Neatorama

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• Why Bears Love Hiking Trails
• Tissue Books
• How Space Travel Shrank Astronaut Scott Kelly’s Heart
• What Makes The Wii Themes So Good
• The Costliest Invasive Species In The World
• The Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Unfolds Itself Like A Butterfly
• The Hood Internet Presents 1999
• It’s A Muscular Beckoning Cat

Why Bears Love Hiking Trails Posted: 01 Apr 2021 09:26 PM PDT How do bears spend their energy as they search for food? To find the answer to this question, scientists from Washington State University's Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center trained grizzly bears to run on treadmills. What they found in this experiment is that bears are lazy creatures who want to be efficient with their energy usage. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) need to stock up on energy before they slip into winter hibernation. As opportunistic omnivores, they eat just about anything—berries, roots, grass, insects, and meat—to put on weight... This is the reason we usually see bears around popular hiking trails: they can save energy as the hiking trails are mostly flat. So,... If you've ever worried a bear might be after your picnic basket, you may want to take the hardest, hilliest trail to your destination. (Image Credit: Anthony Michael Carnahan/ Science Magazine)

Tissue Books Posted: 01 Apr 2021 02:41 PM PDT The librarian in me finds mutilating books deeply unsettling. But if a book is already damaged, why not put its corpse to a good use? Perhaps Inès Mélia, an artist in Paris, agrees. She turns old books into classy tissue boxes that would look elegant in any home. -via Messy Nessy Chic

How Space Travel Shrank Astronaut Scott Kelly’s Heart Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:50 AM PDT Scientists are still analyzing data from NASA's twin study, in which astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year aboard the International Space Station, while his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly acted as a control. A new research paper reveals that over 340 days in space, Scott Kelly's heart shrunk 27%!   That might sound alarming, but it's a reflection of how adaptable the human heart is, explains study author Benjamin Levine, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, to the New York Times' Kenneth Chang. On Earth, the heart has to pump blood hard enough to move it upward while gravity pulls it down. But in the weightless conditions of orbit, gravity is no longer a factor, and the heart shrinks to an appropriate size. The study assures us that Kelly's heart is just fine now, and he has recovered from the changes his body went through during his 2015-16 space sojourn. However, you must imagine the strength necessary to re-adapt a smaller heart to dealing with the force of gravity again upon return. Scott Kelly has since retired from NASA, while his brother Mark left retirement to serve as a US senator. An article at Smithsonian explains what went on with Kelly's heart and also that of long-distance swimmer Benoît Lecomte as he attempted to swim across the Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: NASA/Scott Kelly)

What Makes The Wii Themes So Good Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:50 AM PDT What makes the Mii Channel and the Wii Sports themes so good that people are willing to listen to extended versions of these themes (which last ten hours)? In this video Charles Cornell analyzes the music and explains to us why these pieces of music sound really good to our ears. (Image Credit: Charles Cornell/ YouTube)

The Costliest Invasive Species In The World Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:50 AM PDT Because an environment has an established ecosystem which governs the circle of life of the flora and fauna in that area, new species introduced to that environment can bring about massive changes and disruption to that ecosystem. These changes brought about by the new species are usually not beneficial for the natural inhabitants of the area; the said changes could be a new disease or a transformation of the landscape (such as devastation of crops). Over the years, we humans have traded and have introduced foreign creatures to our local environments, and this has caused us more harm than good to our respective environments. It costs a lot in resources trying to control the damage. ScienceNews gives us the top five costliest invasive species in the world, with the Aedes mosquitoes, which cost the global economy about $149 billion, taking the number one spot. More about the list over at the site. (Image Credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim/ Wikimedia Commons)

The Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Unfolds Itself Like A Butterfly Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:50 AM PDT Like the butterfly whose days inside its cocoon are finally over, Ingenuity, the tiny helicopter that hitched a ride in the Perseverance rover, slowly unfolded itself and found its landing legs suspended just a few inches above the Martian soil. The unfolding process took about a week. The future looks bright for the first helicopter on Mars. Next, the Perseverance rover will set the helicopter down in what will be the center of Ingenuity's airfield, a 33-foot (10 meters) square section of Mars hand-selected by mission scientists to be as safe as possible for the little aircraft. Then, Perseverance will drive away and give Ingenuity time to charge up its solar batteries. Mission personnel will run a series of tests on the helicopter to ensure its ready to attempt flight. Ingenuity's first flight is planned to take the helicopter just 10 feet (3 m) above the Red Planet's surface and see the chopper hover for no more than 30 seconds before touching down on the now-unfolded legs. NASA plans on having the Ingenuity's first flight above the Martian in early April. (Image Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Space.com)

The Hood Internet Presents 1999 Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:50 AM PDT The Hood Internet has been remixing the songs of the year for every year, beginning in 1979. When this one dropped, people were eagerly awaiting it, but were then astonished. I myself was surprised that I knew a few of the songs. Folks know the songs that are important to their memories, and they know what year they were popular. As the video played, they saw there were errors upon errors until it became clear that this is an April Fools Day mix. Here's the real 1999 mix. And I was still astonished that I recognized a couple of the songs.

It’s A Muscular Beckoning Cat Posted: 01 Apr 2021 11:48 AM PDT Maneki-neko ("beckoning cat") is a popular figurine that can be found in Asian stores. It is believed that this figurine can bring good luck to its owner, and it raises its beckoning hand. Because it has one hand raised all the time, it would be unsurprising to see this hand increase in muscle mass and grow in size. Such is the case with this Maneki-neko. Available in both a 9-inch $70 and 13-inch $120 model (affiliate link), the cat is also wearing some cool cat sunglasses, so of all the good luck cats, this is the coolest good luck cat. This cat is ripped! (Image Credit: DudeIWantThat/ Technabob)

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