Linguist Patrick Foote of Name Explain explored the etymological history behind every dinosaur name, noting that there were far more than he originally realized.

I went to find the list of every dinosaur name …oh god, there’s 334 of them. This is fine. We can do this. So, yeah, let’s explain how literally every dinosaur got their name. At least every dinosaur, according to the Natural History Museum.

With the list in hand, Foote went on to explain the different categories of dinosaurs, where the names originated, and what they looked like.

From the well known to the tad more obscure. So today let’s dive in and find out how every dinosaur got its name!

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Disney Animation partnered with Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles to reimagine popular musical scenes from three Disney movies, featuring animated versions of actors who gracefully performed them in American Sign Language (ASL). The songs/scenes are “The Next Right Thing” from Frozen 2, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto, and “Beyond” from Moana 2.

Created in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre, ‘Songs in Sign Language’ features nearly all-new animation designed specifically for ASL performance. Deaf actors, artists, and cultural consultants worked closely with the animation team to ensure authenticity, clarity, and emotional accuracy.

This beautiful short film was directed by Hyrum Osmond, a veteran Disney animator, who worked closely with the deaf community to ensure proper representation.

Osmond led a team of more than 20 animators who worked with sign language reference expressly created for Disney Animation’s Songs in Sign Language. DJ Kurs, artistic director for Deaf West Theatre, worked with sign language reference choreographer Catalene Sacchetti and a group of eight performers from Deaf West Theatre, reimagining and choreographing lyrics into ASL by focusing on concepts and emotion instead of a word-for-word transcription.

via Tom Scott

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A clever Mona Lisa cat bed combines artistic home décor with functionality, allowing cats to sleep in the arms of the Mona Lisa inside the frame of the painting. Its sturdy cardboard construction also gives cats freedom to scratch wherever they like.

The Oxfraki Mona Lisa Cat Bed seamlessly combines a cozy cat bed, durable cat scratcher, and home art piece into one. Perfect for upgrading your pet’s space and home décor together with timeless style and functionality.

View on Threads

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A shy chihuahua named Bluey learned how to howl just like his older half-husky brother, so that they could become friends.

Bluey actually started howling because he loves to copy his older brother. …So the older brother, when ever he howls, Bluey started howling, and that’s when it started.

Bluey’s efforts towards friendship have had only a slight effect on his brother, but Bluey still loves to howl with him regardless.

Bluey is the sweetest dog I’ve ever seen, like the sweetest animal ever. I don’t think he barks on his own. Whenever the older brother barks, he just joins in. My big dog doesn’t like cuddling, so he kind of pushes Bluey away, but Bluey always tries to kind of cuddle in my big dog’s fur. 

While Bluey and his brother like howling together, their feline sibling appeared less than pleased.

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A feisty little albino alligator named Coconut seemed to be smiling widely while getting a nice scrubby bath from her keeper at The Reptile Zoo in Fountain Valley, California. While it is difficult to actually judge a reptile’s emotion, it was clear that Coconut was enjoying some toothbrush scritching on her back.

This is Coconut and she loves a Good Scrub

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A wonderfully outgoing kitten named Squid, born with hind-limb deformities that made locomotion very difficult, was able to walk with a clever LEGO exoskeletal brace built by his humans, the Anthony Vets of Atlas Pet Vets in Frisco, Texas. They explained that this was the perfect solution as the LEGO brace was strong enough to support Squid yet was light enough for him to move around easily.

Time was of the essence as far as being able to correct his deformity. We tried so many different styles of splints. The biggest challenge with Squid was how tiny he was because he was so tiny. Nothing on the market existed. So, we had to get really creative. We built this apparatus from LEGOs. Given that it was lightweight but also structurally really sound, it worked perfectly. In his case, it allowed him to stay really nice and straight so that he could walk normally again.

With diligent work, Squid’s legs grew stronger, and he is now able to move around easily without a brace.

Squid has really, really blossomed to the point where he is very confident. It almost made us cry the other day because we let him play with our little dogs, who love him so much. And so he’s doing amazing. He’s kind of a little inspiration for us. Every time we see him, it just reminds us that what we do as veterinarians is really special.

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Life in the 1800s shared a fascinating 1956 audio interview with 84-year-old John Easley, who traveled by covered wagon from Jack County, Texas, to Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1887. This area, which was known as “Indian Territory” at the time, was a big change for the then 15 year old Easley, who witnessed a great deal in his young life.

e shares rare firsthand stories about traveling to Indian Territory in a covered wagon in 1887, social activities in the 1800s, working in the newspaper business, delivering papers on horseback, life in Ardmore before and after the 1895 fire, and how United States Marshals kept order in the Oklahoma Territory.

Student Diane Showers interviewed Easley in 1956 as part of a project for Ardmore High School.

In March 1956, Diane Showers interviewed 84-year-old John Easley (born 1872) for an Ardmore High School project.

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The Process took a deep dive into the complex history of nutmeg, noting that it comes from a small fruit of the Myristica fragrans tree, which also yields the spice mace. The fruit comes in three parts: the flesh, the membrane (mace), and the seed (nutmeg).

It is the only plant on Earth that produces two completely different spices from a single fruit: Nutmeg and Mace. One was traded for the island of Manhattan; the other is a crimson web so delicate it must be peeled by hand.

In the 16th century, this fruit was only available on the Indonesian Banda Islands. This crop ultimately led to the massacre of the Bandanese people who refused to share their resources with the Dutch East India Company.

Europeans believed nutmeg cured the bubonic plague….The Dutch East India Company arrives and wants something no one had demanded before — a total monopoly. Every last seed.  The Bandanese refused. In 1621, Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen launched a military assault on the islands. Population before the attack: roughly 15,000. Survivors: barely one thousand. 

This violent colonialism also led to the British acquisition of Manhattan Island through the 1667 Treaty of Breda.

The English had held one tiny island — Run. In 1667, the Treaty of Breda settled the dispute. England ceded Run to the Dutch. In exchange, the Dutch gave up a swampy outpost on the other side of the world called New Amsterdam.  Today, we call it New York City. 

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Linguist Rob Watts of RobWords explored where and how the symbols and names for various currencies originated, noting that each has a rich and varied history. These currencies include the dollar ($), the pound (£), and the Euro (€).

Why is the $ sign an S? What does ‘dollar’ even mean? …I answer both of those questions, while also explaining what the British pound is a pound of, and what the Euro was originally called.

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Simple Things – Surprising Histories explained why bananas are safe despite being naturally radioactive. This is because bananas are high in potassium, which contains the isotope potassium-40. In large amounts, this isotope would be harmful, but the amount inside a banana is fairly negligible.

Because bananas are so rich in potassium, they are naturally rich in potassium 40. Every single second, in a standard banana, about 15 atoms of potassium-40 decay and release a microscopic burst of radioactive energy. It’s completely natural, and it’s been happening since the very first banana grew on Earth.

The amount is so small that scientists created an unofficial yet amusing scale, known as the BED or Banana Equivalent Dose, which compares the radiation from bananas to other common radioactive events.

Eating one banana exposes you to about 0.1 micro severs of radiation. To pu that into perspective, just living on planet Earth and absorbing natural background radiation from the ground and the cosmos gives you about 100 bananas’ worth of radiation every single day.

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Sony AI built an incredibly fast and responsive autonomous robot that can play a rapid fire game of table tennis without missing a shot.

A complete autonomous robot that plays a physical sport needs to do three things: sense, decide, and act—all within milliseconds.

This particular sport presents the perfect challenge for the robot, as there is no room for error.

The sport demands extreme precision: The ball moves at linear velocities exceeding 20 m/s and with spin rates exceeding 160 revolutions per second. Spin is used to make shots harder to return or to gain tactical advantage. Responding requires expert players to master a range of skills for tracking, reacting to and generating high-speed, high spin shots.

This robot is the primary subject of Project Ace, which started in 2020. As of 2026, “Ace” can actually beat professional players at their own game.

This short film follows the research team behind the project—from the earliest experiments in 2020 to the moment Ace defeated a professional player in a live match.

via The Awesomer

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Everything Explainer graciously compiled a list of every empire throughout history that was taken down by stupid yet egregious errors.

History is written by the victors, but it’s often shaped by the absolute DUMBEST decisions imaginable!

This list went as far back as the Fall of Khwarezmia, during which Genghis Khan sought bloody retribution for insults committed by the high government. Also included were the downfall of the Song Dynasty, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Montezuma, as well as the failure of the rigid Hittite and Mycenaean palace economies of the Bronze Age.

The highly advanced Hittite and Mycenaean empires had constructed heavily centralized palace economies that were completely dependent on fragile international maritime trade networks to import copper from Cyprus and tin from Afghanistan. When mysterious maritime raiders known to history as the Sea Peoples systematically disrupted these vulnerable trade routes, the Empire’s rigid administrative structures completely failed to adapt.

He also addresses how the highly inclement Russian weather completely undermined Germany’s “Operation Barbarossa”. This World War II operation was launched in June 1941 and continued into the brutal winter, leaving soldiers ill-equipped and stranded.

The German high command critically failed to equip its troops with winter clothing, winter-grade lubricants for weaponry, or antifreeze for vehicles, banking entirely on achieving a rapid victory before autumn. When the brutal Russian inter hit, the incompatible Russian railway gauges prevented adequate resupply. Train engines froze, and the entire offensive stalled outside Moscow. This monumental logistical arrogance permanently shifted the momentum of World War II, bleeding the German military dry in a war of attrition that resulted in the total conquest, partitioning and destruction of the Third Reich. 

Perhaps history does repeat itself after all.

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Music essayist Film Retrospective dove into the historic 1968 recording of the very first Led Zeppelin album, colloquially known as Led Zeppelin 1.

the recording of led zeppelins first album

The narrator explained the band’s precision, noting that their approach was very different from that of The Beatles’ “White Album” recording. This was particularly demonstrated by Jimmy Page.

Their engineer, Glyn Johns was blown away by the band when they entered Olympic Studios. He was used to working with the Rolling Stones or rolling up roughly around the time scheduled. Zeppelin was nothing like this. They were prepared. They showed up and began playing minutes after arriving. …Jimmy later stated, “I knew exactly what I wanted to do in every respect. I knew what all the guitars were going to do and how it was going to sound, everything.”

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The French folk dance troupe Lous Cadetouns features a number of very talented dancers, including incredible synchronized stilt walkers who move in time with one another and with the other performers below.

Folk Troupe of Landes Stilt-Walkers and Ground Dancers

via The Awesomer

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The Process looked at why Budweiser Beer is brewed with rice instead of barley, noting that they made this rather choice not because it was the most expensive, but because barley’s protein chemistry makes the brew cloudy.

Rice isn’t a shortcut. It’s an expensive solution to a chemistry problem. Most people think rice is just “cheap filler,” but it actually costs more than corn. The real reason it’s there? American barley has way too much protein. If you don’t use rice to absorb it, the beer turns out cloudy and thick.

They also talk about the history of Anheuser-Busch, the partnership that would go on to make Budweiser and other St. Louis beers, the specific fermentation process of Budweiser, and how difficult it is to ensure the taste never varies.

You’re drinking a moving  formula designed to taste like it never changes. That sameness isn’t laziness. It’s  the hardest thing in brewing – making  a living recipe hold still. Rice in beer. Not a shortcut.  

Not a cost cut. A solution to a chemistry  problem most people don’t know exists.  

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Ken Weiss of the architectural channel, This House, explained how people accommodated the call of nature without the benefit of indoor plumbing.

Have you ever wondered how people used  the bathroom before bathrooms were invented? The toilet we take for granted  is barely a hundred and fifty years old,   and For the vast majority of human history, going to the bathroom was not the private, sanitary affair we now consider standard.

Weiss looks at the history of the porcelain throne, from ancient Greece and Rome through to the work of John Crapper, who did not invent the flush toilet, but refined its design to make it accessible for home use.

Crapper is the figure everybody vaguely remembers as the inventor of the flush toilet. But he did not invent the flush toilet. The myth traces almost entirely to a satirical biography published in 1969 by a writer named Wallace Reyburn, who was essentially trolling the reading public.  The real Thomas Crapper was a Yorkshire-born plumber who founded Thomas Crapper and Company in 1861, held nine patents for various drainage and fittings improvements, refined the floating ballcock…

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A rider with Wolfpack Adventures shared a compilation of incredible POV footage from the most challenging mountain bike lines in 2025.

Compilation of all my craziest MTB POV riding clips I captured in 2025. Which was your favourite?

via The Awesomer

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The incredibly insightful video series Kurzgesagt used colorful animation to explain how, with evolution, the ability to process information in more complex ways emerged. This distinguished how human brains differ from those of the animal kingdom.

When life emerged it was without any minds but  just cells, able to eat, poop and reproduce. …But as life exploded in complexity and became multicellular, cells began to dedicate themselves to processing information.

They further note that as the number of neurons increases, so does self-perception. This is particularly relevant with humans.

Humans, with our 86 billion neurons, have taken it to extraordinary depths. …We humans are not just simulating other minds in our minds. We simulate minds, simulating minds. We think about what others think. We think about what they think about us, thinking about what they think. And so on. There are a lot of layers.

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Doctor Howard Tucker of Cleveland, Ohio, set the Guinness World Record for Oldest Practicing Doctor in October 2025, just two short months prior to his death in December.

Neurologist Dr Howard Tucker practised medicine from 1947 to 2022, then continued working in his field until just three months before he passed away on 22 December 2025.

This was Tucker’s second Guinness World Record for his longevity as a physician.

He had originally entered the record books in 2021, when at the age of 98 years 231 days, he was recognized as the oldest practising doctor.

Austin Tucker compiled information about his grandfather’s long and storied career into a beautiful documentary titled What’s Next?, which includes a year’s worth of interviews with Howard, viral videos, and touching moments.

WHAT’S NEXT? chronicles one year in the life of Dr. Howard Tucker, the world’s oldest practicing doctor, who at 100-years-old must grapple with aging for the first time.

Dr. Tucker’s Videos

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A very chatty black cat named Archie is so excited about exercising that he meows loudly to let his human, Mariah Sola, know when he wants to walk on the treadmill. Sola said she had bought the walking pad for herself, and Archie decided to keep her company.

I bought a walking pad to motivate myself to reach my 10,000 steps. He didn’t really need any training at all. He just wanted to be a part of what I was doing.

Sola is very happy to use treadmill time to bond with Archie and her other cats

Between being his coach and his encouragement, his motivator and his mom, all of these things are just really rewarding because it allows me to have fun with my cats.

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