Barbie goes Hitchcock. // The obsessive-compulsive action figure. Comes with hypo-allergenic towelette. (h/t, Coudal.) // A floor plan of 221b Baker Street. // Underneath Berlin: the CIA’s secret tunnel. // Ancient cities of colour. // Viva Calaca! Dia de los Muertos. (h/t, Drawn!) // The elasticity of flesh. // Not a huge fan of tattoos. This one isn’t swaying me. // Electro-adhesive wall-climbing robot. // Balls. The cute, incredible change-bot. // Björk: Wanderlust, in 3D. Glasses not included. // Drug smuggling submarines. // How torpedo tubes work. // Turkish remake of The Exorcist. Budget not included. // “Only religious scholars should be allowed to discuss matters of faith.” (h/t, Cookslaw.) // Robert Spencer on the jihad against free speech. // Mark Pagel on race, reciprocation and the kindness of strangers. // How many cannibals could your body feed? // Evolving bacteria. // Synaesthesia on demand. // Tetris tactics. // The web text highlighter. // The thrill of vending machines. Why not make your own? // And, via The Thin Man, it’s the Balkan Hot Step.

Here’s a thing. Japanese surgeon Dr Norihiko Ishikawa demonstrates the precision of the da Vinci Surgical System by using its remote-control robotic arms to indulge in a spot of origami. The object he’s making – a crane – is about the size of a penny.

Via Pink Tentacle.

Related rather tenuously to yesterday’s comments:

A panoramic tour of the International Space Station. I can’t seem to find the sofa. Or the bar.   

And because I know you like quizzes,

How long could you survive in the vacuum of space?

Ravishing Beasts is a site devoted to taxidermy through the ages. Of particular interest is the section on theatrical taxidermy, which includes such antiquated marvels as the Kitten Tea Party and Kitten Wedding. The latter is described thus:

Completed in 1898, “The Kitten Wedding” was Walter Potter’s last large work (although he was working on squirrel court scene before his stroke in 1914) and the only one in which the animals are dressed. The lady kittens have cream brocade gowns, frilly knickers, gaudy beads and earrings. The bride has a brass ring on her finger, and the groomsmen sport wild woolly heads and morning suits. The whole scene includes eighteen kittens with enormous, bulging eyes, a parson, an altar, and a rail.

Other oddities of note include boxing squirrels, hedonistic chipmunks and a menagerie of fraudulent beasts.

(h/t, Coudal.)

Dr Wei Sheng has a thing for decorative needles. // The stop-motion graphic equaliser. // More views from above. (h/t, 1+1=3.) // Cloud formations, seen from space. // V-2 meets the stratosphere, films curvature of the Earth. (1946) // Peter Risdon on photons, sofas and creating the world. // Your very own galaxy. 80,000 stars in a 12cm cube. // 55 metre photo of the Milky Way, viewed in infrared. // Solar System. (1977) // Mystery of levitation “solved”. // 10 scientists killed or injured by their experiments. Radiation, poisoning, staring at the Sun. // The Kneale Tapes. From Quatermass to Year of the Sex Olympics. Part 2, 3, 4. // TV “detector vans” through the ages. // An illustrated history of the Roman Empire. // The joys of fire gel. // The Glo Pillow. // What ovulation looks like. // Los Simpson. // Blu: Muto. A tale of animated paint. (h/t, Dr Westerhaus.) // Fun will balls. (h/t, Cookslaw.) // How tennis will be. // Fishing, for kids and idiots. // Tree houses of note. (h/t, Coudal.) // Things found inside old books. // A collection of unscratched lottery tickets. // The Japanese calculator museum. // And, via The Thin Man, it’s Kraftwerk, of course.