Doom is much more than a classic, bloodsoaked first-person shooter known for its chaotic action, over-the-top weapons, and challenging boss fights. For some odd (but very enjoyable) reason, it’s served as a benchmark for testing basic computing capabilities for well over 30 years. Name a device——calculators, ATMs, digitally enabled tractors, and even biochips built with E. coli bacteria—and someone has likely coded it to run Doom.

The latest entry in the ever-growing list of Doom compatible contraptions is a double-dose of DIY ingenuity, however. The Linux software engineer known as Miss Molerat recently began tinkering with a pocket-sized medical gadget made specifically to keep track of her menstrual cycle. But unlike many similar commercial products, “Clotty” keeps all personal data strictly on the device itself. It never connects to an external cloud or offloads sensitive information to a company’s servers, thereby preventing any unwanted data harvesting. And it does all this on a custom, uterus-shaped minicomputer running on a Raspberry Pi microcontroller.

“I have one thing that has been bothering me for as long as I’ve been menstruating: despite my cycle being very regular, I somehow manage to get surprised by PMS each and every month anew,” Clotty’s inventor wrote on her website’s blog.

Clotty “does the boring stuff” for her by tracking her period via a Tamagotchi-like digital pet that requires attention and maintenance throughout each month. The pixelated creature’s mood shifts depending on the cycle phase, but it also can go on little quests and offer various minigames in the meantime.

“[It’s] basically some sort of adorably shaped mirror version of my own moods that serves as a reminder that I, too, am just some sort of creature that tries to stay alive and happy,” explained Clotty’s creator.

But why stop there? Clotty is powerful enough to run Doom on its itty-bitty LCD screen, which is thematically perfect given the project’s overarching, bloody motif. This means that, when not keeping up with personal health, a user can also blast through wave after wave of space demons using small onboard sensors.

The inventor admitted that Clotty is still in its “fetal stage,” but she plans to add more features like a menstrual cycle history archive, more games, and even some reproductive health trivia. It’s also a completely open-source project, so anyone can follow her online tutorials and download files for Clotty (and Doom).

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California is known for its giant, multi-laned highways bustling under bright blue skies. And while this infrastructure is useful to humans, the Golden State’s many highways represent an almost impenetrable barrier for wildlife.

Soon, habitats on either side of the 10-laned 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California will be reconnected thanks to the world’s largest wildlife crossing, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is scheduled for completion on December 2.

Wildlife crossings are structures that help animals safely cross roads. In the United States, collisions between motorists and large animals take place more than a million times a year. Experts estimate that this results in 400 human deaths every year. But the problem isn’t just road accidents. Habitat fragmentation is also a concern, especially for species that require a large range. Inbreeding can occur if a small enough group of animals becomes isolated. 

In the Los Angeles area, mountain lions (Puma concolor), also known as pumas or cougars, are currently the species most vulnerable to genetic isolation caused by roads and development, according to the project’s website. And the 101 Freeway appears to be the most important obstacle, out of all the roads in the area, to the region’s ecological health. 

As such, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing aims to reconnect local plants and animals in the ecosystem of the Santa Monica Mountains.  It’s about 210 feet long and about 170 to 174 feet wide. A thick, sturdy-looking vegetation-covered bridge already straddles the busy freeway—but the weather might throw a wrench in the project’s schedule. 

“We’re just hoping El Niño‘s on our side,” Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, tells the Los Angeles Times, in reference to the climate pattern that typically brings wetter winter weather along the United States’ southern border. Flooding would put work on pause, according to the outlet. “I keep saying, ‘Mother Nature, we’re trying to help you. Let’s not throw any more complications our way.’” 

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