Twins have a special bond that begins in the womb. They are linked together in a way few people genuinely understand. But the twins understand, and that is all that matters. One twin began crying when they faced a scary scenario (their dad without a beard). The other twin adorably reached out to protect his twin. Sitting together on the sofa, dressed in identical outfits, the twins stared at the “stranger” in front of them. One of the boys looked at the person recording the video, who we think is probably the mom. The man calmly leans forward and says, “What’re you doing?” One twin seems like he might recognize the voice, but the other twin begins to cry. Image from YouTube. With the first little whine from the skittish brother, the protective brother reaches out an arm to comfort him. As the dad reaches out his arms to coax the crying twin into his arms, the crying intensifies. Twin protective mode goes into overdrive. The little arm gets rigid, and the assertive little twin gives the “stranger” a warning look. Image from YouTube. And then he begins crying, too! Way to go, Dad. You have scared both your young boys with your first attempt at having a clean-shaven face since their birth! The dad giggles nervously, clasping his hands in front of the boys. The one twin keeps his arm out to protect his twin even after he starts crying, too. The video ends just as the dad starts to talk again. From there, Mom might have stepped in to clarify things. Twins Will Protect One Another Forever Change is not always easy, especially when you’re a baby. The twins seem to be about a year old in the video. When faced with their clean-shaven “stranger” dad, it was evident that the one twin would protect his twin at any cost. The boys will have that twin bond forever. The parents did well trying this introduction slowly. Capturing it on video is a bonus. The twins will eventually become accustomed to seeing their dad’s whole face. They haven’t quite learned about voice recognition at that age, so the dad may have to talk to them a bit more. If you enjoyed this saga of twins meeting their “new” dad, please share it with your friends. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Baby Adorably Protects Twin From “Stranger” In Front Of Them — AKA Dad Without A Beard appeared first on InspireMore.

A roundup of mysterious, paranormal and strange news stories from the past week.

Landmarks on Europa’s surface suggest the icy crust is at the mercy of the waters below. Most important, a recent visit by Juno reveals what might be plume activity, which if real would allow future missions to take a sample of the internal ocean without needing to land.It’s been almost two years since Juno made its closest approach to Europa, but its observations are still being analyzed. Remarkably, despite having orbited Jupiter since 2016, five images taken by Juno on September 29, 2022, were the first close-ups of Europa since the Galileo spacecraft’s last visit in 2000.Arguably that represents a shocking neglect of one of the Solar System’s most intriguing worlds, but it might also have provided a long baseline to see what had changed.Europa is the smoothest object in the Solar System, thanks to the constant resurfacing driven by its internal ocean. Nevertheless, it is far from featureless, and Juno spotted some steep-walled depressions 20 to 50 kilometers (12 to 31 miles) wide and fracture patterns thought to be indicative of “true polar wander”. “True polar wander occurs if Europa’s icy shell is decoupled from its rocky interior, resulting in high stress levels on the shell, which lead to predictable fracture patterns,” said Dr Candy Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in a statement.The idea behind true polar wander is that the shell that rests on top of Europa’s internal ocean is rotating at a different rate from the rest of the moon. It is thought the water below is moving, and dragging the shell with it, with currents within the ocean affecting the shell’s movements. The currents in turn are presumably driven by heating within Europa’s rocky core as the gravitational tug of Jupiter and the larger moons turn Europa into a giant stress ball.In the process, the interactions between the ocean and the ice could stretch and compress regions, creating the cracks and ridges seen since Voyager 2 visited.Hansen is part of a team exploring Juno’s images of Europa’s southern hemisphere. “This is the first time that these fracture patterns have been mapped in the southern hemisphere, suggesting that true polar wander’s effect on Europa’s surface geology is more extensive than previously identified,” said the scientist.Not all the changes to Europa’s maps are the result of internal ocean currents. It seems even NASA falls for optical illusions. “Crater Gwern is no more,” said Hansen. “What was once thought to be a 13-mile-wide impact crater — one of Europa’s few documented impact craters — Gwern, was revealed in JunoCam data to be a set of intersecting ridges that created an oval shadow.”However, Juno is giving more than it takes away. The team is excited by something they are calling the Platypus for its shape, rather than because it has a bunch of features that shouldn’t go together. Ridge formations at its edge appear to collapse into it, and the team thinks this process could be caused by pockets of salt water that have partially penetrated the icy shell.The feature, named by planetary scientists who have apparently never seen a real platypus outlined in yellow, with a region of ridges in blue.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRISuch pockets would be exciting indirect targets for study by the Europa Clipper, but more interesting still are dark stains that may have been deposited by cryovolcanic activity.“These features hint at present-day surface activity and the presence of subsurface liquid water on Europa,” said Heidi Becker of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Such activity has been confirmed in the geysers of Enceladus, but there is conflicting evidence of whether it is currently occurring on Europa.Such activity would make it possible to sample the interior ocean for signs of life just by flying through a plume and collecting some ice flakes, without having to land, let alone drill.Currently, polar wander might cause quite modest adjustments to the locations of features on Europa’s surface, but there is evidence that millions of years ago a shift of more than 70 degrees took place, for reasons unknown.

In a world-first application for gene editing technology, Colossal Biosciences is attempting to use CRISPR to make the endangered northern quoll resistant to the neurotoxins of cane toads. Snacking on a cane toad can be a fatal error for a hungry quoll, but the world-first de-extinction company is striving towards introducing genetic resistance that could be passed to the next generation.Cane toads (Rhinella marina) were introduced to Queensland in the 1930s to disastrous effect, and northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) have since seen their numbers plummet by 75 percent. The invasive toads are bad news for hungry quolls because they’re vulnerable to its neurotoxins, which are present at all stages of the toad's lifecycle, from egg to tadpole, toadlet to toad.We spoke to Ben Lamm and Professor Andrew Pask, partners in the combined Colossal and University of Melbourne team, to find out more about the world-first approach to gene editing, and how this conservation effort could shape the future of the endangered northern quoll.How did you identify the target for CRISPR-editing to make the quoll resistant to the invasive cane toad’s neurotoxins?"Our teams studied other animals that have natural resistance to cane toad neurotoxins to understand what could confer natural resistance, and if it was editable in other animals. In observing those animals, Dr Stephen Frankenburg theorized that a relatively small edit would be needed to begin to confer resistance to quolls. After several years of building resources from northern quoll tissue samples and introducing different genetic edits to the cells of a dunnart, which is closely related to the northern quoll (in the family Dasyuridae), the combined teams successfully engineered resistance in dunnart cells. We expect to apply the same edit to quolls (who are endangered) and see the same resistance."Will gene-edited quolls be completely resistant to the neurotoxins, or will there still be some negative side effects to predating on cane toads?"Our objective is that in the near term the quolls will be better predators for cane toads. The new edit is 100-fold more toxin resistant in the context of cell culture, which means that quolls might get slightly sick, but they shouldn’t die. They will either be able to eat the cane toads or they will learn that eating them makes them sick. Either way, it will be a huge improvement. But, right now we need to conduct more experiments, more research and then begin to observe quoll behavior to really understand the impact."What’s the goal?"If we can save the quolls that will be monumental. They are a vital part of the Australian ecosystem and their loss would have devastating impacts on the region's biodiversity. It is a big step and the first time in the world that gene-editing technologies could be used for the conservation of a threatened species."What needs to happen next before it can be tested in the wild?"As a next step in introducing toxin resistance to the northern quoll, the combined Colossal and University of Melbourne team has established eight northern quoll cell lines from pouch young. We are now working to reprogram those quoll fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Once the iPSCs are generated, we can correct the toxin susceptibility at the cellular level. This will then ensure hereditary resistance, which will give the northern quoll a fighting chance at survival."Colossal Biosciences recently partnered with the conservation giant Re:Wild, with the shared aim to prevent the extinction of some of the world’s rarest animals. While Colossal is arguably most well known for its efforts to bring back the mammoth, it’s a reminder that innovative technologies can have applications across the sciences, and what we’ve learned in pursuit of a mammoth has even informed human reproductive technologies. Isn’t science amazing?

Molly Bean’s tale is as heartwarming as they come. It’s a perfect reminder that kindness knows no bounds. When Molly Bean’s caretaker first saw the struggling mouse, they chose compassion over indifference. This decision set them both on a transformative journey that highlights the profound impact of empathy. Under her caretaker’s love and protection, Molly... The post Man spots “little bean” of a mouse all alone on road and decides to be his best friend appeared first on Animal Channel.

How do you see how much you have spent on League of Legends? Riot Games' hugely successful MOBA is technically a free game, but if you ask any avid fan if that's the case, you’ll no doubt receive a wry laugh in response. The champion pool is diverse and wonderful; each character can be purchased with currency earned while playing. The premium cosmetics, however, are bought with real-world money. These League of Legends skins and other cosmetics can be purchased directly using an in-game currency called RP. RP itself, though, must be purchased with your own hard-earned cash. LoL skins change the base look of the character you’re playing, with premium cosmetics adding new effects, voice lines, and animations. Then there's the battle pass that can be bought using RP, too. So, while League of Legends is technically one of the best free PC games around, you can see just how easily it can sway you into parting with your money. This guide will give you the information needed to find out exactly how much you’ve spent in League of Legends - you just might not like the answer when you get it. Continue reading How much have I spent on League of Legends? MORE FROM PCGAMESN: League of Legends ranks explained, League of Legends patch 14.10, League of Legends tier list

A total of three new Total War games are in development at Creative Assembly, with one of them being an officially licensed Star Wars game, DualShockers has learned.

Einstein's general theory of relativity predicted that so-called 'plunging regions' around black holes would accelerate matter into them at the speed of light. Now, X-ray observations of a remote black hole have proved him right.

“You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do.” – Steve Martin The post The Editors’ Quote of the Day: appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at some moves in commodities markets. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: As the Dollar Falters, Gold Becomes Insurance, Not Speculation. o  o  o Gold’s Action Last Week Strongly Points to China. o  o  o Why We Are At The Start Of A Multi-Year Gold Bull Market. o  o  o U.S. Representative Introduces … The post Economics & Investing For Preppers appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.