Cool Thing of the Day

Though seemingly inconspicuous, Cerbera odollam - also known as the Suicide Tree - hides a deadly secret within its seeds. Being a relative of the Oleander, its toxins act in a somewhat similar way. The Suicide Tree draws its name from the fact that people use it to poison themselves. It is estimated that around 50 people meet this self-inflicted end each year in the state of Kerala, India, alone. But if something’s good for suicide, it’s also good for murder. The seed’s what contains all the poison, and if someone was to crush it into a fine powder and mix it in with all the spicy Indian food and give it to someone else, who’s to know, right?

In fact cerberin, the toxin found in these seeds, is undetectable by most toxicology reports, and someone has to specifically look for cerberin to actually find it. Looking for the toxin requires the use of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in order to be detected, a process which is quite costly, especially in India. Because of this, most cases of cerberin poisoning go unnoticed, but even so, at least one person dies of it per week in Kerala. In Madagascar up until the mid-19th century people suspected of witchcraft were subject to the “trial by Tagena” where they were forced to eat one such seed. Those few who survived were considered innocent; the others, well… died.

Things gotten so out of hand that by the time King Radama II banned the practice in 1861, it was estimated to have killed around 2 percent of the island’s entire population per year; roughly 3,000 people. This trial is still believed to take place even to this day in some remote parts of Madagascar.

An Elven Dagger from Skyrim. 

(Source)

The Wadi Rum valley, a 720 km squared expanse of sandstone, granite and red sand in the south of Jordan, has a landscape so alien that it is known as the “Valley of the Moon”.

But in the center of this alien landscape exists a juxtaposition - a lush, organic, 2,000-hectare farm that grows most of Jordan’s fruits and vegetables, including eggplants, cabbage, figs and pomegranates, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, grapes, and other vegetables. Although the Wadi Rum desert receives only 5 mm of rain per month in average, beneath the red sands stretches an enormous aquifer, which not only provides water to most Jordinians, but also doubles as a water source for their crops. 

(Source)

Spread across a vertical limestone cliff that reaches almost 300 feet (91 meters) into the sky, and one mile (1.6 km) across, Cal Orcko is an important paleontological site located near Sucra, Bolivia that contains the footprints of over 293 known species of dinosaur. 

(Artist | Source)

 The Moeraki boulders present a curious spectacle for inhabitants and tourists alike. Stretched across the sands of Koekohe Beach on the New Zealand coast, they stand isolated and sometimes scattered in clusters. It is believed that they are formed by wave erosion on local mudstone, honing them into a spherical shape. 

Local Māori legend posits that stones are the remnants of eel baskets, water gourds, and kumara that washed ashore when Āraiteuru - the canoe that originally bore the Māori ancestors to New Zealand - was overturned.

(Source)

As part of a solution to make China more efficient, streamlined, and combat the country’s overpopulation, a company has designed - and is now testing the prototype for - a futuristic suspended bus that can drive over top of traffic and pedestrians. It straddles the cars below, allowing them to pass through as it drives or stops to pick people up. The vehicle runs on a railway and is expected to be able to reach speeds up to 60 km (37 miles) per hour. 

(Source)

An aerial view of the eruption of Mount Anatahan, 2008.

ThinkGeek has created a Twinkling Stars skirt that’s adorned with over 250 LED lights that transform the wearer into a semblance of the night sky. 

You can buy it here: [x]

Despite having the appearance of being perfectly cut down the middle as by a man-made instrument, the Al Naslaa Rock Formation in Tayma, Saudi Arabia is actually completely natural. 

(Source)

Duct tape magnified to 40x beneath a microscope.

Victorian wax anatomical models by artist Clemente Susini, circa 1700.

Iguaza Falls, on the border of Argentina and Brazil, is one of the widest waterfalls on Earth.

Amsterdam's Volkshotel commissioned nine designers to creatively customize nine new rooms at the 172-room hotel. The nine architects and designers were allowed to let their imaginations run free in order to create these unique, eclectic spaces. 

Which one would you stay in?

Patina is a thin layer of tarnish that forms on the surface of certain metals, such as copper and bronze, over time. (It can also be used to describe the finishing on wooden furniture, or any artistic process that purposely changes the surface of a piece through age or exposure.) 

Pictured above is a statue of Joseph I of Portugal. The left photograph shows the statue with patina; the photograph on the right shows the natural bronze of the statue after being stripped of its patina. 

Earth’s South Pole.

TOP TEN WEIRDEST THINGS EVER SOLD ON E-BAY

1. A grilled cheese sandwich, which apparently had the visage of the Virgin Mary burned into it, was sold to a Florida woman in 2004 for $28,000. 

2. When Justin Bieber gifted some of his hair clippings to Ellen DeGeneres in 2011, the talk show hostess decided to sell it on eBay, a move which netted her $40,668. The proceeds were donated to an animal rescue charity.

3. This latex Casey Anthony mask, which was originally made for a parody video, sold on eBay for $999,900 back in 2011. 

4. After finishing up an interview with a New York radio station, Justin Timberlake left a little bit of something behind - his half-eaten French toast, which was put up on eBay and sold for $1,025 in 2000. 

5. To ease his massive debt, a man from Omaha, Nebraska decided to sell advertising space - in the form of a temporary tattoo on his forehead . A company called SnoreStop bought the ad space for $37,375 in 2005.

6. A creator on eBay promised to create a suit of armor that would keep a “guinea pig protected and secure in all situations.” Apparently somebody thought this was a good investment for their money, because it sold for $1,150 in 2013.

7. Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s tie, which he was wearing in 2013 when he confessed to smoking crack during a new conference, sold on eBay in 2015 for $1,445.

8. Pharrell’s infamous brown fedora, which he wore to the 2014 Grammy’s, sold on eBay for $44,100. The winner was fast food chain Arby’s, whose logo contains a hat which closely resembles Pharrell’s. 

9. A weekend vacation with four Australian men sold on eBay for $960 in 2006. They said they wouldn’t pay for travel costs, but could ensure a weekend full of “some beers, some snags, some good conversation and a hell of a lot of laughs.”

10. In 2006, William Shatner decided that it would be a good idea to auction off one of his kidney stones for $25,000 - to raise money for a housing charity.

This is what happens when you put LED lights on a Roomba. 

(Artist)

About 1,931 km (1,200 miles) off the southeastern coast of Africa exists the small ocean island known as Mauritius. What appears to be the impossible - its most famous feature, an underwater waterfall near the island’s southernmost tip - is actually created by the water currents affecting shifting sand dunes, creating the illusion of a waterfall. 

You can see the phenomenon yourself by zooming in using Google Earth.