This Scooter-Car’s a Befuddling Sight to Behold [Video]

Everyone likes those tiny little smart cars, right? They're adorable, and in big cities -- and only in big cities -- they make good sense. Well, now there's another mode of urban transportation in the works. Research center TUM Create seems to have reinvented the wheel by creating a new multipurpose vehicle that combines elements of a scooter, a car, and I daresay a rickshaw. Called the VOI, the two-wheeler is intended for use in heavily populated cities.

This Homemade Fallout Monopoly Board’s Clearly the Best Birthday Present

The only way you can make Monopoly an enjoyable game is to add zombies, some dystopian sci-fi, or possibly the Powerpuff Girls, but you know what else might work? The post-apocalyptic, alternate history trappings of the Fallout video game series. Which is exactly what someone on Reddit totally did for their wife's birthday.

Newly Discovered Mold Named After Dutch Royals, Presumably as a Compliment

If you're in line to be king, there's all kinds of ambitions and fears that might be playing through your head: Will you be a good king? Will you make a difference? Will the Lannisters cut off your head? One thing you probably wouldn't be wondering: Will someone name a mold after me? Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is getting a newly discovered mold species named after him -- and his whole family.

Nintendo Shutters Some Wii Online Services, Would Really Like You to Buy a Wii U

Nintendo sure would love it if you went out and bought a Wii U, their shiny console which is still warm from the factory. Particularly because it's a product they're still supporting. It's actually best if you don't even look at the older ones. They don't really count anymore. In fact, Nintendo is shutting down a some of the Wii's online services -- you don't use those anymore, right? They seem to assume not.

How to Make an Awesome Google Street View Video

To me, the Street View function of Google Maps is generally more entertaining than necessarily helpful, but it's a good tool for scoping out a place you intend to visit. But the creative people of Teehan+Lax have found a new way to use the tool: Google Street View Hyperlapse, a Chrome-based gadget that lets you make an awesome video sequence out of Street View images. Basically, it allows you to pretend to be the Flash anywhere the Google Street View car has been, thereby fulfilling at least several childhood dreams here in the Geekosystem office.

These Little Birds Squawk to Attract Predators, Blackmail Their Parents for Food

As was pointed out in The Walking Dead, a zombie apocalypse a hungry, crying baby is likely going to attract the undead and put everyone in serious danger. Similarly -- though in less apocalyptic circumstance -- the loud squawks of a hungry young pied babbler can blackmail the baby bird's parents into feeding it pronto, before predators also hear their cries. This will be a scenario familiar to anyone who has been exposed to the phenomenon of 'Italian guilt' in their lifetime: "Hey, if you don't come feed me quick, I guess maybe you want predators to eat me. No, it's fine. I guess you can always have more babies."

Meet Champa, the First Bear to Undergo Brain Surgery

Operating on animals is a bit different than putting humans under the knife, due to all kinds of different physiological and even chemical differences. But it's not like it's brain surgery. Y'know, usually. In Laos, a veterinarian recently performed the first ever brain surgery on a bear. Despite her wary -- I daresay resentful-looking -- expression in the photo above, Asiatic black bear Champa is in fact improving after her surgery.

Animals Are Drugging Themselves Way More Than We Thought

Sometimes animals don't need you and your fancy pills. They can get their own meds, thank you very much. It's a phenomenon called zoopharmacognosy, and it's a known thing. A chimp might eat a vomit-inducing plant to purge his system of parasites, or a parrot might eat clay to help with digestion. But the practice of animal self-medication may be far more widespread than we ever knew, says a new study at the University of Michigan.

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Repurposed Into Disease-Fighting Glue

Flesh-eating bacteria just sounds evil. It's known in the medical world as necrotizing fasciitis, which sounds even more sinister. But what if something evil could be turned into something good? For example, biochemist Mark Howarth and his team at the University of Oxford have genetically engineering a disease-fighting "superglue" out of one of the microbes that can create flesh-eating bacteria.