French beatbox and a cappella group Berywam, who previously performed a beatbox cover of The Simpsons Theme, demonstrated how each member imitates a specific instrument to create a cohesive song.

How We Create Music Step By Step

Other Demonstrations

Other Vocal Beatbox Covers

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post How Beatboxers Imitate Specific Instruments to Create a Cohesive Song was originally published on Laughing Squid.

BBC Earth shared a fantastic compilation of the diverse strategies that birds use to find food, secure a home, and raise a family. It features courtship dances, cooperative feeding behaviors, and other remarkable adaptations.

From a resplendent quetzal feeding his young to a turquoise-browed motmot searching for the perfect nest site, these remarkable birds face the challenges of finding food, securing a home and raising a family.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post A Fantastic BBC Earth Compilation Focusing on the Extraordinary Lives of Birds was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Ted Lasso stars Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and series newcomer Tanya Reynolds took on Esquire UK’s humorous challenges about British culture to determine who was the most British of them all. The result wasn’t as obvious as expected.

The trio go up against a series of very British challenges, from decoding confusing slang and finishing iconic football chants, to debating the nation’s biggest cultural dilemmas. But who will reign supreme and win the trophy?

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Ted Lasso Cast Members Compete to See Who Is the Most British was originally published on Laughing Squid.

James Cook, a British artist who creates “typictions”, used a portable typewriter to create astonishingly detailed depictions of different Manhattan views from his perches at Top of the Rock and Edge NYC.

The entire artwork is made using thousands of individually typed letters, numbers and symbols. I even switched between different coloured typewriter ribbons to add small flashes of colour amongst the monochrome skyline.

Limited prints of his New York City artwork are available for purchase on Cook’s website.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Detailed Typewriter Drawings of the Manhattan Skyline From High Above the City was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Actor Laurence Fishburne delivered an animated reading of a prescient 2018 letter by comedy writer Connor Relyea, addressed to the robots that would eventually replace him. In the humorous letter, Relyea challenged the perceived superiority of robots, arguing they would never understand the nuance of human creativity and comedy.

Laurence Fishburne reads a warning letter to the robots that will eventually replace us.

This reading took place at a Letters Live event at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Laurence Fishburne joined us to read at Letters Live at the Royal Festival Hall in London in September 2026.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Laurence Fishburne Reads a Prescient 2018 Warning Letter to Future Robots was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Legendary Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson performed an a cappella rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” before an NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks on September 14, 2025. Only Dickinson could give the US national anthem a respectful heavy metal edge.

Thank you to everyone at the NFLand all of the fans at the Steelers vs Seahawks game today… that was a huge honour!

Dickinson also performed the national anthem before the 2025-26 season opener between the Los Angeles Kings and the Colorado Avalanche on October 7, 2025.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Bruce Dickinson Powerfully Sings the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ Before a 2025 Steelers vs Seahawks Game was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Bionic and the Wires, a British collective that finds new ways to make music with the natural world, connected sensors to a large wild mushroom in Snake Woodland near Glossop, Derbyshire, converting its bioelectrical fluctuations into signals that controlled bionic arms, which played a keyboard connected to a synthesizer. This creative outdoor setup resulted in a rather danceable electronic song.

This has got to be one of the funkiest mushrooms I’ve ever connected up. It was creating lots of signals, possibly due to the sun and wind and all the rain we’ve had recently.

They also used lion’s mane fungus to play the synthesizer and “sing” inside their studio.

Bio-electrical signals from the Lion’s Mane mushroom are controlling the bionic arms to play the synth and triggering 50 words based on the frequency of the signal.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post A Wild Mushroom With Bionic Arms Plays a Synthesizer in the Woods was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Ryan Socash of It’s History examined the long, tragic history of Dead Horse Bay, a small body of water off Barren Island between Gerritsen Inlet and Rockaway Inlet in Brooklyn. Beginning in the 1870s, the bay became a dumping ground for horse carcasses from nearby rendering plants, while New York City later filled part of the site with municipal solid waste between 1948 and the mid-1950s.

As erosion exposed the old landfill, thousands of bottles and other household artifacts appeared along the shoreline, earning it the nickname Glass Bottle Beach. The area’s history also includes the 1936 eviction of roughly 400 Barren Island residents to make way for the Marine Parkway Bridge.

From the rotting remains of 19th-century horses used to power the city’s streets to the millions of household artifacts discarded by a metropolis, Dead Horse Bay tells a dark story of urban expansion, forced evictions, and environmental disaster.

National Park Service surveys beginning in 2019 identified multiple locations with elevated radiation and recovered two leaking radium-226 deck markers buried about two feet below the surface. The agency closed approximately 84 acres of the southern site in August 2020 while the investigation continued.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post How Radioactive Debris Led to the Closure of Brooklyn’s Glass Bottle Beach in Dead Horse Bay was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Wildlife rescuer Meg Churches (Megabattie) was alerted to an injured pregnant grey-headed flying fox named Sully beside a road in Observatory Park near Sydney Harbour. She gently checked the bat for injuries and cared for her at home while monitoring whether the stress of the accident and unfamiliar environment could trigger an early birth.

She’s got some fur off her forehead (probably from friction and crash landing after glancing off a car), a few grazes, and bright clear eyes which have been assessing me and finding me wanting… I think she’ll be OK herself, however if she’s going to give birth early or lose her baby from the stress or the accident, it will probably be tonight.

Night One

Sully recovered over the next six weeks and was released back into the wild while still pregnant.

Other ‘Megabattie’ Rescues

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Bat Rescuer Saves Injured Pregnant Flying Fox was originally published on Laughing Squid.

During a TED Talk in Vancouver, the incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier told the audience that he sees music as a “wiggle” rather than a straight line, describing the wiggle as the fluid energy connecting melody, rhythm, and harmony. Collier demonstrated the concept using Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”.

Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier has a name for the feeling that moves through a great piece of music: the wiggle. Watch him break down the idea into its three parts — melody, rhythm and harmony — with nothing but his own voice, a grand piano and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Turns out life, like music, was never made to run in straight lines.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Jacob Collier Explains How He Sees Music as a ‘Wiggle’ Rather Than a Straight Line was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Sam Pilgrim, the professional freeride mountain biker who repeatedly tests unusual ways to ride a bicycle, joined other professional riders for a daring race down a mountain in Sölden, Austria, on three-wheeled mountain carts that looked like something out of Mario Kart during Swatch Nines Bike 2026.

Riders had to navigate challenging alpine terrain, narrow trails, and wooden features while maintaining speed and control in a fast-paced pack, which Pilgrim found quite invigorating.

THIS IS THE BEST FUN YOU CAN HAVE! These mountain karts in Sölden, Austria are crazy fast and absolutely dangerous but that’s what makes it fun! You get a gondola to the top of the mountain here and send it down as fast as possible, this was even better because we were out here with the Swatch Nines mountain bike crew and things got wild!

via The Awesomer

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post A Real-Life Mario Kart Race Down an Austrian Mountain was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Rob Watts of RobWords explored the history of Norn, an extinct Scandinavian language once spoken in the northern Scottish islands of Orkney and Shetland. Through research into medieval runic inscriptions, local dialects, and cultural remnants, Watts explained how the language persisted for centuries before being gradually displaced by Scots.

As recently as the 1800s, part of Britain was speaking a language descended from that of the Vikings. On the islands of Orkney and Shetland, Norn was spoken for almost a thousand years – so why did it disappear?

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Norn, the Extinct Scandinavian Language of Scotland’s Northern Isles was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Musician Lord Vinheteiro performed a piece by Bach on a clavichord, an early keyboard instrument used during the composer’s lifetime that largely fell out of use in the 19th century. Its quiet, expressive sound made it particularly well suited to practice and composition rather than public performance. Unlike his usual videos, Vinheteiro focused squarely on the keys rather than the camera until the last second.

The clavichord was an instrument available to Bach. Experience what Bach heard when playing the two-part voices.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Pianist Plays Bach on a Quiet Clavichord was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Wilder is an American Masters documentary directed by Chris Smith that celebrates the legacy of the immensely talented actor Gene Wilder. The documentary features a tender interview between Wilder and his nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, alongside archival footage from throughout his career.

Follow the journey of actor Gene Wilder, known for his performances in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein, from his collaborative relationship with Mel Brooks to his rise as a Hollywood leading man and comedic visionary.

Wilder premieres on PBS on December 29, 2026.

American Masters – WILDER premieres nationwide Tuesday, December 29th at 9 p.m. ET on PBS

via The Awesomer

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post A Touching PBS Documentary That Celebrates the Legacy of the Immensely Talented Gene Wilder was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Jananie K. Velu, host of the PBS series Plotlines on the Storied channel, examined the long-standing literary and cinematic tradition of reframing classic villains as heroes, noting that perspectives on villainy reflect shifting social values, political climates, and cultural narratives about power and morality. Examples include Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Wicked, the Joker, and Cobra Kai.

If stories are an expression of a culture’s value system, what do these role reversals say about us?… Whom we call hero and who we call villain says a lot about us. And when those designations start to shift, it can be a sign of social change, like the rejection of monarchy in Milton’s England, the gay rights movement of the 1990s, or today’s global lean towards authoritarianism. Stories are how we make sense of the world. 

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post How Reframing Villains as Heroes Reflects Shifting Cultural Narratives About Power and Morality was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles shared behind-the-scenes footage showing how they reimagined three Disney musical numbers in American Sign Language (ASL): “The Next Right Thing” from Frozen 2, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto, and “Beyond” from Moana 2.

The team focused on concepts and emotion rather than a word-for-word transcription, integrating ASL into each musical performance.

Go behind the scenes with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Deaf West Theatre to learn how three musical numbers from Disney Animation films – “The Next Right Thing” (“Frozen 2”), “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (“Encanto”), and “Beyond” (“Moana 2”) – were reimagined in American Sign Language.

The Original Performances

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post How Three Disney Musical Numbers Were Reimagined in American Sign Language was originally published on Laughing Squid.

While exploring the abyssal plain in the southwest region of the Wake Island EEZ, an ROV launched from the E/V Nautilus captured amusing footage of a carrier crab of the family Homolidae holding an anemone over its back like a trendy, spiky backpack.

In addition to their long, thin walking legs, Homolidae crabs (also known as “porter crabs”) have modified rear appendages they use to pick up anemones and other things on the seafloor. Scientists speculate that this behavior could be related to physical camouflage, chemical camouflage, or predator defense.

Previous Sightings

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Deep-Sea Crab Carries Anemone Like a Spiky Backpack was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Biologist Nessie O’Neil, a graduate student at Miami University’s Project Dragonfly in Oxford, Ohio, described observing two critically endangered pygmy raccoon sisters in Cozumel, Mexico, who retrieved discarded paper from the trash, soaked it in their water bowl, and rolled it into toy balls. One sister was already proficient at making the balls, while the other appeared to learn the technique by watching her.

O’Neil and her coauthors documented this behavior in a scientific paper.

An endangered raccoon found a new use for trash: turning paper waste into toys and teaching her family how to make them too. …Researcher Nessie O’Neil says the behavior may be the first documented example of “material culture” in raccoons and their relatives, in which a behavior involving objects is learned and passed between individuals.

Sadly, the first raccoon later died in rehabilitative care, but her sister had learned the technique and was later observed making a paper ball independently.

Juvenile pygmy raccoon2 learning to make toys from her sister, only perfecting them once her sister is gone, keeping the knowledge (and her sister) alive.

View on Threads

View on Threads

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post Critically Endangered Pygmy Raccoons on Cozumel Make Toys From Paper Trash was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Patrick Foote of Name Explain explored the origins of 20 city nicknames in the United States, including New York City’s “Big Apple” and Chicago’s “Windy City”.

US cities are known across the world by not just their real names, but their nicknames too. From The Big Apple to The Windy City. Today we find out where exactly these nicknames even came from.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post The Origins of 20 City Nicknames in the United States was originally published on Laughing Squid.

Astrophysicist Athena Brensberger of the PBS series NOVA explored the science of objects falling from great heights, including the urban myth that a penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building could kill someone below, and explained how gravity, air resistance, and drag combine to create terminal velocity.

She also examined how physical factors such as shape and speed affect the impact of objects falling through Earth’s atmosphere, as well as how Galileo challenged Aristotle’s ideas about falling bodies.

For centuries, scientists argued about how objects fall. The answer eventually led to our modern understanding of gravity, acceleration, and drag.

subscribe to the Laughing Squid Newsletter

The post How Terminal Velocity Keeps a Penny Dropped From the Top of the Empire State Building From Being Deadly was originally published on Laughing Squid.