strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

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Scientists Make LED Screens— Using Bacteria

Paper-clip size screen features blinking organisms

(Newser) - Scientists at UC San Diego have developed a new kind of LED, and it requires no electricity—instead, it runs on living organisms. A few years back, the researchers were able to engineer one fluorescent bacterium to glow according to a biological clock; in 2010, they got a whole colony...

How to Survive in the Wild: Be a Good Mimic

Just ask the dancing spider, the jawfish, and the octopus

(Newser) - If you're a fan of animal mimicry stories, today's just like your birthday:
  • Spider dance: Biologists have discovered that a male wolf spider who sees another male doing a little spider dance to attract a mate will not only mimic the moves but try to improve upon them
...

No Pets for 3 Years After Man's Puppy Drinks Vodka

Drunk British man failed to help swaying, staggering dog

(Newser) - Attention dog owners: Next time you're drinking vodka and Coke, don't leave your glass on the floor. Matthew Cox, 26, did just that, went outside to have a cigarette, and returned to find that his 6-month-old Labrador puppy, Max, had finished his drink for him. The Brit was...

Burglar Steals Child's Ashes From Mother

Nothing else taken; police suspect culprit knew the family

(Newser) - A burglar broke into a Michigan home last week and made off with just one peculiar, cruel piece of loot: an urn containing a 12-year-old boy’s ashes. When Dave Turnquist came home Friday, he found the window of his house broken, and his bedroom ransacked, but the only thing...

Yours for $100: Steve Jobs Action Figure

Comes complete with iPhone, iPad ... in miniature, of course

(Newser) - Sadly, this did not make it out in time for Christmas, but you can still buy your tech-loving boyfriend one for Valentine's Day: A 12-inch Steve Jobs action figure goes on sale in February … but you'll have to shell out $100 for it. The figurine comes with...

Ark. Blackbird Die-Off Was Deliberate

Officials say fireworks set off in roost in Beebe, Arkansas

(Newser) - The hundreds of dead blackbirds that rained down on a rural Arkansas town for the second New Year's Eve in a row weren't so much omens of the apocalypse as victims of crime, reports Fox News . The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is blaming human interference for the...

Hasbro Shuts My Little Pony Site, Man Fans Revolt

Grown men 'bronies' need their ponies

(Newser) - It's going to be harder to salivate over the precious hijinks of My Little Pony for a weird conglomeration of "Bronies" —men addicted to the exploits of the syrupy animals. Hasbro has shut down the website that offered downloads of My Little Pony cartoons, featuring the exploits...

Bankrupt Rapper Could Lose ... His Name
 Bankrupt 
 Rapper 
 Could Lose 
 ... His Name 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 1, 2012 7:00 PM CST

Bankrupt Rapper Could Lose ... His Name

'Young Buck' will be sold along with other assets: trustee

(Newser) - Rapper Young Buck could lose more than just his stuff in his bankruptcy liquidation case—he could lose the very right to be called “Young Buck.” His trademarked name will be sold off, along with his other assets, according to the trustee administering his estate. His financial woes...

Ark. Town Again Hit by Dead Blackbirds

Cops ban fireworks after repeat of last New Year's Eve carnage begins

(Newser) - Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence yesterday as 2012 approached. Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting...

The Weirdest News of 2011
 The Weirdest News of 2011 
Jan 1, 2012 11:35 AM CST

The Weirdest News of 2011

From caffeinated meat to the Frozen Dead Guys festival

(Newser) - As the weirdness of 2012 begins, it's time to take a look back at the bizarre year behind us. Some of the year's oddest stories:
  • In Florida, an 8-foot-tall Lego man washed up on a beach —apparently the work of a Dutch artist, not the Lego company.
...

Man, 99, Divorces Wife Over 70-Year-Old Affair
 Man, 99, Divorces Wife 
 Over 70-Year-Old Affair 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 1, 2012 11:12 AM CST

Man, 99, Divorces Wife Over 70-Year-Old Affair

He found letters she wrote to her 1940s lover

(Newser) - If you think divorce is a tragic way to end an 18-day marriage , how about divorce as an end to a 77-year marriage? An Italian couple—he 99, she 96—are calling it quits after the husband discovered that his wife had an affair ... in the 1940s. The Telegraph reports...

Why America Should Eat Horse

 Why America 
 Should Eat 
 Horse 
in case you missed it
Dec 31, 2011 7:00 PM CST

Why America Should Eat Horse

It's a cheap, relatively healthy meat option for the poor: Josh Ozersky

(Newser) - When Congress lifted the ban on funding horse meat inspections , no one exactly cheered, because Americans find the idea of eating horse meat “gross.” But maybe it’s time to get over “our national revulsion” against the stuff, writes Josh Ozersky in Time . For one thing, since...

Law Would Fine Singers for Altering National Anthem

Indiana bill would cover all public school performances

(Newser) - An Indiana lawmaker is sick of hearing the national anthem parodied, and she's proposing a law to ban such alterations. The bill would set a $25 fine payable by any singer who doesn't meet "performance standards" when belting out the tune at an event at a public...

Igloo Church Opens in Bavaria
 Igloo Church Opens in Bavaria 
Dec 30, 2011 8:59 AM CST

Igloo Church Opens in Bavaria

Holy house of snow boasts 60-foot tower

(Newser) - Bavarian villagers have built a church of snow and ice, a century after their forebears did the same to protest the town's lack of a place of worship. The 65-foot long church in the mountain village of Mitterfirmiansreut was built using 49,000 cubic feet of snow, as well...

Dead Accident Victim to Be Sued For Flying Body Parts

Court allows woman to sue estate of Chicago teen killed by train

(Newser) - An appeals court in Illinois has decided that a dead Chicago teen can be sued for injuries caused by his own flying body parts. The 18-year-old almost-passenger ran in front of a train in an attempt to catch another train and was hit by an Amtrak going 70mph. A big...

Slime Mold Is Smarter Than You Think
 Slime Mold Is 
 Smarter Than 
 You Think 
study says
Dec 29, 2011 5:48 PM CST

Slime Mold Is Smarter Than You Think

It can solve mazes, might be used in future biocomputers

(Newser) - It may not look like much, but slime mold is capable of human-like "thought" beyond the reach of the most sophisticated computers. The organism can arrange its cells in order to find the quickest route through a maze, a Japanese scientist has found. "Humans are not the only...

New Source of WiFi: Japanese Vending Machines

And it's totally free

(Newser) - Want some WiFi with that soda? A Japanese soft drink company has unveiled new vending machines that offer a free wireless Internet signal, TechCrunch reports. Users needn't register or even shell out for a drink: They can simply connect to the public signal for 30 minutes, landing on a...

Wendy's Return to Japan Marked by ... a $16 Burger

It comes topped with foie gras

(Newser) - For two years, Japan's fast-food lovers were forced to go without Wendy's. Now the chain is back—with a bang. Its first new store to open in the country will serve up the Foie Gras Rossini Burger, which, yes, is topped with foie gras and costs 1,280...

Chavez Suggest US Gave World Leaders Cancer

Secret cancer-causing technology could be at work, he speculates

(Newser) - Argentina's Cristina Fernandez has become the latest Latin American leader to be diagnosed with cancer , prompting Hugo Chavez to wonder if the US is to blame. "Would it be strange if they had developed a technology to induce cancer, and for no one to know it?" pondered the...

Hitchcock's Birds Mystery Solved

Kamikaze California seabirds were poisoned, researchers say

(Newser) - The real-life mystery that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds has been solved, researchers say. Hitchcock is said to have largely based the film on a bizarre incident in 1961, when flocks of crazed seabirds slammed into homes in California's Monterey Bay. Researchers now believe that, rather...

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