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Tourism hotspot in Italy attracts attention for selling strange souvenir

Italy’s picturesque region of Lake Como has started selling a unique souvenir, making many people raise their eyebrows. The north Italian tourist hotspot has long been known for being the backdrop of many Hollywood films, while also hosting countless celebrity weddings, with many famous faces owning houses in the region. For those travelling to the stunning Lake Como and wanting to purchase a souvenir to remind them of their travels, you can now forgo the classic keyring or magnet for a more unique souvenir item. Communications company ItalyComunica says it has bottled the very air of Italy’s picturesque Lake Como and is selling these cans for €9.90 ($16 AUD) apiece. Each can is said to contain 400 millilitres of “100% authentic air” collected from Lake Como, with the website stating buyers can “Open it whenever you need a moment of escape, tranquillity, or simply beauty.” In an attempt to capitalise on the ever-growing visitor numbers, marketing specialist Davide Abagnale originally created the e-commerce site to sell dedicated Lake Como posters, before delving into the world of the unique souvenirs. His latest initiative of selling canned air aims to “create a souvenir that could be easily transported in a suitcase for tourists” and “something original, fun and even provocative.” Abagnale told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/04/travel/lake-como-air-cans-on-sale-intl-scli/index.html">CNN</a>, “It’s not a product, it’s a tangible memory that you carry in your heart,” adding that once tourists are home and have opened the can, they can repurpose it as a souvenir pen holder or plant holder. Not everyone was first onboard with the idea, as Como mayor Alessandro Rapinese said it wouldn’t be his first idea for tourists, and would prefer they take home other souvenirs, like the silk scarves the area is known for. “It’s a novel idea, but not for everyone,” he told CNN. “But as mayor of one of Italy’s most beautiful cities, if someone wants to take some of their air home, that’s fine as long as they also take beautiful memories of this area.” Image credits: ItalyComunica/CNN/Shutterstock

International Travel

6 strange wedding traditions around the world

Every country – indeed, every family – has their own wedding traditions and marriage superstitions. Most of us would be familiar with the rule of the newlyweds-to-be not seeing each other before the wedding and the “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” rhyme, but what goes on around the rest of the world? Let’s find out. 1. Greece If you’ve ever attended a Greek wedding, you’ll know it’s a colourful, fun, family-oriented affair – you’ll also probably be familiar with koufeta. They’re sugar-coated almonds given to guests by the newlyweds as a way to secure happiness, health, wealth, children and a long life. How? The white of the almond is said to symbolise purity, the egg shape fertility, the hardness represents the endurance of marriage and the sugar shows the sweetness of married life. 2. Scotland Many modern Scots have done away with this tradition, and we can’t blame them. Essentially, before the big day, the bride (and occasionally the groom) is covered head-to-toe in pungent foods like rotten eggs, curdled milk and fish sauce by her friends. Supposedly, it prepares the couple for the difficulties of marriage and wards away evil spirits. We’d rather give it a miss. 3. South America Pearls might be the jewellery of choice for some woman, but you’re not likely to see a single stone on a South American bride. Many Latin cultures see pearls as “tears of the sea” and believe that wearing them on your wedding day could bring sadness into the new marriage. 4. India It’s traditional for Indian brides to get henna tattoos on their hands and feet for their wedding day, and there’s often a sweet hidden message in them – the groom’s initials. If he is able to find his initials in the elaborate tattoo on the wedding night, it’s believed the couple will have good luck. Lucky for the bride, if he fails, he has to give his new wife a present. Score! 5. Poland Polish brides have to be very careful when it comes to picking out their wedding shoes. According to tradition, open-toed shoes are bad luck since they allow the couple’s future wealth and fortune to escape through the opening. However, there’s also an opportunity for the newlyweds to make a bit of money, too! As they leave the church, their guests shower them with coins, which they then have to collect to secure a happy and prosperous future. 6. Germany If you’re a young German woman, you might want to avoid splashing out on porcelain – come the night before your wedding, it’ll all be destroyed. Yep, “polterabend” is a tradition in which wedding guests arrive at the bride’s home the night before and smash anything made of porcelain they can get their hands on. This is thought to bring good luck, and since it’s up to the couple to clean up the mess, it’s also designed to teach them that married life isn’t always easy – but they can work through any challenges they may face. Image credits: Shutterstock

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The strange history of these 5 common superstitions

Where superstitions come from You probably engage in many of these superstitions as second nature, but have you ever thought about where they come from? Superstition: Black cats are bad omens The backstory: Despite centuries of royal treatment (Egyptians worshipped them; the Norse goddess Freya rode in a chariot pulled by them), cats took a big hit to their reputation in the 1200s, when Pope Gregory IX, waging a culture war on pagan symbols, damned cats as servants of Satan. As a result, cats – especially black ones – were killed across Europe. One unintended consequence, according to some historians: The cat-deprived continent may have allowed disease-carrying rodents to flourish and spread the bubonic plague of 1348. Rumours that the feline’s fangs and fur were venomous persisted, and by the witch-hunting days of the 1600s, many Puritans believed black cats to be “familiars” – supernatural demons that serve witches – and avoided them (to borrow an apt phrase) like the plague. Superstition: Never walk under a ladder The backstory: Depending on your background, a ladder leaning against a wall can represent an honest day’s work, a textbook geometry problem, or a symbol of the Holy Trinity that, if breached, will damn your soul. That last bit is what some ancient Christians believed – that any triangle represented the Trinity, and disrupting one could summon the Evil One. These days, our under-ladder phobia is a smidge more practical: Avoid it because you might get beaned by falling tools, debris, or an even less lucky human. Superstition: Break a mirror and see seven years of bad luck The backstory: Numerous ancient cultures agree: Your reflection doesn’t just reveal whether you’re having a bad hair day – it also holds a piece of your soul. To break a mirror, then, is to fracture your very essence, leaving you vulnerable to bad luck. So why should the sentence last seven years? Some writers cite the ancient Romans, who are said to have believed that the human body and soul fully regenerate every seven years. Any poor pleb who fractured his or her soul in the looking glass would therefore have to endure the bad karma until the soul renewed again. Superstition: A full moon brings out the crazies The backstory: Ever wonder where the word lunatic came from? Look no further than luna, the Latin word for the moon. Many Greeks knew that the moon and its goddess, Luna, held the tides in their thrall, and Aristotle considered the human brain – the “moistest” organ – particularly susceptible to Luna’s pull. Ancient physician Hippocrates agreed, writing, “One who is seized with terror, fright and madness during the night is being visited by the goddess of the moon.” Today, some emergency room workers still believe the full moon means trouble. Superstition: Say “God bless you” after a sneeze or risk something worse than a cold The backstory: You’ve probably heard the myth that a sneeze stops the heart (it doesn’t) or separates body from soul (science declines to comment there). But to explain the ritual of post-sneeze “blessing,” we can look to another pope. During the first recorded plague pandemic, in the sixth century, severe sneezing often portended sudden death. As a desperate precaution, Pope Gregory I supposedly asked followers to say “God bless you” every time someone sneezed. Today, it’s just polite. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/culture/this-is-the-history-behind-these-5-common-superstitions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Caring

World’s top 10 food museums that are seriously strange

Le Musée Art du Chocolat de Lisle sur Tarn, Lisle-sur-Tarn, France A weird and wonderful tribute to the sweet stuff, the Le Musée Art du Chocolat de Lisle sur Tarn is dedicated to the world of chocolate art. Chocolate elephants? Check. Chocolate candle holders? Check. There’s even a chocolate fountain – and by that, we mean one made entirely from chocolate. The sculptures, some of which weigh around 100 kilograms, are displayed in three halls. Must-sees include the life-sized chocolate woman and the huge white chocolate of the main character of the comic series The Adventures of Tintin. We’re getting a sugar rush just thinking about it. Dutch Cheese Museum, Alkmaar, Netherlands Thought tulips were the Netherlands’ biggest export? Think again, it’s cheese, more specifically, Edam and Gouda. Learn more at this brilliant Dutch Cheese Museum, which explores the history of the cheeses and how they’re made. It’s tucked inside one of Alkmaar’s oldest buildings, the 16th century Cheese Weigh House in Waagplein Square. Our favourite bit? The bright yellow, cheese-inspired decor and the super-sized model cow, designed to provide visitors with an insight into the milking process. Cup Noodle Museum, Yokohama, Japan Amazingly, the Cup Noodle Museum is one of several museums in Japan dedicated to instant noodles, otherwise known as ramen. The sheer size of this museum is a reminder of the nation’s love of the foodstuff – there are several enormous halls, including one containing a replica of the shed in which the first type of ramen was invented (it was chicken-based if you were wondering). There’s plenty for younger visitors, who can whiz down slides in a noodle-themed playground and swim through a ball pool resembling a cup of ramen soup. Don’t forget to check the noodle-themed marble run, either, it features 4,000 marbles and represents the various stages of ramen production. Friet Museum, Bruges, Belgium The Friet Museum is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the world’s only museum dedicated to what is widely known as French fries, but which are known as Belgian friet in this part of the world. Visit this Bruges attraction and you’ll learn all about the humble potato (first grown in Peru 10,000 years ago) and can admire various friet-related masterpieces, including drawings of the city’s famous Frituur chip stalls. The strangest exhibit? The enormous – but weirdly beautiful – display of friet fryers. Carpigiani Gelato Museum, Carpigiani, Italy The Italians are serious about how they make their ice cream, proof of which is the Carpigiani Gelato Museum in Bologna. You’ll find it inside what was once a factory owned by Carpigiani, the manufacturer of the world’s first ice cream-making machine. Exhibits include the ornate tin-plated boxes used by Italy’s first gelato sellers, along with a huge selection of gelato-related gadgets. There’s also a large workshop where you can sign up for lessons in gelatology, possibly the world’s coolest subject. The Herring Era Museum, Siglufjörður, Iceland Herrings might not sound like a very exciting item of food, but visitors to The Herring Era Museum will certainly leave with a new appreciation of the small, oily fish. The museum, inside a former salting station, looks at how, in the 20th century, the herring industry transformed this tiny village into a thriving town, with 23 herring salting stations and five herring processing plants. Sadly, over-exploitation of stocks meant the industry ground to a halt, but the tiny museum is a reminder of a period of time referred to by locals as the Atlantic Klondike. Pizza Hut Museum, Kansas, USA The Pizza Hut Museum opened in Wichita, Kansas in 2017, on the very same site of the first Pizza Hut restaurant. It’s packed full of pizza-related memorabilia, including the first Pizza Hut pizza pan used in 1958, when the restaurant opened. Other rare items include Pizza Hut Barbie dolls, menus, staff lists from the 1950s, and signage from the first restaurant. You’ll also be able to admire the original recipe for the brand’s famous sauce, scrawled on a napkin by the employee who perfected it. Poli Grappa Museum, Bassano del Grappa, Italy It’s probably a good idea to leave the car at home before a visit to the Poli Grappa Museum because samples of Italy’s famous liquor certainly aren’t in short supply. The museum is small but well laid out, with three rooms filled with exhibits relating to the famous Italian grape-based brandy. One notable highlight is the beautiful collection of antique stills, although many visitors make a beeline for the third room in order to sample some of the varieties produced by the nearby Poli Distillery. The Idaho Potato Museum, Idaho, USA America’s favourite tuber is the star of the show at The Idaho Potato Museum, which is home to both the world’s largest potato and the world’s largest potato chip, along with a wealth of potato-related facts. There are entire sections dedicated to tools used to harvest potatoes in the early 1900s, along with the world’s largest collection of mashers. And don’t forget to visit the café, where you can indulge in a chocolate-dipped potato. The Spam Museum, Minnesota, USA Learn about the world’s most divisive processed meat with a visit to The Spam Museum, a huge attraction examining the food’s rise to global domination. Not convinced? Check out the exhibit relating to its role in WWII, when Spam became a staple for servicemen and women. Then there’s the display of 15 varieties of Spam sold around the world. There are plenty of opportunities for taste tests, just look for one of the museum’s guides known as Spambassadors. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/culture/10-of-the-worlds-strangest-food-museums" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

International Travel

Ozempic is in the spotlight but it’s just the latest in a long and strange history of weight-loss drugs

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/laura-dawes-1445353">Laura Dawes</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> Losing weight conveniently, cheaply, safely. That’s been the holy grail of weight-loss ever since 19th century English undertaker and weight-loss celebrity William Banting’s 1863 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57545/57545-h/57545-h.htm">Letter on Corpulence</a> spruiked his “miraculous” method of slimming down. Since then, humans have tried many things – diet, exercise, psychotherapy, surgery – to lose weight. But time and again we return to the promise of a weight-loss drug, whether it’s a pill, injection, or tonic. A “diet drug”. The <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281448#:%7E:text=Childhood%2520Obesity%2520in%2520America%2520traces,problem%2520facing%2520American%2520children%2520today.">history of diet drugs</a> is not a glowing one, however. There have been so many popular drug treatments for excess weight over the years. All, however, have eventually lost their shine and some have even been banned. <h2>Ozempic is a recent arrival</h2> <a href="https://www.novonordisk.com/our-products/our-medicines.html">Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy</a>, both manufactured by Novo Nordisk, are the latest offerings in a long history of drug treatments for people who are overweight. They contain the same active ingredient – semaglutide, which mimics a hormone, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1544319118303273">GLP-1</a> (glucagon-like peptide-1) that acts on the hypothalamus (the brain’s “hunger centre”) to regulate appetite. As an obesity treatment, semaglutide appears to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5573908/">work</a> in part by reducing appetite. These are injections. And there can be <a href="https://www.novonordisk.com.au/content/dam/nncorp/au/en/pdfs/Ozempic-1mg-cmi-v3.0.pdf%22%22">side effects</a>, most commonly nausea and diarrhoea. Although marketed as treatments for chronic obesity and diabetes, they have <a href="https://www.forbes.com/health/body/ozempic-for-weight-loss/#footnote_1">exploded in popularity</a> as diet drugs, largely thanks to social media. This has helped drive a <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/safety/shortages/information-about-major-medicine-shortages/about-ozempic-semaglutide-shortage-2022-and-2023#:%7E:text=Why%2520the%2520Ozempic%2520shortage%2520happened,label%2520prescribing%2520for%2520weight%2520loss.">shortage of Ozempic</a> for diabetes treatment. <h2>From ‘gland treatment’ to amphetamines</h2> But Ozempic is not the first weight-loss drug. For example, organotherapy (gland treatment) was <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281448#:%7E:text=Childhood%20Obesity%20in%20America%20traces,problem%20facing%20American%20children%20today.">hugely popular</a> in the 1920s to 1940s. It rode on a wave of enthusiasm for endocrinology and specifically the discovery that “ductless glands” – such as the thyroid, pituitary and renal glands – secreted chemical messengers (or “hormones”, as they came to be known). These hormones coordinate the activities and growth of different parts of the body. Doctors prescribed overweight people extracts of animal glands – either eaten raw or dried in pill form or injected – to treat their <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281448#:%7E:text=Childhood%20Obesity%20in%20America%20traces,problem%20facing%20American%20children%20today.">supposedly “sluggish glands”</a>. For slaughterhouse companies, this was a lucrative new market for offal. But organotherapy soon fell from favour. There was no evidence excess weight was usually caused by underperforming glands or that gland extracts (thyroid in particular) were doing anything other than <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21741-thyrotoxicosis">poisoning you</a>. <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814776391/on-speed/">Amphetamines</a> were first used as a nasal decongestant in the 1930s, but quickly found a market for weight-loss. Why they worked was complex. The drug operated on the hypothalamus but also had an effect on mental state. Amphetamine is, of course, an “upper”. The theory was it helped people feel up to dieting and gave pleasure not found on a plate. Amphetamines too, <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2007.110593">fell from treatment use</a> in the 1970s with Nixon’s “war on drugs” and recognition they were addictive. <h2>Another decade, another drug</h2> Each decade seems to produce its own briefly popular weight-loss drug. For example, the popular <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/23/science/how-fen-phen-a-diet-miracle-rose-and-fell.html">diet drug</a> of the 1980s and 90s was fen-phen, which contained appetite suppressants fenfluramine and phentermine. During the height of its craze, vast numbers of users testified to dramatic weight loss. But after users experienced heart valve and lung disease, fen-phen was <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9688104/">withdrawn</a> from the market in 1997. Its producer allocated a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-08-23/pfizer-asks-end-to-fen-phen-suits-linked-to-lung-ailment">reported US$21 billion</a> to settle the associated lawsuits. The hormone <a href="https://www.webmd.com/obesity/features/the-facts-on-leptin-faq">leptin</a> aroused excitement in the mid-1990s. Leptin seemed, for a brief moment, to hold the key to how the hypothalamus regulated fat storage. Pharmaceutical company Amgen <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7732366">wagered millions</a> buying the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30532682/">rights</a> to the research in the hope this discovery could be turned into a treatment, only to discover it didn’t translate from mice into people. Far from not having enough leptin, people with obesity tend to be <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/leptin-101">leptin-resistant</a>. So taking more leptin doesn’t help with weight-loss. Amgen <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/01/obesity-reviving-the-promise-of-leptin/">sold</a> the rights it had paid so much for. <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ephedra-sinica">Ephedra</a> was popular as a weight-loss treatment and as a stimulant in the 1990s and 2000s, finding buyers among athletes, body builders and in the military. But the US Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/Ephedra.aspx">banned</a> the sale of dietary supplements containing ephedra in 2004 after it was linked to <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmc1502505">health problems</a> ranging from heart attacks and seizures to strokes and even death, and in Australia ephedra is <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2023L00864">prescription-only</a>. Now we have Ozempic. Just because the history of diet drugs has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3362858/">been so dire</a>, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about new ones – Ozempic is not a drug of the 1920s or 1960s or 1990s. And as <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281448#:%7E:text=Childhood%2520Obesity%2520in%2520America%2520traces,problem%2520facing%2520American%2520children%2520today.">history recognises</a>, multiple complexities can combine to push a drug into popularity or damn it to history’s rubbish bin. These include patients’, physicians’ and industry interests; social attitudes about drug treatment; evidence about safety and efficacy; beliefs and knowledge about the cause of excess weight. One noticeable contrast with past diet drug experiences is that now, many people are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/well/ozempic-diabetes-weight-loss.html">happy to talk</a> about using Ozempic. It seems to be increasingly socially acceptable to use a drug to achieve weight-loss for primarily aesthetic reasons. (Due to Ozempic shortages in Australia, though, doctors have been <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/safety/shortages/medicine-shortage-alerts/ozempic-semaglutide-supply-update">asked</a> to direct current supplies to people with type 2 diabetes who satisfy certain criteria. In other words, it’s not really meant to be used just to treat obesity). <h2>Our enduring search for weight-loss drugs</h2> Ozempic is predicted to earn Novo Nordisk <a href="https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/comment/novo-nordisk-ozempic/">US$12.5 billion this year alone</a>, but it’s not just industry interests stoking this enduring desire for weight-loss drugs. Patients on an endless cycle of dieting and exercise want something more convenient, with a more certain outcome. And doctors, too, want to offer patients effective treatment, and a drug prescription is a workable option given the constraints of appointment times. The body positivity movement has not yet ousted anti-fat bias or stigma. And despite <a href="https://www.who.int/teams/health-promotion/enhanced-wellbeing/first-global-conference">decades of recognition</a> of the major role our physical and social environment plays in human health, there’s little political, public or industry appetite for change. Individuals are left to personally defend against an obesogenic environment, where economic, cultural, social, health and urban design policies can conspire to make it easy to gain weight but hard to lose it. It is no wonder demand for weight-loss drugs continues to soar.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209324/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/laura-dawes-1445353">Laura Dawes</a>, Research Fellow in Medico-Legal History, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ozempic-is-in-the-spotlight-but-its-just-the-latest-in-a-long-and-strange-history-of-weight-loss-drugs-209324">original article</a>.

Body

8 landmarks around the world that are seriously strange

Le Pouce, Paris, France Yes, it’s a 12-metre thumb, in the middle of the busy business sector of Paris, France. Known as Le Pouce, by artist César Baldaccini, this giant sculpture is most definitely one of the weirdest landmarks around the world. Known for making oversized sculptures of commonplace objects, Baldaccini’s mammoth digit is actually an exact replica of his own thumb. Built in 1965, this strange addition to the landscape of Paris has left locals and visitors scratching their heads ever since. Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park, Grenada You may not have known the world needed one, but the very first underwater sculpture park was created by sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor in 2006. The British sculptor used casts of real people to create a cement world of people buried in the water off the coast of Grenada in the Caribbean. The most famous of the series features a collection of people holding hands in a circle. The strange sculpture park can be viewed by scuba divers or passengers on a glass-bottom boat tour. Upside Down Charles La Trobe Statue, Melbourne, Australia In most respects, this is an ordinary statue of Charles La Trobe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Australia – except for the fact that it’s upside down, of course. Why is it upside down? The Australian sculptor Charles Robb says the controversial nature of this statue, located at La Trobe University in Melbourne, is what makes it a memorable monument. However, many onlookers and locals disagree, deeming it disrespectful to La Trobe’s memory. Hand of the Desert, Atacam Desert, Chile In the Atacam Desert in Chile, you’ll find a hand that seems to be emerging from the sand. The closer you get to it, the bigger it seems, giving the impression that a giant human is breaking out of the sand as you approach. Created by Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrazabal, the hand is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. However, if you have the chance to roam the Chilean desert, you’ll certainly appreciate its cool effect. Manneken Pis, Brussels, Belgium Why? No one is quite certain, but there are several theories, most of which are quite hilarious. One legend says the statue, located in Brussels, Belgium, and created in the 1600s, was made to commemorate a young boy who saved the town from a fire by putting it out with his urine. Another legend says it was made in memory of a young king who was known for urinating on enemies. Whatever the reason behind the construction of this little naked boy, peeing into a fountain, it is most definitely one of the weirdest landmarks around the world. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia What used to be a prehistoric lake near the Andes is now the largest salt flat in the world. It is over 10,000 square kilometres and contains half the world’s supply of lithium, and 10 billion tons of salt! Though this Bolivian landmark isn’t man-made, it still fits into our category of weird. Its unusual appearance makes it an interesting sight to see, despite the fact that it’s really just a huge ton of salt. Hanging Statue, Prague, Czech Republic This may look like a man about to plummet to his death, but it’s actually a bronze statue of a man hanging from a building in Prague, Czech Republic. Not just any man, either: created by controversial artist David Cerný, this is supposed to be none other than Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis. Kindlifresser Fountain, Bern, Switzerland In the city of Bern, Switzerland, there are beautiful landscapes at almost every turn. The only unusual thing about this picturesque place is Kindlifresser Fountain, which translates into ‘Child-Eater.’ The disturbing statue depicts a giant or ogre quite literally eating a baby, with a few more infants held captive in his sling. Stranger still is the fact that the origins of this 16th-century monument are not really known. Some say it’s a reference to Kronos the Titan of Greek mythology, who ate his own children to keep them from stealing his throne. One thing’s for certain: it’s been scaring the daylights out of children (and parents) for nearly 500 years. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/uncategorized/the-worlds-strangest-landmarks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

International Travel

Wacky pet laws that will make you laugh

There are laws to protect people from harm, animals from cruelty and to keep the animal-human relationship harmonious. But then there are those wacky laws that will make you scratch your head and wonder how they became laws in the first place. 1. In some areas of Oklahoma dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property. 2. In Chicago, you cannot bring your French poodle to the opera. 3. In Berea, Ohio, any pet that goes out after dark must wear a tail light. 4. In Creskill, New York, all outside cats must wear three bells to warn birds of their approach. 5. In Madison, Wisconsin dogs are forbidden from harassing squirrels in the public park next to the capital. 6. In Denver Colorado an animal control officer must notify dogs of any impending impounds three days before it’s due to happen. They do this by posting notices on trees in the public parks and along the road running next to the park. 7. In Memphis, Tennessee, if a frog's croaking keeps you awake at night, you can have that frog arrested. 8. In Turin, Italy owners can be fined up to $650 for not walking their dog at least three times a day. 9. In Reed City, Michigan, you cannot own a pet cat and bird simultaneously. 10. In French Lick Springs, Indiana, all black cats must wear bells on Friday the 13th. 11. In certain areas of Oklahoma it is against the law to make “ugly” or “mean” faces at a dog. 12. In Honolulu, Hawaii, it’s unlawful to annoy birds at any public park. Image credit: Shutterstock

Legal

7 strange and unique airports

Making a connection at one of these airports would be quite an experience, and we’ve taken a look at seven strange and unique airports from all around the world. US Federal Transfer Centre, Oklahoma City, USA If you find yourself at the US Federal Transfer Centre, needless to say things have taken an interesting turn in your life. Located next to Will Rogers World Airport, this facility is used for holding inmates and transferring them between federal prisons. Black Rock City Municipal Airport, USA This airport is unique in the sense that it only operates for a week every year. Black Rock City Municipal Airport opens briefly every year for the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, playing host to around about 150 aeroplanes during the week. Kansai International Airport, Japan Entirely offshore, Kansai International Airport services a region that has no space to run a 24 hour airport in the city where no land can be expropriated. Over 21 million square metres of landfill was excavated from nearby mountains to put it together. Kai Tai Airport, Hong Kong While it’s no longer operational, Kai Tai Airport was once instrumental with linking Hong Kong with the outside world. From 1925 to 1998 landing on this little chunk of reclaimed land with high-rises on both sides was a harrowing experience in larger aircraft. Sea Ice Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica During the summer Antarctic field season the Sea Ice Runway acts as the principle runway for the US Antarctic Program. A proper runway for wheeled aircraft is constructed at the start of each season and used up until early December, until the ice breaks up. Paro Airport, Bhutan Flying into the only international airport in Bhutan is no easy task, with pilots having to navigate through two treacherously narrow valleys and performing a turn in its approach to the strip. Paro Airport is serviced by Bhutan’s National Airline Druk Air. Barra Airport, Scotland What makes this short-runway airport located at the north tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides is the fact that it’s the one airport in the world where scheduled flights use the beach as a runway (provided of course that the tide is out). Images: Getty

International Travel

5 strange clues your body gives you about your health

Ever wondered how your health will measure up as you age? Science has found a few quirky “tells” that can give an indication of the kinds of health concerns you may be facing. Read on to find out more. A short index finger can mean arthritis is possible Women whose index fingers are shorter than their ring fingers may be more prone to arthritis in the knees due to typically lower levels of estrogen. Prevent it occurring by keeping knees in tip-top shape with plenty of strengthening and stretching exercises. Generous calves and thighs? Keep an eye on your liver Stockier legs can sometimes mean a liver more susceptible to disease. This is due to higher levels of liver enzymes. Keep your liver healthy by following a nutritious diet and limiting alcohol intake. Losing your sense of smell? Your brain may need some support According to research published in 2008, older adults who couldn’t identify distinct smells like banana and cinnamon, were 5 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Help prevent this from occurring by taking fish oil supplements/omega-3 fatty acids. The short arm linked to Alzheimer’s A recent neurological study found that women with short arm spans were one and a half times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with longer reaches. Prevent it from occurring by taking up a hobby! Research has found adults who engage regularly in leisure activities are far less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Earlobe creases and heat disease Got creased up earlobes? It may be wise to keep an eye on your heart. Studies show that linear wrinkles in one or both lobes may predict future cardiovascular issues. Keep your heart happy and healthy and prevent issues by ensuring you follow a healthy diet, stick to a healthy BMI, engage in regular exercise and minimise stress. Image credits: Getty Images

Body

Strange things happening inside your body

Our bodies do an amazing job of keeping us healthy and happy. How they do that however can be a little on the stomach churning side. Here are five completely normal but slightly disgusting things your body is doing right now. <ol> <li>Producing huge amounts of sticky mucous – While we only really associate mucous with having a cold, our body is producing it constantly. Up to one litre a day is made to help prevent pathogens from making their way into our bodies.</li> <li>Processing food using gastric juices – The path from your mouth to the other end is quite remarkable. After you eat, the food travels to your stomach where it’s broken down by litres of gastric juice. It then travels through metres and metres of intestine before finally being “expelled”.</li> <li>Dust mites are colonising your eyelashes – According to recent research, there are two types of dust mite that make their home on your eyelashes where they live happily and uninterrupted for months on end.</li> <li>Your tonsils are storing plenty of stuff – If you’ve still got your tonsils, chances are good they are stashing plenty of stuff. Tonsils are filled with nooks and crannies which often fill with dead cells, mucous and bacteria. While most people can manage this build up perfectly fine, others find that they develop tonsil stones from too much build up.</li> <li>You’re producing litres of saliva – The body seems to love producing liquid. Case in point? Saliva. We produce one to two litres of the stuff a day to help break down food and aid digestion.</li> </ol> Related links: <a href="../health/wellbeing/2015/10/best-high-protein-foods/">Best high-protein foods for your diet</a> <a href="../health/wellbeing/2015/10/easy-at-home-weight-workout/">An easy at-home weights workout</a> <a href="../health/wellbeing/2015/10/simple-way-to-fight-depression/">The simple thing that's proven to fight depression</a> Image credit: Shutterstock

Body

6 strange beauty tricks that actually work

When it comes to the world of beauty, there are plenty of weird and whacky tricks and tips doing the rounds. It can be difficult to separate fact from fiction or that which actually works and that which fails miserably. Fortunately, we’ve managed to find nine slightly whacky but oh-so-worth it tricks of the trade to give you everything from longer lashes to ready-in-minutes waves. <ol> <li>Use a cotton ball for extra long, thick lashes – Forget expensive fibre lash formulations. For plenty of oomph, take a mascara wand/brow brush and rub it onto a cotton ball. This transfers some of the fibres onto the brush. Work the brush through your lashes then apply another coat of mascara for instant length and volume.</li> <li>Red lipstick to conceal dark circles – It sounds bizarre but the proof is in the pudding. Apply a red or orange-based lippie under your eyes and onto your eyelids (wherever there’s a shadow) with a concealer brush or your finger. Apply your favourite creamy concealer over the top and blend. What dark circles?</li> <li>DIY heated eyelash curler – If you’re keen on super curly lashes but don’t have a heated curler, this trick is for you. Simply use the heat from your hairdryer to heat up any metal lash curler by holding it under a stream of warm air for five to 10 seconds. Just make sure you test the temperature on the back of your hand before applying to your eyes.</li> <li>Potato skin brightener – There are a number of reasons that the skin under your arms might be darker than the rest of your body. To lighten your underarms naturally, cut a potato in half and rub into your armpits morning and night. Potatoes are high in the enzyme catecholase that has natural lightening properties.</li> <li>The right way to apply a natural flush – If your chosen blush tends to be a little on the rosy side, try applying under your tinted moisturiser or foundation. This creates a subtle, “barely there” effect which is perfect for daytime.</li> <li>Use card to prevent mascara smudges – If applying perfect mascara is a chore, try this easy trick for smudge proof lashes. Place a thick piece of card against your top lash line before applying your product. Any leftover mascara will smear onto the card instead of onto your eyelids.</li> </ol> Image credits: Getty Images

Beauty & Style

Travellers reveal the strangest things they've ever seen on a cruise

Travellers have revealed the most bizarre things they’ve ever seen on a cruise on a popular internet forum. From stumbling upon inappropriately dressed passengers to family who wore their life jackets for the entire trip, commentators on Cruise Critic’s forum didn’t fail to deliver when answering: “What's the strangest thing you've ever seen on a cruise?” 1. “Maybe not so strange but we were a little surprised one morning when a family came to breakfast in their PJs. Didn't bother us, after all, it's their vacation and we thought it was kinda cute.” 2. “I ended up on a cruise with a group of Goths on a convention. They came fully equipped with their own Evil faery (the DJ). Some (heck most) of the costumes were very different. There was one guy with his teeth filed down, wore dragon wings, and contacts in the shape of snake eyes. One good thing, we never had a problem getting a chair in the sun by the pool. They had a couple of events that were open to everyone. It was my sister's first and last cruise. I guess it was too much for her!” 3. “Getting off the ship in Tobago, observed a man leaving proudly wearing his tighty whiteys and nothing else.” 4. “I was on my balcony watching some dolphins. I noticed my neighbour, who was also our dinner tablemate, was also leaning on the rail watching the dolphins. I started to say hello then realised that he wasn't wearing anything. I was much more embarrassed than he was. At dinner, his wife said that she told him not to go out on the balcony undressed.” 5. “I stuffed my pair of jeans with towels, shoved them under the bed and put my shoes at the bottom, to make it look like a person was under there. Our cabin steward, his assistant, and their manager were the best we’ve ever had. It did scare them, at first, what I left them but we all got a great laugh out of it.” 6. “A crew member was cleaning the drink station in one of the buffet dining rooms late in the evening (around 10pm). He did this by standing on top of the counter and using his shoe and a rag to wipe the counter. I definitely reported that to corporate.” 7. “I saw a dad dipping his diaper clad kiddo in and out of the hot tub like a tea bag.” 8. “'We saw a group of four who wore their life jackets everywhere. This went on for at least several days, possibly the entire cruise. We wondered if they slept in them as well.” 9. “Our two-year-old granddaughters were walking around the stores in their PJs just before bed. A woman, who was slightly drunk, says, ‘I thought I was seeing double when one twin ran through another!’ We still laugh over that one.” What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on a cruise? Share your experience with us in the comments below. Related links: <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/06/how-i-discovered-the-10-rules-of-cruising/">How I discovered the 10 rules of cruising</a> <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/06/just-how-much-does-each-day-on-a-cruise-cost/">Just how much does each day on a cruise cost</a> <a href="/travel/cruising/2016/06/things-not-to-pack-on-a-cruise/">5 things NOT to pack on a cruise</a>

Travel Trouble

REVIEW: Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Warning! This article contains spoilers. Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has returned with his flying cape sidekick to save earth - but this time there’s more than one that needs help. The unshakeable do-gooder, with his grey-winged hair, is pulled into a deadly game of cat- and-mouse. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is a terrifying witch who chases America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) across different dimensions for her superpower - the ability to jump through the multiverse. Maximoff leaves a trail of destruction in her path and it falls to Dr Strange to put an end to her madness. If he fails, then you can wave goodbye to this earth and all the other earths floating out there in the infinite cosmos. Hollywood is pumping out superhero movies at such a fast rate, it’s almost impossible to keep up with the pace as a viewer. The Multiverse of Madness assumes you have watched at least one Avengers film, part of the Wanda Vision series and the first Dr Strange. Oh, and don’t forget Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. If you haven’t seen any of them, good luck trying to understand who is who. <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWzlQ2N6qqg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> There’s plenty of action and exploding heads to keep the unversed audience member entertained. Director Sam Raimi weaves in elements of horror along with a few jump scares. His personal touch falls short of making the superhero franchise feel new. At its best, it just adds a fresh twist to an overdone genre. There is only one annoying little detail in the film. It’s so teeny-tiny, but it hurts as much as a rose thorn stuck in your side. It’s nothing to get worked up over. Right? Wrong. Most, if not all, superhero films are packed with undertones of American patriotism. Superman wears a red cape and a blue, tight-fitting onesie (the colours of the American flag); Iron Man is held captive in a cave in the Middle East before he blasts his way to freedom (America, f*** yeah!); and Captain America needs no explanation (his name says it all). In most cases, at least, these references aren’t screaming in your face. They dwell in the background so you can continue to enjoy the film at its surface level. That’s not the case with Dr Strange. America Chavez is a central character who is not only named after the United States, but she is also dressed in a jacket with the stars and stripes printed onto the back of it. She is, literally, a walking flag of the country. Every time Dr Strange spoke about saving America, I couldn’t help but cringe as I had a sneaking suspicion he was not referring to the young girl. When the character needed a dialogue break, his monster-bashing sidekicks were filling in the blanks with their own toe-curling lines about America. She needs to be saved, her powers could be used for bad if they fall into the wrong hands, with great power comes great responsibility. Blah, blah, blah. For all its shortcomings, Raimi manages to pull off an entertaining two hours and six minutes. The action is backed up by strong performances from Cumberbatch, Olsen and Gomez. Written by Aidan Wondracz. Image: YouTube

Movies

Doctor Strange star and husband found guilty of child abuse

Warning: This article contains graphic content that some readers may find distressing. Zara Phythian, star of Marvel's latest movie Doctor Strange, has been arrested alongside her husband Victor Marke , with the pair now facing jail. The couple have been found guilty of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl multiple times between 2005 and 2008. According to The Sun, Phythian plied the teen with rum before making her perform a sex act on her husband, which occurred once or twice a month until the teen was finally able to free herself. Jurors heard that the couple were working as martial arts experts at the time, and Marke had sex with the victim at least 20 times on different occasions. Marke, 59, branded the allegations “paedophile sh*t” when quizzed by officers after his arrest, Nottingham Crown Court was told. He said he was “really angry” to be accused, and told officers, “If you’re trying to say I’m a paedophile, I’m not.” Marke claimed he had consensual sex with the teen when she was 18 – something his wife only discovered during her police interview. Phythian, 38, told detectives she’d never had any form of sexual contact with the girl, calling it “bulls**t”. Upon discovering her husband had revealed he’d had sex with her accuser, she said she felt “confused”, adding that she’d “liked to have known about it”. The victim said she “would never have come forward” and planned to “die with my shame”, but as she recently became a mother, she said she felt she had “no option to speak my truth”. Despite denying all allegations of abuse, the couple were found unanimously guilty by the jury. Judge Mark Watson will decide later when the pair will be sentenced. Image credits: Getty Images

Legal

Premonition, seizures and memory: the strange phenomenon of déjà vu

It’s a curious French expression for a feeling that many of us have experienced. What does it tell us about the way our minds work? <div class="copy"> It’s fair to say that Dr Anne Cleary, a professor at Colorado State University, never intended to study déjà vu. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://tedxcsu.com/meet-dr-anne-cleary/" target="_blank">Cleary is a cognitive psychologist</a> and was studying <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/building-memory-in-the-early-years/" target="_blank">memory</a> when she read Dr Alan Brown’s book <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Deja-Vu-Experience/Brown/p/book/9781138006010" target="_blank">The Déjà Vu Experience</a> in 2004. In his book, Brown called on scientists to evaluate existing theories of déjà vu using current methodologies and models. The challenge he set, according to Cleary, was in “taking decades-old hypotheses from the literature that had never been tested before, and presenting those in terms that scientists could process and understand, as testable hypotheses that had actually never been tested, but could be tested. And he pointed out ways that scientists, using methods available at the time, could approach this”. In her own words, Cleary was inspired. Many of us are familiar with déjà vu – the odd feeling of having experienced something before, when you know differently. Taken from the French language, déjà vu literally translates to “already seen”. While in English we lump all déjà events under one umbrella, the French have a number of categories of “already” experiences. Déjà rêvé, for example, generally describes the feeling of having already dreamed something before experiencing it in waking life, while déjà goûté is the feeling of having already tasted something. <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> Taken from the French language, déjà vu literally translates to “already seen”. </blockquote> Being a memory researcher, Cleary was interested in memory-based déjà vu hypotheses. “The source memory framework is the idea that we might find a situation familiar to us, that we also recognise as new, because we’ve experienced it at some point, perhaps in a different context, or just something very similar to it,” she explains. “So what we are experiencing really is a sense of familiarity that is coming from a real memory, but we are failing to call to mind the source of that familiarity.” Using virtual reality to investigate déjà vu In one of Cleary’s earliest déjà vu experiments in 2012, published in <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://bendsawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Cleary-Brown-Sawyer-Nomi-Ajoku-Ryals-2012-Deja-Vue1.pdf" target="_blank">Consciousness and Cognition</a>, 24 participants were individually fitted with a virtual-reality visor and navigated through 32 study-scenes, followed by 32 test-scenes. In this experiment, half of the test-scenes were designed to mirror earlier study-scenes in terms of spatial layout – so, for example, a garden scene would be created with hedge and wall placement mirroring that of rubbish placement in a junkyard scene. The navigation path was also identical. While, on average, 41% of mirrored test-scenes were able to be identified by participants, Cleary and colleagues also found that participants were significantly more likely to experience déjà vu when they were “immersed in a scene that shared the same spatial layout as something viewed earlier, but they couldn’t retrieve the memory”. On her decision to use spatial layout to elicit déjà vu, Cleary explains: “There is something special about scenes and places when it comes to human memory, but also when it comes to déjà vu. Research on autobiographical memory and human memory, in general, is starting to point towards the idea that scenes and places, in particular, might play a special role in our ability to remember our past. And that the parts of our brain that are responsible for navigating through spaces might be playing a critical role in our ability to recall our past experiences.” <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> “There is something special about scenes and places when it comes to human memory, but also when it comes to déjà vu.” Dr Anne Cleary, Colorado State University</blockquote> Cleary is referring to the 2014 <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2014/advanced-information/" target="_blank">Nobel Prize-winning</a> discovery of “grid” and “place” cells, believed to be involved in spatial mapping, navigation and memory. The discovery of these cells has also played a part in better understanding the connection between déjà vu and seizures. Illuminating the link between déjà vu and seizures “There is a known link between seizure activity and frequent or chronic déjà vu as part of the seizure aura,” explains Cleary. “In cases where people have this kind of seizure-related déjà vu, it seems to be right near those areas [of the brain] where we think the grid cells are, and those areas of the brain that are responsible for processing our place in space.” But is seizure-related déjà vu the same as the déjà vu most people experience? Interestingly, it seems not. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p173678-o1" class="wpcf7"> </div> </div> To test this hypothesis, Cleary and colleagues recruited a patient who frequently experiences déjà vu as part of an epileptic condition. “Like a lot of people who have seizure-related déjà vu, he reports that he can tell the difference between when déjà vu is happening because of a seizure, versus when it’s what he would call ‘normal’,” says Cleary. “And so we ran him through our paradigm with the virtual reality scenes to see if he would have déjà vu… and what was really interesting was that he reported having déjà vu, but he said that they were the ‘normal’ kind… and we were recording his brain activity at the time, so we knew he wasn’t having seizures at the time either.” The case study, published in December in <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S152550502100634X" target="_blank">Epilepsy & Behaviour</a>, highlights the fact that déjà vu can also be cause for concern. Cleary herself has been contacted by several individuals reaching out for help with sudden chronic déjà vu. “There are medical reasons why people can experience frequent déjà vu,” she says. “People often reach out to me from the general public because they are suddenly having déjà vu very frequently. And that can be an indicator of what’s called focal seizure activity, when it’s happening multiple times a day, or even multiple times a week.” Why does déjà vu sometimes feel like seeing the future? Another curious aspect of déjà vu is its connection with feelings of premonition. Many people report having déjà vu events where they knew what was about to happen, right down to what people would say. Cleary is often approached by individuals wanting to share their experiences. “There were just stories coming out of the woodwork from people who were not at all superstitious, but who definitely felt like they really had this experience and that it was intense,” she says. <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> Many people report having déjà vu events where they knew what was about to happen, right down to what people would say. </blockquote> Cleary was intrigued. Using the virtual reality program, Cleary and colleagues ran 74 participants through the study and test-scenes, pausing the navigation before the final turn on test-scenes to ask participants if they had a sense of the direction the last turn would take. That study, published in <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797617743018" target="_blank">Psychological Science</a>, revealed that while participants’ predictions were no more accurate than chance, they had significantly stronger feelings that they could predict the last turn when experiencing déjà vu. “When people feel like they are having déjà vu,” says Cleary, “they feel quite strongly, very often, that they can predict the next turn, even though they can’t. We’ve since replicated that a number of times now, across a number of different studies. It’s a very robust, rather large effect.” In unpublished research, Cleary and colleagues examined if this predictive bias was also associated with déjà entendu – the feeling of having already heard something, when hearing it for the first time. Using musical puzzlers, in which well-known songs were embedded within classical music, Cleary found the same feelings of premonition when asking participants if they could predict the pitch of the final musical note. “And even more interestingly,” says Cleary, “we made it even more impossible to predict by just randomly assigning [the note] to either the left or right speaker. When people were experiencing déjà entendu for a musical piece, they felt very strongly that they knew the direction that the next sound was going to come from.” How studying déjà vu has helped us understand human memory Going back to where it all started, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Deja-Vu-Experience/Cleary-Brown/p/book/9780367273200" target="_blank">Cleary is now a co-author on the second edition of Brown’s book: The Déjà Vu Experience</a>. “I took him up on his call,” says Cleary, “and so did others. As a result, the book catalysed a lot of the research that has been done since that first edition, leading to a lot of what we now know about déjà vu, that was not known at the time of the first edition of the book. A lot of that work came out of my own lab and my own collaborations with others over the years and a lot of that work continues today”. <blockquote class="has-text-color has-weekly-blood-red-color"> “When déjà vu occurs, suddenly your attention is drawn to your memory, its operation, and how it works.” Dr Anne Cleary, Colorado State University</blockquote> Cleary plans to continue her study in déjà, overlapping sound and virtual scenes to determine the effect on déjà vu experiences. “Most of the time we go through life we’re not paying attention to our memory – we take it for granted. When déjà vu occurs, suddenly your attention is drawn to your memory, its operation, and how it works… As a memory researcher, I think the experience itself is a window into how our memories work.”  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=173678&title=Premonition%2C+seizures+and+memory%3A+the+strange+phenomenon+of+d%C3%A9j%C3%A0+vu" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> </div> <div id="contributors"> <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/science-of-deja-vu/" target="_blank">This article</a> was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/deborah-johanson" target="_blank">Deborah Johanson</a>. Deborah Johanson is a freelance medical and science writer from Auckland, New Zealand. She holds a PhD and Masters degree in Health Psychology, a Bachelors degree in Health Science, and has a clinical background as a Registered Nurse. While most of her research has involved healthcare robots, Deborah now writes about health, medicine, technology, and science. Image: Getty Images </div>

Mind

Another strange symptom linked to COVID-19

Spanish researchers are suggesting there is another symptom of COVID-19 not previously considered. Health experts believe rash-like mouth lesions are another side effect of having coronavirus, after 21 patient’s mouths with COVID-19 were examined at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid. They were investigating whether each patient who had rashes on their skin would determine if they might have enanthem - a rash inside the body on the mucous membrane. The study's findings - published in JAMA Dermatology - found six of the patients with skin rash had some form of enanthem in their mouths. The patients were aged between 40 and 69 and four of the six were female. "This work describes preliminary observations and is limited by the small number of cases and the absence of a control group," researchers wrote in the study. "Despite the increasing reports of skin rashes in patients with COVID-19, establishing an etiological diagnosis is challenging. “However, the presence of enanthem is a strong clue that suggests a viral etiology rather than a drug reaction, especially when a petechial pattern is observed.” Researchers noted many patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 have not had their mouths examined due to the worrying safety concerns around the infection. The study noted enanthems were previously found in some Italian COVID-19 patients. The mouth lesions join a growing list of strange coronavirus symptoms detected by health experts. They follow the discovery of clumsiness disturbance in mental functioning, loss of taste and smell and migraine as odd COVID-19 side effects.

Body

Strange but true: How llamas could help us defeat COVID-19

The quest for an effective COVID-19 treatment has led some researchers to llamas, as a new study found promising results in the animal’s antibodies. Research published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30494-3.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420304943%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">Cell</a> found that antibodies in llamas’ blood could offer a defence against the coronavirus. Llamas have small antibodies that can sneak into spaces on viral proteins that are too tiny for human antibodies, helping humans to fend off the virus. It is hoped that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have not been infected. The findings originated in a Belgium-based llama named Winter. The antibodies of the four-year-old animal had been proven able to fight SARS and MERS, and researchers found that they were effective against the virus behind COVID-19 in cell cultures. In an interview with <a href="https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2020/05/16/llama-antibodies-can-neutralize-virus">Vermont Public Radio</a>, the study’s co-author Daniel Wrapp said an approved therapeutic could be available on the market in a year’s time. “We are actively performing pre-clinical trials, testing for protection in hamsters,” Wrapp said. “If that looks good, we’ll move into non-human primates. And if that looks good, we’ll begin phase-one clinical testing in humans.” Llama antibodies have also been investigated for their potency against HIV and other viruses.

Family & Pets

John Lennon murder: Killer’s strange act after shooting Beatles star

Sunday marks the 39th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. The late Beatles legend was shot outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980 and died at the age of 40. His killer, Mark David Chapman was a 25-year-old former security guard with no prior criminal convictions. After planning the murder for months, Chapman came to the Dakota apartment building where Lennon and wife Yoko Ono lived on December 8, 1980 and waited. Chapman met the couple at 5pm as they were leaving for a studio session, and Lennon signed Chapman’s Double Fantasy album. Chapman then waited for Lennon to return from the studio. Lennon and Ono returned at 10.50pm, and as they passed by to enter the building, Chapman fired five shots at the Beatles singer, four of which hit him in the back and shoulder. Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital but later pronounced dead on arrival. When police came to arrest Chapman, he was still at the scene reading a copy of JD Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. “This is my statement”, Chapman’s handwriting in the book read. The novel tells the story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, who rallied against the “phoniness” of the adult world. “I’m sure the big part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil,” Chapman told the police. Two months later, Chapman sent a statement to the New York Times. He wrote in all caps: “It is my sincere belief that presenting this written statement will not only stimulate the reading of JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye but will also help many to understand what has happened. “All of my efforts will now be devoted toward this goal, for this extraordinary book holds many answers. My true hope is that in wanting to find these answers you will read The Catcher in the Rye. Thank you.” The novel was also carried by killer Robert John Bardo on the night he murdered actress Rebecca Schaeffer. Apart from the book, Chapman’s crime was also said to be motivated by his displeasure with Lennon’s blasphemous public statements. Chapman said listening to Imagine weeks before the murder <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000251/http:/www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=73">enraged him</a>. “I would listen to this music and I would get angry at him, for saying that he didn’t believe in God,” he said. “I just wanted to scream out loud, 'Who does he think he is, saying these things about God and heaven and the Beatles?' Saying that he doesn’t believe in Jesus and things like that. At that point, my mind was going through a total blackness of anger and rage… So I brought the Lennon book home, into this Catcher in the Rye milieu where my mind set is Holden Caulfield and antiphony-ness. While contemplating this new Lennon, I really delved into the ink of Holden Caulfield.”

Music

“I was uncomfortable”: Zara Tindall explains her strange demeanour at Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s wedding

Over tens of millions tuned in around the world to watch the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2019. However, there is one royal who said she felt “uncomfortable” while sitting on the sidelines watching her cousin wed. Photos of Zara Tindall, the Queen’s eldest grandchild and Princess Anne’s daughter, painted her looking slightly uneasy during the special service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle last year. Zara explained the obvious discomfort on her face while talking to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/zara-tindall-going-back-work-8-weeks-has-made-better-happier/" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph. </a> "I was uncomfortable! My bum sort of slid over either side [of the pew] and Lena kicked the hell out of me for an hour," she said of her youngest daughter who was born in June 2018. "It just wasn't comfy at all, and it probably showed on my face." Tindall said she found it particularly difficult to be at ease while during Bishop Michael Curry’s speech, which lasted a little over 13 minutes. "It was just the general amount of time everything was taking," she said. "I think my face was probably caught the point when I thought, 'Right he's going to finish now' and then he went off on another little story and it was like, "Really?'" The royal and her husband welcomed their second daughter a month after the royal wedding, on June 18. Their eldest daughter, Mia, is five and Lena is now 15 months old. The couple sadly suffered two miscarriages before successfully welcoming their second daughter to the world. Zara Phillips is an equestrian and has competed in the Olympics - going on to win silver in 2012. She and former footballer Mike Tindall married in 2011. At birth, Zara was sixth in line to the British throne and is now 18th.

News

Sir Michael Caine reveals the strange way he met his wife

Love works in mysterious ways, even for Sir Michael Caine. The veteran actor has revealed how he met and fell in love with his wife of 46 years, Shakira, on Andrew Denton’s Interview show. The 86-year-old said, he was watching TV at home with a friend when a Maxwell House Coffee commercial came on screen. Caine was entranced by the woman in the ad, which was set in Brazil. “I had plenty of money. I said to my mate, ‘We’re going to Brazil tomorrow, I gotta find her’,” he recalled. Caine and his friend then went to a bar, where he shared his spur-of-the-moment plan with another patron. “I said, ‘Well, I was watching television, and I saw this girl in an advert, and I’m going to Brazil in the morning to find her,’” Caine told Denton. “He said, ‘Really? What commercial?’ I said, ‘Maxwell House Coffee’. “He said, ‘We make that commercial … She’s not in Brazil, she’s in Fulham Road’.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> "We're going to Brazil tomorrow, I've gotta find her." - Michael Caine met his wife of 46 years via a fairly non-traditional means. He saw her in a coffee TV ad and fell in love. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/InterviewAU?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#InterviewAU</a> <a href="https://t.co/K6CsRWL6MJ">pic.twitter.com/K6CsRWL6MJ</a> — Andrew Denton's "Interview" (@InterviewAU) <a href="https://twitter.com/InterviewAU/status/1138414478175793152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2019</a></blockquote> It turned out that the woman lived less than two kilometres away. Caine went on to track her phone number and ask her out. “I phoned her 11 times, 10 of which she wouldn’t go out with me,” Caine said. “The last one she decided to go out with me … We went out and fell in love instantly and have never parted since.” Shakira, 72, is a Guyanese-British actress and model. She and Caine tied the knot in Las Vegas in 1973, two years after their first meeting. The pair has a daughter named Natasha.

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“I was uncomfortable”: Zara Tindall explains her strange demeanour at Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s wedding

Sir Michael Caine reveals the strange way he met his wife