From the fish doorbell to hatching eaglets, there's been a proliferation of nature-focused "slow TV" programming in recent years. The latest show gripping millions? The Great Moose Migration, or Den stora älgvandringen in Swedish. Since 2019, Sweden's national broadcaster SVT has livestreamed the animals' annual spring migration, which is currently underway. The stream is on 24/7 for nearly three weeks; most of the time there are no moose in sight — but that makes it all the more exciting when they do pop up on screen. "Sleep? Forget it. I don't sleep," dedicated viewer Ulla Malmgren told the Associated Press. Watch the show.
"It Was Jaw-Dropping": Scientists Say They Found a New Color Never Before Seen by Humans
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Think you've seen it all? Think again (maybe). According to a new study published Friday, a brand new color never before seen by humans has been identified. The blue-green hue, dubbed "olo," is "more saturated than any color that you can see in the real world," co-author Ren Ng told BBC Radio 4, and isn't normally visible to the human eye. To create the circumstances for olo to be perceived, Ng and his colleagues had five human subjects (three of whom were the researchers themselves) gaze into a tool called Oz vision, which beamed laser pulses into one of their pupils. There are three types of cone cells in the eye — S, L, and M — and each is sensitive to different wavelengths of blue, red, and green, respectively. In the real world, light that stimulates the M cone cells also triggers the nearby S and L cone cells. But the Oz tool enabled researchers to stimulate only M cone cells in the participants' retinas, sending a unique color signal to the brain "that never occurs in natural vision," they wrote. "We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented color signal but we didn't know what the brain would do with it," Ng told The Guardian. "It was jaw-dropping. It's incredibly saturated." While some experts are contesting the claim that a truly novel color was discovered, the research does represent an innovative step forward in triggering specific cone cells, and the findings may hold potential to further the understanding of color blindness and other conditions that affect vision. See the turquoise-esque shade researchers say is closest to olo.
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The Next Big Tech IPO May Not Be Who You Think
Imagine if you'd invested in Zillow before it changed homebuying. Your little-known investment would have cashed in on a $47 billion IPO. Well, Pacaso is now changing how buyers own homes — offering co-ownership of luxury vacation properties for fractions of the cost. Even better? Pacaso was co-founded by former Zillow execs Spencer Rascoff and Austin Allison. As Zillow's co-founder, Rascoff wished everyone could have invested before Zillow's IPO. So they made sure people could invest while Pacaso is private. Pacaso already has over 2,000 happy homeowners and $100 million in profits. No wonder firms like Greycroft and SoftBank invested — and you can join them. You missed Zillow's early gains. Don't miss this: Own a stake in the next real estate platform shift.
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Tech
FYI: Study Links Tech Use to Reduced Dementia Risk in Older Adults
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Facebook enthusiasts, "grandfluencers," and all tech-savvy seniors, you may want to share this recent study with your group chat: Researchers found that frequent use of digital technology might help stave off cognitive decline in older adults. After reviewing 57 studies involving more than 411,000 older adults, researchers found that consistent use of technology — e.g. smartphones, computers, email, and social media — was associated with a 42% lower risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. The study results challenge the "digital dementia" hypothesis, which suggests reliance on tech can weaken cognitive abilities in the long run. But this isn't to say there's no such thing as too much screen time: "Our findings are not a blanket endorsement of mindless scrolling," co-lead author Jared Benge told CNN. "They are instead a hint that the generation that gave us the internet has found ways to get some net positive benefits from these tools to the brain."
Health
Pets May Bring as Much Life Satisfaction as a Spouse
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Science has confirmed what pet owners already knew: Dogs and cats are equally valuable to us as our human family and friends. Researchers at the University of Kent discovered that having a dog or cat can bring just as much life satisfaction as having a husband or wife or meeting with friends and relatives on a regular basis. They figured this out using the "life satisfaction approach," a method developed by economists to determine the "implicit price of different factors or occurrences in life," per the study authors. Economists previously used the model to estimate that both marriage and meeting up with friends and relatives once or twice a week are worth about $90,000 a year in Britain, and the new study found that pet companionship is worth up to the same amount. "First when I obtained the values I was surprised; I was thinking that is a lot of money even for me who loves [pets]," co-author Adelina Gschwandtner told CNN. But then she asked herself: "If pets are indeed like friends and family, why shouldn't that measure be comparable to talking to friends and family once a week? You have your pet every day."
In Other News
America's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, landed back on Earth on his 70th birthday Sunday(read more)
Oklahoma Citybeat Memphis yesterday in the fifth-largest marginof victory in NBA postseason history(read more)
Star Wars superfans donned creative costumes at a three-day convention in Japan this weekend: See pics(read more)
Disposable vape use has dropped by nearly 50% over the last year in the U.K., ahead of a nationwide ban (read more)
A baby orca was spotted near Victoria, British Columbia, a glimmer of hope for the endangered population (read more)
Inspiring Story
Life has a way of coming full circle
When Eileen Reilly was just 26, she co-founded Women's Lunch Place, a day shelter in Boston where women can have a meal, a safe place to sit, and perhaps a conversation with a new friend. Reilly eventually left to go to medical school and pursue a career in psychiatry — but as life would have it, she's come full circle more than 40 years later: She's now working at the shelter as a psychiatrist. "I feel that I have the best psychiatry job in Boston, because I really have time to spend with people," she said.
Photo of the Day
Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
In a rare overlap, Christians in the east and west celebrated Easter on the same Sunday this year. Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar, while protestant and Roman Catholic churches follow the Gregorian, and the differing denominations also use varying ecclesiastical calculations for lunar cycles and the equinox — so multiple elements must align for the holiday to land on the same date around the world. In the photo above, a priest blesses observers with holy water in Kyiv, Ukraine. See more pics of the festivities, from Nairobi, Kenya, to New York City.
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