An Indian man who started planting trees in a barren, sand-filled field 15 years ago is now being praised for transforming the wasteland into a 10,000-tree orchard.

Satyendra Gautam Manjhi, a simple man from the small village of Imaliyachak, in the Indian state of Bihar, claims he was inspired to start planting trees after being visited by Dashrath Manjhi, known as “the man who moved a mountain“. The story of how he spent over 20 years chiseling away at a mountain to make a road to his village has inspired a generation, including the protagonist of this story. Satyendrav says that Dashrath himself told him to start planting an orchard, and that’s exactly what he did.

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Iran’s Dasht-e Lut desert is only the 25th largest desert in the world, but it holds the record for the highest ;and surface temperature ever recorded, over 70 degrees Celsius.

Dasht-e Lut (Persian for “Emptiness Plain”) is a large salt desert that, scientists believe, formed on the bottom of a sea. Millions of years ago, tectonic shifts caused the bottom of the sea to rise, with the water slowly evaporating due to the high temperatures. Today, it’s a barren land about 51,800 square kilometers in size, surrounded by mountains on all sides, which contributes to the record-setting temperatures recorded here, as they prevent humid air from the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas to reach it.

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A Chinese man has been getting a lot of attention on Asian social media, because of his unique training regimen – walking with 150 kg of steel plates attached to his feet.

Zhang Enshun, a 42-year-old man from Yulin City, in China’s Guangxi province, has been training in the art of “iron shoes” for the last five months, and has already made significant progress. After seeing news reports of people working out by walking with heavy weights attached to their feet, and hearing them talk about the benefits of this training, Zhang decided to try it for himself. He began by attaching one steel plate, weighing around 18.75 kilograms, to each of his feet and trying to take a few steps with it. Today, he can walk around with four of these heavy plates attached to each foot, for a total weight of 150 kilograms.

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Young Serbian artist Sanja Jankovic creates beautiful paintings by using various types of wine – red, white, rosé – instead of oil paint, watercolors or acrylics.

Sanja Jankovic has always tried turning things into art mediums, and after giving wine a go, she stuck with it. Not only did the end result look really cool, but the challenge of painting with wine was itself exciting. The talented artist was now limited to tones of red, pink and purple, but that only made things more interesting. The art form, which Jankovic has named “winerelle”, a play on ‘wine’ and ‘aquarelle’, is very unpredictable, as the wine continues to age on the canvas, so the artworks themselves develop over time.

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Popular Chinese film actress Gao Liu recently posted photos of her damaged nose on social media, as a warning about the possible dangers of plastic surgery done wrong.

Liu, a young singer and actress who has starred in multiple films and TV programs and was considered an up-and-coming star in China, had gone off the radar in recent months, which led many to speculate about her well-being. Earlier this month, the actress took to her Weibo account to explain that her unexpected absence had been caused by a botched nose job which had resulted in part of her nose tissue actually dying and falling off. Gao Liu also shared photos of her “plastic surgery nightmare“, which sparked an online debate about cosmetic surgery, which has become very popular in China in recent years.

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Telecubes, mobile offices the size of phone booths, have been popping up all over Japan, as demand for public working spaces continues to soar.

Japanese media originally reported on the rise of Telecubes back in 2019, when Mitsubishi Estate announced plans to start rolling out the tiny but cozy offices at airports and train stations all over the country, to help out remote workers. The idea was that having micro-offices available everywhere would make it easier for people to work near home or while on business trips, while enjoying privacy and quiet, which venues like coffee shops or shared offices can’t always offer. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and the demand for Telecubes grew to unprecedented levels.

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Virtual reality has the potential to change our lives in a number of ways, one of which is apparently the possibility to reunite with loved ones who have passed away.

South Korean television MBC recently started broadcasting season two of its hit documentary,  너를 만났다 (“I Met You”), a unique program that uses state-of-the-art VR gear and software to reunite people with their departed loved ones and allow them to make one more memory together. The network spends months on each case, putting together an emotional reunion in virtual reality, but while the response from the public has been generally positive, there are critics who describe it as emotionally manipulative.

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Luca Yupanqui, was still in her mother’s uterus when she started recording her first music album. Now she is getting ready to release the world’s first ever LP with sounds from inside the womb.

The daughter of Elizabeth Hart, a member of psych-rock band Psychic Ills, and musician Iván Diaz Mathé, young Luca is all set to follow in her parents’ footsteps, with her debut LP expected to launch on April 24, this year. The ten-track album was produced with the help of Biosonic MIDI technology;  electrodes were placed on Hart’s abdomen, and the vibrations of the fetus were translated into sound using synthesizers. Five hours-worth of recording were edited into the upcoming LP, named Sounds of the Unborn.

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A 38-year-old man is warning other AirPod users about the danger of swallowing the wireless ear buds, after accidentally ingesting one in his sleep, and undergoing surgery to have it removed.

Last Tuesday morning, after waking up in his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, Brad Gauthier noticed that one of his AirPods was missing. He had fallen asleep with them on, but he didn’t think much of the loss, as AirPods falling off isn’t exactly unheard of. Gauthier reportedly went about his day as usual, ignoring the slight discomfort in his chest, but when he tried to drink a glass of water, something strange happened.

As Brad Gauthier tried to have a drink of water, his throat simply filled up and he started chocking. He was able to get the water out by leaning forward, and carried on as if nothing had happened, even clearing his driveway of snow, after a severe blizzard. But the though of the missing AirPod started bugging him again, especially since he couldn’t find it, even with the help of his wife and son.

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American rapper Lil Uzi Vert recently shocked his fans by posting photos of himself with what he claims is a $24 million pink diamond embedded in his forehead.

Lil Uzi Vert had announced plans to have the ultra-rare and expensive precious stone embedded in his forehead last week, when he posted that he had spent years paying for the pink diamond. Uzi, whose real name is Symere Woods,  is known to have a penchant for expensive watches, jewelry, and luxury cars, but this pink diamond, if real, is his most prized possession yet. That’s part of what compelled him to have it attached to his forehead, apparently.

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The steppes of Kazakhstan’s Almaty region are not the most inviting place, especially in winter time, but one unusual phenomenon has been attracting a lot of tourists there lately.

Located between the villages of Kegen and Shyrganak in the middle of a snow-covered plateau is a 14-meter-high ice tower that continuously spouts water which turns to ice almost instantly. The unique structure looks like a miniature volcano, only instead of hot lava, it spouts water. The sight has become popular both among locals, but also Instagram fans and influencers looking for special backgrounds for their social media posts.

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Escamol is an ancient dish made with the edible larvae and pupae of two species of ants, known for its nutty, buttery flavor. It has been consumed in Mexico since the time of the Aztecs.

Commonly known as ‘Mexican caviar’, because of its similarity to fish eggs, escamol consists larvae and pupae of ants belonging to the Liometopum apiculatum and L. occidentale, two species native to some semi-arid areas of Mexico and the southern United States. Its origins can be traced back hundreds of years, back to the time of the Aztecs, when consumption of insects as food was very common. Escamol was considered a delicacy by the Aztecs, who would trade for it with nomadic tribes such as the Otomis, because it was difficult to procure. Its price in Mexican restaurants suggests that escamol has retained its status as delicacy in modern times as well.

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A 24-year-old man almost choked to death after a small fish got lodged in his throat following a bizarre fishing accident.

Colombian media recently reported the case of a young young man from the country’s Pivijay municipality, who almost lost his life in a very peculiar fishing accident. The man, whose name has not been revealed, was reportedly fishing for his family on January 23rd, when he managed to catch a fish. He had just finished removing the hook when he noticed that another fish was pulling on the other line. Unwilling to let it swim away with the bait, the fisherman put the caught fish in his mouth and rushed to grab the other fishing rod. Only the fish had other plans…

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Mafia members in the Italian city of Naples have reportedly threatened ambulance crews to stop using sirens as, the noise is too similar to that of police sirens, and interferes with “business”.

Ambulance drivers and first responders in Naples have recently started asking for police escorts, after numerous reports of armed mafia crews threatening and even assaulting ambulances, over their use of sirens and light signals. Apparently, these emergency signals used by ambulances are very bad for business, as they disturb drug-pushers and scare away customers, both of which often mistake them for police. Such cases have been reported for years, but the problems has intensified recently, due to the Covid-19 crisis.

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Mary Kenyon, a self-taught artist from California transforms real seashells into stunningly-beautiful jewels that have this very vintage charm to them.

A self-confessed “crafts addict”, Mary Kenyon inherited her passion for arts and crafts from her father, who was a talented oil painter. They did a lot of different things together, from painting to leather carving, and after he passed away, Mary inherited his workshop and was inspired to use all those tools and supplies to come up with a whole new art form.

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