Actress Dead After Participating in Dangerous Ritual

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Mexican actress Marcela Alcázar Rodríguez, 33, died Sunday after reportedly participating in a high-risk ritual involving poisonous frog venom in the Mexican state of Durango.

The actress willingly consumed the Amazonian frog venom as part of a longstanding spiritual cleansing ritual endemic to indigenous South American cultures, according to Infobae, an Argentine outlet. Rodríguez suffered a severe reaction to the poison and was taken to a Red Cross hospital, where she died.

Rodríguez reportedly began vomiting and expelling severe diarrhea shortly after ingesting the venom, which is known to be poisonous to humans.

Jonathan Moreno, the shaman administrating the ritual, allegedly refused to allow the actress to leave for a hospital following the onset of her symptoms and fled the scene thereafter, according to the outlet. She later went to a Red Cross hospital after a friend arrived and noticed her worsening condition. . .

“Kambo,” the ritual substance in question, is known to be a dangerous concoction with the potential for unpleasant, even deadly side effects. The Amazonian giant monkey frog secretes a venomous substance as a defense mechanism against predators, and some humans apply the substance to their body believing it wards off bad luck and benefits health, according to Healthline. (Read more from “Actress Dead After Participating in Dangerous Ritual” HERE)

The Nuclear Battery That Can Power Your Smartphone for 50 Years Straight

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The Chinese company Betavolt plans to produce a battery that will last for 50 years by 2025. They have produced a nuclear battery which is approximately the size of a small coin and requires no recharging. The company is now moving from the developmental stage to the pilot stage, and they are preparing for full-scale production as they ready themselves for the market.

Betavolt is based in Beijing and they claim that they are the first in the world to miniaturize atomic energy successfully. They have managed to fit 63 nuclear isotopes onto a module that is smaller in size than a coin. The battery works by converting the energy that is released by the decaying isotopes into energy. This process was initially explored in the previous century. Betavolt claims to have achieved modularization and miniaturization in atomic energy batteries in a cost-effective manner. This marks a significant breakthrough in making nuclear energy compact enough to be used for an array of practical uses.

The Chairman and CEO of Betavolt, Zhang Wei, stated in a press release that the BV100 “marks a groundbreaking achievement as the world’s first mass-produced nuclear battery”. It uses 100 microwatts of power and operates at 3 volts. Its small size measures just 15 x 15 x 5 millimeters, which is smaller than a typical coin. These amazing nuclear batteries are able to produce energy continuously, generating 8.64 joules per day and 3,153 joules every year.

These nuclear batteries have more than ten times the energy density of the more traditional lithium batteries. They are able to store an incredibly huge amount of energy – 3,300 megawatts – just in a single gram of material. Most importantly, it can do this all while being safe from fire or explosions. This makes this nuclear battery a much safer option for energy storage. Additionally, the compact size of these batteries means they can be used in various applications where space is usually very limited. The nuclear battery has been designed to provide stable power generation and performs very well in tough environments. These amazing batteries maintain consistent performance even in extreme temperatures, ranging from 120 degrees above zero to minus 60 degrees. However, the press release for the nuclear battery doesn’t state if these temperatures are in Celsius or Fahrenheit. (Read more from “The Nuclear Battery That Can Power Your Smartphone for 50 Years Straight” HERE)

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Slimy, Orange ‘Alien Egg Pods’ Discovered in River — And They’re ‘Spreading Rapidly’

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Just in time for spooky season, a bizarre, slimy orange bag said to resemble a glowing dinosaur egg has been pulled from a river.

And while scientists say they know what it is — a colony of Bryozoans, slimy little hermaphrodites that cluster together to create a dinosaur-egg like pod — they’re puzzled as to why the creepy crew was literally hanging out in a canal in Utrecht, Holland.

Volunteers found the grotesque blob clinging to to a floating island in the canal. Experts say that colonies can grow to up to nearly seven feet in diameter.

“It is the first time that they have been discovered here. So it is a very special story,” Nijs said.

The expert added that the aesthetically unsettling phenomena is in no way harmful. (Read more from “Slimy, Orange ‘Alien Egg Pods’ Discovered in River — And They’re ‘Spreading Rapidly’” HERE)

Brainless but Smart? Fungi Have ‘Mind-Blowing’ Problem-Solving Power

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Can organisms without a brain still demonstrate intelligence? Researchers from Tohoku University and Nagaoka College sought to answer this question by investigating the decision-making abilities of fungi, specifically their abilities to navigate around spaces.

While it might sound like something out of science fiction, the concept of basal cognition—intelligence that doesn’t require a brain—is proving to be a real phenomenon, even in organisms as simple as fungi.

“You’d be surprised at just how much fungi are capable of,” says Yu Fukasawa from Tohoku University. “They have memories, they learn, and they can make decisions. Quite frankly, the differences in how they solve problems compared to humans are mind-blowing.”

Fungi grow by releasing spores that germinate into long, thread-like structures called mycelium, which spread underground. While we usually notice only the small mushrooms that sprout on the surface, beneath the ground lies a vast network of interconnected mycelium. This network operates similarly to the neural connections in a brain, allowing fungi to gather and share information about their surroundings.

The study explored how wood-decaying fungi, specifically their mycelial networks, responded to different spatial arrangements of wood blocks. Researchers placed the blocks in two configurations: a circle and a cross. If the fungi lacked decision-making abilities, they would have grown evenly from a central point, without regard to the position of the blocks. However, what the researchers observed suggested a more complex behavior. (Read more from “Brainless but Smart? Fungi Have ‘Mind-Blowing’ Problem-Solving Power” HERE)

Hackers Turn Robot Vacs Across the US Into Obscenity-Yelling Machines

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Cybersecurity is not something to take lightly, and a new report about a smart home product perfectly highlights that point. Over the course of several days, multiple robot vacuums were hacked in cities across the US.

ABC News in Australia reports that hackers were able to take full control over robot vacs in multiple cities around the country. The hack allowed the attackers to yell racial slurs at owners, remotely control the device to chase after pets, and see through the vacuum’s camera. All of the affected robot vacuums were of the same make and model, the Chinese-made ECOVACS Deebot X2.

One report comes from a Minnesota lawyer named Daniel Swenson. In Swenson’s case, he was watching TV when he noticed his vacuum making weird noises, like a “broken-up radio signal or something.” Swenson told the outlet that he reset his password and rebooted the robot after seeing a stranger was accessing the live camera feed and remote control feature. After sitting down on the couch with his wife and 13-year-old son, the robot immediately started moving again and Swenson’s family could hear racist obscenities being spewed as clear as day.

“I got the impression it was a kid, maybe a teenager,” Swenson said. “Maybe they were just jumping from device to device messing with families.” The lawyer has since turned off the device and taken it to his garage where it remains powered down. Despite the creepiness of it all, Swenson says it could’ve been worse, the hacker could have quietly observed his family with no one the wiser. Swenson says he kept the robot on the same floor as the family’s master bathroom, adding that, “Our youngest kids take showers in there.” (Read more from “Hackers Turn Robot Vacs Across the US Into Obscenity-Yelling Machines” HERE)

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Montana Rancher Gets 6 Months in Prison for Cloning Giant Sheep and Breeding It

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An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

US District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana.

He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the earth.

Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility. (Read more from “Montana Rancher Gets 6 Months in Prison for Cloning Giant Sheep and Breeding It” HERE)

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Costco Reportedly Denies Selling Diddy Copious Amounts of Baby Oil for Now-Infamous ‘Freak-Offs’

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A spokesperson for Costco reportedly denied selling baby oil to Diddy after the rapper’s lawyer built a defense by claiming he may have bought from them in bulk.

Authorities said in the indictment that they seized over “1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant” from Diddy’s estate, and allegations against the star suggested the oil was used during wild “freak off” parties. Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo recently spoke with TMZ and attempted to defend his client by saying the baby oil had nothing to do with the alleged sexual exploits. He suggested Diddy may have simply purchased the oil in bulk from Costco. Costco’s representative quickly slapped back by claiming none of the company’s U.S. locations carry baby oil at all, according to TMZ.

Coscto’s spokesperson insisted this item is simply not part of their stock — a fact that appears to be confirmed by perusing their website. . .

The federal indictment specifically says that “baby oil” was seized. Agnifilo boldly addressed this precise point in the upcoming TMZ documentary, “The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment.” He told the outlet he doubted the government seized the number of bottles they claim to have seized, and challenged the matter further by specifically suggesting Costco as the store Diddy may have utilized for bulk orders.

This is a bad look for Diddy and Agnifilo, who had just announced that music mogul would be taking the stand and testifying in his own criminal case. (Read more from “Costco Reportedly Denies Selling Diddy Copious Amounts of Baby Oil for Now-Infamous ‘Freak-Offs’” HERE)

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This Could Increase Your Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease More Than Anything: Study

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. . .Researchers say that exposure to bright outside lights at night could increase your odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease more than other risk factors, especially for young people.

“We show that in the US there is a positive association between [Alzheimer’s] prevalence and exposure to light at night, particularly in those under the age of 65,” said Robin Voigt-Zuwala, an associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Nightly light pollution — a modifiable environmental factor — may be an important risk factor.”

Voigt-Zuwala’s team studied maps of light pollution — such as streetlights, roadway lighting and illuminated signs — and divided the lower 48 states into five groups, from lowest to highest nighttime light intensity.

Artificial light at night can disrupt the body’s 24-hour biological clock and ruin sleep. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are associated with cognitive decline.

For seniors, Alzheimer’s prevalence had stronger ties to light pollution than risk factors such as alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression and obesity. (Read more from “This Could Increase Your Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease More Than Anything: Study” HERE)

Super Supplement Found to Boost Memory Within 24 Hours of Taking It in Breakthrough Study

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. . .Researchers at Johns Hopkins University sought to confirm this association by giving respondents a caffeine tablet. Their results are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

They conducted a double-blind trial in which participants who did not regularly eat or drink caffeinated products received either a placebo or a 200-milligram caffeine tablet five minutes after studying a series of images.

Salivary samples were taken from the participants before they took the tablets to measure their caffeine levels. Samples were taken again one, three, and 24 hours afterwards.

The next day, both groups were tested on their ability to recognise images from the previous day’s study session. On the test, some of the visuals were the same as those from the day before, some were new additions, and some were similar but not the same.

More members of the caffeine group were able to correctly identify the new images as “similar” to previously viewed images rather than erroneously citing them as the same. (Read more from “Super Supplement Found to Boost Memory Within 24 Hours of Taking It in Breakthrough Study” HERE)

5,000-Year-Old Discovery at the Great Pyramids Up-Ends Ancient Egypt (VIDEO)

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An early publication study from July detailed the discovery of human-caused metal contamination, believed to be linked to the construction of the Giza necropolis.

Chemical analysis of sediment cores taken from the Nile floodplain at Giza reveal a significant amount of copper pollution (“contamination”) within the “regnal years of Kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, consistent with metalworking during the preparation and construction of the edifices,” an international team of researchers wrote in the study, published in the journal Geology.

The samples reportedly represent the first known major instance of human-induced metal contamination (ie: pollution), a researcher said. “The sediments are as important as the monuments,” study co-author Christophe Morhange told ZME Science. The metal work is dated to around 3265 B.C., according to the study. That was over 5,000 years ago, much earlier than Big Archaeology probably wants us to believe our ancestors were capable of creating traceable pollution.

(Read more from “5,000-Year-Old Discovery at the Great Pyramids Up-Ends Ancient Egypt” HERE)