news-wtf

[news-wtf]

The black hole is 400 million times the mass of the Sun, as seen using the cutting-edge Webb Space Telescope. Webb can see some of the earliest light in the universe by observing light at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths, helping it cut through clouds of interstellar dust to see fainter, more distant light sources. According to a team of astronomers that studied the black hole, it’s essentially dormant despite its young age—putting conventional models of black hole growth to task. The researchers published their findings today in Nature.

“Even though this black hole is dormant, its enormous size made it possible for us to detect,” said Ignas Juodžbalis, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Kavli Institute for Cosmology, and lead author of the study, in a university release. “Its dormant state allowed us to learn about the mass of the host galaxy as well. The early universe managed to produce some absolute monsters, even in relatively tiny galaxies.”

[news-wtf]

Blowfly eggs and larvae can carry crucial evidence, like sperm, which could help in sexual assault investigations, a new study from the University of Portsmouth has found.

The findings demonstrate that blowflies can inadvertently collect and retain DNA evidence from sexual assault crime scenes, making them a potentially powerful tool for forensic investigations.

Forensic entomology is already well-established for its ability to estimate time of death and other details by studying insect activity. But this new study examines whether insects can carry DNA evidence to identify a sexual offenses suspect.

The discovery could prove invaluable in solving complex cases where conventional evidence is scarce or unavailable. The findings are published in the Journal of Forensic Entomology.

[news-wtf]

The species, known to make a "rumbling growl sound," got the nickname "thumb splitter" because they are aggressive and "can punch their way through aquarium glass," officials said.

The Japanese mantis shrimp was first reported in New Zealand in 2010 in Kaipara Harbor, according to officials.

Japanese mantis shrimp can alter native habitats by digging burrows to live in and may compete with native species for food and space, experts said.

Compared to the native species, Japanese mantis shrimp have thinner maroon lines running down their bodies and a blue and yellow tail fan, according to officials.

[news-wtf]

The tablet dates from 300 to 800 AD and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script — the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby’s.

It was unearthed during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913 and was not recognised as historically significant at first.

Sotheby’s said the tablet was used as a paving stone at a local home until 1943, when it was sold to a scholar who grasped its significance.

“A tangible link to ancient beliefs that have profoundly shaped global religious and cultural traditions, it serves as a rare testament to history,” the auction house said.

The text inscribed on the slab follows the Biblical verses familiar to Christian and Jewish traditions, but omits the third commandment against taking the name of the Lord in vain. It includes a new directive to worship on Mount Gerizim, a holy site specific to the Samaritans, Sotheby’s said.

[news-wtf]

[news-wtf]

Shirt, pants, underwear — it had all been stripped away so the passenger could really connect his buttcheeks with the driver’s backseat fabric. The driver contacted the Sheriff’s office, which in turn contacted Lyft.

“The Lyft company contacted the PCSO and reported that one of their drivers was in a very, very uncomfortable situation,” Polk County Sherrif’s Office said in a social media post.

“The driver informed the deputy that he had picked up a passenger, heard a strange noise, and turned around to see…(the passenger)… was sitting on the back seat, sans shirt, pants, and undies. The driver told (him) to stop what he was doing.”

When the officers questioned the passenger, he told them that he “got a little naked” after being overcome by a nonspecific “feeling” in the back of the Lyft. He was, of course, arrested and charged with unlawful exposure[.]

[news-wtf]

Since 2019, Melendez International has been incorporating AI into its product development process to speed up recipe creation and optimize flavor combinations. The company says that AI has changed its workflow by cutting down on the number of product tastings required throughout the process.

Odd, considering that the taste of the cookie seems pretty important. However, the company’s AI tool can generate several recipe options based on specific parameters like aroma, appearance, cost, nutritional value, and of course, flavor. In essence, the recipes come out pre-optimized, thus not necessitating a lengthy tasting process.

The company has probably invested an enormous amount of money into this AI endeavor. They say that AI has been used to develop over 70 different projects since it was first brought in. Obviously, if one of those projects was a huge creative smash hit, you’d want it mentioned in the article as a way to prove to skeptical readers and shareholders that replacing human creativity and the human trial-and-error process with AI optimization is all worth it in the end, right?

Well, the article does exactly that. And what’s the big cookie innovation that they cite in the Wall Street Journal article justifying the use of AI to its readers? Gluten-free Golden Oreos.

[news-wtf]

[news-wtf]

In eastern Mexico’s underground caverns and streams, a blind fish undergoes a peculiar adolescence: as it approaches maturity, taste buds begin to sprout under its chin and on top of its head, creeping toward its back.

“It’s a pretty wild amplification of the sensory system of taste,” says Josh Gross, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Cincinnati and a co-author of a recent study on the cave fish in Nature Communications Biology. Gross and his team discovered that the new buds blossom around the time when the fish transition from eating larval crustaceans to gobbling up their adulthood staple: bat guano. Taste buds outside their mouths might be helping the fish detect bat droppings in the utterly dark, “food-starved” caves, Gross says.

Wandering taste buds aren’t unheard of elsewhere, especially in other fish. Some damselfish cultivate taste buds on their fins, and channel catfish have them across their midsections. And as alien as it may seem, many cells throughout the human body can taste, too. They’re just not sharing the flavors with your brain like taste buds do.

Lora Bankova is a Harvard Medical School respiratory biologist who studies tuft cells, a cell type sprinkled within human mucous tissues like those lining your nostrils, throat and gut. These “rapid responder” cells trigger the immune system if they detect an outside threat, and many of them rely on built-in taste receptors (the same kinds found on taste-bud cells) to do so. Bankova notes that many potentially harmful bacteria communicate via signaling chemicals called lactones—which also happen to activate taste receptors attuned to bitter flavors, prompting tuft cells’ immune response. And it turns out that even environmental allergies may be a matter of taste: dust mites and several mold species can also set off a tuft cell’s taste receptors, Bankova says.

“Evolutionarily, taste receptors [have moved around] the body to protect us from the air we inhale and all the attacks we’re getting through the orifices,” Bankova says. “They’re in the inner ear, the urethra, everywhere something can get into your body.”

Such “extra” taste receptors aren’t just bouncers at the door—they taste test for our internal systems, too. Receptors for sweet tastes help to tune insulin production in the pancreas and make sure neurons in the brain have access to enough glucose. Sweet, bitter and umami receptors in the gut modulate digestion.

Gross says it’s still a mystery what taste receptors the bat guano activates in the blind cave fish. “There may be some sugar content if it’s a fruit bat, maybe some protein content if it’s a carnivorous bat,” he says. So far only the cave fish has signed up to sample it.

[news-wtf]

In a surprising turn of events, a well-known flat-earther conceded that his long-held conspiracy theory was incorrect after embarking on a 9,000-mile journey to Antarctica.

YouTuber Jeran Campanella traveled to the southernmost continent to witness a 24-hour sun - a phenomenon that would be impossible if the Earth were flat.

The journey, which cost a staggering $37,700, took Campanella from Salinas, California, to Antarctica. Upon witnessing the sun circle the sky without setting, Campanella confessed to his followers that he had been wrong, acknowledging the Earth's true round shape... mostly, anyway.

[news-wtf]

(twitter thread)

[news-wtf]

Long hair and beards might seem undesirable in the workforce, but they're in high demand in Utah, where people are being recruited to model as the savior.

Jesus saves — but his lookalikes are earning mountains of cash.

Models who bear a strong resemblance to the Son of God are in increasing demand, with Christians hiring them to pose for family portraits, wedding announcements, Christmas cards and anything else that requires a divine presence, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Long hair and beards might seem undesirable in most workplaces, but they’re mandatory in this unexpectedly booming industry, where the divine doppelgängers can earn up to $200 an hour.

[news-wtf]

[news-wtf]

[news-wtf]

The 28-year-old suspect, who has not been named, was arrested at an airport in Peru after security officials noticed an unusual bulge around his stomach.

He was allegedly found to have more than 300 tarantulas, as well as around 100 centipedes and nine stinging bullet ants, hidden in plastic pouches around his body.

The man is believed to have been attempting to smuggle the creatures from Peru to South Korea for sale, The Telegraph reports.

The spiders, centipedes and ants have all been handed over to animal protection services.

[news-wtf]

I need everyone to know that the ship Götheborg, the world's largest ocean-going wooden sailing ship, answered a distress call the other day.

Imagine waiting for the coast guard or whatever to show up and instead a replica of 18th century merchant ship pulls up and tows you to the coast.

[news-wtf]

The sinkhole is 630 feet (192 meters) deep, according to the Xinhua news agency, deep enough to just swallow St. Louis' Gateway Arch. A team of speleologists and spelunkers rappelled into the sinkhole on Friday (May 6), discovering that there are three cave entrances in the chasm, as well as ancient trees 131 feet (40 m) tall, stretching their branches toward the sunlight that filters through the sinkhole entrance. 

"This is cool news," said George Veni, the executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) in the U.S., and an international expert on caves. Veni was not involved in the exploration of the cave, but the organization that was, the Institute of Karst Geology of the China Geological Survey, is NCKRI's sister institute. 

The discovery is no surprise, Veni told Live Science, because southern China is home to karst topography, a landscape prone to dramatic sinkholes and otherworldly caves. Karst landscapes are formed primarily by the dissolution of bedrock, Veni said. Rainwater, which is slightly acidic, picks up carbon dioxide as it runs through the soil, becoming more acidic. It then trickles, rushes and flows through cracks in the bedrock, slowly widening them into tunnels and voids. Over time, if a cave chamber gets large enough, the ceiling can gradually collapse, opening up huge sinkholes. 

"Because of local differences in geology, climate and other factors, the way karst appears at the surface can be dramatically different," he said. "So in China you have this incredibly visually spectacular karst with enormous sinkholes and giant cave entrances and so forth. In other parts of the world you walk out on the karst and you really don't notice anything. Sinkholes might be quite subdued, only a meter or two in diameter. Cave entrances might be very small, so you have to squeeze your way into them." 

In fact, 25% of the United States is karst or pseudokarst, which features caves carved by factors other than dissolution, such as volcanics or wind, Veni said. About 20% of the world's landmass is made of one of these two cave-rich landscapes.