All posts tagged: joyful

Hamsters run on wheels for a surprisingly joyful reason

Hamsters run on wheels for a surprisingly joyful reason

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Everyone who has ever owned a hamster knows the sound: the small, relentless squeak of the exercise wheel, usually starting around two in the morning. As you watch your cute furball running toward no destination whatsoever, you might wonder: What’s going on here? Is little Hammy acting out of restlessness or boredom?  For decades, scientists assumed it was exactly that: a neurosis, an artifact of captivity, the hamster equivalent of doing push-ups in prison.  But in 2014, researcher Johanna Meijer conducted a study that suggested a less depressing scenario. When wild mice came across a wheel in their natural habitat, they got on the wheel and ran—sometimes for up to 18 minutes at a stretch. So if it’s not boredom or neurosis (wild …

Belle and Sebastian review – joyful anniversary tour makes debut album brighter than ever | Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian review – joyful anniversary tour makes debut album brighter than ever | Belle and Sebastian

It’s a double 30th anniversary for Belle and Sebastian, whose first two albums, Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister, both came out in 1996. Not that most people heard Tigermilk back then: only 1,000 copies existed until its 1999 reissue. Taken together, though, they were a perfect introduction to frontman Stuart Murdoch’s private universe of aesthetes and misfits (like the girl in Expectations, “making life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay”), as instantly inviting as the Smiths’ debut, Wes Anderson’s 90s movies or JD Salinger’s short stories. The Glaswegians quickly became more diverse and extroverted but it was these two records, performed here in full over two nights, that made them cult worthy. As former bassist Stuart David says in the introductory film, they had a “slightly shambolic magic”. With most albums the challenge is recreating them live but Tigermilk, recorded in three days on a tight budget by six people who had never played together before, is actually improved by performance. Now a lush, experienced nine-piece (including four of the original six), Belle …

Beaming Kurt Russell unites with family in joyful new photo after eventful few weeks

Beaming Kurt Russell unites with family in joyful new photo after eventful few weeks

Kurt Russell hasn’t had a lot of time to sit still recently, having been on the road over the past few weeks promoting his new shows, The Madison and the second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.  The Hollywood star has been splitting his time between NYC and LA to take part in numerous press events and appear on talk shows, but over the weekend, he enjoyed some much-deserved time-out.  The actor – who has four homes in the United States – loves nothing more than spending time in his favorite place, Colorado, where he spent his Saturday.  © InstagramKurt Russell smiling on the porch of his Colorado home with daughter-in-law Meredith Hagner Kurt appeared on his daughter-in-law Meredith Hagner’s Instagram account, pictured looking happy and relaxed while sitting with her outside on the porch at the family’s log cabin in Old Snowmass.  The pair were both enjoying a can of Lake Hour, the sparkling cocktail brand co-founded by Wyatt Russell.  © GC ImagesColorado is Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s happy place Kurt recently opened up …

Super Nintendo by Keza MacDonald review – a joyful celebration of the gaming giant | Computing and the net books

Super Nintendo by Keza MacDonald review – a joyful celebration of the gaming giant | Computing and the net books

What is the highest-grossing entertainment franchise of all time? You might be tempted to think of Star Wars, or perhaps the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe even Harry Potter? But no: it’s Pokémon – the others don’t come close. The Japanese “pocket monsters”, which star in video games, TV series and tradable playing cards, have made an estimated $115bn since 1996. Is this a sign of the lamentable infantilisation of postmodern society? Not a bit of it, argues Keza MacDonald, the Guardian’s video games editor, in her winsomely enthusiastic biography of Nintendo, the company that had become an eponym for electronic entertainment long before anyone had heard the words “PlayStation” or “Xbox”. Yes, Pokémon is mostly a children’s pursuit, but a sophisticated one: “Like Harry Potter, the Famous Five and Narnia,” she observes, “it offers a powerful fantasy of self-determination, set in a world almost totally free of adult supervision.” And in its complicated scoring system, “it got millions of kids voluntarily doing a kind of algebra”. Meanwhile, a lot of adults participated in the 2016 summer …

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl 2026 Show Was a Joyful Act of Resilience—and Resistance

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl 2026 Show Was a Joyful Act of Resilience—and Resistance

Though he’s never compromised his native Spanish, Bad Bunny framed the halftime language barrier that so triggered MAGA (“in America, we speak English!”) not as an exclusion, but an invitation (body language is universal, babes). “They don’t even have to learn Spanish,” he said of viewers in his preshow press conference. “Better they learn to dance.” In his rich baritone, Bad Bunny rapped and sang entirely in his native tongue—the only English-singing came from Gaga—but what he chose to say in which language mattered, especially as President Trump predictably blasted Martínez’s performance on Truth Social, claiming, “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.” Bad Bunny chose English for his stirring closing salvo, “God bless America,” a stunning rebuke to anyone (Kid Rock) suggesting he doesn’t love the U.S., before launching into a roll call of Latino countries, plus the U.S. and Canada. They’re lands linked through language, culture and diaspora, the places from which immigrants under attack in America might hail. Bad Bunny named them all, their flags whipping behind him, with a sense …

Christie Brinkley shares joyful glimpse into life at 72 on special day

Christie Brinkley shares joyful glimpse into life at 72 on special day

Christie Brinkley rang in her 72nd birthday with a look back on recent moments from her life in a video created by her youngest daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook.  The mom of three was the star of the lengthy Instagram video, which included clips of her dancing with her daughter, enjoying a glass of champagne, skiing the slopes, gardening in her backyard, attending A-list events in glamorous gowns, and even eating whipped cream in a grocery store aisle.  “HBD MOM!!!!” Sailor wrote in the caption, alongside two heart emojis, and set the video to the tune of Hilary Duff’s “What Dreams Are Made Of”. Her mother chimed in with a lengthy response to the 27-year-old’s tribute, writing: “Oh my precious Sailor Lee like the Sunflower…you always add smiles and beauty to every day!”  © InstagramSailor shared a touching tribute to Christie on her birthday “With your talent as filmmaker, you capture the little moments that might go unnoticed…but are actually the precious moments that make up our lives!” she continued.  “Thank you for making all the moments …