The science channel Sketched Out used colorful animation to visually explain all 21 types of exoplanets in our universe.

We break down the physics, the extreme weather, and the terrifying realities of 21 unique alien planets.

Some of these classifications have some rather amusing names, including “Lava World”, “Eyeball Planet”, “Super-Earth”, “Hot Jupiter”, and “Super-Puff”.

Whether it’s an “Eyeball Planet” trapped in eternal twilight, a “Super-Puff” with the density of cotton candy, or a theoretical “Blanet” orbiting a supermassive black hole, the universe is far stranger than fiction.

NASA Exoplanet Explanation

First Images of Exoplanets

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The post Every Type of Exoplanet in the Universe Explained was originally published on Laughing Squid.

While learning a new language can be difficult, a teacher with Levion shared how to count to 100 in Vietnamese with a very catchy rap song.

How to count in Vietnamese

The teacher also used the same technique for learning colors (plus flirting) and the days of the week.

Want to learn colors in Vietnamese? … But wait—stick around until the end for some fun flirty phrases to impress your crush! ?

via The Awesomer

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An absolutely adorable herd of hungry guinea pigs crowded around two watermelons that their collective human Cid Dwyer had stacked on a pole for them. The furry little rodents chomped through the juicy fruit, rind and all, in very little time.

Guinea pigs vs watermelon

They also quite enjoyed eating cut pieces of watermelon and other veggies.

via Everlasting Blort

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A beautiful bearded dragon named Lolita, who was left for dead because of her neurological difficulties, was taken in by Shakira Free of Special Needs Lizard Care, who, with a great deal of time and effort, brought Lolita back to life. This long healing process allowed the pair to bond deeply, and with that, now Lolita will come to Free like a dog in search of some good petting.

She started to recognize me fairly quickly, especially as she started to come out of the state of collapse. ….I hadn’t really comprehended that I could have such relationship with a reptile before. But I think because she had faced such an injustice, you can’t help but want to be there for her and take care of all of her needs possible and never allow her to suffer again.

Free also said that these reptiles are far more intelligent and loving than they might seem.

Many people don’t appreciate how complexly intelligent and smart these animals are. I think the reason that they’re so neglected, I believe, is because they just don’t seem to have the same facial expressions as other animals. And I think people just don’t have the sense of understanding that they have the capacity to suffer deeply, but also to create really good relationships with people as well.

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Video editor Bill McClintock created a seductive mashup that pairs “Roxanne” by The Police with the classic Donna Summer disco song “She Works Hard for the Money”, subtly noting how both songs have more in common than just their time signatures.

As with his previous mashups, McClintock spiced this up further with the inclusion of “Never Enough” by L.A. Guns and “Round and Round” by Ratt.

Music featured in this mashup:

Donna Summer – She Works Hard for the Money

The Police – Roxanne

L.A. Guns – Never Enough (Tracii Guns)

Ratt – Round and Round (Warren DeMartini)

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The food manufacturing channel The Process looked at how Nutella is made, noting how the first ingredient is not chocolate or even hazelnuts, but sugar. And while Nutella is modeled after the Italian delicacy of gianduja, it does not remain true to its decadent roots.

In Italy, where Nutella was invented, it cannot legally be called “chocolate cream” because it doesn’t contain enough cocoa. The original recipe — gianduja — was 70% hazelnut. Nutella is 13%. The name stayed. The ratio didn’t.

The narrator also discusses the chemical process that gives Nutella its distinctive texture, as well as the product’s legal issues.

hazelnuts are roasted at 140°C to create flavor through the Maillard reaction, why palm oil melts at body temperature (and why that matters for texture), why Ferrero settled a $3M class-action lawsuit over breakfast marketing, and what to look for on any jar that calls itself “hazelnut spread.”

Nutella, which remains popular despite all its issues, even made an appearance in space during the Artemis II mission orbiting around the moon.

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The post How Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Is Made was originally published on Laughing Squid.

A heartwarming clip from the PBS series Baby Steps | Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti tells the story of Long’uro, a resilient young elephant at Reteti Sanctuary in Kenya, who lost most of his trunk as a baby when a hyena attacked him after he fell into a well.

Long’uro lost his trunk when he was just a few weeks old. – Long’uro fell into a well. The mother tried her best to pick the baby out, but the mother lost hope and left Long’uro inside the well. Long’uro stayed there the whole night, waving the trunk, looking for support. And a hyena came night and just grabbed the trunk.

His keeper Mary Lengees, who previously helped a clumsy baby ostrich learn to walk, has lovingly attended to Long’uro’s rehabilitation, marveling in his ability to bounce back.

When he was a very small boy, he was struggling to browse. But Long’uro found good ways to adapt. When the others are using the trunk, Long’uro kneels down using the mouth, like a cow.

It hasn’t been easy for Long’uro, but he has worked hard to make friends.

More Long’uro

Baby Ostrich Learns to Walk

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Paleontologist Danielle Dufault of Animalogic partnered with Panthera Cats and zoologist Lindsay Nikole to present the entire evolutionary history of cats.

Follow along as we tell you all about every cat that we know of and trace their amazing evolutionary path.

Dufault starts at the very beginning with the now-extinct Proailurus before moving on to the rise of the prehistoric Pseudaelurus, which is considered the first true cat. She discusses the era of Saber-Toothed tigers, then moves on to big cats before addressing the incredible diversity of small and domestic cats.

They went from civet-like hunters to domestic cats, lions, and sabertooth cats in just a few million years.

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The New York City Mayor’s Office poked gentle fun at Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s famous grin with a parody of the horror movie franchise Smile for the annual Inner Circle fundraiser gala by the New York City press corps. This is part of a long tradition of New York City mayors making fun of themselves for a good cause. The event took place on March 28, 2026.

Inner Circle is an annual charity gala organized by the NYC press corps. Every year, the Mayor’s office and staff are asked to be a part of it, making videos and sketches spoofing themselves.

The Mayor also joined forces with Curtis Sliwa, former mayoral candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels, in a very charming skit about consulting a doctor about adopting a cat despite being allergic to them. Sliwa played the doctor, and Mamdani played the patient.

The Mayor also used AutoTune for a song about “campaign promises”.

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Epic Aussie Encounters placed a large mirror in the Australian bush to capture how different animals would react to seeing their reflection.

Australian wildlife encounters a reflective surface placed in the bush, with each species reacting in its own way. This footage captures natural behavioural responses as different animals notice and respond to reflections in their environment.

Some birds paid no attention, while others, such as the laughing kookaburra, Australian magpie, and the white-necked heron, were fascinated. The red-necked wallaby was terrified by the reflection, but the brushtail possum and the kangaroo were quite fascinated with their own image. This project focuses on learning more about these animals in the wild.

Our aim is to observe and better understand wildlife behaviour through original trail camera footage while sharing the diversity of animals that move through the Australian bush.

Other Mirror Reactions

via Neatorama

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A musician from Open Reel Ensemble played magnetic reel-to-reel tape in sync with Wikipedia articles to create a fun electronic dance song . This performance, which they called “Cyklepedia”, was created to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary.

We’ve released the Wikipedia 25th Anniversary piece “Cyklepedia”!

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Simple Things – Surprising Histories examined the ancient origins of the now-ubiquitous @ symbol, noting its various iterations over the centuries.

We explain where the @ symbol comes from and how its use evolved step by step, using real historical records and verified technological milestones.

The symbol first appeared in a 1536 letter by the Florentine vintner Francesco Lapi and later became the industry standard for identifying wine. The symbol was largely forgotten in the era of typewriters, but once again proved useful when ARPANET engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first email in 1971, bringing it back from the brink of extinction.

He needed a way to separate the name of the person receiving the message from the name of the computer hosting their account.  He needed a symbol that wasn’t used in anyone’s actual name so it wouldn’t confuse the system. He looked down at his teletype keyboard and his eyes landed on the lonely forgotten at symbol. It was perfect. Not only was it rarely used, but it literally meant at. The user was at the host.

Ray Tomlinson

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Ken Weiss of the architectural channel This House looked at the history of the Eiffel Tower, specifically noting that a private apartment was built at the top of the tower so that designer Gustav Eiffel could work without being disturbed.

Built by engineer Gustave Eiffel himself, this private sky-high retreat featured wallpapered walls, plush furniture, and even a piano, nearly 1,000 feet above Paris.

While the apartment boasted the incredible luxury of the time, it was basically used as technical storage during and after World War II.

The top of the tower was needed for bulky transmission equipment. …The only available  interior space to stash this gear was, you guessed  it, Eiffel’s old apartment. Little by little, the cozy wallpapered rooms were filled  with technology equipment, until almost   nothing of the original furnishings remained. Fortunately, this isn’t where the story ends. 

Luckily, the apartment has been restored with period appropriate accoutrements, albeit not as living quarters, but as a museum that recognizes the work of Gustav Eiffel.

In recent decades, the Eiffel Tower’s caretakers  recognized the historical significance of Eiffel’s private office and decided to restore a portion of it for visitors. The apartment may no longer function as living quarters, but today a small section has been carefully recreated to its 1890s appearance.

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Food vlogger Shane Uriot, who previously went to pizza places in New England, visited the Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. This family-owned buffet is considered to be the largest in the United States and features amazing food, much of it made by hand.

Today I went behind the scenes at Shady Maple Schmorgasbord in Earl, PA. The Biggest Buffet in America. We got to see how this family run business is able to serve up to 9000 guests a day and how they are able to make high quality food at scale.

Uriot sampled such local delicacies as scrapple, mush and pudding, long john doughnuts, and shoofly pie.

I wanted to focus on things I’ve never tried. So, I grabbed some scrapple, a dish called mush and pudding, and homemade biscuits with chip beef gravy. But, I couldn’t walk past the grill without picking up some eggs benedict and eggs florantine. And then there was the donut and shoefly pie.

He was also given a tour of the smokehouse, which is rarely seen online.

As far as I know, I’m the first YouTuber that’s ever gotten this kind of access. We headed across the street to see where they smoke their own meats and get a look inside their bakery.

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The Linkerbot L30 is an incredibly agile robotic hand that can tighten and loosen different types of screws in seconds. The L30 is biometric, tendon-driven, and uses adaptive grasping, all of which allow it to have the same or better flexibility in comparison to a human hand.

When robotic hands move past human anatomy, they don’t just use tools they become the tool.

The Linkerbot L30

via The Awesomer

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The post An Agile Robotic Hand That Can Tighten and Loosen Screws in Seconds was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Josh Gale, the Chef Out West, placed a single kernel of corn on a hot pan with some salt and a few drops of oil, then stirred it around with a wooden risotto spoon until it popped perfectly and satisfyingly in the center of the hole.

When you just want one popcorn

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In a heartwarming clip from the PBS series Baby Steps | Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti”, an adorably clumsy baby Somali ostrich at Reteti Sanctuary in Kenya attempted to take her first steps but stumbled in the process. Luckily her dedicated keeper Mary Lengees was nearby to assist again and again, like a parent teaching their child to ride a bike, until the chick was able to balance on her own two feet.

These Somali ostrich chicks are only weeks old, but one is struggling to stand. With the help of dedicated keepers, she’s slowly finding her strength.

Reteti Sanctuary explained why keepers, instead of parents, are teaching ostrich chicks to walk.

Imprinting is a critical early-life process where chicks learn to identify and follow their “parents” by recognising the first moving object they consistently see…Unfortunately, the towering grass can obscure their view, preventing them from seeing their mother and disrupting their ability to imprint properly. This often results in the chicks losing their way, necessitating rescue and rehabilitation efforts.

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In an amusing episode of the True Facts series, narrator Ze Frank recounts the unique physiology of geckos, noting how these little lizards are so different than the rest of their species.

About 200 million years ago, some real “do it your own way” sorts of lizards split off from the rest. 

These differences include the absence of eyelids, nocturnal hunting, and small, hairy feet.

While the other lizards were mainly hunting during the day, these ones figured that at night the line would be shorter at the buffet. So, these little plucky bastards evolved incredibly sensitive night vision….And as if that wasn’t enough, they told evolution to get rid of the eyelids. …Many geckos, especially the ones good at climbing, have these pads on their toes.If you take a cross-section of the foot, you can see that these pads are made out of little tiny hairlike structures called setae.

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The post An Amusing Look at the Unique Physiology of Geckos was originally published on Laughing Squid.

The talented and award-winning DJ Cummerbund combined the classic Queen song “Fat Bottom Girls” with songs by various artists to create a seamless, multi-layered mashup. The songs and artists include “Tubthumbing” by Chumbawamba, “No Ordinary Love” by Sade, and “Holiday” by Madonna, plus others.

Everyone knows that Papa C loves the full-figured gals – but I wanted to make it even more clear.

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The post A Multi-Layered Mashup of Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and ‘Tubthumping’ by Chumbawamba was originally published on Laughing Squid.

An incredibly hydrophilic fluffy cat named Ash loves his monthly bath time so much that he waits impatiently in the tub for his human Ali to turn on the water. Before the bath, however, Ali gives Ash a lovely spa treatment.

He will literally get in the tub and wait for me until I give him a bath. Before we get in the bath, I like to swaddle Ash in this adorable blanket and give him a little manicure. Then I brush off any shedding hair. It’s the best back scratcher for Ash

Ali said that when she adopted Ash, he had a lot of fleas, so she had to bathe him regularly. He fell in love with the water immediately.

When I first adopted Ash, he was completely covered in fleas. So, I started bathing him when he was six weeks old to make sure he was healthy. And he fell in love with it.

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The post Water Loving Cat Waits Impatiently in the Tub for His Monthly Bath Time was originally published on Laughing Squid.