Latest Oddities News

The first glow-in-the-dark animals may have been ancient corals deep in the ocean

Apr. 23, 2024 19:12 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many animals can glow in the dark. Fireflies famously blink on summer evenings. But most animals that light up are found in the depths of the ocean. In a new study, scientists report that deep-sea corals that lived 540 million years ago may have been the first...

Phish fans are famously dedicated. What happens when they enter the Sphere?

Apr. 23, 2024 19:05 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Adele, Mariah Carey and Garth Brooks tower over the Las Vegas Strip, peering out from billboards advertising their various casino residencies. But the 20,000 fans marching toward the glowing Sphere last week were there for a band that many Strip visitors have no idea exists. ...

Cicadas are so noisy in a South Carolina county that residents are calling the police

Apr. 23, 2024 16:27 PM EDT

NEWBERRY, S.C. (AP) — Emerging cicadas are so loud in one South Carolina county that residents are calling the sheriff's office asking why they can hear sirens or a loud roar. The Newberry County Sheriff's Office sent out a message on Facebook on Tuesday letting people know that...

Canadian family receives wrong body after father died on Cuban vacation

Apr. 22, 2024 17:45 PM EDT

LAVAL, Quebec (AP) — A family in Quebec is searching for answers after discovering that their father's remains didn't make it to Canada from Cuba, where he died while on vacation, and instead received the remains of another man. Funerals for Faraj Allah Jarjour were scheduled for...

A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours — a new global chess record

Apr. 20, 2024 14:57 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon. Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children's education across...

A coffee roastery in Finland has launched an AI-generated blend. The results were surprising

Apr. 20, 2024 13:22 PM EDT

HELSINKI (AP) — An artisan roastery based in the Finnish capital has introduced a coffee blend that has been developed by artificial intelligence in a trial in which it's hoped that technology can ease the workload in a sector that traditionally prides itself on manual work. It is...

Man who won primary election while charged with murder convicted on lesser charge

Apr. 19, 2024 18:15 PM EDT

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man who won a primary election for a township board position while charged with killing his estranged wife has been found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. A Boone County jury convicted Andrew Wilhoite, 41, of Lebanon on...

This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton

Apr. 18, 2024 17:15 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ancient giant snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton, researchers reported Thursday. Fossils found near a coal mine revealed a snake that stretched an estimated 36 feet (11 meters) to 50 feet (15 meters). It's comparable to the...

How many ballerinas can dance on tiptoes in one place? A world record 353 at New York's Plaza Hotel

Apr. 17, 2024 18:10 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of young dancers in white tutus and tightly coiffed hair gathered in New York's Plaza Hotel on Wednesday to break the world record for dancing on pointe in one place. The spectacle was organized by Youth America Grand Prix, a ballet scholarship program that...

A vehicle backfiring startled a circus elephant into a Montana street. She still performed Tuesday

Apr. 17, 2024 15:57 PM EDT

The sound of a vehicle backfiring spooked a circus elephant while she was getting a pre-show bath in Butte, Montana, leading the pachyderm to break through a fence and take a brief walk, stopping noontime traffic on the city's busiest street before being loaded back into a trailer. ...