Recommended Links of the Week No. 657

Madame Curie vs the ghosts, human zoos, the first images from the James Webb telescope, what's wrong with people? and the perfect idiot's manual at the wheel crown a selection of heart-stopping links, with viral videos and galleries galore. Enjoy!

Recommended Links

Madame Curie vs the ghosts: "Although Marie Curie was not part of the study group, she accompanied her husband in the experimental sessions organized between June 1905 and April 1906. It was Richet himself who proposed as the object of study the famous Neapolitan medium Eusapia Palladino. Charismatic but volatile, she passed from tears to laughter, flew into a rage when offended, and threw herself into the lap of the researchers to try to seduce them. She was also a consummate cheat, especially gifted at staging. So much so that even the most skeptical scientists would fail to unmask her."

The mysterious Russian flu that struck the planet in 1889 may have been a coronavirus like Covid: "Some virologists suspect that that pandemic was not caused by the Influenza virus, but by a coronavirus very similar to the one we fight today with Covid-19. For the moment, the idea is pure speculation, since in reality that outbreak has not been investigated in light of the current pandemic, and therefore conclusive evidence that it was a coronavirus has not been sought. However, historical records contain no few indications that point to the Russian Flu having been a kind of Covid."

Siamese twins, "human zoos" or malformations, when difference was exhibited in traveling shows: "The examples of exhibitions are endless. Most had passed through New York, London, and Paris before landing. Also through Madrid. All of this is captured in the brief advertisements preserved in the newspapers of the time. Kauka, presented as the monkey man, performed in 1882 in the city amid a fascination with Darwinian theories and the missing link; Kayrah was a Guinean man whom the businessman Juan Cornaria made eat raw meat in public."

The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope: "Although there are still a few months to go before we see the first 'real' astronomical images, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already passed its first light and sent a series of test images taken by the NIRCam instrument. As we all know by now, to obtain an image it is necessary to align the 18 hexagonal segments of the JWST primary mirror so that they function as a single 6.5-meter-diameter mirror."

Einstein's General Relativity, demonstrated at millimeter scale: "A group of physicists has managed to measure time dilation, or how the ticking of an atomic clock varies with elevation on a millimeter scale, within a cloud of strontium atoms. This is the demonstration of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, or more specifically, the effect called time dilation, at the smallest scale ever seen: a single millimeter."

What's wrong with people? Pinker and rationality: "In his latest book, Rationality, Steven Pinker, a professor at Harvard University, asks: what's wrong with people? Why do we sometimes act in ways that others consider openly irrational? Understanding what lies behind these behaviors, which make us doubt the degree of rationality of human beings, is not simple. Pinker dismisses as simplistic three explanations with wide popular roots."

The perfect idiot's driving manual: "Anyone who has had an accident knows well what driving entails and the devastating consequences it can have. Furthermore, driving prudently and safely only guarantees that we circulate responsibly and fulfill our part, since in reality an accident can occur due to the carelessness or distraction of other drivers, without us being able to do anything to avoid being involved."

The athlete who won two golds with shoes picked from the trash: "Before starting the 1,500-meter race, Thorpe realized he didn't have shoes to compete in, when he went to take them out of his gym bag. A teammate lent him one and I don't know why not both, but it seems he only had one extra. And it wasn't his size and was too small. Thorpe had to find another, which he found in the trash. This one was too big and, as seen in the photo, he used different socks to adjust the one that was too loose."

Owners of the sky: "In 1945, a North Carolina farmer named Thomas Lee Causby sued the United States government because during World War II, airplanes from a nearby military airport continuously flew over his land and caused the death of more than a hundred chickens. The farmer relied on a legal principle of medieval origin known as the ad coelum doctrine, expressed in this Latin phrase: Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos"

The not-so-splendid Victorian Era: "The aristocracy having tea in spacious rooms decorated with care; society governed under a strict and conservative morality. Elements that we immediately associate with Victorian England, an era of cultural boom in the British Isles, while the overseas empire reached its maximum expansion. But we know that so much opulence harbored a sad reality for the most disadvantaged classes — and sometimes, not so disadvantaged. Let's look at some curious, gloomy (and in our current judgment, absurd) details of this era."

Radon, the invisible home gas that causes cancer: "In 2009, a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that ideally 100 Bq/m3 should not be exceeded and in no case 300 Bq/m3. This recommendation is based on solid scientific evidence published in the most cited study on radon and lung cancer that included more than 21,000 participants, observing a linear risk between radon exposure and lung cancer risk. At this point, it is also important to highlight that there is a significant interaction between radon and tobacco consumption."

The transformation of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King: "Sun Wukong from Journey to the West (西遊記, Xijou ji) has transcended his work as he did in the worlds he visited. Not only is he present in popular cults, but he has achieved fame beyond Chinese borders through adaptations and his participation in other products. The essence of the Monkey King is in his transformations, beyond the stories, which have given him his identity, a unique identity that, on the other hand, is hard to find an origin for."

Videos

Few, but good. Super Punch-Out records, Mel Blanc yelling in Looney Tunes, hundreds of birds die at once, Pokémon (a cappella), crushing vacuum cameras with a hydraulic press, dentist removing tooth decay, the secret of his gaze, The Happy Skeleton, three dead people, the Halo theme in an empty church, penguin escaping a predator, painting with light, Pavane - Faure (version for twelve cellos), father with cat-like reflexes, seven billion and the short films Stuffed (horror musical), Crush (animated) and Hair Wolf (horror).

Galleries

UFO landing in London, 1980 car magazine covers, the best underwater photos, painting the books he reads, animals turned into anime, the beauty of humpback whales, database of film locations then and now, crazy things at Russian weddings, medieval logos, Russian books, tornado photos, more photos of Amy Irving, scary ritual masks, the Animated Dump and the Visual Dump of the Week to close.

Thanks and goodbye!