Buzz
With the weekend upon us, it’s the perfect time to relax and catch up on the more captivating stories of the week. Morris’s list focuses on the serious matters, while this collection explores the more odd and unique news items.
This week, we have a few intriguing animal stories, from chubby bears and perfume-obsessed tigers to geckos accidentally calling people. Additionally, there are a couple of fascinating space tales, an auction with a surprising twist, and a risky game of hide-and-seek.
10. Enormous Ice Spikes on Europa
A new study published in Nature Geoscience suggests that upcoming missions to Europa will face increased challenges. Researchers from Cardiff University claim that the moon’s surface is covered in massive, sharp “ice spikes.”
Scientists believe Europa has the right environment to form penitentes, the same kind of blade-like ice structures found on Earth. These icy formations appear in extremely cold, dry areas like the Andes. Unlike the penitentes on Earth, which can grow to about 5 meters (16 ft), those on Europa may reach up to 15 meters (50 ft).
Although the ice spikes haven’t been directly observed yet, the Europa Clipper mission, slated for launch between 2022 and 2025, aims to study Jupiter’s moon in greater detail. This mission will likely be the one to confirm or disprove the existence of these penitentes.
9. Chubby, Cozy, and Amazing
Fat Bear Week has concluded at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, with a female bear named 409 Beadnose taking the crown as this season's most formidable and robust bear.
This year, Beadnose defeated the heavily favored two-time champion 480 Otis in her first round. In the final showdown, she triumphed over another bear known simply as 747, who has been described as a “jelly-bellied jumbo jet” and a “Macy’s Thanksgiving parade balloon.”
Beadnose was actually the winner of the inaugural contest back in 2015. However, after giving birth to two cubs in 2016, she spent the following two seasons sharing the bounty. This time around, with her cubs no longer in the picture, Beadnose had the freedom to add on more weight.
8. How Time Travel Plays Tricks on Your Brain
Researchers at Caltech have created two time-traveling illusions to demonstrate postdiction—a phenomenon where our perception of a past event is influenced by a stimulus that occurs after it.
How does this work? Essentially, all of the stimuli are presented one after another at a rapid pace, under a fifth of a second. The brain is overwhelmed with chaotic, contradictory information. It uses its reasoning skills to make sense of it all, which leads to the creation of something that doesn't actually exist.
The first experiment is called the Rabbit Illusion, and you can try it out for yourself. Simply focus on the cross and count the number of flashes paired with beeps at the bottom of the screen. Most people will think there are three flashes, but in reality, there are only two. The middle flash is accompanied by a beep, but the brain processes the stimuli before, during, and after it and fills in the gap with an extra flash.
The second illusion is known as the Invisible Rabbit, and it works in the opposite way of the first. Here, there are three flashes, but the middle one has no beep, so the brain simply removes it from perception.
7. Where Is Voyager 2 ?
Recent findings suggest that Voyager 2 could soon join the ranks of man-made objects to cross into interstellar space. Voyager 1 made its exit from our solar system in August 2012, and now it appears that its twin might follow in its footsteps.
Both spacecraft were launched in 1977. Interestingly, Voyager 2 launched first, 16 days before Voyager 1. However, its path took a different route, which delayed its journey to Jupiter and Saturn but allowed it to also visit Uranus and Neptune.
Two of the instruments aboard Voyager 2 have recorded a roughly five-percent rise in cosmic rays over the past month. This could signal that the spacecraft is nearing the outer limits of the heliosphere, the heliopause. Voyager 1 experienced a similar shift in its environment in May 2012, just before it entered interstellar space. However, it’s not certain that Voyager 2 is in the same stage, as these changes could also be due to its position within the heliosphere at a different phase of the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle.
6. Geyser Trash
A geyser at Yellowstone National Park erupted, releasing a stream of historical debris dating back to the 1930s.
If you ever visit a geyser, you'll notice signs warning against throwing anything in. Yet, despite the warnings, people have been disregarding them for decades. The Ear Spring geyser had a particularly dramatic eruption in late September, blasting water over 9 meters (30 ft) into the air—a display not seen in over 60 years.
This time, alongside the usual mix of water and rocks, the geyser expelled an assortment of trash that had been dumped inside over the years. Among the items found were typical litter such as empty soda cans and cigarette butts, but also about 100 coins, a large chunk of cement, and even a baby pacifier from the 1930s.
Since Ear Spring's eruption, thermal activity on Geyser Hill has increased. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) notes that this is a natural phenomenon and unrelated to Yellowstone’s dormant supervolcano. Meanwhile, park officials have described the trash as “clearly historic” and plan to catalogue and archive it. They also remind the public that this shouldn't encourage further trash disposal in the geysers in the name of preservation.
5. Cops and Bank Robbers
Armed police in Birmingham responded to a possible bank robbery, only to find that the staff were simply playing a game of hide-and-seek.
On Wednesday morning, a passerby noticed staff members hiding under their desks at the NatWest Bank in St. Philip’s Place, Birmingham, England. Concerned it was a bank robbery, they alerted the authorities. When armed officers arrived, they found it was merely a false alarm.
The staff at the city center branch were engaged in a team-building activity involving hide-and-seek. Both NatWest Bank and the Birmingham Police issued statements confirming it was a false alarm. NatWest also assured they would address the situation with their employees to ensure they “learn from this incident.”
4. AI Learns to Discriminate
Amazon discontinued an AI recruitment tool after it was found to consistently discriminate against women.
According to Reuters, Amazon had a team of developers working on its recruitment engine since 2014. The goal was to automate the hiring process by creating an algorithm that could identify the best candidates by analyzing their CVs and assigning star ratings from one to five.
To build the algorithm, developers created a database of Amazon resumes collected over a ten-year period, allowing the AI to spot patterns and keywords that were likely to lead to successful hires. However, most of the resumes were from men, which led the AI to favor male candidates. It even penalized CVs that contained the word “women’s,” as in “women’s chess club captain” or “women’s college.”
The issue was identified by programmers in 2015. Although they could adjust the AI to ignore specific terms, they couldn't guarantee that the software wouldn’t learn new ways to discriminate against women. Ultimately, Amazon chose to abandon the project. The company has only stated that the tool was never used by recruiters to evaluate candidates.
3. To Shreds, You Say?
A Banksy painting went through the shredder just moments after being sold at auction for over £1 million.
Last Friday, Sotheby’s in London auctioned a new work by the elusive artist. At first, the sale seemed routine as the artwork fetched £1,042,000. But just moments after the hammer fell, an alarm blared. The painting then slipped halfway out of its frame and was shredded by a hidden device at the bottom.
The artist appeared to be pleased with the stunt. He shared a photo on Instagram of the audience's reactions at the auction, captioning it, “Going, going, gone…” Pest Control, the firm representing Banksy, later confirmed that the piece is titled Love is in the Bin.
A Sotheby’s representative claimed that this marks the first time in history that an artwork was created live during an auction. He also confirmed that the buyer, a European woman whose identity remains anonymous, is still going through with the purchase, excited to own a piece of art history.
2. Do Tigers Love Calvin Klein?
In the town of Pandharkawada, India, residents have been living in fear for the past two years due to a female tiger believed to have killed as many as 13 people. Despite efforts from hunters, police, trackers, and drones, she continues to evade capture. As a last resort, officials have turned to a surprising solution: Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein.
Though it's uncertain if this will succeed, some wildlife specialists think the smoky scent of this particular fragrance might be key in drawing the tigress into a trap. The reason behind choosing this specific perfume is that it contains civetone, a pheromone found in the African civet.
A prior trial at the Bronx Zoo in New York revealed that jaguars are fond of the fragrance. Since then, it's been used to attract wild jaguars into the vicinity of camera traps by spraying it on tree branches. On one occasion, the scent was even used to capture a leopard in Karnataka, India. The real test now is whether it will work on tigers.
1. Can You Hear Me Now?
A gecko at a seal hospital in Hawaii was responsible for a “bazillion” accidental butt-dials.
Dr. Claire Simeone, a marine mammal vet and the director at Ke Kai Ola, a center focused on the health of Hawaiian monk seals, received a series of strange phone calls one day. When she picked up the phone, all she heard was silence. This occurred nine more times. Concerned about a possible emergency, she rushed to the hospital, only to find everything in order. It turned out that several others had received similar silent calls.
After contacting the phone company, which suspected a malfunctioning line, Simeone searched the hospital and finally traced the issue to a gecko in a lab. The small reptile had somehow managed to butt-dial (or more accurately, foot-dial) everyone on the phone's recent calls list. The culprit was relocated to a nearby plant where it could rest peacefully, away from the phones.
