In 1994, a man was involved in a serious car accident that should have left him with at least a few broken bones. But he suffered no fractures at all, because he had the densest, strongest bones anyone had ever seen.

When doctors looked at the X-rays of the man involved in the car accident – his name was never disclosed to the public – not only did they notice no fracture, but also that his bones seem to be unusually dense, eight times denser than normal, to be precise. This was unlike anything they had ever seen or even heard of before, so they referred the man to Karl Insogna, the director of the Yale Bone Center. Insogna performed additional tests, but after failing to discover a cause for this unusual bone density or any negative effects associated with it, he sent the man on his way. As fate would have it, a few years later, the researcher would come across a few people with similarly dense bones, which turned out to be distantly related to that remarkable man he’d examined…

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An Australian man has become known as the COPD Athlete because of his incredible ability to run entire marathons despite having only 30 percent lung capacity as a result of an incurable and progressive condition.

Russell Winwood was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) in 2011. By that time, the Brisbane native had already turned his life around, having survived a stroke at age 36. He had given up smoking, cut down on drinking alcohol, started eating better, and, most importantly, he had taken up sports. For years, he competed in varying distances of triathlons, from sprint to Half Ironman and even a few ultra-marathons. Everything was going great, but at one point Winwood noticed that his usual training felt harder and he found it difficult to breathe. That’s when he received his COPD diagnosis, along with the warning that his lungs were operating at less than 30 percent capacity.

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Marlene Engelhorn is not your average millionaire. At age 29, she has more money than she knows what to do with, so she has decided to give away 90 to 95 percent of her inheritance of tens of millions of dollars.

Marlene Engelhorn is the granddaughter of 94-year-old Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto, a member of the famed German industrial family whose patriarch, Friedrich Engelhorn, founded the chemical giant BASF in 1865. Traudl’s brother-in-law, Curt, ran the family business until 1997, when it was sold to Roche for about $11 billion. At the time of the sale, Marlene’s grandmother received approximately $2.45 billion, a veritable fortune that ballooned to $4.2 billion, at the time of her death, earlier this year. Marlene Engelhorn now stands to inherit tens of millions of dollars, but she doesn’t want it.

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French champagne brand G.H. Mumm has poured a lot of time and resources into developing a futuristic champagne bottle that can be used in space.

The Mumm Cordon Rouge Stellar is the first champagne designed specifically for space travel. It comes in a half-glass bottle and features a specially-designed stainless steel opening-closing device that curves over the classic cork. The unique bottle apparently features a finger-controlled valve which, when engaged, releases a globule of champagne spheres. Astronauts or space tourists can then scoop the drink out of the air using special glasses that resemble tiny egg cups.

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A 19-year-old man and a 56-year-old grandmother-of-three in Thailand have been making international news headlines after getting engaged to be married.

Wuthichai Chantaraj, 19, met his fiance, Janla Namuangrak, 56, almost 10 years ago, when the woman moved next to his family home in the Akat Amnuay district of Thailand’s Sakhon Nakhon province. Their first real interaction occurred when Janla asked the 10-year-old boy to help her move some potted plants, and from that day on Wuthichai would often drop by the divorced woman’s house to play and help her with chores. The two describe their early relationship as a friendship, but when Wuthichai turned 17, he started developing feelings for Janla, and they eventually became a couple. They only announced their romance to their families at the start of this year, and their love story has been making headlines in Thailand ever since.

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The Synthetic Party is a new political group in Denmark that is committed to following the platform thought up by an AI entity known as Leader Lars.

Out of all the political parties eyeing a seat in the Danish Parliament this year, the Synthetic Party has to be the most intriguing, by far. Founded in May by artist collective Computer lars and non-profit art and tech organization MindFuture Foundation, the new political party is dedicated to following the policies of an AI programmed on the policies of all Danish fringe parties since the 1970s that have never obtained a seat in the parliament. Apart from promoting the presence of AI in politics, the Synthetic Party also aims to become an alternative for the 20 percent of the Danish population that never votes in elections.

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Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University claim to have identified a drug that replicates the benefits of exercise on muscles and bones.

Many of us may not want to admit it, but modern life in developed countries is easier and more comfortable than it’s ever been. Gone are the days when humans had to rely on heavy labor to sustain themselves and their families, but this particular part of our evolution has had some unwanted health-related consequences – the vast majority of people aren’t getting enough exercise and that is taking a toll on their bones, muscles and overall health. The problem is that many of us don’t want to put in the physical work to keep our bodies in good shape, even though we know we should, but the good news is that we may not have to…

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Norwegian startup Desert Control claims that it can fight desertification efficiently by spraying sand with Liquid NanoClay (LNC) and turning it into soil in a matter of hours.

In the past, we’ve featured many ‘green heroes‘ who have been fighting desertification for decades, using all sorts of techniques, from draught-resistant shrubbery to tree barriers, but now a startup claims to obtain much better results in the same harsh conditions in just seven hours. Invented in the early 2000s by Norwegian scientist Kristian Olesen, Liquid NanoClay is the secret behind Desert Control’s amazing achievements. When sprayed onto sand, this amazing invention trickles down and percolates the sand, turning it into water-retaining soil where plants can germinate and thrive.

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Horse Kicks are just what they sound like – sneakers for horses. Created from popular human models like Air Jordan or Yeezy Boost, each pair sells for at least $1,200.

With some very few notable exceptions, horseshoes have remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, but that is about to change thanks to sneaker customizing expert and The Shoe Surgeon SRGN Academy alumni, Marcus Floyd. Using deconstruction and reconstruction, Floyd has created several pairs of equine sneakers that retain the elements that usually make brands like Air Jordan, Yeezy, or NewBalance650 stand out. At the same time, these are essentially horseshoes, so they also meet the unique ergonomics of horse hooves.

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A boat tour organizer in Thailand has been getting a lot of attention because of his original-yet-controversial business idea – fishing trips in the company of nude ladies.

I’ve always found fishing quite boring – hot take, I know – but one Thai entrepreneur in Chon Buri recently came up with an intriguing way of spicing up the experience and thus getting a leg up on the competition. The mysterious person or outfit behind the controversial endeavor advertised on social media with a series of lewd photos showing two men apparently fishing on a boat next to two completely naked women posing for the camera with their legs spread open. That’s one way to get people’s attention…

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The tropical islands of the Seychelles archipelago are home to a legendary palm tree that produces the world’s largest plant seed – a suggestively-shaped thing that can weigh up to 20 kilograms.

Lodoicea maldivica, also known as the double coconut, or coco-de-mer is a remarkable species of palm tree that grows between 25 and 34 meters tall and yields giant seeds that measure 12 inches long, nearly 3 feet in circumference and have a weight of over 40 pounds. Because of their suggestive shape – they look like a pair of female buttocks – they inspired a number of legends and were highly sought after by both monarchs and other people of influence throughout the years. Even today, their rarity makes coco-de-mer seeds highly sought after by collectors.

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An 82-year-old Mongolian man has dedicated the last three decades of his life to nurturing a green oasis in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

Baraaduuz Demchig is often mentioned as living proof that man can fight desertification. His 16-hectare oasis rises up defiantly from the barren Gobi Desert, with no other plant life visible for miles. It’s nothing short of a miracle, but one that has been carefully planned and nurtured over the years by Baraaduuz and his family. It all started in the early 1990s, when the Mongolian farmer decided to plant vegetables in the arid land, only to see his work literally blown away by the wind. That’s when he realized he needed strong trees to protect his garden and started planting elm trees.

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A 48-year-old Colombian woman died after allegedly swallowing and choking on her dental prosthesis while sleeping.

Doctors always recommend removing dentures at night, to avoid any kind of accidents, a piece of advice that María Farías Guzmán, a 48-year-old woman from Colombia’s Armenia region did not follow. The woman reportedly went to sleep with her dental prosthesis in her mouth, only to accidentally swallow it, and become lodged in her throat somehow. Maria’s family would later tell investigators that they heard unusual noises coming from the woman’s room, so they decided to check on her, only to find that she wasn’t breathing.

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An English man recently shocked his whole country after claiming to have been pulling off his own teeth for over 10 years because he could never book a dentist appointment.

David Sergeant, a former butcher from Leeds, in the United Kingdom, claims that he has been forced to use pliers or his bare hands to pull out painful teeth due to being unable to see a professional dentist. The 50-year-old man said his financial situation makes it impossible to get private care, so he has had to get an appointment through the state-funded National Healthcare Service (NHS), which hasn’t really been working out too well. He has had to wait so long to see a dentist that he has pulled out several of his teeth over the past decade.

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An arts venue in Glasgow, Scotland features an innovative dance floor that creates renewable energy from the body heat of dancers.

SWG3 hosts some of Glasgow’s largest dance parties, with thousands of people getting together to dance the night away throughout the year. Starting this month, the dancers won’t just be burning energy by busting out moves but also help keep it warm or cool, depending on the season. That’s thanks to “Bodyheat” an aptly-named dance floor that harnesses the body heat of dancers and converts it into energy. The innovative system has been three years in the making and is a joint project of SWG3 and geothermal energy startup TownRock Energy.

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