Where do you begin this.

Let’s get some science stuff out of the way first.

Spermatophores. Your brain’s already spinning with possibilites because of the word ‘sperm’. Spermatophores are like little cups of sperm complete with a timer device built-in. Sperm-bombs. It’s how squids do their biz and propagate.

Here’s what sounds like the start of a lame joke and ends in a fairly disgusting punchline that I’ll ruin with the next sentence: A 63-year-old South Korean woman walks into a bar and orders Calamari.

A couple of you are WAY ahead of the story by now.

While enjoying her plate of calamari the woman reported feeling a painful “pricking, foreign-body sensation in her tongue, cheek and gums.”

In Korea, calamari is parboiled in certain places which means that, unlike here in the non-sperm-exploding-in-your-mouth dining experience we prefer, the organs are all still intact.

Doctors removed all the spermatophores from the woman’s mouth.

She’ll be fine…until the squid/human babies are born.

[Gawker]

One year ago Swedish Ocean Explorer Team (Ocean X), using sonar, came across something buried under the ice in the Baltic Sea. Tons of hopeful theories have been tossed around as to what it may be. Ufo? Sunken ship? Arctic Stonehenge? No one could guess from the sonar imagery.

Now, a year later, Ocean X is actually on site and beginning a deeper investigation into what this thing is that has even them baffled.

As they continue to uncover the mystery, pictures are starting to emerge from the site causing even more speculation and excitement.

There is definitely something down there. While the research team from Ocean X, a company that finds sunken ships and sells what they find for a substantial profit, explores the site their finds are not making this discovery any less fascinating.

Pictures and video are beginning to pop up online as the divers explore the strange anomoly. While the team has stated that it could be anything including a strange geological formation, they’ve also said that, due to funding, they don’t have much interest in spending too much time exploring it and need to get back to work on more profitable ventures.

“The object appeared more as a huge mushroom, rising 3-4 meters/10-13 feet from the seabed, with rounded sides and rugged edges. The object had an egg shaped hole leading into it from the top, as an opening. On top of the object they also found strange stone circle formations, almost looking like small fireplaces. The stones were covered in something resembling soot.

First we thought this was only stone, but this is something else. And since no volcanic activity has ever been reported in the Baltic Sea the find becomes even stranger. As laymen we can only speculate how this is made by nature, but this is the strangest thing I have ever experienced as a professional diver.”

We just want them to watch a copy of John Carpenter’s The Thing before they start messing around too much…oh…and to put their dogs away.

[Gizmodo]

New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research recently led an exploration of the Kermadec Ridge. Reaching depths of up to 4,100 feet and spanning 3,800 square miles that included everything from continental slopes and canyons to hydrothermal volcanic-vents.

Setting out to prove that, based on underwater terrain, undersea biological communities would be different, the expedition came back with not only new imagery of known species but new imagery of things not yet seen.

The polychaete worm pictured above is not only new but also a ferocious predator featuring a jaw set-up just like everyone’s favorite HR Giger-designed aliens.

Other species include the demonic-looking Black Dragonfish and a very hairy-looking crab.

Oh…and I think someone snapped a pic of James Cameron waving as he drove by in his privately owned submersible…he’d already been there for weeks.
[National Geographic]

Twitter began buzzing that something straight out of a UFO conspiracy film was taking place late at night on a freeway in Washington D.C. Pictures were being uploaded and retweeted of a large flatbed truck, a military-looking escort and some kind of strange craft being transported along the Capitol Beltway.

Arm-chair conspiracy posts were lobbed in response to the Twitter photos.

Now for the still cool, but really not-so cinematic truth….it’s a drone.

Built by Northrup Grumman, the drone was being transported from West Virginia to Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland.

That’s it…just a drone…being transported to a base…right?

[Fox News]

Bigfoot slipped up earlier this year and may have been caught on video by a group of High School students and then apparently either forgot his crutches or hop-scotched away since we keeping being shown the same footprint over and over.

“It just didn’t look human-like. I don’t know what that is, it’s not a bear, it’s not a moose or anything. It was big and bulky and black,” said the student who captured everyone’s favorite furry icon.

After the students shot the video, they climbed the ridge where the creature was spotted and found footprints in the snow.

Even thought the incident occurred a few months ago, the story is suddenly getting some spin.

Animal Planet’s Show “Finding Bigfoot” is on their way to the area in hopes of finding what may be the ever-elusive and camera-shy creature.

Our favorite part of the above new story? That awkward torso shot of the teen describing what he saw.

[ABC News]

For all of our WeirdThings fathers. A male seahorse…doing something you don’t have to…giving birth.

You’re welcome.

Happy Father’s Day
[YouTube]

Carnivorous plants are as sneaky as they are creepy. What they lack in speed, they make up for in shady tactics to attract and snag prey.

The standard ‘Pitcher Plant’, shaped like something you’d pour Evil Nectar-flavored Kool-Aid from, draws its intended prey into the bell portion of it’s diabolical design. Once the prey slips on the wax-like coating covering the interior of the plant, it falls into the bottom of the pitcher and the plant’s digestive enzymes begin the horrific process of breaking down its latest victim. Some of the bigger species of Nepenthes Gracilis (the Pitcher Plant’s fancy latin moniker) have even been seen luring, trapping and digesting small birds.

Why are we rehashing something a lot of our readers might know about?

Evolution.

Something unique is happening to help keep trap more prey into the Pitcher Plant. The thing is developing a new trick.

On top of the large ‘bell’ portion of the plant is a lid. Up until this new discovery, Pitcher Plants have only used the lid for keeping out rain. Now the underside of the lid has developed its own advanced waxy coating that potential food feels securely attached to. The trick is that the feeling of security that an insect feels clinging to the underside of the lid is a sham! A raindrop hitting the top side of the lid will cause most insects clinging underneath to be knocked down into the Pitcher Plant’s sweet death-nectar.

Let’s just hope that these things don’t decide that developing legs might be something fun to do.

[Discovery News]

Bigfoot news is ripe now that Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot” is reinvigorating the hunt for the apparent ninja-trained mysterious icon of cryptozoology.

On the other side of the world from Idaho’s recent sighting, comes reports of Australia’s version of the creature..the Yowie.

Fresh tracks and sightings of the creatures appearing near the city of Lismore have caused Rex “The Yowie Man” Gilroy (best name ever for a crypto-hunter/adventurer) and his wife Heather, who founded the Australian Yowie Research Centre back in 1976, to leap into action in hopes of capturing evidence that the creature exists.

Lately hikers in the Lismore area have claimed to see what appears to be a male and a female creature along the trails. Reaching out to locals and heading out this time with a team of cryptozoologists, Gilroy is set on collecting new evidence to show people that this strange and elusive creature is absolutely real.

We can’t wait to hear about the further adventures of Rex Gilroy: Yowie Hunter.

[Northern Star Australia]

UPDATE: Yeah, this one is malarkey. The boy was identified as a Dutch runaway. None of his story was true.

In a last attempt at trying to identify a mysterious young man that wandered from the woods in Berlin, police have decided to release several photos of the youth nick-named ‘Forest Boy’.

It’s been almost a year now since German authorities picked up the mysterious guy everyone simply calls ‘Forest Boy’ or ‘Ray’ as he’s called by officers and still no one has come forward to claim him as family or friend.

For those who aren’t quite up to speed on ‘Forest Boy’? He strolled into Berlin from the woods surrounding the capital city about a year ago claiming that he’d been living out there for about five years. Forest Boy speaks very good English, doesn’t have any kind of record on file, was born in 1994 and claims that his parents are dead; his mother in a car crash and his father died after he fell over last August.

Forest Boy continues to baffle police as to where he came from or who he is. Many authorities, including police cheif, smell a hoax and the search continues for his identity.

Eventually ‘Ray’ will have to be let go from the housing project that he’s currently living in.

“At some time he will have to be given a family name, a nationality and an official date of birth — that is the law in this country,” said Thomas Neuendorf of the Berlin Police.

If you could ask ONE question to one of the world’s most creative magicians, what would it be?

If you’ve never been to a magic lecture, there’s never been a better time. Saturday June 16th at 7:00pm, we’re live-streaming Andrew Mayne in a spectacular 2-hour interactive online lecture. Watch, ask questions and learn things you won’t find in any book or DVD.

ATTENDING COULDN’T BE EASIER

Purchase the Andrew Mayne LIVE “product”. This is your ticket.
On Saturday, June 16th, anytime before 7:00pm Eastern, click the “MyPenguinMagic” area at the top of the Penguin site. You’ll see the livestream appear 1 hour before showtime. At 7pm sharp, Andrew will hit the stage and begin his JAM-PACKED professional lecture.

Sit back and watch over 2 hours of DVD-quality live streaming magic from the comfort of your own home.

Ask Andrew Mayne questions and discuss the tricks DURING the lecture.

DON’T WORRY IF YOU MIGHT MISS IT.

Reserve your seat anyway. Within 24 hours of ending, you’ll be able to download and/or watch the full lecture on-demand, and go over all the great routines and subtleties as many times as you want. It’ll be waiting for you in your “MyPenguinMagic” area.

Magicians flock to see “workers” give talks. Why? Because these guys see and learn things that you won’t find in any book or DVD. Yes, you’ll be learning some incredibly powerful A-material, but the INVALUABLE stuff will be the insight you learn along the way.

This lecture is for everyone, from the beginner to the professional and for magicians and mentalists alike. Don’t miss it!

BUY YOUR TICKET NOW!

A fan favorite character is returning to the Walking Dead in the currently shooting third season. In the interest of spoilers, we will move the discussion and uncensored photo AFTER THE JUMP… (more…)

The terracotta warriors of the Xi’an archaeology dig in north-west China have become icons of the dynasties of long ago. More than 8,000 of these warriors have been excavated over the years and just yesterday more were unearthed.

The current phase of the excavation of the figures, which began in 2009, has revealed 310 more figures as well as chariots, weapons, war horses, drums and a shield.

The new finds include what appear to be military officials, a performance troupe and a headless warrior much larger than any figure unearthed so far.

Also interesting about the new figures that’ve been absent from those uncovered in the past? Coloration. Many of the newer statues still show signs of having been painted, one even showing as much detail as having had eyelashes at one point.

As exciting as this new finding is? Many archaeologists believe there is much more still waiting to be discovered.

[The Guardian]

A scientist, a winemaker and a fashion designer walk into a bar…

No. Really. They all walk into a bar. The totally not funny but awesome punchline is something called Micro’be’.

During a recent exploration of possible future fabrics and textiles at FNAS Laboratories in Australia.

According to the brains behind this:

“It is very delicate, comprising micro-fibrils of cellulose. The bacteria that caused the spoilage were a colony of Acetobacter, transforming wine into vinegar. The by-product of this activity is the formation of cellulose, a slimy, rubbery, skin-like substance.”

Drinking wine and having clothes manifest on your body could possibly undo thousands of years of tradition of it being the other way around.

[BioAlloy]

Go ahead and take a gander back through the lineage of human history and you’re going to find some real nightmare fuel. One such grotesquerie? How about a human ancestor with a shark head.

This now-extinct fish was among the first to split from sharks, whose bones are made of cartilage, to evolve into a line of tough-boned species that includes everything from bony fish to human beings. A new analysis finds that this controversial class of animals was more shark-like than expected.

“The common ancestors of all jawed vertebrates today organized their heads in a way that resembled sharks,” study researcher John Finarelli, a vertebrate biologist at University College, Dublin, said in a statement. “Given what we now know about the interrelatedness of early fishes, these results tell us that while sharks retained these features, bony fishes moved away from such conditions.”

This little darling lived roughly 290 million years ago, some 150 million years after sharks and bony fish families split.

[Fox News]

Brian and Andrew are joined by special guest Dr. Paul Zak, author of the new book The Moral Molecule. They discuss how much of the body needs to be replaced by machine parts before you are no longer considered human. Also, the likelihood of robot sexually transmitted diseases. Narcisism inspired by chat bots, how little we know about our own brains and why we are constantly building our next generation to live forever.

Support the show by purchasing Andrew’s BRAND NEW BOOK Hollywood Pharaohs just click on the image below.

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Who says people don’t read newspapers anymore?

A Colorado woman lied to her employer when she told them she needed time off because her brother recently died. An icky, if not uncommon, crime. But she went too far when she tried to pad the fib but publishing an obituary in the local newspaper.

Needless to say her brother, who is very much alive, was shocked to hear the news. His wife talked to the local television station about the mess.

“She (explained to work that she) had a family emergency that turned into a death that she needed time off,” said Erica. “She had missed a lot of days of work and that was her way to get out of it.”

Edgar is recovering from surgery and wasn’t able to talk about the situation, but Erica agreed to an interview and read a section of the obit to CBS4: Edgar Balderrama, 28, of Greeley, died on January 23rd, 2012. Edward was a real hard worker. He had a great sense of humor and would make everybody laugh.

The lesson? Only lie about the deaths of relatives who are already dead.

[CBS Denver] via Ralph Ware