A list of curious facts
One: While bizarre fashions trends are a fave splainer sport, we have been entirely disarmed by the latest runway trend—inspired by the legendary Bloomsbury Group. (The most famous among them being Virginia Woolf—playing dress up with her literary mates in the lead image.)
This posse of artists with lavishly bohemian lifestyles are inspiring everyone from Tod’s to Burberry and Anna Sui. What we appreciate most—it all looks so comfy and wearable—like these $50 Uniqlo clogs:
Also loving: Anna Sui’s take on flapper fabulousness:
FYI: they’re calling it ‘dissertation chic’—and you can see why. (Wall Street Journal, paywall, Outlook)
Two: The passenger airline has looked pretty much the same since World War II. A US startup—JetZero—has ambitious plans to shake things up—by going military. Its design is inspired by those badass stealth bombers.
The truly cool bit: The ‘blended wing’ will reduce both fuel consumption by 50%—and produce 50% less CO2 emissions. And if that isn’t enough: There will be panoramic wall and ceiling windows—plus (hallelujah) bin space for everyone’s carry-on bags. Consider us sold! Get a peek below. (Forbes)
Three: We first ran the dodo into extinction—and then maligned it as a dumbass—far too stupid to survive. New research shows hungry humans (as in, Dutch sailors) wiped out an entire species endemic to Mauritius—by 1693. There are now plans to de-extinct the hapless bird—using the DNA of the Nicobar pigeon—also endangered due to greedy humans. And then implanting it in chickens—who will produce dodo sperm or eggs. We leave it to BBC Science Focus to explain this mad plan.
Bonus fact: Birds look really goofy when they’re trying to move fast because they use a technique called ‘grounded running’. That means they keep a foot on the ground at all times—which is actually very energy efficient (as you can see below). Here’s the cool bit of historical continuity: Grounded running was likely also used by dinosaurs—and it will likely be the model for bipedal robots in the future. (ABC Australia)
