Month: February 2017

Historians still don’t know how Vincent van Gogh lost his left ear, or for that matter, how much of it was actually lopped off. However, as Bored Panda reports, online art community Today Is Art Day decided to take historic liberties in the name of nerdy fun and created a mini van Gogh action figure, complete with two completely detachable ears.

Today Is Art Day developed a prototype of the 5-inch PVC figurine, and to bring it to the art-loving masses, they launched a Kickstarter campaign. Backers who contribute $28 Canadian dollars (around $21 USD) can score their own van Gogh action figure. He even comes in a box decorated with miniature, cut-out replicas of one of his Sunflowers paintings (1888) and The Starry Night (1889).

The campaign ends on March 16 and orders will be shipped by July 2017. View some pictures of the van Gogh action figure below.

[h/t Bored Panda]

Photos courtesy of Today Is Art Day//Kickstarter

by Aliya Whiteley

Just when you think there’s nothing new to be seen, done, or explored upon this Earth, you get reminded how vast and unconquerable the planet actually is. For instance, no matter what the Mother Superior sings in The Sound Of Music, we are far from climbing every mountain. There are plenty of unclimbed mountains in the world for a number of reasons; we don’t even know for sure how many, since the historical record is vague.

But there’s general agreement that Gangkhar Puensum, the highest mountain in Bhutan at 24,836 feet and the 40th highest mountain in the world, can probably be described as the highest unclimbed mountain. Why hasn’t it been climbed? That’s partly due to its incredibly remote nature, and the fact that despite its size, it was, for quite some time, difficult to find. It was first mapped in 1922, but later maps marked it in different positions, and at various heights. Bhutan has never conducted its own official survey.

But now we have satellites and GPS—so surely it should be easy to track down and climb, right? Well, Gangkhar Puensum also lies in disputed political territory, on the border between Bhutan and Tibet. Bhutan says the mountain is entirely within its territory, but China claims that half of it lies in Tibet, and is therefore Chinese.

Add to this disagreement the fact that in 1994 Bhutan banned the climbing of all mountains higher than 19,800 feet out of respect for local religious beliefs—and in 2003 prohibited mountaineering entirely—and you have a lot of reasons why Gangkhar Puensum remains unclimbed. It’s not that people haven’t tried; for instance, there were four expeditions in the 1980s that were all unsuccessful.

The last attempt made on the mountain didn’t even reach it; China gave permission for a Japanese expedition to attempt Gangkhar Puensum in 1998, and Bhutan then revoked the permit. Eventually the expedition went off and climbed a nearby mountain instead. It’s called Liankang Kangri, lies in Tibetan territory, and is a subsidiary peak of Gangkhar Puensum that is only a few hundred feet smaller. Guess what? Before the Japanese expedition was successful in its climb, that mountain was unclimbed too.

If there’s one thing the Fox network is known for beyond The Simpsons, it’s having the desire and means to completely ignore the finality of canceling a television series. The trend began way back in 2004 with Family Guy—which was dropped in 2002 before robust DVD sales caused the network to reconsider—and has continued with new iterations of 24, Prison Break, and The X-Files.

The broadcast channel is reportedly extending their TV necromancy to another show that may have expired before its time: Firefly, the 2002 Joss Whedon-created series about a motley crew of space jockeys. During a chat at the Television Critics Association gathering in January, David Madden, Fox Broadcasting’s president of entertainment, indicated he’d be open to a new season if Whedon was involved.

Whedon had previously taken a noncommittal attitude about Firefly, saying he’d do it only if he was motivated and if the core cast was available for filming. For nearly a decade, that was off the table because of actor Nathan Fillion’s role as the lead on ABC’s Castle, which ended last May. In a Long Beach Comic Con panel with the cast in September 2016, Fillion was ambivalent about the possibility.

“I totally get wanting more,” he said. “I hear it all the time … At the same time, we all had what I would call my dream job. It was the perfect position. Everything was great. Even the challenges we faced, we faced them together. We were all in it together and we were all pulling for the same thing, to make a great show. And I loved every minute of it. It’s really hard to look at that kind of stuff and say ‘Give me more.’ Because enough is enough. Oh my god. It was everything. It was everything. How can everything not be enough?”

While Whedon and Fillion mull it over, Fox is in no danger of running out of nostalgic material. The re-launch of Prison Break is scheduled for April; Madden said he was optimistic a new season of The X-Files would premiere in 2018.

[h/t /Film]

Love winter weather so much that you want to stay in a hotel room made of ice and snow? You’ve got plenty of options. Expect temps that hover somewhere between 24°F and 40°F, beds made of slabs of ice topped with insulated mattresses, animals skins, and arctic sleeping bags—and the promise that it’s probably a lot colder outside. Check out these winter wonderlands.

1. SORRISNIVA IGLOO HOTEL // ALTA, NORWAY

At the winter adventure resort Sorrisniva, you can roam on snowmobiles, boats, and dogsleds, go ice fishing, and even meet reindeer. You can also stay in the complex’s Igloo Hotel. Rebuilt every winter, the hotel offers 26 rooms and four suites decorated with ice sculptures, as well as an ice chapel, an ice bar, and a restaurant not made of ice where you can warm up.

Sorrisniva’s Igloo Hotel is open until April 2.

2. HÔTEL DE GLACE // QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

Hôtel de Glace in Quebec City, Quebec, has been opening their doors for the winter season since 2001. Almost everything in each of the 44 rooms and themed suites—decorated with feature works by ice sculptors—is made of ice and snow, except for the insulated bedding and the lighting. A few suites also include fireplaces and even private spas, and all guests are invited to try out the nighttime outdoor sauna and spa.

Hôtel de Glace will be open until March 26.

3. HOTEL OF ICE // BALEA LAC, ROMANIA

Located near a glacial lake high in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania’s first ice hotel includes 13 rooms made of lake ice mortared with snow, each equipped with a soft mattress and a warm sleeping bag. There are also four igloos, an ice chapel, an ice restaurant, and an ice bar on the premises.

Hotel of Ice is open until June 16.

4. KIRKENES SNOWHOTEL // KIRKENES, NORWAY

Kirkenes Snowhotel has 24 rooms, each decorated with a different theme from Norwegian culture or nature and set at a steady 24.8°F. Overnight stays include transportation to and from Kirkenes, dinner, breakfast, and if you’re lucky, a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

Kirkenes Snowhotel is open until April 20.

5. ARCTIC SNOWHOTEL & GLASS IGLOOS // SINETTÄ, FINLAND

Arctic SnowHotel in Sinettä, Finland offers up the choice of staying in a snow hotel decorated with ice sculptures or sleeping in a glass igloo, where you can watch the sky for the appearance of the Aurora Borealis. The hotel even advertises an optional alarm service that will wake you up when the lights appear.

Arctic SnowHotel is open until March 30.

6. ESKIMSKA VAS IGLOO HOTEL // POKLJUKA, SLOVENIA

At Eskimska Vas (Igloo Village) in Pokljuka, Slovenia, visitors take on skiing, sledding, biathlons, igloo-building lessons, and snowshoe hikes. After you work up an appetite, you can dine on traditional Slovenian sausage amongst 44 other guests at the Ice restaurant and hydrate at the Ice bar. And if you’d like to stay the night (and relax in temps that range from 32°F to 39.2°F), you can book accommodations in the Igloo Hotel, which houses two large igloos that accommodate eight people and two smaller igloos for two. The beds are made of snow blocks covered with insulation and sheepskins, and the resort also supplies winter sleeping bags.

7. SNOWVILLAGE // YLLÄSJÄRVI, FINLAND

SnowVillage, a resort in Ylläsjärvi, Finland, offers both standard rooms and suites (with temps between 23°F and 28°F) made of ice as well as nearby bathrooms and emergency beds that are heated. Guests, who all receive a diploma to document their stay, can also venture out on excursions that include snowmobiles, snowshoes, and dogsleds. Right now, artists can register to compete for the chance to decorate one of the rooms at SnowVillage next year.

8. IGLU-DORF // SWITZERLAND

Iglu-Dorf runs igloo villages in seven different locations: Igloo-Village Davos-Klosters, Engelberg, Gstaad, Stockhorn, Zermatt, Zugspitze, and Andorra. It takes over 3000 man-hours to construct each village of igloos, which are all connected via a series of corridors. Each destination offers up different igloo options from individual two-person units to six-person units and multi-room suites. There are even a few warm igloos made of snow with an insulated interior and some that feature private bathrooms. Want to get a little more creative with your accommodations? Guests at the Engelberg and Zermatt can opt to build their own igloos with a guide.

The last Igloo Village in Switzerland will close April 22.

9. LUMILINNA // KEMI, FINLAND

Every year, the LumiLinna (SnowCastle) is rebuilt in Kemi, Finland, a seaside town near the eastern border of Sweden. The structure is home to a hotel, restaurant, and chapel—all constructed from snow and ice made of sea water. The eco-friendly SnowHotel also features works of art carved into the snow walls of each room. Guests can warm up in the heated 24-hour cafe and bathrooms. Visitors to Kemi should also make sure to visit Santa Claus’ seaside office.

The SnowCastle is open until April 1.

10. ICEHOTEL // JUKKASJÄRVI, SWEDEN

ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden (about 124 miles above the Arctic Circle) became the world’s first hotel made of ice in 1989. Originally an art gallery, the structure was transformed into a hotel after a few patrons asked to stay overnight. Since then, the ice hotel has been rebuilt every year. Eventually, warm conventional rooms were added for year-round accommodations.

The complex also includes the new section, Icehotel 365, which is solar-powered and open year-round. Icehotel 365 includes 20 rooms, an ice art gallery, and ice bar. Jukkasjärvi experiences 100 days of round-the-clock sun in the summer, allowing for enough power to keep the ice standing until cold weather returns.

If you want to hop on a bus and set out on a last-minute adventure, a site called Wanderu could help make that whim a reality—and maybe even help you do it on the cheap. The fare aggregator pulls ground transportation schedules from operators like Amtrak and Greyhound, and as Thrillist reports, you can get pretty far on just a dollar.

The site’s Explorer section lets you input your location and the day you want to leave to show you where you can go for the cheapest price. Right now, $1 could get you to Boston or D.C. from New York City, and $5 could get you to Providence, Rhode Island. Well, assuming you’re fine with leaving on a four-hour bus trip at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. (The site will also show you more luxe options, like express buses and trains.)

It’s a handy feature for getting ideas for your next weekend trip. Even if you aren’t looking for a ticket under $10, the site makes it easy to compare budget bus and train options that similar sites like Kayak or Expedia don’t offer. So even if you discover that yes, you really do have to pay $40 to cram yourself into a bus for four hours, you will at least have saved some time doing it. 

[h/t Thrillist]

It seems nowhere on Earth is safe from the creeping, deadly fingers of pollution. Scientists analyzing deep-sea crustaceans found traces of manmade chemicals in the animals’ bodies. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Amphipods, like the one shown above, are small, eyeless crustaceans that make their homes in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean. The key to the deepwater amphipod’s survival is its stomach; it is both notoriously unfussy about what it eats, and gifted with special enzymes that help it digest just about anything, including plastic, animal carcasses, and even sunken ships.

But the oceans are a risky place to dine these days. Scientists have found dangerous chemicals, fibers, and pieces of plastic in the bodies of seabirds, mammals, mollusks, and fish alike.

The question for oceanographer Alan Jamieson and his colleagues was simple: How far down do these pollutants go?

To find out, they used deep-sea landers to collect three species of amphipods from the Mariana and Kermadec Trenches in the Pacific Ocean. They brought the animals back to the lab and tested their fatty tissue, looking for traces of 14 different pollutants.

And there they were. High levels of pollutants, including flame retardant chemicals, were found in every sample from every species, regardless of the depth at which the sample was collected. The contamination was so bad, it was comparable to that found in Japan’s Suruga Bay, long known for its high level of industrial pollution.

The authors say the chemicals most likely reached the trenches while clinging to pieces of plastic garbage or the bodies of dead animals from closer to the surface.

Biologist Katherine Dafforn of the University of New South Wales weighed in on the research in an accompanying editorial. She concludes that “Jamieson et al. have provided clear evidence that the deep ocean, rather than being remote, is highly connected to surface waters and has been exposed to significant concentrations of human-made pollutants.”

 
Astronomers at the University of Texas and the Space Telescope Science Institute have devised a way to clear visual noise from satellite images, revealing a glimpse of our universe in its infancy. They shared their findings on the preprint server arXiv.

The current hypothesis about our universe’s early days goes something like this: In the beginning, there was the Big Bang, with all its attendant spark and electrical charge. Some time after that, all went dark. Then the first galaxies bloomed, bringing with them clouds of energy that re-ionized and lit up the sky. Lovely as this story sounds, it’s been difficult to prove, as these old, old, old galaxies have long since grown pale and indistinct amidst the bright chaos of newer celestial goings-on.

Lead author Rachael C. Livermore and her colleagues figured that if they could dim or shut out some of that newer radiance, they might stand a chance of finding the ancient galaxies.

Their solution: a technique called wavelet decomposition, which can mask high-volume brightness the same way noise-canceling headphones shut out sound.

“The wavelet transform allows us to decompose an image into its components on different physical scales,” the authors wrote. “Thus, we can isolate structures on large scales … and remove them, allowing objects on smaller scales to be identified more easily.”

They applied this new method to Hubble telescope images of star clusters Abell 2744 and MACS 0416. And it worked like a charm. Selectively turning down the brightness revealed 167 never-before-seen galaxies, all quite elderly and faint.

The authors say their discovery provides “strong support” for the theory of re-ionization. They and other astronomers will have boatloads of new images to examine quite soon, as the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018.