Strange News

Music & Culture

Eagles v. Hotel California: After Lawsuit, Band Reaches A Settlement

5:14pm January 19, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

The rock band sued a hotel in Mexico that has the same name as the "lovely place" in their iconic 1976 song. That hotel was trying to trademark the phrase "Hotel California" in the U.S.

Keeping Animals Away With Deer Snorts And Dog Barks

5:07am January 18, 2018

Train researchers in Japan have developed a new system to keep animals off the train tracks. Trains will blare out recordings of deer snorts and dog barks.

Pet Blessing In Spain

5:07am January 18, 2018

by Lauren Frayer

Catholics are celebrating the Feast of San Anton this week. He's known as the patron saint of animals, and in Spain the fiesta ends with people bringing their pets to be blessed in church.

Saigas lie dead in Torgai Betpak Dala in Kazakhstan during the mass mortality event in May 2015.

Strange Weather Triggered Bacteria That Killed 200,000 Endangered Antelope

2:51pm January 17, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

Over a three-week span in 2015, more than 200,000 saiga antelope suddenly died in Kazakhstan. The animals would be grazing normally, then dead in three hours. A new study points to heat and humidity.

A man gets ready to let one loose. Not pictured: all the folks around him diving for cover.

Man Ruptures His Throat By Stifling A Big Sneeze, Prompting Doctors' Warning

7:46pm January 16, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Not long after he suppressed a powerful sneeze, the patient's neck began swelling, crackling and popping. It was a rare case — and he recovered — but doctors say there's a moral here: Just let it rip.

An X-ray of Glenford Turner's pelvis shows a surgical instrument.

Veteran Sues After Scalpel Found Inside His Body 4 Years After Surgery

7:15pm January 16, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

"It's a level of incompetence that's almost incomprehensible," the plaintiff's lawyer tells NPR. The surgical instrument had been causing him abdominal pain for four years before it was discovered.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK sent out a false alarm about a North Korean missile launch on Tuesday.

World News

Japan Also Sends Out, Then Retracts, A False Missile Warning

11:53am January 16, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

"North Korea appears to have launched a missile ... The government urges people to take shelter," Tuesday's false alert read. Hawaii sent out a similar message three days ago.

Perched on McFarland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, home of the Alabama Crimson Tide, a new billboard bought by UCF fans lays down the gauntlet — which, it must be noted, is all but assured of not being picked up.

With One Billboard Inside Tuscaloosa, Ala., UCF Fans Drum Up A Little Drama

4:06pm January 11, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Alabama won the national title. But so did the University of Central Florida — according to UCF backers, at least. And some enterprising fans took their trolling to the heart of Crimson Tide country.

Hundreds of flying fox bats died near Sydney over the weekend from dehydration during a heat wave.

Australia's Heat Wave Fries Bats' Brains, Hundreds Found Dead

6:42pm January 10, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

Sweltering temperatures killed bats outside Sydney over the weekend as temperatures soared up to 117 Fahrenheit, the hottest it's been since 1939.

Full disclosure, folks: This is not the actual road in Australia. It is, well, just a random road for illustration.

World News

Meanwhile In Australia, Part Of A Highway Is Literally Melting

2:07pm January 05, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

As the Eastern U.S. and Canada brave frigid temperatures, residents across the globe are grappling with bad weather of their own: a heat wave that has rendered a stretch of busy freeway a sticky mess.