#weird

#weird

Vinegar Eels Can Synchronize Their Wiggling as They Move Together in SwarmsThe Turbatrix aceti is a species of nematode commonly found wiggling inside jars of raw vinegar or in fish tanks. Better known as vinegar eels, these harmless and non-parasitic worms are one of many intriguing creatures in the microscopic world.Scientists have recently discovered that vinegar eels can "wiggle in synch as they move together in swarms" — an ability rarely found in nature. There are animals such as birds and fish that can move collectively. This nematode species, however, according to University of Rochester physicist Anton Peshkov, has "a combination of two different kinds of synchronization," namely motion and oscillation.Their ability to synchronize their movements and oscillation can be seen in this short clip. More details about them can be read over at ScienceNews.Scientists are still wondering why these tiny worms exhibit such behavior. Is it a ritual? Is it a dance? Only they know.Image Credit: Anton Peshkov via ScienceNews#worm #Weird #InterestingScience #Wiggle #Nematodes #VinegarEels #synchornization

Australian Ravens Attack Coffee Delivery DroneWe tend to be afraid of things unknown to us. Sometimes, we even become hostile to these things, just like these ravens who suddenly attacked a drone carrying coffee. They must have seen the drone as a threat to their territory.Ben Roberts, the man who waits for the delivery drone for his daily caffeine dose, recalls that feathers flew on the first day of the dogfight. However, by the third day, the birds learned to avoid the drone blades, and they were able to hit the man-made device.Thankfully for Roberts, the drones were still able to deliver his coffee.The birds in question are believed to be attacking the drone because it is the spring nesting season.(Image Credit: Ben Roberts)#Ravens #Weird #Drones

Woman Charged $11 for Crying During Mole Removal ProcedureIf you have surgery scheduled sometime soon, make sure that you are mentally and emotionally prepared for the event. You wouldn't want to cry during the surgery, as it might cost you more on your bill. Of course, you might think that this is impossible and that no clinic or hospital on Earth would do such a thing. But this happened to a woman named Midge. When she looked at her bill for her mole removal surgery, she found that she was charged an extra $11 for showing "brief emotion" — for crying during the operation. Midge's post went viral on Twitter, gathering over 190k likes and over 15k retweets. The tweet also received lots of comments, with one noting that doctors do this "to pad bills to increase revenue." (Image Credit: @mxmclain/ Twitter) #MoleRemoval #MedicalBill #Surgery #Weird

Kleptotrichy: Birds Steal Hair From Living MammalsTitmice and their closest bird kin engage in some weird behavior. All sneaky-like, these birds would land on unsuspecting mammals and then pluck out some hair from their targets. When Jeffrey Brawn and Henry Pollock once participated in a spring bird count in central Illinois, Brawn noticed a titmouse plucking out some hair from a sleeping raccoon. Surprisingly, the raccoon didn't wake up. Intrigued, Brawn decided to study the matter. As the study authors consulted literature, they only found 11 instances of the behavior. When they checked YouTube, however, they found dozens of examples. Some of these birds even pluck some hair out of mammals who are wide awake. The question is, why would these birds risk their lives? The authors note possible reasons. The first reason was the birds needed some insulation in their nests. The second was that the odor associated with the mammal could deter predators. Another possible reason could be the hair capable of repelling parasites, a threat to chick survival. The authors have called this behavior kleptotrichy, from the Greek words "klepto" and "trich", which mean "theft" and "hair", respectively. The paper, published in the journal Ecology, is titled, “What the pluck? Theft of mammal hair by birds is an overlooked but common behavior with fitness implications." It is available online. Learn more about the study over at Illinois News Bureau. (Image Credit: Texas Backyard Wildlife) #Titmouse #Kleptotrichy #Ornithology #BirdBehavior #AnimalBehavior #Weird

The Hubble Space Telescope Has Captured This Ghostly Cosmic Image of Two Galaxies CollidingFound some 704 million light-years from Earth is a system catalogued in the Arp-Madore “Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations.” The catalogued system, known as AM 2026-424, certainly belongs to the peculiar category because of how it looks. It looks like a skull with glowing eyes. In reality, it is just two galaxies of the same size in a collision… or is it?This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on June 19, 2019.(Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and M. Durbin (University of Washington))#Space #Peculiar #Weird #Spooky #Scary #Horror

The Worm With A Thousand ButtsThe story of Ramisyllis multicaudata begins in a simple manner. It lives inside the water passages of a sponge called Petrosia, with its head buried deep inside it. From there, the story starts to take a weird turn.The Ramisyllis starts to branch repeatedly inside the sponge, with no pattern whatsoever, and the bristle worm begins to reveal its rather grotesque nature. Scientists remark that, despite being an animal, Ramisyllis lives as though it were a fungus, noting the similar appearance of the worm’s branching tubes to that of a fungus under a microscope.To describe the worm as bizarre is an understatement.(Image Credit: Sarah Faulwetter/ Wikimedia Commons)#Worm #Fungi #Weird #sponge

What Does This Sign Mean?Adam Levy, who goes by the username @adam_braden in his Instagram account, is an adventurous man who loves riding his motorcycle. He also loves cycling and skiing. His Instagram account is filled with photos of him doing what he loves. The account is also, however, brimming with the strange things that he spots on his travels. Take for instance, this bizarre warning sign that he noticed in Moab, Utah while biking on the Captain Ahab mountain bike trail.What does this sign mean? Do the cows talk in Moab, Utah? If they do, what strange tales are they sharing? It seems we may never know the answer.(Image Credit: Adam_braden via Instagram)#adventure #travel #weird #cycling #Moab #Utah #CaptainAhab