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Brazilian dancer stuns viewers with an unbelievably fluid robot routine

Nope, this isn't AI.

Maikon Alves | Instagram

Some people have such amazing control of their bodies

Meet Maikon Alves, a dancer from Brazil turns heads on social media with moves so fluid and robotic that people around question if he's human.

In one particularly viral video, Alves dances to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas—to say his moves are impressive would be an understatement. Alves pops his chest to the beat while slowly stepping in place making it look like he's gliding from move to move. Some movements are crisp and sharp like a robot while others are so fluid it's nearly unbelievable that it could be coming from a human.

While the man's moves do look slightly out of this world, he is indeed a real person, or at least he appears to be in other videos on his page.

Comments ranged between being in awe of his abilities and questioning if he was human.

"Loved. I like how everything is in sync - from the music to the moves to face expressions. 👏👏👏 and your cool personal style," one person writes.

"Doesn’t even look real it’s that good..!! Love this," someone says.

"You will be the dance instructor for the children of our AI overlords someday," a commenter thinks.

"Nah, this is God-level pop-locking," someone compliments.

Even Nicole Scherzinger, actress, singer and former member of the pop group and dance ensemble, Pussycat Dolls gave Alves praise saying, "you are a legend!"

Alves' uncanny robot dance even made its way to season 19 of America's Got Talent. His audition routine included pretending to play the Violin and a fun moonwalk to robotic themed music.

Gotta hand it to folks like Alves, who remind us all what amazing feats the human body is capable of, and how dance can instantly spark joy. Whether you're the one performing the moves or not.

To catch even more of his nifty routines, follow Alves on Instagram.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Family

Mom makes adorable intricate pancakes shaped like different dog breeds

The art of the perfect breakfast.

Photo by nikldn on Unsplash

Mom makes dog shaped pancakes

At Upworthy we like to bring you feel good stories and this one from Good Morning America is perfect for back to school. Pancakes are a staple of breakfast for many Americans. We stack them high, make them as big as a plate or sometimes make them as small as a golf ball. People have even figured out how to add even more sugar to the already sweet breakfast item by making them out of cake mix or topping them with some sort of icing instead of maple syrup. But one mom, Anne Sage has won the pancake making game by making them in the shape of different dog breeds.

Yes, not just a dog's head made from chocolate chips and cut up fruit but whole dog breeds. It's pretty wild to see the creations she has made. In one video she shows pancakes shaped like a Saint Bernard, a Papillon and a Grey Hound. Sage isn't making them just for fun. It actually started after her daughter saw an episode of "Sesame Street" according to what the pancake artist told GMA. After her daughter saw the episode where Elmo made a robot dog, Sage's daughter had a request.

Sage told GMA, "Out of the blue one day, she asked me to make her 'robot dog' pancakes, and then every morning after for weeks, she had the same request. So to keep things interesting for myself, I started making a different dog each morning." She also explained that while it takes her about a week of trial and error to perfect each dog, her daughter doesn't particularly care for her artistic abilities.

While I'm sure Sage's daughter enjoyed eating the pancakes, it seems she would be just as happy with the regular old fashioned circle ones. But the internet appreciates the pancake puppies and we hope Sage keeps sharing her skills on Instagram.

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Science

The best way to board passengers on a plane—and why we'll likely never see it happen

CGP Grey/YouTube

The best way to board an airplane is one we'll probably never see happen.

Have you ever been boarding an airplane and said to yourself, "There's got to be a more efficient way to do this"?

People love to debate the quickest way to get people and their luggage aboard an aircraft. Every airline has its own method, which largely revolves around boarding people with some kind of status—first-class/premium seats or loyalty program status—first, followed by the nonstatus coach folk in various groupings. (I personally like to spend as little time as possible on the actual airplane, so I've never understood the "perk" of early boarding. I guess you get your pick of overhead bin space, but that alone isn't worth it to me.) Airlines are always tweaking their methods, both to be more efficient and to keep their customers happy.

But none of them do it in the truly most efficient way. And why not? Well, because people are involved.

If humans were robots we could program to do what we want them to do without getting their knickers in a twist over not getting to be first, we could theoretically board airplanes in a way that would minimize bottlenecks and get everyone seated quickly. But alas, we are not.

And what is the most efficient way? I would have assumed it would be back-to-front, but it's not. As a video from CGP Grey explains, boarding methods that intuitively seem like they might work best actually don't. There are several reasons for this, from the unpredictability of who is going to struggle to get their carry-on bag into the overhead bin to the fact that, as the video points out, "The human inability to follow instructions is breathtaking."

The video is really fascinating in addition to being entertaining. (There's poetry involved.) Check it out:

So it turns out the best way to board is every other row, back to front, window seats first, followed by the same pattern with middle and then aisle seats. Seems perfectly logical.

And the only barrier to this method is getting people to line up in a specific order? That doesn't seem like it should be that hard of a task. Southwest Airlines already does that with its boarding groups (everyone gets a number and lines up accordingly), though they don't have assigned seats. Has no airline ever even given it a try? Seems like it might be worth a shot at least.

And if nothing else, at least now we know that we're doing it all wrong. If we're going to be inefficient, we should at least be aware that we're doing it on purpose.

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Culture

This 'exhausted' kid shoveling show is frankly all of us right now

via CTV News

Carter Trozzolo is exhausted—aren't we all?

There was a massive snowstorm in Canada on Monday that blanketed southern Ontario. In a report on the storm’s aftermath, CTV News interviewed young Carter Trozzolo to see how it was affecting everyday Canadians. Trozzolo had the day off from school so he was put to work shoveling snow in his neighborhood.

When asked how his monumental task was going he said, "Tiring," with a large sigh. "I really wish I was in school right now," he continued. He added that he wasn’t just shoveling snow for himself but "neighbors, friends, probably people I even don't know," he said in an exasperated tone. “I am tired,” he reiterated.

The clip was of a young man shoveling snow, but his overwhelming sense of exasperation feels like it was about a lot more than just the task at hand. It’s how most of us feel after almost two years of dealing with the pandemic.

In fact, a recent poll by Monmouth University found that six in 10 Americans feel worn out by pandemic-related changes they've had to make. Thirty-six percent feel “worn out a lot” and 24% feel “worn out a little.”

To take things a step further, the next interview in the clip feels like a metaphor for the futility of trying to get through the day with no end to the pandemic on the horizon. Toronto resident Vishnu Jayanthan attempts to dig his car out of the snow with nothing more than garden hand tools.

Vishnu Jayanthan "needs a bigger shovel" the chyron reads.

We could all use a bigger shovel and to be less exhausted.

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