The 2015 Japanese census laid out a frightening realization for the country: its population is shrinking. In just five years, between 2010 and 2015, Japan’s population shrunk by almost 1 million—an unusually high drop for a country not dealing with a disaster like famine or plague. But while everyone is quick to blame so-called “parasite singles” or a lack of immigration, Toyota is looking for a solution. Their recent proposal? Robots.

In October, the car manufacturer introduced the Kirobo Mini, a robot designed to form an emotional connection with a population that is getting older and not reproducing at a rate to sustain population numbers. This is actually a miniaturized version of the original Kirobo robot, which was slightly larger and sent to the International Space Station to keep astronauts company during long voyages (it was also the first-ever talking robot in space).

“He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn’t fully developed the skills to balance itself,” Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini’s chief design engineer, said. “This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection.”

In addition to all that wobbling, the Kirobo Mini will blink its “eyes,” mimic the high-pitched type of baby talk familiar to new parents, and recognize facial expressions through the use of a built-in camera. It’s small enough to sit inside a cradle that snaps into a vehicle’s cup holder, but powerful enough to simulate the intelligence of a 5-year-old.

Toyota didn’t come right out and say it, but the belief among many is that these companion babies are designed to tap into the parental instincts of Kirobo owners, possibly leading them to want a real child of their own.

This strategy is similar to the one used by team behind Yotaro, another robot baby introduced in Japan in 2010. This one used projection technology to put an emotive face on the robot, promoting a bond with its owners (and hopefully leading to some flesh-and-blood babies in the future).

“A robot can’t be human but it’s great if this robot triggers human emotions, so humans want to have their own baby,” Hiroki Kunimura, the project leader for the Yotaro robot, told CNN at the time.

Each Kirobo Mini will retail for 39,800 yen, or $390, when it is released next year.

In the pantheon of great movie scores, few are more recognizable—or beloved—than John Williams’s iconic Star Wars compositions. Back in 2005, the American Film Institute even honored it with the top spot on its list of the 25 Greatest Film Scores of All Time, beating out well-known themes from Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Psycho, The Godfather, and Jaws (another Williams ditty), in that order. But the legendary composer, who holds the most Oscar nominations for a living person (with a total of 50), doesn’t think all that much of his Star Wars jams.

The AV Club recently came across an interview with Williams in The Mirror in which the 84-year-old got candid about his 60-year career, which included a couple of startling admissions: namely, that he has never seen any of the Star Wars movies—and that he doesn’t consider his work on them to be among his best, despite winning a Best Original Score Oscar for his work on the first film in the saga.

“I don’t know,” Williams told The Mirror of his work on the Star Wars franchise. “A lot of them are not very memorable … It’s probably the most popular music that I’ve done.” While seeing his music paired with the action on the big screen might help Williams see his work in a new light, we’re not holding our breath that it will happen anytime soon.

“I let it go. I have not looked at the Star Wars films,” Williams admitted. “When I’m finished with a film, I’ve been living with it, we’ve been dubbing it, recording to it, and so on. You walk out of the studio and, ‘Ah, it’s finished.’ … I don’t have an impulse to go to the theater and look at it. Maybe some people find that weird.”

The Force is strong with this one.

[h/t: The AV Club]

A few bad days of smog due to a temperature inversion might do you no harm, but long-term exposure to air pollution has now been linked to disease. According to a longitudinal study out of Europe, prolonged exposure to dirty air can lead to an increased risk of hypertension, a condition of chronic high blood pressure that damages your vessels, your heart, and can lead to atherosclerosis (inflammation of the arteries), heart attacks, and strokes.

“This is important because hypertension is the most important risk factor for chronic disease and premature mortality,” lead author Barbara Hoffman, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the Centre for Health and Society at Heinrich-Heine University of Dusseldorf, Germany, tells mental_floss.

Prior research had ascertained that “acute changes in air pollution exposure from day to day could raise your blood pressure” in a transient way—that is to say, your blood pressure would rise, but then return to normal. But it was not known if such long-term exposure could lead to the disease of hypertension. The study, published in European Heart Journal, confirms the link between long-term air pollution and increased risk of hypertension. The risk is comparable to the effect of being overweight, Hoffman says.

Of the 41,072 people who participated in the longitudinal study, none had hypertension when they began, but during the follow-up period—at either five or nine years—15 percent had developed hypertension or were taking blood pressure medications. And for people living in the most polluted areas, for every 5 micrograms per cubic meter of pollutants, the risk of hypertension increased by 22 percent over those living in less polluted areas.

Pollution varies from area to area, of course, depending on where you live, which is why the study looked at five different European countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Spain. Using land regression statistical models, scientists collected data from 40 sites three times per year for two weeks each period. “Major constituents of pollution in a city include traffic, industrial activity, parts blown in from long-range transport, a mixture of all kinds of things close to you, such as heating of houses, agriculture, and Earth-crust material,” Hoffman says. Agriculture, for example, accounts for a large amount of “precursor gases” that coagulate in the air and form small particles. Hoffman found that overall, southern Europe had higher levels of pollution than the Scandinavian countries.

Hoffman says pollution is thought to cause hypertension by one (or more) of three ways. First, when you inhale pollution particles, they can lead to “pulmonary inflammation, which gives you systemic inflammation,” says Hoffman. “This damages blood vessels and leads to endothelial dysfunction. Arterial stiffness increases, which affects your blood pressure.”

Second, the particles you inhale find their way onto receptors in your lungs that influence your nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system. “This leads to an increase in heart rate, contraction of blood vessels, and a rise in blood pressure. If this happens chronically, you can develop hypertension,” she explains.

Finally, as the pollutant particles directly enter your bloodstream, your blood vessels are damaged “by inflammation, oxidative stress, and can lead to impaired function of the vessel.”

In Europe, the limit value—or how much pollutants are allowed in the air—is 25 micrograms per meter. In the U.S., that number is only 12. Hoffman says, “Our current limit value doesn’t protect the European population.” Hence, the need for this study. “We wanted to inform the European Government, the E.U., about healthy facts at current levels of air pollution. The individual can hardly control chronic air pollution. That’s something society has to take care of.”

Human ingenuity knows no bounds—as these patents show.

1. REWARD CANDY DISPENSER

Patent: US 5823386 A
Published: 10/20/1998

As any multitasker knows, it can feel impossible to sit at a computer and focus on work that needs to get done. What if something happens on Facebook? How can you focus until you know who’s on the Wikipedia page of left-handed historical figures? To force concentration, many resort to draconian measures like limiting Internet use or (gasp!) going offline altogether. But the inventors of this tool tap into what behavioral scientists and kindergarten motivational speakers have long known: Treats get results.

The Reward Candy Dispenser for Personal Computers is positive reinforcement for desk jockeys. An optical sensor attaches to your screen to keep an eye on what you’re doing. When you achieve your target (say, sending that email or reading all the way through a long news story), a signal is sent to a container on your desk, and, as with a gumball machine, a single piece of candy is released into a chute. Want another? Get more work done! Lab-rat life never tasted so good.

2. LEAF GATHERING TROUSERS

Patent: US 6604245 B1
Published: 8/12/2003

With fall comes the ultimate scourge of lawn work: raking leaves. All of those gorgeous, oxygen-giving trees in your yard become instruments of torture, fiendishly littering their leafy bounty all over the lawn and sidewalk.

According to the inventor of the leaf pants, the leaves aren’t the problem. It’s the rake—that pronged horticultural nightmare that strains backs, blisters hands, and poses a real threat if left lying in tall grass. But a leaf blower isn’t the answer either. Instead, the inventor insists, what humanity needs is a method that is “compatible with the natural body movement of a person.”

Enter leaf chaps, a pair of zip-on flexible tubes that slip over pant legs with a net fastened between the two so you can gather leaves as you stroll. The net corrals the leaves and collects them in front of you, so with just a few extra steps, you’re forming piles that are easily picked up later. Not merely convenient, the chaps also promise to make you more productive. Rather than struggle with bulky tools, do something you’d be doing anyway (walking around your lawn), while getting work done! Sure, that walk is more like a waddle, but that’s the price you pay for innovation.

3. THE DAD SADDLE (AKA, THE DADDLE)

Patent: US 6241136 B1
Published: 6/5/2001

Attention, parents: Are your kids bored with the same old piggyback routine? Are you sick of getting sticky fingers in your hair every time you let them hitch a ride? Try the Dad Saddle. Paul R. Harriss, the inventor of this parental paraphernalia, noticed that while contraptions—from ergonomic backpacks to simple scarves—exist to help parents carry their babies, once the kids grow up, you’re forced to go bareback. Suffer no more! The Dad Saddle’s sturdy harness fastens around the waist and sports two pint-size stirrups for a child’s feet, “virtually eliminating the possibility of back strain.” Adjust the height of the stirrups so your little cowboy or cowgirl can hold steady. Then remind them to tip their hats before they tackle the open range.

4. THE CRISPY CEREAL SERVER

Patent: US 4986433 A
Published: 1/22/1991

From the moment John Harvey Kellogg created the first cornflake, people have been trying to solve the problem of soggy cereal. Turn your back on it for a moment too long, and even the crispiest flakes become a bowl of mush. Cereal makers can treat their products to keep them from absorbing milk, but that only delays the inevitable. But what if the solution were in the bowl itself? The ingenious Crispy Cereal Serving Piece and Method keeps your Froot Loops fresh until the very last minute, guaranteeing “the crispness of the cereal throughout even the most leisurely meal.” A bowl on the table holds just the right amount of milk, while a second bowl, holding the dry cereal, is suspended in the air by a sturdy chute. Send a spoonful down the chute into the milk when you’re ready to take a bite, and relax knowing that the rest of your breakfast is high and dry (literally).

5. THE GREENHOUSE HELMET

Patent: US 4605000 A
Published: 8/12/1986

Everyone knows there’s nothing like a walk outdoors for a breath of fresh air. But in a hectic, urban life, you may be too busy to plan a nature walk—let alone one around the corner. Not to worry: The greenhouse helmet will bring nature to you at a moment’s notice. All you need to do is strap it to your face! A self-enclosed, anti-fog-treated dome sits over the wearer’s head, containing multiple shelves to hold tiny plants inside. As you exhale, the plants soak up the carbon dioxide, supposedly stocking you in return with the purest oxygen money can buy. The helmet even has a two-way intercom system, so you can communicate with friends in the not-so-great outdoors. Now, no matter where you are, the air will always be as fresh as a daisy. Have fun watering your head, though.

6. REALLY COOL SHOES

Patent: US 5375430 A
Published: 12/27/1994

Late summer’s swelter is the perfect excuse for wannabe exhibitionists to strip down to fashion’s bare minimum, from top to toe. But for those whose tootsies are less than sandal-ready, one ingenious inventor came up with a solution: air conditioned shoes. As you step, a series of chambers in the heel contract like mini-bellows, exerting force on a set of coolant-filled coils that turn the ambient heat into chilled air. That air is then expelled through a pad running under the foot, literally cooling your heels. And with a quick switcheroo, the cooling chambers reverse their function, becoming a foot warmer for winter months. Finally, a shoe for all seasons.

7. THE AUTOMATIC PET PETTER

Patent: US 20060207518 A1
Published: 9/21/2006

As any kid with a puppy knows, pets are a lot of work. They need food, exercise, grooming, poop scooping, and hardest of all: nonstop physical affection. Thankfully, inventor Anthony Steffen created a machine to make life easier. The automatic dog petter not only strokes your pup (or feline) with a mechanical hand; it also plays audio so you can provide your furry friend with a comforting pep talk or their preferred cover of “Hound Dog.” Fido need only stand on a motion-sensor platform, and it’s just like you’re there with him. As Patent 20,060,207,518 reminds us, “It is a fact of modern life that most people work away from their homes. If they have pets, these pets will often be alone for many hours.” This may be a fact of modern life, but so are robots, and both you and Fido will be better for it.

8. SLED-FREE SLEDDING/SLED PANTS

Patent: US 5573256 A
Published: 11/12/1996

Little is more exhilarating than zipping down a snow-covered hill. And little is more humbling that trudging back to the top, toboggan in tow. That breathless, awkward, sweaty climb is the conundrum that Patent 5,573,256 seeks to solve. “Until now, a sled capable of being attached to the body of the user and worn before, during, and after a downhill sled run has not been invented,” writes inventor Brent Farley. Fortunately for us, he fixed that. His liberating contraption allows you to simply strap sled chaps to your snow pants and enjoy ride after unencumbered ride.

9. THE BANANA SUITCASE

Patent: US 6612440 B1
Published: 2003

It’s snack o’clock and your banana got horribly bruised in your bag on the way to work. What now? Stale party mix from the break-room vending machine again? Thick skins notwithstanding, bananas are subject to all manner of abuse, but the Banana Suitcase keeps your favorite fruit safe and fresh as it travels in this perforated, foam-lined case that hinges shut. That is, as long as it fits into this one-size-only carrying case! No wonder the invention didn’t exactly peel off.

10. THE GERBIL VEST

Patent: US 5901666 A
Published: 5/11/1999

Thanks to this clever invention, you can make your guinea pig live up to its name. Or you can take your hamster grocery shopping, bring your chinchilla on a morning jog, or sign that bank loan with your gerbil’s moral support. The technology is simple: “A vest or belt is integrally formed with tubular, pet-receiving passageways that extend around the wearer’s body and terminate in pocket-like chambers,” the patent says. “Outer wall portions of the passageway are transparent so that a pet moving along the passageways can be seen by a spectator.” The pet display vest is not available in all, or frankly any, stores.

There is no other helicopter in the world like Marine One, the president’s No. 1 getaway vehicle. It’s as first-class as a helicopter can get.
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Human-robot marriage could be legal by 2050, experts say. But probably not that soon in America.
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The A.V. Club’s Best of TV 2016, part one and part two. We had so much TV they couldn’t fit it into one post.  
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Liquor Laws Around the World. Every nation limits drinking in their own way.
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The Worst Junk Science of 2016. Some is just bunk, other things got changed to make spectacular headlines.
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Meet Margaret Douglas, the Tudor that time forgot. She was never a monarch, but is the ancestor of many.    
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When Spinsters Couldn’t Get Credit. Even working divorcees and widows lost out because a credit history belonged to their husbands until the 1974.
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Clico: The Story of Franz Taaibosch. He was short, talented, and African, so he became of part of the freak show.

Banner image courtesy of iStock.

 René Descartes once described the pineal gland as “the principal seat of the soul.” Though medical knowledge has vastly progressed since then, here are a few things you might not have known about this critical organ.

1. IT’S BEEN RECOGNIZED AS IMPORTANT SINCE THE ANCIENT GREEKS.

Though the pineal gland wouldn’t be fully understood until the 20th century, descriptions of its anatomical location are included in the writings of Galen (ca. 130-ca. 210 CE), a Greek doctor and philosopher.

2. ITS SHAPE INFLUENCED ITS NAME.

This itty-bitty little gland, located very deep in the center of the brain, gets its name from its pinecone-like shape, most recently from the French (pinéal, or “like a pinecone”), itself from the Latin for pinecone (pinea). However, at about one-third of an inch long in adults, it’s smaller than your average pinecone.

3. THE PINEAL GLAND IS PART OF YOUR ENDOCRINE SYSTEM.

Though located in your brain, the pineal gland is actually a crucial part of your endocrine system, which regulates major bodily processes such as growth, metabolism, and sexual development through the release and control of hormones.

4. IT CONNECTS THE ENDOCRINE AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS.

The gland translates nerve signals from the sympathetic nervous system into hormone signals.

5. THE PINEAL GLAND WAS LONG CONSIDERED MYSTERIOUS.

Because the pineal gland was the last of the endocrine structures to be discovered, scientists considered it a mysterious organ. Today, we know that unlike much of the rest of the brain, the pineal gland is not isolated from the body by the blood-brain barrier system.

6. DESCARTES WAS WRONG ABOUT ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE MIND, THE SOUL …

The 16th-century French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes was fascinated with the pineal gland, considering it “the place in which all our thoughts are formed.” Scientists now credit that function to the neocortex.

7. …AND TINY ANIMAL SPIRITS IN THE BRAIN.

Descartes thought that within the pineal gland, tiny animal spirits were like “a very fine wind, or rather a very lively and pure flame,” feeding life into the many small arteries that surround the gland. This was likely due to his abysmal understanding of anatomy and physiology.

8. IT’S BEEN CALLED THE “THIRD EYE.”

The pineal gland was commonly dubbed the “third eye” for many reasons, including its location deep in the center of the brain and its connection to light. Mystic and esoteric spiritual traditions suggest it serves as a metaphysical connection between the physical and spiritual worlds.

9. IN REALITY, IT PRODUCES A SINGLE—BUT KEY—HORMONE.

As scientists have learned more about the functions of the pineal gland, they’ve learned it synthesizes the hormone melatonin from the neurotransmitter serotonin. Melatonin production determines your sleep-wake cycles and is purely determined by the detection of light and dark. The retina sends these signals to a brain region known as the hypothalamus, which passes them on to the pineal gland. The more light your brain detects, the less melatonin it produces, and vice versa. Melatonin levels are highest at night to help us sleep.

10. MELATONIN IS ALSO CRITICALLY INVOLVED IN REPRODUCTION.

Melatonin inhibits the release of pituitary reproductive hormones, known as gonadotropins, from the pituitary gland, affecting male and female reproductive organs. In this way, melatonin—and therefore the pineal gland—regulates sexual development.

If 2016 didn’t fill your need for retro gaming with the release of the NES Classic Edition, 2017 could do the trick with the return of a beloved old school franchise: Double Dragon. To celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary, Arc System Works—which bought the rights to the series in 2015—is set to release Double Dragon IV on January 30 on both Playstation 4 and Steam, The Verge reports.

Unlike modern revivals of older franchises—like the recent Tomb Raider and Doom reboots—Double Dragon IV is sticking to its retro graphics and low-fi gameplay roots. Billy and Jimmy are yet again pixelated crime fighters forced to go through stage after stage of enemies, just like they were back in 1987. Arc System Works even hired the producer, director, character designer, and composer of the original Double Dragon to return for IV.

The last time Double Dragon had a numbered sequel in the beat-’em-up genre was 1990’s Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone. After that was Super Double Dragon in 1992 and Double Dragon V in 1994, which was actually an ill-conceived Street Fighter II clone. Outside of a return to the franchise’s roots and the fact that it will have a two-player duel mode, not much is known about Double Dragon IV. But with a release date looming, expect Arc System Works to unveil more in the coming weeks.

[h/t: The Verge]