Space Claws, Cardboard Biodiesel, Whale Vomit and More Mysterious News Briefly — December 1, 2020

Mysterious News Briefly — December 1, 2020

If you feel the need to up your mask game, YZRTech is offering a $360 Personal Air Purifying Shield that provides a 360-degree seal to shield your personal space and a built-in air purifying system to filter out pathogens, allergens, and pollutants. If you want to be cool, you can still wear your bandana underneath it.

People are storming a beach in South Africa to see what is called “the most beautiful killer in the ocean” – bright blue sea slugs (Glaucus atlanticus) that feed on the Portuguese man o’ war and other venomous sea creatures, absorb their poisons and condense them into higher concentrations which they then use to kill predators and give humans picking them up nausea, pain and vomiting. We probably should have put the warning first.

Orbit Fab announced plans to launch the first operational fuel depot or space gas station by June 2021 on board a SpaceX Falcon 9. For those old enough to remember self-serve, they won’t check the fluids and wash the windows.

Just in time for holiday shopping, a fisherman in Thailand reeled what was possibly the world’s largest blob of ambergris – whale vomit – that is worth almost $3.2 million due to its usage in the manufacture of expensive perfumes. Being a typical guy, he’s probably bragging about the bigger blob he lost in a tremendous battle with the whale.

Music teachers will love a new study which found a strong link between music education and improved grades in reading and mathematics. Sorry, just humming during math tests won’t help.

If you’re wondering what to do with all of the cardboard boxes you’ll be getting from holiday shopping and pandemic panic buying, scientists in South Korea have developed a microorganism capable of producing biodiesel from agricultural by-products, waste paper, and cardboard boxes. If you’re ordering more stuff just to turn the boxes into biodiesel, it’s time to admit you have a problem.

A new study of over 40,000 people found that having mindful flexibility in challenging family situations can strengthen and enrich family relationships. It doesn’t work if you feel the need to tell your brother-in-law to shut up and listen because you’re trying to be mindfully flexible.

A study by Finland’s University of Turku found that the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko contains all six of the most important elements for life on Earth, strengthening the argument for comets causing panspermia. Before you ask, the six are phosphorus, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur – no beer.

The European Space Agency signed a $103 million contract with a Swiss start-up called ClearSpace SA to launch a massive claw designed to grab large pieces of space junk out of the sky and drag them lower into the atmosphere to burn up. This would pay for itself if they could make the space junk look like stuffed animals and charge civilians to do it.

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