Month: September 2016

Chytrid fungus is one of the things killing frogs around the world. In California, the mountain yellow-legged frog is an endangered species (its population has declined 90%!), in part due to this wicked fungus.  The fungus affects a frog’s skin and soon it’s game over for the hapless amphibian.

But scientists at the San Francisco Zoo are using work from UC Santa Barbara to experiment with antifungal chemicals. It appears that by dosing the frogs with an antifungal, they fight off any current Chytrid fungal infection—and they develop a resistance to new ones! If this works out, it really might save these Californian frogs, as well as amphibians around the world. Have a look:

The Great Wall of China has been standing proudly for thousands of years—but now, it needs your help. CNN reports that the wall has fallen into disrepair and the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation has launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise money for restorations.

Stretching 13,000 miles across northern China, the Great Wall was built in stages starting from the third century BCE and reaching completion in the 16th century. To some degree, though, it’s always been under construction. For centuries, individuals and organizations have periodically repaired and rebuilt damaged sections. However, the crowdfunding campaign marks the first time the internet has gotten involved in the preservation of the ancient icon. The China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation is trying to raise $1.6 million (11 million yuan) to restore the wall, and has so far raised $45,000 (or 300,000 yuan).

Fundraising coordinator Dong Yaohui tells the BBC that, although the Chinese government provides some funds for wall repairs, it’s not enough to fix all of the damage: “By pooling the contribution of every single individual, however small it is, we will be able to form a great wall to protect the Great Wall,” he said.

[h/t CNN]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

Believe it or not, being a couch potato can be a real struggle. Noisy chip chewing can muffle the sound of the television, the remote can slip just out of reach, and the top of your mug can even obscure your view. Now an invention from Perpetual Kid promises that you’ll never have to deal with the latter problem again.

The TV Beer Mug might not look like much, but it claims to save countless viewers valuable seconds of television. The offending section of the mug that normally blocks the drinker’s view as you take a swig has been removed, leaving the line of sight free and ready to consume more media. If you have big plans of sitting on your couch and drinking beer coming up, you might want to grab one of these $11 mugs while you can.

[h/t Gizmodo]

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.

It’s a common refrain: “I’d rather watch paint dry” than sit through some boring event. Good news, everyone! YouTube is here to fulfill your watching-paint-dry needs, in any form you can imagine. Let’s take a tour.

PAINT DRYING SLOWLY

In this epic video, Glen Wilson brushes paint onto a wall, and we watch it dry. There’s really not much more to it than that. It’s impressive that the video is, for some reason, presented at 60 frames per second—presumably so you can really get a hyper-real sense of the drying as it happens—but the real action here involves zipping ahead. If you jump forward in the video, you can perceive the paint drying in a way that just isn’t obvious in real time.

PAINT DRYING IN TIMELAPSE

In this 30-second video, Matthew Bey shows us how quickly paint dries in the Texas sun. Bey writes:

If you’ve ever wanted to watch paint dry, you can now do it in half the time through the wonders of time lapse. I stumbled upon Space Squid contributor David Johnston as he was in the middle of an experiment in layering of patina. Because of the 94-degree Texas sun, it didn’t take all that long for the transformation to occur. Paint dries quick in Austin.

PAINT DRYING UNDER A MICROSCOPE

In this video, Sixty Symbols shows us paint drying under a microscope, explaining what’s happening as the paint dries. This one is both beautiful and educational!

If that’s not enough footage of paint drying, check out Why This Filmmaker Shot a 14-Hour Movie About Paint Drying.