A Florida University professor plans to spend 100 days 30 feet under the ocean’s surface, in an underwater lodge, as a scientific experiment to find out how the constant increased pressure affects his body and mind.

The current world record for time spent living underwater was set in 2014 by two Tennessee biologists who managed to live submerged for a total of 73 days, but if University of South Florida professor Joseph Dituri meets his set goal, he will beat that record by a whopping 27 days. At the beginning of this month, Dituri, who also goes by the nickname ‘Dr. Deepsea’, moved into Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, an underwater hotel 30 feet under the surface, where he plans to remain until June 9th. During this time, he and a team of physicians and scientists plan to conduct a series of tests to see how living underwater for prolonged periods of time affects the human body and mind.

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Chinese state media outlet People’s Daily recently unveiled the newest member of its news anchor team, Ren Xiaorong, a virtual, AI-powered anchor that can allegedly provide 24/7 news coverage.

In a video published last Sunday by People’s Daily, a virtual young woman called Ren Xiaorong introduced herself to the world as an AI-driven chatbot that has learned the skills of ‘thousands of news anchors’ and that can constantly evolve based on viewers’ feedback. Beautiful and smartly dressed, Ren certainly looked like an agreeable news anchor, and if not for the synthesized, out-of-synch dubbing, you could hardly tell she wasn’t a real person. Using an app, anyone can ask the news anchor questions on a variety of topics, including education, epidemic prevention, housing, employment, environmental protection, and many others, but she can currently only deliver generic answers in line with the rhetoric favored by the Chinese Communist party.

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90-year-old Jim Arrington got into bodybuilding when he was 13 years old, and he has been keeping at it ever since. At 90 years old, he holds the Guinness World Record for “oldest active male bodybuilder”.

Jim Arrington discovered bodybuilding when he was 13. He walked into a drug store and saw these big, bulky guys on the cover of a muscle magazine. He immediately ordered a copy of a 25-cent book by George Jowett, a Canadian strongman, and started doing the exercises detailed in it using his father’s three-pound steel balls. They certainly weren’t the most useful bodybuilding tools, but they helped him put on more than 10 pounds of muscle in a few months, so he kept going. He has been going at it ever since, and even though his body is much more fragile now, at age 90, he has no plans of ever stopping weight training.

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Joseph DeRuvo Jr., from Norwalk, Connecticut, gave up on footwear over two decades ago, after getting painful bunions on his feet, and he has been walking around barefoot ever since.

59-year-old Joseph DeRuvo Jr. doesn’t remember the exact day he decided to shun footwear for good, but he recalls that it was about five years before the first Apple iPhone came out (2002). He had developed bunions on both feet, which hurt when he went jogging in tight running shoes. A doctor recommended surgery to relieve the pain, but before being scheduled for the procedure, the former photographer decided to go barefoot because the pain in his feet was so intense. As he considered the surgery, DeRuvo Jr. learned that the screws that were to be inserted into his feet contained a metal he was allergic to, and he also realized that he was feeling much better. In the end, he passed on the surgery and decided to adopt a barefoot lifestyle.

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An Indian man has become somewhat of a celebrity in his home state of Uttar Pradesh thanks to his unusual best friend, a wild crane that follows him everywhere he goes.

30-year-old Mohammed Arif, a harvester operator from Mandka village, in Uttar Pradesh, was working in a field in February of last year, when he saw an injured sarus crane in dire need of help. It was bleeding from one leg and seemed in a lot of pain, so the young man picked it up and took it home where he started nursing it back to health. It took a while, but the red-necked crane made a full recovery. Only instead of flying away the moment it was set free, the majestic bird stuck by its benefactor, accompanying him everywhere.

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The United States of Kailasa, a non-existent country created by a controversial Indian guru, somehow managed to sneak into two United Nations meetings this year.

Founded by Indian fugitive and self-proclaimed godman Nithyananda Paramashivam, the United States of Kailasa claims to be the first sovereign state for Hindus. However, you’ll have a tough time trying to locate it on any map, not because of its size, but because no one knows where it actually is. In 2019, when Nithyananda announced the formation of Kailasa as a state, he claimed to have bought an island off the coast of Ecuador as its headquarters, but the government of the South American country denied any knowledge of the transaction. The controversial guru hasn’t made any public appearances in the last 4 years, but the fictional nation’s ambition has grown, and this year its representatives have attended two UN meetings.

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Sports equipment giant Wilson recently unveiled a 3D-printed basketball prototype that does not need to be inflated and features a see-through lattice design.

Basketball technology has come a long way since the early days of the sport when real stitched leather was used as the main material, but Wilson is trying to change the game completely with an intriguing concept that completely does away with pneumatic pressure. Instead, the Wilson Airless Prototype relies on the elasticity of its “research-grade” polymer material to produce the same bounce as traditional basketballs. This eliminates the need to inflate the ball to a certain pressure, as well as known problems like puncture risks, and air escaping through the inflation valve over long periods of time.

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Most people would go out of their way to avoid ending up behind bars, but one Utah man actually robbed a bank for only $1 just so he could get arrested and thrown into federal prison.

65-year-old Donald Santacroce just pulled off one of the most bizarre bank robberies in history. He reportedly walked into a Wells Fargo Bank near 300 South Main Street in Salt Lake City on Monday morning and handed over a note to one of the tellers. The piece of paper read “Please pardon me for doing this but this is a robbery. Please give me $1.00 Thank you.” The teller must have thought it was a joke, because they complied with Santacroce’s demand, but also asked him to leave with his $1. Only he told them that he had just robbed the bank and that they should probably call the police. He then sat down in the bank lobby and waited to be arrested…

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A father who caught his young son playing video games on his phone at 1 am on a school night punished him by making him play on his phone until he could play no more.

Too much of a good thing becomes harmful or bothersome over a large period of time, and one Chinese boy from Shenzen found this out the hard way a couple of days ago, when his father caught him playing video games on his phone after midnight, despite knowing he had to get up for school the next morning. The parent told the Metropolis Times that he was furious when he found his son playing on his phone when he should have been sound asleep, but he didn’t know how to react at first. He wanted to teach the boy a lesson he wouldn’t easily forget, so instead of scolding the boy he just told him that he could play on his phone instead of sleeping, adding that he could even take a day off from school so he could play some more.

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In order to prevent his drunken son from getting behind the wheel of his BMW and possibly causing an accident, a Spanish man vandalized the vehicle, smashing the windows and denting its metallic body with a pickaxe.

A father’s love for his children is usually very strong but it can manifest in unusual ways. Take this story of a 60-year-old man from Logroño, Spain, who went to extreme lengths to make sure that his inebriated son doesn’t get behind the wheel of his black BMW and potentially cause a tragedy. Last week, local police received calls about a man vandalizing a vehicle parked on a public road in Logroño by smashing it with a pickaxe. A squad driving toward the reported location of the incident, noticed a white van fleeing the scene and managed to pull it over. Inside were an elderly man and a visibly drunk younger passenger.

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Balakrishnan Palayi, an Indian man from Kasaragod, claims to have eaten nothing but coconut for the last 28 years in order to treat his gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Imagine eating only one thing for over two decades. As a foodie with access to so many delicious treats, the mere thought of restricting one’s diet to a single food for a month, let alone 28 years, sounds almost impossible, but one Indian man claims that it has kept him healthy and fit. Balakrishnan Palayi, a man from Chandera in Kasaragod, was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition that caused him to lose all his strength to the point where he could hardly move around. As part of his treatment, he started eating coconut, and he felt so much better that he soon decided it was the only thing he was going to eat moving forward.

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A Spanish court recently ordered a Malaga businessman to pay his ex-wife 204,000 euros “as compensation for unpaid domestic work done in the home” during the 25 years they were married.

A woman who dedicated 25 years of her life to supporting her entrepreneur husband and taking care of their two daughters was recently granted 204,000 ($215,000) in compensation for all her unpaid work. The couple married in June of 1995, when they were in their twenties, and signed a separation of assets the very next month. The document basically stated that each spouse retained exclusive ownership of property acquired during the marriage. This turned out to be a lot more beneficial to the husband, who started multiple businesses, while the wife took care of their two young daughters and did all the domestic work.

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An Indian man recently made national news headlines after filing a police complaint against his own father, accusing him of seducing his wife and eventually eloping with her.

They say all is fair in love and war, and that love is blind, but there is also such a thing as forbidden love. Pawan Vairagi, a worker from India’s Rajasthan state, is accusing his own father of falling in love with his wife and luring her away from him. Vairagi, who hails from a village called Silor, told authorities that he had been spending a lot of time away from his family because of work, which allegedly gave his father the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and seduce her. The pair recently eloped, leaving Pawan’s six-month-old daughter behind.

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The Bodi tribe of southern Ethiopia holds a yearly festival in which the man with the biggest belly is honored and celebrated. To prepare for this big event, the men go on a grueling six-month fattening journey.

Obesity and big bellies are usually seen as banes of modern life that not only have a negative impact on health, but are also considered generally inesthetic. However, in a remote area of Omo Valley, southern Ethiopia, big bellies in men are considered impressive, even attractive. The Bodi, a tribe of agriculturists and cattle herders, celebrate their love of big bellies during a yearly festival called Ka’el, in which the man with the biggest belly is crowned ‘fat man of the year’ and earns the respect of the entire tribe for life. But in order to earn this honor, the men must go on a fattening diet of cow’s milk or yogurt, raw blood, and honey for several months before the festival.

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They say real life is stranger than fiction and this bizarre Indian love square proves it. After his wife eloped with another man, a scorned husband decided to marry the lover’s wife.

Neeraj and Rubi Devi, both from India’s Bihar state, tied the knot in 2009 and had four children together. At one point, Neeraj learned that his wife was having an affair with another man, named Mukesh, and despite his attempts to have Rubi cut ties with her lover, she ended up eloping with Mukesh last year and later marrying him. Neeraj turned to the elders in his Khagaria District village to hold a ‘panchayat’ (special assembly) and resolve the matter, but Mukesh and Rubi declined to attempt and they have been on the run ever since. But the story doesn’t end here…

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