And other stories from the stranger side of life
A woman has had an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm removed from her brain, reported The Guardian. The 64-year-old, who has experienced forgetfulness and depression, was admitted to hospital after three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a dry cough and night sweats. A scan revealed that a motile helminth - a parasitic roundworm - was living in the right frontal lobe lesion of her brain. “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and wriggling,” the neurosurgeon told a colleague.
Human germs could kill aliens
Humans could wipe out aliens by taking our germs into space, said the Daily Star. “Boffins” fear that space tourism and colonising planets without researching how our bacteria could harm extraterrestrials may lead to us “making little green men extinct before we can get the chance to interact with them”, said the tabloid. “As space continues to fill with people who prioritise profit or colonisation over scientific exploration, our window to detect potential life in the solar system without terrestrial contamination is likely closing”, said astrophysicist Erika Nesvold.
Message in a bottle author found
A man who found a message in a bottle from Ireland on a US beach was able to connect with the woman who wrote the message in the summer of 2019, said UPI. Frank Bolger of Wildwood was collecting litter on a New Jersey beach when he found the message in a bottle. His discovery went viral online, eventually coming to the attention of Aiofe Byrne, from Ireland, who had written it. “I am kind of obsessed, well, very interested in messages in bottles, to be honest,” said Byrne.
For more odd news stories, sign up to the weekly Tall Tales newsletter
