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I am always fascinated to read about interesting ways animals have evolved to defend themselves. I thought I had heard it all, until this week I learned about the Iberian newt.

 

The Iberian newt lives on the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. It has little ports along its sides (tubercules), and very sharp, pointed ribs. When threatened, the Iberian newt will stick its sharp ribs out through the holes, puncturing its own side, in order to present a very pointy mouthful to any would-be predator.

 

As if that weren't enough, at the same time, the newt begins to pump out a toxin from glands alongside the holes. This toxin coats the ribs as they push through, adding a coat of poison to the improvised weapons. The toxin causes a stinging sensation, making it even more likely the newt will be dropped after jabbing its predator in the mouth.

 

The newt is able to heal its own puncture wounds quickly, thanks to a super-efficient immune system. And because the ribs are coated with collagen, the wounds are less likely to become infected. 

 

As a side note, because of its healing ability and several other factors - including the female's ability to retain sperm, and thus fertilize herself up to five months after insemination - the Iberian newt has proven to be a popular item for space travel. Iberian newts have gone into space to be studied in a zero gravity environment on at least six missions, possibly more. 

Door stoppers, those funny springy things that make a wacky noise, are apparently irresistible to some of our feline friends. Check out this hilarious video complied of home videos of cats battling door stoppers to the death! My favorites are the ones where cats reach under the doors to grab the stoppers.

 

A word of caution: door stoppers are not intended as a cat toy. If your cat is obsessed with door stoppers, keep an eye on it. Cats have been known to chew the rubber ends off the stopper, which can cause an expensive trip to the emergency room to get it surgically removed before it causes an intestinal blockage.

 

But for the most part, if your cat likes playing with door stoppers, have fun playing with them! Play is an important part of any cat's life, and finding something entertaining attached to the wall is a great example of how cats are masters of improvisation. 

After an explosion in the East Village killed two people and destroyed three buildings, many residents fear that their pets have been killed. Yesterday two women who lived at 125 2nd Avenue were reunited with their cats. 

 

The ASPCA and the NYPD are searching the building, which is locked down under a full vacate order. As they sifted through the rubble, they first located Kathleen Blomberg's cats, Kitty Cordelia and Sebastian, hiding under the bed in her seventh floor apartment.

 

They also located one of two of Yvonne Collery's cats, Laszlo, hiding inside a closet in her fourth floor apartment. Collery's other cat, Lulu, is still missing. 

 

The ASPCA, along with the NYPD and the FDNY, is working tirelessly to find more pets from the destroyed buildings, and hopefully reunite them with their owners. 

 

Have you read Marie Kondo's "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" yet? If not, you might be in the minority. This instant bestseller has swept people up in a frenzy of decluttering, destashing, and general closet-emptying. To such an extent that thrift store donations are measurably on the rise. Crain's Chicago Business discovered that Goodwill donations in one Chicago neighborhood for the month of January (the book was published in the United States in October) were up by 12 percent over the previous year.

 

Kondo is an organizing consultant in Japan, and her success there has easily translated to booming sales in America. Kondo's book is hitting a nerve with readers, who face overstuffed closets, cluttered end tables, and bookshelves groaning with collectibles and books.

 

Kondo's main thesis is that you should get rid of anything that doesn't "spark joy" when you see it. This includes wedding keepsakes, travel trinkets, and even family photographs. Kondo takes a hard line: for example, she makes a persuasive case that you should pull every single family photograph out of your albums, then pick out the ones that give you joy, and throw the rest away.

 

It's hard to let go of things you have an emotional attachment to, but which don't actually bring you joy. As someone who is doing a massive cull in preparation for a cross-country move, I am currently embroiled in this struggle in a big way!