Taking plastic out of the ocean is hard, especially when it comes to microplastics. Now there’s a study out of Princeton that says we can get some help in that effort from egg whites. Plus: a group of college students in Malaysia has another system for removing tiny bits of debris from the ocean, known as Whalecro. 

How Egg Whites Can Help Clean the Ocean (Cool Hunting)

whalecro vehicle captures ocean microdebris via velcro straps as users move underwater (designboom)

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Researchers have a pretty good idea what all the chatter between crows is about. They seem to figure out when to launch a mass takeoff by discussing it. Plus: a very small ornament is also a fully functional IBM PC that can play the classic game Doom on its tiny, full color screen.

Noisy jackdaw birds reach 'consensus' before taking off (Science Daily)

The Christmas tree ornament of Doom (Boing Boing)

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Maybe you had to pick up some batteries for some of the presents you bought this month. When it comes to toys, we’ve got AA, AAA, C and D batteries… but not B! Why not? Plus: a research team has demonstrated a “smart bandage" that can not only monitor how a wound is healing in real time, it can help speed that healing process along.

Why Aren't There B Batteries? (Mental Floss)

Wireless, closed-loop, smart bandage with integrated sensors and stimulators for advanced wound care and accelerated healing (Nature)

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This week in 1996, a British sailor competing in a race around the world decided that winning the race wasn’t as important as helping a fellow sailor who was in trouble. Plus: if you’re looking for some fascinating reading at the end of the year, check out food writer Julia Skinner's piece about living with gustatory synesthesia. 

HOW WE MET: PETE GOSS AND RAPHAEL DINELLI (Independent.co.uk)

Rival sails to rescue sinking sailor (Irish Times)

What it’s like to be a food writer when you can taste everything you see (Atlanta Magazine)

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There are lots of classic holiday songs, but one of them didn’t get a warm welcome from some corners when it was first released. Here's why "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was condemned and even briefly banned in some parts of the US. Plus: the time some parents had an aspiring drummer in the house and lost the plot for Christmas presents. 

Jimmy Boyd: 1939-2009 (Chicago Tribune)

This Reddit Thread Of The Worst Christmas Gifts People Have Ever Received Might Forever Change Your Holiday Shopping Plans (Digg)

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Anybody can put on a red suit and hat, don a white beard and say “ho ho ho” to passersby. But if you want to do Kris Kringle’s job properly, you can do what hundreds and hundreds of them have done: go to Santa school. Plus: a not so warm welcome for a holiday decoration in British Columbia. 

How Professional Santas Are Trained (Insider via YouTube)

Red-nose rage: Aggressive deer keep attacking this Rudolph decoration (CBC)

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There are quite a few sites from the ancient world that mark the solstice in pretty special ways. Stonehenge is probably the most famous one, but there’s another site that offers an amazing solstice experience, if you’re fortunate enough to see it: Newgrange in Ireland. Plus: if you’re still figuring out your holiday decorations, you might get some inspiration at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It's home to thousands of Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments. 

1,000 years older than Stonehenge (Irish Times)

The Quaint, Weird World of Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments (Hyperallergic)

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When most people mark Hanukkah with lights, they mean candles on a menorah. But Philip Grosman of Houston is bringing all the lights for the festival at Hanukkah House.

Houston's famous Hanukkah house shines bright for the holidays (KHOU)

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Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” was first published today in 1843. The character of Ebeneezer Scrooge is said to be based on a real life person, though which person it was that inspired the story depends on who’s telling the story. Plus: what exactly was it that Scrooge had for his Christmas Eve dinner? 

Campaign To Honour Real-Life Ebenezer Scrooge John Elwes (Huffington Post)

Revealed: the Scot who inspired Dickens' Scrooge (The Scotsman)

What Scrooge Ate on Christmas Eve: Folk Belief, Folk Medicine, and Foodways in Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” (Library of Congress)

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Today in 1892, an engineering team working on Chicago’s Columbian Exposition approved a design for a giant metal wheel that could give rides to passengers. Here's the story of the Ferris wheel and how it was partly intended to one-up a certain iconic structure from the previous World's Fair. Plus: today in 1962, Nepal adopted its national flag, the only non-rectangular national flag in the world. 

Did You Know That the First-Ever Ferris Wheel Was Built in Chicago? (ITechPost)

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, Sanghiya Loktāntrik Ganatantra Nepāl (CRW Flags)

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