Back to the Future?

A 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, the kind used in the 1985 movie, “Back to the Future,” was discovered in a barn in late 2023. The iconic car only had 977 miles on it AND was all original, including the tires. Only about 9,000 DeLoreans were built before the factory closed due to bankruptcy.

Auto-brewery syndrome or ABS

A Belgium man who was stopped for drunk driving multiple times, and tested for more than three and four times the legal limit, was acquitted for drunk driving after the court determined his body was producing its own beer. He had a rare disorder known as auto-brewery syndrome, or ABS. Basically, it’s when the gut ferments carbohydrates into ethanal, essentially brewing beer inside the body. It’s all the “fun”—lack of coordination, slurred speech, dizziness, nausea, belching—without drinking alcohol. People with ABS can ingest carbohydrates that bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract converts to alcohol. ABS can cause blood alcohol levels that would be lethal through normal imbibing.

Second-largest diamond found

The world’s second-largest diamond was found in a Botswana diamond mine using advance X-ray technology. It’s 2,492 carats and weighs more than a pound. The world’s largest diamond was found in South Africa in 1905. Known as the Cullinan diamond, it was given to the British royal family and was cut into nine separate stones. Some of the stones make up part of the crown jewels.

Beachcombing in England for…Legos

During a 1997 near shipping disaster, a rogue wave hit the Tokio Express cargo ship causing the ship to lose all 62 of its shipping containers, including one packed with nearly 5 million Legos. The event is known as the Great Lego Spill and as a result, Legos keep showing up on England’s southern shores, 27 years after the event. Social media has sites devoted to the event known as Lego Lost at Sea: Facebook, Instagram

This boot was made for…driving

L.L.Bean has a bootmobile. Who knew? To celebrate the company’s 100th birthday in 2012, L.L.Bean unveiled a 13-foot-high, 20-foot-long L.L.Bean’s favorite Duck Boot on wheels. Another one was added in 2013 and a third in 2019. The three Bootmobiles have covered more than 350,000 miles in hundreds of events in 25 states, two countries and dozens of college campuses, according to the L.L.Bean website.

Free diver shatters underwater record

A Croatian free diver held his breath for 29 minutes and 3 seconds, five minutes longer than any other person on record and about twice as long as bottlenose dolphins. Vitomir Maričić now holds the Guinness World Record. To reach this feat, he breathed pure oxygen for 10 minutes before going under. This increased the oxygen in his plasma, putting about five times more oxygen in his system. Without the pure oxygen, Maričić can hold his breath for 10 minutes underwater.