The Strangest Fossil Finds

Where is the strangest place you've heard of fossils being discovered?

It always humbles me when I picture the land we live on millions of years ago. When I dig up earth to plant anything, I have to get through so much clay because where I live, it was all under water. That's why we have so many cool water fossils and no dinosaurs here. It's also why when you do find out about any cool fossil findings it seems so magical.

Take this Milwaukee suburb where some soft tissue was discovered. Many ancient crustaceans were discovered from the Silurian period, giving scientists lots of rare tissue to study and learn more about both these creatures and this period. It's such a fascinating find, reminding me of the few dino "mummies" we've been able to learn from so far.

What is the strangest place of fossil discovery or type of fossil you've heard of recently? Share it in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Science
News

Best Ghost Hunters On TikTok

Who do you follow?

As much as I love TikTok, I'm finding that the more curated content I follow, the less fun it is. I keep following more hashtags that I'm interested in, but a lot of people don't even bother with tagging anything, and my FYP seems to have become much more serious as a result. Alas, the same happened with YouTube. Algorithms!

That said, I've been seeing a lot of interesting content in the ghost hunting community, and I'm a bit... confused. A lot of it is unlike any ghost hunting I've seen before. There are a lot of "baby witches" who say they can see things and then just describe it as ghost laughing, cursing and getting a thrill messing with people. But then you have other hunters who describe their experiences as completely different. Honestly I have no idea what to think about any of these things.

Do you follow any ghost hunters on TikTok? What do you think of them? Who seem like the most legit people to follow?

Klat Categories: 
Entertainment

The Bigfin Squid

Have you seen this holy terror?

Tiktok user @mndiaye_97 makes fascinating videos about animals and I love the creator's fun commentary and introduction to species that I've never heard of before. This week I watched the creator's piece on the bigfin squid, which led me down a rabbit hole of terror. (I heartily recommend looking up anything you see on Tiktok or YouTube--or anywhere online, for that matter--for verification.)

This creature looks like a majestic jellyfish of some kind from afar, but when you see its legs bent at 90 degree angles, trolling the ocean floor for prey... and when you find out that we know almost nothing about them, and that they grow up to 26 feet long (or longer, since we don't have any adult specimens to confirm due to their elusive nature)... they get pretty scary!

What freaky creatures have you seen this week? Share them in the chat!

Klat Categories: 
Animals

Lizard People To Atlantis

What is your favorite urban legend or conspiracy theory?

It's almost no fun to ponder over, laugh about or even entertain conspiracy theories for fun anymore. Boy did I love urban legends and conspiracies as a teenager! It's fun to contemplate what might be, even if there's no evidence. At one point I wanted to be a cryptozoologist. How fun would that be?

Nowadays it almost feels irresponsible to entertain these theories. There's more content about them than ever, but between the CIA confirming the existence of aliens and QAnon putting our democracy in jeopardy with the weirdest theories you've ever imagined, it kind of takes the fun away from imagining how we might've been merpeople at one point. (No. It's still fun to entertain, even if for a minute!) My teenager absolutely hates it when I do because the kids live in a time when conspiracy theorists want to let Donald Trump run their country. I can't say I blame them. Even so, my teen still likes the idea of werewolves and Mothman!

That said, if you do still read about them just for fun, what's your favorite? What creature do you think isn't considered enough?

Klat Categories: 
Hobbies

More UFO News

They've been confirmed... but why?

They're not UFOs anymore; they're UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. But they definitely exist. Last year the Pentagon confirmed that leaked footage from the Navy was indeed of UAPs, and that a task force has been created to learn more about this phenomena. It's got plenty of people thinking about their loved ones (or even themselves) being ignored or even made fun of for reporting similar sightings over the years.

What I'd love to know is why the Pentagon suddenly deemed this knowledge fit for the public. We know they've had this kind of knowledge for years. Why now? Do we have a bunch of aliens among us they can no longer hide? Did they just want to distract from the pandemic?

Why do you think this knowledge is suddenly being made public, and what do you think will come from it?

Klat Categories: 
News
Science
Space

UFO Reports Up During Pandemic

Did you see anything?

During the pandemic, UFO sightings have increased, which really isn't a big surprise. Between more people home and bored and governments admitting that UFOs exist in the first place, the variables were ripe for more sightings. The question is whether or not they were actual aliens.

There have been quite a few TikTok videos and YouTube recordings of UFOs by people who swear by them, but it's hard to know whether or not they can really be trusted. With all that time on their hands, plenty of people certainly had the initiative to create their own content to share as well.

Have you seen any UFOs in the past year? What about videos that have been shared? Did you think any of them were real? Share your thoughts in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
News
Space

Anti-Aging Molecules?

Have you heard about urolithin?

As of 2021, I don't think there are really any anti-aging formulas that work like a fountain of youth, but I do think there are plenty of practices, foods and habits we can do that give us a better shot at aging more healthfully. I've seen plenty of people who are the same age but certainly don't look it due to these factors in their lives.

Today I read a claim about a metabolite compound called urolithin that many "health" websites are lauding as the new miracle anti-aging phenomenon. After some research all I can really find out about that claim is from other supposed "health" sites that don't appear to be very credible to me, but I've seen some scientific research on it, and what's really interesting is that it's not able to be obtained from food or even made in everyone's body. That's because it depends on the bacteria present in your body, and reading that just gave me the guilty urge to go eat some yogurt.

I hate how hard it is to vet information today but I'm really interested in this concept (and any other helpful nutrients, compounds, etc. that we never learned about in school). Do you know anything about it? Share what you've found in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Science

Virginia Abolishes Death Penalty

It's freaky that it still exists

My teen and I have been taking classes about the death penalty and learning about how ineffective it is, how unjust it is and how most people who get it are poor, have mental illness and/or had such terrible representation in court that it's no wonder they were convicted.

So many people have been exonerated after being killed by the state that I can't believe so many people still support this form of punishment. It's also against the law, given that there's no such thing as an execution that's not cruel and unusual. In fact, it's extremely unusual, as most countries have outlawed the archaic practice. 

Today we learned that the United States is in the top 10 countries that execute people, and that the rest of the countries listed are well known for their human rights violations. The good news is that the first Southern state to outlaw the practice, Virginia, just did so, which means there's hope for the rest of the nation.

What other weird or freaky things have you read about this week? Share them in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
News

Biometric ID Cards

How are people not freaked out by this?

The Chinese government is engaging in some worrisome activities when it comes to tracking its citizens. A biometric ID is in development for tracking citizen use of the Internet. Some media reports are even saying that there are even ID trackers in the works to track location and DNA. Many civil and human rights activists are outraged by this government intrusion, but some people, even those in the West, think it's really no big deal. In fact, some people say they would happily have their IDs and financial information embedded within themselves like a microchip.

It seems like there's either people who deeply fear this possibility or relish it. Why would you want to be chipped like that? It's bad enough that our social media, phones and other online use is constantly monitored, but adding biometrics in seems like a step in the wrong direction. Maybe it's just me being an old xennial who enjoys the Internet but doesn't want it as part of my body.

What do you think about biometrics, tracking and microchip implants?

Klat Categories: 
Science

Scientists Talk to Lucid Dreamers

This news is a little disturbing.

Scientists want to understand what's really going on while we dream, which is why it makes sense to want to be able to communicate with people while they are asleep. But now that scientists have been able to connect with lucid dreamers with simple back and forth communication, it makes you wonder just what will be done with the information.

There have been so many movies and TV shows that suppose what would happen under these circumstances, from erasing memories to inserting ads into people's sleep. It seems a little Black Mirror-esque to me. Those involved hope that more complex exchanges can be made in the future based on this research. I'm not so sure it's a great idea...

What do you think? Is communication with lucid dreamers a great idea? Share your thoughts in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Science

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