Neatorama

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• Check Out These Food Artworks Made By Adam Hillman
• Check Out This Cockroach-Inspired Robot
• Cat Loves To Groom And Massage His Pig Friends
• The Qualities of A Good Superman
• Junji Ito Reacts To Anime Cats
• The Eclipse Photo That Made Einstein Famous
• The Importance of Timing In Video Game Animation
• How Loneliness Affects Survival and Longevity
• This Fulmar Looks So Happy!
• Why Early Earth May Have Been Mostly Purple
• An Honest Trailer for <i>The Fifth Element</i>
• Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi on Scotland's Tallest Peak
• The Floating City of Manaus

Check Out These Food Artworks Made By Adam Hillman Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT   View this post on Instagram Peelometric A post shared by Adam Hillman (@witenry) on Mar 23, 2020 at 3:51pm PDT Isn't it just satisfying to see things arranged in such a really meticulous way that you just stare at it with awe and amazement? This is just what Adam Hillman does in his masterpieces, which were featured on Colossal. Using produce, candy, and breakfast fare, Hillman organizes an array of perishables into patterns and geometric sequences, which he often shares on Instagram. "There's something beautiful about working with something so transient, and the beauty of the materials is something that can only be preserved through photography long after the food within the photo has either rotted or been eaten," he tells Colossal. Check out Hillman's impressive artworks over at the site, and visit his Instagram account to see more of his magnificent artworks. (Image Credit: Adam Hillman/ Instagram)

Check Out This Cockroach-Inspired Robot Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT For many people, cockroaches are disgusting pests and should be dealt with immediately when spotted. These are dangerous creatures that spoil food, spread pathogens, and cause psychological distress (especially when one begins to spread its wings and fly). But looking at them through the lens of science and technology, they are wonderful creatures and could be sources of inspiration. Check out this cockroach-inspired robot developed by scientists from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). HAMR-JR is a half-scale version of the cockroach-inspired harvard ambulatory microrobot or HAMR. About the size of a penny, HAMR-JR can't climb up the waterspout yet but it can run, jump, carry heavy payloads and turn into a dime, making it one of the most dexterous microrobots to date. Most robots at this scale are pretty simple and only demonstrate basic mobility,' Kaushik Jayaram, a former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and wyss and first author of the paper comments. 'We have shown that you don't have to compromise dexterity or control for size.' Head over at DesignBoom for more details about this robot. (Image Credit: DesignBoom)

Cat Loves To Groom And Massage His Pig Friends Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT Ernest is one loving and caring cat. He just loves all of the animals on the farm, whether it is the donkeys, the alpacas, the cows, the goats, the sheep, the chickens, and the pigs, which are his favorites of them all. He loves licking them, and giving them massages whether they're standing or lying down. Check out this video of Ernest over at The Dodo. (Image Credit: The Dodo)

The Qualities of A Good Superman Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT I remember the first time I watched DC's 2013 film Man of Steel, and I was surprised at how the film portrayed the superhero that I loved when I was a kid. This wasn't the Superman that I grew up with. And to be honest, the 2013 film was kind of boring compared to the 1978 Superman film, which starred the late Christopher Reeve. But what made Christopher Reeve's portrayal of the superhero more likable than the more recent one portrayed by Henry Cavill? Cracked.com has this to say: Well, common wisdom seems to dictate that if we're looking for the right kind of Superman, Christopher Reeve is about as perfect as you can get. He was strong when others weren't, kind when the world turned its back on him, and had an almost puppy dog sense of loyalty toward doing the right thing and being pleasant to everyone. And that's great and makes for a great Superman, but just having a guy who's nice all the time about everything doesn't make for a very interesting character. And that's why it's important to remember Christopher Reeve's most underrated talent when playing Superman: The ability to make the guy a charming little ****. Check out their full analysis of Christopher Reeve's Superman over at the site. (Image Credit: DC Comics/ Warner Bros./ Wikimedia Commons)

Junji Ito Reacts To Anime Cats Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:07 PM PDT Junji Ito is popularly known for his horror manga works, like the Enigma of the Amigara Fault. But unbeknownst to many people, he is also a cat manga author, and people have thought of him as a cat person, which he really is. He is a nice person, but can scare the soul out of you through his horror works. Ito states that his fascination for cats started when his wife got a cat which lived with them. There, he saw that cats were cute and interesting beings. But how will he find cats as portrayed in anime? Junji Ito rates them on this video by Crunchyroll. (Video Credit: Crunchyroll Extras/ YouTube)

The Eclipse Photo That Made Einstein Famous Posted: 10 Jun 2020 05:06 PM PDT This video goes a long way to answer two very important questions: 1. How does gravity work? and 2. How did Albert Einstein become a celebrity? While the second question is more interesting in the moment, this video gives a really simple explanation of the difference between Newton's definition of gravity and Einstein's. And then it take us on an adventure to the Southern Hemisphere (and the cosmos) for proof. -via Digg

The Importance of Timing In Video Game Animation Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:28 PM PDT Even for the layman, the concept of timing in animation can be easily understood, as what we can see in reality can also be applied in animation — "fast things happen quickly", which means that an action will take less time, and "slow things happen slowly", which means that the action will take more time to perform. Despite it being a simple concept, timing is one of the fundamental principles when it comes to animation, as it basically influences everything in animation. Dive into New Frame Plus's video and learn more about this animation principle. (Video Credit: New Frame Plus/ YouTube)

How Loneliness Affects Survival and Longevity Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:28 PM PDT Now that social distancing (and social isolation, in some cases) will most likely be the world's new normal, our social lives will be greatly affected. And, alongside our social lives, our survival and longevity will also be affected, as these things are connected. A new paper published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences explores the wide-ranging, negative consequences that social isolation has on our psychological well-being and physical health, including decreased life span. The paper was co-authored by Associate Professor Danilo Bzdok (McGill University and Mila Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute) and Emeritus Professor Robin Dunbar (University of Oxford). Associate Professor & Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair Danilo Bzdok, said, 'We are social creatures. Social interplay and cooperation have fuelled the rapid ascent of human culture and civilization. Yet, social species struggle when forced to live in isolation. From babies to the elderly, psychosocial embedding in interpersonal relationships is critical for survival. It is now more urgent than ever to narrow the knowledge gap of how social isolation impacts the human brain as well as mental and physical well-being.' Head over at Neuroscience News for more details about this study. (Image Credit: Pixabay)

This Fulmar Looks So Happy! Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:28 PM PDT Have you ever had a moment of pure joy and peace in your life where you just had to close your eyes and put your hands on your back just to fully experience that moment. This bird might just have been in that kind of moment. That, or maybe he was drying himself in mid-air. Nevertheless, he looks so happy in this photo! This photo was taken by Karen Munro, a photographer from Scotland. Via The Wild Child (Image Credit: kasmunro2/ Instagram)

Why Early Earth May Have Been Mostly Purple Posted: 10 Jun 2020 03:27 PM PDT Our beautiful "blue marble" with its accents of green and brown didn't always look the way it does now. Back in 2007, Professor Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland-Baltimore speculated that early life on earth may have been purple. And there is more and more evidence that this could be true. The hypothesis is that Earth's earliest microbes were phototrophs, capturing photons from sunlight to produce energy for themselves. This isn't too surprising – the plants that dominate Earth today are also phototrophs. However, unlike modern plants, which utilize the pigment chlorophyll to capture light, these ancient microbes might have used a pigment called retinal. Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light while reflecting green. Retinal does the opposite, meaning microbes making use of it would appear purple. The San Francisco salt ponds pictured at the top of the article tease what Earth's oceans might have looked like billions of years ago. Back then, the planet was far hotter and bathed in copious ultraviolet light, with much higher concentrations of sulphur and methane. Modern retinal-using microbes call haloarchaea love these sorts of environments, and it could have been their descendants that dominated a purple planet. So if that's the way it was, what changed along the way? Read how chlorophyll-producing plants took over in this speculative scenario at Real Clear Science. -via Damn Interesting (Image credit: dro!d)

An Honest Trailer for <i>The Fifth Element</i> Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:22 PM PDT I managed to totally miss The Fifth Element when it came out in 1997. Years later, I finally heard of it and found out it was a French science fiction film with so much sexual innuendo it couldn't help but be a global hit. It looks like somewhat of a comedy, too. As Wikipedia explains, director Luc Besson began with the viewpoint of the target audience and worked on the movie for a long time. Besson started writing the story that became The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas. Now Screen Junkies tells the truth in an Honest Trailer for The Fifth Element.

Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi on Scotland's Tallest Peak Posted: 10 Jun 2020 12:22 PM PDT Scottish Star Wars fans are circulating a petition to have a statue of "one of Scotland's best" actors, Ewan McGregor, in his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi installed at the peak of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the country. The statue would not only be a tribute to the actor, but would also draw Star Wars fans from all over the world. The petition says, in part, "A statue of Obi-Wan Kenobi would be rather fitting, given the mountain's nickname, the volcanic past and its the highest ground of Ewan McGregor's home county. He would literally have 'the high ground,' watching over all of Scotland. It's poetic in a way." When it comes to petitions started by Star Wars fans, this is one whose intentions seem most admirable. McGregor is often praised as an actor and he often shares his love of his home country. Fictional characters have previously earned statues in relevant locations, like the one-ton Captain America statue in his fictional home town of Brooklyn, New York. Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will unearth statues and not know that some are historical figures, some are fictional characters, and some are fictional characters portrayed by real people. That this proposed statue is more of an homage to McGregor than to Kenobi might never occur to them. Read more about the petition at Comicbook.com. -via Mental Floss

The Floating City of Manaus Posted: 10 Jun 2020 09:38 AM PDT The city of Manaus, on the Amazon River in Brazil, was once the epicenter of the rubber industry, because it was in that area that rubber trees grew. As the city's population increased, people began to build houses out on the river, connected by wooden planks. This became the Floating City, where eventually 11,000 people lived in 2,000 houses, supported by quite a few floating businesses. "The poor people who wanted to remain close to downtown began to realize that living in a floating city was much more interesting for them than living in more distant areas," says Leno Barata, a historian who wrote his doctoral thesis on the Floating City, in Portuguese. "And living on the river also had other advantages, such as not paying rent or city taxes." Initially there were only a handful of disconnected floating houses. But the number rapidly increased after World War II, following a temporary return of the Rubber Boom. With the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, the United States and the Allied Forces were cut off from their rubber supply and turned to Brazil for help. As a result, tens of thousands of Brazilians, mostly from the poor Northeast region, were sent to the Amazon region to relaunch the rubber industry. When the war ended, many of these "rubber soldiers," as they became known, ended up in Manaus. The Floating City became a tourism draw, offering lower prices for goods and illicit pleasures. Some people found it charming, and compared it to Venice. Others considered it a slum. The people who lived there called it home, and have fond memories of the neighborhood, which was dismantled in the 1960s. Read about the rise and fall of the Floating City of Manaus at Atlas Obscura. (Image credit: Eduardo Braga/Instituto Durango Duarte)

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