What doctors used to call mass hysteria usually occurs among close-knit groups as anxiety weaves its way through, causing physical symptoms. By Ian Sample.

I sold my wife’s clothes to build a Christmas village in my parents’ basement. By Richard Kelly Kemick.

A mysterious bright light in the sky over Los Angeles sends Californians into panic - only for it to be explained as an offshore missile test.

A 41-year-old spirit medium with a reputation for accurately predicting winning numbers was gunned down near his shrine in Nakhon Si Thammarat [Thailand] on Wednesday, and police suspect angry underground lottery operators ordered the murder.

There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the stunning sky display. By Mark Molloy.

What do your coffee table books say about you? Be sure to make an impression and show off who you really are with these eight original coffee table books.

The man presented an authentic looking European passport and carried European currency from several countries and carried himself in a professional manner but that wasn’t what alerted the authorities. No matter how much they had searched, the Customs agents could not find the European country that had issued him the passport anywhere in their maps. The unheard country of Taured. When they asked the Caucasian man to point on their map where Taured was located, he answered them in fluent Japanese.

Gisele Marie, a Muslim woman and professional heavy metal musician, plays her Gibson Flying V electric guitar during a concert in Sao Paulo December 16, 2014. Based in Sao Paulo, Marie, 42, is the granddaughter of German Catholics, and converted to Islam several months after her father passed away.

A mysterious block of ice falls from the California sky and rips a big hole in the roof of a home.  

A little taxidermy to brighten up your home! Or perhaps a life-size wax figure of Freud?

Craft brewers are dumping out-of-the ordinary ingredients into their tanks to create newfangled beers.

Lauren Kassel reviews "The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius" by Andrew Robinson.

A Ukrainian artist creates a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin from remains of 5,000 bullet cartridge cases, entitled 'Face of War'.

For decades now, I have been haunted by the grainy, black-and-white x-ray of a human skull. It is alive but empty, with a cavernous fluid-filled space where the brain should be. A thin layer of brain tissue lines that cavity like an amniotic sac... By Peter Watts.

“The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same” - Stendhal. Sheep aren’t stupid. They’re almost as smart as pigs, and at about the same level as cattle. Sure, they won’t be writing any heartbreaking novels of staggering genius or winning on Jeopardy anytime soon...

British trains now commonly have posters encouraging travelers to text a small donation to a charity. This could be a charity supporting people, or one helping animals. Yesterday, however, I saw a poster for what was a new cause for me: a charity aiming at preventing pangolins from becoming extinct... By Helen King.

This unusual fish's bony fins can extend up to 1m to help them stand. Video in snap.

This clip shows the general behaviour of the Pacific leaping blenny as it goes about it's day on the rocky foreshores of Guam.

Oregon State University researchers have patented a new strain of a succulent red marine algae called dulse that grows extraordinarily quickly, is packed full of protein and has an unusual trait when it is cooked.

Take your love of the great outdoors to new heights by staying in one of these amazing treetop hotels.