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Science

Video of a horseshoe crab struggling to rescue its flipped-over friend is surprisingly riveting

People are finding themselves tilting their phones to try to help them out.

horseshoe crab

A horseshoe crab works hard to help flip over another that has overturned.

Horseshoe crabs are fascinating creatures, and not just because they look like some kind of shelled alien.

First of all, horseshoe crabs aren't crabs at all. They're actually more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crabs and lobsters. Secondly, they are ancient—even predating the dinosaurs—which is why they're often referred to as "living fossils." Third, their blood contains a unique substance called limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) that humans have relied on for decades to test the safety of medications, vaccines and medical equipment. (A synthetic version of LAL is increasingly being utilized instead, which is good news for horseshoe crabs who probably don't appreciate the bloodletting.)

Oh, and they also glow also under ultraviolet light (blacklight) like scorpions do, and nobody knows why.



But one of the most interesting recent discoveries about horseshoe crabs is that their brains haven't evolved much at all in over 300 million years. In 2021, a 310-million-year-old horseshoe crab fossil was discovered in Illinois with a beautifully preserved brain. Scientists compared it to a current species of horseshoe crab and found that while their external characteristics had changed over time, their brains were pretty much identical.

That discovery makes a viral video of one horseshoe crab seeming to go all out to help another one all the more remarkable. Horseshoe crabs usually use their tails to flip themselves over if they end up upside down, but a video shows a horseshoe crab clearly exerting sustained effort to help a buddy who is flailing on its back. Such behavior seems to indicate some combination of planning and altruism, which are characteristics we usually associate with highly social or evolved creatures. If horseshoe crab brains haven't evolved in hundreds of millions of years, what would compel one to to help another with no obvious benefit to itself?

Maybe horseshoe crab brains were just perfect for their species' purposes from the get-go—10/10, no notes—and this video is just a fluke. Or perhaps what we're witnessing is biological altruism, which is a behavioral reality of some species of animals, usually among those with complex social structures. Scientists debate whether biological altruism differs from human altruism since our motivations to selflessly help others frequently go beyond our species' survival, and research on that front is ongoing. While the "why" here may be a mystery, it doesn't make it any less heartwarming to see an animal that we think of as purely instinctual go out of its way to help another.

Plus, in this case, the rescue is truly riveting. People have commented that they keep tilting their phones to try to help them out. Watch:

If a creature whose brain hasn't evolved in 310 million years can do this for one another, surely we can treat our fellow humans with care and compassion, no?

Health

Psychologist explains why everyone feels exhausted right now and it makes so much sense

Psychologist Naomi Holdt beautifully explained what's behind the overarching exhaustion people are feeling and it makes perfect sense.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

It seems like most people are feeling wiped out these days. There's a reason for that.

We're about to wrap up year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's been a weird ride, to say the least. These years have been hard, frustrating, confusing and tragic, and yet we keep on keeping on.

Except the keeping on part isn't quite as simple as it sounds. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc, we've sort of collectively decided to move on, come what may. This year has been an experiment in normalcy, but one without a testable hypothesis or clear design. And it's taken a toll. So many people are feeling tired, exhausted, worn thin ("like butter scraped over too much bread," as Bilbo Baggins put it) these days.

But why?

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Internet

A story about 'lemon pie' is taking the internet by storm and leaving readers in tears

It might be fictional, but it's stirring up some real feelings.

@sappoop/TikTok, @finneyfrog/TikTok

Reader reacts to "lemon pie" story

There appears to be a growing trend on TikTok: heartbreaking slice-of-life stories, told as a slideshow. These usually mimic a text conversation between two people caught in a vulnerable moment, showcasing something quite moving and profound in the mundane.

Take for instance the “orange peel story” which went viral only a couple of weeks ago. It follows two college students post break-up, one of whom still has feelings for the other. A tender exchange encourages them to believe that they will find love again.

Now, there’s a new story making the rounds, and it’s every bit as touching.

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All GIFs and images via Exposure Labs.


Photographer James Balog and his crew were hanging out near a glacier when their camera captured something extraordinary.

They were in Greenland, gathering footage from the time-lapse they'd positioned all around the Arctic Circle for the last several years.

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Family

Family creates an NFL-style draft to assign Thanksgiving cooking and cleaning duties

Is this family too organized or do you want to be adopted by them?

via Crcederberg/TikTok

Colleen Rast Cederberg's Thanksgiving Draft.

When Thanksgiving is done right, families evenly divide the labor so that everything gets done and nobody works too hard. Someone takes charge of roasting the turkey, others contribute with sides, somebody is on dishes, and there’s always one family member happy to mix up some cocktails.

While most families shouldn't have to resort to aggressive tactics to ensure this balance, Colleen Rast Cederberg, 31, has created a unique solution to keep the labor duties in her family. She made a “Thanksgiving Draft.”

"My sisters were spending all day cooking, and my brothers were spending all evening cleaning and I was just kind of hearing from both sides that there was kind of an imbalance," Rast Cederberg, the middle child of 5 siblings, told Fox News Digital.

Rast Cederberg explained how the draft works in a TikTok video that has been seen 650,000 times.

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Can a dog really trust you?

Dogs can smell fear, but can they sniff out the truth? Your dog might actually be smarter than you're giving it credit for. It turns out, dogs are pretty good at picking up on human behavior. Science says so. A team led by Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University in Japan conducted a study which found out that dogs actually know if you're to be believed or not.

The study involved tricking dogs in the name of science. Humans have known for a long time that if you point at an object, a dog will run to it. Researchers utilized this information in their study. During the experiment, they pointed at a container that was filled with hidden food. Sure enough, the dog ran towards the container. Then, they pointed at a container that was empty. The dogs ran towards it, but found that it had no food.

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Joy

A husband took these photos of his wife and captured love and loss beautifully.

I feel as if I were right there with them as I looked through the photos.

Snuggles.

When I saw these incredible photos Angelo Merendino took of his wife, Jennifer, as she battled breast cancer, I felt that I shouldn't be seeing this snapshot of their intimate, private lives.

The photos humanize the face of cancer and capture the difficulty, fear, and pain that they experienced during the difficult time.

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