Weird News

Celebrate the romance of tarantulas' mating season at this Colorado festival

Celebrate the romance of tarantulas' mating season at this Colorado festival

Tarantulas are looking for love in southeastern Colorado. The city of La Junta capitalizes on the spiders' annual season of romance by hosting a tarantula festival. ... Continue Reading
Wally the emotional support alligator went to see the Phillies. Then he went viral

Wally the emotional support alligator went to see the Phillies. Then he went viral

Wally doesn't bite, loves hugs and has a sizeable social media following. He made headlines (again) for being denied entry to a baseball stadium — but his owner tells NPR that's not the full story. ... Continue Reading
Hans Niemann pooh-poohs a chess cheating theory that's based on vibrating beads

Hans Niemann pooh-poohs a chess cheating theory that's based on vibrating beads

Chess prodigy Hans Niemann is competing in the World Junior Chess Championship — but he's also answering questions about an outlandish cheating theory. ... Continue Reading
Ride passengers rescued after dangling upside down, 75 feet up, for half an hour

Ride passengers rescued after dangling upside down, 75 feet up, for half an hour

The oscillating Lumberjack ride at Canada's Wonderland theme park stopped suddenly, in mid-air, on Sunday. Videos posted to social media captured the sounds of passengers crying for help. ... Continue Reading
Florida authorities killed an alligator that was seen with human remains in its mouth

Florida authorities killed an alligator that was seen with human remains in its mouth

A 13-foot-8.5-inch male alligator was "humanely killed" and removed from the water, authorities said, after a local resident saw the reptile latching onto human remains in a Tampa Bay area canal. ... Continue Reading
In a Portuguese town, the wine flows as free as a river — but no one is drinking it

In a Portuguese town, the wine flows as free as a river — but no one is drinking it

Roughly 581,000 gallons of wine poured out of two burst tanks at Destilaria Levira in Portugal Sunday, which led to a viral video of a "river of wine" coursing down a hilly street. ... Continue Reading
Another spotless giraffe has been discovered — this time, on a reserve in Namibia

Another spotless giraffe has been discovered — this time, on a reserve in Namibia

The spotless Angolan giraffe was discovered at the Mount Etjo Safari Lodge, a private game reserve in Namibia. It is one of the two known living spotless giraffes in the world. ... Continue Reading
Cascades of red wine flood a city's streets in Portugal after huge tanks rupture

Cascades of red wine flood a city's streets in Portugal after huge tanks rupture

A viral video from the scene shows a "river of wine" coursing down a hilly street, sluicing over curbs. The wine escaped from two tanks at a distillery up the hill. ... Continue Reading
Owner reunited with her dog that roamed the Atlanta airport for 3 weeks

Owner reunited with her dog that roamed the Atlanta airport for 3 weeks

Maia the dog escaped from her carrier last month while being loaded onto a plane at the busiest airport in the world. An online community banded together to reunite her with her owner. ... Continue Reading
A U.K. soldier accused of terrorism escaped prison strapped under a truck

A U.K. soldier accused of terrorism escaped prison strapped under a truck

A manhunt is on in the U.K. for a terror suspect whose cinematic prison break has captivated the country. Former soldier Daniel Khalife escaped from a London prison strapped under a food truck. ... Continue Reading
Is your dog a super good boy or girl? Here's the scientifically best way to tell them

Is your dog a super good boy or girl? Here's the scientifically best way to tell them

Researchers in Hungary have looked at whether the high pitched babble people use with their dogs scientifically resonates with pets. ... Continue Reading
Coast Guard arrests a man trying to run a giant hamster wheel across the Atlantic

Coast Guard arrests a man trying to run a giant hamster wheel across the Atlantic

It was the fourth time the Coast Guard has intercepted Reza Baluchi on his attempts to self-propel his homemade vessel to destinations including Bermuda, New York and London. ... Continue Reading
Not in the Yucatan anymore: Hurricane Idalia flung flamingos across the eastern U.S.

Not in the Yucatan anymore: Hurricane Idalia flung flamingos across the eastern U.S.

Two American flamingos seen at a Zoo in Miami, in July 2016. Flamingos are native to Florida, but less than 1% of the world

Flamingos have been found as far north as Pennsylvania after Hurricane Idalia struck Florida last week. But the birds were likely blown in all the way from the Yucatan Peninsula.

(Image credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP)

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Millions of bees fell off a truck in Ontario. Local beekeepers jumped in to help

Millions of bees fell off a truck in Ontario. Local beekeepers jumped in to help

Millions of bees spilled onto an Ontario highway Wednesday. Beekeepers sprung into action. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with one of the beekeepers, Mike Barber of Tri-City Bee Rescue, about the effort. ... Continue Reading
Meet Peanut, the world's oldest chicken

Meet Peanut, the world's oldest chicken

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Marsi Parker Darwin about Peanut, the world's oldest living chicken. ... Continue Reading
Australian woman is recovering after having a worm pulled out of her brain

Australian woman is recovering after having a worm pulled out of her brain

A brain scan last year revealed an atypical lesion, but in the biopsy the surgeon spotted a worm. It's believed to be the first case of a worm invading and developing in a human brain. ... Continue Reading
Loch Ness hunters hope for monster sighting in Scotland this weekend

Loch Ness hunters hope for monster sighting in Scotland this weekend

Monster hunters are gathering in Scotland for the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years. ... Continue Reading
A rare spotless giraffe was born in a Tennessee zoo

A rare spotless giraffe was born in a Tennessee zoo

A reticulated giraffe was born without spots at Brights Zoo in northeastern Tennessee at the end of July. The zoo is asking the public to cast their vote on what to name her.

Brights Zoo in Tennessee is asking the public to help pick a name for the giraffe that was born without spots on July 31. The zoo says she may be the only solid-colored reticulated giraffe alive.

(Image credit: Tony Bright/Brights Zoo via AP)

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Monster hunters are conducting the largest search of Loch Ness in more than 50 years

Monster hunters are conducting the largest search of Loch Ness in more than 50 years

There have been more than a thousand official sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, the Loch Ness Centre says. Nessie enthusiasts are deploying new tools this weekend to try and prove it's real. ... Continue Reading
Worldcoin uses silver orbs to scan people's eyeballs in exchange for crypto tokens

Worldcoin uses silver orbs to scan people's eyeballs in exchange for crypto tokens

Hundreds of people around the world lined up to have their eyeballs scanned by a tech startup that says it wants to authenticate humans in the age of AI.

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