The term "permafrost" is becoming an anachronism as climate change is affecting the way the world works. Last year, the Swiss village of Blatten was evacuated ahead of a glacier collapse that destroyed the town. A different kind of danger is looming over Kandersteg, which lies below a rock formation called Spitze Stei. It is a mountain of rock that is held together by permafrost. But that permafrost is proving to be not so permanent. 

Unlike Blatten, the mountainside near Kandersteg is expected to collapse gradually, and residents have seen rocks roll down the side for years. Scientists are monitoring the thawing formation closely, so the villagers will have some notice if the situation calls for evacuation. The question remains as to what will happen to suddenly homeless people in this and other Alpine communities when the mountains no longer maintain their integrity. Read about Kandersteg's situation at AP News. -via Damn Interesting

(Image credit: Adrian Michael) 

The second film in the new DC Universe features Superman's younger cousin from Krypton. Supergirl was released in June, and soon proved to be a box office bomb. The movie needed to gross around $315 million to break even, but only made $126.3 million during its theatrical run. Supergirl in this movie is Kara Zor-El, a rebellious 23-year-old who drinks too much after the destruction of her home planet and family. She's recruited by a younger girl to help her in a revenge plot. You'll recognize several plot points from other movies, rendered in colorless or too dark cinematography. Critics found the movie so-so, and lamented that the characters' struggles were intriguing, but not developed enough to make the audience care. Jason Momoa was criminally underused. You might wonder how this is a James Gunn movie, considering it was written and directed by others, but there's a sequence showing how Supergirl copies Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. If you're interested in the excruciating details, Screen Junkies has a feature-length video on how bad Supergirl really is. 

We think of cells as very tiny, whether they are part of a larger organism like humans, or a single unit like bacteria. But single cell organisms can grow large enough to be seen, or even as big as an eyeball. Meet Valonia ventricosa, a single cell algae that can grow centimeters wide. They are round and green and found in the ocean, which is why they got the name the sailor's eyeball. They are also called bubble algae or sea grape, all pretty descriptive names so you will know them when you see them. 

One reason Valonia ventricosa grows so large is because it has a very large vacuole. Another is because it contains more than one nucleus. But we don't know what advantage those traits give the algae over growing as a colony of cells. They reproduce by budding, much like mitosis, but also sexually by releasing gametes into the sea, slightly like meiosis. Read about the very weird cell Valonia ventricosa at Kuriositas. 

(Image credit: Hsing Wei) 

Your mother told you not to use baby talk, but that's when you were old enough to use regular speech. She changed her mind when you had children of your own. We just can't help ourselves when we talk to a baby. But what is baby talk? One kind is just gibberish, when the speaker is imitating baby sounds that aren't real words, which is useless. The other is "parentese," or "infant directed speech" (IDS). The word pronunciation is correct, the grammar is correct, but the tone and accent are especially designed to grab an infant's interest. And it comes fairly naturally to anyone interacting with a baby. Once denlounced by experts, the tide has turned to encourage such speech. 

Dr. Erica Brozovsky breaks down what infant directed speech is and how it helps babies learn to speak a real language. This video is more than a minute shorter than it looks, as it ends with a sponsor.

If you're from a very small town, you've probably made jokes about having only one traffic light, and no one pays attention to it. Himakajima is a small island of the coast of Aichi Prefecture in Japan. Himakajima is also the name of the town on the island, which has about 1600 people. You can walk all the way around the island in about 90 minutes, and you don't really need a car, although the island has cars. They don't really need a traffic light, either, but there is one. Most of the year, the lights flash red one way, and yellow the other way. 

But once a year, the green light is used. Or the blue light, as it is called in Japan. You can imagine the bulb on that light hasn't been changed since the traffic signal was installed. What kind of occasion would require a green light? And does it draw a crowd? Find the answer, which makes perfect sense, at Jalopnik.  -via Fark 

Vijay Malhotra is an Indian bicycle vlogger who traverses the world on two wheels and his own muscle power. In Tilburg, the Netherlands, he encountered a ferry with bicycle and foot traffic in mind.

The Netherlands is, of course, famous for being bicycle-friendly. It's also a nation in constant war with the sea and laced with canals built over centuries. To cross this canal, people can bike onto the ferry, then turn the crank that pulls the platform along a chain.

There are cranks on both sides of the canal so that you can move the ferry to your side as needed.

-via Core77

We're getting into that time of year when you look for ways to make an impression for Halloween. YouTuber and crafter North of the Border (whose fans call him Adam) made a bowl of spaghetti that wants to eat you instead of being eaten. You could call it creepypasta. It's very detailed, all made of clay and some metal wire. I would have just used a real bowl, fork, knife, and spaghetti and thrown in the homemade eyes and teeth, but he went all out. After all, those eyes and teeth could be used in other dishes. The twelve minutes of the building process are cut into chapters in the progress bar in case you want to skip something, but the commentary can be funny at times. See the finished product from all angles at 10:38. 

I cannot quite peg where North of the Border learned English, from the way he pronounces pasta and oregano, but the channel reveals he's in the UK even though the accent is not quite British. The channel also reveals he's made quite a few other weird things you might want to try. -via Laughing Squid 

Zachie Fluff is a cartoonist who, in addition to telling tales about his original characters, lampoons the comic book industry and parodies popular works. He's especially fond of King of the Hill, which inspires him to depict alternate versions of this tale from the Texas Hill Country.

The comics show a great fidelity to their source material and a deep knowledge of Trek and Hill lore. The men from Arlen adapt very well to space. Fluff hasn't collected them in one location (that I can detect), but you can read them by browsing his X or Instagram feeds.

An experiment from the University of Melbourne in Australia tried a different technique to determine the best method of harvesting timber to encourage forest regrowth. The usual method of "clearfelling" means taking all the trees in a certain area, burning the remains, and then seeding the area for new trees. The alternative is "retention harvesting," which means leaving 30 to 50% of the trees standing. A followup three years later determined that clearfelling was more efficient for forest regrowth. 

The experiment began in 1987. Forest monitoring stopped around the turn of the century. But those same forests were revisited in 2014 and have been monitored ever since. A 2026 report has determined all these years later that retention harvesting is more effective for growth and better for the environment when measuring a range of parameters. It appears that Mother Nature doesn't work on our timeline. Read about this research and what it tells us at Nautilus. -via Damn Interesting 

(Image credit: Centre for Forest Tree Technology) 

Comedian Tim Hawkins wrote a little song about Buc-ee's, the unique travel stop that I once called the most inconvenient convenience store ever. Buc-ee's is know for clean restrooms, expensive food, and a hundred gas pumps all lined up outside. The stores are about the size of an airport, and sell everything from barbecue sandwiches to "Bible verses on shot glasses." No one seems to mind walking a half-mile from your parking space to the store, just to walk another half-mile to the other side of the store. Buc-ee's is like an amusement park of late stage capitalism. 

The subject of the song is excited to see a billboard for Buc-ee's and sings the praises of its over-the-top offerings. As a takedown of redneck taste and consumerism, it's pretty funny, but you can also hear the advertisement value, because Buc-ee's has exactly the experience that some American travelers want to see and spend money on, for some reason.  

Dextero tells us that Charlee's Ice Cream parlor in Camillus, New York is revolutionizing the soft serve experience with the flavors that we've always wanted. In addition to ice cream made with Diet Coke, this divine establishment offers guests Mountain Dew-flavored ice cream.

It suggests and offers both flavors as toppings for floats. Yummy!

Daniel LaBelle is a physical comedian who specializes in engaging in ridiculous activities while sprinting at full speed. In a recent video, he and a friend of equally athletic temperament go for a run. To pass the time, they play familiar games, each of which is absurdly inappropriate for the challenge.

Watch the two men go through Operation, Monopoly, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Connect 4, darts, Jenga, ping pong, limbo, tug of war, pool, and Twister.

I'd like to see the men attempt Dungeons & Dragons at full speed. Their DEX scored had better be quite high to play.

-via The Awesomer

The Iowa State Fair is well underway in Des Moines. We've mentioned the amazing foods that are available to eat there. These are delights to both the palate and the eye, as chefs prepare dishes that look appealing to passersby.

But another traditional contest at the fair leans in the other direction: the ugliest cake contest. Entrants attempt to sculpt cakes that are repulsive in the extreme. This contest is hosted by the Des Moines Register, which shares photos of the winners.

I've got to say that the blue ribbon went to the right cake. You can see photos of other participants and fairgoers reactions to them here.

A castrato (plural: castrati) was a male singer who was castrated before puberty to retain his boyhood falsetto voice. That's a high price to pay for possible fame, but it wasn't done voluntarily, since children cannot consent to such mutilation. Nevertheless, castrati could become rich, famous, and even powerful if they sang well enough. This practice was most prevalent in Italy during the Middle Ages.

You'd think this tradition would have ended with the Middle Ages, but no. We don't know for sure whether Alessandro Moreschi was the last castrati to undergo castration, but he was the last to perform with the Sistine Chapel Choir. He was also the only castrato whose voice was recorded. Moreschi was born in 1858! He was dubbed l’Angelo di Roma, or the Angel of Rome, for his musical ability and his high, clear voice. Read about the life of Alessandro Moreschi at Vintage Everyday. -via Nag on the Lake 

We all know that a cat will ignore the luxurious bed you just bought him and instead go for the box it came in. Sure, it's funny, but it also causes cat lovers to bring home boxes just for the cat. Why do they love boxes so much? Because it's cozy and a great place to hide. But the reasons go much deeper. 

Cats don't see the world the way humans do. For one thing, they don't consider wide open spaces a plus like we do. Cat don't suffer from claustrophobia. They have instincts that go back thousands of years, to the days their ancestors had to deal with a harsh world. They don't know how much you spent on that new cat bed, but they know what they like, and they like boxes for their own instinctual reasons. Once you see the world through their eyes, it makes plenty of sense. -via Laughing Squid