Egyptian fruit bats are known to make a lot of noise while they’re roosting. Scientists at Tel Aviv University have determined that a lot of that noise is bats getting annoyed at other bats. Plus: scientists studying endangered bats in Cuba tag them in a very fancy way, with little bat-manicures!

Study of bat vocalizations shows they are communicating with one another (Phys.org)

Scientists Gave One of the World’s Rarest Bats a Manicure to Help Save It (Earther)

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The Soundshirt from high-tech fashion company Cute Circuit has embedded sensors that can sense sound and turn it into vibrations. In other words, it helps deaf people feel music.  And since we're talking about sounds, have you heard the Tiptree Sneeze, where a trombonist let loose in the middle of a concert? 

The Soundshirt lets deaf people feel music on their skin (designboom)

Man sneezes into his trombone during concert - Tiptree sneeze (YouTube)

Tiptree trombone sneeze man tells of 'freak event' (BBC)

For decades fans of the band KISS have called themselves the KISS Army. But now that they're set to play a concert off the coast of Australia for human and sharks fans, maybe there’s also a KISS Navy? Plus: in Oklahoma, the annual Honobia Bigfoot Festival is getting underway.

Kiss to Jump the Shark for Underwater Concert With Great Whites in South Australia (The Wrap)

Honobia Bigfoot Festival

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The Smart Can is a motorized, automated trash bin that will drive itself to the curb every week. Which means it's already more motivated about garbage day than I've ever been. Plus: the pinball festival known as PinBaltimore is getting underway in Maryland. 

New Automated Trash Can Drives Itself to the Curb on Trash Day (Interesting Engineering) 

PinBaltimore

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The 7-10 split is the hardest show in bowling, right? Well, an analysis from 2015 put that to the test - and the results were pretty surprising. Plus: an exhibit at New York's Hall of Science includes more than 100 classic works of art recreated with Legos. 

What's the Hardest Shot in Bowling? It's Complicated (Wired)

See Lego Versions of the World’s Most Famous Art at New York Hall of Science (Untapped Cities)

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Gavin and Alice Munro run a furniture farm in England. That's right, rather than turning trees into lumber and using that to make chairs, tables and sofas, they shape living trees into furniture, to be more sustainable. Plus: today marks 15 years since the city of Melbourne dedicated a street in honor of the band AC/DC. 

UK Couple Growing Furniture On Farm (Huffington Post)

Bon Scott sculpture cranks up the rock in Melbourne's AC/DC Lane (Sydney Morning Herald)

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A mission to Mars would take years of travel - but today's space food doesn't last long enough. Scientists at Washington State University are working on a way to sterilize and pack food that can last 3-5 years, which is good for astronauts and for any of us who want to survive the zombie apocalypse. Plus: why a man in Vermont just put up a large wooden statue of a raised middle finger. 

Getting mac and cheese to Mars (Washington State University)

Westford resident gives town the middle finger—and there's nothing anyone can do about it (Burlington Free Press)

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The small community of Casey, Illinois is home to the Big Things In A Small Town project - and this weekend someone will win a chance to sit in the world's largest rocking chair. Plus: tomorrow in Boulder City, Nevada, it’s the Wurst Festival. I’m not mocking the event, that's its name. 

Here’s your chance to sit on the World’s Largest Rocking Chair, one of many giant attractions in a tiny Illinois town (Roadtrippers)

Our Annual Würst Festival Fundraiser 

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Richard "Dixie" Blandy called himself the greatest flagpole sitter of all time - they say he spent more time atop flagpoles than most flags. Plus: the Great Basin Astronomy Festival today gets underway, with unusually dark skies and, to our knowledge, no flagpole sitters to obstruct the view.

Among Dayton’s colorful characters, he stood above rest (Dayton Daily News)

A 1971 pole-sitting champ on the great loneliness of sitting on a pole for 8 months (Splinter News)

Great Basin Astronomy Festival (Travel Nevada)

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UCLA is testing a brain implant that takes the images captured by a tiny camera and converts them into electrical impulses that stimulate the part of the brain responsible for sight. It helps blind people detect darkness and lightness, as well as sensing motion. Plus: tomorrow in London, Kentucky, the 30th annual World Chicken Festival gets underway, and it includes the World’s Largest Stainless Steel Skillet. 

Brain implant restores visual perception to the blind (UCLA)

The origin of the iconic World's Largest Stainless Steel Skillet (Sentinel-Echo)

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