WEIRD JOY
BACKPACK WON FAT BEAR WEEK.
A brown bear called Backpack packed on enough Alaska to win the internet’s favorite wildlife election.
SOURCENational Park Service
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WEIRD JOY
No takeaway, no lesson, no productivity angle. Just things that are inexplicably nice and refuse to be justified.
WEIRD JOY
PEANUT BUTTER FAILED. BURNT COCONUT FOUND A NEW SPECIES.
Two mice, one mountain valley, and twenty-two years of patient taxonomy.
SOURCEZooKeys / PubMed Central
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WEIRD JOY
TWO NEW SEA SPIDERS TURNED UP IN THE SALISH SEA. ONE HAS HAIRY FEET.
UBC divers found the first new sea spider species described in the Salish Sea in almost a century. One has red eyes and fuzzy-looking legs.
SOURCEUniversity of British Columbia
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WEIRD JOY
THIS ONE-GRAM ROBOT CAN HOP OVER A STAIR.
DirectHop uses a tiny motor and three folding legs to make controlled, repeated jumps. The prototype can clear a standard stair and twitch itself upright after a fall.
SOURCEUniversity of Washington / Newswise
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WEIRD JOY
NINETY-NINE, IN SQUASH.
WEIRD JOY
A FARM BUILT A WORLD-RECORD ATTENBOROUGH PORTRAIT OUT OF PUMPKINS.
Sunnyfields Farm unveiled a giant mosaic portrait of Sir David Attenborough assembled from pumpkins, breaking its own world record for the largest pumpkin mosaic.
SOURCEBBC News
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WEIRD JOY
THE CLEANING CREW HAS SHELLS.
WEIRD JOY
ALABAMA PUT 1,500 MUSSELS TO WORK CLEANING A RIVER.
About 1,500 rare native freshwater mussels — including two endangered species — were released into the Paint Rock River on August 25 after years of streambank repair.
SOURCEOutdoor Alabama
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WEIRD JOY
THE PATIENT KNOCKED.
WEIRD JOY
AN INJURED PELICAN KNOCKED ON A NOAA LAB DOOR FOR HELP.
A brown pelican tangled in fishing line, with a treble hook in its wing and cactus spines in its foot, repeatedly tapped on NOAA’s Panama City Laboratory door. Biologists freed it in about 10 minutes, and it flew away.
SOURCENOAA Fisheries
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WEIRD JOY
THE LETTUCE LIVES UPSTAIRS.
WEIRD JOY
ALASKA FOUND THE PLACE VERTICAL FARMING ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE.
The brewery put a lettuce farm upstairs. In Skagway, that actually works.
SOURCEReasons to Be Cheerful
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WEIRD JOY
THE DINOSAUR LEFT RECEIPTS.
WEIRD JOY
A T. REX TOOK FOUR STEPS. 66.5 MILLION YEARS LATER, A TEACHER FOUND THEM.
Four footprints. Twenty-three feet. One 66.5-million-year-old walk.
SOURCEJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology
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WEIRD JOY
EIGHT LESSONS. NEARLY 2,000 SCHOOLS.
WEIRD JOY
KINDERGARTEN PE NOW INCLUDES LEARNING TO RIDE A BIKE.
An eight-lesson learn-to-ride curriculum is now in nearly 2,000 US elementary schools. Balance bikes first, pedals when you are ready, gym class credit either way.
SOURCEAssociated Press
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WEIRD JOY
A SHED FULL OF GLOW.
WEIRD JOY
THE GLOWWORMS CAME BACK. A GARDEN SHED WAS INVOLVED.
After a century away, tiny green lights are blinking again in North Yorkshire.
SOURCEThe Guardian
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WEIRD JOY
HE BOUGHT THE MARQUEE.
WEIRD JOY
RICK STEVES BOUGHT HIS HOMETOWN MOVIE THEATER SO IT WOULDN’T DIE.
A century-old neighborhood movie house just got a very determined new owner.
SOURCEKNKX Public Radio
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WEIRD JOY
SNAKES, APPARENTLY, HAVE FRIENDS.
WEIRD JOY
THE BABY RATTLESNAKES ARE CUDDLING. PLEASE ADJUST YOUR WORLDVIEW.
Livestream cameras in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania captured live rattlesnake births, dozens of newborns and baby snakes cuddling adults for protection. Apparently even rattlesnakes have a snuggle phase.
SOURCECal Poly / Project RattleCam
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WEIRD JOY
TINY TRACKERS, BIG MIGRATION.
WEIRD JOY
THE WARBLERS HAVE BACKPACKS NOW.
Researchers are fitting tiny songbirds with Tic Tac-sized geolocator backpacks that record light and atmospheric pressure across entire migrations. Serious science has once again required an extremely small backpack.
SOURCESmithsonian Migratory Bird Center / The Conversation
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WEIRD JOY
AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.
WEIRD JOY
THE INTERNET GAVE THE BABY PORCUPINE AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.
Point Defiance Zoo welcomed its first prehensile-tailed porcupine baby in 121 years. Then the internet spotted the tiny porcupette clutching a log and named it an “emotional support log.” For once, the comments improved the story.
SOURCEPoint Defiance Zoo & Aquarium / Good Good Good
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WEIRD JOY
COWS ON FIRE DUTY.
WEIRD JOY
SPAIN HIRED TINY COWS TO FIGHT WILDFIRES.
In Galicia, small, agile Cachena cattle and other grazers are being used to chew down fire-prone vegetation. A regional pilot is even using GPS virtual fencing to steer cattle toward areas that need clearing. Cow-based infrastructure has entered the chat.
SOURCEReuters / Xunta de Galicia
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