bizarre

Like many octopuses, the California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) declines and dies shortly after breeding. Credit: Tom Kleindinst, Marine Biological LaboratoryChanges in cholesterol production lead to a tragic octopus death spiral.New research finds remarkable parallels in steroid hormone biology across cephalopods, mice, and humans that can have dire consequences when disrupted.Despite their uncanny intelligence and seemingly supernatural abilities to change color and regenerate limbs, octopuses often suffer a…

In a world first, a team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has demonstrated measurable power generation from "the inverse of a conventional solar cell." It could eventually produce around one tenth as much power as a solar panel – but at night.Solar panels, as we all know, absorb energy from sunlight and convert it into electricity. To grossly oversimplify, they use two differently treated silicon semiconductor layers in what's known as a P-N junction. The N layer is doped with extra electron "donor" impurities,…

The war movie has proven to be one of the most reliably popular genres on Netflix, whether we’re talking about action-packed epics or harrowing dramas, but none of them are as bizarre as Operation Mincemeat, which weaves a tale so fantastical that you’d scarcely even believe it was true. Unfolding in 1943, veteran filmmaker John Madden’s latest tells the incredible tale of how the British conspired to trick the Nazis into believing an invasion of Greece was imminent by planting false documents on a dead body and having…

You’ve not known humiliation until you’ve had John Malkovich pant “Walk of shame!” at you as you skulk back to your motel room. That is one bizarre moment in this halting and derivative thriller, which exists somewhere on the continuum between erotic and psychological. Malkovich puts in a batty turn as a motel owner that would have had “paycheque” written all over it except for his co-producer credit.The shamee in question is Sky (Lilly Krug), a permanent resident at the motel who, thanks to a chance encounter in a…

A bizarre video posted by Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti shows the International Space Station (ISS) breaking apart in an artist rendering after Russian cosmonauts bid adieu. With this video, we are not sure if Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's Roscomos space corporation, is trying to threaten the US or hinting at something unusual, but it nevertheless looks scary. A space news blog NASA Watch shared the video on Twitter. The clip, which is about a minute long, is accompanied by some kind of classical…

Innovative vertical propulsion company Cyclotech has partnered with Yamato, one of Japan's largest delivery companies, to produce a concept for a very unique-looking mid-capacity delivery drone using Cyclotech's thrust-vectoring propulsion system.This crazy-looking aircraft flies with six of Cyclotech's Voith-Schneider style propulsion barrels, which spin around at high RPM while blades along the length of the cylinder constantly alter their angle to direct thrust. We've seen these things lift and control drones before;…