If you’ve never seen an octopus hatch, now is your chance. These cute baby Caribbean reef octopuses, the size of a pinky nail, were hatched at the Virginia Aquarium. The way they immediately darken to purple is a fun surprise. According to The Verge : The video, posted by the Virginia Aquarium, shows a baby Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus briareus) no bigger than a pinky nail hatching from a bundle of eggs. As for the color change, these octopuses are known to be masters of disguise. “It was going into an instant camouflage as soon as it came out of the egg,” says Julie Levans, senior curator at the aquarium. These octopuses use specialized muscles to open and close little sacs of pigment in their skin called chromatophores — and this little guy was probably responding to the black tabletop beneath its tank. The baby octopus’s mom arrived at the aquarium about six months ago, and four months later, she laid between 100 and 200 eggs. Since this softball-sized species is solitary and also sometimes cannibalistic, this octopus lives alone at the aquarium. The eggs themselves weren’t surprising — female octopuses typically lay eggs. “What did catch us by surprise was the fact that they were fertilized,” Levans says. ICYMI: Your daily squee has arrived. #octobabies pic.twitter.com/D9e5T5bkun — Virginia Aquarium (@VAAquarium) February 7, 2018
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Fidel Castro’s eldest son commits suicide
The eldest son of Fidel Castro, 68-year-old Fidel Angel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide after a months-long treatment depression. Living in Cuba, Diaz-Balart, also knows as “Fidelito,” was hospitalized for his depression but had been released for outpatient care. According to NBC : He was known for studying how to develop nuclear energy on the island of Cuba, according to his official bio from the Academy of Sciences. Diaz-Balart is the cousin of NBC News and Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart as well as current Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, who is a staunch anti-Castro figure. His uncle, Raul Castro, has led Cuba since 2008 when he took over the role of president of Cuba from Fidel Castro — who ruled his island home beginning in 1959, antagonized 11 U.S. presidents and died in 2016 aged of 90. The way in which he killed himself has not been disclosed. https://youtu.be/icyD0xTIzQA
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Fidel Castro’s eldest son commits suicide
Naked mole rats do not die of old age according to research
With its pink hairless body and huge incisors hanging out of its mouth, the naked mole rat isn’t a particularly handsome creature. A rodent that is neither rat nor mole but the only species currently classified in the genus Heterocephalus , the nearly blind, nearly hairless naked mole rat lives in almost complete darkness its entire life. It has also recently been discovered that these rodents live to around 35 years, as opposed to a “regular” rat’s six years, and the naked mole rat doesn’t seem to actually age before it dies. According to Phys Org : A team of researchers at Google-owned Calico Life Sciences LLC has found that the naked mole rat defies Gompertz’s mortality law. In their paper published in eLife, the group describes their study of the unusual-looking rodent and describe some of its unusual traits. Naked mole rats are very nearly hairless. They evolved that way by living in a harsh underground environment. They are also almost ectothermic (cold blooded). And now, it seems they do not age—at least in the traditional sense. Reports of long-lived mole rats prompted the team at Calico to take a closer look—they have a specimen in their lab that has lived to be 35 years old. Most “normal” rats, in comparison, live to be just six years old, and they age as they do so. The team collected what they describe as 3,000 points of data regarding the lifespan of the naked mole rat, and found that many had lived for 30 years. But perhaps more surprisingly, they found that the chance of dying for the mole rats did not increase as they aged. All other mammals that have been studied have been found to conform to what is known as Gompertz’s mortality law, which states that the risk of death for a typical mammal grows exponentially after they reach sexual maturity—for humans, that means the odds of dying double every eight years after reaching age 30. This, the researchers claim, suggests that mole rats do not age—at least in the conventional sense. They do eventually die, after all. To see these delightful creatures in action, here’s a short National Geographic clip from 2012: https://youtu.be/A5DcOEzW1wA Image by Jedimentat44
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Naked mole rats do not die of old age according to research
Cheapest Michelin-star meal in the world costs a mere $1.50
Most Michelin-starred restaurants are on the pricey side, although you do hear of the occasional food truck that earns a star. But this food cart in Singapore, Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice, run by 52-year-old master chef Chan Hon Meng, serves the “cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world,” at just $1.50. Now, if I can just afford a ticket to Singapore.
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Cheapest Michelin-star meal in the world costs a mere $1.50
Dead man sat in truck for 8 months in airport parking lot before someone found him
A dead body sat in a pickup truck for eight months in a parking lot at the Kansas City International Airport before someone discovered it. 53-year-old Randy Potter disappeared January 17, and had parked at the airport that same day. When his family contacted the airport police to report their missing relative and to see if his truck was still in the parking lot, the police said if it was, they would find it. Astonishingly, they somehow missed it. It wasn’t until someone reported a bad odor that the body was spotted inside the truck. Apparently, according to police, Potter had committed suicide, but no other details were released. According to Time : The truck’s windows are tinted, but are light enough to allow anyone to see inside. When an airport police officer found the body, it was covered up by a blanket, according to a police report. “No one should go through what we went through,” said Potter’s wife, Carolina. “We should not have gone through eight months agonizing, speculating.” Potter’s truck had been listed in the missing person flyers circulated by Lenexa police. The family had visited the airport early on. Kansas City spokesman Chris Hernandez said city officials were gathering facts to determine how Potter’s body remained in the lot as long as it did. The economy lot where Potter’s body was found is one of three lots situated about 2 ½ miles (4 kilometers) north of the airport terminals. Shuttles carry travelers from the lot to the terminals. The airport has over 25,000 parking spaces, and clearly needs a better way of managing them. Image: Dean Hochman
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Dead man sat in truck for 8 months in airport parking lot before someone found him
Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals
Japan is already known for being at the forefront of humanoid robots that take over traditionally human jobs ( hotel concierge and elderly companions , for instance). Now they can add robot funeral priests to their list. Japan’s telecommunications company SoftBank just unveiled “Pepper,” its robot priest, dressed in Buddhist robes, that can chant Buddhist scriptures, play the drum, and livestream the ceremony for people who can’t attend the funeral in person. The demo took place at Japan’s “Life Ending Industry Expo” in Tokyo last Wednesday. According to The Guardian : The robot was on display on Wednesday at a funeral industry fair, the Life Ending Industry Expo, in Tokyo, shown off by plastic molding maker Nissei Eco. With the average cost of a funeral in Japan reaching in excess of £20,000, according to data from Japan’s Consumer Association in 2008, and human priests costing £1,700, Nissei Eco is looking to undercut the market with Pepper available for just £350 per funeral. Pepper (not a name I’d expect a Buddhist priest to have, but this is a robot we’re talking about after all) has not yet been hired for a real funeral.
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Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals
Watch: Stunning rare white moose caught on video
A white moose is rare, with only about 100 of them in Sweden. But Hans Nilsson, who has been tracking them for three years, according to Inhabitat , caught this moose on video on August 11 in Varmland, Sweden. The moose is not an albino, but its white fur is a genetic mutation. Or magical, to be more exact.
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Watch: Stunning rare white moose caught on video
Traditional Japanese-style Starbucks opens in Kyoto
A Starbucks like no other is opening tomorrow in Kyoto. Unlike the other nearly 24,000 Starbucks cafes in the world, this one requires customers to take off their shoes before entering. It has tatami rooms with low tables and cushions on the floor for seating. The usual Starbucks sign outside is replaced with a simple dark sea green banner that displays the logo. And most fascinating of all, no lines are allowed. In other words, they will only allow a certain amount of customers in at a time and everyone else must scram in order to keep the cafe peaceful for those jacking up on caffeine. According to Japan Times : Starbucks Coffee Japan said a two-story Japanese home built more than 100 years ago will be used for the shop, and it will be located near the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kiyomizu temple, a popular tourist destination… The shop will face Ninenzaka, one of the popular streets leading from Kiyomizu temple to Kodaiji temple, which is lined with traditional shops. The house was used until 2005 and previously hosted traditional entertainers such as geisha. https://youtu.be/0xP09hsgyCQ
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Traditional Japanese-style Starbucks opens in Kyoto
Oops, man panics and snitches on himself about $500 million opium poppy field
Cody Xiong from North Carolina should have kept his mouth shut, but when police came to his door to ask about something unrelated, the paranoid poppy grower said, “I guess you’re here for the opium.” This led police to discover over an acre of poppy plants, worth about $500 million, in Xiong’s backyard. According to Time : Investigators believe the plants were being harvested in Xiong’s isolated rural lot, before being shipped elsewhere. Opium poppies are used to make opium, morphine, codeine and heroin, and police estimated that the haul consisted of over 2,000 pounds of the plant. Xiong was arrested at the site and charged with manufacturing a Schedule II drug and trafficking in opium, both felonies. He was later released from jail after posting $45,000 bail. Image: Magnus Manske
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Oops, man panics and snitches on himself about $500 million opium poppy field
Man steals over 100 phones at Coachella, busted by Find My iPhone
Stealing phones at Coachella is nothing new. My daughter had hers stolen a few years ago, and when I mentioned it to someone I ran into at the supermarket, she said her son’s phone had been stolen that year as well. And then a stranger who overheard us piped in that her son had also lost his phone to an “Apple picker,” as she referred to the thief. But this year, when a gentleman from New York swept through the festival picking phones from oblivious Coachella goers, a few people turned to Find My iPhone for help. The app led them to 36-year-old Reinaldo De Jesus Henao with a backpack stuffed with phones. According to NBC San Diego : The crime spree was discovered when several people noticed their phones were missing and activated the “Find My Phone” feature, police said. Those signals led the victims to Henao. Security guards detained him and when Indio police arrived they found more than 100 phones in Henao’s backpack, according to police. Some of the phones were returned to the victims that day or the next. Image by iphonedigital
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Man steals over 100 phones at Coachella, busted by Find My iPhone