Stories tagged weird
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic anxiety disorder most commonly characterized by obsessive, distressing, intrusive thoughts and related compulsions. Compulsions are tasks or "rituals" which attempt to neutralize the obsessions. OCD is distinguished from other types of anxiety, including the routine tension and stress that appear throughout life. The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has become part of the English lexicon, and is often used in an informal or caricatured manner to describe someone who is meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed in a cause, or otherwise fixated on something or someone.[1] Although these signs are often present in OCD, a person who exhibits them does not necessarily have OCD, and may instead have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) or some other condition.
(this is from wiki!!)
Tags : You've probably never thought about this before, but catfish and soccer balls don't mix well. Read this to find out why.
Not only is today the birthday of the UFO, but apparently June 24th is infamous for all sorts of crazy carp, from (one of) the discovery of North America, to Angelic visions and rains of blood and goo, to a handful of Bigfoot sightings. And a bunch of other stuff.
Skipjack herring: Illustration courtesy Duane Raver and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
I work at the Science Museum and I often learn unusual things during the course of my day. Some things are funny, some I store away to pull out in a Cliff Claven moment, and others make me want to run screaming to my desk to put them into this blog.
This is one of the latter.
Yesterday I learned that herrings may communicate with one another through their anuses by farting. I almost exploded when the person leading the meeting casually mentioned this fact. I ran back to my computer, and sure enough. Researchers at not one, but TWO institutions are studying the phenomena. Both the Institute of Coastal Research at the National Board of Fisheries in Sweden and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver have researchers looking into the matter.
Before this remarkable discovery, it was known that herrings communicated with one another through sounds produced by their swim bladder. Researchers thought that all the sounds they heard coming from the herring were coming from the swim bladder. But, and I am laughing as I type, they noticed that a stream of bubbles would leave the herring’s anus in time with the sounds they were hearing. Sure enough, they are connected, and that sound was soon dubbed by the quick-thinking researchers as a Fast Repetitive Tick (or FRT, if you will).
Researchers note that the unlike the gas we pass, these sounds are not produced by the digestive process, but rather a connection between the swim bladder and the anus. The exact purpose or reason behind the FRTs is not exactly known. One theory is that is a way for the herring to communicate with each other at night. Another is that is an anti-predator tactic. Seriously. Or, it could just be an incidental release of air from the swim bladder as the fish adjusts its buoyancy.
You can hear the herring communicating in this manner here.
Woah! Check out this creepy fish found down in Texas. It has human looking teeth. I can't find much more credible information on this fish but some are suggesting it might be a sheapshead. Any ideas?
The USGS, the branch of our government that reports and monitors earthquakes, reported a small earthquake in southern Florida yesterday. Well, at least that's what they thought. Residents of the Tampa, Florida area felt strong shocks and sounds of explosions last night and many thought it might have been an earthquake too. But Florida doesn't usually experience these sorts of tremors. The military later released a statement saying that two F-18 fighter jets flying low and then landing at an area Air Force base created the shocks. But, is that the whole story?
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