Robert Smith wishing everyone a good Friday in this op shop artwork.
Bad dog!
Security camera footage from inside a home in Kansas City, Missouri, shows a curious dog standing up at the stove to check out a pan containing some leftovers and accidentally switching onthe stovetop. Or perhaps it did it on purpose to reheat the food? In any case, the heat apparently sparked a grease fire that caused severe damage to the house. Fortunately, the dog, along with another canine housemate, was not hurt.
Environmental superworm chows down on polystyrene
Polystyrene (styrofoam) is a plastic that's particularly difficult to get rid of once it has been manufactured. When it degrades, it mostly just breaks down into smaller pieces, which find their way into the ecosystem and are ingested by fish and other animals. But now scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia have identified a "superworm" that is attracted to and will eat polystyrene. The larvae of Zophobas morio darkling beetles can eat styrofoam and digest it! The worms that were offered a diet of just styrofoam even gained weight, but they did not exactly thrive, as styrofoam does not provide all the nutrients they need.
Lookalikes
The news is a real downer
Citizens actively avoiding the news, sometimes or often, has doubled in Brazil (54 per cent) and the UK (46 per cent) since 2017. In the US in 2022, the increase is smaller: 42 per cent said that they "sometimes or often actively avoid the news", up from 38 per cent in 2017. Those on the right are far more likely to avoid the news because they think it's biased. Those on the left are more easily overwhelmed and feel powerless by the information. Other reasons include: Too much politics/Covid news, bad news affects their mood and generates arguments. According to Nieman Lab: "The pandemic brought a bump in news consumption that now seems to be fading away."