The introduction to Listverse's  "10 Sci-Fi Technologies Moving Us Closer to Immortality" reads,

"The average life expectancy is constantly rising as we improve our knowledge of medicine and the human body. We have eradicated diseases, discovered powerful treatments, and figured out how to fix ailments which would have once killed us. Now we’re accelerating even more rapidly in the practice of keeping humans alive, jolting toward something close to immortality with technologies that sound like they’ve been ripped straight from the realm of science fiction."

From growing new body parts to printing a human heart, read their list of medical marvels here. Via Unique Daily.

Image: Wikimedia Commons 

A photographer using the name "Lieveheersbeestje" likes to shoot photos of her guinea pigs. The star of the show is BooBoo. These guinea pigs are quite the stylin' bunch. They love to accessorize with snazzy glasses, flowers in their hair, bunny ears, and the list continues.

For those curious about the cover girl, BooBoo is 2 years old. Her favorite foods are chicory and carrots, and she spends her time eating, sleeping and posing for glamour shots. See more photos of BooBoo at the Lieveheersbeestje website or on the artist's Deviant Art site. Via Bored Panda 

Images Credit: Lieveheersbeestje

 

A female black rhinoceros was born at Zoo Miami on May 25th, 2014. A newborn of this highly endangered species is joyous news for all involved, including her parents, Eddie and Circe. Fourteen-year-old Circe carried the baby for approximately 15 months before its birth. 

The alarmingly low numbers of black rhinoceros are due to continued poaching in Eastern and Southern Africa. The number of rhinos in the wild has been reduced from approximately 100,000 to 5,000 in the last century. They are slain for their horns, which are in demand in some eastern cultures for use as ingredients in traditional medicine and as status symbols.

Black rhinos are solitary, with the exception of a female with her offspring. Males of the species have a distinct mating display, in which they swing their heads from side to side while brushing the ground with their horn. The rhinos eat branches and leaves, grasses, herbs and fruit, and are capable of running 30 miles per hour. Via Zooborns.  

Images Credit: Zoo Miami.

Artist Ana Teresa Barboza creates landscapes and tells stories (see the work on her blog) with her fantastic embroidery. Some of her works are hung in galleries with the materials spilling out from embroidery hoops, which, to me, brings to mind a sense of nature's wildness, unpredictablilty and inability to be controlled or confined. See more from the artist at her blog or connect with her on Facebook. Via Colossal.

Images Credit: Ana Teresa Barboza 


 

 

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In a video that reminds me of something Chris Farley would have done, Gal Volinez imitates Britney Spears' "Work Bitch" video, down to the last hip sway and pelvic thrust. Uploaded to his YouTube channel called "Volinez Spears," Volinez named this video "Hi Brit." It seems as if he's trying to get Spears' attention. I hope he's using his brief Internet fame for good, not evil! (NSFW, language and scantily clad women (and a big, bare beer belly!) Via Dangerous Minds.

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A group of friends having a bachelor party get-together were hiking around Elephant Butte Lake State Park in New Mexico when they found the fossil of what is thought to be the skull of a stegomastodon, a nine-foot-tall, 13,000-pound creature that lived approximately three million years ago. The men were walking near the lakeshore and found the fossilized remains sticking up out of the ground. A scientist who observed the fossil says it's the most intact skull of this type ever found, making it an important scientific discovery.

Amazing! If someone told me a bachelor party made a group discovery, this is about the last thing I'd have envisioned! Via Science Daily.

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This short video packs in a number of interesting facts about Nintendo. To scale, how many feet is Mario's vertical jump? What celebrity named their offspring after a character in a Nintendo game? See these answers and more. Via Geeks are Sexy.

I've always thought praying mantises were kind of cool. But a praying mantis in 3-D shades is ultracool. Even cooler is that the glasses may help give neuroscientist researchers information that could outfit robots with 3-D vision. 

The head of Newcastle University’s project, Dr. Jenny Read from the university’s Institute of Neuroscience, explained the choice of praying mantises for this exploratory work:

“They’re the only invertebrate that we know have 3D vision... the great attraction of an insect is it’s a much simpler system.” 

The research team is using human-sized 3-D glasses, similar to those used in movie theaters, and cutting mantis-sized lenses out of them. Beeswax is used to attach the glasses in place over the insects' eyes. Then it's time for some mantis movies! One feature is an action flick in which a dot moves on the screen, mimicking the movement of a bug. The scientists then record the mantises' “strike” responses. Learn more about the experimentation by viewing the video below. Via Unique Daily.



Video and Image Credit: Newcastle University

Try this on for size: until the finish of this year's World Cup, a stadium in Berlin, Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, stays converted to a colossal living room. Megacouches (750 in fact, sourced by fans) are decked out with side tables and lamps, to make viewers of the 700" tv feel right at home.

Surrounding the tremendous television is that wallpaper from the den at everyone's hippie uncle's house, in case anyone needs to feel more like everything is right with the world. Admission, while free, is decided by a lottery, in which 12,000 hopeful loungers will be selected from all applicants. Sounds like one could watch the World Cup in worse places than Berlin's cool Couch und Cupfest. Let's hope steins and mini-fridges are allowed for all of that German beer. See more great photos at Twisted Sifter. 
Image Credit: AP

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Street artist iNO, originally from Greece, experiments for the first time with spray paint that absorbs ultraviolet light. When he finishes his creation, it lights up the space with a fluorescent, brightly colored glow. The video, entitled "Luminous," is by Helen and Constantino Mass.

See more of iNO's work at his website. Via Laughing Squid.

The first-ever litter of black-footed cats has been born at Philadelphia Zoo and recently made their public debut. But before the kittens could meet their adoring public, there were preparations to be made by the zoo staff. The enclosure was kitten-proofed, and each kitten was dye marked, so their keepers could tell them apart from afar. The water level in the exhibit was lowered and climbing structures were added to make the space more safe and comfortable. Their former sleeping quarters, a kennel, was placed into their enclosure so they would have familiar scents nearby. The two males, Drogon and Viserion, and the female, Rhaegal, seem kitty-cautiously optimistic!

The black-footed cat, native to southern Africa, is the smallest African cat and one of the smallest of the cat species. Adult males weigh only 4.2 pounds and adult females 2.9 pounds on average. Black-footed cats are highly unsociable animals and seek cover at minimal disturbances. When threatened, they defend themselves fiercely. These cats are nocturnal, spending their days resting in dense cover, often in unoccupied burrows of other animals, such as porcupines or aardvarks. They hunt rodents and other small animals after sunset.

Read more and see a video of these black-footed cuties at Zooborns.

Images Credit: Philadelphia Zoo. 

  Boardwalk Empire
  Image: Brainstorm Digital on Vimeo

Viewers often get so enveloped in their favorite movie and television shows that they forget the actors are often emoting over settings, creatures and actions that they can't see. Or lose sight of the countless hours visual effects artists and editors spend to fill in the necessary elements for the final cut. Whether or not fans keep such enhancements in mind as they watch media presentations, these before-and-after shots are an interesting diversion. Via Bored Panda. 

  Game of Thrones
  Image: pizzadeonshare

  Walking Dead
  Image: lombok.com          

   Image: Ross Campbell

I'll never forget seeing the lush, green beauty of Scotland for the first time. It was view after stunning view. It makes sense that the best idea for a shelter in scenic Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park would be one that blends perfectly into the landscape. 

This enticing, stainless steel structure was designed and built as a thesis project by Strathclyde University architecture students Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler, who named it "The Lookout." The clever design won funding from the Scottish government for construction of the $8,500 structure, built mostly by hand. The mirrored surface camouflages a two-seat, wooden bench, and on another side, a smaller seat for one. The slatted, Japanese-style benches are built in locations that frame selected views for their occupants. 

Read about The Lookout in detail at Dezeen. Via Gizmodo.

    Image: Ross Campbell

   Image: Daniel Tyler

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Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province, Northern Thailand is an elephant sanctuary and rescue center. Located in an idyllic, rural setting in a natural valley bordered by a river, the park is a welcome refuge for elephants in distress from all over Thailand.

Elephant Nature Park's founder Sangduen "Lek" Chailert has an interesting history. Her grandfather was a tribesman and traditional healer who took Lek on jungle adventures when she was young. Later, her family cared for an elephant that became her companion. Lek's lifelong affinity for elephants led to her important work with the species.

This sweet video shows Lek singing an elephant named Faa Mai to a sound sleep, complete with elephant snores. Via Viral Viral Videos.