Via @patchgame

Oysters make pearls so they can feel better. When a grain of sand or debris gets stuck in their bodies, they ease the pain and irritation by coating it with multiple layers of nacre, the mineral that lines the inside of their shells, and pearl begins to form. Basically, pearls are like blisters, only much prettier. Source

A view of the excavations at Tepe Hissar, Iran, 1931.

via reddit

KENYA. Nairobi. Jockey Club. 1988–Stuart Franklin

Over the past six years, Gianluca Gimini has asked more than 500 people to draw a bicycle from memory. This is harder than it sounds. Try it. Of the 370 people who really tried, about 25 percent managed to accurately sketch a bike.

Gimini doesn’t pay attention to the accurate drawings in his illustration project Velocipedia. Instead, he created digital renderings of some of the weirdest, most impractical designs that came from the other 75 percent of the test group. Gimini’s project is a celebration of the ways people can be accidentally creative.

Check out more photos and read about Gimini’s project.

The Numbers Are In: The War on Cops Is a Right-Wing Myth

Policing is safer than it's been in years.

According to the FBI, 2015 was one of the safest years on record to be a police officer in America. Agency data shows 41 officers were killed in the line of duty last year, a drop of 20 percent from one year prior. Only in 2013, when felonious police fatalities hit an historic all-time low, were fewer officers killed while doing their jobs. The year 2015 tied with 2008 for the second lowest death rate for police on record…

Wow.

Huanglong Valley, Sichuan | China (by Nasty Bad Duck)

USA Honey Bee Inventory-1987-2013

via metricmapsore

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Starting from Chinese New Year’s eve (falls on 1/22 this year), Shanghai Airline will try to broadcast inflight announcements in very “rich flavored” Shanghai dialect (Shanghainese) on the returning flights from Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan 6 cities.  Airline launched “Shanghai Dialect broadcast in the cabin” service, in order to make the passengers on the plane to feel the deep flavor of Shanghai, let the Shanghai-born travelers to feel the warmth of home.

Powerful coverage coming from Photographer John Moore covering the Ebola epidemic in Liberia which has killed more than 1,000 people in four West African countries and has overwhelmed the Liberian health system.

Top: MONROVIA, LIBERIA - AUGUST 14: A burial team from the Liberian health department sprays disinfectant over the body of a woman suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on August 14, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Teams are picking up bodies from all over the capital of Monrovia, where the spread of the Ebola virus has been called catastrophic.

Middle:MONROVIA, LIBERIA - AUGUST 14: A man lies in a newly-opened Ebola isolation center set up by the Liberian health ministry in a closed school on August 14, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. People suspected of contracting the Ebola virus are being sent to such centers in the capital Monrovia where the spread of the highly contagious and deadly Ebola virus has been called catastrophic.

Bottom:MONROVIA, LIBERIA - AUGUST 14: A relative weeps as a health department burial team prepares to enter the home of a woman suspected of dying of the Ebola virus on August 14, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

The EBU is deeply concerned by the proposal to abolish the licence fee in Romania. The proposal is part of a broader plan to reduce taxes ahead of the upcoming elections. The EBU believes removing stable funding from TVR and Radio Romania would seriously endanger public service media (PSM) in the country and expose it to political pressure. It has written to the Romanian Parliament and Prime Minister to express its concern.

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