Ball Cutter Fish Kills Fishermen by Biting off Their Testicles

Man-eating predators have always been part of legend and folk-lore. But here we have news of a real-life monster, interested in only one part of the human anatomy – the testicles.

The monster in question is in fact a 40lb fish called Pacu, found in the waters of Papua New Guinea. The Pacu are notorious for having eaten up the testicles of swimmers and anglers caught unawares, leaving them to bleed to death. This has led to the creatures being nicknamed ‘Ball Cutter’ fish. Initially, the villagers could only describe the monster-fish as something mysterious, like a ‘human in the water’. They finally got to see the predator up-close when a Pacu fish was recently caught by Jeremy Wade, a 53-year old British Fisherman, as a part of his TV series called River Monsters. The muscular fish was hard to catch, but Wade managed to track it down, reel it into his boat and wrestle it into submition. When he opened its jaws up with his hands, the teeth of the Pacu were found to be quite similar to human ones.

The Pacu fish are actually native to the Amazon, and were introduced to Papua New Guinea only about 15 years ago. Traditionally vegetarian, the fish used their molar-like sharp teeth to crack open nuts (no pun intended) and seeds. When veggie food wasn’t available in their new surroundings, they had to resort to eating meat. I suppose this is when they discovered a particular liking towards the meat of human testicles.

Amazing Welded Sculptures Made from Found Objects and Recycled Materials

Portland-based sculptor Brian Mock is a welding virtuoso, turning hundreds of discarded nuts, bolts, hinges, and forks into life-size dogs, birds, and even faithful replicas of doubleneck Gibson electric guitars. Mock says of his work:

"I am intrigued by the challenge of creating an entirely unique piece from an eclectic collection of discarded objects. Giving these old, common items a new and extraordinary life as one sculpture is an artistically challenging yet gratifying process. This type of work is also designed to be highly interactive and prompt viewers to question the reality of what they see. Audience reactions fuel my motivation."

Meet Ralph, the giant Schnauzer who helps children to walk and smile

Ralf has gained a reputation as something of a miracle worker since joining Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. The selfless pooch walks the wards and looks in on his young patients every Monday. He even sits with some during gruelling chemotherapy therapy sessions.

Ralf got two-year-old Claire Couwenberg to walk for the first time in the five days since her surgery to remove a cancerous kidney. And he brought a smile to 15-month-old Zeke Harrison, who has a rare genetic disorder where his body is unable to break down protein and too much can kill him.

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Ralf is one of a handful of dogs to visit the RCH each week in a program that has been boosted so more pooches are popping in on more little patients.

Incredibly Amazing Portraits Made With Lipstick Kisses

Using only her lips and a lipstick, Natalie Irish creates mind-blowing masterpieces. The Houston-based artist simply puckers her lips and kisses the paper canvas thousands of times, until she gets the desired result.

New Study Reveals We Are Happiest At Age 33

Forget the old adage that your schooldays are the happiest of your life - a study has found that 33 is the age at which people are most content. Seven out of 10 people over the age of 40 picked the year they turned 33 as their happiest in a survey by website Friends Reunited.

More than half of those surveyed - 53 per cent - said life was more fun and 42 per cent said they felt more optimistic about the future.

One in three said their happiness stemmed from having children while one in five said happiness came from success at work.

Having a Facebook 'friend' request turned down - or even just ignored, hurts just as much as real-life rejection, claim psychologists

Being ignored or snubbed online leads people to feel 'numb', 'distanced' and 'withdrawn', researchers found. The finding suggests that for many of us, the internet is as 'real' a place as the real world.

'Most people would probably expect that being ignored or rejected via a remote source like the Internet would not hurt as much as being rejected in person. Yet, our studies show that people may experience similar psychological reactions to online exclusion as they do with face-to-face exclusion. ‘ said Joshua Smyth, professor of biobehavioral health and of medicine at Penn State.

However, the researchers caution that these findings may be related to the types of individuals who participated in their study.

‘These studies were conducted with college-aged students who have grown up with the Internet and other related technology, ‘ Filipkowski said. ‘These findings may not apply to individuals who have much less experience with technology and remote communication.'

Chemical in fake tan and make-up is linked to obesity and diabetes

Chemicals called phthalates in plastics, cosmetics and toys are the latest reasons why one may have higher chances of developing diabetes, a study reveals. A study in Sweden has found that people with 'modest' levels of the chemicals in their blood are twice as likely to develop diabetes.

Phthalates are used as a softening agent in plastics but they can be used in cosmetics such as self-tan and perfumes.

The researchers analysed data from 1,000 people aged over 70, of which 114 developed diabetes. After taking into account factors known to cause type 2 diabetes, including obesity and high cholesterol, they found people with higher levels of phthalates were more likely to develop diabetes, the journal Diabetes Care reported.

Monica Lind, associate professor of environmental medicine at the Uppsala University, Sweden, said: "Although our results need to be confirmed in more studies, they do support the hypothesis that certain environmental chemicals can contribute to the development of diabetes," according to a university statement.