Shape-Shifting Amphibian

A fingernail-size frog that can morph its skin texture from spiny to smooth in just minutes is the first shape-shifting amphibian ever found, according to a new report.

The tiny "mutable rain frog" (Pristimantis mutabilis) was discovered on the western slopes of Ecuador's Andes Mountains, in a protected cloud forest reserve. The misty, fog-enshrouded Chocó cloud forest is a biodiversity hotspot, and the protected area, called Reserva Las Gralarias, is also home to several rare birds and butterflies. A new glass frog species, the Las Gralarias glass frog, was reported there in 2012.

Scientists from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Metroparks found the shape shifter during their annual survey of the reserve's amphibian population. For the past 10 years, Katherine Krynak, a biologist and Case Western graduate student, and Tim Krynak, a naturalist and Metroparks project manager, have walked the reserve trails together at night, listening for frog calls and scanning for rare species. 

The pair first spotted the frog in 2006 and only snapped a photo, but later realized it could be a newfound species when they enlarged the image. They started calling the frog a "punk rocker" for its spiny-textured skin. "It wasn't until we saw the amazing texture of its skin that we thought, 'wow, this is something different,'" Katherine Krynak told Live Science.

A female mutable rain frog is just 0.8 to 0.9 inches (20 to 23 millimeters) long, and males are even smaller, the new study reports. The rain frogs are a species-rich group that skips the tadpole stage and develops into frogs directly within their eggs.

Lead study author Juan Guayasamín, a professor at the Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica in Ecuador, first suggested the little frog could be a new species, Krynak said. In 2009, the Krynaks finally saw another punk rocker frog and grabbed it for a detailed photo session, putting it in a small plastic cup overnight.

But when Katherine Krynak opened the cup the next morning, the frog's spines were gone. Thinking she had nabbed the wrong frog, Krynak added moss to the cup to make the frog more comfortable until they could return it to the forest that night. "We were both so disappointed because it had taken years to find another one," she said.

But the Krynaks said they couldn't believe their eyes the next time they checked on the frog. Its spiny skin texture had returned.

The Sensory Deprivation Tank

The Sensory Deprivation Tank

It is filled with salt water that is at body temperature, causing the user to "weightlessly float" in the tank. The tank is sound proof and light-less. Basically, all your senses are muted for you to be left only with your thoughts.

The user is supposed have reduced stress and be comparable to hypnosis.

To find out what would happen if the brain was cut off from all external stimuli, scientist John Lilly built the first sensory deprivation tank in 1954. Floating in warm water for hours in complete darkness and silence, Lilly began to experience vivid fantasies. "These are too personal to relate publicly," he reported later. The hallucinations of his test subjects were similarly difficult to categorize scientifically. This was one reason why his research did not take off. 

Lilly later gave up scientific research and founded the firm Samadhi Tanks, which manufactured tanks for domestic use. On 1980 Lilly's work was the model for the film "Altered States". Having became something of a New Age guru, he died in 2001. 

Tapeworm Diet

The "tapeworm diet" appeared in the early 20th century. Once thought to be an effective way to lose weight, but some tapeworm species are linked with malnutrition, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anemia and other health risks.

Hypnotic Suggestibility

Most of the uninitiated have an image of hypnotists as mysterious men, waving pocket watches about and turning their victims subjects into zombie-like states.

Once they're hypnotic state, subjects are compelled to obey, no matter what. And, of course, they must utter the obligatory “Yes, master”, as they carry out the control hypnotist's evil demands.

Hypnosis is a collaborative process, that is to say you have to be willing to take part. Generally, people won't do anything which goes against their personal values or beliefs. If someone tries to tell you to do something that is really against your own values, you won't do it. You'll naturally come out of the state of hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a strange art that for the most part involves a suggestible state where the person under hypnosis is more likely to listen to suggestions by the person performing hypnosis. And it turns out that some people are considered more suggestible than others. 

Scientists have performed studies that confirmed not only that some people have higher hypnotic suggestibility, but that those people are also likely to get a lot more out of hypnosis than those who are not. It is important to note that the same researchers believe that for those who are considered to have low suggestibility, that hypnosis is probably not a very useful option.

Corpse Reanimator

Giovanni Aldini, Corpse Reanimator. In Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein", first published in 1818, a corpse is reanimated by a mad scientist known as Dr Frankenstein. Frankenstein's monster is brought to life after shock treatment using electricity ran through him. Though this work may be labeled as gothic horror, the truth is this story was also an early form of science fiction. It was inspired by an Italian scientist named Giovanni Aldini, who at the time was traveling Europe and conducting similar experiments in real life.

Aldini was the nephew of Luigi Galvani. His uncle essentially discovered the concept of galvanism, when experimenting with electrical currents on frog legs. Aldini took those experiments further. Aldini conducted his experiments on corpses. 

In front of an audience, he conducted an experiment on a hung murderer, George Forster. He applied conducting rods to the man, whereby the dead man began to punch the air, and his legs began to kick and flinch. Rods applied to the face made it clench and quiver. The left eye popped open. Several people present feared the man had come back to life, and had he actually sprung forth, he would have to be re-executed. One individual was so horrified, that shortly upon leaving the spectacle, he reportedly died. 

Strongest Material In Nature Found In Small Shellfish

The strongest natural material known to man might be found in a small shellfish that clings to rocks around British shores . Researchers discovered that limpets – small aquatic snail-like creatures with conical shells – have teeth with biological structures so strong they could be copied to make cars, boats and planes of the future.

Until now, spider silk was considered the hardest material in nature because of its super-strength and potential applications in everything from bullet-proof vests to computer electronics, but scientists from the University of Portsmouth discovered that the teeth of this tiny shellfish contain a hard mineral known as goethite, which forms in the limpet as it grows.

“Limpets need high strength teeth to rasp over rock surfaces and remove algae for feeding when the tide is in. We discovered that the fibers of goethite are just the right size to make up a resilient composite structure. This discovery means that the fibrous structures found in limpet teeth could be mimicked and used in high-performance engineering applications such as Formula 1 racing cars, the hulls of boats and aircraft structures. 

Near-Death Experiences Actually Can Happen

A scientific study has revealed that near-death experiences such as seeing a bright light, travelling through a tunnel, or the sensation of leaving your own body are more vivid than any other memory. 

According to Dr. Steven Laureys, a Belgian neurologist who heads the Coma Science Group at the university hospital in the city of Liege (Belgium), has spoken to many patients over the years who have awakened from a coma and told him about "journeys" they have been on during the near-death experience.

A team of scientists from the Coma Science Group and the University's Cognitive Psychology Research Uni, conducted Memory Characteristics Questionnaires, which test for the sensory and emotional details in recollections. They then compared near-death experiences with other memories of intense real-life events, as well as memories of dreams and thoughts. The scientists were surprised to find that near-death experiences were much richer than any imagined or real event, including births and marriages.

People who go on the journeys can be forever changed, with some no longer fearing death.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole

The deepest hole ever drilled is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, on the Kola peninsula in the northwest corner of Russia, located near Finland. It was drilled for scientific research by the USSR. Like many large research holes, it had a number of offshoots from the central branch, and the deepest, SG-3, was 7.6 miles (12.262 km) deep. The borehole reached this depth in 1981. The temperature at this depth was 356°F (180°C), at which point the rock became more like a plastic than a solid, stopping further drilling.

Even though the hole in question was 7.6 miles (12.262 km) deep, it only penetrated a third of the Baltic continental crust. The rock at the bottom of the hole was about 2.7 billion years old, and samples brought from near the bottom contributed invaluably to the study of geology and geophysics at the time. The original depth goal was 9.32 miles (15,000 meters), but a faster-than-expected increase in temperature forced a premature halt to the project. If the hole had extended down to its planned depth, the projected temperature would have been 572°F (300°C), well over the maximum operating temperature of the drill bit.

Several interesting discoveries resulted from the hole. Pockets of water were found from time to time, prevented from ascending to the surface by a layer of impermeable rock. An excess of hydrogen was released from the drilling, which researchers described as "boiling" up from the surface of the hole. More details on the geology of the Baltic Shield were discovered. This area formed hundreds of millions of years ago when a supervolcano exploded and sent magma across a fair fraction of the continent.

Ice Climbing

Ice climbing is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water.

Generally, there are two kinds of ice climbing -- alpine and waterfall. As you might surmise from its name, you'll find alpine ice in a mountain environment. It's part of the terrain, may be steep or flat, is primarily derived from snow and is sometimes mixed with rock. Waterfall ice, on the other hand, is vertical, frozen water. 

The Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient, intricate machine found in a shipwreck near Greece that dates back to about 100 BC. The Antikythera mechanism contains gears and structures that were not found in devices again for 1000 years, and only then when the Muslims and Chinese were busy inventing, while the Europeans were killing each other.

Popular belief was that it was made by the Greeks due to its instructions all being in Greek, but serious research published in serious places suggested the design came from Sicily.

The mechanism was supposedly used to figure out astronomical positions. The problem with that is that at the time this thing was made, no one had yet discovered laws of gravity or how heavenly bodies moved.

The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich manuscript is an ancient book that has thwarted all attempts at deciphering its contents. It is actually an organized book with a consistent script, discernible organization and detailed illustrations.

It appears to be a real language--just one that nobody has seen before. And it really does appear to mean something. But nobody knows what.

The manuscript contains an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. The vellum in the book pages has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and may have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912.

The manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers from both World War I and World War II. No one has yet succeeded in deciphering the text, and it has become a famous case in the history of cryptography.

Warp Drive Is Possible

It looks like Warp Drive, the method of propulsion that powers the starships in the Star Trek universe, may actually be feasible. 

Warp drive was a technology that allowed space travel at faster-than-light speeds. It worked by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that enveloped the starship, distorting the local spacetime continuum and moving the starship at velocities that could greatly exceed the speed of light. These velocities were referred to as warp factors. Warp drive was the most common form of interstellar propulsion used in the Milky Way Galaxy, making interstellar exploration, commerce, and warfare possible.

Physicist Harold White took a 1994 thesis by Miguel Alcubierre entitled “The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel within General Relativity” and tweaked the warp geometry, reducing the energy needed from the weight of 300 Earths to around 1,600 pounds. 

The Leidenfrost Effect

In the Leidenfrost Effect, a water droplet will float on a layer of its own vapor if heated to a certain temperature. 

The Leidenfrost effect is named for Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost, who described the phenomenon in A Tract About Some Qualities of Common Water in 1796. In the Leidenfrost effect, a liquid in proximity to a surface much hotter than the liquid's boiling point will produce a layer of vapor that insulates the liquid and physically separates it from the surface. Essentially, even though the surface is much hotter than the boiling point of the liquid, it vaporizes more slowly than if the surface was near the boiling point. The vapor between the liquid and the surface prevents the two from coming into direct contact.

Alice In Wonderland Syndrome

When she's lost in Wonderland, Alice shrinks down to doll-size and grows to massive proportions—and the real-life syndrome named after her creates pretty much the same perceptions.

Probably as a result of something malfunctioning in the brain’s occipital lobe, this disorder causes people to perceive objects as being either much larger or smaller than they really are. Moreover, the individual will also misperceive the passage of time and possibly have their sense of hearing and touch affected as well.

Toques - Electro-Shock Givers

In Mexico, some men lug around caja toques -- battery operated boxes that dispense electrical charges -- and offer shocks of electricity for between $2 to $4 a pop. Popular around bars and clubs, some people believe it sobers them up while others feel it heightens their buzz.

Futuristic Laser Weapon

The next generation of futuristic weapons has arrived. The U.S. Navy announced that its high-tech laser weapon is ready to disable and destroy enemy drones and small boats, should the need arise.

The 30-kilowatt laser weapon system (LaWS) is housed aboard the USS Ponce, a naval vessel stationed in the Arabian Gulf— a body of water located south of Iraq that separates the Saudi Arabian peninsula from Iran.

While sailors have not yet used the new laser to destroy any real enemy targets, the Navy is prepared to do just that, if necessary, according to Rear. Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research. 

Sailors operate the laser using a video game-type controller, according to Navy officials. 

The first course of action is a nonlethal option — which amounts to a very bright glare. If a threat keeps coming they can increase the strength of the laser's highly concentrated beam, which will knock out the sensors or control systems on an enemy drone or vessel. If the adversary still doesn't get the hint, the beam can be turned up higher, making it capable of destroying the threat altogether.

The Legend Of El Dorado

The lust for gold spans all eras, races, and nationalities. To possess any amount of gold seems to ignite an insatiable desire to obtain more.

Through the centuries, this passion gave rise to the enduring tale of a city of gold. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans believed that somewhere in the New World there was a place of immense wealth known as El Dorado. 

The tale of gold riches discovered in the Inca Empire blazed its way across Europe. Before long, desperate adventurers were on their way to South America, hoping to be part of the next expedition which would bring down a native empire rich with gold. A rumor began to spread of a land where the king covered himself in gold. 

Between 1530 and 1650 or so, dozens of expeditions with thousands of men searched for El Dorado in the steamy jungles, blistering deserts, sun-drenched plains and icy mountains of South America, enduring hunger, native attacks, disease and countless other hardships. Many of the men died without seeing so much as a single nugget of gold. El Dorado was but a golden illusion, driven by fevered dreams of Inca treasure.

Megalithic Construction In South America

According to conventional science, neither the Incas nor the Maya or any other pre-Columbian society had the wheel. Everyone marvels at the huge blocks used to build the pyramids of Egypt and the tight tolerances between them. 

The megalithic structure at Sacsayhuaman in Peru has equaled those tolerances with huge multi-sided blocks which are all completely irregular in a kind of three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. According to Graham Hancock, archaeologist, one of those stones is 29 feet high and weighs more than 360 tons; the equivalent of 500 passenger automobiles. That stone is not even at the base of the wall. Yet, the quarry from which the granite blocks were cut was more than 10 miles away. Sacsayhuaman is a walled complex near the old city of Cusco. Some believe the walls were a form of fortification, while others believe it was only used to form the head of the Puma that Sacsayhuaman along with Cuzco form when seen from above. 

Like all Inca stonework there is still mystery surrounding how they were constructed. Thanks to an as yet unexplained precision in stone-cutting, the structure is built in such a way that a single piece of paper will not fit between two stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the limestone blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward (ubiquitous in Inca architecture), is thought to increase the ruins' incredible durability--devastating earthquakes in Cuzco have left it undamaged.

Ants That Become Living Bombs

What do you do if you are a Camponotus saundersi ant that is being threatened? How about you blow yourself up? Hey, why give the bad guy all of the glory by beating you?

Also known as the Malaysian exploding ant, these ants have large glands full of poison inside of their bodies. When threatened, they contract their abs, causing the glands to explode from the head, spraying their predators with poison. The poisoned-covered predators are restrained and can even die from the corrosive venom. These non-reproducing worker ants fulfill their duty to ensure the survival of the ants that pass on their DNA.

Fugu In Japan

They may look innocent while they're swimming, but these Japanese pufferfish will make sure you're good and dead, if you don't prep them carefully before eating. 

A Fugu's organs are rich with the poison tetrodotoxin and must be extracted with the utmost precision to avoid contaminating the surrounding meat. Visit Japan for a taste. Their chefs are thoroughly trained to make sure they don't accidentally kill the adventurous.

The Foo Fighters Of World War II

This rare photograph of "foo fighters" shows UFOs of the World War II era. Reports of these objects were kept secret until 1944.

The term foo fighter was used by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II to describe various UFOs or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over both the European and Pacific theaters of operations.

Though "foo fighter" initially described a type of UFO reported and named by the U.S. 415th Night Fighter Squadron, the term was also commonly used to mean any UFO sighting from that period. Formally reported from November 1944 onwards, witnesses often assumed that the foo fighters were secret weapons employed by the enemy.

Some possible explanations are that they were electrostatic phenomena similar to St. Elmo's fire, electromagnetic phenomena, or simply reflections of light from ice crystals

Crab Supernova

Crab Supernova was a supernova that was widely seen on Earth in the year 1054.

A supernova is a stellar explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy, radiating as much energy as the Sun or any ordinary star is expected to emit over its entire life span, before fading from view over several weeks or months.

Crab Supernova was so bright that, it was easily visible to naked eye in daylight for 23 days and in the night sky for 653 days. The progenitor star was located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of 6,300 light years and exploded as a core-collapse supernova.

The cloudy leftovers of SN 1054 are now known as the Crab Nebula.

Dust Storm

A dust storm is a strong, violent wind that carries fine particles like silt, clay, dust and other materials for long distances. The fine particles swirl around in the air during the storm. The scary thing about a dust storm is that they can spread over hundreds of miles and rise over 10,000 feet (305 meters) - well over the height of tall buildings. They also have wind speeds of at least 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers). 

A Frilled Shark

 A bizarre, freaky-looking shark with rows of needle-sharp teeth and an eel-like body.

The odd creature is a rare type of shark known as a frilled shark, and is sometimes called a fish "fossil" because its roots can be traced back 80 million years.

Frilled sharks are normally found at extreme depths in cool, temperate waters off the coast of New Zealand and Japan. The fish can also be found between the coasts of the British Isles through Spain to northern Africa, 

The creature has 25 rows of teeth (about 300 in total) shaped like backwards needles. It usually eats squid and octopus, and can extend its jaw to swallow prey that is more than half its size. The shark's body resembles an eel's.

Ballistic Missile Submarine

Since the 1960's, the Ballistic Missile Submarine has been the U.S. Navy’s primary contribution to America’s strategic nuclear “triad” -- which includes U.S. Air Force strategic bombers and ground-based ballistic missiles. The so-called “boomers” are some of the stealthiest ships in the U.S. inventory and regularly embark on top secret, six-month deployments to maintain a survivable nuclear deterrent.

The 14 Ohio-class SSBNs can carry up to 24 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with multiple independently-targeted warheads. However, under the New Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, each submarine will have four of its missile tubes permanently deactivated in the coming years. The SSBN’s strategic weapon is the Trident II D5 missile, which provides increased range and accuracy over the now out-of-service Trident I C4 missile.

SSBNs are specifically designed for extended deterrent patrols. To decrease the amount of time required for replenishment and maintenance, Ohio-class submarines have three large-diameter logistics hatches that allow sailors to rapidly transfer supply pallets, equipment replacement modules and machinery components thereby increasing their operational availability.

The Ohio-class design allows the submarines to operate for 15 or more years between major overhauls. On average, the submarines spend 77 days at sea followed by 35 days in-port for maintenance. Each SSBN has two crews, Blue and Gold, which alternate manning the submarines and taking them on patrol. This maximizes the SSBN’s strategic availability, reduces the number of submarines required to meet strategic requirements, and allows for proper crew training, readiness, and morale.

Insects That Live Underground

Ants and Termites

Ants and termites live in vast social colonies made up of thousands of individual insects, each with a role to play in their underground cities. A fertilized queen starts the colony, building a single chamber for her nest. Her first brood are workers who build and maintain the nest, which in ants is made up of vertical tunnels for movement and horizontal chambers for storage, according to ant biologist Walter Tschinkel of Florida State University. A queen can lay hundreds of eggs every day throughout her lifespan -- between 10 and 20 years -- at which point the colony dies along with her.

Collembola

Collembola, commonly known as springtails, are another species of insect found in abundance underground. Called springtails for the forked appendage that allows them to jump up into the air, these insects are typically only a few millimeters long and can number more than 100 individuals in one square centimeter of soil under the right conditions. With such high densities common among collembola, these insects are important links in the ecosystem, recycling nutrients and breaking down organic matter in the soil.

Beetles

Some insect species, including many species of beetles, spend only part of their life cycle underground as larvae. They are also abundant, with Carabidae, or ground beetles, numbering more than 2,000 species in North America. After hatching, these beetles live between two and six years underground as larval grubs, feeding on other insects, the roots of grasses and other plants. They complete their life cycle by pupating and hatching out into their winged adult stage, during which they will find a mate.

Locusts

Locusts, also called cicadas, are less common than ants and beetles, but their life cycles have been studied by humans for hundreds of years. Depending on the species, cicadas spend the first two to 17 years of their lives underground as larvae, feeding on the sap of plant roots. They hatch en masse as winged adults, in swarms of millions, only when ground temperatures reach 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius). After a brief and frenzied mating period of only a few days, the cicadas lay their eggs and die, beginning the cycle again.

Devil’s Flower Mantis

These mantis’s follow a policy of aggressive mimicry. Their behavior varies but typically they climb a plant and stay still on the flower until their prey comes by.

Axolotl

Axolotls are aquatic salamanders. They owe their cartoon-like look to the fact that their metamorphosis from the larval to adult stage doesn’t complete. Instead, they maintain traits from both stages. What results, is a creature that looks half fish / half lizard. Axolotls have external gills and finned tails. They can swim and walk, but they spend their entire lives in water. On rare occasions, an axolotl will metamorphose into a land salamander, dropping its gills and growing lungs to survive.

The native habitat of axolotls is in the rivers of the rainforest in Mexico, but there are very few left in the wild. Most axolotls are now found as pets, on dinner plates (some people eat them in Mexico) and in laboratories.

The Panda Ant (Wasps)

The Mutillidae are a family of more than 3,000 species of wasps (despite the names) whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Found in Chile, they are known for their extremely painful stings, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant. Black and white specimens are sometimes known as panda ants due to their hair coloration resembling that of the Chinese giant panda.

Glaucus Atlanticus

The Glaucus atlanticus, or blue glaucus is one of only two species in the family Glaucidae. Also known as the blue dragon, this creature is a is a species of blue sea slug. 

The animals float upside down at the surface of the sea, keeping afloat by swallowing air which is stored in their stomachs.

Their diet is mainly made up of hydrozoans including the Portuguese Man o’ War - they even eat the stings. As well as getting nourishment from the stings, they use them for their own defence.

Dragonfruit

Technically called a pitaya or pitahaya, this cactus -- yes, cactus!  From the outside the fruit looks like a hot pink bulb ringed with a jester's crown of curly greenish petals.  Slice it open, and there's a white (or, on rare occasions, fuchsia) scoop of sweet pulp speckled with tiny black seeds.

Its taste, however, is much less flashy, which is why dragon fruit is often added to dishes (or drinks) with "soft" flavors, like strawberry or even rose petal. It's rich in fiber and antioxidants.

Buddha's Hand

This finger-like fruit has a lemony taste without the pulpy texture of citrus. The rind works well for zesting, since it packs even more flavor than a more traditional citrus fruit. Plus, it's loaded with vitamin C. Just one tablespoon provides 13 percent of your daily recommended intake.

The Rambutan

This lesser-known relative of the lychee deserves a share of the spotlight. The grape-like flesh can be eaten raw right out of the anemone-looking exterior -- just discard the seed. The fruit contains some vitamin C, iron and manganese, but beware canned varieties which may be packed in sugary syrup.

The Zulu

The Zulu are regarded as a great warrior nation by other African tribes and are the most powerful of the native African groups in South Africa. They speak Isizulu. Young Zulu girls wear as a part of their traditional tribal dress. Different beads have different meanings and the tribe’s young men courting girls will give beads as tokens of love. Ancestor worship is common practice with the Zulu nation and the ancestors are called upon for advice with important decision-making. 

They are the largest South African ethnic group, with an estimated 10–11 million people living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. The Zulu Kingdom played a major role in South African history during the 19th and 20th centuries. Under apartheid, Zulu people were classed as third-class citizens and suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination. They remain today the most numerous ethnic group in South Africa, and now have equal rights along with all other citizens.

Porcupine Tomato

The porcupine tomato hails from Madagascar, the island nation that brought us the Hellbeast lemur and Dracula ants.

Aside from being sharp and poisonous, the porcupine tomato is a potentially invasive species, since it is difficult to kill, even in drought. Among the features you don't want in a poisonous dagger monster, "hard to kill" has to be way up there.

Did we mention that it spreads quickly, and can reach 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide in a relatively short amount of time? What we're saying is that you should be careful stepping out your front door in the morning, because you never know when a toxic, razor-filled hedge may have sprung up in the middle of the night.

Bleeding Tooth Fungus

The bleeding tooth fungus looks kind of like a wad of chewing gum that leaks blood like a rejected prop from The Shining.

They're also called the strawberries and cream, the red-juice tooth, and the devil's tooth. This thing looks like a tooth, and it looks like it sweats blood.

Oh, and they are listed as "inedible," which implies that someone attempted to eat one at some point. On the other hand, the bloodlike substance has anticoagulant and antibacterial properties. It's nature's next penicillin! 

Doll's Eye

At best, this thing looks like the plants you'd find on some hostile alien world. At worst, it looks like eyeballs on bloody stalks, tied together by their stems like the deranged trophy of some serial killer, used to mark the grave of half a dozen victims.

It's called the doll's eye plant, also known by the equally unsettling name "white baneberry." Just in case you were actually thinking of eating this thing, those eyeballs are highly poisonous.

Spider Orchid

It looks like a skinny starfish on a stalk. But to wasps, the five banded petals of this tropical orchid resemble big, tasty spiders. While wrestling with the blooms, a wasp becomes covered in pollen, which it will helpfully—though hungrily—take to the next spider orchid.

Tarantula cactus

In its native Bolivia, this cactus creeps along the rocky ground—but in a tall pot, its stems bend to resemble an enormous, hairy spider emerging from its hole. Just when you get super creeped out, pretty salmon-colored flowers bloom. 

These Fish Use Sign Language

Two types of fish have been shown to use gestures, or sign language, to help one another hunt. This is the first time these types of gestures have been found to occur in animals other than primates and ravens.

Both types of fish, grouper and coral trout, are known for hunting cooperatively with other kinds of animals. Whereas the grouper hunts with giant moray eels and a fish called the Napoleon wrasse, coral trout partner up with octopuses to snag prey. A study found that the fish are able to "point" their heads toward prey, to help out their hunting buddies.

After observing the fish in the wild researchers found that when a prey fish escaped its hunting party, a grouper occasionally moved over the place where the fugitive prey was hiding. The grouper would then rotate its body so that its head faced downward, and it would shake its head back and forth in the direction of the potential meal, in what researchers call a "headstand" signal. Coral trout make a similar sign. 

The Blue Whale

The largest animal to ever grace our planet, living or extinct, is the blue whale. Blue whales have tipped the scales at 140 tons and reached 100 feet. The blue whale tongue alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.

Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill a day.

Therizinosaurus

Therizinosaurus cheloniformis ("turtle-formed scythe lizard") was a very huge segnosaur (now known as Therizinosaurs). It might grow up to twelve meters (40 feet) long. Therizinosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 70 million years ago, and its fossils were first exposed in Mongolia. When it was discovered it was originally thought to be a turtle (hence the name cheloniformis - turtle-formed), but it is now conventional as a maniraptoran dinosaur.

Therizinosaurus had a small head, a extended neck, short tail and a large body. Its feet had very bent claws, and its most distinctive feature was gigantic claws on its front limbs (up to nearly a meter, or three feet, in length.)

The feeding habits of Therizinosaurus are still debated, but it was most almost certainly an herbivore, using its big physical claws to push leaves into its mouth. Other hypotheses propose that it was a termite eater, using its claws to open big termite nests, but it seems unlikely that an animal the size of Therizinosaurus could stay alive on a diet based on insects.

There are other likely uses for Therizinosaurus claws, such as defense against predators (such as the contemporary Tarbosaurus) and for intraspecific fight, such as hostility for territory or for mating.

It is likely that Therizinosaurus was feathered, given that its close relation Beipiaosaurus was.

An Occult Rocket Scientist

Scientist, poet, and self-proclaimed Antichrist, Jack Parsons was a bizarre genius whose life reads like an implausible yet irresistible science fiction novel. 

He was cofounder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and leader of the Agape Lodge of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Parsons, a driven man equally interested in rocketry and magick. From his early childhood and deep attachment to his mother (who killed herself hours after he died) through his nonacademic research and brilliant innovations in solid fuels to his mysterious 1952 demise in a garage-laboratory explosion at the age of 37, was a man whose obsession with explosives and propellants was nearly single-minded. 

Yet this same man found spiritual fulfillment through Crowley's Law of Thelema, conducted magickal operations with L. Ron Hubbard, and signed an oath asserting himself to be the Antichrist--clearly Parsons wasn't a boring guy in a white coat.

Clown Frogfish

A brightly colored clown frogfish shows off its stuff on a reef near Bali, Indonesia. Members of the frogfish family typically keep a much lower profile, relying on the art of camouflage—even changing colors—to stay hidden in their reef homes. Frogfish boast an array of stripes, spots, warts, and other skin anomalies that allow them to impersonate surrounding rocks or plants.

Mouthbreeders

A male jawfish is seen with eggs in his mouth in the Philippines. After mating, the female jawfish gives the eggs to the male. The fish are known as mouthbreeders.

Mouthbrooding or mouthbreeding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Paternal mouthbrooders are species where the male looks after the eggs. Source: Wikipedia

Which Bird Migrates The Farthest?

The bird that flies farthest is the Arctic Tern, an elegant white seabird. This bird also sees more daylight than any other.

The Arctic Tern breeds on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in northern hemisphere summer. And it feeds over the oceans of the southern hemisphere half a year later – in southern hemisphere summer. So, like many birds, this bird flies great distances every year to maintain its life of endless summertime.

North American Arctic Terns fly about 40,000 kilometers – or 24,000 miles – each year. That’s a distance about equal to the distance around the Earth.

Weird Chemistry Facts

Liquid oxygen is blue. 

Some radioactive elements really do glow. 

You can die from drinking too much water. 

If you mix half a liter of alcohol with half a liter of water, the volume of the mixture will be less than one liter. 

Liquid water is more dense than solid water (ice). 

You can melt a sample of the element gallium just by holding it in your hand. 

Under certain conditions, hot water will freeze more quickly than cold water. 

You can't solidify helium at normal pressures, even at absolute zero. (You can solidify it at extremely high pressure and low temperature.)