"Ancillary Materials"

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

Hello, procrastination, old friend. You’re a gem

• This New York Times article about the camel beauty pageant that occurs annually during the Al Dhafra Festival in the UAE made me smile as if — to quote Rachel in Friends — I’d “slept with a hanger in my mouth.” “Expressive” eyes, curvy eyelashes, and a shapely (and properly placed!) hump are only some of the qualities that the supermodel camel must possess. And yes, there are even camel jewelry stands.
• Welcome to the interactive French Fry Universe, celebrating all the magical shapes a potato can take and what that means for their fried to unfried ratio.
• Click here to see how some birds will change your life. Did I mention they all have human arms?
• And don’t forget the baby flamingos learning that they can bounce.
• Hypothetical question: Say you’re walking down the beach and find a dead whale. Do you, A. Keep walking; B. Bury It; C. Take a selfie; or D., Get a %$#^ton of dynamite and reenact your favorite scenes from Die Hard? Well, 1970 called and said, “Bring me the dynamite.” Yipee ki-yay?
• My partner John has always said that, unless it’s an Haribo gummy, there’s just no point. (Twin Snakes anyone?!) That’s why, when I found this article about the flavor science behind Haribo gummies, I had to put the world on the back burner for 5 minutes.
• Unlike other wildlife, when a giraffe needs to be moved, it can’t be fully sedated and laid down horizontally. (Its brain could explode!) So, when it came to moving these animals from an island to the mainland when their island home becomes unsustainable, some heroic engineering and step-by-step giraffe training (and coaxing) was required. This is a great article/initiative to read about, but, really, that first image says it all.