News of the Weird
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
21st-Century Medicine:
–Researchers at the University of Bradford in the UK said in October that bandages soaked in maggot secretions were successful in accelerating tissue repair.
–In September, researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, seeking to create a robot to traverse the colon but without tearing the colon’s delicate walls, successfully tested one such tiny robot that can propel itself smoothly by gliding along mucus.
In September, health officials in Macerata, Italy, rescued a 57-year-old woman identified only as Carmela, after a brother reported he wouldn’t be able to keep delivering food to her. It turns out that Carmela had become fearful of influenza 26 years ago, had sealed the windows of her apartment, and had not ventured out the entire time except to collect the food her brother left at her door. She weighed about 65 pounds and had hair 7 feet long, and workers required respirators to enter the home.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD