Author: Kirstin Fawcett

Athletes, rejoice: We’ve officially entered marathon season. The New York City Marathon took place last Sunday, and in upcoming weeks, race participants will pound the pavement in Las Vegas, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Months of training aside, how are these competitors capable of logging so many miles? The American Chemical Society’s latest Reactions video explains what happens to the human body on a chemical and cellular level during a long-distance running session—from the reason your legs sometimes burn to what’s behind the highly sought after runner’s high.

[h/t Reactions]

Banner image: iStock

You likely memorized the periodic table in high school chemistry class, but you still might not know how frequently we encounter its elements in our daily lives. Seattle-based designer Keith Enevoldsen, who runs the website elements.wlonk.com, created an interactive version of the educational tool to provide some context for how these substances are actually used, or where they’re found.

Interactive periodic table reveals exactly how we use all those elements https://t.co/J4mGLJpCkX pic.twitter.com/Dv9gJG09VW

— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) November 9, 2016

Some elements, like gold, helium, and sodium, are no-brainers—but others, like krypton, antimony, and strontium, might surprise you. Get a preview of Enevoldsen’s unique table above, or visit his website for the full experience.

[h/t Gizmodo]

Depending on how you look at it, Khanzir is either the world’s loneliest—or luckiest—farm animal. According to The Washington Post, the 14-year-old hog is the only animal of his kind to live in Afghanistan, an Islamic nation that bans the consumption (and in some cases, even touching) of pigs. The solitary swine might be companion-free, but the sheer novelty of his existence means he’s famous in his hog-free nation.

Meet Khanzir – the only pig in Afghanistan https://t.co/5iWJdak1LZ

— The Independent (@Independent) November 3, 2016

Khanzir (whose name means “Pig” in Pashto, one of Afghanistan’s national languages) wasn’t always Afghanistan’s only pig. In 2002, China gave Khanzir and a female companion to the Kabul Zoo, along with a pair of brown bears. Khanzir became a father, but four years later, tragedy struck: A zoo caretaker left the bears’ cage open, and one of them raided the pig enclosure. The piglets were killed, and the female pig was badly injured, and later died. Khanzir was the only survivor.

Today, Khanzir lives in his own enclosure in the Kabul Zoo. The widowed pig may no longer have a family, but he still receives lots of company: Many Afghans have never seen a pig before in their lives, and travel long distances to see Khanzir. He’s also beloved by his caretakers, and well-fed to boot.

That being said, Khanzir’s celebrity status sometimes attracts unwanted attention. Case in point: During the worldwide swine flu epidemic of 2009, officials placed the famous pig in quarantine after visitors (who knew little about swine flu) feared he would make them sick. Some people even called for Khanzir to be euthanized.

Ultimately, Khanzir had more friends than enemies, and he remained unharmed. Today, he’s protected by loyal zoo workers, who tell The Washington Post that Khanzir is “an innocent animal, like all animals”—even though he’s haram, or forbidden by Islamic law.

You can learn more about Khanzir (and even watch a video of him) over at The Washington Post. 

[h/t The Washington Post]

Lots of surprising things wash up on the world’s beaches—including snowballs. As NPR reports, a beach in northwest Siberia, on the Gulf of Ob, is covered in frozen spheres that have drifted ashore. According to experts, the rare phenomenon occurs when pieces of ice form, and are rolled into balls by wind and water.

The frosty orbs began accumulating along the Siberian coast around two weeks ago, according to the BBC. Currently, they cover around 11 miles of beach. Some are the size of a tennis ball; others are nearly 3 feet across.

Sergei Lisenkov, press secretary of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, provided Russian media outlets with an explanation. “As a rule, first there is a primary natural phenomenon—sludge ice, slob ice,” he said. (NPR defines “slob ice” as a Canadian term used to describe “sludgy masses of floating ice.”)

“Then comes a combination of the effects of the wind, the lay of the coastline, and the temperature and wind conditions,” Lisenkov continued. “It can be such an original combination that it results in the formation of balls like these.”

Residents of the nearby village of Nyda are amazed. “Even old-timers say they see this phenomenon for the first time,” village administrator Valery Akulov told The Siberian Times.

But as other media outlets point out, this isn’t the first time that waves have washed spherical ice formations onto land: Similar events have been reported in the U.S. around Lake Michigan, and in the Gulf of Finland in Europe.

In short, the unusual weather surprise is rare, but perfectly natural. Hopefully, the people of Nyda love a good snowball fight—especially one that comes complete with ready-made ammo. Watch a video of the wintry occurrence below.

[h/t NPR]

A massive earthworm discovered by an English gardener has wriggled its way into the United Kingdom’s record books. As National Geographic reports, the 16-inch worm—nicknamed Dave—bears the proud distinction of being the longest annelid ever recorded in the UK. 

Meet Dave, the world’s heaviest earthworm, who weighs about the size of a small chocolate bar https://t.co/kFGq16KsaI

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) November 6, 2016

A man named Paul Rees, who lives in England’s Cheshire County, found the record-breaking worm in his vegetable plot. European earthworms typically range from around eight to 10 inches in length, but this one was truly exceptional. In addition to being around half a foot longer than your average annelid, it weighed almost an ounce—nearly twice the weight of any other recorded wild earthworm. (Prior to Rees’s find, the world’s largest known earthworm was a Scottish worm found in 2015 that tipped the scales at half an ounce.)

Rees’s stepson, George, christened the worm “Dave,” and it was sent to experts at the Natural History Museum. Emma Sherlock, a Life Sciences curator who chairs the Earthworm Society of Britain, “was bowled over by the size of the worm when I opened the plastic box they sent it in,” she said in a press release.

According to Sherlock, Dave weighed the same as a small chocolate bar, which begs the question: How did this particular earthworm get to be so big? Dave may have had time on his side. Nobody knows quite how long earthworms live (some have survived up to six years in captivity), but they have so many natural predators that they typically don’t survive long enough in the great outdoors to reach Dave’s enormous proportions.

Dave may have beaten the survival odds, but that didn’t stop him from being sacrificed in the name of science. The record-breaking annelid was killed and preserved, and will go on display as part of the museum’s worm collection. (Social media users have expressed their sorrow by creating a Twitter account, @PoorDaveTheWorm, and using the hashtag  #davetheworm.) 

That being said, a few of Dave’s large cousins might still be lurking in Rees’s garden, improving the soil with every wriggle. “With worms this size, Paul [Rees] must have an incredibly fertile and well-drained vegetable plot with decaying matter quickly recycled back into the soil,” Sherlock said.

[h/t National Geographic]

Many critics consider Norwegian painter Edvard Munch’s The Scream series (1893) to be one of the ultimate artistic expressions of existential angst. If you, too, seek order in a chaotic, unpredictable universe, Gizmodo reports that Japanese figurine line Figma created an action figure of the artwork’s eerie bald figure.

As we’ve reported before, Figma’s The Scream toy is one of several famous artworks—including Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, the Venus de Milo, and Michelangelo’s David—that the company has rendered in action figure form. You can purchase items from the company’s Table Museum series through online retailer Good Smile Company.

Sadly for Munch fans, The Scream action figure won’t be available for purchase until May 2017, but you can preorder it between November 4 and December 1. When the toy does finally go on sale, it will cost around $50, and will come with a stand and a backdrop of Munch’s famous painting.

All images courtesy of Figma.

[h/t Gizmodo]

Even if you run your dishwasher nightly at home, it’s likely been a few weeks (if not months) since your office coffee mug received more than a casual rinse. But is this more than just a bad habit? According to The Wall Street Journal, your crusty cup isn’t a breeding ground for harmful, disease-causing germs. In fact, washing it with a communal kitchen sponge is likely worse for you than letting your mug sit at your desk.

Organisms and bacteria can multiply inside your mug if you fill it with liquid and touch it with your lips and hands—but the good news is that these germs probably won’t make you ill. For one thing, most viruses can’t survive for more than an hour on a stationary object. Also, even if you are feeling under the weather, it’s hard to reinfect yourself with a virus you’ve already contracted.

And while sharing mugs with your coworkers likely won’t make you sick, you’d be better off keeping your mug to yourself during cold and flu season.

In short, an unwashed mug probably won’t harm your health or anyone else’s (unless it’s moldy, in which case you should scrub it out ASAP). But if you do decide your go-to cup is due for a wash, steer clear of the office kitchen sponge. It’s been used to clean countless dirty surfaces, and it stays wet for hours, allowing germs to thrive and multiply. “The sponge in the break room probably has the highest bacteria count of anything in the office,” Jeffrey Starke, former director of infection control at Texas Children’s Hospital, told The Wall Street Journal. Instead, wash the mug by hand using hot water and liquid soap, and dry it with a paper towel. (Or bring it home and run it through the dishwasher.)

[h/t Science of Us]

Some kids’ toys are more creepy than cute. Case in point: The “Baby So Real” doll from Cabbage Patch Kids, created by toy company Wicked Cool Toys. The realistic-looking robotic baby doll—which, as Vocativ reports, recently went on sale in the U.S.—straddles the line between artificial and real so effectively that it’s hard to decide whether you want to cuddle with it or have nightmares about it.

The Bluetooth-controlled doll has wide, animated LCD eyes that blink and close, and it burps, laughs, and even snores while falling “asleep.” It also talks, drinks from a bottle, slurps medicine from a spoon, plays Peekaboo, and wets itself.

Kids can nurture and care for the doll with a downloadable app. But even if your child loves the toy, it’s understandable if you can’t shake the creepy feeling that it might be watching you.

The new Cabbage Patch doll costs $100, and is available at major toy retailers. Learn more about it in the video below.

[h/t Vocativ]

Marjorie Tahbone isn’t your typical tattoo artist. She’s trying to revitalize the ancient art of traditional Inuit tattooing, which her ancestors practiced for thousands of years until colonial missionaries arrived and the custom began to die out. In the Great Big Story’s video above, you can learn how Tahbone creates her colorful designs, and why they’re so significant to her culture.

[h/t Great Big Story]

Banner image: Ren Buford via Flickr // CC BY-ND 2.0

Conceptual artist Marta Minujín is building a life-size replica of the Parthenon, but she’s using banned books instead of marble blocks. As Smithsonian reports, the artist has issued a public call for people to donate 100,000 prohibited titles toward her project. Next spring, the final product will stand in a public square in Kassel, Germany, where Nazis once burned thousands of “un-German” books.

Minujín is creating the large-scale installation for documenta, a global arts exhibition that’s held in Kassel every five years. This year’s title is “documenta 14: Learning From Athens.” Keeping with the theme, the show will kick off in Athens on April 8 and open in Kassel on June 10.

This isn’t the first time Minujín’s work has challenged the repression of knowledge and free speech. In 1983, she created a similar public work, El Partenón de Libros, after Argentina’s military dictatorship fell apart. Made from 20,000 books forbidden by the junta, it stood along a central street in Buenos Aires. Instead of simply dismantling it, Minujín had two cranes tip it sideways and instructed onlookers to collect and keep the books.

Marta Minjuin’s Parthenon of books will be on display for 100 days starting on June 10, 2017 in Kassel, Germany…. https://t.co/wx17mVstDy

— SCS (@scsclassics) November 4, 2016

Minujín’s new Parthenon will be larger and more ambitious than her last. It will also recall a different political injustice—when German Nazis burned around 2000 books on May 19, 1933, during the “Aktion wider den undeutschen Geist” (Campaign against the Un-German Spirit).

Still, the underlying theme remains the same. Like the original 1983 work, Minujín’s new Parthenon will set “an example against violence, discrimination, and intolerance,” said Adam Szymczyk, artistic director of documenta 14, in a press statement quoted by the American Library Association.

The new Parthenon of banned books will go on display in Athens on June 10, 2017. After 100 days, it will be dismantled, and the books distributed among onlookers. Want to contribute a title? Documenta 14 posted instructions online for donating once or currently banned works.

[h/t Smithsonian]