A list of curious facts

One: A Japanese research lab has developed a mask for robots. It can smile or frown just like the human face. It’s flexible, squishy—and heals itself when damaged—showing scars like our skin. In New York Times’ words, “The effect is something between Hannibal Lecter’s terrifying mask and the Claymation figure Gumby.” The next step: “Biomimetic robots could also become even more realistic with thicker skin, Takeuchi said, adding that future projects could look to add sensors, pores and even sweat glands and fat.” Yikes! You can see the skin in action below. New York Times (paywall) and NPR have more nerdy details. 

Two: Did you know that the Earth is getting greener? Literally. Over the last 40 years, the spread of green vegetation—“the amount of leaves in a given area “—has actually been increasing around the planet. Contrary to popular belief, there is more green space today—not less. And the rate of greening is accelerating.

But, but, but: This is not good news. The colour captures how humans are drastically transforming the planet. And all shades of green are not the same:

To sensors on a satellite, a rainforest in Indonesia and a nearby monoculture of coffee or rubber trees look similar. They both appear green. Yet these two landscapes are dramatically different: The rainforest is home to orangutans and rare plants and helps regulate the local climate, whereas the plantation is relatively devoid of life. 

FYI: China and India together account for roughly one-third of all greening. The reason: intensive farming. You can see the spread of green in the map below. Darker bits indicate where the planet is becoming leafier. (Vox)

Three: India is home to the oldest known grape seeds—which are 66 million years old. That’s around the time the nasty asteroid hit our planet—and killed 76% of life on earth including the dinos. This catastrophe, however, proved to be a boon for grapes—which started to spread across the world—prepping the planet for ‘wine time’! Without large beasts to knock down trees, tropical forests became dense—encouraging the growth of creepers that could grow upward to reach the light. CNN has lots more on this fascinating study.