You’ve likely never thought to ask the question: How big is a red blood cell in comparison to a lion’s mane jellyfish? But thanks to a nifty site called Size of Life, you can easily visualize the answer. The tool from programmer Neal Agarwal allows you to choose from a list of organisms, from a teeny-tiny DNA strand to a hulking blue whale, and compare their sizes. It’s a fun way to spend a few moments while enjoying your morning coffee — play around with it.
Must Reads
Scientists identified nine new blue butterflies from South America — see their wings
Early Dinners, “Gig-Tripping,” and More Dining and Travel Predictions for 2026
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Ever been to the Albanian Riviera? How about Botswana? Or the Dolomites? According to a recent report from Chase, all three are trending destinations for 2026 travel. The food outlet Infatuation, one of the financial institution’s subsidiaries, also released the restaurant trends we can expect to see — and combined, the intel offers intriguing dining and travel predictions for the coming year. Chase’s “26 trips to take in 2026” is based on booking data, consumer surveys, expert insight, and more, and it features locations across the globe, from Portland, Oregon, to Osaka, Japan. According to Hillary Reinsberg, head of the company’s travel and lifestyle content, there’s a clear theme tying the different places together. “In our hyper-connected world, we are seeing travelers drawn to off-the-beaten-path destinations that let them experience unspoiled nature,” Reinsberg told ABC News. “Hotel and tourism development in places like Chile’s Atacama desert, the Canadian Arctic, the Caribbean island of Dominica, and Sri Lanka demonstrate a growing interest in overseas national parks and exploring unique corners of the planet.” Learn more about what 2026 might have in store for diners and travelers.
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How AI Is Giving Figure Skaters a New Edge on the Ice
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Olympic figure skaters — known for their grace, power, and precision — are polishing their techniques with the help of a new AI-powered tool. Instead of relying on the human eye to catch every detail of every jump, rotation, and landing, an app available on tablets and smartphones provides skaters with instant, objective, and meticulous analysis of unprecedented accuracy. The app is the brainchild of two tech-savvy friends, Jerry Lu and Jacob Blindenbach, who wanted to bring cutting-edge computer vision to a sport that marries artistry with athleticism and technical rigor, per the Associated Press. Called OOFSkate, the program uses a device’s camera to measure key aspects of skaters’ movements, such as height, rotation, speed, airtime, and landing quality — all in real time, and without the need for wearable sensors. It allows coaches and skaters to pinpoint subtle flaws even when a move looks perfect to the nakedeye. For skaters, correcting such errors (like being a quarter-revolution short on a quad jump) could mean the difference between a medal or fourth place. In the future, the app could also help level the playing field in competitions by improving judging accuracy. Rather than replacing humans, the creators envision it as an aid that could reduce subjectivity around technical elements while leaving human experts to evaluate the sport’s creative elements. For now, though, we’ll just be looking forward to seeing pro skaters take the ice in next month’s Winter Olympics.
Culture
67 Years Ago Today, Alaska Became the 49th US State
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For nearly half a century, from 1912 to 1959, the U.S. flag bore 48 stars. But President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed that 67 years ago today, declaring the territory of Alaska the official 49th state (Hawaii would follow later that same year). The largest state in the country by area — and more than double the size of the second-largest state, Texas — Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, more than 100 million acres of protected land, and an abundance of natural resources like gold, fish, and zinc. The decision to acquire the territory wasn’t originally a popular one. Let’s travel back in time to 1867, when Secretary of State William Seward bought the land from a nearly bankrupt Russia for $7.2 million (what would be about $153 million today). Critics in Congress and the media called the purchase a number of disparaging names, including “Seward’s folly” and “Seward’s icebox.” New York Worldannounced at the time: “Russia has sold us a sucked orange!” Alaska’s reputation began to shift, however, when gold was discovered in 1896 in Canada’s Klondike region, right near the border. Two years later, the precious metal was found in Alaska itself. People flocked to the area, profits skyrocketed, and these factors — combined with the fact that its proximity to the Soviet Union rendered it a strategic defense base in World War II and the Cold War — helped convince the government to secure the Last Frontier’s statehood.
In Other News
We may see houses on the moon in our lifetimes, thanks to a NASA-funded infrastructure project (read more)
60 new Barnes & Noble stores are set to open this year across nine U.S. states, plus Washington, D.C. (read more)
A sanctuary in Texas will help protect the whooping crane, one of the rarest birds in North America (read more)
To ease housing shortages, a billionaire is offering Colorado apartments to renters at below-market rates (read more)
“A dream come true”: Five months after a cat went missingin Canada, he reunited with his family in Oklahoma (read more)
Inspiring Story
The healing power of pups
At the Logan Correctional Center, the largest women’s state prison in Illinois, 40 inmates participate in an activity that helps others as much as themselves: training service dogs. Through Helping PAWS, a partnership between Illinois Correctional Industries and two local nonprofits, participants teach pups the skills they’ll need to serve as mobility assistance or emotional support facility dogs. “The prison system is not a nice place,” said inmate Blanca Solis. “Understanding that these dogs have the power to heal a person like me, I knew immediately the power they had to help a person outside in the world.”
Photo of the Day
National Elk Refuge
The elk you see here are just some of the thousands that trek to lower elevations in Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge every winter seeking food and shelter. Established in 1912 and spanning over 24,700 acres, the refuge primarily consists of glacial outwash plain and rolling hills — and in addition to elk, it helps protect the habitats of bison, wolves, bald eagles, and more.
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