The terrifyingly toothy anglerfish became a common occurrence in little kids’ nightmares ever since it chased Nemo and Dory in Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.” To attract prey, the scary-looking fish uses a bioluminescent “fishing pole” that hangs just above and in front of its toothy face. The lure is actually a piece of dorsal spine packed with millions of glow-in-the-dark bacteria.
Previous research on the subject suggested that the sound is acoustically similar to the warning call of a primate, but that theory was debunked after monkeys responded to amplitude-matched white noise and other high-pitched sounds, whereas humans did not. Another study, in 1986, manipulated a recording of blackboard scraping and found that the medium-pitched frequencies are the source of the adverse reaction, rather than the the higher pitches (as previously thought). The work won author Randolph Blake an Ig Nobel Prize in 2006.
The latest study, conducted by musicologists Michael Oehler of the Macromedia University for Media and Communication in Cologne, Germany, and Christoph Reuter of the University of Vienna, looked at other sounds that generate a similar reaction — including chalk on slate, styrofoam squeaks, a plate being scraped by a fork, and the ol’ fingernails on blackboard.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has sold 6.5 million copies in just 24 hours taking sales of a staggering $400 million making it the largest entertainment launch in history.
If you are a student that is at least 18 years old with a knack for photography, enter this Google Plus contest for a chance to win your own exhibition in London and a trip to anywhere where in the world.
We challenge you to come up with photographs that will make us laugh, cry, listen, hop on a plane, start a conversation, or start a revolution. If you are a student aged 18 years or older then this contest is for you. Pick from one of 10 categories on the left and submit up to 8 of your best shots by January 31, 2012.
