a minimum of effort, and then stick to it, i.e. "learn". When the minimum doesn't work they up the scales, as is customary in every kind of communication.
Baby girl, cat empress of the house, says this is absolutely true. She does mEoW more at my son than at me.
My cats are virtually silent. I don't think I do anything directly to cause it, but I'm not complaining.
An unusual characteristic of the platypus is the complete lack of a digestive sac that secretes acid. Evolution suggests this organ was lost because its diet—soft-bodied invertebrates—does not require the intense chemical processing that strong stomach acid provides. This unique anatomy makes the platypus, already famous for its bill and venom, an even stranger anomaly in the mammalian world and a perfect example of evolutionary adaptation to a specific niche diet.
Well they ARE put together from spare parts. They were all out of stomachs that day!
The "Cairo Toe," crafted from wood and leather, shows wear patterns consistent with regular use, proving it was a functional device intended to help the wearer walk, long before the advent of modern orthopedics. Dating back to between 950 and 710 BCE, this incredible find demonstrates that ancient Egyptian medicine possessed sophisticated knowledge of anatomy and had the compassion and skill to improve physical mobility for its citizens.
I had to look at the first line twice before I realized it WASN'T "camel toe".
Well, the human brain truly is a wonder — just like the fascinating facts you’ve just read. Which of these facts surprised you the most, or made you stop and think for a moment? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know which one stuck with you.
This crystal follows patterns but never repeats. That shouldn't exist in nature.
Scientists found a "quasicrystal" inside the Khatyrka meteorite. Its atomic structure defies the rules we thought governed all matter.
It's 4.5 billion years old. Formed before Earth existed. And it's still challenging everything we know about physics.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Bill Swallow: quasicrystals break the "Crystallographic restriction theorem" which was never a fundamental law of physics but an observation that "the rotational symmetries of a crystal are usually limited to 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and 6-fold." There's a lot of stuff out there on the subject, most of which whooshes far over my head.
Load More Replies...All that trouble to create an AI image and they still manage to s***w up the label: "Impossile"
This battery never needs to be plugged in. It feeds on humidity.
Researchers created a power source that harvests energy from water vapor. A protein-based film absorbs moisture and generates a continuous electrical current.
It works indoors. Outdoors. Anywhere there's humidity. Which is basically everywhere.
Wearables that never die. Sensors that run forever. We've been surrounded by free energy this whole time.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
This is the same theory that says my grandfather's '38 Buick had a carb that would deliver 56mpg, but the first time he took it in for service, they removed it, and that technology has been hidden because the oil companies didn't want it known. Meanwhile billion$ have been spent looking for ways to improve fuel economy. Sorry, Charlie, technology doesn't work that way. Battery manufacturers aren't in business to make batteries, they're in business to make money. If they can make more money by making better batteries, they will make better batteries.
Load More Replies...It's true, (from 2020) "the so-called Air-gen technology links electrodes with electrically conductive protein nanowires synthesized by the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens. The unique combination is capable of generating electricity from moisture that is naturally present in the air." but also: "Great progress in MEG [moisture-induced electricity generation] has been achieved from material synthesis to device design. However, realizing truly continuous electricity generation is a great challenge for conventional MEG devices". Links follow.
The New York City Subway is one of the world's most extensive public transport systems, but what most riders don't see is the hidden city below the active lines. Beneath the streets of Manhattan and the outer boroughs lies a sprawling network of abandoned stations, decommissioned platforms, and miles of unused track. These tracks were built during the early 20th century, anticipating rapid expansion and rival private lines. For example, below City Hall is a cathedral-like station with vaulted ceilings and brass chandeliers that hasn't seen a passenger since 1945. This extensive ghost network represents a massive, unused urban relic—a testament to grand, forgotten ambition—hidden just feet below millions of commuters every day.
Sorry if this sounds stupid, but ist there no way to make use of these otherwise wasted resources? AFAIK space is at a premium in New York. The transit areas and tunnels must be somewhat accessible and sturdy (they were meant to be used constantly by millions of people for decades). Can't they be converted to some sort of housing or shelter, maybe repurposed as underground market places, museums, fitness areas, or at least for storage?
The answer is, yes, it could be done. All it takes is money. A lot of it. And that means higher taxes.
Load More Replies...Those of us who saw the TMNT2 movie (from the 90s not the modern c**p) know about these places :)
I remember Jerry Springer talked about how Cincinnati had a whole underground system and stations built but they ran out of money when they were nearly finished, so there's a 90% completed network that has never been used.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure, fortified structure carved into the Arctic permafrost, making it resistant to natural disasters and power failures (the permafrost acts as a natural freezer). It holds duplicate "backup" copies of crop seeds from collections worldwide. This global effort is humanity's insurance policy, ensuring that the genetic diversity necessary to restart agriculture survives any potential worldwide catastrophe.
The way 2026 has already started they might be needed sooner than expected
Veritasium was there 9 y ago. (Not as impressive on the inside though, but nerdier). Link below because of BP.
How is this amazing? Prehistoric squirrels did this in an earlier post.
Spiders are way smarter than we thought.
Orb-weavers were filmed catching male fireflies and wrapping them in a way that forces a "female" mating flash. This fake signal lures in other males who fly straight into the trap.
Nature is brutal.
Source: Current Biology
They’re not eating the shark. Just the liver.
A pod of orcas in the Gulf of California was filmed immobilizing a Great White and biting out only its liver. The rest of the carcass was left untouched.
Surgical precision from an apex predator hunting another apex predator.
Source: Marine Ecology Progress
The more I learn about them, the more terrified I am of them. Although I welcome their destruction of as many yachts as possible.
Load More Replies...Space was built for a certain body. That's changing.
After years of training, a wheelchair user is preparing for launch. Not as inspiration. As proof that systems can be redesigned.
Human limits are no longer the final word.
Source: Space Exploration News
Zero gravity would probly be one hell of an amazing and freeing experience for someone confied to a wheel chair.
Someone who trained and worked toward this specific goal, not a celebrity.
Weird. The background is oriented normally but the foreground of the woman is flipped left-right.
The Cold War got weird. Really weird.
In the 1960s, the CIA surgically implanted microphones into cats to record Soviet conversations. Project Acoustic Kitty cost $20 million.
It was a disaster. Cats don't follow orders. The first spy cat was reportedly hit by a taxi right after deployment.
The program was classified as an "utter failure." Somewhere in CIA archives, there's a file that basically says cats are untrainable.
Source: CIA Declassified Documents
Anyone who has ever owned a cat for more than 5 minutes could have told them this.
Most likely not. There were some really wild projects around that time. CIA or others. Things that would get everyone to question the sanity of anyone involved in the idea today... hopefully.
Load More Replies...I seen this on Unbelievable With Dan Akrod. What happened with the cat, the CIA parked on the opposite side of the street where a Russian spy was sitting on a bench. When the CIA opened the door to the van to let the cat out of the van, it got hit by a passing car. If they had parked on the same side of the street, it might have worked out. We will never know.
Didn't they try training porpoises to deliver mines or something? IIRC after the first "Boom!" the porpoises noped out and the project had to be scrapped.
That's what we love about cats though. Unpredictable, living life on their terms and unapologetic about it. Keeping us humans around for convenience, but not needing to cater to our whims.
Ok BUT there was also a time that cats were (safely) air-dropped onto an island that was having a bubonic plague outbreak, and they eliminated the rats and stopped the epidemic.
It looks like a path to Atlantis. It's not.
Marine researchers exploring the Pacific found what appears to be a man-made brick road on the seafloor. Geologists revealed it's actually volcanic rock that cracked in perfect 90-degree angles from extreme pressure.
Nature built a yellow brick road. No wizards required.
Source: Ocean Exploration Trust
One moment it was there. Then it was gone.
Hubble data released January 1, 2026 shows an exoplanet that literally vanished. In its place? A glowing cloud of debris.
Scientists believe they witnessed two massive planets collide at full speed. A cosmic car crash that obliterated a world in real time.
Source: NASA / Hubble Space Telescope
They ain't just watching, dude. They're helping with the pushing.
Load More Replies...But when worlds collide Said George Pal to his bride I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills Like a Science fiction (ooh-ooh-ooh) double feature Doctor X (ooh-ooh-ooh) will build a creature See androids fighting (ooh-ooh-ooh) Brad and Janet Anne Francis stars in (ooh-ooh-ooh) Forbidden Planet Wo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh At the late night, double feature, picture show
Researchers successfully grew a flowering plant using seeds that had been buried in Siberian permafrost since the Ice Age. The seeds were preserved by prehistoric squirrels in underground burrows, protecting them from decay for tens of thousands of years. The experiment revealed how life can remain dormant for extreme lengths of time and still return when conditions allow.
Because reviving things that have been gone for millennia is always a good idea. Wasn't there a movie about something like this? A bunch of oversized lizards? Didn't end well?
God created plant, God destroys plant, God creates man, Man creates plant, Man destroys God
Cows have accents.
Researchers found that mooing patterns change by region and herd. Pitch. Rhythm. Tone. All shaped by who they grow up with.
It's not genetics. It's community. Even cows learn to talk like their friends.
Source: Animal Communication Research
British cows go 'Moo Bruv, innit' and Aussie cows go 'Moo, ya c**t'
These bears aren't waiting for evolution. They're hacking it.
A population in Southeast Greenland is using "jumping genes" to rewrite their own DNA in real time. Their metabolism is shifting. Their hunting changed. They're surviving on glacier ice while others starve.
Evolution usually takes thousands of years. These bears are doing it now.
Source: Science Magazine
What does this caption even f*****g mean? Are the bears in a lab hacking into their DNA with a program called "jumping genes"? Are they eating the ice?
And the first two sentences don't make sense. That's the definition of evolution...
Load More Replies...Can't wait to see the mouth-breathers try and argue with polar bears that evolution is a hoax.
NO NO NO...whether certain alleles/mutations are more advantageous/less advantageous is changing as the environment changes...the more advantageous an allele/mutation is in an environment, the more offspring with that allele/mutation/trait...if organisms could control when or how to mutate genes, then no species would ever go extinct...
I've seen videos of starving polar bears and it's really heartbreaking to watch...climate change is real!
On the other hand, maybe we should send Trump to Greenland to see the polar bears. Nah, the polar bears would get tired of the noise and all that hot air would melt any ice and snow they have there.
No sugar. No nectar. They started hunting instead.
Long-nosed bats, the primary pollinators for agave, were caught on camera eating aquatic insects to survive the 2025 drought. They abandoned their entire diet.
If the bats don't return to agave, the global tequila supply is in trouble.
Source: Journal of Mammalogy
Wow, this is silly. Carnivory and herbivory in mammals are a myth. There are virtually zero purely vegetarian mammals. The bats got super-hungry and ate meat (which probably ordinarily would taste bad to them). This will not have been the first time bats discovered meat is edible. They will not suddenly become largely carnivorous.
Yeah, I saw that video of a horse snaffling up a chick. To say I was disturbed is an understatement.
Load More Replies...Even death came with entertainment.
Archaeologists in Israel unearthed a marble sarcophagus featuring Dionysus and Hercules in a drinking contest. 1,700 years old. Perfectly preserved.
Romans wanted to spend eternity watching the gods get drunk.
Source: Israel Antiquities Authority
But was there any booze left? And are they sure that was a Sarcophagus and not a Cooler?
Your toilet is about to know you better than your doctor.
Japanese tech uses sensors and AI to track hydration, nutrition, and early health warnings from your waste. Reports go straight to your phone.
Preventive care starts in the bathroom now.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Japanese Health Tech Research
No meals for a year. No problem.
Crocodiles pack massive fat reserves into the base of their tails. Combine that with the slowest metabolism in the animal kingdom and they can outlast almost anything.
This is how they've survived for millions of years.
Source: Wildlife Biology Research
Yeah this particular picture makes it look like he has a bunch of potatoes stored in there in case of the next great famine!🤣
Load More Replies...I've found it more practical to carry about half in front. Less tension on the spine that way.
Boil 'em, Mash 'em, Stick 'em in a stew... (Also Bake, Chip, Crisp, Fry, ...)
Load More Replies...You'd also be very selective about what you eat if you lived in Florida.
It's been in a museum for 100 years. Still vibrant as day one.
Pollia condensata creates its metallic blue color through "structural color," microscopic cellulose layers that reflect light. No pigment at all.
Nature invented permanent dye millions of years before we tried.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
So not really a dye as texts states from beginning. Just a structure that reflects light. Like butterflies.
This article really sucks, doesn't it?
Load More Replies...Everything we taught about these planets might be wrong.
A new computational model suggests Uranus and Neptune aren't "Ice Giants" at all. Their cores are likely massive solid rock and carbon, not frozen water.
Time to rewrite the textbooks. Again.
Source: Nature Astronomy
That's how science work - to our best knowledge, until we know better. 👍 Just sometimes hard to change paths? Like Pluto? 🙃
Oooh look, Nathaniel! Your friend Captain Wafflestomper came in under his many accounts and downvoted us all! 8`-)
Load More Replies...We mastered fire far earlier than we thought.
Archaeologists in England discovered 400,000-year-old evidence of deliberate fire-making. Not using fire. Making it.
This pushes human control of fire back hundreds of thousands of years. We were engineers before we were modern.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Had Homo sapiens made it to Europe at that stage? Was this really us or was it another hominid species?
"[...] probably early Neanderthals, based on fossils of around the same age from Swanscombe, Kent and Atapuerca, Spain, which preserve early Neanderthal DNA." search for "Humans made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, discovery in Suffolk suggests"
Load More Replies...Like many prominent inventions, the British actually did it first, but It took hundreds of thousands of years to clear the British bureaucracy.
BrunoVI: funny thing is, one reason the industrial revolution happened in Britain rather than France is that British bureaucracy didn't get in the way as it did in France. Patents were easy to get here; the French had a strange system where you had to be officially assessed for the worth of your invention before you got a sous. The *principle* of practical steam engines was first invented in France; the *profitable* practical steam engine was first made in England. What we've got bad at since the 18th century isn't inventing stuff - we've got bad at the business side of things.
Load More Replies...Chemo attacks cancer. It also attacks hair follicles. Until now.
Researchers developed a hydrogel with shampoo consistency that shields hair follicles from chemotherapy drugs. It prevents hair loss during treatment.
A simple gel solving one of cancer treatment’s cruelest side effects.
Source: Michigan State University
I am sure it would be priced out of range for the average person.
Savannah greenleaf: probably not; this comes out of engineering (!) research at Michigan State University. "The gel is a hydrogel, which absorbs a lot of water and provides long-lasting delivery of drúgs to the patient’s scalp." "The gel, containing the drúgs lidocaine and adrenalone, prevents most of the chemotherapy drúgs from reaching the hair follicle by restricting the blood flow to the scalp. Dramatic reduction in drúgs reaching the follicle will help protect the hair and prevent it from falling out." Link follows.
Load More Replies..."solving one of cancer treatment’s cruelest side effects": sorry, but I contest that as BS. It may feel humiliating, uncomfortable, and a dozen more socio-psychological things, but considering AAAAALL the other "nice" side effects like aches and pains, loss of bowel control, fatigue etc etc losing hair may seem cruel at first glance, but definitely way down the list on closer inspection. And you can at least try to hide it, if you wish. (Also that picture, with a drop dispenser for shampooing eyebrows, or what?)
Like most of these accompanying pics, it's AI hallucination. Pathetic that BP and Reddit are resorting to this laziness.
Load More Replies...The largest heart on Earth. Over a meter wide. 200 kilograms of muscle.
Each beat pumps 220 liters of blood. The sound travels for miles underwater.
This is biology at its most extreme.
Source: Marine Biology Research
It looks like a gemstone. It tastes like honey and vanilla.
High in Tibet's mountains, extreme altitude and intense sunlight turn this apple's skin deep purple, almost black. The flesh inside is bright white and naturally sweet.
Trees take 8 years to mature. Harvest lasts just 2 months. One of Earth's rarest fruits.
Source: Agricultural Research Journal
Owning a pineapple meant nothing. Being seen with one meant everything.
In the 1700s, pineapples were so expensive that aristocrats rented them just to carry under their arm at social events. Pure status symbol.
Instagram flexing started centuries before Instagram.
Source: Royal Historical Society
In Australia some of the old (Victorian era) houses feature decorative concrete pineapples on the roof and exterior walls as a symbol of opulence
Yeah, but you don’t need to carry it to shine people on.
Load More Replies..."But the scaly sweet was too valuable to eat - a single fruit was worth thousands of pounds and often the same pineapple would be paraded from event to event until it eventually went rotten." The basic problem was that pineapples were hard to grow in Europe back then - first achieved in the Netherlands in the late 1600s - which led to the British pineapple mania a few decades later. Links follow. Trigger warning: the BBC article leads with a photograph of a pineapple being brutally exploited by Mrs T 😉 (by which I mean "held up for a photo opportunity")
Same rice. Completely different effect on your body.
Cooling cooked white rice in the fridge then reheating it increases resistant starch. This makes it behave like fiber, slowing digestion and reducing blood sugar spikes.
Pair it with protein and healthy fats. Your gut and insulin will thank you.
Source: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
●●●In the clinical study, test rice II [cooled for 24h] significantly lowered glycemic response compared with control rice (125±50.1 vs 152±48.3 mmol.min/L, respectively; p=0.047). In conclusion, cooling of cooked white rice increased resistant starch content. Cooked white rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated lowered glycemic response compared with freshly cooked white rice. ●●● --- "Effect of cooling of cooked white rice on resistant starch content and glycemic response"
We thought it might already be gone.
On Christmas Day 2025, researchers spotted the critically endangered Manumea bird in a remote Samoan rainforest. It's the dodo's last living cousin.
A ghost from extinction just proved it's still alive.
Source: BirdLife International
The bird in question is the Nicobar pigeon - it's "near threatened", not "critically endangered"; the picture's fairly reasonable. Wikipedia says "found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, east through the Indonesian Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau."
She was the city's spiritual shield.
A statue found in Pompeii on December 27 shows a woman wearing a crescent moon protection pendant. Historians believe she was a high-status sorceress who managed the city's defenses against evil spirits.
Buried for 2,000 years. Still guarding the ruins.
Source: Pompeii Archaeological Park
Jeez, one bad day and it’s all you ever hear about.
Load More Replies...Unfortunately for Pompeii her training syllabus didn't include volcanoes.
Plants are listening. And responding.
Within 3 minutes of sensing a bee's wing vibration, Evening Primrose flowers increase nectar sugar by 20%. They hear the buzz and prepare the reward.
Flowers figured out customer service before we did.
Source: Ecology Letters
3 minutes? So here the saying "The early bird catches the worm" is falce..! 🐝🌻
The future of computing might be 70 years old.
Researchers broke chip speed records using “strained germanium,” a material from the 1950s. It moves data faster and cooler than any modern silicon.
Sometimes progress means looking backward.
Source: Nature Electronics
Unlike mercy, the quality of germanium is improved by straining it seems.
The tomb was nearly empty. But not because of looters.
Archaeologists in Luxor discovered the burial site of Pharaoh Thutmose II. His wife, Queen Hatshepsut, likely moved his body and treasures to a secret location to protect them from floods.
3,500 years later, we still don't know where she hid him.
Source: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
"She got everything in the divorce. All I was left with was my Bones."
She took the treasures to a Swiss bank who know not to ask any questions
This worm doesn’t jump. It levitates.
Physicists discovered a parasitic worm that generates an electrical charge to launch itself through the air onto passing insects. It uses static like a force field.
A microscopic hitchhiker with its own biological tractor beam.
Source: Current Biology
I wish I could have used static electricity to launch myself onto an escaping kitten this morning! He has shown no interest in "outside" before, but decided it was time to investigate. Luckily there was still some snow around and he didn't like cold paws!
Mosquitoes are flying biodiversity scanners.
A 2025 study found one mosquito’s blood meal can contain DNA from up to 86 species. Scientists can now track entire ecosystems just by catching bugs.
Want to know what lives in a forest? Interview the mosquitoes.
Source: Molecular Ecology
It's not random. It's precision.
MIT researchers captured the instant of fertilization. A biochemical wave erupts across the egg in structured, rhythmic patterns following the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequences.
The same math found in galaxies, hurricanes, and nautilus shells. Life doesn't stumble into existence. It ignites with code.
Source: MIT / Developmental Biology
Oh, I'm sure THAT won't start any arguments with the Pro- and Anti-abortion crowds!
There's a better written explanation with a 7 second video on yóutube. "MIT Captures the First Moment of Life: Zinc Sparks and Fertilization Waves". I can't find the original MIT source. Link follows.
His empire fell. His bloodline didn't.
A DNA study found that roughly 0.5% of all men on Earth carry genetic markers tracing directly to Genghis Khan. That's about 16 million people.
800 years later, his legacy is still in our blood.
Source: American Journal of Human Genetics
I don't know if I'd call how he produced most of those children as "love"
Load More Replies...A thousand years from now people will be reading that "1 in Every 200 Men Alive Today Is A Direct Descendant of Elon Musk"
They can't measure how many women, because they use his Y chromosome to test for his ancestry
Load More Replies...We can now print super-metal from scratch.
Using AI to find the perfect recipe, engineers created an aluminum alloy that rivals titanium but weighs far less. It handles extreme heat and doesn't crack.
This could replace heavy steel in rockets overnight.
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The structure doesn't look like it would make a good fuel tank, though...
The caption's nonsense. "Replace heavy steel"? Rockets have been using aluminium-lithium alloys and all manner of lightweight materials since at least the 1960s. SpaceX is breaking with that "tradition" by using a particular stainless steel for fuel tanks on its new big rocket (Starship) because it turns out to have a really good strength to weight ratio when cooled down to the cryogenic temperatures of the liquid oxygen and liquid methane used as fuel for that launcher.
This frog turns its own skeleton into a weapon.
The Trichobatrachus robustus grows hair-like skin strands to absorb oxygen underwater. When attacked, it physically snaps its own toe bones and pushes them through the skin as retractable claws.
Evolution got violent with this one.
Source: Journal of Zoology
An AI generated fake image? A photo of the real frog wasn't good enough?
That sneeze you just held? It trapped explosive pressure inside your body.
Doctors say it can rupture an eardrum, tear throat tissue, or burst blood vessels in your eyes and neck.
Rare but real. Just let it out.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Medical Safety Research
I've always held in sneezes, but lately I've been trying not to. It's more difficult than I expected
I wish my husband could hold in sneezes! They are eardrum-shattering!
Load More Replies...Our ancestors were master engineers far earlier than we thought.
2025 excavations in Tanzania uncovered bone tools dating back 1.5 million years. That’s nearly a million years older than previous evidence.
We didn’t stumble into intelligence. We’ve been building things for longer than we ever imagined.
Source: Journal of Human Evolution
Another nonsense caption. Evidence for our ancestors making tools goes back 3.3 millions years. Links follow.
When a mother sings, something changes in her baby's body.
Heart rate drops. Oxygen improves. Stress melts away. The nervous system shifts from alert to calm.
It's not just bonding. It's brain-building biology.
Source: Neonatal Development Research
I'm tempted to say something about Yoko Ono, but I think I'll refrain.
I sang to my baby every night before bed. He's 11 and I still sing his bedtime songs. Once he asked, "Wait, how will you sing to me when I'm in college?" I joked that I'll record the songs. He said in all seriousness, "OK, that will work." <3 <3 <3
Gold feels rare. But you might not realize how rare.
All the gold ever extracted totals about 208,000 metric tons. Sounds like a lot until you account for density.
Melted down, it would fill roughly three Olympic swimming pools. That's it. Three pools for 5,000 years of mining, wars, and treasure hunts.
Every gold ring, every vault, every coin ever minted. Smaller than a hotel lobby.
Source: World Gold Council
Olympic size, or these sized? Cause these looks like 2.5 x 4 meter sized pools?
Their scent calms you. Even when they're not there.
Studies show smelling a partner's worn clothing reduces cortisol and promotes relaxation. The brain links their scent to bonding and safety, creating an emotional anchor.
The effect is strongest when you know the scent is theirs. Comfort you can literally breathe in.
Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Your body treats love like food and water. Essential for survival.
Oxytocin and vasopressin shape bonding, trust, and loyalty. Dopamine and adrenaline lower stress, ease pain, and sharpen thinking. But when bonds break, cortisol floods the body. Doctors call it "Broken Heart Syndrome."
The loneliness crisis isn't just sad. It's making people sick.
Source: Journal of Neuroscience / American Heart Association
Known scientifically as Armillaria ostoyae, this massive fungus is largely underground, consisting of interconnected root-like filaments called mycelium. While you only see the small mushrooms above ground, the entire organism is genetically identical and covers an area larger than 1,600 football fields in the Malheur National Forest. Its age is estimated to be thousands of years old, making it one of the oldest and biggest life forms on Earth.
AAAAAAARGH! This crappy AI image is actually mis-informative, the honey mushroom fungus does not produce giant mushrooms, the underground mycelium filaments produce normal sized "fruiting" bodies. There are loads of images of this online - why use AI at all?
"Largely underground"... photo shows comically huge above-ground mushroom because AI
And his head, and his nonexistent búm, all of him in fact!
Load More Replies...He was terrified of shattering.
King Charles VI of France suffered from "glass delusion," believing his body was fragile glass. He wore reinforced clothing and avoided physical contact.
A mental illness so specific it became legendary.
Source: Historical Psychiatry Archives
First time in history. A mammal reproduced after spaceflight.
A female mouse spent two weeks on a space station and returned to Earth. On December 31, 2025, she gave birth to healthy pups.
Short-term space travel doesn't destroy fertility. Humanity just got one step closer to the stars.
Source: NASA / Nature Communications
Not gonna last long with your tail and paws exposed to vacuum, little mouse. (And I *LOVE* how the whiskers just 'phase through' the helmet!)
I snorted out loud when I saw this pic. Why the button? So random! AI, you're ridiculous.
The future of dairy might come from the ocean.
Food scientists integrated Dulse, a protein-rich red seaweed, into dairy products. The result? A blue-cheese flavor that's more eco-friendly and packs more protein than beef.
Cheese without cows. And it actually tastes good.
Source: Journal of Food Science
Your mouth bacteria might be destroying your brain.
Researchers found that Streptococcus mutans, a common tooth decay bacterium, can travel from your mouth to your gut to your brain. There it produces a metabolite that kills dopamine neurons.
Brushing your teeth might be protecting more than your smile.
Source: Nature Communications / POSTECH
It hunted like a giant prehistoric heron.
A new Spinosaurus relative discovered on December 26 was longer than a heavy-duty pickup truck. It stalked shallow waters and speared prey with precision.
The dinosaur world just got a terrifying new hunter.
Source: Journal of Paleontology
We just inhaled the planet’s ancient past.
Geologists extracted pressurized air from salt crystals 1.4 billion years old—the oldest direct sample of Earth’s atmosphere ever found.
Before complex life existed, this is what the air was like.
Source: Geology / PNAS
A cat strolls by. Every instinct screams chase.
But these dogs don't flinch. That's the final test. Total discipline. Complete focus. Instinct overridden by training.
This is what real service dog composure looks like.
Source: Police K9 Training
There is an actual widely used photo of this. Why did they have to use this AI generated monstrosity?
Multa Nocte: pelemele's hidden post below reproduces the real photo.
Load More Replies...Cat agreed by being enticed with a lot of catnip.
Load More Replies...like you would ever get a pack of dogs lined up near perfect like this.. hah! sounds like the COPY/PASTE artist struck again!
Properly trained service dogs can be lined up like soldiers and will stay put until given a command. Even show and flyball dogs are trained not to react to other dogs. A reaction would result in immediate disqualification.
Load More Replies...A fungus just made art.
In a bizarre December 2025 experiment, Oyster mushrooms were connected to a bionic arm. They used bio-electrical signals to control the brush and "paint" what researchers call a fungal self-portrait.
Mushrooms are communicating. We're just starting to listen.
Source: Frontiers in Fungal Biology
@Peka_Mimi's link: they drew a circle, so I agree not really. More like the signs from Heptapod languages in Arrival (2016).
This planet is literally falling apart.
BD+05 4868 Ab orbits its star every 30 hours at 3,000°F. It’s disintegrating in real time, shedding a Mount Everest of rocky material each orbit.
A comet-tailed world slowly erasing itself from existence.
Source: NASA TESS / Astrophysical Journal
It's there, how just need to zoom in really really far to see it, trust me ;)
Load More Replies...This frog turns off its own color to disappear.
Scientists discovered Northern Glass Frogs become nearly transparent while sleeping by packing 90% of their red blood cells into their liver.
When it wakes up, the blood returns. Invisibility on demand.
Would it be too much to include a real pic of a real glass frog instead of using this AI monstrosity?
"Animalogic" did a video about these frogs, titled "This Frog Uses Its Blood to Turn Invisible". ( Link below. )
No fangs. Just lethal puke.
The Feather-legged Lace Weaver wraps prey in silk, then vomits its entire gut contents onto the victim. The toxins dissolve the prey from outside in.
Brutal efficiency.
Source: Journal of Arachnology
We’re closer than ever to finding her.
A 2025 expedition led by National Geographic and the discoverer of the Titanic mapped a submerged port near Taposiris Magna in Egypt.
Cleopatra’s tomb has never been found. This underwater city might finally change that.
Source: National Geographic
It sounds too simple. The science says it works.
Physical touch from a trusted partner drops cortisol and raises oxytocin. Heart rate slows. Blood pressure lowers. Anxious thoughts quiet down.
Professional massage helps muscles. Partner touch heals the nervous system. Connection is the medicine.
Source: Developmental Review
Teamwork makes them physically stronger.
Research shows weaver ants build nests using a ratchet system. Some pull leaves together while others act as living anchors to hold tension.
Working together increases each ant's individual strength by 300%. Cooperation is literally power.
Ah, the rare Gold-Gathering Atlas Ant! Infamous hoarders of precious metals!
Caption is wrong - it's a 100% increase (doubled strength). "Instead of slacking off like people in big groups, these ants double their pulling power by splitting roles — some anchoring while others pull. Scientists call it a “force ratchet,” a strategy that makes their chains stronger with each new member." and '“Longer chains of ants have more grip on the ground than single ants, so they can better resist the force of the leaf pulling back,” says Dr. Labonte. “The long chains effectively store the pulling force from individual ants in friction — together, the team seems to work like a ratchet.” '. Link follows.
Gravity stretched this planet into a lemon.
The James Webb Telescope just imaged PSR J2322-2650b. It orbits so close to its star that it's been warped. Its atmosphere is pure soot. Its core likely rains diamonds.
The universe builds things we couldn't imagine.
Source: NASA / James Webb Space Telescope
The caption's wrong, and the picture is a joke. It's got an "exotic helium-and-carbon-dominated atmosphere unlike any ever seen before. Soot clouds likely float through the air". The JWST managed to image the planet (I can't find the image on-line) because its star mostly emits gamma rays and other high energy photons. The JWST sees the infra-red only and is blind to those energies - so the star provides the energy to warm the planet which the JSWT can then see without being dazzled by the host star. Link follows.
Your chocolate habit might be keeping you young.
Researchers discovered that theobromine, a compound in cocoa, is directly linked to slower biological aging. Regular dark chocolate eaters appear years younger at a cellular level.
Not all guilty pleasures are bad for you. This one fights time.
Source: Journal of Nutrition
Though I found support that shows linkage between theobromine and slowed aging when searching for this. 🤷♂️
Load More Replies...I eat 85 as the highest. so hopefully this as well?
Load More Replies...But the good stuff it the one with lower cacao content 🙂↕️ I only eat dark chocolate because of alleged health benefits..
Three thousand years underground. Still vibrant.
Archaeologists at Huaca Yolanda uncovered a massive polychrome mural depicting rituals of a “hybrid” civilization that existed before the Inca Empire.
A lost culture’s story, painted on a wall and waiting to be found.
Source: Archaeology Magazine
I wonder what's hidden under the sea, before sea level rise. Like Dogger bank, or any other place! 🤯
These moths don't need GPS. They use the galaxy.
Research confirms Bogong moths navigate over 1,000 kilometers using the Milky Way and specific star patterns. They're the first insects ever proven to have celestial navigation.
A tiny moth looking up at the stars and knowing exactly where to go.
Source: Current Biology
Bees just passed a code-breaking test.
A 2025 study found bumblebees can recognize and follow simple patterns of light pulses to locate hidden sugar rewards. They decoded the sequence like Morse code.
A tiny insect brain solving pattern recognition puzzles we thought required higher intelligence.
Source: Current Biology
Megalodon wasn't the first giant.
Scientists dated ancient shark vertebrae to 15 million years earlier than expected. This predator dominated before the famous mega-shark even existed.
The ocean's history just got rewritten.
Source: Paleontology Research
This is getting too much . . . . . . I am laughing too hard . . . . . . . Thankfully this is the last one.
Load More Replies...Oh so THERE are the sharks with the frikkin laser beams on their heads!! They were in Australia all along
When there's no soil, you improvise.
A 2025 study revealed that ancient Caribbean bees built their nests inside the empty tooth sockets of extinct sloths and hutias. They lined the cavities with wax and raised their young inside bones.
Ten thousand years ago, bees were turning skulls into nurseries.
Source: Journal of Paleontology
This plant doesn't need sunlight to reproduce.
Pinanga subterranea was discovered in Borneo producing flowers and fruit buried deep in soil. Somehow it still gets pollinated underground.
Locals knew about the "sweet treat" for years before science caught up.
Source: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Com on BP, time to fix this 'hiding your links' thing you've got going on! 🧙♂️
Seriously! This is maddening when they only produce this AI slop.
Load More Replies...This frog eats hornets from the inside out.
Scientists found a pond frog completely immune to giant hornet venom. It swallows them whole and survives repeated stings inside its stomach.
The hornet fights back. The frog doesn’t care.
Source: Journal of Herpetology
No, you lot voted in a n**i pedophile and are now destabilizing the world, you dont deserve anti hornet frogs.
Load More Replies...Soreness doesn't mean progress. It means damage.
Those aches come from micro-tears and inflammation, not gains. Muscles grow during recovery, not during pain.
You can build strength with zero soreness. Consistency beats suffering.
Shared for informational purposes only.
Source: Exercise Physiology Research
That's how you build muscle, you tear your muscle then it heals and rebuilds larger and stronger, this is not new information so, yes pain equals gain if you have proper nutrition and rest while you're training.
It's thinner than a human hair. And it reads your thoughts.
The BISC implant, unveiled in December 2025, uses AI to decode brain signals into movement. No bulky wires. No visible hardware. Just a microscopic chip translating intention into action.
Mind-controlled technology just became invisible.
Source: Nature Biotechnology
Worst oversimplification I have seen (in the last three minutes of reading these entries).
I know I wouldn't want any chip or technology reading my mind. I wonder how people, if we could read their thoughts, we would be disgusted with them. This world is already depraved as it is. We don't need to know other people's thoughts are.
We have a new moon. Temporarily.
Astronomers confirmed that asteroid 2025 PN7 has been captured by Earth’s gravity. It’s now orbiting us as a “mini-moon.”
It’ll stay until 2038, then drift back into deep space. A cosmic visitor just passing through.
Source: NASA / Minor Planet Center
Hotter than the surface of the sun. In a lab.
Scientists successfully levitated a glass sphere that reached an effective temperature of 13 million Kelvins. The hottest human-made object in history.
We just out-heated a star.
Source: Physical Review Letters
I haven't done the research yet, but I'm willing to bet there are more more guys named Kelvin than Celsius or Fahrenheit. Perhaps more than both of them put together.
Load More Replies...Octopuses vanish using light-reflecting proteins. Now bacteria can too.
In a lab breakthrough, scientists transferred octopus camouflage proteins into bacteria, creating living material that can turn invisible.
We just gave microbes a superpower stolen from the ocean.
Source: Nature Communications
* spoiler alert * * * I can still see the bacteria in the picture labeled "invisible bacteria"
jesus!...they didn't "teach" the bacteria....they cloned the gene responsible for making the proteins into the bacteria...the bacteria then produce the proteins.......the proteins don't make octopuses or bacteria invisible...
AI also needs to learn the word bacterium -- and it looks highly invisible!
Load More Replies...The coelacanth wasn’t supposed to exist anymore.
In 2025, marine biologists in Indonesia photographed the “living fossil” swimming in the Maluku Archipelago. First wild image ever captured.
70 million years after it supposedly vanished, it’s still down there. Alive.
Source: Marine Biology International
Bullshit on this one. We've known about them since 1938 and there are many pix of them. "The first living species, Latimeria chalumnae, the West Indian Ocean coelacanth, was described from specimens fished off the coast of South Africa from 1938 onward; they are now also known to inhabit the seas around the Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa. The second species, Latimeria menadoensis, the Indonesian coelacanth, was discovered in the late 1990s, which inhabits the seas of Eastern Indonesia, from Manado to Papua." Wiki Diki
I thought there was a photograph of it when it was first found in 1938.
Kelly Scott: the 1938 discovery was of a dead fish. There are two coelacanth species. This is about the first photo of a live Sulawesi coelacanth in the wild - October 2024, reported in April 2025. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth has been spotted and filmed alive much more often - I can't find out when that first happened, but underwater remotely operated vehicles have filmed them occasionally since 2000 (four times from 2000 to 2019 - not a lot, but still).
Load More Replies...There have been photos since the 1930s, true. Of dead fish. This was the first photo of a live one in the wild.
Jared C: the Wikipedia article on coelacanths has a 2019 photo of a living one taken in the wild. The April 2025 photograph mentioned was the first photo of live Sulawesi coelacanth in the wild. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth has been filmed much more often. Links follow.
Load More Replies...A machine just wrote life from nothing.
In late December, an AI successfully designed a complete working genome for a bacteria-destroying virus. No human template. No copying nature. Pure artificial creation.
We just crossed a line we can't uncross.
Source: Nature Biotechnology
Dr. Frankenstein - "And all this time, I've been doin' it the HARD way!"
And BP now seems to be deleting comments with links or images, rather than just hiding them.
Load More Replies...All the AI makes this a hard read. Did anyone check the AI images against actual pictures?
Windy and I put up a few actual photos, but we would have had to pull pix for all 100 entries, and it was just too much.
Load More Replies...Too much AI. This manufactured shite will probably cost BP viewership. What's the point of looking at, what is essentially, 'made up' stuff.
All interesting to learn about - but the AI images were all awful and I suspect the text (as others have noted) is AI slop too: dreadfully written and generally slightly inaccurate click-bait stuff. It wasn't BP that created the posts, though - they're all from elsewhere.
And BP now seems to be deleting comments with links or images, rather than just hiding them.
Load More Replies...All the AI makes this a hard read. Did anyone check the AI images against actual pictures?
Windy and I put up a few actual photos, but we would have had to pull pix for all 100 entries, and it was just too much.
Load More Replies...Too much AI. This manufactured shite will probably cost BP viewership. What's the point of looking at, what is essentially, 'made up' stuff.
All interesting to learn about - but the AI images were all awful and I suspect the text (as others have noted) is AI slop too: dreadfully written and generally slightly inaccurate click-bait stuff. It wasn't BP that created the posts, though - they're all from elsewhere.
