Watch these adorable baby octopuses hatch

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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Watch these adorable baby octopuses hatch

Inside Hong Kong’s insanely cramped and illegal "coffin homes"

Photographer Benny Lam spent several years documenting grim living conditions in Hong Kong where people live inside tiny “coffin cubicles” within illegally divided apartments. The images are grim glimpses of life in the city with the most expensive housing market in the world. The photo series is titled “Trapped.” From National Geographic : Pushed out by soaring rents, tens of thousands of people have no other option than to inhabit squatter huts, sub-divided units where the kitchen and toilet merge, coffin cubicles, and cage homes, which are rooms measuring as small as 6’ x 2.5’ traditionally made of wire mesh. “From cooking to sleeping, all activities take place in these tiny spaces,” says Lam. To create the coffin cubicles a 400 square flat will be illegally divided by its owner to accommodate 20 double-decker beds, each costing about HK$2000 (over $250 USD) per month in rent. The space is too small to stand up in.

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Inside Hong Kong’s insanely cramped and illegal "coffin homes"

Chandelier containing living microalgae to "purify the air"

https://youtu.be/Lxd43iH-CX0 Artist, inventor, and bio-hacker Julian Melchiorri created “Exhale, the Bionic Chandelier,” a hanging electric light that “purifies the air indoors through photosynthesis performed by living microalgae enclosed into leaf modules.” Exhale is now part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s permanent collection. From the project page: Exhale is also the first living object which continuously grows while performing biologically-driven depurative functions. The light of the chandelier illuminate the space but also stimulates photosynthesis performed by tiny microalgae, this living microorganisms feed on carbon dioxide while releasing breathable oxygen into the room. This biological process performed by the chandelier establishes and explores a new symbiotic relationship between object and people where life-giving resources are constantly exchanged, and where each other waste enables respective metabolic processes. This exchange recalls how biospheric systems work, where waste ultimately doesn’t exists but is a valuable resource for other elements in that system. Bionic Chandelier (via The Kid Should See This )

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Chandelier containing living microalgae to "purify the air"

Limited edition Bicycle Karnival Midnight deck of playing cards

This purple and black deck of cards is absolutely lovely. I like to tell myself that decks with lovely and unexpected art work distract people from mistakes as I’m performing sleight of hand. Mostly, I just like fancy decks of cards. Limited Edition Karnival Midnight Purple Deck Playing Cards by Bicycle via Amazon

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Limited edition Bicycle Karnival Midnight deck of playing cards

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

New Super Mario movie in development with studio behind Minions

From Nintendo president Tatumi Kimishima’s corporate management policy briefing today ( PDF ) : We have started development of an animated movie featuring “Super Mario” with Illumination, the movie studio that brought films such as “Despicable Me” and “Minions.” For this project Mr. Chris Meledandri, Founder and CEO of Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto, Representative Director, Fellow of Nintendo will co-producing the film. The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo, and distributed theatrically worldwide by Universal Pictures. Further announcements on details such as release dates will be made at a later date. We look forward to providing further information about the release timing for this movie that we hope everyone will enjoy. As a part of our effort to expand Nintendo IP beyond video games, we look forward to bringing smiles to people around the world through this movie. Let’s hope it fares better than last time . (via Rolling Stone )

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New Super Mario movie in development with studio behind Minions

Watch warehouse with automated vertical storage shelves reduces storage area by 94%

Static shelves with bins holding small parts take up a lot of space. It’s interesting to see this case study of how a traditional warehouse was able to use wasted air space to reduce storage area by 94%. (more…)

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Watch warehouse with automated vertical storage shelves reduces storage area by 94%

Watch how 19th-century Genaille-Lucas calculating rulers work

Multiplying large numbers before calculators led to a number of ingenious inventions to make things easier, like these Genaille-Lucas rulers demonstrated by the fine folks at DONG. Via manufacturer Creative Crafthouse : In the days before calculators, methods of simplifying calculations were of much interest. In 1617 Napier also published a book describing a method to multiply, divide and extract square roots using a set of bars or rods. These became known as Napier’s Bones. (avail on our website) In the late 1800s, Henri Genaille, a French civil engineer, invented an improvement to Napier’s Bones that eliminates the need to handle carries from one digit position to the next. The problem was posed by Edouard Lucas and thus the alternate name of Genaille-Lucas Rulers (or Rods). There are also sets for division. You can get your own set online or print your own from these free files. • Genaille-Lucas Rulers (YouTube / DONG )

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Watch how 19th-century Genaille-Lucas calculating rulers work

Mysterious extraterrestrial minerals discovered in the Sahara

Libyan desert glass is a material of unknown origin scattered across a large swath of the Sahara. Among it, scientists found Hypatia stones , a strange phosphorous-nickel alloy recently determined to be extra-terrestrial. (more…)

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Mysterious extraterrestrial minerals discovered in the Sahara