tech e blog

Water is usually dark and ominous at night, but a bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, a large, green marine dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence when disturbed, made its way to Hong Kong. According to University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye, this phenomenon, also known as "Sea Sparkle", is triggered by farm pollution that can be devastating to marine life and local fisheries. Eugene Turner at Louisiana State University says that Noctiluca itself does not produce neurotoxins like other similar organisms do, but its role as both prey and predator can eventually magnify the accumulation of toxins in the food chain. Click here to view the first image in today's viral picture gallery. Continue reading to watch the top five viral videos for today.

Have you ever looked up in the sky and saw a cloud that looked just like a familiar face or object? There's a scientific term for that, and it's called pareidolia, which refers to a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse. Continue reading for more interesting examples spotted in everyday objects.

SkyMall, the famous in-flight shopping catalog, filed for federal bankruptcy court protection in Phoenix on Friday, seeking a court-supervised sale of their assets. During their heyday, SkyMall catalogs could be found in the seat-back pockets on just about every airline flight. Xhibit (parent company) Chief Financial Officer Scott Wiley said: "With the increased use of electronic devices on planes, fewer people browsed the SkyMall in-flight catalog. The substantial increase in the number of air carriers which provide Internet access, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's recent decision to allow the use of electronic devices during take-off and landing, resulted in additional competition from e-commerce retailers and additional competition for the attention of passengers, all of which further negatively impacted SkyMall's catalog sales." Continue reading to see some of their strangest items ever.

Urban Armor Gear wanted to prove that their military-grade iPhone 6 case could protect the handset from just about anything. So, they attached the phone, two GoPro cameras and a GPS locator onto a weather balloon to the edge of space, 100,000-feet up. Despite the handset shutting down due to extreme temperatures during the flight, it was fully functional after the test, even without a screen protector. Steve Armstrong, the co-founder of Urban Armor Gear, said: "Our cases already meet military drop-test standards, but now we can officially say that they are space tested as well." Continue reading for the video and more information.

NASA has been known to cut off its live feed from the International Space Station whenever an unidentified flying object appears. There were two separate occasions this month where UFO hunters claim to have spotted mysterious objects floating on screen before going the camera goes offline. Toby Lundh recently spotted the one you see above right outside the space station, moments before the stream was disconnected. Continue reading for two videos and more information.

Sayagh Jacques, a 50-year-old homeless man from Paris, France, didn't let living on the streets stop him from becoming a bodybuilder. All of the money he receives from strangers is spent on eating right and protein supplements. Maintaining his physique isn't as tough as you think, thanks to a few pieces of makeshift equipment, like exercise bands and ropes. Mostly, he relies on body weight exercises - push-ups, pull-ups, etc. How did this man become an internet sensation? It all started when French director Julien Goudichaud stumbled upon Jacques on the streets of Paris. Continue reading for a video and more information.

Tesla's Model X crossover SUV may still be a couple years away, but there are already knockoffs surfacing, and the GAC WitStar from China is one of them. It was unveiled earlier this week at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and in addition to the falcon wing doors, it boasts an extended-range electric powertrain as well as autonomous drive technologies. To top things off, there's a built-in fish tank armrest. Continue reading for a video, more pictures and additional information.

No, this isn't a base on the dark side of the moon, or one situated beneath the lunar surface in a crater, but rather the Turda Salt Mine in Romania. This was dug in medieval times to harvest medicinal salt, but today, it's a theme park of sorts. Currently, the deepest mine is 393-feet below ground and researchers claim that the micro-climate also offers health benefits especially for people with respiratory difficulties with its constant temperature of around 12°C. Continue reading for a video tour, more pictures and additional information.

A cone of shame, also known as an Elizabethan collar, refers to a protective medical device worn by an animal, usually a cat or dog. It's shaped like a truncated cone to prevent the animal from biting or licking at its body or scratching at its head or neck while wounds or injuries heal. These geeks decided to get creative with them, and the results were strangely geeky. Continue reading for more.

Thanks to the internet, people from all over the world are able to leave reviews for famous tourist attractions, but sometimes, you'll come across a few that will leave you scratching your head. For example, this person does not understand why people visit Big Ben. On a related note, did you know that the real name of the tower that houses the clock is simply "The Clock Tower"? That's right, Big Ben is just the nickname given to the largest bell in The Clock Tower, formally known as "Great Bell." Continue reading for more.