Watch NASA’s Beautiful Mercury Transit Time Lapse

If you tried to to watch Mercury crossing in front of the Sun yesterday, chances are you didn’t get as good a view as NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Mercifully, the space agency has put together a stunning time lapse so you can watch the spectacle again.

Teen Discovers Lost Maya City Using Ancient Star Maps

Using an unprecedented technique of matching stars to the locations of temples on Earth, a 15-year-old Canadian student says he’s discovered a forgotten Maya city in Central America. Images from space suggest he may actually be onto something.

Hyperloop Startup Says Its Tech Is Safer, Cheaper Than High-Speed Trains

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of several companies trying to build a futuristic transportation system that can hurtle people and cargo in pods at over 700 miles an hour, says it has licensed technology that is safer and cheaper than what conventional high-speed trains use.

What the Heck Makes Flying So Expensive?

Is it the fuel? Not really. Even though giant passenger jets do guzzle down fuel at a ridiculous 0.67 miles per gallon—seriously, they need 1.5 gallons of jet fuel for every mile traveled—there are so many people on an airplane that the fuel cost gets split down to a much more reasonable price: a per-person fuel efficiency of 104.7 miles per gallon. That’s good! So why is flying so expensive? It’s everything else.

Researchers say our thirst for information affects how we behave

Researchers say the desire to make sense of our lives and the world we live in is a powerful motive in how we live and the decisions we make. Behavioral economists from Carnegie Mellon And Warwick Business School have made a model that links our drive for information and understanding to various human qualities, including boredom, curiosity, aesthetics in art and science, compassion and the role of “the good life” — whatever that means — in making decisions. They reckon it can help offer explanations to behavior and actions that might seem illogical to others.

Genetic Analysis of 250 Burgers Reveals Some Unsavory Surprises

Last year, a biotech startup called Clear Labs performed DNA testing on a bunch of hot dogs and discovered that they often contain more than the label advertises. The same company has now used its arsenal of molecular technologies to break down America’s other favorite meat-on-a-bun product: burgers. Once again, there are some unsavory surprises.

If Uber Drivers Are Employees, They’re Owed $730 Million More, Say U.S. Court Papers

Drivers who worked for ride-hailing service Uber in California and Massachusetts over the past seven years would have been entitled to an estimated $730 million in expense reimbursements had they been employees rather than contractors, according to court documents made public on Monday.

Lupe Fiasco – AUTOBOTO

Benny The Butcher – Bust A Brick Nick

Tory Lanez – Mucky James

Lupe Fiasco – 100 Chicagos

Sauce Walka – “Mirror Effect”

21 Savage – “No Debate” / “Big Smoke”

Flamingo at the Cincinnati Zoo

Mt. Gang Rinpoche (Tibet)

Smithsonian.com

Morning Hour

The first one

POLAR BEAR ON ICEBERG

Ibis Fight