Thinks aren’t looking so hot for planet earth right about now…well, to be literal, things are looking a little too hot. April marks the 400th time that a month has been hotter than average. The last time a month was colder than average, Ronald Reagan was president and kids were listening to Madonna

Stories are really about characters, and characters need to change for a story to be compelling. One way to tell the difference between the character at the beginning of the story and at the end of the story is simple to read the first and last page of a book or screenplay, or in this case listen to the first in last lines of a movie. Take a look at the first and last lines of the top fifty films according to IMDB and see what you notice.

True Facts became famous for its hilarious, yet still somehow educational, videos about animals. This installment is even more educational, so you will learn a lot about the leafcutter act. These guys are shockingly fascinating because they actually practice a form of farming. They use the leafs to feed fungi, which actually feed the ants. The ants also have a weird kind of husbandry, as they feed of aphids’ excretion. But don’t worry, there are still lots of laughs. 

There were 3.85 million babies born in the United States in 2017. Although that sounds like a boat load o’ babies, in fact it is the lowest number of births since 1987. Declining birth rates are common among developed countries, so this is not an alarming statistic. In fact, the birthrate will likely continue to decline as more women put off pregnancy in order to pursue careers. And without state or mandatory company aide for pregnancy and parental leave, it’s likely to continue for quite some time.

The history of cool book cover art begins relatively recently, with the popularization of paperbacks. When the first major paperbacks sold millions of copies, publishers realized that change was in the air. To further drum up sales, they started to produce truly unique and interesting cover art. This Nerdwriter piece follows the trends in that style of art and describes how the book cover art helped shaped popular culture in years to come.

Since the Milli Vanilli fiasco, most everyone is aware that many singers lip sync during live performances––although usually they’re lip syncing to their own tracks. Iron Maiden once famously refused to do so, as a matter of fact. But the fact that many singers lip sync is no problem, but it is a challenge sometimes to tell when singers are doing so and when they are not. This video gives you a few sure-fire ways to tell if they are, for example, if you can’t see their vocal chords straining, they’re probably not singing.

Great news, everyone! After the disastrous decision by Ajit Pai’s FCC to eliminate Net Neutrality protections, the Senate has forced a vote on the issue. But that doesn’t mean that Net Neutrality is saved. This new bill is very unlikely to pass the House of Representatives, but it does provide a strong rallying point for Democrats as midterm elections approach. If and when the House of Representatives votes down the bill, Republicans are likely going to face a massive bipartisan backlash. 

Do a quick Google search of avocado, and you’ll probably get about a billion hits about avocado toast, avocado ceviche, avocado margaritas, and a hundred other avocado-filled foods. And they are not just popular in avocado friendly climates , they’re popular all over the country. How did they become so insanely popular? As you might expect, you can follow the green…money, that is, not the avocado itself. After the low fat crazy almost ruined avocados, the avocado industry fought back.

Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin together star in the new Deadpool movie, so naturally they’ve been going around and doing the talkshow circuit to drum up interest. But the BBC Radio 1 is far from your usual talk show, so they asked Reynolds and Brolin to do a bit of a different media hype up: an insult contest. Ryan Reynolds comes out swinging by calling Josh Brolin a muffin snuggling pirate puncher, and it just builds from there.

This thirteen minute short documentary has everything you want in a sports documentary. It’s got great characters––the two brothers are hilarious, and their accents are charming of course. It’s got a great story––underdogs from a tiny town literally make their own weights out of scrap metal to train come out of nowhere to win silver at the Rio Olympics. It’s got beautiful shots––after all, rowing is an inherently beautiful sport. This is a perfect mealtime documentary. 

Any mountaineer knows that Sherpas are basically real life superheroes. When other people are feeling disoriented, sick, and succumbing to mountain sickness, Sherpas are functioning almost like normal. What makes them so special? Well, thousands of years of living in the thin, Himalayan air has left the Sherpa with a demonstrably different biology from the rest of us. This video explains what is different about Sherpas and how scientists have been able to determine what made them different. 

This sort of gag happens in movies from time to time. One character slips laxatives or eye drops into someone else’s food or drink and, bam, the victim is hugging the toilet for a few hours. This news story is reminder that something like this isn’t a funny joke. A Michigan woman was nearly arrested for putting laxatives into some brownies she brought for her rival’s goodbye party. The police didn’t press charges, but she definitely lost her job.