This tree branch is actually a camouflaged bird standing really still

This tree branch is actually a camouflaged bird standing really still

What are you looking at? Some trees, some leaves, a few branches and… a bird. You see, on top of that broken tree branch actually stands a completely still bird, the common potoo. It’s hiding in plain sight and will stay that way even if predators are deathly close to them.

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Listen to the fascinating history of sampling songs in music

New music is often just old music put together in different ways. There’s only so many notes you can play, tunes you can sing, words you can string, you know? It’s just how it works, music sampling happens whether it’s acknowledged or not. For an entertaining look at the history of sampling, watch the video above. It’s everywhere.

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This enormous garage is actually the belly of a C-17 Globemaster

This enormous garage is actually the belly of a C-17 Globemaster

Okay, I know Globemasters are huge, but I’m always stunned when I see how much you can fit inside one of them.

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This cool video technique turns moving people into ghosts

While not as spectacular as Adam Magyar’s Stainless shorts, this new video technique is quite neat. Aaron Grime used Photoshop to blend regular footage at a 1/50th shutter speed into a new 24 frames per second with a 1-second shutter speed film. The result is, as he says, eerie:

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This pile of cash is actually just carved wood

This pile of cash is actually just carved wood

We’re rich! You would scream if you stumbled upon these cash wads in a cardboard box but your calculations would be a little off. Not because you counted wrong but because there actually isn’t money in the box. What you think is a box of 100s is actually just an excellent wood carving. The money is wood.

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The anatomy of toys and characters will ruin your memories forever

The anatomy of toys and characters will ruin your memories forever

I love the work artist/designer/mad doctor Jason Freeny. His Moist Productions shop has been showing us the fascinating humanoid anatomy of toys, animated characters and other objects for years. His new creations have reached new awesomely gross heights. Here’s a collection of some of his masterworks:

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Watch Mars Curiosity’s clever wheels and suspension system in action

Watch Mars Curiosity's clever wheels and suspension system in action

In case there was any doubt, the engineers at JPL did an amazing job: Just look at how the the Mars Curiosity Rover deals with the red planet’s bumpy terrain in this time-lapse GIF, taken from the Left Navcam pointed down at the wheels in motion.

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Watch a sailfish try to bludgeon fish bait to death with its spear

It sounds brutal and horrible and cruel but it’s actually kind of adorable. In the video, you see a sailfish—perhaps one of the most fascinating creatures of the ocean—chase down fish bait attached to a boat and try to smack the bait silly with its spear-like bill. The sailfish doesn’t succeed but he goes a pretty long time trying to stick his nose everywhere.

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The splooge of making Pop-Tarts is so very hypnotic

The splooge of making Pop-Tarts is so very hypnotic

Splooge, fold, press. Splooge, fold, press. Splooge, fold, press. The machines making Pop-Tarts are so mesmerizing. You just can’t take your eyes off the black magic that is creating addictive processed food. My brain invents its own soundtrack when I see it go on and on and on in the GIF, which was spotted on Reddit. My brain also imagines my mouth at the end of the conveyor belt eating every single Pop-Tart as it falls into my belly. Yum. But gross. But yum.

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Awesome ad erases all the animals in The Lion King’s opening sequence

This is a great ad by Greenpeace Netherlands, brilliantly executed by Studio Smack: They erased all the animals of The Lion King’s opening sequence to show kids and adults how the African savanna would look if we don’t protect its animals.

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