Mysterious Fake Cats Start Appearing in Florida Town

Residents living near an empty lot along Southwest 25th Place in Cape Coral, Fla., have noticed that fake cats have been mysteriously placed in the lot, which is a known burrowing owl nest. Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife volunteers discovered a similar scene at a nearby lot near the corner of Southwest 20th Avenue and Southwest 30th Street, but no nests were identified on the property. The volunteers believe that someone has been placing the fake cats in the lots to prevent more burrowing owls from moving onto the properties before they can be developed. Burrowing owls are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and they are classified as threatened by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, making their burrows illegal to disturb without special permits. 

 

 

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You May Want to Rethink Sharing Back-to-School Photos of Your Kids on Social Media

As you scroll through Facebook, you’re probably seeing posts from your friends about their kids going back to school. Many of those posts contain pictures of kids holding signs that detail the child’s name, grade, teacher, favorite color, and even what they want to be when they grow up. Law enforcement is now warning that those details might seem innocent, but together they can give someone with bad intentions far more information than they should have. They aren’t suggesting that parents skip back-to-school photos, but recommend that identifying details be left off the signs. Sharing birth dates, full names, and grades gives criminals data they can use to open fraudulent credit histories in a child's name before they grow up. Signs with a child’s "favorites" or hobbies allow a stranger or predator to fake a connection and build false trust, and background details like house numbers, street signs, school uniforms, or bus numbers reveal where your family lives and where your kids go. Lock down privacy settings or text the photo directly to a closed group of close family and friends.

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Sticky Situation: After Octopus Latches Onto Fisherman’s Face, He Has To Club It To Escape

It was “armed” and dangerous. Wild footage shows the moment an octopus latched onto a fisherman’s face with an 8-armed death grip. Jesser Cervantes was on a wooden dinghy near the Philippines when he reeled in the spunky sea creature, and it suddenly latched onto his face. He desperately tried to peel the tentacles off his face, but the mollusk spread around his head, at one point covering his mouth with its powerful suckers. To escape the sticky situation, Cervantes grabbed a cut bamboo stem and repeatedly hit the octopus to loosen its grip. The octopus eventually let go and Cervantes tossed it back into the ocean, catching his breath after the terrifying game of tug-of-war. Octopuses have incredibly powerful suckers and flexible bodies that allow them to cling tightly to prey and almost any surface. Each of their hundreds of suckers function as independent, airtight vacuum seals powered by their decentralized nervous system, making it almost impossible to remove one without peeling away each limb. 

 

 

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The Mystery of the Continuously Functioning Battery From 1840

A battery at the University of Oxford has been incessantly ringing two bells for 186 years, but no one knows exactly why it’s lasted so long. Built by Watkins and Hill, a London instrument manufacturing firm, the battery is made up of dry piles, which means it contains no liquid like the batteries today. A small hanging metal ball (the clapper) bounces back and forth between two brass bells using electrostatic forces, ringing roughly twice per second. The battery produces high voltage but extremely low current, meaning it drains very slowly. Scientists refuse to open or dismantle the battery because doing so would let moisture in and end the historic experiment. Today, the battery is safely housed behind glass at Oxford's Clarendon Laboratory, ringing so quietly now that you can barely hear it. In order to solve the mystery of the Oxford Electric Bell once and for all, researchers will likely have to wait until either the battery finally loses its charge or else the ringing mechanism breaks on its own from old age. For now, though, the contraption stands as the “longest running science experiment.” 

 

 

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