STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

The Dutch men, 60, swapped at birth

Two Dutch men mistakenly swapped at birth 60 years ago have met after discovering the error.

Martino Kerremans and Jan Koevoets were born in Breda in February 1953 - one day apart - at the Ignatius hospital and given back to the wrong mothers.

The mix-up was only discovered after Mr Kerremans, whose mother joked that she had brought home the wrong baby, underwent a DNA test after her death.

It revealed that his DNA was different to that of his two sisters.

A campaign to find his real family was then taken up by the local Omroep Brabant newspaper.

On seeing a picture of Mr Kerremans, Antoon Koevoets, saw a similarity in his looks with himself while his brother, Jan, bore no resemblance.

He then persuaded Jan to undergo a DNA test.

"I can barely believe it," said Mr Kerremans. "First you come to the frightening discovery that your parents have not been your real parents all these years. And, you also find your biological family. Incredible."

Jan Koevoets, said he was pleased that Anneke, the woman he had always believed to be his mother, was spared the news because she had recently died.

"This is something, I'm sure, she would not have wanted to experience. There can be nothing worse for a parent than your child being given to another," he said.

"Usually I try to laugh everything away. But this is hard for me. Deep down inside, I would have much preferred that this had not happened. I had rather that Martino had not gone looking for [his real family]."

'The milkman's'

Mr Koevoets admitted that his lack of resemblance to other family members had always been a matter for comment and even jokes.

"I always made the joke that I was probably the milkman's," he said. "I wish I could still joke but I cannot deny it any more with this result."

"I'm confused, I have another biological family. But my old family is my family."

The hospital, which now operates under a different name, has apologised for the mistake that took place 60 years ago.

"Unfortunately, we cannot undo what happened in the maternity ward in early February 1953," said a spokesman. "It is and remains a very sad story."

[MIKA27]

NY court asked to give chimpanzee 'legal person' status

A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first.

The Nonhuman Rights Project wants a chimp named Tommy to be granted "legal personhood" and thus entitled to the "fundamental right of bodily liberty".

The group is planning to file the same lawsuit on behalf of three other chimps across New York this week.

It wants the four to be released from their captivity.

They should be taken to a sanctuary that is a member of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, the group argues.

'Tons of toys'

The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tommy on Monday.

"We are claiming that chimpanzees are autonomous - that is, being able to self-determine, be self-aware, and be able to choose how to live their own lives," its founder Steven Wise told the Associated Press news agency.

Scientists' evidence is included in the lawsuits.

"Once we prove that chimpanzees are autonomous, that should be sufficient for them to gain legal personhood and at least have their fundamental interests protected by human rights," Mr Wise said.

Tommy, the group said, "is being held captive in a shed at a used-trailer lot" in Gloversville, New York.

Patrick Lavery, owner of the site where Tommy lives, said the chimp's cage was spacious "with tons of toys".

He said he rescued Tommy from his previous home, where he had been badly treated, but had been unsuccessful in placing him in a sanctuary because there was no room.

"If [the Nonhuman Rights Group] were to see where this chimp lived for the first 30 years of his life, they would jump up and down for joy about where he is now," Mr Lavery told the New York Times.

The lawsuit invokes the common law writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention.

The group says it is dedicated to changing the common law status of species considered autonomous, and could eventually file lawsuits on behalf of gorillas, orangutans, whales, dolphins and elephants.

[MIKA27]

Canada: Mountie fights for right to smoke cannabis in uniform

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer has been told he can't smoke marijuana while in uniform, it's reported.

Cpl Ronald Francis, an officer with more than 20 years' service in the eastern province of New Brunswick, has a medical prescription that allows him to take up to 3g of the drug daily to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Canadian broadcaster CBC reports.

While senior officers have said that his marijuana use is fine under Canadian medical and human rights laws, they have drawn the line over smoking in public while wearing the RCMP's famous red serge uniform. Assistant commissioner Gilles Moreau told CBC that "it would not portray the right message to the general public, it's definitely not something we would support or condone."

Francis has drawn the ire of his superiors by telling CBC in a televised interview: "There's no policy in the RCMP that prevents me from smoking marijuana... I have the right to smoke it in my red serge." Officials thought otherwise, with officers arriving at his home last week to seize his uniform, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports.

With the case hitting national headlines, RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson has told a House of Commons committee that he was "disappointed" by Cpl Francis, who is now on medical leave. "It was all very embarrassing, I think for not just the force, but for Canadians," Paulson says. The issue has seemingly split Canadian opinion, with a straw poll on the CBC website showing 54% thinking that smoking pot in uniform puts across a poor public image and 46% who see no problem if the drug is used legally.

[MIKA27]

Seattle Seahawks football fans 'caused minor earthquake'

A celebration by football fans in the US city of Seattle grew so loud on Monday evening it registered as a minor earthquake, a research group has said.

Raucous fans jumped up and down during an early first-quarter touchdown in the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network detected the vibrations, measuring between a magnitude 1 and 2 earthquake.

The Seahawks won the game at CenturyLink Field 34-7.

Pacific Northwest Seismic Network director John Vidale told CNN his staff recorded five separate seismic events during the game.

It was not the first time fan celebrations shook Seattle. In 2011, the response to another US football touchdown registered at nearby seismic recording stations.

CenturyLink Field, which is open to the air, also set a Guinness World Record for noise in September.

[MIKA27]

How long before YOU are eating frankenfish: It grows at terrifying speed and could wipe out other species. The GM super salmon muscling its way onto your plate

The salmon have been given genes from two other species of fish to make them grow twice as fast as normal. And while most people would baulk at the prospect, GM fish could soon be coming to a dinner table near you.

Last week, Canadian authorities gave approval for the commercial production of GM salmon eggs for the first time, while U.S. food regulators are in the final stages of approving the fish for sale in supermarkets and restaurants.

And where GM salmon lead, other animals will follow. Plans are in place to genetically modify up to 50 other species, including trout and the tropical white fish tilapia, for human consumption.

GM chickens, cattle, sheep and pigs won’t be far behind.

The prospect of the first commercially produced GM livestock has, not surprisingly, raised concerns. Even those who support GM crop production believe the risks involved in GM animals are simply too great.

So what is so dangerous about these innocuous-looking fish? And could they be served in the UK soon?

GM salmon are the creation of AquaBounty, a biotechnology company based in Massachusetts and listed on the London Stock Market.

The firm has owned the rights to produce GM salmon since 1996. It also produces feeds to speed up the growth and boost the immunity of farmed shrimp.

The fish have been given two genes from other species — a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon, the largest of the Pacific salmon species, and a gene from the eel-like ocean pout which ‘switches on’ the growth hormone.

The combination of these two genes allows the GM salmon to keep producing a growth factor hormone — the substance that triggers their metabolism to eat more and put on weight — all the year round.

The farmed fish have been given the growth hormone from the Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout which switches the growth gene on

Normal young salmon, in contrast, go through growth spurts only in the spring and summer. The rest of the year — when food is less scarce — their growth slows dramatically.

With growth hormone coursing through their bodies, the GM salmon can reach market size of around 13lb in 16 to 18 months, making them cheaper to produce.

AquaBounty is spreading the production and marketing of the GM fish over three countries.

Around 100,000 salmon eggs will be created every year in its factory at Prince Edward Island, Canada, before being shipped to Panama.

There they will be grown into adults in landlocked ‘sealed tanks’ for 18 months, killed and sold in the U.S.

Pro-GM scientists insist there is no reason why GM food should be any more dangerous to humans than ordinary food.

After all, mankind has been tampering with the genetic make-up of animals and plants since the dawn of farming through selective natural breeding.

Genetic modification, they say, is simply a more precise addition or subtraction of genes.

But there are two major differences with GM. Changes in animals and plants that once took centuries can now take place within just one generation.

And genes from one species can be added to another. Tomatoes can be given anti-freeze genes from Arctic fish to make them withstand frosts. Rice can be given genes from daffodils to make it a rich source of Vitamin A.

Critics say the combination of genes from different species could have unforeseen consequences.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found no worrying differences between the meat of GM and ordinary fish, no one has yet been able to show whether the fish are safe over many years of consumption.

While the salmon are meant to be farmed if they do escape they could breed and wipe out wild fish

And according to U.S. charity Ocean Conservancy, there are significant differences between GM and conventional farmed salmon.

GM salmon appears to have less omega 3 — the fatty acid that can protect against heart disease. It also appears to have higher levels of a growth hormone called IGF-1.

Studies of a small number of salmon suggest that six nutrients are present at values that differ by more than 10 per cent.

The GM variety had less folic acid, less zinc, less magnesium and less phosphorus — but more niacin and vitamin B6.

The findings suggest ‘potential food quality differences’, according to the charity Ocean Conservancy.

There are also concerns that GM salmon could have more allergy-triggering chemicals. The FDA concluded that was not the case — but its findings were based on a study of only six fish.

This is not enough evidence to conclude that GM salmon is harmful. But it raises questions which have not been fully answered.

There are more concerns about the threat to the environment they pose. Wild Atlantic salmon are already threatened by over-fishing and the accidental release of farmed salmon.

Introducing a population of bigger, tougher and faster-growing salmon could finish them off.

Dr Robert Devlin, who has grown his own variant of GM salmon at the Centre of Aquaculture and Environmental Research in Vancouver, says they are more aggressive than conventional fish.

‘They’re hungry all the time,’ he told CBC News.

A study at McGill University in Quebec this summer found that GM salmon can breed with wild brown trout, creating a hybrid that grows even faster than the GM salmon.

In a simulation, the hybrid ate far more food than wild fish sharing the same waters, and led to wild fish being far smaller than they should have been.

AquaBounty insists that won’t happen because it processes the eggs in its factory to make the fish sterile and so unable to breed.

However, data from the company suggests the process is not 100 per cent effective. And, according to regulators, it needs to make only 95 per cent of eggs sterile.

AquaBounty also says the risks of escape are minuscule because the fish will be stored in secure tanks miles from the sea.

But the experience in Scotland —where at least two million farmed salmon have escaped into the wild in the past decade — shows that keeping salmon secure is difficult.

Just last month, thousands escaped from a ‘secure’ Norwegian farm and could now mate with wild salmon.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says no company has yet applied to the European Commission to farm commercially or import GM fish into Europe.

Approval from the commission would need a rigorous environmental risk assessment from the European Food Safety Authority.

But European firms are watching closely. And the technology has supporters at the heart of Government.

The previous chief scientist Sir John Beddington warned three years ago that the world faced a ‘perfect storm’ of a growing human population, food shortages and climate change. He argued it was hard to justify not using GM to feed the world.

GM fish farms are unlikely in the UK for the foreseeable future. But, as pressure from scientists and biotech companies grows, it is possible imported canned GM salmon could arrive within the next few years.

Fish experts are deeply concerned. Sir Michael Wigan, author of The Salmon, believes GM salmon almost certainly will get into the wild.

‘Salmon are incredible survivors’, he says. ‘They survived the industrial revolution in England where water wheels went up every five miles of river. They survived in the Tyne when it was an industrial sewer.

‘With the aid of its GM boost, who knows what this fish will be capable of doing.’

And once in the wild these super-charged, aggressive salmon — with their year-round appetite — could be devastating for the endangered natural wild salmon beloved by anglers and conservationists.

Nature finds a way. And that way could be into the Atlantic, into British waters and ultimately onto our dinner plates.

[MIKA27]

Grado Labs Made Gorgeous Cans Out Of Irish Whisky Barrels

Unlike many revered audio brands, old school Brooklyn outfit Grado Labs hasn’t yet stooped to deploying rappers, athletes or style icons to market its awesome headphones and phono cartridges. But before you dismiss its first foray into the world of branded products out of hand, you should know two things. The partner is whisky, and the headphones are pretty amazing.

According to chief engineer (and Grado Labs founder) John Grado, the company gets calls from sports agents and marketers all the time, and he’s never cared to bother with them. “I don’t need to pay anyone to say my headphones are good,” he told me yesterday when he dropped off a fresh set of the Bushmills x Grado headphones. So why go with Bushmills?

For starters, Grado liked that he was working with an old company like his own — Grado Labs has been in the audio industry for 60 years. Moreover, the project was an opportunity to tackle a number of challenges, not the least of which was seeing if his very serious audio company could actually play nicely with new friends.

On the surface, the new Bushmills x Grado headphones could read as pure gimmick. The company’s cans have always been made of wood, and on this particular set, they happen to use the white pine barrels Bushmills uses to age its whisky. When Bushmills approached John Grado about the project, the first thing Grado did was make sure the boozy, brittle wood was actually something you could use to make a headphone. “We listened to the wood out of the barrels and we knew it was something that could be done.”

But producing the new headphones wasn’t as simple as building an existing Grado design out of the new material and slapping a Bushmills logo on it. The requirements of the product forced Grado to build a closed-back headphone for the first time. Many audio nerds prefer open-back headphones because they’ve got ports that allow air — and therefore sound waves — to flow back and forth, giving the headphones a more open, natural sound than cans that are isolated from the world. But since a Bushmills collaboration necessitates a Bushmills logo somewhere these new cans are closed-back. They’re open on the sides, though, so there’s still some airflow.

In terms of design, Grado had to come up with a way to turn barrels into earcups that both sounded great and could be reliably manufactured. Early prototypes were prone to cracking and breaking in the building process. To make the headphones sound right, Grado actually had to add mass in the form of a little tuning fork-like wooden piece behind the driver diaphragm to give the cups a little more heft and sturdiness.

Grado’s son, Jonathan (and Bushmills spokes-celebrity Elijah Wood, because sure) spot-checked the sound to make sure that younger audience would like the end product. As did we; they sounded great. “It’s nice to know that these old ears still got it,” says Grado.

The sound you get from the Bushmills x Grado cans is warm and clear, with a sweet-spot right in the mid-range, as Grado products are known for. They’re very lightweight, and compared to the industrial plastic and metal products out there, and the construction of the headband feels a little flimsy, which given the $US400 price tag is going to put a lot of people off. We should probably point out that there are cheaper Grado offerings with comparable sound quality — not the reference-level stuff, but good nonetheless.

Whether or not the Bushmills collaborations is a success depends on your perspective. For all their sonic excellence, the Bushmills x Grado headphones are going to appeal primarily to aesthetes because the traditional audio community will never take something like this seriously, no matter how incredible the cans sound.

But for the rest of us, this is a hand-built product with a hand-built feel, and a lovely rustic wood finish. They’re not kind of headphones that you’re gonna throw in your backpack, but the people who buy them will probably want to. They’re attractive, expensive, and delicate. They’re refined like a fine whisky, and like a fine whisky, whether it’s worth the expense will remain a matter of debate.

The headphones are available now form Turntable Lab.

[Fuzz]

I think she definitely has the manner and attitude, I seen her in fast and Furious. By the way, didn't you notice... She's HOT!

Piffle. Just because she's hot doesn't mean she can step into Wonder Woman's high heeled boots.... though it doesn't hurt. GG is too willowy to be an Amazonian. She'd need to put in some serious gym time and add about 15kg of kilos.

[MIKA27]

Piffle. Just because she's hot doesn't mean she can step into Wonder Woman's high heeled boots.... though it doesn't hurt. GG is too willowy to be an Amazonian. She'd need to put in some serious gym time and add about 15kg of kilos.

..And that only means one thing.. She'll look even better!

Otherwise to be honest, Wonder woman as a super hero is not really all that of interest as far as I'm concerned. I once posted an article on the very thing somewhere in these 66 pages of stuff.

[MIKA27]

Don't Freak Out About Ultrasonic Malware (Yet)

The internet’s been abuzz lately with news that computer scientists have found a way to transmit malware using ultrasonic audio signals. If true, this means that you’d never be safe from the hackers, as long as your computer has a microphone and speakers.

But don’t freak out just yet.

We reached out to the cybersecurity experts at Kaspersky Lab to find out how much of a threat this capability might really be. It’s entirely possible, they said, that the German computer scientists who originally tested the idea of transmitting malware using nothing but sound were successful; after all, people have been exfiltrating data through technology like FM radio for some time. However, it’s not like this thing is going to bring the mainframe crashing down.

“The problem is that the receiver needs to be physically close to the victim computer(s),” David Jacoby, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told Gizmodo. “What they have proven is that it’s possible to exfiltrate data in non-traditional ways, but to make it possible the victim computers still need to be infected with some kind of malware.”

So hackers would already need to have accessed your computer physically to install the malware and would then need to be just a few feet away to activate it. Depending on how closely you watch your computer, this is pretty unlikely. It’s certainly not something that could enable hackers to punt a virus into a computer mainframe, like the Stuxnet worm was passed on to the computers in Iranian nuclear facilities without the help of a network. They used a USB stick, not this sort of super-acoustic sorcery.

Of course, don’t let this news tempt you into dropping your guard. There are plenty of other ways for prying eyes to sneak into your life.

[MIKA27]

Re-Inventing The Wheel: The Gadget That Will Save Casual Cyclists

Meet the Copenhagen Wheel. It doesn’t look like much, but inside that weird dome around your back wheel is technology originally used on F1 cars to make those long pedal journeys easier and faster.

The Copenhagen Wheel is a brand new wheel that you attach to the back of your bike. At the centre of the spokes is a big red oval module forming the hub. Inside this red hub is a rechargeable battery, a motor, a wireless module and a smart lock.

What the Copenhagen Wheel is designed to do is remarkable: it takes the energy dispersed from braking and converts it into energy, the same way a KERS system would work on a Formula 1 car, and uses said energy to power a small motor on your back wheel when it figures out you’ve hit a hill.

It connects to your phone with the wireless module inside the hub, and clever software starts to learn how you ride. It wants to learn how you ride so that it can trigger the motor automatically, rather than have to install a complex throttle linkage system on your handlebars. If it realises that you’re slowing down because the incline is increasing, it can pump up the power to give you between three- and 10-times your original pedal power.

It was invented by a team of geniuses from MIT, in conjunction with the city of Copenhagen: one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world, hence the name. They all came together to form the start-up,Superpedestrian.

The only flaw? It ain’t cheap. Right now the Copenhagen Wheel is available for $US699, with an original price of $US799 when it goes on sale proper. You’d want to be a serious rider for this one.

[MIKA27]

Watch The Epic McLaren P1 Take On The Nurburgring-Nordschleife

http://youtu.be/E9IWiTpWeiM

We all know that a sub-seven minute screaming lap around the Nurbergring is possible, but what does it look like from the cockpit of a supercar like the McLaren P1? You’re about to find out.

McLaren has been taking its epic P1 all over the world to try it out in harsh conditions, and a stop at the Nurburgring-Nordschleife is almost mandatory for such an epic car.

This video features the futuristic P1 scream and whistle (seriously) its way around the track, braking so hard and late around corners that you’ll wince.

The car company teases us with the final time, however, by simply not revealing it. Instead, we just have to take its word that the P1 made it under the seven minute mark around the epic track.

If it weren’t such an incredible car, I’d be skeptical, but I think the P1 can handle that.

[MIKA27]

The Amazing Spiderman 2 Gets Its First Real Trailer

Forget squinting at Sony press conference leaks. This is the real deal. The Amazing Spiderman 2 has its first trailer, and it’s full of swinging, zapping, menacing and brooding. Plus there’s an emo kid.

The trailer gives us glimpses of the two villains for the picture: Electro and Rhino. In truth, we only really see the Rhino costume for a few frames. Paul Giamatti in his performance as the villain is as yet unseen. What we do get to see is a glowing Jamie Foxx for his role as Electro. From the looks of things, his ability to fire supercharged bolts will be a problem for our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.

The emo kid is the new Harry Osborne. Gone is the goofy portrayal of the character by James Franco, replaced by a moon-tanned, puffy-eyed kid by the name of Dane DeHaan, who has been in a whole truckload of films at the tender age of 26.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 swings into theatres on 2 May, 2014.

[MIKA27]

Those Cobalt-60 Thieves Will Die Of Radiation Exposure

Those Mexican thieves that stole a truckload of cobalt-60? They’re virtually sure to die, according to experts.

According to The Washington Post, the cobalt-60 that they stole was found abandoned, removed from its protective casing, about 40km from where it was stolen. Mardonio Jimenez of Mexico’s nuclear safety commission explained to the Post what that meant for the thieves:

“The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation. They will, without a doubt, die.”

It seems most likely now that the thieves didn’t know what was inside the truck, or within the casing that they opened. Sadly for them, radiation poisoning is not a pleasant way to check out either.

[MIKA27]

Whoa, This 3D-Printed Headdress Should Be The Next Predator

The complex stylings of this tribal-heritage-meets-Predator polyamide headdress were designed by creative multi-hyphenate Joshua Harker, then 3D-printed for a high-tech, high-fashion catwalk strut in London.

[MIKA27]

This Is The 50th Anniversary Ford Mustang

The 2015 Ford Mustang has been officially announced!

This is surely the most anticipated vehicle of the year, many photos and gossip have surrounded the latest version of one of Ford´s biggest icons.

Now it is official, the famous Pony car still features the unmistakable silhouette and the new design although modern, still retains some retro features. It will initially be offered with three engine choices: a 420 hp 5.0L V8, a 300 hp 3.7L V6 and 305+ hp 2.3L Ecoboost engine. The all-new 6th generation Mustang is expected in dealers by the end of 2014.

[MIKA27]

Angry Nerd: Here’s How Ben Affleck Might Actually Pull Off His Batman Role

Has everyone finished panicking about Ben Affleck being cast as Batman in the upcoming Man of Steelsequel?

Because the Angry Nerd thinks you should chill — Affleck could totally pull this off. Nobody thought Michael Keaton would be a great Dark Knight, but he did amazingly in Tim Burton’s Bat-flicks. Same with Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. Just think of Daredevil as a … starter superhero movie.

[MIKA27]

BATMAN Tumbler Golf Cart

Just when you think you've seen it all, some mad genius goes and creates the unimaginable, a Batman Tumbler Golf Cart ($17,500).

While it may not have rocket-propulsion and an array of formidable weaponry, that shouldn't diminish anything about this impressive beast. Starting from the frame of an EZ-Go Golf Cart, they've stripped it down and rebuilt it from frame and sheet metal with a carefully-sculpted cowl. The tech specs include a go-cart motor capable of driving at 38mph, four-link rear suspension with coil-over-shocks, a brand new battery, leather seats, and so much more. Plenty to make even the caped crusader happy.

[MIKA27]

Tag Heuer Carrera Mikrogirder Watch

If you need a watch that's so precise it can keep time down to a tiny fraction of a second, you need the Tag Heuer Carrera Mikrogirder Watch ($120,000).

Representing the complete reinvention of mechanically-regulated watch movement, this timepiece measures time down to a ridiculous 5/10,000th of a second — so you'll never have to worry about missing a beat.

The watch comes on a hand-sewn anthracite soft-touch alligator bracelet, with a polished and brushed black titanium carbide coated steel case, a sapphire crystal, and an anthracite and silver dial.

[MIKA27]

Apple Solid Gold iPhone 5S

Sure, you can get your iPhone 5s in Apple's own gold finish, but so can just about anyone else with a few hundred dollars to throw around.

If you really want to stand out from the crowd of folks poking at their devices all day, you need the Apple Solid Gold iPhone 5S($3,300).

Instead of the typical gold finish, this one comes in solid, 24-karat gold covering the edges, top, bottom, and back. You can also choose the platinum or rose gold additions — and if you're really feeling like showing off, go ahead and upgrade it with Swarovski style embellishments on the logo, bezel, and more.

[MIKA27]

AN EAGLE STEALS A CAMERA, FLIES AROUND 70 MILES OF AUSTRALIA WITH IT

Perhaps taking a page from our own human culture's desire -- and ability -- to document our every move, a photographically inclined sea eagle with kleptomaniacal tendencies helped itself to a ranger's video camera and documented a 70-mile journey, even throwing in a selfie or two for good measure.

The motion-activated camera had originally been set up to document crocodiles in remote Western Australia's Kimberley region, along the Margaret River, but it quickly disappeared and was assumed lost. This was last May, and now the device has turned up near another biblically named river, the Mary, chock full of high-flying adventures.

Of course, the Aussie eagle isn't the only animal to display a passion for filmmaking.

This octopus wrested an underwater camera away from a diver last June, and lions in particular seem to harbor a curiosity for all things photographic; just a couple of weeks ago a playful pride decided they didn't like remote controlled interlopers spying on their safari, leading to a

, and who can forget

into what it might be like to be a big cat's plaything?

And while all of these are pretty amazing, let's face it, this fall's

leads the pack, er, flock, for sheer take-your-breath-away awesomeness.

[MIKA27]

Icelandic Police Shot a Criminal for the First Time Ever. Then They Apologized.

Icelandic police may have just shot the first person in their recorded history. He was firing off rounds with his shotgun from inside his own home. The shooter wouldn't respond to calls for him to stop, so police tossed tear gas into his house. Then they went in. Then the shooter fired off rounds that hit two police officers. The police fired back and killed the suspect.

And then they apologized.

"Police regret this incident and would like to extend their condolences to the family of the man," Icelandic police chief Haraldur Johannessen told the BBC.

Look at how cute we all find this. A human being killed another person and felt remorse about it? Have these people not seen The Wire?

Iceland is Hipster America's Spirit Animal, a place to fawn over after a bad American moment or when a particularly obnoxious person becomes overnight famous. The whole place is filled with people who drink homemade sangria out of reused jam jars and have unlimited access to one another's vegetable patches to make kale stew or something.

This is how we have decided to picture it in our heads, anyway, because we need to have this option. Let us have somewhere idyllic, please, off in the distance, maybe someplace in the middle of the ocean, where the people have weird music festivals and the sun's out all night during the summer solstice and the police chief apologizes after he shoots your son in the head.

Let us have this, at least, because we're not fixing the gun stuff and we're definitely not fixing the police.

[MIKA27]

What It's Like To Fly A Fighter Jet -- Strapped To Its Wing

No music. No flashy moves. No missile launches. And yet this video is still incredible. It’s just flying sequence after flying sequence of Russian Air Force MiG-31s cruising through the sky. Filmed by GoPro cameras strapped to a MiG, this footage is probably the closest we’ll ever get to flying a fighter jet. Seeing the world from such a powerful beast of a machine somehow simplifies things.

I can watch this video, spotted by The Aviationist, forever.

[MIKA27]

The Metals In Your Phone Aren't Just Rare, They're Irreplaceable

It takes a lot of different materials to make a modern-day phone, and a fair number of them are of the rare earth metal variety. But a new study by researchers at Yale shows that there’s another troubling detail about the supply of pre-phone components. Many of these metals aren’t just rare; they’re irreplaceable.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), indexed 62 of the metals and metalloids that are crucial to building smartphones as we know them today and rated their possible replacements on a scale of “excellent” to “poor” based on existing studies, interviews with designers, and the like. Their findings? Not a single metallic ingredient in phones today has a substitute that could be called “just as good”, and 12 have substitutes that are only as good as “poor”. In other words: no real, effective substitute at all.

Research scientist at F&ES and co-author of the study Barbara Reck put it this way:

Based on our findings, it is unlikely that substitution alone can solve potential supply restrictions for any of the metals on the periodic table.

And that’s cause for at least a little bit of concern. Take dysprosium, as just one example. Atomic number 66, substitute rating as poor as they get. Not only is it running low (with shortages predicted to get problematic by 2020-ish) but its unique magnetic powers are also key in burgeoning green technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines, in addition to in your smartphone. And it’s bad enough that it’s rare, but with no viable substitute in sight, you’ve got double the problem.

That’s just for starters. The study also found there’s a lack of suitable replacements for even more common materials like copper and lead, so be glad those are a little easier to come by.

Of course with this knowledge, at least we (or rather, the people who harvest these materials and make phones and whatnot) can proceed with caution and try to stretch out our supply as long as possible through wise use and recycling. But so long as there’s no “next step” after we’ve run out of the good stuff, there’s only so much to be done to get ready. Well, except maybe to brace ourselves.

[MIKA27]

Researchers Discover Huge Freshwater Reserves Under Ocean Floors

As earth’s population surges, mankind faces an increasingly limited supply of fresh water. Thankfully, Australian scientists report this week that they’ve found vast new fresh water supplies. Unfortunately, it’s in one of earth’s least accessible places: under the ocean floor.

Published in this week’s Nature, the research compiles mounting evidence that fresh groundwater reserves exist off the shores of Australia, China, North America and Africa. The researchers estimate that 500,000km² of fresh water is trapped in aquifers under the ocean floor — more than 20 times the volume of water in all five Great Lakes.

Getting to the water without contaminating it presents an enormous challenge. But with 40 per cent of the world’s population already living in conditions of water scarcity, it may prove to be necessary.

[MIKA27]

FBI Can Secretly Turn On Laptop Cameras Without The Indicator Light

Scary. Insane. Ridiculous. Invasive. Wrong. The Washington Post reports that the FBI has had the ability to secretly activate a computer’s camera “without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording” for years now. What in the hell is going on? What kind of world do we live in?

Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division, told the Post that that sort of creepy spy laptop recording is “mainly” used in terrorism cases or the “most serious” of criminal investigations. That doesn’t really make it less crazy (or any better) since the very idea of the FBI being able to watch you through your computer is absolutely disturbing.

The whole Post piece about the FBI’s search for a bomb threat suspect is worth reading. It shows how far the FBI will go with its use of malware to spy on people and reveals the occasional brain dead mistakes the FBI makes to screw themselves over (like a typo of an e-mail address that the FBI wanted to keep tabs on). Good to know these completely competent folks are watching over us by any means necessary.