Earlier this month, Chinese news sources reported the shocking case of a 3-year-old girl nicknamed “Peiqi” who had ballooned to 35 kilograms (77 pounds) after her parents turned her into a mukbang star, filming her eating unhealthy foods and posting the clips on social media.

Peiqi’s parents used phrases like “3-year-old 66-pound (33-kilogram) chubby girl” and “amazing appetite” in the titles of videos they uploaded on platforms like Duoyin (China’s version of TikTok). They showed Peiqi consuming high-calorie foods such as fried chicken and fatty meat purely for the enjoyment of her followers.

As the 3-year-old girl’s weight increased to 35 kilograms, far exceeding the normal range of about 15 kilograms for children her age, outraged people started confronting her parents and asking them to stop doing mukbang videos. However, the couple defended their actions, claiming that Peiqi had weighed 4.5 pounds (about 2.25 kilograms) at birth, and just had a healthy appetite. They denied forcing her to eat, and claimed that the money they made from her videos was barely enough to cover the cost of the food.

As pressure from the general public increased, the video platforms banned Peiqi’s accounts, and her parents deleted their social media accounts as well.

Peiqi’s shocking case has brought attention to the controversial practice of using minors to attract attention and get views on Chinese social media. From mukbang and prank videos featuring kids to using them to sell various products, the presence of minors on social media has increased in recent years, with serious consequences for many of them.

In 2015, the watchmakers at Swiss manufacturer Vacheron Constantin unveiled Reference 57260, a one-of-a-kind pocketwatch commissioned by a private, anonymous collector with a set of very specific requirements, including a Hebraic perpetual calendar and a unique split-seconds chronograph that would allow them to time multiple events simultaneously. It took eight years to complete and became the basis of an even more complex timepiece, the Berkley Grand Complication.

Measuring about 2 inches in diameter and crafted in an 18-karat white gold case, Berkley Grand Complication weighs 2 pounds (960 grams) and features almost double the number of complications of the previous world’s most complicated watch, the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 (33 complications).

“Because the most complicated watch before this one had 33 complications, we set a goal of 36 complications,” Dominique Bernaz, head of the Atelier Cabinotiers division, told Forbes. “As we worked together, I would regularly ask my team if they thought we could do it, and they would smile and nod yes. We were halfway through the project before we knew just how many complications the watch would have, because the project kept evolving. Each complication is a special accomplishment, but putting them all together into one watch, that was the real challenge.”

In theory, many watchmakers could create a watch with double the complications of the Vacheron Constantin Berkley Grand Complication, but it would probably have the diameter of a football. What makes this timepiece so special is that the craftsmen at Atelier Cabinotiers managed to cram 63 of them into such a small case while also figuring out how to display every one of these extra features. Keep in mind that this two-sided pocket-sized marvel is made up of 2,870 tiny mechanical components.

The price of the world’s most complicated watch was confidential, but most experts estimate the price to be in excess of $10 million. As a unique collector’s item, its value is only expected to increase over time.

There will probably come a day when another watch dethrones the Berkley Grand Complication, after all, Swiss watchmakers have been one-upping each other for hundreds of years. But it’s worth mentioning that Vacheron Constantin is giving them a run for their money, improving on the original design (Reference 57260) and adding additional complications over the years.

On July 14, Alex Toussaint, one of the founders of Tornyol, posted a video showing the company’s “first air-to-air kill”. In it, a small drone can be seen pursuing and ultimately shooting down a moth in a control test area. Obviously, a moth is not a mosquito, and the test area was very small, but this is apparently a very big step toward developing a drone capable of identifying and annihilating insects in mid-air.

Tornyol’s declared goal is the development of 40-gram drones that rely on smartphone microphones, ultrasonic sensors, and custom software to track and target insects. The drones are designed to send out ultrasonic pulses and listen for echoes with an array of microphones. Because mosquito wings create a distinct Doppler sound signature, the drones could theoretically tell mosquitoes apart from other insects.

Alex Toussaint and Clovis Piedallu, the engineers behind Tornyol, hope to one day use swarms of these micro-drones to eliminate mosquitoes from whole urban areas, with 10 of them capable of clearing one square kilometer of the winged blood-suckers.

Photo: Helena Minginowicz

“Canvas is harder, it’s bigger, and much more impressive. In contrast, this paper napkin is like a joke, but we are something like this,” the Polish artist told We Present magazine. “We are trying to be canvases, but we are paper towels! It’s so touching to me that we still try to be immortal.”

Photo: Helena Minginowicz

Using layers of airbrushed acrylic, Helena paints Renaissance-style artworks on pieces of paper towels, focusing on both human characters and the symbolic meanings assigned to various animals (doves for peace, swans for beauty, etc.) to convey her thoughts to the beholder.

Photo: Helena Minginowicz

Using a fragile, highly absorbent canvas like the paper towel makes the painting process a difficult affair, but Helena Minginowicz likes to mainly free-hand it anyway. She only outlines her general design on the towel and proceeds to carefully airbrush the painting, adding elements as she goes along.

Photo: Helena Minginowicz

Colossal Magazine reports that Minginowicz is currently working toward a solo exhibition at Paris’ Galerie Prima, set to open on October 8th.

The idea of building right under the Shuikousi Bridge was to take advantage of unused land near the center of the city, instead of expanding outwards on the outskirts. This way, residents could have easy access to the city center. But there was obviously a compromise. The over a dozen apartment buildings rising up all the way to the bridge would be affected by traffic noise and vibrations.

Two years after the completion of the bridge, about 10 residential buildings were erected as low-rent housing as well as resettlement housing projects, and gradually, more buildings were added on the remaining vacant land under Shuikousi Overpass.

As expected, the constant traffic noise and the vibrations from the passing vehicles overhead became a daily presence in the lives of the thousands of people occupying this unusual residential complex, but few of them complained. The advantages far outweighed the disadvantages, so people just adapted and started considering the noise and the shaking as part of the charm of their unique residence.

To improve living conditions, authorities eventually banned heavy semi-trucks from using the bridge, which somewhat reduced the noise and shaking. It’s still not the quietest or most comfortable place in Guyiang, and there is not a lot residents can do to keep the dust from the road from entering their homes, but it’s cheap and close to the city center.

Today, the community under the Shuikousi Bridge is regarded as an innovative way of managing urban density in a city of over four million people, where available land is very scarce.

For more unique Chinese urban planning, check out this train line that passes straight through apartment buildings in the city of Chongqing.

The history of fermented katsuobushi can be traced back to the Edo period (1603 – 1868), although mentions of “fish that has been boiled and dried hard” can be found in the Yoro Code of 718. It remains an essential ingredient for the dashi stock used to make popular dishes like miso soup and soba dipping sauce.

Photo: Adriano/Wikimedia Commons

The complex process of making katsuobushi begins with frozen skipjack tuna, aka ‘bonito’. The fish is first thawed in water for 24 hours, then cut into fillets that are placed in a special cauldron and simmered for up to 90 minutes. It is then cooled, deboned, and much of its skin and fat are removed. At this stage of the process, the water content of the bonito is about 68%.

Next, the fillets are placed in wooden-lidded baskets and wood-smoked for about an hour, then allowed to cool. This process is repeated dozens of times, for about a month. The smoke drastically lowers the water content in the fish, draws out excess fat, and also prevents it from rotting. By now, the moisture content has dropped to around 28%.

To make the highest grade of katsuobushi, the fillets are sprayed with a solution containing the Aspergillus glaucus bacteria and placed in a special chamber at a temperature of 20 degrees Celcius. After two weeks, the mold-covered fillets are taken out to dry in the sun for two days, after which they are once again sprayed with mold and left to ferment for two weeks. This process is repeated for several months until the moisture in the katsuobushi reaches the desired level of around 18% – 20%.

The mold plays a critical part in the making of katsuobushi, as it consumes moisture to sustain itself, accelerating the drying process, decomposes fat into soluble fatty acids, breaks down proteins into amino acids, and keeps off other microorganisms during the fermentation process.

Fermented katsuobushi is as hard as wood, extremely brittle, and looks like crystal or colored glass when polished. It is shaved into thin flakes using a tool similar to a wood planer.

For the world’s hardest cheese, check out Nepal’s rock-hard chhurpi cheese.

Russian news media recently reported that an increasing number of self-proclaimed magicians, clairvoyants, and witches are taking to social media to promote all kinds of questionable services, like lowering a vehicle’s consumption, to changing standard fuel into premium through occult rituals.

Clairvoyants claim that increased fuel consumption may not be due to a car malfunction, but to a supposed hex, negative energy, or foreign objects that someone may have left in the car. Instead of checking the engine and visiting a car repair shop, customers are encouraged to perform rituals to lower their cars’ fuel consumption, rituals that only these masters of the occult can prepare. Obviously, one is expected to pay a fee of up to 16,000 rubles ($210) for this kind of service.

In one instance, a witch reportedly told the client that a curse had been cast on their car’s fuel tank, causing it to burn through fuel faster than usual. They also offered to spiritually lift the curse for the modest price of 16,000 rubles.

Some esoteric practitioners also claim to be able to alter fuel characteristics—for example, turning AI-92 gasoline into the more expensive AI-100. However, experts warn that the octane number of fuel depends on its chemical composition and cannot be changed by incantations, rituals, or the application of symbols to a car.

Just last week, we reported on the increasingly popular fuel pills that allegedly lower fuel consumption. Their efficacy has also been called into question, even though they are even being sold at gas stations across Russia.

China News Weekly reported that Lin was sporting a pair of ‘Leqi Smart Glasses,’ a model released in September of last year that integrates four major AI models: Deepseek, Tongyi Qianwen, Zhipu, and Doubao. Among their many built-in features are photo-based question searching and problem solving, allowing would-be cheaters to search for answers without voice commands.

All Lin had to do was touch the frame of the glasses near his temple to take photos of the exam questions and wait for the glasses to provide the answers. He needed to cover the LED on the frame that lit up whenever he took a photo, but what he didn’t take into account was that a green light could be seen through the lenses at certain angles.

As Lin’s story went viral online, other students took to social media to praise AI glasses, claiming that the green light could easily be concealed with a pair of cheap sunshade stickers. A quick online search also reveals that the number of classified ads leasing AI-powered glasses to students for as little as 200 yuan has also increased. Some vendors even provide complete tutorials teaching students how to switch the glasses to silent and low-brightness modes.

Similar cheating incidents have recently occurred in universities in Hubei, Henan, Beijing, and other Chinese regions, with one professor claiming that supervisors are almost completely unprepared to deal with AI glasses. So far, the only known method is to check thick-rimmed glasses more thoroughly.

Lin Che, a product manager specializing in smart glasses, warned that, in the near future, AI-powered eyeglasses will be almost indistinguishable from conventional ones, making supervisors’ jobs even harder.

“I’ll help you organize barbecues and camping, keep you company, and grill some meat. Jokes and anecdotes are also included,” a certain Artem from Moscow writes in his ad.

Depending on how eager they are to please and how much you’re willing to spend for their services, ‘barbecue companions’ can get the barbecue ready, grill the meat, pitch a tent, and keep you company. Some even offer to find a suitable place for a barbecue and take care of all the groceries, as long as you pay for the bill. Their fees range from 1,000 rubles ($13) to 5,000 rubles ($65).

This specialized service is reportedly offered exclusively to men, with the clear mention that this is a paid service and no lasting friendship is to be expected afterwards. If you want to spend more time with your companions, you are expected to pay their fee again.

Analysts from specialized online platforms conducted a study and found that the service is most popular in the Moscow, Krasnodar Krai, and Nizhny Novgorod regions of Russia.

“From a business perspective, this is absolutely natural: if there’s an unmet need, a service will emerge. Of course, you can’t buy true friendship. But for many, this won’t be an attempt to replace friends, but rather to simply spend a comfortable evening and meet new people. Therefore, I think such services will become more common, and the range of services will expand,” Russian restaurateur Evgeny Demchenko told KP.

Arthit Chomsawat, the owner of Pattaya’s popular Saiwan Bakehous, told the Bangkok Post that the unique croissant that has become the talk of the town was inspired by another one of their unique desserts, the ‘hairy cake’. The croissants, however, went viral internationally after being featured by the French media outlet Prisme.

Topped with hair-like fat choy, a black edible algae commonly used in Asian cuisine, the hairy croissants have been sparking debates on social media for days. Some consider them in poor taste because of the uncanny resemblance of the fat choy to trimmed pubic hair, while others appreciate the lighthearted joke and praise the bakery for its originality.

You know what they say, ‘all publicity is good publicity,’ and despite the mixed feedback, the hairy croissants have been selling like, well, hot croissants, attracting both open-minded locals and tourists to Saiwan Bakehous.

For more unusual desserts, check out this oyster-infused soft-serve ice cream and these realistic puppy puddings.