Unusual News
Vermont Towns Settle 345-Year-Old Border Dispute
It took 346 years, but the Vermont towns of St. George (population: 698) and Shelburne (population: 6,944) finally have an established border between them. The neighboring communities, chartered in 1763, were given overlapping maps during colonial... read more
Stephen Hawking Warns against Meeting Aliens
For renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, there’s no question that life does exist beyond earth in the universe. But whether we want to actually meet up with other beings, that’s another question, Hawking argues.
In a new documentary produced fo... read more
Pennsylvania State Legislator Accuses Opponent of Not Being Gay
Inflammatory accusations involving sexual orientation have been tossed around in a contentious Pennsylvania legislative race, but not the kind that usually are leveled. In the contest to win the Democratic primary for the gay-friendly 182nd state ... read more
Second Life Players Sue over Illegal Seizure of Virtual Property
A Pennsylvania judge, Eduardo C. Robreno, will have to decide whether illegal seizures of virtual property in an online role-playing game can be addressed in a real courtroom. Four players of Second Life have sued the game’s creator, Linden Lab, f... read more
Limbaugh, Iranian Cleric Agree: Human Behavior Can Cause Natural Disasters
No matter how divergent two people can be in terms of background or beliefs, there’s always some common ground to be found. Take for instance American conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and Iranian Muslim cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi—both ... read more
Grade Inflation Spreads at U.S. Colleges; Private Schools Lead
Getting good grades in college is not as challenging as it once was, especially for students attending private institutions of higher learning. After charting 50 years worth of grade point averages, researchers Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher He... read more
Is Climate Change Making Migratory Birds Lazy?
An estimated 20 billion birds in recent decades have altered their migratory habits in response to climate change, says a leading ornithologist, Miguel Ferrer, of Spain. This means approximately 70% of the world’s migrating birds changed either th... read more
Saying Goodbye to Life with an Environmentally-Friendly Burial
Going green can entail not only how a person lives life on the planet, but how they leave it as well. Jane Hillhouse, founder of FinalFootprint.com, is part of a growing movement to offer environmentally-friendly burials that eliminate toxic chemi... read more
TASER Tests Weapons on Meth-Injected Sheep
Wanting to prove its weapons are safe to use, even on subjects who have ingested methamphetamine, Taser International sponsored a research study that drugged more than two dozen sheep and subjected them to the electric-shock weapon. The company fe... read more
Married Women Who Take Husband’s Name Lose $1,162 a Month in Salary
Taking a husband’s name comes at a price for married women. Dutch researchers have determined wives who change their name can wind up making less money—$1,162 a month—because of cultural perceptions in comparison to women who keep their pre-marria... read more
Professional StarCraft Video Game Players Accused of Accepting Bribes in South Korea
A huge scandal involving allegations of game rigging and bribery has erupted in South Korea, where online video entertainment attracts serious, big-money players. South Korea has professional leagues associated with 21 different video games, but t... read more
New Transplant Technique Could Create Babies with 3 Biological Parents
Within three years, children born in the United Kingdom could have three biological parents, assuming the government goes along with an idea pushed by scientists to perform gene splicing to prevent serious health risks.
The concept has been de... read more
USDA Workers Grow Gardens for Soup Kitchens and Food Pantries
Spearheaded by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been creating local gardens across the United States and the globe and donating the food to pantries and soup kitchens. The effort began last year when Vil... read more
Avoiding Death by Uploading Your Brain
Ken Hayworth, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, has come up with an unusual potential form of immortality by preserving the human brain in a computer. Most theories of extending life, such as using experimental supplements or super-sensitive healt... read more
Surgeon Removes Live Explosive from Afghan Soldier’s Head
It’s not every day that Major John Bini, a U.S. military surgeon, dons body armor before going into the operating room. But he did just that after an Afghan soldier was brought in on March 18 with an unusual head wound—a nearly three-inch unexplod... read more
Is Global Warming Real? Just Ask the Flowers
Thanks to obsessive record-keeping by generations of British flower lovers, biologists have determined that plants in the United Kingdom are blooming earlier than at any time in the last 250 years. These researchers also have noticed a change in t... read more