A Tibetan Singing Bowl: 

Singing bowls… are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, singing bowls sit with the bottom surface resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound characterized by a fundamental frequency (first harmonic) and usually two audible harmonic overtones (second and third harmonic). 

You can also watch this Tibetan Bowl Master both strike and rub the outsides of the bowls for different sounds. 

There are more bells ringing in the archives. Related watching and listening: Glass Harps. 

Northern Arizona University’s Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D., and his student-teams have been studying the alarm calls of Gunnison’s prairie dogs for over 30 years. The result: the prairie dog language has been somewhat decoded. Yes, we know what they’re saying when they yip and squeak!

From The Atlantic: 

The animals have word-like phonemes, combining those into sentence-like calls. They have social chatter. They can distinguish between types of predators that are nearby — dogs, coyotes, humans — and seem to have developed warnings that specify the predators’ species and size and color. 

This video is a win-win because you get to watch prairie dogs (and their predators), all while learning about how we observe, analyze, and test to find out more about their sophisticated animal language. Be sure to read the interview with Slobodchikoff for more information…

From open.edu, learn about six key movements in design history: Gothic Revival, Arts and Crafts (below), Bauhaus, Modernism (above), American Industrial Design and Postmodernism.

You can watch them all here.

via Open Culture.

An Animated History of the Tulip, created for The Tulip Museum in Amsterdam. Watch more videos in the Netherlands. 

via Laughing Squid.

In the same way that we use reusable metal water bottles and sippy cups for kids on-the-go, the team at Keep Cup is promoting reusable coffee containers for adults on-the-go in this promo video called Salute the Reuser.

This is a wonderful idea no matter what container you keep with you. Our family recently started taking our insulated Klean Kanteens to coffee shops instead of using disposable paper cups and plastic lids, so this video definitely speaks to us.

Related sustainability: In.gredients’ package free store, The Landfill, and one of our absolute favorites, Joe Smith demonstrates how to use a paper towel.

via Doobybrain.