WEIRD STUFF

Ketchup triggers panic attacks in woman

A woman feels like she is "being held at gunpoint" when she sees ketchup. Leigh Woodman has banned the popular meal condiment from her home -- despite her boyfriend liking it -- due to her fear, called mortuusequusphobia.

The 32-year-old, from Bristol, even chucks away plates that she thinks may have come in contact with the tomato-based sauce.

She told the Daily Star newspaper: "I'm fully aware of how dramatic it sounds, and I've always been embarrassed by it."

Leigh continued: "I have been out with friends, and they order ketchup and then barricade my view with the menu.

"If it's put in my face, I'll freeze.

"It's more of a panic attack."

-----

Mobile phone titan Nokia has created a lunar surface communication system in the form of a robot called Athena, and it has been put on a space lander.

It is going to make its way to Earth's only natural satellite next week as it hunts for water ice.

Data and images will be able to be sent to our planet, via the connection.

Thierry E. Klein, president of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia, said: "We intend to prove that cellular technologies can provide the reliable, high-capacity and efficient connectivity needed for future crewed and uncrewed missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.

"Cellular technology has irrevocably transformed the way we communicate on Earth.

"There's no reason it can't do the same for communications on other worlds."

---------

Study uncovers why people see dead relatives before they die

A chemical that makes people believe in the afterlife has been found in the brain.

Psychedelic neurochemical N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) has been discovered by scientists at Imperial College London.

They think it may cause humans to have visions of seeing dead relatives when nearing death.

The purpose of the research was to see if the chemical takes over the brain when on the verge of dying - which is the case in rats.

Professor David Luke, who works at the University of Greenwich, London, researched this in 2023, and he found those nearing death's door had visions from 5-MeO-DMT - which can be found in some toads.

This included "entering other worlds" and "meeting menacing or benevolent entities".