For the past few years, police in the Finnish city of Espoo have been employing an intriguing tactic to keep youths from partying on a local beach – blasting classical music from loudspeakers.

There is no scientific evidence that young people have an aversion to classical music, but police in Espoo swear that it works, and the fact that they have been using this tactic for the last six years is a testament to that. Apparently, at the end of the school, year, the beach in Espoo’s Haukilahti neighborhood becomes a popular gathering place for youths eager to party until the late hours of the night. Local authorities had tried multiple other methods to disperse youths, but nothing worked quite as well as classical music masterpieces like Strauss’ The Blue Danube, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Schubert’s Ave Maria. So, starting in early June, police blast classical music from a couple of loudspeakers on the beach to keep youths from gathering there after sunset.

Read More »

Researchers at the University of California recently created a self-powered throat patch that uses machine learning to translate muscle movements into speech, helping people to speak without vocal cords.

Jun Chen, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, came up with the idea for a non-invasive speech-enabling device after feeling his vocal cords get tired as a result of lecturing for several hours at a time. He began thinking of ways of helping a person speak without using their vocal cords, and with the help of his colleagues at the University of California, he designed an innovative patch that sticks to the user’s throat and uses AI technology to decode their muscle movements into speech. The lightweight device is resistant to skin sweat and also harnesses the user’s muscle movements to generate electricity, which means that it doesn’t require a battery to operate.

Read More »

The unusual love story between a 23-year-old woman from China’s Hebei Province and an 80-year-old man she met at a nursing home sparked a heated debate in Chinese society.

23-year-old Xiaofang (pseudonym), met the love of her life while working as a volunteer at a retirement home in Hebei Province. 80-year-old Mr. Li (pseudonym) was a resident there and the two quickly became friends after realizing that they shared many interests and hobbies. But, as time went by, their friendship evolved into something more, as Xiaofang was attracted by Mr. Li’s maturity, stability, and wisdom, while he was moved by Xiaofang’s youthful vitality and kindness. Unfortunately, the young girl’s family did not approve of her romantic relationship with a man old enough to be her grandfather, but she decided to follow her heart and severed ties with her parents to be with Mr. Li.

Read More »

A Colorado man can consider himself extremely lucky to be alive after surviving a gunshot thanks to the silver necklace around his neck.

Last week, the Commerce City Police Department in Colorado posted photos of a bloodied metal necklace with a small piece of metal lodged in its links on its Facebook page. Apparently, it belonged to a local man who had been involved in a heated argument with another person and had been shot at. According to the viral post, the bullet would have pierced the victim’s neck if not for the silver chain around his neck, which turned what would have likely been a fatal gunshot wound into a minor puncture wound.

Read More »

The Fanvue Miss AI pageant, the world’s first beauty pageant for AI-generated female models, judges contestants on beauty, social media clout, and their creator’s use of AI tools.

At first, they said artificial intelligence was coming after our jobs, but now it seems that not even beauty pageants are safe. Originally announced back in April 2024 by Fanvue, a subscription-based platform for creators, the world’s first beauty pageant for AI-generated avatars made international news headlines and sparked controversy online. But, based on the popularity of AI models like Aitana Lopez and Emily Pellegrini on social media, this type of event was bound to happen at some point. About 1,500 AI-generated girls were submitted by creators from all over the world, but only 10 of them made the finalist list.

Read More »

A  football field at the Luzhniki Olympic Sports Complex on the outskirts of Moscow recently hosted the world’s longest football game, which lasted a total of 26 hours.

To celebrate All-Russian Football Day last Saturday, two teams of 7 players each gathered at the Luzhniki Olympic Sports Complex to break the record for the longest football match ever. The game started at noon on Saturday and ended after 26 hours, at 2 in the afternoon on Sunday. The previous record had been set in 2014 when two teams played the beautiful game for 24 hours straight. This time around, the Red Team defeated the White Team with a score of 416 goals to 409.

Read More »

An Algerian man was recently convicted for indecent behavior and sentenced to two months behind bars for hugging random people on the street to spread peace and positivity.

Mohamed Ramzi, a 30-something vlogger from Algeria, sparked outrage in his home country last summer by posting a TikTok video inspired by a popular European vlogger who became famous for social experiments like hugging random people on the street. Only that kind of thing is apparently frowned upon in Algeria, as the footage sparked outrage and attracted condemnation from the general public, and not even Mohamed’s apology could stop the imminent charges against him. Last year, a court found him not guilty on all charges, but his case was then referred to the Algerian Judicial Council after prosecutors appealed the decision, and this time he was found guilty.

Read More »

A so-called blind dating cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has come under fire for installing a one-way window that allows men to see the girls they are talking to, but not vice-versa.

On June 1st, a blind dating cafe in Ho Chi Minh’s District 1 went viral for a controversial reason. According to multiple reports, Mina Cafe features two different rooms for men and women, separated by a glass wall. The controversy lies in the fact that the wall is advertised as a mirror when in reality it is only a mirror from the women’s side. The men’s room is dark and they can clearly see the person on the other side. Basically, the blind date part is only valid for the women, as the men can freely admire their potential partners like items on display.

Read More »

There is a bizarre craze sweeping China’s primary and secondary schools. Students are adding all sorts of smelly ingredients to plastic bottles to create the stinkiest recipes possible.

Chinese media recently reported multiple incidents involving bottles of foul-smelling water created by young school students using online recipes. Apparently, they were related to a strange craze where students add all sorts of disgusting ingredients to a plastic bottle of water and let the mix ferment to create the stinkiest concoction possible. They write the recipe on the bottle, and if stinky enough, share it online so that other can take the experiment even further. It has been dubbed the “stink-raising water” craze and education authorities are scrambling to prevent it from becoming even more popular, as experts believe it puts public health at risk.

Read More »

An Istanbul-based plastic surgery clinic has been drawing a lot of attention for taking to social media with before-and-after photos that show improvements so radical that experts have deemed them impossible to achieve.

The Este Med Clinic took the internet by storm last week with a before-and-after photo of a patient referred to only as Michael. The after photo showed the man at least a couple of decades younger, his wrinkled skin now as tight as a youngster’s, a full head of hair, and a perfectly sculpted nose. Michael looked so good in his ‘after’ photo posted on Instagram that some users wondered if the clinic had simply put him in a time machine. Had the two photos not been posted together, most people would never have guessed they were of the same person. But this was only the beginning, as a look at Este Med’s Instagram profile showed dozens of other incredible transformations that even plastic surgery experts found hard to believe.

Read More »

The femur is widely considered the hardest or second hardest bone in the human body, but a 35-year-old man in China allegedly managed to break his just by coughing.

Doctors at the Second People’s Hospital of Fujian Province in China recently reported the shocking case of a 35-year-old man referred to only as Mr. Ye who suffered a fractured femur during a coughing fit. According to Dong Zhong, director of the Department of Orthopedics at the hospital, the unusual incident occurred during a coughing fit, which is unusual considering that men in Ye’s age range typically suffer femur fractures as a result of serious trauma, such as car accidents or falls from considerable height. Mr. Ye told doctors that he felt a sharp pain immediately after a particularly strong cough, but he simply brushed it off as a cramp. It was only after walking became difficult because of the pain that he decided to seek medical help.

Read More »

French distillery Pegasus decided to celebrate its debut on the US spirits market with a unique product – an ultra-premium vodka infused with a real meteorite.

The aptly named Shooting Star Vodka starts off as organic, locally sourced wheat and botanicals from France distilled using iStill,  the most advanced distilling technology. The mixture is then slowly reduced over a month-long period using pure spring water from a well dug 150 meters below the Pegasus Distillery in Burgundy. But what really sets Shooting Star Vodka apart from other premium spirits is the aging process. Shooting Star Vodka is aged in small batches for at least one year using large terracotta jars with pieces of meteorite suspended in the middle. As the space rock partially dissolves into the vodka, it allegedly gives the spirit a mineral taste.

Read More »

After the owner of a Russian supermarket chain announced that he would be paying 1 million rubles to each person proven to have gotten food poisoning from the store’s products, many decided to take him up on his offer.

Earlier this month, Yekaterinburg-based supermarket chain Zhiznmart came under fire for allegedly selling compromised food products that had landed at least 18 people in the hospital with food poisoning. As a result, several suppliers refused to work with Zhiznmart anymore for fear of getting audited by Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s federal agency in charge of consumer wellbeing and protection. Left with empty shells and a sullied reputation, Zhiznmart founder made a bold public statement, promising to compensate each person proven to have been poisoned by his products with 1 million rubles ($11,000). His promise went viral, and before long, people were trying to get food poisoning at Zhiznmart and get compensated.

   Read More »

The organizers of a recent festival at a university in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, were forced to apologize after the host decided to give away the water bottles used by the members of an idol group as prizes.

On May 22, the popular girl group Oh My Girl performed at a university festival in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. However, it was what occurred on stage after the group’s performance that made news headlines all around the country in the days that followed. On May 26, several videos were posted on South Korean social media showing the host of the event inviting male fans of Oh My Girl on stage and then collecting the used water bottles left behind by the members of the group. Fans were asked to participate in a talent show for the chance to win an unusual prize – the used water bottle of the Oh My Girl member of their choice.

Read More »

Clips of a man bearing a shocking resemblance to Keanu Reeves’ iconic film character John Wick selling street food in Thailand have been going viral online, fueling theories that the stylish assassin had retired in the Asian country.

A few days ago, a short video with the caption “John Wick stopped killing people and turned to selling coffee and grilled squid” went viral on Thai social media, because the man featured in it bore a shocking resemblance to the popular action film character. Only here, he was not gunning down or beating up people, but selling street food and cleaning food bowls. Soon enough, other videos of the mysterious John Wick lookalike followed, including some in which he wore a suit and white tie, just like the action hero. People joked that he must be on a mission in Thailand, while others said that he was done with killing bad guys and had retreated as a street food seller.

Read More »