Viral Stories

35 Views Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay Over the last several weeks, the concept of “quiet quitting” has exploded like a supernova across the media universe. The big bang began on TikTok, with a video uploaded by a 20-something engineer named Zaid Khan. With the sound of a piano playing a ragtime-style tune and summertime shots of New…

Read More “The economics behind ‘quiet quitting’ — and what we should call it instead” »

32 Views Travis Gienger from Anoka, Minn., stands behind his winning pumpkin at the 49th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday. Haven Daley/AP Some people turn into temporary pumpkin enthusiasts during the fall season, but for others, their passion for pumpkins is so giant that it draws them to a…

Read More “A 2,560-pound Minnesota pumpkin was crowned the winner at this year’s weigh-off” »

39 Views It’s a great time to be a candlemaker in Germany. “Candle demand is very strong right now,” says Stefan Thomann, Technical Director of the European Candle Manufacturers Association. The candle boom began during the pandemic, after the government imposed lockdowns and Germans began spending a lot more time at home. The industry expected…

Read More “Facing an energy crisis, Germans stock up on candles” »

28 Views Cans of beer are packed at Athletic Brewing’s nonalcoholic brewery and production plant in Stratford, Conn., in 2019. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Craft nonalcoholic IPAs. Kentucky 74 spiritless bourbon. Monday Zero Alcohol Gin. Luminara alcohol-removed chardonnay. Zero-proof margaritas. It doesn’t seem that long ago when O’Doul’s, a stodgy nonalcoholic beer, was basically the only…

Read More “A golden age for nonalcoholic beers, wines and spirits” »

22 Views A young girl’s note to the police department asked to test for evidence of Santa. Cumberland Police Department/Screenshot by NPR A local police department in Rhode Island has received an unusual query: running a DNA test on evidence to prove the existence of Santa Claus. The authorities in Cumberland, north of Providence, received…

Read More “Girl asks police to run DNA test on Christmas cookie for evidence of Santa Claus” »

39 Views 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. Brittainy Newman/AP People are less likely to wear masks to prevent COVID-19 if they see themselves as good-looking, according…

Read More “People who think they’re attractive are less likely to wear masks, a study shows” »

36 Views 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. Ray Anderson/Cincinnati Animal Care You’ve probably heard of Cocaine Bear, the box-office hit about a black bear’s drug-fueled feeding frenzy. But have you heard of “cocaine cat?”…

Read More “A wild cat was found in Cincinnati with cocaine in its system. No, it’s not a movie” »

324 Views This black Jeep was almost entirely submerged in Lake o’ the Pines in Marion County, Texas. It wasn’t until a tow truck started to pull it from the water that a woman was spotted inside. Marion County Sheriff Office It started with a call from a fisherman, who said he saw what looked…

Read More “Police came to pull a Jeep out of a lake. They found a woman inside, alive” »

36 Views The Velella velella, a name so nice you gotta say it twice. Who are they? The tiny disc-like critters are colonial hydrozoans, classified under the phylum of cnidaria, and their eponymous genus of Velella (not a Game of Thrones reference). Formally titled the Velella velella (say that five times fast) you may know them as by-the-wind sailors. The sailors are a…

Read More “Thousands of little blue creatures are washing up on California beaches” »