As we get older, we realize that we don’t need that many friends. We just need a handful of friends who we know will stick with us through thick and thin. These behaviors were once thought to be unique to us humans. As it turns out, they weren’t. Scientists have discovered that some animals, such as chimpanzees, have these traits as well.

The work is described in the journal Science and is authored by a team of psychologists and primatologists, including current and former researchers from the Harvard Department of Human Evolutionary Biology.

The study draws on 78,000 hours of observations, made between 1995 and 2016, which looked at the social interactions of 21 male chimpanzees between the ages of 15 and 58 years old in the Kibale National Park in Uganda. It shows what's believed to be the first evidence of nonhuman animals actively selecting who they socialize with during aging.

Learn more details about this study over at PHYS.org.

(Image Credit: Ikiwaner/ Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most common skin conditions in the world is acne, and it is the most common skin condition in the United States, affecting over 50 million people in the country annually. The skin disease, which is linked to excess oil production and bacterial inflammation, usually starts in puberty, and affects adolescents and young adults across the world.

A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications tells of a discovery that could be used in the future in developing new acne therapies. The findings involve a protein called GATA6.

Learn more about this study over at MedicalXpress.

Sweet.

(Image Credit: Kjerstin_Michaela/ Pixabay)

The collection chamber of the machine can only hold so much, after all. The OSIRIS-REx’s collection chamber can no longer close all the way, leading to some of the material it collected from asteroid Bennu to float away into space. MIT Technology Review explains the reason why the spacecraft collected too much: 

Over the last few days, the onboard cameras revealed that the collection chamber was losing particles that were floating into space. “A substantial amount of the sample is seen floating away,” mission lead Dante Lauretta said Friday. As it turned out, the sample collection attempt picked up too much material—possibly up to two kilograms, the upper limit of what OSIRIS-REx was designed to collect. About 400 grams seems visible from the cameras. The collection lid has failed to close properly and remains wedged open by pieces that are up to three centimeters in size, creating a centimeter-wide gap for material to escape.

Image via MIT Technology Review

Oreo created a doomsday vault in Norway to house its cookies just in case something terrible happens to the world. Cookies aren’t something you’d put into a vault for safekeeping, but the company isn’t taking any chances. It’s also a great marketing stunt, as people will talk about Oreo cookies, regardless of how ridiculous the Oreo doomsday vault sounds, as Input Magazine details: 

In a video about the Global Oreo Vault project, the company says it was inspired by a tweet from a fan on October 3rd asking if the asteroid strikes, "I wonder who will save the Oreos?" It then sprung into action, working with one of the same architects who designed the seed vault. Except instead of having two years to design the vault as he did with that one, in this case, he had just thirty days before the asteroid reaches us to get the Oreos safely stashed in permafrost.

"As an added precaution, the Oreo packs are wrapped in mylar, which can withstand temperatures from -80 degrees to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and is impervious to chemical reactions, moisture and air, keeping the cookies fresh and protected for years to come," Oreo said

Image via Input Magazine

Listen, sometimes we want to drown our sorrows in alcohol, and that’s understandable. Maybe we’d like to pour out a cold one every other week, to destress or to relax. But what happens when you drink alcohol every night? Some people associate their long life to the glass of alcohol they drank each night, like the oldest living woman in Great Britain. Grace Jones attributed her long life to the glass of whiskey she drank each night. But is it the same for everybody? Check the List’s full piece to know more! 

Image via the List 

The Maya were not only good in astronomy and in architecture. They were also good at filtering water. The secret to their filtration system? Zeolite and quartz. These minerals are so effective in removing contaminants in water that they are still used water filtration systems to this day.

"What's interesting is this system would still be effective today, and the Maya discovered it more than 2,000 years ago," said anthropologist Kenneth Barnett Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati.

[...]

"The apparent zeolite filtration system at Tikal's Corriental reservoir is the oldest known example of water purification in the Western Hemisphere," the authors wrote, "and the oldest known use of zeolite for decontaminating drinking water in the world."

The ability to have clean water was of deep importance to the Maya, and of great concern, particularly to Tikal. The city's only water source was 10 reservoirs. Given the large population, and the highly variable climate that went through periods of seasonal drought, their drinking water was prone to contamination from both microbes and cinnabar, or mercury sulfide, a pigment the Maya used heavily.

Now that’s truly amazing.

Know more details about this story over at Science Alert.

(Image Credit: Daniel Schwen/ Wikimedia Commons)

Tombstones commonly contain the name of the deceased and their birth and death dates. If you've ever looked through different stones in a cemetery, you've probably noticed all kinds of symbols that are added for decoration. Some are obvious: tombstones for children are engraved with angels or lambs, and crosses, stars, and crescents denote the deceased's religious faith. But there are manny symbols that aren't so easily interpreted, like the broken chain seen above.

Medieval wisdom once held that a golden chain kept the soul in the body. In death, the chain is broken and the soul is freed. If the chain is unbroken and if it features the letters FLT (for Friendship, Love, and Truth), it probably means the deceased belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization that seeks to promote charitable causes and offer aid.

The symbols in this list mostly say "it could mean" and "it could also mean" because, while there is traditional symbolism passed down over the years, many tombstones have symbols because those who paid for the stone just liked them. Read the entire list at Mental Floss.

(Image credit: Flickr user Carl Wykoff)

Talavera Maldonado began building an ornate mansion in Salamanca, Spain, in 1493, but didn't live to see it completed, which wasn't until 1517. Its facade is covered with 300 scallop shells, the symbol of the Order of Santiago.

An enduring legend of Casa de las Conchas is that there is a gold coin (or an ounce of gold, according to some sources) hidden underneath each shell. Another widespread legend is that the family that owned the building hid their jewels under one of these shells that adorn the façade, documenting the amount hidden but not the shell where it was located, and whoever wants to find the treasure must provide the amount stipulated as a guarantee in advance. If they find the treasure, they can take it and get their contribution back, otherwise they lose the money left in pledge.

The shells are the most unique feature of Casa de las Conchas, but it also sports intricate grillwork and filigree, coats of arms, and gargoyles. Read about the mansion and see plenty of pictures at Amusing Planet.

(Image credit: Flickr user Jose Luis Cernadas Iglesias)

I got the idea for a thingy that gets cats in cages to do something besides eat, poop & sleep so someone likes what they see & takes them home. pic.twitter.com/nScvORdYW1

— Joanie 😷🇺🇲❤️ (@arrived1630) October 18, 2020

Jeremy Padawer prompted Twitter users to explain their career in an oversimplified way, which opened up the floodgates for creativity. The cutest reply is above, which is self-explanatory when you open the picture. Some are baffling, like "I tell computers to do things. Sometimes they listen." That could be most of us. I know it applies to me. Most of the replies are a puzzle that you can answer with a little thought. Others, you can figure it out by looking at who posted it.

I bring a knife to a gunfight. And sometimes win.

— Matthew Martin, MD in sunny SD (@docmartin22) October 18, 2020

I get paid to be someone else

— ✌🏼rosanna arquette (@RoArquette) October 18, 2020

Read a ranked list of the best 30 replies at Bored Panda, or the entire thread at Twitter.

Prepare yourself this coming Monday (Oct. 26), as NASA will be announcing “an exciting new discovery about the Moon” on that day at 12 noon, EDT. According to the post on their website, the audio of the teleconference will be livestreamed here.

According to NASA, the discovery was from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 modified to be an airborne observatory. The SOFIA flies high in the atmosphere and is equipped with a 9-foot telescope that enables a clear view of the cosmos.

I wonder what the announcement will be. What do you think?

Via Space.com

(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

One of the best foods that you can order at Chinese restaurants is steamed grass carp. Grass carps are a good choice for those who don’t like fish that much, due to their flaky meat that only has a mild taste and not that fishy.

And then there’s steamed grass crap, which I don’t recommend eating.

Image via Engrish.com

Did you know that you release up to 1.5 liters of gas everyday? Are you aware of the fact that the microorganisms in your body outnumber your own human cells 10 to 1? How much do you know about the human body?

Check out the funny and the scary facts about the human body that Cracked Plasticians and Shea compiled, over at Cracked.

(Image Credit: Cracked)

When you think about dinosaurs, does the creature's anus come to mind? It was certainly not addressed directly in Jurassic Park, a 1993 documentary about paleontological experimentation.

The anus is soft tissue, not bone, and thus unlikely to be preserved by the fossil record. But Slate author Riley Black directs us to this scientific study about the subject. Researchers Phil R. Bell, Michael Pittman, Thomas G. Kaye, and Christophe Hendrickx have carefully studied the Psittacosaurus, for which a few soft tissue samples remain preserved to modern times. They conclude that this dinosaur had a cloaca similar to that of crocodilian species. From their abstract:

Here, we describe the outer morphology of the only known non-avialan dinosaur cloaca, preserved in an exceptional specimen of the early-diverging ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus. We clarify the position of the cloaca with respect to the ischia and caudal vertebrae and document the scales immediately adjacent to the abdomen and tail. We find that the cloaca is from a near-sexually mature subadult individual and is most similar to the cloaca of crocodylians, to the exclusion of lepidosaurians and birds. 

-via Dave Barry | Image: Current Biology

You can see starfish in the ocean, but you've probably never studied a live one this closely. They have no brain, but they have five arms and a lot of "feet" on the underside of those arms. They use those feet to move around, using hydraulic engineering. Starfish also use their feet to smell. Yeah, they are weird. -via The Kid Should See This

While building this Lidl store in Dublin, Ireland, construction crews found the remains of an 11th Century house. Lidl worked with archaeologists to continue construction while also studying the site and educating the public about it. Two sections of the newly-opened store have glass floors where shoppers can watch archaeologists at work, carefully excavating and examining the remains of this Norse-Irish home.

-via Colossal