Photo: Thinkstock

I’m having a hard time with Halloween decorations this year, because I keep getting quizzed about them by an inquisitive 2-year-old. “Oh,” I found myself explaining the other day, “That’s a, um, spooky kind of witch-scarecrow-thing, with a jack-o-lantern head.” In response to queries about these creatures, where they live, what they say, what they consume, I can only shrug and offer, “They’re not real. Just pretend.” But then my toddler asks, "How does everyone know about the same pretend creatures?" To this, I have no satisfying response.

In part, because I want to minimize the scariness of the holiday, and in part because there’s something appealing about the idea that weird magical creatures might exist. When faced with the specter of werewolves and the Loch Ness Monster and yetis, I channel Fox Mulder: I want to believe. So I was excited to read that Bigfoot, aka the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman,has been proven to exist in Siberia. That's from the NEWS, people! According to the Guardian, “a team of scientists say they are "95%" sure that Russia's wintry expanse is home to the mythical yeti, otherwise known as the abominable snowman.” The researchers say they have discovered a cave with a cozy Yeti nest inside, as well as footprints, hairs, and twisted branches which they claim are Yeti territorial markings. Animal Planet has more on the story, including a great gloss of Bigfoot sightings throughout history. 

 I love that these Russian scientists are completely serious. I love the idea that Earth contains within it mythical beasts, eluding our reach. I love a news story with a dose of magic in it. It's such a welcome escape from the mundane grown-up world of bad economies and wars and laundry piles. Unfortunately — wouldn’t you know it — there are no pictures or videos of the Yeti, but Discovery has a fun video about the creature here. No word yet on the Wolfman.

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• This interactive image of lips by photographer Greg Kessler morphs and changes color as you scroll across it. If you need a two-minute mental break this will do the job. [via Nowness]

• Watch this lip-focused film series by photographer Elle Muliarchyk that features 24 international models spitting out tongue twisters in their native language. The equivalent of "Sally sells seashells by the seashore" in other parts of the world will leave you laughing. [via The New York Times]

• Check out this gallery of photos from the new book, A Shade of Red, by jewelry designer and photographer Alyson Fox. It features 100 portraits of women of all ages tied together by one common thread: Revlon's Certainly Red lipstick. While you may be expecting glamour shots, what is interesting about Fox's approach is how the same color brings out something different in each of her subjects. [via Of A Kind]

Photo: Think Stock

When my kids were really tiny, I gave each one their own lullaby as a kind of talisman. My first child's song was a French one I had learned a child about boat on a river. It's insanely repetitive—and became even more so as I sang over and over every time they looked remotely sleepy.

My idea was that babies were like Pavlovian guinea pigs. If they associated a song with sleep, they would fall asleep the minute they heard the first few phrases of music. I had a lot of ideas about babies at the time, most of the them exhausting, dopey, and just plain embarrassing, but the song one worked. I could make my baby fall asleep with one round of Bateau Sur L'Eau and I used to do for it pure sport during lunches with my friends, so that I would look like The Best Mother Ever as well as spooky mind-control master, when in fact, I just wanted the child to take a nap so I could eat my Cobb Salad.

Many a late night, when I have been up, unable to sleep, running through panic-inducing daydreams and to-do lists, I have tried to sing my children's old songs to myself—to no avail. They do nothing for me. Now, however, the British Telegraph has announced there is song that's been scientifically engineered to relax us adults—if not knock us out. The tune is called Weightless and it contains eight minutes and sixteen seconds of " carefully arranged harmonies, rhythms and bass lines help to slow the heart rate, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol."

A study by David Lewis of Mindlab International found that listening to Weightless caused a 65 per cent reduction in overall anxiety and made many women drowsy . "In fact," he said. "I would advise against driving while listening to the song because it could be dangerous." I agree. But I do have to wonder what would happen if the song was played in supermarkets and banks, replacing the traditional Muzak. Would we all fall asleep mid-errand? Or would we just move a little slower and behave a more pleasantly to each other? It's hard to be rude when you're relaxed—even artificially.

Read More:

Listen to Weightless (accompanied, inexplicably, by an image of a woman floating in a pool)

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