The Science of Bacon

Science confirms it: we cannot resist bacon. There are volatile organic compounds and animo acids involved, so of course we love it.

(YouTube link)

AsapSCIENCE explains the many factors that make us love bacon, but whether we understand it or not, this video will make you crave a BLT. Especially if you have backyard tomatoes ripening already, as I have.

How to (Truly) Improve Your Luck

In 1938, a Detroit street sweeper named Joseph Figlock saved the life of a baby falling from an apartment building. A lucky moment, indeed. It was also an odd coincidence, because, according to Time magazine, the same man had performed the very same act just a year prior. Even more astounding? It was reported to be the same baby.
Astonishing tales like this make us laugh in disbelief. But behind the laughter lurks fear: Humans have a deep psychological need for the universe to feel controllable—or at least predictable. “People are much more relaxed if they feel in command, whether they really are or not,” says David Hand, a British statistician and author of The Improbability Principle. “The notion that events might happen just by chance can be terrifying.”
As a species, we persuade ourselves that we can influence random events, a fantasy psychologists call “the illusion of control.” Casino gamblers throw dice more gently when they want lower numbers, according to one study. In another, 40 percent of subjects believed they could get better outcomes from tossing a coin the more they practiced. It’s little wonder, then, that people sit up and listen when self-help gurus claim to offer techniques for learning to be luckier. The good news is that, in some sense, you really can “make your own luck.”

For starters, forget about influencing the outcome of truly chance-based events, like coin tosses or lottery draws. You should also avoid trying to make your own luck by focusing on the outcomes you desire, as advised in New Age bestsellers like The Secret. Research by the psychologists Gabriele Oettingen and Doris Mayer indicates that the more people positively fantasize about, say, getting a great job, the less money they end up earning, perhaps because fantasy replaces effort that could get them ahead in the real world. Similarly, people who positively fantasize more about romance are less likely to ask out potential partners on actual dates.
Such findings draw attention to the fact that “luck” is an ambiguous term. We use it to describe life’s sheer randomness—but also to explain those opportunities we encounter because we’ve looked for them. Expose yourself to new people and events and you’re far more likely to meet your next employer—or the love of your life—than if you stay locked in your home. The best approach, research suggests, isn’t a laser-like focus on what you think you want. It’s to cultivate a radical openness to unplanned experiences, loosen your grip on your goals, and embrace uncertainty.
Several years ago, the psychologist Richard Wiseman recruited subjects who thought of themselves as either unusually lucky or unlucky. The self-described lucky ones, he discovered, shared a set of behavioral traits that maximized their good fortune. They were receptive to new experiences and invested time in expanding their social and professional networks; when things went wrong, they reminded themselves that things could have gone worse. By focusing less on their goals, they actually accomplished those goals more efficiently. In one experiment, Wiseman asked participants to count the number of photographs in a newspaper. The unlucky people diligently plodded through. The lucky ones were far more likely to spot one of two messages Wiseman had inserted on the page. The first read “Stop counting—there are 43 photographs in this newspaper.” The other offered a $250 reward if the reader just asked the experimenter for the cash.
Wiseman concluded that being too goal-focused can actually interfere with achieving goals, something that bears out when you look at successful entrepreneurs. The popular stereotype of the innovator who envisions a miraculous new product or service and then stubbornly fights to make it real isn’t accurate, according to management scholar Saras Sarasvathy. Rather, the most successful innovators are the ones who are willing to use the people and resources at their disposal to take action—even if they can’t see the endpoint.
Uncertainty feels uncomfortable, so we’re tempted to do whatever we can to get rid of it. But learning to tolerate it instead will bring you better luck. Writer Karla Starr refers to this as “structured serendipity.” Don’t abandon your daily schedule, she advises, but make sure it includes chances for unexpected things to happen. Spend an hour wandering a bookstore; invite a random acquaintance for coffee. On social media, follow some people whose enthusiasms you don’t already share. Leave extra time for errands, to permit spontaneous detours en route.
And whether or not you improve your luck, you can take solace in the fact that you’re certainly luckier than Maureen Wilcox. In 1980, she bought tickets for the Massachusetts and Rhode Island lotteries and picked the winning numbers for both. Unfortunately, her Massachusetts numbers were the winning ones in Rhode Island and vice versa, so she won nothing.
And yet, Hand points out, statistically speaking, Wilcox was no less lucky than anyone else who didn’t win that week. The true lesson of her story isn’t that some people have terrible luck; it’s that almost everyone who plays the lottery loses. Spend those dollars on a cup of coffee with a stranger instead.

6 Insane Space Stories You Didn't Learn In History Class

Frankly, American history classes in public schools are lucky if they have time to touch on anything more recent than World War II. Even if they do, there probably wouldn’t be more than a day or two devoted to the entire space race. The story of space exploration is a long and rich one, with occasionally bizarre incidents that we can laugh about, now that we know no one died because of them. This tidbit is bizarre because of the difference in the American and Soviet space programs. Cosmonauts carried a weapon into space that was basically a sawed-off shotgun.

The TP-82 pistol was developed specifically for cosmonauts and packed enough punch to take out a half-ton grizzly bear. That specification is not an accident, either -- despite our sincerest hopes that the Ruskies had armed their cosmonauts with a hand cannon to fight off aliens or in the event they got into a space-train robbery gunfight with the Americans, the gun was actually intended as a survival measure once they were back on Earth. Why? Because unlike the stupid Americans, who directed their spacecraft into the Pacific Ocean, the Soviets cleverly pointed their returning capsules to the nice, soft rock of Siberia. And, as is wont to happen, capsules occasionally went off course, landing somewhere else in the vast, inhospitable wasteland.

In one such instance, two cosmonauts ended up stranded in the middle of the woods in the Urals, 600 miles from their intended landing site, with only a 9 mm pistol to deal with the bears and wolves that lurked in the woods around them. Despite the fact they never encountered either, they managed to convince their bosses that future crews should be packing more heat.

Other stories in a list from Cracked are about American astronauts, and some involve embarrassing bodily functions, told in the colorful language you expect from Cracked.

We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

1969 Article Shows What Gay Life Was Once Like

Yes, we still have a long way to go, my LGBT brothers and sisters. But boy, this should remind you of how far we’ve come.

Read more 

Landmarks Nationwide Lit Up The Night In Beautiful Support Of Marriage Equality

Breathtaking images…

Read full story

How One's Hometown May Affect Their Chances of Marriage

According to the New York Times, a "large new data set" exists that indicates how geography can indirectly affect one's odds of marrying. Due to the political leanings of geographic areas, the likelihood of marriage varies. For example,

"Spending childhood nearly anywhere in blue America — especially liberal bastions like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington — makes people about 10 percentage points less likely to marry relative to the rest of the country. And no place encourages marriage quite like the conservative Mountain West, especially the heavily Mormon areas of Utah, southern Idaho and parts of Colorado."

Residents of the United States, see how your area fares in this context by viewing the charts and interactive maps here.

Woman faked death with ketchup to dodge lover

Police in Germany announced on Wednesday that bloody photographs sent by the ex-lover of a heartbroken man from Bonn were fake and that his old flame was still alive. Following a year long affair by two married people, the woman from Niedersachsen and the man from Bonn, the man received some graphic photos of the woman laying face-down and covered in what looked like blood. Unfortunately the husband of the wife had found out about her straying and the couple agreed to put their differences behind them and try to work things out. The extramarital romance was called off, but the woman's partner in the affair didn't take the break up too well and continued to send dirty photos and emails to the couple, especially to the woman's husband.
Together, the couple hatched a plan to fake the wife’s death using a series of 'bloody' photos featuring the woman's body liberally splattered with ketchup. But the ex-lover called the police as soon as he received the images of the mocked-up bloodbath. Police from Bückeburg were dispatched immediately, but soon realized the crime had been faked and the 'blood' was nothing more than the tomato-based condiment.
A police spokesman said in a statement that “many a police officer asks himself every now and then whether he's on a hidden-camera show or accidentally fell into the location of a third-rate detective film." Police have yet to decide whether to make the case a criminal investigation and whether the couple will need to cover the cost of the police operation.

Lovesick teenager killed mother's chickens for not mending his relationship with his girlfriend

Limestone County sheriff's deputies say a domestic incident in Elkmont, Alabama, ended with several dead chickens and a young man in jail. The charges are against 18-year-old Haden Smith.

Deputies say Smith's mother called them after he sent her threatening texts and killing her chickens. Deputies say Smith texted her on Thursday morning saying he would kill a chicken every fifteen minutes unless she contacted his girlfriend's parents and mended his relationship with his girlfriend.
He gave her a deadline of noon until the chicken massacre started, deputies say. He also threatened to burn her house down, kill any responding deputies and kill himself, according to the sheriff's office.
Smith killed six chickens before he was arrested. He texted his mother photos of the each dead chicken every fifteen minutes, deputies say. Smith was arrested and charged with third-degree domestic violence and third-degree criminal mischief.

Man exposed himself to store owner before stealing women's clothing

Police in western Pennsylvania are searching for the man they say flashed a store owner, then robbed her, taking money and women's clothing. Richland Township police, just east of Johnstown, Cambria County, are investigating the theft at the King and Queen Shoppe. It's a robbery unlike any other Richland Township Police Det. Kevin Guadlip said he's investigated.

Son claims mother stabbed his nipple with pencil for complaining she bought too much at Walmart

A 65-year-old Florida woman is accused of stabbing her son in the nipple with a pencil after he complained she bought too much stuff at Walmart.

Gale Higley’s son told Port St. Lucie police on June 11 that he came home from a bar and discovered Higley made a lot of unnecessary purchases at Walmart and spent a lot of money.
He said they argued over her “spending habits,” and that his mother stabbed his left nipple with a pencil and slapped his face. Police noticed a small mark on the nipple in question. Meanwhile, the accused nipple stabber said she argued with her son over how she prepared lasagna for dinner. She put the lasagna in the microwave, but he wanted it in the oven.
Higley said she slapped her son, but denied stabbing him with a pencil. Higley appeared intoxicated, as did her son. Investigators found a pencil with no tip. It’s unclear whether the pencil was among the alleged Walmart purchases. Police arrested Higley of Port St. Lucie, on a battery charge. She was taken to the St. Lucie County jail.

Fake dentist and his assistant pulled five teeth from woman’s mouth

Last month, Erika Martinez said a man posing as a dentist held her down and yanked five of her teeth out over about an hour or two. “The truth is, it felt like it lasted years,” Martinez said in Spanish while her lips concealed a checkerboard smile. “It was horrible pain. Very traumatic.” Police said Mario Alberto Sabillon-Mejia, 33, masqueraded as a dentist and denture-maker and offered discount oral care in Dallas and Houston. He and his alleged assistant, Tiffany Gonzalez, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license. The pair face prison time, and Martinez “is going to require extensive medical and dental treatment to heal from her injuries,” Dallas police Lt. Tony Crawford said. Crawford said police obtained a ledger that suggests Sabillon-Mejia has at least 50 other patients in the area and operated in Dallas and Houston. He had claimed to be a dentist in Honduras, but is not, Crawford said.

Martinez turned to Sabillon-Mejia because she didn’t have dental insurance. A clinic told her she would have to pay $9,000 to fix her teeth. Instead, she went on a local Facebook group and asked if anyone knew about cheap dental services. A woman told Martinez that Sabillon-Mejia could help her. She called him and he met her at her home in West Oak Cliff. Martinez told police that Sabillon-Mejia and Gonzalez quoted her a price of $1,500. About a week later, the woman gave Gonzalez the first $500 to do the procedure at her house, police said. Crawford said he has never heard of a dentist that didn’t take X-rays. Nor does he know of any dentists who make home visits. “I’ve never heard of one that did,” Crawford said. “I wish mine did.” On May 25, Sabillon-Mejia gave Martinez an anesthetic and started pulling teeth. The pain was excruciating. She bled profusely. They held her down.
Martinez said that she asked the pair to stop the procedure, but they said they had to keep going. At one point, Martinez fainted. The two allegedly cleaned their dental tools in Martinez’s sink and carried them around in an unsanitary bag. Afterward, Martinez said, the pair gave her little advice: “Just not to eat pork, and that was it,” Martinez said. On June 3, Sabillon-Mejia gave the woman a tooth mold and demanded another $500 payment for it. Crawford said Sabillon-Mejia had tools for making dentures. “We think he was just getting his experience by practicing on people that were hiring him,” Crawford said. “He wanted to be a dentist, I’m assuming.” Martinez grew wary and decided to contact police for her own safety and the safety of others. She identified the two from a photo lineup. When she found out they didn’t have licenses, Martinez said she “felt very lucky to be alive.”

YouTube link.

Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia, who is a real dentist, said she has had many patients come to her after seeing unlicensed dentists. “Sadly, it’s always a bad result,” she said. Still, most of them don’t want to report it to police, Garcia said. “They feel ashamed that they’ve been taken advantage of and they feel bad for doing that,” Garcia said. “That doesn’t change the fact that you are risking your life.” Garcia said there is “no excuse” to go to an unlicensed dentist. Most dentists offer payment plans, she said. Crawford said the alleged dentist shouldn’t have been offering services, either. “Any time you practice medicine without a license not knowing what you’re doing, you’re going to cause people irreparable harm,” he said. Sabillon-Mejia is being held in Dallas County jail in lieu of $105,000 bail. He also has an open DWI charge in Dallas County and is living in the country illegally. Gonzalez, whose bail was $3,500, posted bond on Thursday morning. Both also face charges for possession of a dangerous drug. Crawford said he hopes other victims come forward.

2015 Weather in Focus Contest Winner

“Proton arc over Lake Superior” by Ken William, Clio, Michigan
Second Place, "Weather, Water and Climate Category"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association announced the 2015 winners of its annual Weather in Focus Photo Contest, which recognizes photographers who have captured images of weather or the science used to forecast weather, water and climate. A panel of judges selected the winners from more than 2000 entries taken between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015.
The contest is divided into four categories: Science in Action; Weather, Water & Climate; In the iMoment and Professional Submissions.
See the other spectacular photos from the winners here. 

 “Fire in the Sky over Glacier National Park” by Sashikanth Chintla, North Brunswick, New Jersey
Honorable Mention, "Weather, Water and Climate Category"

“Rolling clouds in Lake Tahoe” by Christopher LeBoa, San Leandro, Calfornia
Third place, "In the iMoment" Category

Giant Whirlpool on Lake Texoma Can Suck in a Full-Size Boat

When boating on Lake Texoma, which like its name suggests, is on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, you better heed the warning buoys and stay away from certain parts of the lake. Why, you ask? So you don't get sucked into this giant 8-foot wide whirpool that can swallow a full-size boat!

The whirlpool is an intake vortex that drains the lake, which is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States and formed by the buildup of water at Denison Dam on the Red River. When the water level on the lake rises to a certain level, the US Army Corps of Engineers open the floodgates that drain the lake, just like a big bathtub.

Five Famous Monsters That Are Far Scarier In Other Countries

Monsters are the driving force behind many of our favorite pop culture franchises, the stars of creature features we love or video games we love playing, but other people don’t see monsters as stars.
They see monsters as an inherent part of their cultural mythology, creatures that were created to give shape to the darkness and sometimes to scare superstitious people into doing the right thing.

For example, the dusty Draugar you face in the video game Skyrim are based on creatures from Norse mythology, undead monsters that symbolize jealousy and greed. A Draugr can expand to any size and shape change into a cat, plus they can raise their own army of the undead...
This classic Cracked article reveals the story behind 5 Famous Monsters That Are Way Scarier In Other Countries which, at very least, proves that Bethesda showed gamers some mercy in Skyrim.

Meet Quasi Modo, The New World's Ugliest Dog

After a ruff competition for the World's Ugliest Dog title, a 10-year-old so-strange-looking-he's-actually-cute mutt named Quasi Modo has won.
Quasi Modo has a spinal birth defect that made him hunchbacked (just like his namesake Quasimodo, the protagonist in Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). The dog's owners, veterinarian Virginia Sayre and her husband Mike Carroll in Loxahatchee, Florida, adopted him after he was abandoned at an animal shelter.
"My appearance can be a little unsettling to some (I have had grown men jump on top of their cars to get away from me because they thought I was a hyena or Tasmanian devil) but once they get to know me I win them over with my bubbly personality," Quasi Modo's biography stated.
According to Chief Judge Brian Sobel, Quasi Modo was selected because he "epitomized excellence in ugliness."
Last year, Quasi Modo came in second place in the same competition, which is held annually at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. Here's a video clip showing Quasi Modo at his home at the G & M Ranch in Loxahatchee Groves, Florida:

Mama Raccoon Teaches Baby How to Climb a Tree

(Video Link)

Baby raccoon needs to climb, but he isn't born knowing how. Mama raccoon will teach him, though. She lifts him up by her forepaws, encouraging him to grasp the bark of the tree. It's working!

Few Things Say "Pure Joy" Like this Bear in a Swimming Pool

YouTube Link

This adorable brown bear named Bruiser jumps into a swimming pool with gusto in this footage. His delight in the cool dip is wholly evident in both his expression and body language. Bruiser enjoys daily swims where he resides at Single Vision Sanctuary in Melrose, Florida.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Dragon Nerds ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 204 countries around the world daily.   

  
Yeah, that pretty much covers it ... !

Today is - There is no particular celebration today

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Mexico - Nicaragua - Peru - Puerto Rico - Sint Eustatius/Saba  United States
Europe
Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - France - Germany - Greece - Ireland - Italy - Latvia Netherlands - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - Scotland - Slovenia - Spain - Turkey - Ukraine  Wales
Asia
China - India - Indonesia - Iran - Kazakhstan - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan - Sri Lanka
Africa
Algeria - Madagascar - South Africa - Tunisia - Zambia
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1520		Montezuma II is murdered as Spanish conquistadors flee the Aztec capital of Tenochtilan during the night.
1857		Charles Dickens reads from A Christmas Carol at St. Martin’s Hall in London–his first public reading.
1859		Jean Francois Gravelet aka Emile Blondin, a French daredevil, becomes the first man to walk across Niagra Falls on a tightrope.
1908		A mysterious explosion, possibly the result of a meteorite, levels thousands of trees in the Tunguska region of Siberia with a force approaching twenty megatons.
1934		Adolf Hitler orders the purge of his own party in the "Night of the Long Knives."
1936		Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind, is published.
1948		John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley demonstrate their invention, the transistor, for the first time.
1960		Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, opens.
1971		Three Soviet cosmonauts die when their spacecreaft depressurizes during reentry.

Non Sequitur

Take A Look Inside Mexico City's Massive, Gorgeous Library

Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City is gigantic. The gorgeous structure holds more than 470,000 books. Designed by Alberto Kalach, the library features transparent walls, hive-like bookshelves, and mismatched floors.
The giant library, which took three years to build, is actually five libraries melded into one, with each section dedicated to some of Mexico's greatest thinkers. It's hard not to feel miniscule when walking through this unusual, massive structure.

Migration Crisis: The EU's Shipwrecked Refugee Plan

by Ullrich Fichtner, Maximilian Popp, Christoph Schult and Alexander Smoltczyk

When 800 refugees drowned on their way to Europe this April, leaders promised to act. Just over two months later, the EU's attempts at real reform have all but failed -- and thrown up some dark moral questions. More...

Lifting the Veil: How Working Women Are Remaking Saudi Arabia

by Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Samiha Shafy

A growing number of women in Saudi Arabia are joining the workforce and chipping away at discrimination enshrined in its laws. But they face conservative opposition and -- even now -- a ban on driving. More...

Residents surprised by wheel from jet crashing through their kitchen ceiling

Residents of an apartment building in Montreal, Canada, say they were shocked when a jet wheel fell from the sky, crashing through the roof and leaving a hole in one woman’s kitchen ceiling. People living in the building, located in the city’s Saint-Laurent neighborhood, said they heard a loud thud just before 2am on Wednesday. A woman living on the top floor found a hole in her roof and a jet wheel in her apartment.

Family flees new home and sues after receiving frightening letters from 'The Watcher'

Terrifying letters forced a New Jersey family to flee their new home, and what happened left residents in a quiet community more than a little unnerved. The large six-bedroom home in Union County is being watched, according to a lawsuit filed by its new owners. They paid $1.3 million for their "dream home" in the picturesque town of Westfield.

They claim the previous owners were aware of a man who calls himself "the Watcher" but they never said anything. "I would be pretty upset if I bought a house and found out that the previous owners knew about it," said Robert Hagen of Westfield. Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person.

 

"The Watcher" claimed the home "has been the subject of my family for decades" and "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming." The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me." The bone-chilling letters were enough to send the new family packing.

YouTube link.

The incident was so unnerving that Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky addressed the issue at a Town Council meeting on Tuesday night. "Our police department conducted an exhaustive investigation based on the factual circumstances and evidence available," Skibitsky said. No charges have been filed in the case. Whether the owners have any legal case remains to be seen. The mayor said under New Jersey law, the letters are classified as a disorderly person's crime.

Whole Foods Under Investigation After Hugely Overcharging Customers For Food

“The potential number of violations that Whole Foods faces for all pre-packaged goods in the NYC stores is in the thousands,” the DCA states.

Lowest Water Levels EVER In Lake Mead May Trigger Rationing

Still Think Climate Change Is A Hoax? 

Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam, is at its lowest level ever. People in Las Vegas may be looking at rationing if this continues.

Read full story 

What We Can Learn From A Massive Meteor Crater

50,000 Years ago, a dense chunk of nickel and iron, over 100 feet across, entered the Earth's atmosphere. It slammed into the lush woodlands of North America. The impact left a giant hole - 590 feet deep and three-quarters of a mile wide - in the landscape of what is now northern Arizona.

Today, we know the site as Meteor Crater. It has fascinated generations of people, but we are still only just beginning to understand asteroids, the phenomenon that excavated this remarkable location. To really get the scope of this natural wonder, Popular Science sent extreme science correspondent Jake Roper to take us on a video tour.

Video Link

Nasa Spots 'Intriguing' Pyramid On Dwarf Planet Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. New images taken by Nasa's Dawn spacecraft have captured an odd, pyramid-shaped peak protruding from the flat surface of Ceres.
Although there are yet to be any explanations for the pyramid's origins, previous studies of the planet have revealed a whole host of active phenomena on its surface, from landslides and rock flows to remnants of crumbled (natural) structures.

Random Celebrity Photos

 Recognize this young lady - her name is Norma Jean - 

you might know her as Marilyn Monroe

A guide to penis worm teeth

Palaeontology has published a detailed study of the teeth of priapulids in the Burgess Shale.

"As teeth are the most hardy and resilient parts of animals, they are much more common as fossils than whole soft-bodied specimens," he explained. "But when these teeth - which are only about a millimetre long - are found, they are easily misidentified as algal spores, rather than as parts of animals. Now that we understand the structure of these tiny fossils, we are much better placed to a wide suite of enigmatic fossils."

Not familiar with penis worms?  An article in Nature explains that understanding the anatomy of the priapulids is central to a proper understanding of evolution:

...a major step in evolution occurred when an embryonic ball of cells formed two indentations as opposed to one, giving way to a separate mouth and an anus rather than the single opening that creatures such as jellyfish and sea anemones have. In 1908, animals with a mouth and anus were divided into two groups. In the protostomes (from the Greek for ‘mouth first’), the mouth formed first, and the anus second. In the other, the deuterostomes (‘mouth second’), the mouth formed after the anus...

Today, the protostomes include priapulids and most other invertebrates. The deuterostomes include vertebrates such as humans and a few spineless animal lineages... Now, using molecular techniques to analyse gene expression, Hejnol and his team have revealed that a primitive protostome, the priapulid Priapus caudatus, develops like a deuterostome...

More details at the link, and at the Washington Post, where there is a video of a penis worm.  You learn something every day.

Man arrested for illegal possession of ferrets

A 23-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of illegally possessing 16 ferrets, which are banned in California.

Sebastian Alexander Swisher was arrested at his home where he was cited and released for the importation and transportation of live restricted animals, Santa Ana police said.
Santa Ana police received a tip that Swisher had been buying the ferrets in Nevada and bringing them back to California, where they are banned, to sell.
The 16 ferrets were taken to OC Animal Care.

Exotic animal auctions

As reported in the Texas Observer:

The crowd, a couple hundred strong, oohs and ahhs as the wallaby hops from one side of the enclosure to the other. A woman asks her family, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have one of those?”...
Kifaru is one of a handful of exotic animal auction houses in Texas, part of a robust billion-dollar U.S. trade in exotic animals... Saturdays are reserved for exotic hoofstock (blackbucks, fallow deer, zebras, giraffes, oryx, gazelles), domestic farm animals such as goats and alpacas, and primates and other unorthodox pets. Sundays are for birds—some exotic, some less so—and small animals including reptiles and rodents...
Exotic animals in Texas—including but not limited to monkeys and primates that don’t fall under the state’s dangerous wild animal laws—are in a sort of legal blind spot. Pet capuchin and macaque monkeys are often purchased as infants, but when the males reach sexual maturity and become aggressive, many are either handicapped (by removing their teeth and nails), chained or discarded. The lucky ones end up in animal sanctuaries. The Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary alone houses nearly 20 big cats, almost all of which came from private owners or facilities condemned by the USDA. According to Executive Director Patti Clark, the Austin Zoo receives lots of calls about exotic birds; she said buyers often don’t understand how long the birds live, how loud they can be and how messy they are...
Provost said that though he tries to weed out inexperienced or unqualified bidders, he can’t stop people from doing what they want with their money. “I would say there are probably some irresponsible purchases, but you can do that at Walmart. You can do that anywhere else, and I don’t know how to control or stop that other than what I do, which is to [warn people about special requirements]. However I can help the situation, I certainly do that verbally,” he said. “But if a 90-year-old grandma wants to come in and buy that big, bad water buffalo bull, it’s her money and this is America and she’s free to do that.”

"Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying like bunnies."

The Alberta government is launching a campaign this summer to stop people from flushing their aquariums down their toilets. Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying like bunnies from Lethbridge to Fort McMurray, the province says...
In one case, the municipality of Wood Buffalo pulled 40 of the domestic fish species from a stormwater pond.
"That's really scary because it means they're reproducing in the wild, they are getting quite large and they are surviving the winters that far north," said Wilson.

Further details at CBC News

The Secret To How Parrots Talk

Scientists have discovered how parrots talk, as they believe it's down to the wiring in their brains. And the same brain region controls movement which may explain why some parrots 'dance' to music.
Scientists of Duke University found key structural differences in the brains of parrots that may explain the birds' unparalleled ability to imitate sounds and human speech. The findings could lend insight into the neural mechanisms of human speech too.

Wild goat apparently believes he's a kangaroo

A wild goat in south Adelaide, Australia, appears to be suffering an identity crisis, believing he’s a kangaroo.
Nestled comfortably alongside the boomer, or dominant male of the mob, the horned goat has been spotted living among the community of about 60 kangaroos in a large paddock in Seaford Meadows. After years of believing the mystery resident was a donkey, Naomi Will this week captured a photo of the goat and his best mate.
“He hangs around this big male kangaroo and the two of them are tight as, when I took that photo a couple of days ago it’s the first time he was sitting up and looking at me because normally he’s lying down fast asleep,” Ms Will said. Ms Will said she believed the unlikely friendship between goat and kangaroo was a lesson for humans. “Black and white, that sort of thing.
“Two completely different animals that in the real world shouldn’t get on, but they do, which is a great thing,” she said. Ms Will said she and other residents were hoping the goat would be left to live out his days among his adopted mob. “I’m told the council has tried to get him a couple of times, and I tell you what there would be an outrage if they ever did do anything to him, because it’s just so amazing ... he’s almost a protected species down here,” she said.

Animal Pictures