1. There is an island in Japan populated solely by bunnies. (And, well, tourists.)
Ōkunoshima, nicknamed "Rabbit Island," is home to -- brace yourself -- hordes of fluffy bunnies. Located between Japan's main islands Honshu and Shikoku, the island was used during World War II as a military site that housed poison gas facilities, per Amusing Planet. Legend has it that the rabbits were brought to the island to test the effects of the poison when the war ended. Alternatively, The Los Angeles Times suggests the rabbits may have been left on the island by schoolchildren, unrelated to any poisonous secret military activity.
Either way, the bunny rabbits did what bunny rabbits do best. A 2014 article in The Dodo estimated the number of bunnies (okay, fine. Rabbits!) at 700.
Naturally, many tourists flock to the island these days to hang out with the cute bushy-tailed residents.
2. A bus powered by human poop runs in the U.K.
Britain's first "poop bus," an effort towards sustainable transportation, went into regular service this past March. The 40-seat "Bio-Bus" runs solely on biomethane gas, which is generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste. The bus can travel up to 186 miles on one tank of gas, which is equivalent to the waste produced annually by five people, according to the BBC.
If the bus turns out to be successful, First West of England, which operates the bus, said it will consider introducing a fleet of "poo buses."
3. A pair of anti-pervert stockings were designed in China to ward off unwanted attention.
Add this to the list of inventions you never imagined you might need. On Sina Weibo, China's microblogging service, a user named @HappyZhangJiang uploaded a photo of stockings that were created to look like the legs of a hairy man. The purpose behind the pair of stockings is to fend off unwanted male attention.
"Super sexy, summertime anti-pervert full-leg-of-hair stockings, essential for all young girls going out," the translated photo caption reads.
4. In the Caribbean, there is an island run by swimming pigs.
Officially called Big Major Cay, but better known as Pig Island in the Bahamas, the uninhabited area is home to a family of wild pigs who love to swim. Today, the pig paradise attracts both locals and tourists, who feed the friendly swine.
How the non-native pigs arrived at the island remains a mystery to this day. The general belief is that the pigs were dropped off by a group of sailors who thought they would make a good food source, according to a report from the Daily Mail. The sailors never returned, and the lucky pigs adapted to island life.
5. There was a chicken that lived without a head for 18 months.
In 1945, a farmer in Colorado beheaded a chicken, but missed its jugular vein and left one ear and most of its brain intact. Dubbed "Miracle Mike," or "Mike the Headless Chicken," the animal survived for 18 months on a mixture of milk and water that was fed into its exposed esophagus through an eyedropper, according to Scientific American.
Once Mike gained fame, the farmer started a sideshow tour and charged guests 25 cents to meet his headless chicken.
6. An artist 3D-printed Vincent van Gogh's ear from family DNA.
Using the DNA from a distant relative of famed painter Vincent van Gogh, a German artist 3D-printed a living replica of Van Gogh's severed ear, according to The New York Times.
The 19th century artist is believed to have chopped off his own left ear in 1888 "in a fit of dementia," per History.com. The living cells were shaped to resemble the ear, and it was on display last year at The Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, a museum in Germany.
7. Bats were once used as weapons.
The brainchild of a Pennsylvania dentist, the idea involved strapping small incendiary bombs to bats and releasing them to spread fires in inaccessible target zones.
The proposal sounded logical to several researchers, who won the support of the military and President Roosevelt's men, according to The Atlantic. Following 30 demonstrations, the $2 million project was canceled and was supposedly replaced by the development of another secret weapon: the atomic bomb.
8. On Jupiter and Saturn, diamonds can fall as rain.
It turns out Saturn and Jupiter are a girl's best friend. In a 2013 study, two planetary scientists found that the high pressures inside the planets' atmospheres could turn carbon into chunks of diamonds, per the BBC. The study said the precious gemstone can melt under extreme pressure and temperatures, which leads to the formation of liquid diamond raindrops.
Researchers say as many as 10 million tons of diamonds could be inside the two planets, according to The National Geographic.
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