Two Indian conmen from India’s Uttar Pradesh state were arrested this week for allegedly conning a local physician into paying them a whopping $335,000 for a magical lamp capable of granting him any wish.

Dr Laeek Khan, a physician from the Khairnagar area, in Meerut city, first met the conmen in 2018, when visiting a patient’s home to dress her wounds following a surgery. One day, while at Sameena’s home, the doctor met a self-described ‘tantrik’ who boasted about his magical powers, and later promised to make Khan a billionaire. The tantrik, named Islamuddin, soon introduced the doctor to his partner, Anees, and the two offered to sell him a real-life wish-granting Aladdin Ka Chirag (Aladdin’s Lamp) for only 2.5 crore ($335,000). The London-trained doctor agreed…

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The new Apple iPhone 12 was only announced a few days ago, but if you can’t wait until its official launch, or if you can’t afford to buy it when it comes out, you can simply make your old handheld look like one.

Chinese media recently reported on a popular accessory that iPhone fans have been raving about online – a new case that basically turns older Apple smartphones, like the iPhone X or iPhone 11 into a replica of the yet-to-be-released iPhone 12. Only days after the official announcement of the iPhone 12, the new case was already available in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei Electronics Market for a reported 450 yuan ($67) for the iPhone X and 350 yuan ($52) for the iPhone 11.

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Japanese artist Tomoko Sato honed her carving skills as a food sculptor, but has since transitioned to soap sculpture as well, creating some of the most eye-catching soap bars you’ve ever seen.

From elegant geometrical patterns to impressive flora motifs and traditional Japanese designs, there is nothing Tomoko Sato can’t etch into her medium of choice. Her craft requires precision, attention to detail, and mountains of patience. One wrong flick of the wrist and a perfectly symmetrical design is ruined forever. Luckily, Sato has over a decade and a half of experience, and is a true master of her art.

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A 56-year-old woman who is currently considering divorcing her 10th husband says she doesn’t plan to stop getting married until she finds Mr. Right.

Cassey, a successful businesswoman from the United States, appeared on Dr. Phil to ask for relationship advice, because after 10 marriages, she still hadn’t found the right life partner. Now on the verge of ending her relationship with husband number 10, Cassey said that she didn’t care how many times her marriage would fail, she wouldn’t stop until she found a man who could love her forever.

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Beijing-based technology company Kuaishou recently sparked outrage on Chinese social media after videos of digital timers over employee toilet stalls went viral online.

The photos showed digital timers hanging over each cubicle and small sensors installed on the cubicle doors to trigger the timers. Chinese social media users slammed the company for monitoring and timing its office workers’ time in the toilet to increase productivity and its profits, with some calling the practice a breach of human rights and privacy. Some on the other hand defended the company, saying that some employees abused bathroom breaks, using it as an opportunity to waste time on their phones.

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There is a whole world to discover past YouTube’s recommendation feature, and venturing down the proverbial rabbit hole will help you discover colorful and delightfully weird characters like Georgette Spelvin, the ‘Opossum Lady’.

For the past 10 years, the MEpearlA YouTube channel has constantly been putting up delightful videos featuring a glamorous lady that looks like a combination of Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn and a host of opossums that act surprisingly tame around their human handler. These videos range from how-to lessons on how to treat and deal with the large rodents, to eclectic theatrical pieces tackling topics like politics and religion. They all feature opossums though, as they are the main theme of MEpearlA. Aside from a dead squirrel that achieved enlightenment and became the center of a pseudo-religion, that is…

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Zolpidem is a sedative from the imidazopyridine class of drugs that is most commonly used to help people fall asleep faster. But, in rare cases, this common drug can actually restore function to damaged brains.

There is a reason why zolpidem is sometimes referred to as the “Lazarus Drug”. If you give this pill to someone with brain damage, in 5% to 6% of cases something miraculous happens. In most cases, the changes are minor. People’s speech improves slightly, the frequency of muscle spasms is reduced, they have less difficulty moving, but in some rare cases, a pill can even bring people back from vegetative states, allowing them speak and move as they did before suffering brain damage. The problem is that these positive effects are gone as soon as the drug wears off, and scientists have yet to discover why some patients with brain damage react this way to zolpidem.

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Six months after catching the coronavirus, a 69-year-old Russian virologist and researcher exposed himself to patients infected with Covid-19 without any protection to see how his immune system would respond.

A former researcher at the Vector Centre of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk, Alexander Chepurnov first caught Covid-19 at the end of February 2020. He was on a skiing holiday in  France when he started feeling unwell, with a high fever, sharp chest pain and a complete loss of his sense of smell. There was no way to get a coronavirus test in Europe at the time, so he returned home to Novosibirsk, where he was quickly diagnosed with double pneumonia. He was lucky enough to recover, and a month later an antibody test confirmed that he had been infected with the new virus.

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Chinese Engineers have successfully moved an 85-year-old historical school building in Shanghai to a new location with the help of 198 robotic legs.

Moving older buildings to make room for new construction projects is nothing new in China, but what makes this particular case interesting is the method used to move the 7,600-tonne building. Usually, side rails or flatbeads are used to relocate structures, but the irregular shape of the Lagena Primary Schoool posed quite a challenge to engineers. After weighing their options, experts opted for an innovative “walking” system made up of 198 hydraulic legs that lifted the giant building and helped it “walk” a total of 62 meters over 18 days.

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When asked to describe a horse’s coat, most people use adjectives like smooth and silky, but in reality not all horses have straight, sleek coats. Some of them are as curly as Mangalica pigs or labradoodles.

Curly Horses, also known as Bashkir Curlies, American Bashkir Curlies, and North American Curly Horses, are a special breed that comes in all sizes, colors and body types, and carries a gene for a unique curly coat of hair that becomes especially impressive in winter. That’s the thing with Curlies, they mainly show off their special coats in the wintertime. During the summer, their coat either shows a slight wave in it, or it sheds completely, so you only get to witness the coat of a Bashkir Curly in the cold season.

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A loyal pooch reportedly managed to walk 60 km back to his home after being forgotten by his owners in a highway service area 26 days prior.

According to local media, the 7-year-old dog, named Dou Dou, was forgotten in a by a Chinese family in a motorway service area when they stopped for a break on a long trip. Apparently, no one noticed that Dou Dou was missing until they arrived at their destination, several hours later. They reportedly went back to look for the pet the very next day, but found no trace of him. Luckily, the fluffy canine was able to return home by himself, after nearly a month. He was filthy and emaciated after the 60km walk, but otherwise ok.

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A popular Russian vlogger recently made international headlines after purposely burning his expensive Mercedes-AMG G63, because he was sick of it breaking down all the time.

Russian media reported that young vlogger Mikhail Litvin bought his brand new luxury car in December of 2019, for a whopping 13 million rubles, or around $170,000. For that kind of money one would expect both performance and durability, only Litvin claims that his Mercedes-AMG G63 was really short on the latter. Despite having allegedly driven it only 15,000 km (about 9,300 miles), he claims the car has been in and out of repair shops over the last 10 months. Exasperated by the constant need for repairs and the manufacturer’s reluctance to accept responsibility, the Russian vlogger decided that the best way to solve things was to simply burn the car down to a crisp.

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A viral news report about a woman who claims to have found plastic pellets mixed with rice grains has once again reignited allegations about Chinese fake rice.

Rumours about ruthless Chinese rice growers and retailers mixing plastic rice grains with real ones to increase profit at the cost of consumers’ health have been doing the rounds online for at least a decade, but no such claims have ever been confirmed. We previously wrote about allegations surrounding “cheap but profitable” fake Chinese rice being exported to other Asian countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India, but even then authorities could neither confirm nor deny these rumors. Now, another such case has once again brought the so-called “fake rice myth” back into the spotlight.

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Winter temperatures in Russia’s northern region of Yakutia can drop under a staggering -70 degrees Celsius, making it impossible for humans to stay outside for long periods of time. But for the indigenous horses of this region, such extreme temperatures are comfortable enough to spend days and nights in the open.

Yakutian horses are only 140-145 centimeters tall, but can weigh up to half a tonne, because of a thick layer of fat and heavy, thick mane that can reach up to 10 centimeters long. Because of their stocky physique and long mane, some have referred to them as the equestrian version of wooly mammoths. There’s more to that comparison than looks, though, as these horses can withstand far lower temperatures than any other horse breeds anywhere in the world.

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The Diabolical Ironclad Beetle is one of the most resilient beings on the planet. Its protective shell can withstand forces that would pulverize most other living things.

In 2015, when entomologists told Jesus Rivera that a beetle found primarily on the west coast of North America had this “superpower” that allowed it to survive being run over by a car, he didn’t believe them. So he staged a rudimentary experiment, laying this nondescript black beetle on a a pillow of dirt in a parking lot and had a friend run it over with a Toyota Camry, twice. The bug played dead afterwards, but as he was poking it, Rivera realized it was very much alive. The bug scientists were right, this beetle could easily survive being run over by cars. Jesus ended up spending his doctoral career studying the beetle’s superpower to find out what made it so strong.

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