During the World Surf League's J-Bay Open in South Africa, Australian surfer Mick Fanning was attacked by disrupted by a shark and left the water unscathed.

Marine biologist Dr. Allison Kock explains how he was able to prevent being bit.

Video courtesy of Reuters

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The upcoming operating system for iPhone, iOS 9, has a new addition Apple Pay to Apple Pay that'll make it easier to use.

From your phone's lock screen, you can double tap the home button to launch Apple Pay. Then you can enter your fingerprint so it's activated and ready to go when you get to the checkout.

In the current version of iOS, Apple Pay only activates when you tap your iPhone against a special near-field communication (NFC) reader that's compatible with the service. The new system in iOS 9 will save you an extra step. 

It's also similar to the way Apple Pay works on the Apple Watch.

Since the Apple Watch remains authenticated after you strap it on and put in your passcode, all you have to do is double click the button on the side to arm Apple Pay.

iOS 9 will be available as a free download for most iPhones and iPads in the fall.

SEE ALSO: Apple made a tiny change to the iPhone keyboard that everyone has been begging for

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Planes crashing into mountains aren't "accidents." When heavy machinery falls on a factory worker's foot, it isn't an "accident." So why is one car colliding into another any different?

That's the argument made by the New York City nonprofit groups Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives in a new safety campaign.

The campaign, called Crash Not Accident, urges people to reconsider the language they use when referring to roadway collisions.

"Traffic crashes are fixable problems, caused by dangerous streets and unsafe drivers," the site says. Referring to traumatic events as "accidents" only serves to absolve the guilty parties of their blame.

The campaign is currently collecting signatures from people who agree to stop using the word "accident."

As of this writing, the groups have received 774 pledges out of their goal of 20,000.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Howard Forman has his doubts on the potential effectiveness of the campaign.

While our natural tendency might be to seek vengeance, or at least find peace of mind in linking the tragic effect to a specific cause, Forman argues that this kneejerk response is counterproductive.

"Having room for the word 'accident' in our vocabulary can help us heal," Forman says, though he concedes the word isn't always appropriate.

In cases where a person's brakes failed or a driver is intoxicated, the end result could certainly be prevented through better judgment. That's why activist groups find it more practical (and accurate) if people use a word that describes the effect — "crash"— rather than one that describes whether someone meant to do it.

If we don't hold people accountable with our language, the campaign argues, people won't feel compelled to drive more safely in the future.

But according to Forman, omitting the word "accident" altogether ignores the fact that randomness is all around us. Bad things can happen even when no one is at fault. 

SEE ALSO: One of Google's self-driving cars has been involved in its first accident with an injury

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It's become an accepted fact that the millions of bacteria that live inside and all over us have a big impact on our health, with connections to gastrointestinal conditions and relationships to digestion, obesity, and skin conditions being in a way, intuitive: All those bacteria are right there, so it's perhaps not that surprising that they affect bodily functions in their same region.

What's been harder to understand, historically, has been the apparent connection between our resident bacterial communities, especially those in the gut, and the human brain — notoriously protected from bacteria by the blood-brain barrier.

Yet there's more and more evidence that somehow, the bacterial colonies that live in our guts can affect and even somehow control how we feel.

Mark Lyte has been studying this relationship for approximately 30 years.

When he first started this work, "it was dismissed as a curiosity," according to a recent profile of research into the gut-brain connection in The New York Times, but over time, as Lyte and others continued to publish their research, they uncovered more and more compelling evidence that bacteria could not only affect but could perhaps even be a causal factor in mental disorders — something that implies they could also be eventually used to treat these same conditions.

Researchers have shown that the presence of certain bacteria can identify people that are more prone to depression and anxiety disorders. Other bacterial communities have even been connected to conditions like hyperactivity and autism. Just last September, as the Times reported, the National Institute of Mental Health awarded up to $1 million to four separate research projects looking at ways to better understand how these colonies of gut bacteria affect mental health.

This research is so fascinating because of its potential impact: if we find that abnormal bacterial colonies have a role in causing mental disorders, then perhaps if we alter these bacterial colonies, we can treat these mental conditions.

This is the promise and claim of the multi-billion-dollar and growing probiotics industry, but it should be very clearly noted that as of right now, we still have no idea how to effectively manipulate gut bacteria to treat mental conditions or many other issues; we're not even sure such treatments are possible. And it's worth noting that the gut-bacteria effective treatments that have proven useful for specific applications like a C. diff infection are vastly different from the probiotics being marketed at your local drugstore.

We're at a crucial moment

Despite the overhyping, the potential impact of our growing understanding of the weird relationship between our gut bacteria and our health is still huge. We have no idea how to treat some mental disorders and our treatments for many psychiatric conditions haven't gotten any more effective since the 1950s.

Through huge research initiatives, we're trying to understand the brain right now. At Smithsonian magazine's "The Future is Here" festival earlier this year, Dr. Thomas Insel, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said: "We think about the 21st century as a century for chronic, non-communicable diseases ... most of all, brain disorders."

At the same time, a major project that's trying to categorize all the different bacterial communities in our bodies and the ways they affect our health could open up a whole new understanding of those "brain" disorders.

"We are, at least from the standpoint of DNA, more microbial than human," Insel told the Times. "That's a phenomenal insight and one that we have to take seriously when we think about human development."

Lyte's lab focuses on figuring out some of the ways these bacteria could affect our mental health. They've found that gut bacteria produce neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin. We've known those were produced in the gut for a long time, but didn't know until recently it was the bacteria making them.

Other researchers have shown that providing mice with certain bacteria makes them less likely to give up when they are forced to swim after being dropped in a cylinder of water that they can't escape from. In other cases, mice given certain bacteria have become less anxious and stressed. In other fascinating work, mice with certain symptoms that resemble, in part, autism in humans have had those symptoms reverse after a bacterial transplant — something fascinating, if still incredibly far from being applicable to humans.

These potential treatments, called "psychobiotics," are being tested in humans too, for psychological conditions and neurological disorders.

But as transformative as the idea of bacterial manipulation might be, it's still a long way from being ready to be implemented. As Lyte told the Times:

"It's the Wild West out there ... You can go online and buy any amount of probiotics for any number of conditions now, and my paper is one of those cited. I never said go out and take probiotics ... We really need a lot more research done before we actually have people trying therapies out.''

Check out the full New York Times feature on gut bacteria and the brain here.

SEE ALSO: The researchers behind 'the biggest biotech discovery of the century' found it by accident

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A company called Znaps has a Kickstarter campaign underway to turn your smartphone's charging port and cable into a magnetic charger charger.

It's similar to Apple's MagSafe power connector, which allows you to easily plug and unplug the power connector to your laptop with a satisfying magnetic snap.

Most importantly, it also detaches if and when someone trips on the power cord, which could break the cord and send your laptop hurtling towards a faceoff with the floor. And the floor always wins that fight. But MagSafe isn't available for the iPhone.

Here's what Apple's MagSafe connector looks like.

For the Znaps, a tiny magnetic adapter fits into your device's charging port (Lightning for iOS devices, microUSB for Android) and a separate magnetic adapter fits over your cable's connector. And the rest is pretty self explanatory. 

It means you could simply place your phone's charging port close to the charging cable, and it'll snap in with the power of magnets.

And it'll disconnect without causing any damage if you pull on your phone when it's still charging.

And there's even a little status light, just like you'd find on a MacBook's MagSafe charging connector.

The campaign is barely a quarter of the way through with 24 days remaining, and Znaps has already amassed $437,295 of its $94,221 goal. That's 464% of Znap's goal, so saying there's some interest is an understatement. 

Watch the rest of Znaps' Kickstarter campaign video here:

SEE ALSO: A secret option in your Android phone can help make it work faster

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Students at Stanford University have programmed a robot to play ping pong. And the bot looks like it’s got more game than most humans. 

As part of a class assignment, a team of students in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the school were able to program the robot to autonomously play the game by first tracking the motion of a ping pong ball and then programming the robot to swing and hit the ball the same way a human would.  

The task required the students to take advantage of the robot’s various capabilities including vision, force sensing, position sensing and tactile perception.

Check out the full video below.

SEE ALSO: Companies are making human-like robots and they think they've stumbled on the biggest thing since the iPhone

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NOW WATCH: This robot wakes you up in the morning and checks if you turned off the oven when you leave the house

Dropbox has made a name for itself by delivering on a simple promise: nearly instant access to the files you need on any device, as long as you have an internet connection.

Even in 2015, many are still getting used to storing their personal data in the cloud. It's easy to not think about saving your precious documents and photos in safe place until your computer is stolen or your hard drive breaks. And by then, it's often too late.

The security of having your files backed up in case of emergency is an obvious plus of using a service like Dropbox. But Dropbox has become much more than a digital locker in the cloud for your documents. It can help you collaborate on projects with co-workers, clean up your photo library on your iPhone, and even help simplify how you do email.

SEE ALSO: 11 tips to make you a Netflix master

Maximize the free space Dropbox gives you

Every Dropbox account gets 2GB of free space, but there are several things you can do to earn more free storage without paying a monthly subscription.

You can get up to 16GB of free space by inviting friends who haven't signed up for Dropbox yet. Each successful referral gets you 500MB.

To get 3GB of free space, download Dropbox's free photo management app Carousel. If you link your Dropbox account with its email app Mailbox, you'll get an additional 1GB of space.

You can see all of the extra storage you've earned for free under your personal account settings.

Enable two-step verification to protect your account

If you don't want to put your Dropbox account at greater risk of being hacked, make sure to enable two-step verification. What this means is that whenever you try to log into Dropbox on a new device, a secondary code will be sent to your phone number. You'll have to enter that code along with your main password to log in.

Two-step is bit of a pain, but it's good way to increase the security of your account. Enable it under the security section of your account settings.

Use Selective Sync to control which folders sync across devices

Dropbox has a feature called Selective Sync that lets you manually choose which folders to sync. This can be helpful if you have a particular folder on your desktop you don't want showing up on your smartphone, or vice versa.

The setting is found under "Account" in the Dropbox Mac menu bar app's preferences. On Windows, Selective Sync is available under the same area of the Dropbox app's settings.

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Twenty years after it first premiered as a Hercules spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess could be returning to television.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that NBC and NBC Universal International are prepping a reboot of the beloved Lucy Lawlessaction-adventure drama. The drama is in the extremely early development stages and a search for a writer is currently underway. Original executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi are also involved in the project, which is considered to be a "modern reboot." It's unclear what, if any, role original star Lawless would have, though sources tell THR that insiders would like the original star to have both a role on screen and behind the scenes. The drama is eyed for 2016. It's too early to know if Xena 2.0 would be a limited 13-episode run similar to Fox's revived 24 or a more standard full-season order. Insiders say the hope is for the new Xena to be an ongoing (read renewable) series. 

See more Broadcast TV's New Shows 2015-16

Sources say the new Xena would have to have the charisma and charm of Lawless and the smarts of The Hunger Games' Katniss as producers are said to be looking for a sophisticated and smart superhero for a new generation.

The original series was produced by Studios USA and international producers Universal Worldwide Television and was distributed by Universal Television. Xena ran in syndication for six seasons from September 1995-June 2001 and originally started as a spinoff from Hercules after producers realized how popular the Xena (Lawless) character was and opted to launch a new series built around the Amazon warrior on a quest for redemption and her trusted companion Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor).

Xena was created by John Schulian and Tapert — Lawless' husband — and produced by Tapert, Sam Raimiand actor Bruce Campbell's Renaissance Pictures, Studios USA and Universal Television, the latter of whom distributed the series in more than 108 countries around the globe. The drama was a cult favorite and ratings hit, ranking in the top five syndicated programs during each of its six seasons.

An extension of the Xena franchise comes as Lawless recently signed on to co-star in Starz's Evil Dead sequelAsh vs. Evil Dead, reuniting her with Xena— and Spartacus — alums Raimi and Tapert.

For her part, Lawless recently told HitFix at Comic-Con— where she was supporting Ash — that "they've got to bring [Xena] back."

"I've been pitching that show … because … there's a swell of interest still," she said. "I'm always being peppered with questions [about] when the Xena movie is coming. Guys, I'm pitching my ass off to make it happen, whether it's with me or not. I think it'd be funny to have a reboot like Ash vs. Evil Dead— like middle-aged Xena in a muumuu with a bad attitude and a smoking habit. … Bring [actor] Ted Raimi [who played Joxer] in … [and maybe] Bruce Campbell." 

See more Broadcast TV's Returning Shows 2015-16

"I don't know what the hold-up is; it's about who has got the rights," she added. "But that's a piss-poor excuse anymore. Find who has got the rights, freakin' pay it. It's better to have 80 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing. Don't waste this opportunity; reinvigorate that franchise!" she said, stressing the show's international appeal. It's an insane international character. They're fools not to bring it back. It's funny, it's sexy, it's action."

The actress also has been vocal about wanting to play the character again— despite the fact that Xena (spoiler alert) died in the series finale.

For NBC, a Xena reboot could give the network a perfect companion for fellow genre player Grimm on Fridays. The network in recent years has attempted to launch several shows on Fridays at 9 p.m. after Grimm —Constantine, Crossbones, Dracula ­— none of which have made it to a second season.

Revisiting Xena comes as reboots continue to be in high demand as broadcast and cable networks alike look to proven commodities (and fan bases) to cut through the clutter in an increasingly competitive scripted landscape. Key to their success is having the original producers involved. For its part, NBC is also readying aCoach follow-up with star Craig T. Nelson. Fox, meanwhile, is bringing The X-Files back in January and has plans to produce another run of Prison Break after successfully reviving 24 on top of its film-to-TV take onMinority Report. Over at CBS, the network will launch a TV remake of Limitless with Bradley Cooper attached and will bow its Rush Hour adaptation come midseason.

Would you watch a Xena reboot? Sound off in the comments section, below.

SEE ALSO: A guest role on "The X-Files" helped Bryan Cranston get his role on "Breaking Bad"

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In 2012, the world fell in love with an Instagram account that showed a woman leading her photographer boyfriend around the world.

Now, the couple is celebrating yet another milestone and sharing the gorgeous new photos with their followers.

It all began when Moscow-based Murad Osmann and his girlfriend, Natalia Zakharova, started filling their Instagram accounts with beautiful travel photos of the streets of Barcelona, the Taj Mahal, and luxury hotels around the world.

Their perfectly framed pictures of Zakharova grabbing Osmann's hand and pulling him went viral. It even got the pair a book deal as well as a few parody accounts.

When they got married in June of this year, the pictures they posted on Instagram of the wedding were gorgeous. Nataly even posed in her signature style with her new husband in Moscow.

But the adventure was far from over. Nataly and Murad shared more amazing pictures from their long honeymoon, spotted by Cosmopolitan.

SEE ALSO: The massively popular Instagrammer who follows his girlfriend around the world just got married, and the pictures are stunning

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Their first destination was to Las Vegas and the Bellagio hotel. They perfectly framed Nataly at sunset with the fountains going off.

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They took in Vegas from every angle and made sure to get the fountains from the sky.

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It was quite windy up there.

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A dating site for cheating has been compromised. Hackers may now have information on the 37 million users of Ashley Madison – a site owned by Avid Life Media (ALM). ALM told Business Insider it is continuing to work with law enforcement and unnamed "forensics security experts" to find the root cause of the breach.

Produced by Kevin Reilly

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Yet another video of the adorable Riley Curry is making the rounds, and this time she's dancing the Nae Nae. 

But we just found another clip from late last year that shows the three-year-old has been a great performer since she learned how to talk.

The two-minute video shows Riley judging a cooking competition between her parents, Steph and Ayesha Curry. 

Riley first rose to fame when she made her presence known at a press conference while her dad was taking questions in May. Since then, she's made another press conference appearance and, most recently, danced the Nae Nae.

And in this throwback video posted by ESPN on Jan. 9, she's fully of witty rejoinders despite being barely able to speak a full sentence.

 In the video, a one-off ESPN spoof called "Kitchen Warriors," Stephen and Ayesha have to cook their own version of chicken curry, as requested by Riley.

Riley then decides which one of her parents is the winner.

You'll have to watch the video to see what happens, but here's a hint: Riley has a pretty strong reaction to her dad's dish...

SEE ALSO: Here are Riley Curry's funniest Instagram moments

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NOW WATCH: Marine biologist explains why the pro surfer attacked by a shark didn't actually get bit

What looks like a lake and feels like a lake isn't necessarily always a lake. Well, at least it's not always that deep.

Welcome to Green Lake, Austria — a hiker-and-scuba-diver's dream.

This body of water literally shape-shifts throughout the seasons. During the winter, it's more like a shallow pond. But come spring, it gets deep enough to dive and swim in.

Eventually, what was once along the pond's edge becomes submerged underwater, transforming the lake into an incredible underwater oasis.

SEE ALSO: Ocean life looks unreal in this time-lapsed and hyper-focused video

Green Lake is surrounded by an Austrian village called Tragöß. It is a county park where hikers tromp through the lush Hochschwab mountains and forests year round.

When the snow in the nearby karst mountains begins to melt from rising temperatures in the spring, it trickles into the lake basin and fills it with water.

From July through about mid-May, the lake looks like this.

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I firmly believe virtual reality will be the next frontier of computing. But for so many people — especially those who haven't tried a virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift, Gear VR, or HTC Vive — it's difficult to understand why VR will be so profound.

Right now, most virtual reality apps are about gaming. But that's not why you'll care about virtual reality.

Social apps will be the "killer app" that convinces everyday people to drop hundreds of dollars on a virtual reality platform.

Imagine donning a VR headset and getting transported to a giant mansion, where you and 60 other people — friends, family and acquaintances — watch the Super Bowl together on a giant virtual TV that's streaming the game in real-time.

Imagine visiting a virtual playground with giant versions of board games for you and your friends to play — or, to just stand around and chat with each other — even if those friends are across the country, or on a different continent.

These aren't just ideas; these are actual virtual reality experiences you can try right now, thanks to two-year-old AltSpaceVR, which has raised $5.2 million in one funding round to create social applications within virtual spaces.

Back in March, AltSpaceVR invited me into its virtual social universe — a combination of the Oculus Rift headset and its own proprietary software — where you can talk, play games, and watch videos with your friends...well, avatars of your friends, which look like EVE from the Pixar movie "Wall-E."

If you enjoy watching endless YouTube videos on your computer — and who doesn't? — you'll enjoy it 10 times more in virtual reality, surrounded by friends and perhaps random acquaintances who you can talk and listen to even as the videos are playing in the background.

These social VR applications are extremely realistic, thanks to the power of 3D audio. Simply put, 3D audio – often called "spatial audio"– is the concept of true-to-life hearing. For example: If someone's avatar is far away from you, or standing right next to you, you'll hear their voice accordingly. You'll know if someone is to your right or left, near or far, which helps make the interaction feel more like real life.

Thanks to AltSpaceVR, I finally understood why Facebook dropped $2 billion on a virtual reality company: Social is, and has always been, the application that drives technologies forward.

We ultimately want technology to make our lives easier, to expand our abilities as humans. Facebook made it incredibly easy to make friends, but also keep track of those people and maintain those friendships online. 

In virtual reality, you'll be able to better keep up with all your friends, especially those who may be far-flung: Real-world interactions can't be replaced, but virtual reality is the next best thing, since you can invite dozens, even hundreds of people, regardless of geography, into a fantastic virtual area to catch up, play music and games, and watch movies together.

Virtual reality also has huge potential to meet new people.

If you and your friends can invite anyone you want to the virtual setting, you have limitless potential to create new connections — I could easily imagine a Facebook-like "Add Friend" option popping up above a user's avatar, in case you're clicking with someone you've met in VR. As it turns out, Facebook owns one of the foremost VR companies: Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift launching in early 2016.

Imagine if a company like Skype imported its instant translation technology to virtual settings. VR could transcend language.

Virtual reality would be recognized as the ultimate social platform, where you can connect to anyone, anywhere, regardless of physical and linguistic limitations.

Last week, I tried HTC's premium virtual reality headset, called the Vive. I'm convinced it's the best virtual reality experience out there right now. But even with all the incredible imagery in front of my eyes, I kept thinking back to my demo with AltSpaceVR. It would be nearly impossible for someone to truly believe what I had just seen in the HTC Vive. Painting 3D objects in mid-air, visiting an underwater shipwreck and cooking in a virtual kitchen is extremely fun, but it's nothing if you can't share in these experiences with others. Once that happens, virtual reality might finally be better than the real thing.

SEE ALSO: I tried HTC's insane virtual reality headset, and I'm convinced the world is about to change forever

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The 2000s were a great decade for British actor Sir Ian McKellen. He led two huge blockbuster franchises. In "X-Men," he played archnemesis Magneto. Meanwhile, in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, he played ultimate good guy Gandalf.

It turns out he was very close to not getting either of those roles. 

During this time, McKellen was also offered a role opposite Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible II."

"I got offered a part in 'Mission: Impossible II' with Tom Cruise, but they wouldn’t let me see the whole script because I might have spilled the beans. I only got my scenes."McKellen told People Magazine.

However, McKellen didn't want to say yes to a project without knowing the whole story first.

"I couldn't judge from reading just those scenes what the script was like. So I said no. And my agent said, 'You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!' and I said, 'I think I will.'" McKellen said.

According to McKellen, "X-Men" director Bryan Singer asked him to play Magneto the next day, to which he said yes. Not long after, director Peter Jackson asked Mckellen to play the wizard Gandalf. 

McKellen's chance to play Gandalf was almost put in jeopardy, as filming for "X-Men" ran way over schedule. He made it to New Zealand just on time to film "The Fellowship of the Ring."

However, he never made it to "Mission: Impossible II." And maybe that was for the better.

"Meanwhile, 'Mission: Impossible' was put off, put off, put off," said McKellen. "If I had decided to do that, I wouldn’t have been in 'X-Men' and I wouldn't have been in 'Lord of the Rings.' It's all about luck – being there at the right time and ready for it."

SEE ALSO: A guest role on 'The X-Files' helped Bryan Cranston get his Emmy-winning role on 'Breaking Bad'

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“Jurassic World” may have surpassed the “Avengers” for the highest-grossing opening weekend ever, but viewers had one major problem with the new movie — Bryce Howard’s character Claire Dearing running from dinosaurs ... in heels.

The decision to keep Howard’s character in heels launched countless scathing editorials, a Tumblr dedicated to action heroines running in heels, and now a new satire video from XVP Comedy that puts every single living creature in the Jurassic Park franchise in heels.

“The #1 movie of the summer has the one thing that everyone’s been talking about: A woman running for her life from dinosaurs wearing high heels the whole time,” the announcer’s voice says, selling the fake and hilarious “Jurassic Park: Complete Box Set High Heels Edition.”

Every scene in the video is edited to show the characters wearing heeled shoes accompanied by high heel clip-clopping sounds. They even put Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm character is a pair of bright red boots.

There’s also a much needed shot of all the characters throughout the movies falling in heels — something they would surely do if forced to run from dinosaurs in real life.

Even the dinosaurs got the high heels treatment. All the animals in Jurassic Park are females, we’re reminded, “And they look good!” booms the announcer.

You can watch the whole video here, and see more of XVP Comedy’s videos here.

SEE ALSO: I copied a top beauty blogger and subtly changed one thing about my selfie — can you spot it?

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Does the sight of discarded plastic swirling in the Pacific ocean — the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch— haunt you every time you throw away a soda bottle?

Dutch construction company VolkerWessels has found a unique way to make you feel less guilty.

As part of a concept called PlasticRoad, VolkerWessels aims to build roads entirely from recycled plastic that has been salvaged from oceans and incineration plants.

Shortly after it was unveiled in July, the idea attracted attention from the Rotterdam city council. The Netherlands city has now offered VolkerWessels a pilot location to test PlasticRoad. The first road will actually be a bicycle path and, as The Guardian reported, building it will take three years.    

According to the plan, sections of the road will be crafted in a factory and then assembled — Lego-like — at the construction site. This means that grooves for traffic sensors and light poles could be worked in even before the panels leave the factory. The design also leaves room for hollow space below the surface, making it easier to lay cables and pipelines later. 

Once the plastic road wears out, VolkerWessels hopes to recycle it again and build a new PlasticRoad.

If all goes well, there's no reason why the PlasticRoad design can't be used elsewhere in Rotterdam and beyond.

But what makes plastic a potential alternative to asphalt, the thick black sticky substance that has long been the material of choice for highway engineers?  

A road fashioned out of recycled plastic, according to the company, would be able to survive temperatures as low as -40 degrees and as high as 80 degrees Celsius. In fact, the road would last three times as long as a normal road — potentially as long as 50 years. A plastic road would also be "unaffected by corrosion" and require less upkeep, which theoretically would mean fewer traffic jams. 

Ditching asphalt for plastic also makes sense if you consider what the more traditional building material does to the environment. Asphalt is to blame for 1.6 million tons of CO2 that stream into the atmosphere every year. That makes up 2% of all road transport emissions, according to The Guardian.

For now, VolkerWessels' plan exists only on paper. 

But we've already seen hints of how it can work. The city of Jamshedpur in India has paved nearly 50 kilometers of roads partly, if not entirely, with recycled plastic. Bottles and wrappers are reportedly hauled to collection centers, shredded, and mixed with asphalt. 

At the very least, the idea floated by VolkerWessels is a promising step on the road to solving the world's crippling plastic problem. 

SEE ALSO: Hawaii is throwing up a Hail Mary to solve America's crippling plastic problem

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NOW WATCH: University of Michigan just opened their $10 million city for driverless cars

You're bobbing in the waves on a hot summer day when you feel something graze your leg. You spot a white blob beneath the surface. It could be a plastic bag, or it could be something much less environmentally unfriendly but astronomically more painful — a jellyfish.

If you've ever been stung by one, you know that the pain, blistering, and redness that comes on shortly after can be anywhere from slightly annoying to deadly.

Jellyfish defend themselves by injecting venom into your body with syringe-like body parts called nematocysts. They're coiled up inside cells called nematocytes, which live along the length of the animal's tentacles.

When triggered by touch, nematocysts unravel — kind of like a coiled garden hose after you give it a tug — and pierce the flesh with millions of microscopic needles.

Because jellyfish stings happen so quickly — on the order of milliseconds, or about the time it takes you to blink — they're challenging to study in the lab. But with the help of his super-slow motion camera, YouTuber SmarterEveryDay was able to catch a lightening-fast jellyfish sting in action in toxicologist Jamie Seymour's lab at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.

And what they saw was shocking.

After setting up a high speed camera that was recording in real time, Seymour triggered the unfurling of a nematocyst in a sea anemone — a close relative of the jellyfish— by touching two leads from a nine volt battery to its tentacle.

They were able to view, in real time, the super-quick nematocysts stretching their needle-like organelles in response.

Here's an even closer look.

On average, it took the anemone about 11 milliseconds to fire its venom-loaded nematocysts in response to the trigger. That's really fast. But what blew Seymour away was the time it took for the venom to release from the organelle.

It took about 1/3 of a second, or 333 milliseconds, for the venom to eject after they triggered the nematocysts. That's a significant delay from the mere 11 milliseconds it took to fire up those needles.

"We've never seen that before. I mean, we've seen venom come out the end of these things, but we've never seen that delay," Seymour said in the video. "This is the sort of stuff I get up in the morning for ... I've got goosebumps all over me, it's great!"

All of this helps researchers understand how jellyfish stings work.

The venom of a box jellyfish, which according to Seymour has about 800,000 nematocysts per square centimeter is one of the deadliest in the world. It attacks the heart, skin cells, and the nervous system and can be so painful that people sometimes die of shock or a heart attack before they can swim to safety.

Studies show that even a tiny amount of jellyfish venom can poke holes in red blood cells and cause the heart to stall and stop beating merely within minutes.

But despite decades of research on these elusive creatures, we still can't identify exactly what the toxin is or how it sweeps through the body to cause such a swift death.

Nevertheless, neat projects like these take a bite out of some of the biggest questions in science. Check out more of this video on SmarterEveryDay's YouTube channel:

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Pixar will follow up its hugely successful "Inside Out" with "The Good Dinosaur," a long-delayed animated picture which explores what Earth would be like if dinosaurs never became extinct and shared the planet with humans. 

"The Good Dinosaur" will be in theaters on November 25.

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A British man's wife caught him smoking on camera thanks to Google Street View.

Donny Ryding, who works as a cab driver in Liverpool, was caught red-handed when a Street View car passed his house and snapped a photo of him mid-smoke-break as he stood outside, according to the Liverpool Echo.

Donny was on doctor's orders to stop smoking. 

"He'd been told to give up smoking and stop eating unhealthy foods after he had a heart attack," his wife, Julie Ryding, told the Echo.

Julie was tipped off that he might be skirting the rules when she cleaned his car out. She found "loads of Hobnob biscuits," a type of cookie, all over the car, she told the Echo.

She confronted him about the cookies and he "stormed out of the house" in anger, she said. She later learned the Street View car had been driving around that day. On the hunt to find even more verboten behavior from her husband, she checked their address on Google Maps.

She saw a photo of Donny outside. It looked like he had a cigarette in his right hand. He was busted. "He did sleep on the couch that night," Julie told the Echo, "but he took it all in good spirits and we joke about it now at family parties."

We've reached out to Google for comment.

This isn't the first time someone's been caught red-handed by Street View's all-seeing cameras. There's been plenty of nudity captured by the cameras, as well as nose-picking and even another secret smoker. Those awkward Street View moments can be viewed here, while a slew of disturbing Street View findings is available here.

SEE ALSO: These impeccably dressed men had their photos randomly snapped by Google Street View cameras

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For over 30 years, the name "Nintendo" has been synonomous with joyful children.

Though many of the kids who once loved Nintendo have since grown up, the Japanese company's aim remains steadily targeted on the younger demographic. 

But with the advent of smartphones, tablets, and multiple home computers, kids have never had more options at their fingertips over the distractions of yore.

Simply put: Nintendo's still popular with kids, but not quite as popular as, say, Snapchat. 

Look no further than this excellent piece in Paste Magazine for evidence of that: 

“Maggie,” I say, “you seemed pretty negative earlier. What do you play instead of Nintendo?”

“Instagram,” she says.

And in that child's (hilarious) response, we can see where kids are going instead of their handheld Nintendo 3DS game console. Instagram is actually the most popular social network among teens – a demographic kids like Maggie are just about to enter.

The Paste piece focuses on the recent passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Writer Jon Irwin is spending the summer teaching "ten- and eleven-year olds" at an educational camp outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and he asked the kids a variety of questions about that passing. Interestingly, of the kids present, "nearly all" own Nintendo devices. It sounds like gawking at rich kids living lavish lives may just be more appealing than Italian plumbers and pocket monsters.

SEE ALSO: Female gamers have it bad: Study suggests women are targets for 'low-status, low-performing' male gamers

AND: Online communities are changing video games to make them better, weirder, and much more wonderful

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