Hacking brains, the best of Ray Harryhausen, evil fictional corporations, and the peace we feel when we dive into water. Want more? There's more! But discover it for yourself, that's what we're here for. Enjoy!
A telescope from ESO captures the first image of a system with several planets around a Sun-like star: The VLT (Very Large Telescope) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has taken the first image of a young Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets are extremely difficult to obtain and, until now, astronomers had never directly observed more than one planet orbiting a Sun-like star. The observations may help astronomers understand how planets formed and evolved around our own Sun.
The neurologist who hacked his brain (and almost lost his mind): At first Powton was impressed by what he called Kennedy's Indiana Jones approach to science: going to Belize, breaking the standard rules of research, playing with his own mind. And now there he was, apparently trapped. “I thought we had damaged him for life,” says Powton. “I was thinking, what have we done?”
100 years of Ray Harryhausen, the 14 best monsters of the master of stop-motion: The passage of time has made Harryhausen's meticulous animation work look even better precisely in these times of computer-generated effects and pixel tricks that never quite shed that homogeneous, photocopied digital varnish across all films. 2020 is an ideal moment to better appreciate the art he used to create his creatures.
Mass suicides, human shields, kamikazes: hell was in Okinawa: Half a million US soldiers descended on this island, crucial in their plans to invade Japan. There, military and civilians awaited them, willing to die killing: they set records for suicide attacks. It has been 75 years since one of the bloodiest episodes of World War II.
The man who calculated hundreds of decimals of Pi, and got it wrong: That said, some will recall the classic 3.1416, others will settle for 3.14, some will reach 3.141593… and there will be those who are happy with a 3 and a bit. Against this, there was a man, in the 19th century, who set out to calculate hundreds of those decimals of the number Pi. That was the man who calculated hundreds of decimals of Pi, and made a mistake.
Study of evil corporations in fiction. «Weyland-Yutani» from the «Alien» saga: Their function is to provide good quality and essential products to the general public at competitive prices, they suggest an enviable lifestyle in exchange for consumption and loyalty, and they are also very popular. On a few occasions, they have genuinely good intentions, since their CEO is a philanthropist who tries to help people and they try to make a better world, such as Wayne Industries. But let's not fool ourselves.
From sacred guardian to buried alive: There is hardly any data about her. It is known that she wore her hair gathered in six braids under a white veil from which hung two red ribbons as a sign of inviolability. The tunic that covered her was white and simple, with a clasp on her left shoulder, and she carried a lit lamp in her hands. Her job was to tend the sacred fire of Rome.
The immune elite and the Red Queen, how diseases have changed the course of history and biological evolution: There is no doubt that the phenomena of parasitism and pathogenicity constitute one of the essential mechanisms of the evolution of species, to the point that the existence of sex as the preferred method of reproduction in most animals is due precisely to this phenomenon of coevolution between pathogens and hosts. The idea that sexual reproduction may be a consequence of disease is counterintuitive, so let me elaborate a bit more.
The paradox of victimhood: What does Giglioli mean by this idea that being a victim confers an identity? It is a sign of the times and another of the characteristics that show the transformation of the left after the fall of the wall: it is that the classic question of 'what to do', a question whose answer always had to do with a transformative action on the world, has today been replaced by 'what I am'. The 'what to do' leads us outward and toward action; the 'what I am' leads us to introspection and to inquire into the realm of properties attributable to the subject, to something already given. From the 'what to do' a revolution can come; from the 'what I am' many things can derive but also a self-help manual.
The trees that absorbed illness: In an era when doctors, because of their scarcity and cost, were not available to everyone, people tended to turn to traditional methods, to the nature around them. In Scandinavian countries they turned to trees, but not to just any tree. They had to be trees with special characteristics that set them apart.
A woman diagnosed with the medieval disease of 'hellfire' for burning legs: A case published in The New England Journal of Medicine reports the arrival of a 24-year-old woman at a clinic two days after she began to feel a burning sensation in her legs that extended from her toes to mid-thigh. The woman was diagnosed with a medieval disease.
The mammalian immersion reflex or why we feel peace when we immerse ourselves in water: With recent summer, thinking about that feeling of relaxation and peace that we get from immersing ourselves in sea or pool water might not seem so far away. It is when, with several months of cold winter, we feel that longing for relaxation that the sea produces in us. And it is that there is an evolutionary reason for that happiness and peace we feel when we immerse ourselves in water. It is called: the mammalian immersion reflex.
Videos
Turning off a gas leak with a nuclear bomb, "He Man and the Masters of the Universe" for 8 Cellos, the most viewed articles on Wikipedia so far this year, when you use Twitter in 2020, otter hugs kitten, realistic decoration of "Die Hard", visualization of Amazon sounds, experience makes the master, bear about to attack a girl (in Monterrey), shark eating dolphin, how to be cancelled in 2020, Kilauea eruption and the speed of lava, termite and water in super slow motion, a grenade inside an ATM, the music of The Mandalorian by Ludwig Göransson, cats with lettuce on their heads, making super realistic kittens, how to make a feather fall like a bowling ball, an armadillo playing very cute, future generations :D, bathing a small puppy, Transfiguration (2020), throwing fireworks from a drone, a stringless kite, "The Sound of Silence" on harp and a deer, Deadpool visits Logan's grave, LEGO Eowyn and a festival of short films each better than the last: "CTRL Z", "Triangulation", "Lost in motions", "Lab Rat", "ACID (ACIDE)", "Down Here" and "Spice Frontier" (animated).
Galleries
Featured characters in many different styles, the known universe in one image, if consoles were robots, museum girls anime style, the best photos from zoos and aquariums, elderly couple dress up in clothes people forget, funny underwater photos, dog with a strange face, realistic animals in miniatures, cakes of paradise islands, super realistic masks against COVID, the before and after of little animals, body optical illusions, the perfect photo of two panthers, the real Alice of "Alice in Wonderland" and, finally, the famous Animated Dump and the great Visual Dump.
Thanks for making it to the end! I hope you liked it and had a good time. See you next time!
