No matter what else you see today, this is certain to be the best video about herring farts. Everything you need to know about this NatGeo clip can be gleaned from the YouTube page:

Herring have a secret, and funny, way of communicating with each other — by farting. They just have to hope neighboring predators aren’t listening in. [YouTube via UniqueDaily]

Humans can also communicate by farting. It’s actually my preferred method for reviewing new CBS comedies.

If you want to know more about fish farts — and who doesn’t? — I will happily direct you to the 2003 U.K. study that first revealed the phenomenon:

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Researchers at UCSD partnered with Samsung to develop a realistic way to bring smells to your television and mobile device, thus making Smell-O-Vision technologically possible fifty years after it was first conceived.

The technology works by using a 100×100 matrix of thin metal wires that heats any one of 10,000 smell-forming aqueus [sic] solutions, allowing for 10,000 different smells. The researchers tested two different perfumes, and found that the smells were perceptible up to 30cm away. [Gizmodo]

This is a great idea for every cooking show, and a terrible idea for everything else. There are WAY too many dead bodies on my favorite shows for Smell-O-Vision to be something I’d want for my TV. “Game of Thrones” would be sixty minutes of rotting flesh and sex juices from a time before deodorant existed. Thanks but no thanks, scientists. You guys can get back to work on something important now, like curing cancer or making hoverboards.

[UCSD/cnet]

Stop the presses! You guys are never going to believe this, but if you watch more TV, you’re more likely to develop health problems.

Researchers combined data from eight [similar] studies and found that for every additional two hours people spend glued to the tube on a typical day, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 20% and their risk of heart disease increases by 15%.

And for every additional three hours the study participants spent in front of the TV, their risk of dying from any cause during the respective studies jumped 13%, on average.

The increased risk of disease tied to TV watching “is similar to what you see with high cholesterol or blood pressure or smoking,” says Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. [CNN]

Look for the full results in the next issue No Sh*t Magazine. It’s the article written by Dr. Obvious.

A new study reveals that DVR units in the United States waste a butt-ton of energy every year. DVR boxes that are turned off and not recording a show still sap power from the grid, using the “same amount of energy annually as is produced by nine coal-burning power plants.”

About 160 million digital video recorders and cable and other pay-TV boxes in the U.S. eat up 27 terawatt-hours of electricity a year and cost consumers about $3 billion, according to researchers from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Inactive boxes that aren’t recording or playing back shows account for about $2 billion of that cost, the study found. Hitting the off button only dims the box’s clock or display, leaving it to continue consuming nearly the same amount of power.

With some form of pay-TV box in 80% of U.S. homes, the technology eats up as much electricity each year as all the homes in Maryland, researchers said. Newer HD-DVR boxes use 275 kilowatt-hours annually, compared with the 17 kilowatt-hours required by a compact fluorescent light bulb. [LA Times]

Well yeah. I would expect the DVR to use a lot more energy than a light bulb. The light bulb isn’t recording “Justified” for me. The light bulb doesn’t allow me to fast-forward through commercials and watch Adult Swim shows at my convenience. So just go ahead and take all the energy you need, DVR. I’ll sit in a dark room without air conditioning before I unplug you.

(image via)

Even as the Internet saps more and more of our time with its bottomless well of pornography and top ten lists, TV is still a refuge for Americans: the Nielsen Company reports that we’re watching more television than ever before — an average of 34 hours per person per week. (To put that in perspective, I blog full-time about TV and the NFL, and I watch anywhere from 12 to 18 hours of TV a week during the NFL season — less during the off-season). Basically, Americans watch TV like it’s their job. This is why you’re fat.

Along with that trend, the big winners of 2010 are CBS, the NFL, and shows about auctions and pawn shops.

The generation-long shift to cable from broadcast continued, but subtly, as the smallest of the big four broadcast networks, NBC, still retained more than twice as many viewers as the largest basic cable channel, USA.

Cable hits like “Jersey Shore” on MTV and “The Walking Dead” on AMC were showered with media attention and affection, but the most popular new show was CBS’s “Hawaii Five-0,” a revival of a 40-year-old drama.

CBS, stable as always, was the No. 1 network among total viewers for 51 out of 52 weeks, and three of its new shows, “Hawaii Five-0,” “Blue Bloods” and “Mike & Molly,” landed in the top 20 for the year, the only new shows to do so…

“Mike and Molly” is a top-20 show? Oy. That one cuts deep, America.

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