Strange News

During his flight on Monday, "As I turned to my left and looked down, I could see the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat," pilot Rudolf Erasmus says. "At which point there was a moment of stunned silence, to be brutally honest." He turned the plane around and landed safely at a nearby airport.

World News

He felt the slither of a venomous snake in the cockpit — then turned the plane around

4:18pm April 05, 2023

by Kate Bartlett

South African pilot Rudolf Erasmus made an emergency landing after discovering a Cape cobra accompanying him in the cockpit on Monday. The snake has not been found again since the plane landed.

National

World's biggest ice carousel starts spinning

5:44pm April 03, 2023

On Saturday, the Northern Maine Ice Busters created the world's largest ice carousel, a rotating disk of ice on a frozen Long Lake in Madawaska.

Queue Listen Now

A female cockroach considers accepting a sugary offering from a male cockroach.

Science

These cockroaches tweaked their mating rituals after adapting to pest control

10:02am March 31, 2023

by Ari Daniel

The German cockroach evolved to live only in human environments. This roach is very good at adapting to pest control methods — even if it means changing its mating rituals.

National

Men plead guilty after being accused of stuffing fish with weights at tournament

3:53am March 29, 2023

by The Associated Press

Two men accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fish fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament last fall have pleaded guilty to charges including cheating.

National

Clowns of all stripes gather at the World Clown convention in Orlando this week

6:01pm March 23, 2023

by Danielle Prieur

Clowns of all stripes are at the World Clown Association convention in Orlando, Fla., this week. There they connect with other clowns and improve their skills in workshops all to become better clowns.

Queue Listen Now

Amiry the serval was rescued from a tree in Cincinnati in January. A DNA test confirmed his species, while a narcotics test confirmed his exposure to cocaine.

A wild cat was found in Cincinnati with cocaine in its system. No, it's not a movie

5:26pm March 09, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

The story of Amiry, the serval found in a tree, happened in January, but was only made public recently. He's been doing well at the Cincinnati Zoo, which reportedly hopes to make him a cat ambassador.

National

In northern California, stranded cows are getting emergency hay drops

4:37pm March 09, 2023

Record-setting winter storms have battered California. In the northern part of the state, an unusual rescue operation is underway to airdrop hay to stranded cattle.

Residents who live near Jack Daniels distilleries have to deal with whiskey fungus

6:56pm March 06, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Lexington Herald Leader reporter Janet Patton about the whiskey fungus plaguing thousands of residents who live near Jack Daniels distilleries in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Queue Listen Now

A man set a Guinness World Record for Disneyland visits: 2,995 in a row

4:12pm March 01, 2023

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Jeff Reitz, who recently set a Guinness World Record for going to Disneyland for 2,995 consecutive days. That's eight years, three months and 13 days.

Pedestrians cross Houston Street as students wearing masks leave the New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math (NEST+m) school in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.

Health & Safety

People who think they're attractive are less likely to wear masks, a study shows

4:14am February 28, 2023

by Ayana Archie

People's likeliness to wear a mask can depend on how attractive they deem themselves and how important it is to them to make a first impression given certain circumstances.