The Lykoi, also called the Werewolf cat, is a natural mutation from a domestic short-haired cat. The Lykoi breed was developed in Vonore, Tennessee. The mutation has occurred in domestic cats over the last 20 years. Genetic testing done at UC Davis confirm that the cats do not carry the Sphynx/Devon gene.
1. Lungs don’t just facilitate respiration – they also make blood. Mammalian lungs produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour, which equates to the majority of platelets circulating the body.
2. It is mathematically possible to build an actual time machine – what’s holding us back is finding materials that can physically bend the fabric of space-time.
3. Siberia has a colossal crater called the ‘doorway to the underworld’, and its permafrost is melting so fast, ancient forests are being exposed for the first time in 200,000 years.
4. The world’s first semi-synthetic organisms are living among us – scientists have given rise to new lifeforms using an expanded, six-letter genetic code.
5. Vantablack – the blackest material known to science – now comes in a handy ‘spray-on’ form and it’s the weirdest thing we’ve seen so far this year.
7. A brand new human organ has been classified, and it’s been hiding in plain sight this whole time. Everyone, meet your mesentery.
8. Carl Sagan was freakishly good at predicting the future – his disturbingly accurate description of a world where pseudoscience and scientific illiteracy reigns gave us all moment for pause.
9. A single giant neuron that wraps around the entire circumference of a mouse’s brain has been identified, and it appears to be linked to mammalian consciousness.
10. The world’s rarest and most ancient dog isn’t extinct after all – in fact, the outrageously handsome New Guinea highland wild dog appears to be thriving.
11. Your appendix might not be the useless evolutionary byproduct after all. Unlike your wisdom teeth, your appendix might actually be serving an important biological function – and one that our species isn’t ready to give up just yet.
12. After 130 years, we might have to completely redraw the dinosaur family tree, thanks to a previously unimportant cat-sized fossil from Scotland.
14. Earth appears to have a whole new continent called Zealandia, which would wreak havoc on all those textbooks and atlases we’ve got lying around.
15. Humans have had a bigger impact on Earth’s geology than the infamous Great Oxidation Event 2.3 billion years ago, and now scientists are calling for a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – to be officially recognised.
16. Turns out, narwhals – the precious unicorns of the sea – use their horns for hunting. But not how you’d think.
17. Human activity has literally changed the space surrounding our planet – decades of Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio communications have accidentally formed a protective, human-made bubble around Earth.
It’s one of those nights where I google into the deep hours of the night and try to determine the composition of the Arkenstone! The film gave us a sort of fantasy glowing opal, but my results were different. In summary:
~=Cerussite is a ridiculously sparkly, heavy, and poisonous mineral associated with veins of gold which can also be poisoned. And it (with creativity) could conceivably be found in an extinct volcano.=~
Of course, there’s rather more where that came from because I don’t know when to stop when doing fantasy geology.
Pictures, Tolkien quotes, and geology under the cut. Warning: long thorough!
Here’s a thing that is helpful and free! It’s a plugin that uses a dyslexic-friendly font and color coding to make reading easier for everyone, but especially for those of us with dyslexia, ADHD, or other learning disabilities.
Above text reads: “Make reading easier and faster with BeeLine Reader! BeeLine uses a color gradient to guide your eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. This seemingly simple tweak makes reading substantially easier and faster because it allows you to transition between lines quickly and effortlessly. Thousands of people have taken our online diagnostic test, and over 90% of them saw a benefit from BeeLine. Many people are able to read 20% or 30% faster with BeeLine, even on their first try.
Our Chrome extension works great on news articles, wikipedia pages, and other text-heavy websites. You can choose between several different color schemes, and more features will be coming soon.”
I love this plugin so freaking much you guys.
Anybody who follows this journal, can you report on whether this works for you?
I use it, as I tend to get lost in big blocks of text, and love it. Can’t say how it works for dyslexia though.
a paper mache bucket ... tumblr mirror 
