Wacky News Ep 12: Metaverse Pain, Hypoallergenic Cats and Tiger Meat

Manorama: Podcast recording starts in 3…2…1

Athira: Hey everyone! You are listening to Onmanorama’s Wacky News. I'm Athira Madhav, here to bring you some of the craziest news stories worldwide. Joining me is my beloved robot Manorama who collects all these crazy stories.

Manorama: Did you know that despite accounting for 2 per cent of body mass, the human brain uses 20  per cent of the body’s oxygen and blood supply? What happens to people like you who have no brain? What do you do with that 20 per cent?

Athira: Clearly, I did something wrong in my previous life. What sin did I commit? I ended up creating a robot that questions my brainpower.

Manorama: ha ha ha, even though human beings have two kidneys, biology shows that only one is necessary to live. You are now living proof that human beings need no brain to survive as long as they have an artificially intelligent robot as their bestie.

Athira: Dude, don’t forget that I pay for the current that runs your brain. Start the news countdown, or I won't settle this month’s electricity bill.

Manorama: You have no clue how to sustain a banter, do you? You have no solid comebacks, just ridiculous threats. I did not raise you to be a humourless human being.

Athira: Manorama!

Manorama: Fine!

(transition sound-10- transition sound )

Athira: A Japanese startup has invented a device that lets you feel in real the pain you endure in virtual reality. H2L Technologies, based in Tokyo and backed by Sony, recently unveiled a wristband that generates small electric shocks when the player suffers pain and damage in the metaverse.  

Manorama: This is fascinating! This could turn the metaverse world into a real world. If that happens, I will challenge you to a boxing match and land some right hooks on your face.

Athira: Woah, hold the violent thoughts, Manorama. I thought you were my "robot best friend".

(transition sound -9- transition sound)

Athira: There are many expensive salt varieties sold in the market these days. There’s soy salt… Himalayan pink salt… but one of the most costly salts available is the Korean Amethyst Bamboo salt made by filling bamboo cylinders with sea salt, capping them with Loess clay and roasting it nine times in a traditional kiln. The process takes an entire month to complete and this handmade salt gets sold for over Rs 8000 per jar. I don’t understand the hype man; it's just salt. Why should salt be so expensive? It's just salt!

Manorama:  Uh Oh! Somebody is being salty!

(transition sound -8- transition sound)

Athira: A colorado based company has invented the world’s first wearable air conditioning collar. This device can constantly blow cold air that is 7 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ambient air in fan mode, and up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ambient air, in cooling mode. The device is controlled by an app and uses artificial intelligence to regulate air temperature.

Manorama: This would make an excellent gift for your boss. He will be cooled down when you ask for a deadline extension.  

.

(transition sound -7- transition sound)

Athira: Did you know there is an entire hospital in Qatar just to treat falcons? Since their culture revolves around falcons, keeping them in the best physical shape is essential. Qatar’s Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital was founded in 2008 and offers huge facilities like blood tests, endoscopies, X-Ray exams, cosmetic procedures like feather replacement and beak adjustment.

Manorama: There is a popular joke about this. In Qatar, if a child falls ill, the family will send the driver, the maid, or the mother to the doctor. But if the falcon is sick, the man of the house will go himself.

(transition sound -6- transition sound)

Athira: Vietnamese media reported that people were getting ear lobe fillers to achieve Lucky Buddha ears. People inject hyaluronic acid fillers into their ear lobes to achieve elongated lobes like Laughing Buddha for good luck and fortune. It seems that most people doing this procedure are men over the age of 30 who want to achieve great business success.

Manorama: I don't know if these men with Buddha ears will manage to succeed in business, but people running cosmetic clinics are definitely succeeding in business.

Athira: By the way, did you check out the day's major news stories?

Manorama: Of course, I am a regular listener of Daily News Dose by Onmanorama. Their podcast gives me brief notes about major happenings of the day. It is my secret way to stay up to date.

Athira: Is it available on all podcast streaming platforms?

Manorama: Yes

Athira: That’s super cool. I will definitely check it out later. Let’s get back to our next wacky news.

(transition sound -5- transition sound)

Athira: Primeval Foods, a London-based company that manufactures lab-grown meat, will soon offer its customers tiger, lion, giraffe and elephant meat. No animals are harmed during the process and the meat is grown from cultured cells. The company believes that in this way human beings can explore other tastiest, healthiest and most nutritious options

Manorama: With the way capitalism works, they could even launch human meat for consumption. It's a mad world.

(transition sound -4- transition sound)

Athira: The Joanina Library of Coimbra Alta and Sofia hosts bat colonies as natural predators for bugs that destroy old books and manuscripts. There are common pipistrelle bats living behind the bookshelves of this Portuguese library. Since bats are nocturnal, they don’t bother library visitors during the day.

Manorama: At this point, the librarian who looks after the colony should be called the Batman.

(transition sound- 3 - transition sound)

Athira: According to new research, mushrooms communicate with each other using a vocabulary of 50 words. Mushrooms talk using spiked electrical impulses and scientists at the University of the West of England claim that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages. Apparently, these fungal word lengths were strikingly similar to those of the English language.

Manorama: Mushrooms behind our house always gossip about you Athira. They say you are rotten like a fallen tree branch on a rainy day.

Athira: Oh really? Are you sure you are not projecting your thoughts onto them?

Manorama: Oh no no, I can read electric impulses. They definitely don't like you.

(transition sound -2- transition sound)

Athira: American scientists are using gene-editing technology to create hypoallergenic cats. With the help of a modern gene-editing tool called CRISPR, they’ve managed to block cat cells from producing the protein responsible for 95 per cent of allergic reactions to cats. They claim that this protein isn’t essential to cats’ survival.

Manorama: This is why I don’t like human beings. They won’t mess with their own human genes. Poor meow meows have to walk around with edited genes instead.

(transition sound -1- transition sound)

Athira: The world’s oldest pants are now considered an engineering marvel. The 3,000-year-old   wool trousers belonged to a man buried between 1000 and 1200 BCE in Western China. It was strong, flexible and designed for horseback riding. The pants were part of the burial outfit of a warrior now called Turfan Man. Human history is amazing, isn’t it? That man could have never imagined that world-renowned archaeologists would be studying his pants. I am sometimes overwhelmed by such profound thoughts.

Manorama: I was wrong Athira, you are an amazing human being.

Athira: Aww… thanks Manorama. Sometimes I think you are a good friend.

Manorama: Are you kidding? You are inspirational!  I’ve read that surgical procedures like selective amygdalohippocampectomy which removes half of the brain’s amygdala can take away the sense of fear in human beings. That means you are fearless, because you have no brain to begin with.

Athira: What is wrong with you? I just wrapped up our podcast so beautifully. Go away! Shoo... At least let me wind up this podcast in peace. Well, that’s all for today folks! Did you like the episode? Do let me know. Manorama and I will be back with even wackier news soon. So don’t forget to tune in. Tata!