It's time for our weekly update from Sift parter Neatorama.com. Check out the neat stories below and their site for lots of great stories (and material to submit to the Sift .

12 Television Characters that we never see on TV

I never realised what a recurring thematic device this was until I read this article. The only one I guessed before looking was "Wilson" from Home Improvement- even though he was partially seen.

Spider builds doppelganger to deter predators

From the article: "I don’t know of any animal that actively builds a decoy of itself. Our study seems to be the first to empirically demonstrate the function of animal-made decoys" Yeah, I can't think of any - though fish and insects do develop false eye spots - ooh and what about geckos that detach their flopping tail to be a decoy while they escape?

The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript

I have read a little bit about this before- but this article gives an excellent summary and pictures. It's probably a very elaborate hoax- but the possibility that it's not raises all kinds science fiction possibilities in my mind.

What ‘Chu Know ‘Bout Wombats?

Living in Australia- I thought I knew a bit about the fat arsed little critters - turns out I don't don't know bat ... er ... wombat. Pretty damn cute collection of pictures too.

7 Things That Make Beans Magical

I love me some beans. My SO would say that they don't love me, but I don't care. My favorite beans in the world are the peppery, slightly runny ones served at SoCal Rubio's. Here's an article about seven interesting things that you don't know about the musical fruit.