English Company Develops World’s First Antimicrobial Smartphone
Smartphones have long been known to be crawling with all sorts of bacteria and microbes, but that “dirty” reputations is getting a cleanup thanks to a UK startup that claims to have created the world’s first antimicrobial smartphone. The CAT S42 build under the Caterpillar brand is one of the sturdiest and cleanest budget smartphones […]
Japanese Fruit Farmers “Employ” Owls as Pest Control
Japanese field voles can seriously impact the profits of apple orchard owners, if left unchecked. For centuries, many farmers have relied on owls to keep vole numbers to manageable levels, and research has shown the night predators to be incredibly efficient. Ural owls have been setting up their nests in orchards with high rodent populations […]
Animal Lover Shares Her Home with 480 Cats and 12 Dogs
Maryam al-Balushi, an animal lover from Muscat, in Oman, shares her house with 480 cats, most of which were strays, and 12 dogs, spending almost $8,000 a month on food and vet bills for them. The 51-year-old retired civil servant might seem like a life-long animal lover, but the truth is she hasn’t always been […]
Confectioner Creates Exquisite Cookies That Look Inedible, in a Good Way
Cookies come in all shapes and sizes, but few look as exquisite as those of Costa Rican confectioner Lorena Rodriguez, founder of Lorena’s Sweets. Looking at the edible works of art created by Lorena Rodriguez, once doesn’t know if to eat them or hang them up on a wall somewhere, for everyone to see. Some […]
Kid Shoves Metal Coin Into His Nose, Forgets About It For 53 Years
A 59-year-old man in Zelenograd, Russia, lived with serious nose breathing difficulties for over half a century, because of a coin he had shoved up his nose as a child and forgot about over the years. Doctors at the Konchalovsky City Clinical Hospital in Zelenograd recently reported the strange case of a patient who said […]
Plant Evolves to Become Less Visible to Humans in Areas With Excessive Harvesting
Fritillaria delavayi, a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, has apparently evolved to match its background and become more difficult to spot as a direct consequence of heavy harvesting. Scientists had known that many plants evolved to use camouflage as a way of hiding from herbivores that may eat them, but a recent study suggests […]
Japanese Artist Carves Whimsical Worlds into Tiny Tree Leaves
Japanese self-taught artist Rito (@lito_leafart) spends hours painstakingly carving tree leaves to create stunningly detailed scenes that capture viewers’ imagination. Rito’s leaf cutouts are impressive enough by themselves, but the story of what inspired the artist to take up leaf art in the first place makes them even more so. Apparently, the Japanese artist suffers […]
Man Attends Celebrity Wedding With Six ‘Girlfriends’, All Allegedly Pregnant With His Babies
Nigerian socialite Mike Eze-Nwalie Nwogu, aka “Pretty Mike”, sparked controversy after attending a high-profile wedding accompanied by six heavily pregnant women, all allegedly carrying his babies. Describing the women as his “six baby mothers to be”, Pretty Mike was filmed rubbing and kissing each of their bellies at the wedding of Nigerian actor Williams Uchemba […]
Rare Grape Variety Is Larger Than a Chicken Egg
Pictures of giant grapes, larger than the average chicken egg, have been doing the rounds on Vietnamese social media this week, raising questions about their authenticity and origin. Novelty fruits are particularly popular in Japan, where specialized shops can sell certain varieties of apples, peaches, melons or grapes for mind-boggling prices. However, the popularity of […]
Japanese Company Wants to Buy Your Face and Sell It as a Hyper-Realistic Mask
Would you ever sell your face? If the answer is yes, there is a Japanese company that wants to hear from you. It’s in the business of buying the rights to people’s faces so it can sell them in the form of hyper-realistic 3D-printed masks. Ever since Kamenya Omoto, a Tokyo-based specialty mask maker and […]
Helicopter Crew Accidentally Discover Mysterious Metal Monolith Deep in Utah Desert
A helicopter crew from Utah’s Department of Public Safety recently discovered a large metal monolith in the rocky desert of southeastern Utah. So far, no one knows what the metal object actually is, or how it got there. Last Wednesday, while helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, members of […]
Japanese Rapunzel Hasn’t Cut Her Hair in 15 Years
35-year-old Rin Kambe has been dubbed the Japanese Rapunzel because of her nearly 6-feet-long mane, which she hasn’t cut in 15 years. Rin, who hails from Tokyo, was never allowed to grow her hair as a child. She was on the girl’s football team so had to keep it short, but when she became an […]
Eye Art – Talented Makeup Artist Uses Her Eyes as Canvas for Tiny Masterpieces
Tal Peleg is an experienced makeup artist who goes beyond the usual tricks of the trade to create beautiful artworks in the space between her eyebrows and her eyes. They say makeup itself is an art form, but if that’s true, what do we even call what Israeli Tal Peleg does, magic? The talented makeup […]
How a Routine Blood Donation Left a Young Woman Permanently Disabled
A 21-year-old woman has lost mobility in her right arm following a botched blood donation in which a nurse allegedly drew blood from one of her arteries instead of a vein. Gabriela Ekman, of Ontario, Canada, had just turned 17 when she decided to donate blood for the first time in her life. She hoped […]
Chả rươi – Vietnam’s Popular Worm Omelet
Chả rươi, or sand worm omelet, is a seasonal Vietnamese dish made with unsightly, two-inch-long sea worms that some say give the “delicacy” a caviar-like taste. Every year, in late fall, street food stalls in northern Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi, serve a very special dish that looks very ordinary at first glance, but that actually […]