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10 Biggest Scientific Achievements of 2016

2016 was a fantastic year for scientific discovery and achievement. Taking a look back at the biggest scientific achievements over the last 12 months, you’ll find work in the fields of genetics, evolution and natural history, computer technology, materials science, energy research, physics, space science, and climate change represented. We couldn’t cover everything, so we’ve focused on the 10 discoveries that are most likely to be regarded as milestones when looked back upon from the future. Let’s get into it!

Genetics

A Three-Parent Baby Has Been Born

The field of genetics remains on the cutting-edge of scientific achievements and discoveries since, by its nature, it’s one of the relatively new kids on the block. And while the very word “genetics” often conjures up images of mad scientists gone rogue (thanks to the influence of certain science-fiction properties), the science itself is actually catching up with some sci-fi predictions. Case in point: this story of the birth of a baby boy with three genetically unique parents, achieved through the intervention of scientists and medical professionals.

The eye-catching headline may sound like click-bait, but it’s actually an accurate description of the procedure. A woman carrying the mitochondrial genes for Leigh syndrome—a deadly disease affecting an infant’s central nervous system, and one that had claimed two of her previous children—wanted to conceive a child with her husband without either dooming their offspring or risking the chance that the child would pass on the defect to another generation. The procedure combined the nucleus of the mother’s egg cell with the denucleated egg cell of a donor (complete with healthy mitochondrial DNA), and then fertilized the egg with the father’s sperm. Voila! A healthy baby boy was born. The doctors’ continued study shows that 1% of his mitochondrial DNA is affected, though it presumably takes 18% to cause deleterious effects.

Evolution

A Single Mutation Allowed the Evolution of Multicellular Organisms

You and I have roughly 37 trillion things in common; that’s the number of cells in a human body, give or take a few. Yet, as evolutionary theory holds, all the multicellular marvels of the world, extant and extinct, began with a single-celled organism billions of years ago. For billions of years on Earth, only single-celled organisms existed. So what triggered the jump to multicellular life? As this 2016 publication from a team of researchers proposes, there was a solitary genetic mutation in the genes for an ancient cellular mechanism that allowed cell replication to occur.

Basically, a DNA-building enzyme in ancient single-celled organisms duplicated and changed due to this mutation and, roughly 800 million years ago, a new protein complex evolved that gave rise to multicellular life. This mechanism isn’t just a pen-and-paper hypothesis, it’s one the researchers recreated in the lab by resurrecting ancient enzymes and the mutations needed to enact the change. It’s discoveries like these that fill in the gaps in evolutionary history and strengthen our understanding of the theory and of life itself as we know it.

Scientists Unveil a New Tree of Life

Speaking of life as we know it, in light of new evidence and discoveries that seem to occur every week or so, 2016 saw the publication of a new tree of life after a study in the journal Nature Microbiology. Thanks to DNA sequencing, the onerous task of capturing the diversity and multitude of lifeforms and their relationships to each other was made somewhat easier. One trunk of the tree, known as eukaryotes, includes animals (like us), plants, fungi and protozoans, a second trunk belongs to bacteria, and a third captures extremophile microbes dubbed Archaea. As you might have guessed, all known eukaryotes put together pale in comparison to the amount of bacterial life on our planet. While this snapshot of life as we know it will continue to change as we discover new lifeforms, it’s a fantastic shorthand for the mind-blowing diversity of our world.

Computer Science

Google’s AI Machine Beats a World Champion in Go

Go, one of the oldest and yet most-challenging games in human history, has proved to be an excellent test for the best artificial intelligence human beings have yet created. Unfortunately for world champ Lee Sedol, his five-game match against Google’s DeepMind A.I. AlphaGo was a humbling one. Sedol managed to win one out of the five games, but the quick-learning and ruthlessly efficient AlphaGo out-performed all expectations. The A.G.I. (artificial general intelligence) was not designed to play Go, widely considered the most complex professional game out there, but rather to learn how to play simply from watching and playing millions upon millions of games. AlphaGo even made a mistake in one of the games due to its ignorance of a known tesuji, or best play from a given location, but it recovered from it… and will likely never forget that tesuji again. Does this mean the machines are preparing to rise up against us? No, of course not. But it does mean that our own research into artificial intelligence is progressing at a rapid enough pace to put ever-smarter computers into service alongside of us perhaps sooner than we have anticipated.

Materials Science / Energy

First Solar-Powered Airplane to Travel Around the World

Not since Amelia Earhart’s ill-fated round-the-world trip in 1937 has an aviation attempt so captured the world’s attention. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg took turns piloting the Solar Impulse–a 100% solar-powered aircraft–on a “17-stage journey [that] covered some 42,000km, taking in four continents, three seas and two oceans.” The project was a decade in the making, resulting in an aircraft that’s about the weight of a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747; that span houses 17,000 solar cells. The journey itself took 16.5 months and saw the piloting duo breaking 19 aviation records, including the absolute world record for longest (time duration) uninterrupted solo flight at nearly 118 hours. While this achievement is certainly significant, its inspirational cachet is arguably more so. Upon landing in Abu Dhabi to end the around-the-world flight that began with the intent to raise awareness of the capabilities of renewable energy, Piccard said, “The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further.”

Physics

LIGO Confirms Existence of Gravitational Waves

2016 was a big year for physics, but the field’s biggest discovery of them all was confirmed not once but twice. Nearly 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his General Theory of Relativity, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed that they had detected the waves’ existence. This ripple in spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects–like, say, two black holes orbiting each other to an ultimate collision–had been predicted by Einstein, but never directly observed … until now. (A second observation and confirmation came a few months later.) While this find is a huge win for the theory, it also gives researchers a new tool in their exploration and observation of our vast universe. By improving our detection and analysis of gravitational waves, we can better understand where they came from and what caused them, information which helps to fill in the blanks of our universe’s composition.

Space

SpaceX Successfully Lands Orbiting Rocket Stage at Sea

As impressive as discoveries of Earth-like planets, water-ice on Mars, and sub-surface oceans on moons continues to be, we’re still a long way from putting boots on the ground (or the icy crust) of these alien worlds. Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturer and space transport company SpaceX is aiming to change that. Their goal has long been to reduce space transportation costs (and to colonize Mars) through reusable launch vehicles, an imposing feat to say the least. However, 2016 saw a huge leap forward in the company’s achievements when their Falcon 9 rocket stage returned from orbit and landed safely on an autonomous barge at sea. One day, this may be commonplace, but the feat is described as ” throwing a pencil over the Empire State Building and having it land upright on a bread box on the other side.” To sum it up, SpaceX launched a rocket, let that reusable stage fall back to Earth, sent a robot barge out to the middle of the ocean to catch it, and landed the rocket vertically, safe and intact. Then they did it again less than a month later. Not only does this save millions of dollars in costs, it speaks to the inspirational power of the engineers’ dedication, ingenuity, and vision for a future when anything’s possible.

(Relatively) Nearby Earth-Like Planet Proxima b Identified

Now that SpaceX has reusable rockets in the works, we might soon be able to start building structures off-world in low Earth orbit. This incremental step toward future manned space exploration will come in handy when we decide to head toward Proxima b, an Earth-like planet orbiting the closest star to our own sun. Presumably, the rocky planet that’s 1.3 times the mass of Earth has an orbit around the star Proxima Centauri every 11 Earth-days and is tidally locked, meaning that the planet always shows the same face to its star. Because of this, one side of the planet would be baked by the relatively dim and cool M Dwarf star (compared to our own sun), while the other would be left in the cold and dark. However, a possible habitable zone could exist at the border between the two, especially since the planet itself exists in the “Goldilocks” zone where liquid water and possibly life might exist. Want to stop by for a visit to see for yourself? It’s only 4.2 light years away, but we should probably set our sights on something a little closer to home in the meantime. Then again, we can always send robots.

NASA’s First Asteroid Sampler OSIRIS-REx Is Launched

In a year that saw the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission come to a close by landing on the subject of its scrutiny–comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko–NASA launched its first asteroid-sampling mission dubbed OSIRIS-REx. The admittedly derived acronym (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) describes a mission to “rendezvous with, study, and return a sample of the asteroid Bennu to Earth” with the hopes of uncovering information on the origins of our solar system and much more. Bennu, and asteroids like it, is a mountain-sized, 4.5-billion-year-old remnant from the chaotic formation of our galactic neighborhood and may contain clues as to whether or not they delivered water and organic molecules to a primordial Earth. It’s another space-based mission that not only pushes the boundaries of our technological capabilities but also seeks to fill in the gaps of our picture of the universe. OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with Bennu in 2018 to commence a two-year long coordinated dance with the asteroid in order to take a sample of it in 2020; that sample is expected to return to Earth in 2023 for analysis at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, a first for the U.S.

Climate Change

Atmospheric CO2 Levels Surge Past Ominous Threshold

Not all scientific discoveries were necessarily positive or even beneficial this year. As we researched 2016’s achievements, every month brought another record-breaking statistic related to climate change: rising temperatures, melting glaciers, loss of biodiversity, rise of sea level, and a rise in atmospheric CO2 levels. While atmospheric CO2 has been in headlines for decades, 2016 saw the level break a threshold not seen in about four million years. The global average for the value has been sustained at or above 400ppm all year, a value seen as a symbolic benchmark in global warming because we’re unlikely to see it drop below that value in our lifetimes. Normally, September is the month with the lowest atmospheric CO2 value due to a summer season in which plant life takes up their life-giving molecule, but as pollution and deforestation has continued to offset this balance, atmospheric CO2 will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

This is just one more metric in the massive accumulation of evidence regarding global warming and climate change, and just one of many metrics that will unfortunately and undoubtedly be outpaced by new record-setting values at this time next year. So if we still want to be around in the decades to come in order to celebrate the achievements and discoveries of science, we need to make a concerted effort to battle climate change starting right now.

Did we miss your favorite significant scientific discovery of 2016? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Images: NASA, Courtesy Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory, LIGO/SXS/R. Hurt/T. Pyle; Kenny Louie; Universal Pictures; Spacex; Flyout

What is Groot really made of?

Half Hour Happy Hour #110: Drunksmas Day 10

Are we all in Bizarro world? We get to ask Bizarro Superman writer Heath Corson.

Follow @HalfHourHappyHr and hosts @alisonhaislip, @alexalbrecht and Tom “Super Volcano” Krajewski on Twitter

The National Park Service Built a Fence to Keep Cats Away From a Volcano

We can think of very few reasons to build a cat fence, that being a fence designed to keep cats away. In fact, if there is ever a cat nearby, we’d kindly appreciate if you guided it directly to our offices. We’d understand keeping cats away if it was for safety purposes, though, and that’s what the National Park Service had to do around the Hawaiian island of Mauna Loa. While it warms our hearts that these scientists wanted to prevent these furry felines from experiencing a scalding, lava-exposed death, that’s actually not what’s going on here (via The Washington Post).

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The Hawaiian petrel is an endangered bird on the island, and it turns out that cats have been having an absolute field day feasting on them. The landscape of the volcano and surrounding area makes it tough for most predators to scale, but as we know, cats are wonderfully adept at climbing just about anything, so they’ve had no problem getting up there and preying on the prone birds. The seafaring birds build nests in deep lava crevices in April, and the females lay just a single egg around June. Then the egg hatches around August, and the chicks are only able to fly away in about November, meaning that for about seven months, local cats are essentially the birds’ only prey, and they’ve proven to be effective at getting what they want, as video evidence has proven.

The “conservation fence,” as it’s known, is six feet tall and has a curved top that supposedly prevents cats from conquering it. It took about four years to build, is the longest anti-cat fence in the United States, and encloses about 600 acres of petrel territory. We love kitties, of course, and while we can’t blame them for acting on their animalistic instincts, we also can’t blame the National Park Service for keeping curious cats out of places they shouldn’t be, so we’ll chalk this up as a win.

Featured image: Jennifer C.

Your Favorite Disney Villains Look Even Creepier In Real Life

Disney’s animated classics have without a doubt stood the test of time, for several reasons. The stories are universally relatable and told in an engaging and visually pleasing way, and the characters, while archetypical, are dynamic enough to see a plot through from start to finish without losing us along the way. Historically, perhaps Disney’s greatest triumph has been with its villains, who collectively are probably the most memorable, deplorable, and darkly lovable crew of baddies any single studio has ever produced.

101 Dalmatians’ Cruella De Vil just wanted to kill a bunch of innocent puppies, but she was aesthetically striking and enrapturing as a crazed character all the while. Aladdin‘s Jafar sought power through whatever ruthless means necessary, but we love his witty banter with his parrot sidekick Iago. Frozen‘s Hans was less conventional in that he wasn’t established as a villain from the beginning, but that allowed his outing as a ne’er-do-well to feel like that much more of a betraying figure.

These characters are creepy enough on film, but imagine how menacing they’d be if they were actual people who existed in our world.

A photo posted by Jirka Vinse Jonatan Väätäinen (@jirkavinse) on Oct 27, 2016 at 3:01am PDT

That’s what artist Jirka Väätäinen did, and the results are beautifully unsettling (via BuzzFeed). Aside from the aforementioned antagonists, he also depicted Mother Gothel from Tangled, Judge Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and a bunch of others. Take a gander at the rest of his creations on Instagram, or take a look at the embed below, in which Väätäinen collected all of his works in this series so far.

A photo posted by Jirka Vinse Jonatan Väätäinen (@jirkavinse) on Oct 31, 2016 at 2:51pm PDT

Featured image: Disney

TWIN PEAKS Custom Vinyl Figures Are Both “Wonderful And Strange”

There are Funko Pop! vinyl figures for seemingly every beloved pop culture property out there, from the obvious like Star Wars and Marvel heroes, to more adult fare like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Even cult classics like The Big Lebowski, and A Clockwork Orange have had the Funko Pop treatment. But one glaring omission among all of these beloved properties has been David Lynch and Mark Frost’s classic TV series Twin Peaks, who have never had any Funko figures of any kind. Although Twin Peaks figures are finally confirmed as coming, they won’t be here until next year. What’s a fan to do in the meantime?

Luckily, thanks to the folks at Welcome to Twin Peaks, we’ve learned that one talented fan has gone and created a series of custom Twin Peaks Pop! vinyl figures that are, as Agent Cooper would say, damn fine. The four custom-made toys are made with clay and acrylic paint, and include Laura Palmer, dead and wrapped in plastic; the Log Lady (with log, of course); Audrey Horne, complete with saddle shoes; and of course FBI Agent Dale Cooper, as he appears in the show’s iconic final moment. One of each figure is available from KreepyKrafty on Etsy, and you can check out all four in our gallery below.

“The Twin Peaks characters actually were the reason behind my whole Etsy store” said KreepyKrafty owner Tayliyah Chatmon. She adds “I had wanted to open shop for some time, people kept telling me to do it but I never took action. One day I was thinking “I should start collecting Funko Pops.” My first instinct was to look for Twin Peaks Pops because it’s one of my favorite shows and I saw that there were none. Within the week I went on a binge googling and youtubing everything I needed to customize my own and now it’s turned into something I’m really proud of! It’s also been really exciting to dive into Twin Peaks again especially with the upcoming Showtime series looming over.”

What do you think of these custom toys? As Audrey Horne once said, “aren’t they just too dreamy?” Let us know what you think down below in the comments!

Images: KreepyKrafty / Tayliyah Chatmon

Young George Lucas Will Meet DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

Let it never be said that the coolness and historical importance of a particular movie or director can’t transcend time, space, and studio licenses. And why shouldn’t some of these real-life cultural touchstones make it into the fictional realms of superheroes and time travelers? Entertainment Weekly is reporting that George Lucas will appear as a character in the upcoming winter premiere of the CW’s comic book explosion series, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Following *SPOILERS* the fall finale in which it’s revealed that the long-missing Capt. Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is in Hollywood making sci-fi movies in the ’60s, it stands to reason SOME famous figures should show up.

While it may sound like an attempt for a Warner Brothers-owned DC Comics property to cash-in on the Star Wars fever that happens every winter, it actually sounds like a pretty great idea for a plot: the time aberration in the ninth episode will make it so George Lucas (played as a young man by actor Matt Angel) quits film school before he can bring any of his amazing visions to the screen. This will have a direct impact on Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) and Nate Heywood/Steel (Nick Zano).

Legends‘ executive producer Marc Guggenheim explains it thusly: “As a result, he never makes Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a result, Ray, who became an engineer because of Star Wars, and Nate, who became a historian because of Raiders, slowly start to lose their brilliance, because those things that inspired them to become who they are didn’t exist.” He also describes it as a kind of Flowers for Algernon situation for the two characters, referencing the book about a simple man given an experimental treatment to make him a genius but who eventually begins to regress, forgetting things he’d learned.

It’s going to be a zany romp, Guggenheim says, which fits fairly in-line with the kind of outrageous comic bookery that Legends has been tackling this season. And in truth, despite it being a bit silly, I like the idea that one person (who does get often derided these days because of certain prequels) and their career in storytelling can have an impact on physicists and archaeologists. Lucas clearly impacted comic book creators and TV writers, so why not the characters they write about?

Let us know your thoughts on Lucas meeting the Legends in the comments below!

Image: Joey Gannon

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and an avowed DC Comics fanboy. Follow him on Twitter!

Will the Joker be in Gotham City Sirens?

MAD MAX Was Cool, so China’s Knock-Off MAD SHELIA Tried to Be the Same Movie

2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road was a critical darling of a movie that succeeded with its bizarre premise, wild set and character designs, opulent special effects, and strong performances from Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy. Sadly, though, Chinese moviegoers weren’t able to see the movie in their native land, as the state-run Chinese film industry didn’t allow the movie to be screened in the country.

But guess what? Our Chinese friends really wanted to see a post-apocalyptic road battle on the big screen, so they went ahead and quickly busted out Mad Shelia, which, as you might imagine, is a low-budget and goofy affair (via ScreenRant).

The trailer doesn’t reveal much about the plot, although we can’t imagine that it deviates from its source material all that much. There are definitely motorcycles, ATVs and pick-up trucks driving through a desert, as well as gunfire between two opposing sides, and explosions that look super realistic so long as you’ve never seen an actual explosion before.

Mad Shelia never found its way to theaters, instead screening on Tencent, which is a Chinese equivalent to Netflix. The service has apparently made B-movies of this quality a lot more popular in China, since these films can be shot more quickly and with less regulation. The people behind this one seem to have a lot of faith in it, though, since two sequels, Mad Shelia: Virgin Road and Mad Shelia: Vengeance Road, are supposedly already in production.

It’s definitely a wild (borderline bootleg) ride, so check out the trailer above, and by the way, there’s also a music video for the movie, so sure, check that out below too.

Do you think they’ve equaled Mad Max? Juice the comments below with your thoughts!

Featured image: HKCinema

Carrie Fisher and the Amazing Role Model of Leia Organa

I remember the first time I saw Star Wars. I was just a little girl at the time, but my mom sat me and my little brother down in front of the television and said, “It’s time I showed you two these movies.” I was captivated. I loved the story, I had a gnarly crush on Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, I was fascinated by the Jedi, but most of all, I was captivated by Princess Leia Organa. She was the first fictitious character I truly remember wanting to emulate. Princess Leia may have been a character created for a fantastic story in a galaxy far, far away, but she was a role model to me and so many others.

Like a lot of little girls growing up in the nineties, I watched more than my fair share of Disney Princess movies. I loved them, so getting introduced to a princess like Leia Organa was quite the departure from what I was used to seeing. Unlike princesses like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, Princess Leia was anything but another pretty face. Leia may have had a small frame and looked delicate, only she was anything but. Leia could rock a bold hair style and look gorgeous in whatever she chose to wear, but that was the least important thing about her: Leia was a leader, and a damn fine one at that. She put herself to the hazard to help the Rebellion, she endured imprisonment and torture to keep the plans of the Rebellion safe, and even after watching her entire home planet and all of the people on it mercilessly incinerated before her very eyes, she still held strong.

Leia was such an important role model to so many of us because unlike a lot of female protagonists, she wasn’t a liability or a damsel in distress. When it came to overthrowing the Empire, Princess Leia was just as vital of a player as the likes of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. Sure, she was rescued from time to time, but she spent just as much time rescuing as she did being rescued. After all, if it weren’t for her quick thinking on the Death Star, Luke, Han, and Chewie’s rescue attempt would have been thoroughly unsuccessful. You could go as far as to call her the strongest of the bunch. Unlike Han, she wasn’t a self-serving smuggler who had to be convinced to join the Rebellion, and unlike Luke, she wasn’t an uninformed farm kid who not only had to work through intense father issues, but also learn the ways of the Force. Leia was royalty and a politician. She was a rebel and a fighter long before we met her in A New Hope, and she never stopped. In The Force Awakens, she was continuing the fight against evil and the Dark Side, this time as a General, never once choosing to take a knee because she had already done her part, never allowing heartbreak to overcome her, and never running away to live in seclusion on an island when things got rough.

Leia Organa showed Star Wars fans that you didn’t have to be a big, burly, gun-wielding man to truly be a hero. She showed us a woman who was strong, smart, brave, intelligent, compassionate, wise, and enduring. She could wield a blaster and political office with total ease. And while Leia was all of those things, she would have never become the role model and icon of pop culture that she is today without Carrie Fisher. Fisher brought her own spark, her own bravery, and her own strength into the role of Leia Organa. Fisher was just as much of a fighter as Princess Leia, battling her own demons throughout her life, and just like Princess Leia, Fisher used her battle to do good for others as an activist for mental health, among other things.

In losing Carrie Fisher, we’ve lost the spark, the bit of magic that made Leia Organa the woman we all love and adore, but her legacy–that of Fisher herself and Leia Organa–will be remembered long after today. We will miss you, Carrie Fisher. Thank you for bringing Princess Leia to life so perfectly, and thank you for giving tons of fans one of the best role models anyone could ask for.

What did Princess Leia mean to you? Tell us your favorite Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia memories in the comments.

Image: Lucasfilm

RIP Richard Adams. WATERSHIP DOWN’s Author Is With Frith Now.

In a year marked by so many passings of so many greats, an elderly man peacefully expiring at the age of 96 on Christmas Eve may not seem quite as tragic as those who died younger and more untimely. And yet the sadness is there regardless, as a huge part of my childhood has gone. Richard Adams, primarily known for writing the book Watership Down, has died, EW reports.

In terms of name recognition, Watership Down tends to be more associated with the animated feature based on the novel than the novel itself, which is a shame; while the movie makes a fair attempt at condensing the very lengthy epic, it is primarily remembered for being unusually violent for a cartoon, and for having the Art Garfunkel song “Bright Eyes” on the soundtrack. In the book, the violence is matter-of-fact: rabbits are prey, and predators are everywhere. In a movie which draws the rabbits as cute and appealing, any sign of blood will inherently be sensationalized, and it is indeed the principal takeaway. A subsequent book of Adams’, The Plague Dogs, was also adapted into a suitably grim animated film, but, perhaps with some parents having felt burned by Watership Down, it did not do nearly as well.

Adams’ favorite of his own works was Shardik, about a hunter pursuing a bear who may or may not be divine, but a favorite of mine has to be the picture book The Tyger Voyage, a quintessential bedtime story for children. Intended to be read aloud, the story of two tigers traveling the world included pictures by Nicola Bayley that conjured worlds of ice floes, volcanoes, and gypsy caravans; perfect fodder for a night of dreams ahead.

But it’s Watership Down, told as a bedtime story for his children until it got so elaborate that they insisted he write it down, that became Adams’ defining tome, and one of my childhood too. The tale of rabbits who leave a warren about to be destroyed, set out for safer ground, then realize that they’ll never survive for long without any women in the group, is like The Odyssey with bunnies. Though it was clearly informed by his service in the military and the Department of the Environment, Adams resisted any attempts to categorize it as obvious allegory, having originally made it up as he went along to entertain his children. In the end it nonetheless builds a rich new world, with its own language and even religion, and in opening every chapter with a relevant literary quote from another source, Adams opens the door for readers to discover the works that inspired him.

Watership Down is set to be re-adapted for Netflix, presumably using more photo-real animation, but it’s hard to imagine anyone will ever capture the full experience of the book itself in any other medium. The story ends–SPOILER FOR A 1972 BOOK–with the main hero’s death from old age, and Adams’ official website announced his passing using that relevant passage:

It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.

“You needn’t worry about them,” said his companion. “They’ll be alright – and thousands like them.”

I hope we will be. Because life without Mr. Adams doesn’t feel all right at the moment.

Images: Andersen Press, Avco Embassy Pictures

This Cake Artist Makes Amazingly Detailed Pop Culture-Inspired Cakes

A few days ago, I baked my first cake, assuming my memory is serving me correctly and I haven’t blocked out any prior traumatic cake-baking mishaps. It was lemon with vanilla frosting, moist and tasty enough, and overall not that bad for a 24-year-old guy who won the Home Ec. award in the 8th grade. Then I saw Natalie Sideserf’s cakes and was reminded of advice my father gave me growing up (about playing basketball, but it still applies): If you really want to be the best, always be practicing, because somewhere out there, there’s somebody working on their craft and potentially becoming better than you.

Having manageable goals is also important, because I could practice baking cakes for the rest of my life without ever coming close to achieving the culinary artistry that Sideserf has nailed with her incredibly realistic pop culture-inspired cakes (via Unreality). Just take a look below at what is not actually a photo of Bob Odenkirk in character as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad with a fan, but actually Sideserf posting with a cake she made:

A photo posted by Sideserf Cake Studio (@sideserfcakes) on Mar 5, 2015 at 10:51am PST

Sideserf has taken her cake sculpting skills to every corner of pop culture, to classic cartoons to sports to music to video games. She posts incredible photos of her work on Instagram, so check that out, as well as a few of our favorites below.

A photo posted by Sideserf Cake Studio (@sideserfcakes) on Apr 29, 2016 at 2:27pm PDT

A photo posted by Sideserf Cake Studio (@sideserfcakes) on Dec 4, 2015 at 12:03pm PST

A photo posted by Sideserf Cake Studio (@sideserfcakes) on Jan 8, 2015 at 5:35pm PST

A video posted by Sideserf Cake Studio (@sideserfcakes) on Jan 2, 2016 at 11:30am PST

Featured image: AMC