“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water …” So says the tagline used to advertise Jaws 2, and it rings a little too true after watching this video. What these divers recorded while swimming in Australia’s Tasman Peninsula might look like a giant tentacle monster, but it’s actually nothing to be afraid of. Apparently these long, glowing “worms” are called pyrosomes, and they’re made up of thousands of salps, otherwise known as “sea squirts.” Salps are marine invertebrates that move via jet propulsion, which involves pumping water into their bodies and pushing it back out. Scientists aren’t sure how these tiny animals are able to coordinate their behavior and move as one colony, but some believe that they communicate with light signals. For more information on pyrosomes, check out this article. Read more: http://www.wimp.com/sea-squirts-giant-pyrosome-mick-baron/
It’s easy for students to get more caught up with getting a good grade in the class than retaining any useful information. Watch as Professor Anil Rao from the University of Florida teaches his students why good grades don’t mean anything if you didn’t learn something in the process. Read more: http://www.wimp.com/why-good-grades-are-meaningless/
Mother’s Day has come and gone, but this thoughtful gift from four adorable Icelandic boys will surely last a lifetime. Gísli is an orthodontist and a father of four, so when Mother’s Day rolled around this year, he decided to combine two of his great loves into one epic gift for his wife. He filled a bucket with impression material that is most often used for creating molds of teeth and had his sons dip their hands in it. After 10 minutes of them all keeping as still as possible (the youngest did surprisingly well at staying patient), they removed their hands and were left with a mold. Gísli poured a stone mixture into it…when you see the end result, you’ll be amazed! This is hands down the most unique and creative Mother’s Day gift I’ve ever seen…or is it hands up? Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/cute-mothers-day-gift/
Getting ready for a new school year can be a challenge for most parents, but while many think getting up at 7 a.m. to see your kids off to the bus is rough, it’s nothing compared to what this father does. Jose Luis Dominguez is determined to give his two kids — seven-year-old Luis and eight-year-old Kayla — the best possible chance at a good education, something he never had the opportunity to get. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘VN_PG_DCBP_ATF’); }); The three live in Mexico but through sheer determination Dominguez managed to get his two kids enrolled in a school in South Texas, just across the street from the restaurant he works at. Every morning and afternoon, the trio make the trek across the Hidalgo International Bridge, over the Rio Grande, to and from home. The 32-year-old says life is ugly across the border, with kids frequently being abducted by drug cartels. He feels a lot safer knowing his little ones are in school in the U.S. while he’s at work. Talk about going the extra mile for your kids. For Dominguez, a quality education away from drug violence is reason enough to wake up every morning and hike across an international border in the hopes it will get his children walking on a better path. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/education-walk/
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.defineSlot(‘/37886402/VN_PG_DTBT_ATF’, [728, 90], ‘VN_PG_DTBT_ATF_581168f291861’).addService(googletag.pubads()) googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_MB”, “VN_”); googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_SC”, “VN_ORGN”); googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_TS”, “TS_D”); googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_AT”, “VN_ORGN_PG_D_REV_1.0_ASYNC_DEFAULT”); googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_CC”, “VN_ORGN_D_UNK_118244_A”); googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“NOVA_PG”, “1”); googletag.enableServices(); googletag.display(‘VN_PG_DTBT_ATF_581168f291861’); }); Over 20 years ago, Amanda Lemmond lost her mother to bone cancer. The 10-year-old was placed in foster care with nothing more than a stuffed Easter bunny to remember her by. Lemmond thought her past had been forgotten. Then, a strange box arrived on the porch of her Colorado home. Inside were photos, her birth certificate, and, most incredibly, letters her mom had written just weeks before she died. While moving, the executor of her mother’s estate found the keepsakes and forwarded them along. Watch as she finally reads one of the letters her mother wrote her over two decades ago. Lemmond told NBC News: “After my mom passed away, I was shipped all over the country. From Washington States to Texas, to Louisiana, to Texas, back to Washington, back to Texas — in and out of state care — foster care. These are a glimpse into my past that I’ve sorely longed for, for over two decades now.” Read More: Airman’s ‘Engagement Game’ Turns Out To Be A Huge Surprise From His Fiancée The letters might be 23 years late, but every word still means so much. Now I have to go call my mom. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/late-mom-letters/
Russian fans celebrate during a women’s ice hockey game at the Shayba Arena in Sochi on Feb. 9 at the 2014 Winter Olympics.Image: Petr David Josek/Associated Press The first weekend of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, is in the books, with the first two days of competition delivering impressive performances and viral moments aplenty. If you haven’t managed to catch any of the thrilling action out of Sochi yet, it’s definitely not too late to get excited about the Winter Olympics. And if you live far from Russia and are trying to catch these events in real time, you may need an adrenaline rush on par with a run through the slopestyle course just to stay awake. That’s why we put together this Music Monday playlist of pump-up songs that are sure to get your feet moving and your heart racing. So whether you’re an Olympian preparing to launch yourself off a ramp at 60 mph or a superfan trying to stay awake through that 2 a.m. curling match, this playlist will get you in the mindset to go wild for the Sochi Games. Have something to add to our playlist? Share with us in the comments, below, or on Spotify, and we’ll add it. How to Share Your Song With Us 1. To follow Mashable on Spotify, click here. If a popup window asks you to launch an external application, accept. This just means the browser will open up Spotify. 2. Follow Mashable, or send us music by clicking “Send Music.” 3. To send music while browsing tracks within Spotify, follow the MashableHQ account. Then right-click (ctrl + click) on the song you want to send, and click the “Share” option. 4. By default, Spotify pulls up the “Post to Feed” option. Instead, select the “Send to Friend” tab, type in “MashableHQ” and hit the blue “Send” button. If “MashableHQ” doesn’t show up when you’re trying to send a track, make sure you’re following the account. If you’re still having problems sending a song after that, let us know in the comments, below, and we’ll help you fix the problem. BONUS: Fans Celebrating at the Winter Olympics Fans Celebrating at the Winter Olympics Under and Out! Fans limbo under a U.S. flag to celebrate Jamie Anderson’s gold medal in the women’s snowboard slopestyle final at the 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 9 in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. Image: Sergei Grits/Associated Press Get Pumped A fan awaits the start of the women’s freestyle skiing moguls final at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Feb. 8. Image: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images Watchful Eye Judges look on during the ladies’ normal hill individual ski jumping training at the Ruski Gorki Jumping Center on Feb. 9. Image: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Go, Fight, Win! Norwegian fans enjoy the atmosphere during the alpine skiing men’s downhill at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center on Feb. 9 in Sochi. Image: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Russian Pride A Russian supporter smiles on his way from the Laura Cross Country […]
We’ve all been to a party or barbecue where the music is just awful. And of course, being the polite guest that you are, you can’t just unplug the host’s smartphone and swap yours in for a better playlist. On a quest to save your sanity and make the music at your next gathering more interactive, Internet Explorer and Nokia launched a new music platform called Mix Party, making playlist creation collaborative. Here’s how it works: The host of the party can open Mix Party on his Xbox using Internet Explorer. Although the host needs an Xbox with Xbox Live subscription, anyone with a smartphone can play along. First, download the accompanying smartphone app, which requires scanning a QR code to join the Mix Party. Then vote on which songs to play next. The service is free through the month of July, and at the end of the offer, you will be prompted to sign up for Nokia Music, an ad-free service that launched in September 2012, exclusive to Lumia smartphone users. The concept actually builds off Nokia Music, which lets you to download up to four one-hour music mixes. Users can upgrade to the platform’s unlimited access plan for $3.99 a month, which gives Mix Party users access to Nokia’s full library, so you can hear any song at your next gathering. Nokia has been creeping further into the music game over the past year. The mobile manufacturer has also built Nokia Mix Radio, a free service that lets you skip songs and save playlists for offline use (like when you’re underground on the subway). What creative ways do you manage playlists at parties? Let us know in the comments below. Image via Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/07/02/nokia-mix-party/
These days, it’s not just print and television that secure dedicated campaigns — Instagram and Vine are getting them, too. Earlier this week, Polo Ralph Lauren began rolling out a series of nine 15-second videos on Instagram as part of its “Polo Ralph Lauren Survival Guide.” As of Sunday, seven of the videos have rolled out, demonstrating, for example, how to pitch a tent (see below), how to start a fire and how to chill and uncork a bottle of champagne. The videos aren’t practical guides, of course. Rather, they provide a backdrop to Polo Ralph Lauren’s cable-knit sweaters, down jackets and leather boots. A company spokesperson said they’re designed “to capture the essence of the new Polo collections — the Explorer’s Club and Country Gentleman,” collections that are both “rugged yet wearable.” The entire campaign was shot and edited on an iPhone, according to the company. And judging by the image, below, it had an impressive iPhone rig to work with. Although Ralph Lauren denied any connection, the videos remind us of Lowe’s wildly popular Fix in Six Vine campaign, which offers a series of home-improvement tips in six-second videos. (The campaign recently won Mashable‘s Best in Show award at The Mashies.) Image: Polo Ralph Lauren Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/10/13/polo-ralph-lauren-instagram/
In a world more interested in buying things than creating them, comedian and woodworker Nick Offerman makes the case for why we should all be making stuff. Read more: http://www.wimp.com/the-case-for-creating-things/
A report from University of Chicago paleontologist Paul C. Sereno identifies a new species of “dwarf herbivore” dinosaur: the Pegomastax africanus. The Pegomastax, which dates from around 200 million years ago, was dug up in a red rock slab by scientists working in South Africa in the early 1960s. Less than two feet in length and probably weighing less than the average house cat, it had a short, parrot-shaped beak and a pair of fangs. This has led some scientists to speculate that Pegomastax may have eaten some meat, though Sereno thinks the sharp canines were probably used for defense. It may have looked something like a “nimble two-legged porcupine,” according to Sereno. But perhaps the most interesting part is that Sereno identified the specimen as a new species almost 30 years ago: My eyes popped, as it was clear this was a distinct species… I’m embarrassed to say how many years ago that was—1983. But I was an enterprising graduate student then at the American Museum of Natural History. All the while since then, I wondered if anyone else might spot the creature hiding among the lab drawers. Sweet beans, paleontologists! What else have you not gotten around to discovering? If there’s proof of the Abominable Snowman just lying in a drawer somewhere, we’re going to be very angry. “I am No Man” Doesn’t Cut It: The Story of Eowyn Why All Those Sexist Complaints About The New Ghostbusters Movie Are Garbage Study Says Binge-Watching Is For Lonely & Depressed People & Those Who Lack Self-Control The Pirate Bay Has Returned To the Land Of the Living After Two Months This article originally published at The Mary Sue here Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/new-mini-dinosaur-discovered/
