odd look at news on the web
Benda's 250cc boxer hybrid engine produces 62 hp and 74 lb-ft of torque
29 December 2025 @ 9:03 am
We’ve talked about Benda a few times before, and it seems every time there’s a new motorcycle from the Chinese brand, there’s some radical approach behind it. Whether it be a Transformers-inspired naked moto, a mean-looking 250cc bobber, or an inline-four cruiser with the widest rear tire on a production bike. This time, it’s the engine that seeks all the attention.Continue ReadingCategory: Motorcycles, Tea or coffee: One leaves a stronger imprint on your bones
29 December 2025 @ 2:52 am
Tea and coffee are two of the most popular drinks in the world – daily rituals linked to culture, comfort, and productivity. Now scientists have new insights into how each affects bone health, especially the risk of osteoporosis.Continue ReadingCategory: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and MindTags: Coffee, The strange thing your eyes do when thinking gets hard
29 December 2025 @ 2:18 am
The rhythmic action of blinking helps keep our vision sharp. Initially studied only in vision science, blinking is now also recognized as a subtle cue showing how the brain handles attention and resources, even when we are listening. It's thought that as listening becomes more difficult, we blink less, with each pause indicating sharper focus and alertness.Continue ReadingCategory: Body and MindTags: Eye-trackingDesign without restraint: 2025's most ambitious architecture
29 December 2025 @ 12:03 am
The past 12 months have produced a remarkable number of buildings that push architecture to new heights. From a megatall skyscraper to the world's longest suspension bridge, here's our pick of the 10 most ambitious projects this year.Continue ReadingCategory: Architecture, TechnologyTags: Best of 2025, Buell's most exquisite bike yet hits the streets
28 December 2025 @ 11:09 pm
The time is finally here. Nearly 3 years after Buell’s most ambitious motorcycle was first revealed, deliveries for the Super Cruiser have begun in America. You know what they say: better late than never. Right?Continue ReadingCategory: Motorcycles, TransportTags: Buell, EBR (Erik Buell RaciChina's weaponized cargo ship: What we don't know
28 December 2025 @ 8:17 pm
The Christmas photos of the Chinese civilian-looking cargo ship that appears to be weaponized are real. It's sitting exactly where analysts say it is – the Hudong–Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. And yes, it absolutely looks like it's been fitted with containerized missile launchers, sensors, and point-defense hardware.Continue ReadingCategory: Military, TechnologyTags: Bio-mimicry? Try 'beaver-mimicry' dams to offset climate chaos
28 December 2025 @ 6:00 pm
The descendants of black-bear-sized giants who could haul massive rocks with their mouths, modern Castor canadensis once numbered as many as 400 million in North America. Felling mighty trees with their orange, iron-infused, nearly invincible incisors, they created their terraforming, hydro-engineering, half-submerged eco-homes based on blueprints stored in their DNA. Now, thanks to merciless fur-hunting by humans, their population has plummeted by 97.5%.Inside the giant ocean sinkhole where marine life gives way to an alien world
28 December 2025 @ 4:03 pm
In the South China Sea, near the Paracel Islands, the aqua-colored waters of an expansive shallow reef platform suddenly gives way to a near vertical shaft of vast darkness – an ocean sinkhole almost entirely devoid of oxygen and, in turn, marine life as we know it.Continue ReadingCategory: Marine, TransportTags: Ocean, Microbes,Compact, transforming, spacious, and solar: Top 10 tiny houses of 2025
28 December 2025 @ 12:03 pm
As the year nears its end, it's high time to take a look back at the best tiny houses of 2025. From high-end spacious models suitable for a family, to those that are modest in both size and cost, here's a look at the most interesting examples of small living we've seen over the last 12 months.Continue ReadingCategory: Tiny Houses, OutdoorsTags: Ancient coffins clinging to cliffs are no longer a mystery
28 December 2025 @ 6:03 am
High on the sheer limestone cliffs in southwest China, ancient wooden coffins remain wedged into rock faces hundreds of feet above the ground. Long treated as archaeological curiosities, these dramatic burials are now being re-examined using ancient DNA, and they point to a broader practice where separate cultures across Asia all paid their respects to the dead at similar "sky graveyards."Continue ReadingCategory: