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Cute-as-a-button mushroom house captivates buyers

<p>A quirky “Mushroom House” has popped on the market in Michigan, USA.</p> <p>A home owner in the United States has taken their love for the humble vegetable to a whole new level, with the seven-bedroom property expected to sell for a cool $US4.5 million ($6.4 million).</p> <p>The unique abode covers 6,000 square-feet and is referred to as “The Thatch House” due to its signature roof.</p> <p>American architect Earl Young designed the original seven-bathroom home back in 1918. He was known to source stone for his multiple properties throughout Northern Michigan.</p> <p>However, the new owner dreamed up a new aesthetic, drawing a thatched roof onto a napkin. The design concept took nearly two years to come to fruition and saw thatch being imported in from Europe.</p> <p>The interiors reflect Young’s original aesthetic with stone fireplaces and staircases, along with the timber joinery and benchtops in the living areas, kitchen and bathrooms.</p> <p>The timber floorboards are a rich chocolate tone, along with the new owner’s choice of plush textiles in bold hues, provides a warm and inviting feel to the estate.</p> <p><em>Images: Domain</em></p>

Real Estate

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“Benjamin Button” mice could pave way for reverse ageing

<p>If the three blind mice from the iconic nursery rhyme were living in molecular biologist Dr David Sinclair’s lab at Harvard Medical School, they might not be blind for very long.</p> <p>Dr Sinclair and his team at Harvard Medical School have been using proteins that can turn adult cells into stem cells - a kind of cell that can be turned into any of the specialised cells our bodies need.</p> <p>These stem cells have been helping restore the sight of old mice with damaged retinas, essentially making them younger versions of themselves.</p> <p>“It’s a permanent reset, as far as we can tell, and we think it may be a universal process that could be applied across the body to reset our age,” Dr Sinclair said about his research, which was published in late 2020.</p> <p>The Australian scientist has spent the past 20 years studying ways to reverse the effects of ageing - including the diseases that can afflict us as we get older.</p> <p>“If we reverse ageing, these diseases should not happen,” he said.</p> <p>During a health and wellness talk at Life Itself, Dr Sinclair said the technology is available and it’s only a matter of when we decide to use it.</p> <p>“We have the technology today to be able to go into your hundreds without worrying about getting cancer in your 70s, heart disease in your 80s and Alzheimer’s in your 90s,” he said.</p> <p>“This is the world that is coming. It’s literally a question of when and for most of us, it’s going to happen in our lifetime.”</p> <p>Whitney Casey, an investor who has partnered with Dr Sinclair to create a DIY biological age test, said the researcher wants to “make ageing a disease”.</p> <p>“His research shows you can change ageing to make lives younger for longer,” she said.</p> <p>Dr Sinclair said that when it comes to how modern medicine addresses sickness, it doesn’t tackle the underlying cause, which is usually “ageing itself”.</p> <p>“We know that when we reverse the age of an organ like the brain in a mouse, the diseases of ageing then go away. Memory comes back, there is no more dementia,” he continued.</p> <p>“I believe that in the future, delaying and reversing ageing will be the best way to treat the diseases that plague most of us.”</p> <p>Dr Sinclair’s research comes amid a global effort by scientists working to reprogram adult cells into stem cells, started by Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka, who won a Nobel Prize for reprogramming adult skin cells into behaving like embryonic (or pluripotent) stem cells.</p> <p>These “induced pluripotent stem cells” became known as “Yamanaka factors”, with later research finding that exposing cells to four of the main Yamanaka factors could remove signs of ageing.</p> <p>Since their original study, where they discovered that damaged cells were able to be rejuvenated by injecting three of these factors into the eyes of mice, Dr Sinclair and his lab have reversed ageing in mouse brains and muscles, and are now working on a mouse’s whole body.</p> <p>Dr Sinclair said their discovery indicated that there is a “back-up copy” of youthful information stored in the body, which he calls the “information theory of ageing”.</p> <p>“It’s a loss of information that drives ageing cells to forget how to function, to forget what type of cell they are,” he revealed.</p> <p>“And now we can tap into a reset switch that restores the cell’s ability to read the genome correctly again, as if it was young.”</p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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Why an edit button for Twitter is not as simple as it seems

<p>Most people who use Twitter have had the experience: you fire off a quick tweet, realise it contains a typo, then get annoyed you can’t click “edit” to fix it. Twitter users have been <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90376786/a-brief-history-of-not-being-able-to-edit-your-tweets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clamouring for an edit button for years</a>.</p> <p>Elon Musk, who has recently been buying up shares in the microblogging platform and has made a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-15/elon-musk-offer-to-buy-twitter-worlds-richest-man/100994580" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US$48 billion offer</a> for the whole company, asked his 82 million followers if they wanted an edit button. His (deeply unscientific) poll attracted 4.4 million responses, with 73% in favour.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Do you want an edit button?</p> <p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1511143607385874434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p>Other social media platforms let you edit posts after you’ve sent them. It seems like it would be a simple feature to add – so why doesn’t Twitter do it?</p> <p>Well, the time may at last have arrived. Independent of Musk’s poll, Twitter has confirmed that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/5/23011327/twitter-edit-button-blue-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an edit button may be in the works</a>. Enterprising users have even dug out some hints of what it <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/18/twitters-in-development-edit-button-offers-hints-as-to-how-the-feature-could-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">might look like</a>.</p> <p><strong>So what’s the fuss about?</strong></p> <p>Why has Twitter been so opposed to an edit button? The answer might be that it isn’t as simple as it appears.</p> <p>The first thing to know about tweets is that, unlike posts on many other platforms, there is fundamentally no way for Twitter to pull them back after they are sent. The reason is that Twitter has what’s called an Application Programming Interface (or API) which allows third parties such as other apps or researchers to download tweets in real time.</p> <p>That’s what powers Twitter clients such as TweetDeck, TweetBot, Twitteriffic and Echofon, which together account for some <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/17/6-million-users-had-installed-third-party-twitter-clients/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6 million users</a>.</p> <p>Once third parties have downloaded tweets, there’s no way for Twitter to get them back or edit them. It’s a bit like an email – once I’ve sent it and you’ve downloaded it, there’s no way for me to delete it from your machine.</p> <p>If a user <em>were</em> to edit a tweet, the most Twitter could do is send out a message saying “please edit this tweet” – but the third party could choose whether or not to actually do it. (This is currently what happens when tweets are “deleted”.)</p> <p><strong>Cats and dogs</strong></p> <p>More importantly, an edit button might have unintended consequences, and could be weaponised.</p> <p>Consider this. I, a cat lover, decide to tweet “I love cats!”</p> <p>Then you, being also a cat lover (because why wouldn’t you be), decide to quote my tweet, agreeing “I do too!” (Remember when Twitter used to be this innocent?)</p> <p>Now, what happens if I edit my original tweet to declare “I love dogs”? You are now misrepresented as a dog-lover, and when your cat-loving friends see this (which they will when I reply to your tweet, mentioning them all), they disown you.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=192&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459030/original/file-20220421-70799-6mgarp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A screenshot showing a tweet reading " /></a><figcaption><em><span class="caption">A Twitter edit button could be used to change statements after others have retweeted or endorsed them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span></em></figcaption></figure> <p>Yes, this is contrived, but it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the edit button might be used in this fashion, particularly by things such as bot armies. Will Twitter users be happy to trade this possibility for the convenience of fixing typos in their tweets?</p> <p><strong>‘Warts and all’: a bug or a feature?</strong></p> <p>Twitter has built its reputation on being the most “real-time” of the social media platforms – the place where <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo832" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earthquakes are reported quicker than by scientific instruments</a>. However, for many people the “warts and all” nature of Twitter postings is starting to look like a bug, rather than a feature.</p> <p>Will an edit button change Twitter’s unique brand? There may be ways to ameliorate this, such as only allowing edits within a short time of posting, but it is surely a consideration for the company.</p> <p>More generally, the design of media platforms shapes the type of discussion that occurs on them.</p> <p>The presence of the “like” and “retweet” buttons on Twitter encourage users to create content that will entice others to click these buttons, and make their content spread further. This, in turn, shapes the nature of conversation that occurs on the platform.</p> <p>Similarly, websites use algorithms and design to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1476570" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nudge</a>” users in particular directions – such as to buy a product.</p> <p>There is a rich body of research into the ways discourse is shaped by the design of social media platforms, which establishes that every “affordance” a user is given affects the conversation that ends up taking place.</p> <p>This means that beyond the fundamental technological challenges, Twitter must think about the possible unintended consequences of seemingly simple changes – even to the level of a humble edit button. The medium shapes the message, and Twitter must think carefully about what sorts of messages they want their platform to shape.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181623/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lewis-mitchell-266859" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lewis Mitchell</a>, Professor of Data Science, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Adelaide</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-an-edit-button-for-twitter-is-not-as-simple-as-it-seems-181623" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Technology

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Try this one pot lamb shanks with button mushrooms

<p>Need some weeknight dinner inspiration? Why not try this tender-to-the-bone lamb shank recipe?</p> <p>Serves: 3 | Cooks in: 3 hours and 10 minutes</p> <p><strong>Ingredients </strong></p> <ul> <li>50g (1/3 cup) plain flour, to dust</li> <li>4 lamb shanks, Frenched</li> <li>1½ tbsp olive oil</li> <li>½ bottle red wine</li> <li>12 eschalots, peeled</li> <li>1 bunch thyme, half trussed, half leaves picked</li> <li>400g Button Mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed</li> <li>Salt and pepper, to season</li> <li>Creamy polenta, to serve (¾ cup with 750ml mix of chicken stock and milk, butter and finely grated parmesan)</li> </ul> <p><strong>Method</strong></p> <p>1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Place the flour into a large bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Dust the lamb shanks in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess.</p> <p>2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large, heavy-based, ovenproof saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the shanks for 5 minutes, turning, until browned. Remove and set aside.</p> <p>3. Pour in the wine and boil for 5 minutes to cook off the alcohol. Return the shanks to the pan with the eschalots and trussed thyme. Pour in enough water to submerge the shanks and bring up to a simmer. Cover the surface with a piece of baking paper, then cover with a lid and place in the oven for 1.5 hours.</p> <p>4. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and turn the shanks over, topping up with water if necessary. Add the mushrooms and cover with the baking paper and lid, then return to the oven for a further 1.5 hours or until the shank meat is falling from the bone.</p> <p>5. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tsp oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Toast the remaining thyme until bright green, then remove and set aside.</p> <p>6. Remove the shanks from the pan and place in a bowl, loosely covered with foil and set aside to rest.</p> <p>7. Place the pan over high heat. Reduce the sauce for 10-12 minutes or until thickened and glossy.</p> <p>8. Divide polenta among bowls and top with a shank, mushrooms and eschalots. Spoon over the sauce and scatter with toasted thyme to serve. Season to taste with salt and pepper.</p> <p><em>Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/recipes/one-pot-lamb-shanks-with-button-mushrooms" target="_blank">Wyza.com.au.</a></em></p>

Food & Wine

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This hatching baby brown snake is cute as a button

<p>Staff from Snake Catchers Adelaide have captured incredible footage which shows the exact moment a baby eastern brown snake hatches from its egg.</p> <p>Found in most part of Australia, eastern brown snakes are a member of the cobra family, and while this little guy might grow up to be something we’d never want to see on a bushwalk, for the moment at least he’s cute as pie.</p> <p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SnakeCatchersAdelaide/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Snake Catchers Adelaide</strong></span></a> posted the video on Facebook on Monday with the caption, “Our first lot of eastern brown snake eggs are starting to hatch after 10 weeks. They have what you call an egg tooth that they scratch through the surface of the egg which then comes off when they shed their first skin.”</p> <p>Have you ever come across an eastern brown snake?</p> <p><em>Video credit: Snake Catchers Adelaide via Storyful</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2017/01/croc-surprises-aussie-town-on-nye/"><em>Croc gives Aussie town a wild New Year’s Eve surprise</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/12/snake-swallows-a-wallaby-on-australian-golf-course/"><em>Snake swallows a wallaby on Australian golf course</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/12/snake-found-lurking-in-toilet-bowl/"><em>Snake found lurking in toilet bowl</em></a></strong></span></p>

News

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Reason buttons on men’s and women’s shirts are on opposite sides

<p>Anyone can instantly notice if they are wearing a dress shirt made for the opposite sex, as they suddenly find themselves fumbling with the buttons in a way that may feel slightly un natural for them. Since the early days of formal wear, men's shirts have buttoned the left side over the right, the women’s have buttoned the right side over the left.</p> <p>The reason? <em>Today </em>co-hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie got to the bottom of things during the show’s “What’s Trending” segment, referencing the fashions and social climate of the 13th century.</p> <p>“Only wealthy women could afford to have buttons on their shirts, and if you were wealthy, you also had ladies’ maids. So having the buttons on the other side made sense, because it was someone else buttoning your clothes.”</p> <p>Did you know this fun fact? Or do you have an alternative answer? Let us know in the comments below. </p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/06/15-stylish-seniors/"><em>15 stylish seniors you will love</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/06/trick-to-loosening-tight-shoes/"><em>The trick to loosening tight shoes</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/beauty-style/2016/06/80s-fashion-trends-making-a-comeback/"><em>15 fashion trends from the 80s that are making a comeback</em></a></strong></span></p>

News

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Don’t fall for Facebook “dislike” button scam

<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that a dislike button was coming, which is true. But a new scam claiming early access to the feature is not true.</p> <p>Tech website HackRead warns people not to click on any headlines that claim to “Get newly introduced Facebook dislike button on your profile.” Do not click on it! If you do, scammers will be able to share links on your timeline and with your Facebook friends. And the worst-case scenario? You might accidentally install viruses or malware onto your computer by clicking on the link.</p> <p>When Facebook released the dislike button, you’ll hear it directly from Facebook.</p>

News

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Craft corner: Make button bracelets with the grandkids

<p>We all know how much grandkids seem to love playing with button boxes. Well, here’s a fun project you can show them that will have them occupied the next rainy day. These simple bracelets are so easy to make so let’s get started.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What you’ll need:</span></strong></p> <ul> <li>Colourful buttons (with 4 holes)</li> <li>Strong colourful twine/yarn/string</li> <li>Scissors</li> </ul> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Method:</span></strong></p> <p>This really couldn’t be any easier. Here we go!</p> <ol> <li>Choose your favourite button and a matching colour of twine. Cut two equal lengths of twine (length will vary depending on wrist size).</li> <li>Thread one piece of twine through two adjacent buttonholes. Pull the twine through the loop created at the back of the button and pull tight. Repeat this step on with the second piece of twine on the opposite button holes.</li> <li>Tie the twine around your wrist and you’re done!</li> </ol> <p><em>Image credit: Pinterest</em></p>

Home & Garden

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Whatever happened to Google’s “I'm Feeling Lucky” button?

<p>Remember back in the early noughties when you searched for a topic on the dial-up internet, it usually brought up pages of unrelated results? You usually had to dig through several pages of results to find something usable. That’s where Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button came in and at the time, it was truly revolutionary – by clicking the button you would automatically be taken to the first web page that returned your query. It was Google’s bold way of saying, “You can trust my results” and meant you could find what you were searching for in one click!</p> <p>But by 2012, Google had essentially scrapped one of its oldest, quirkiest features after it was estimated the feature cost Google $110 million a year as one per cent of all searches used the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button and therefore bypassed all advertising.</p> <p>Now the functionality of the button behaves differently and it’s more a marketing tool for Google. If your Google Instant is turned off, clicking the “I’m Feeling Lucky” will take you to the <a href="https://www.google.com/doodles" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Google Doodles gallery</strong></span></a> which shows you all the great artwork that’s been incorporated into Google’s logo to honour specific days, people and events – including festivities and birthdays.</p> <p>If Google Instant is turned on, hovering over the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, the button text will spin and land on a set of pre-configured phrase that starts with “I'm feeling”. Each phrase links to a Google service related to the associated phrase.</p> <ul> <li>“I'm Feeling Wonderful” – takes you to the Google World Wonders Project,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Playful” and “I'm Feeling Doodley” – takes you to the Google Doodle page,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Hungry” – searches for restaurants nearby,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Trendy” – takes you to Google Hot Searches,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Stellar” – takes you to Google Earth's explore page,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Puzzled” – takes you to the A Google A Day page,</li> <li>“I'm Feeling Artistic” – takes you to Google's Art Project page.</li> </ul> <p>To check if your Google Instant is turned on or off, go to <strong><a href="http://www.google.com/preferences">www.google.com/preferences</a></strong> and scroll down to Google Instant predictions.</p> <p><em>Image credit: <span>JuliusKielaitis / Shutterstock.com</span></em></p>

Technology

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