A list of curious facts
One: A Chicago startup is using CO2 drawn from the air to create the world’s first carbon-negative diamonds—i.e. zero labour exploitation, deforestation or water pollution. And as you can see, it looks every bit as gorgeous as the traditional kind. Fast Company has the details.
Two: Human beings—especially the female variety—have long been torturing themselves to fit some absurd ideal of beauty. And the Victorians weren’t any different. Yes, we all know about the corsets, but have you ever heard of the ‘Tapeworm diet’?
“The idea is simple, and gross. You take a pill containing a tapeworm egg. Once hatched, the parasite grows inside of the host, ingesting part of whatever the host eats. In theory, this enables the dieter to simultaneously lose weight and eat without worrying about calorie intake.”
It makes the current obsession with ‘skinny tea’ look positively wholesome. Atlas Obscura has more including insane ads for ‘jar packed sanitised tapeworms.’
Three: Cellmate is an anti-cheating and ‘submission sex’ play device that clamps a metal ring around a man’s genitals—a kind of ‘smart’ chastity belt. But there’s one hitch: it can only be unlocked via an app—which allows hackers to literally lock in thousands of users at one go. Ouch! The Guardian explains this latest controversy in the world of smart sex toys.
Four: Ratan Naval Tata was a real cutie and real popular at his American high school back in 1955. And he has his school yearbook to prove it. Also: his school’s name: Riverdale. Is he an Archie or a Reggie? Vote here.
Five: How do you, umm, pleasure yourself if you don’t have hands. Seven very smart animals have figured out just how to get the job done. No, we don’t plan to list these very amusing examples of sexual jugaad, but leave you to discover them over at Mashable. All we will offer here is this picture of a very flexible hedgehog, and leave the rest to your imagination.