Last article we talked specifically about the spooky parts of Kansas and the haunting histories within, and I think it’s safe to say that I probably won’t be visiting certain areas of our sunflower state anymore. This week, we’re not focusing on such things. Rather, I thought it would be intriguing to put a wacky spin on this spooky season by looking into some oddball and oddments stories throughout our world. After all, what is this crazy life other than a series of bizarre stories strung together into a coherent timeline we call our lifespan? With that being said, allow me to add a little more chaos to your understanding of the world.
Starting with an animal that is quite familiar to many people across the Great Plains. The Buffalo, or American Bison, is an animal that doesn’t get enough attention from people in general. If you’ve never had a Bison Burger, you sure are missing out! But possibly more unfamiliar is the Bison’s newest offspring in its generational lineage. The Beefalo. Yes, you read that right, and no it was not a typo. Beefalo are a domestic breed of cattle that was created as a hybrid between a Bison and your everyday cow. The goal behind this? To supposedly create a superior cattle that combines the hardiness of bison meat and allows combined milking ability of cattle. You can only find this stuff in America folks!
In another part of the world, but a somewhat similar topic, scientists have recently discovered rapid plant growth on the continent of Antarctica. As one of the latest products of Climate Change, plants and changes in biodiversity have been observed across the great south pole tundra. Perhaps one day in the future, we’ll see farmers setting up shop on the ice desert land. Who knows? It honestly wouldn’t be the craziest thing I’ve heard of.
Speaking of events that have an impact on the climate, a well-fortified NASA spacecraft recently flew directly through an explosion from the Sun and survived. The well-supported heat shield that the spacecraft is equipped with allows the spacecraft to capture and retain footage from its exploit. While the Sun itself isn’t visible in the footage, it’s crazy to think that we have technology that allows us to pass materials directly through the sheer explosions of the sun.
NASA has also been up to several other shenanigans as of late. Their most recent launch, the Psyche mission, launches with NASA’s first trip to an asteroid made out of metal. The idea behind the mission is to attempt to capture information about the rocky giant to find out whether it contains a core of an early planetary building block as well as to simply discover what secrets it may hold. It is humanity’s first time venturing to a world that has a metal surface, who knows what we’ll find for sure? The mission is planned to send the spacecraft around the orbit of Mars and use the gravitational pull to slingshot to the asteroid itself. According to their estimates, the trip should take roughly 6 years to arrive on the asteroid itself. I guess we have a long time to look forward to the results!
With all these things being said, we’ve barely scratched the surface of crazy stories this week. If you ever want a break from the squabbling of politics, I’d recommend a deep dive into the bizarre, the spooky, or perhaps a little bit of both in this pumpkin season!
