A video was recorded by the International Space Station as it orbits our planet, giving us a fast–travel flyover view of the world we live in.

The video is absolutely stunning with lights and water and clouds bursting with electric charges like a natural lightning fireworks display. It’s so incredible to see, in fact, that it’s hard to believe it’s even real. What has Roland Emmerich been up to lately? Anyone? Bueller?

You too can go on this quick–yet–powerful space adventure by checking out the video below now!

India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that owls in the country are being taken from the wild by Harry Potter fans who want to keep the birds as pets. It’s unclear what evidence Ramesh has to back up his claim, but he said that the decline of owls in the wild coincided with the increased popularity of Harry Potter in India. He also said that urban middle classes families were, in part, responsible because they were capturing owls to give as pets to their children who like Harry Potter. Meanwhile, the wildlife group Traffic reported that wild owls in India are being illegally trapped and traded to be used for black magic rituals and other purposes.

In the Harry Potter film and book series, the boy wizard has a snowy owl named Hedwig who is his faithful companion.

This story really struck a nerve with me. I happen to love owls and every year I adopt a Snowy Owl from Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to help protect the species out in the wild. If a child really loves owls now thanks to Harry Potter, then the best thing a parent can do is donate to a wildlife fund dedicated to protecting owls — NOT take the owls from their natural environment and keep them as a pet. If middle class families are doing this, that means they can spare the $25 for the donation, which includes a small plush owl, a personalized certificate, a photo of the owl, and a fact sheet. (See this photo of one of my cats, Sixx, sitting with Snowy, my plush owl that came with my donation to Defenders of Wildlife.)

As many of you know, on April 20th a massive oil well in the Gulf of Mexico ruptured causing an explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, leading to the devastating leakage of millions of gallons of oil on a daily basis. The initial explosion caused the death of eleven workers on the rig, and the oil spill has killed countless animals and other living creatures.

Since this catastrophe has unfolded, experts of all levels and areas have been working desperately to try and figure out a way to not only contain the relentless gushing of oil into the waters, but also a way to clean up the oil that pollutes the water already.

At first, the best idea that they could come up with was to throw a box over the leak and suck up all of the oil…which did not go very well. After that, it was thought that some sort of sponge or absorption device would be the best bet. Now, the LA Times is reporting that the very best option might just lie in the hands of none other than actor Kevin Costner.

Click over to find out what Costner has to offer, and to see a video of the efforts so far.

In 2011, NASA will launch their Mars Science Laboratory mission along with the mechanical rover, fittingly named Curiosity. The rover will be heading for the surface of Mars, where it will cover as much terrain as possible in another attempt to learn more about the habitat, the possibilities of future colonizations of the planet, and of course, any life that may or may not exist there.

We’ve heard about missions like this before, and sometimes great photographs are sent back, but how could you take Mars exploration to a whole new level? Well, if you’re the director of the biggest movie ever made like Avatar director James Cameron happens to be, then you throw a 3D camera on top of this rover, of course!

If you got the reference in the title, you’re awesome and we’re putting you right up on the fridge.

Many of us cool kids are children of the ’80s, and as such, one of the greatest forms of entertainment ever to be created, is the Muppets. The Muppets are a creation of the late genius Jim Henson, who built an army of funny and lovable puppet characters who appeared in a countless amount of TV shows, specials, movies, music videos, cartoons, and everything in between. As life moved on and new generations of kids showed up, the Muppets faded off slowly, but never completely disappeared, making delightful cameo appearances on shows and events from time to time. But now, thanks to the massive Disney D23 Expo, we’ve learned that the Muppets are coming back in a big way, and their ready to take over the world again!

Back in March of 2008, we learned that we would finally be getting a brand new Muppet movie, with Forgetting Sarah Marshall team Jason Segel and Nick Stoller joining the Jim Henson Company to write and direct a new movie. Not much else had been known about the project since that time, but Coming Soon was on hand at the Disney Expo and they passed along word that a title for this movie has been made official: The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.