Wriggling worm found in woman’s brain
And other stories from the stranger side of life

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
A woman has had an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm removed from her brain, reported The Guardian. The 64-year-old, who has experienced forgetfulness and depression, was admitted to hospital after three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a dry cough and night sweats. A scan revealed that a motile helminth - a parasitic roundworm - was living in the right frontal lobe lesion of her brain. “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and wriggling,” the neurosurgeon told a colleague.
Human germs could kill aliens
Humans could wipe out aliens by taking our germs into space, said the Daily Star. “Boffins” fear that space tourism and colonising planets without researching how our bacteria could harm extraterrestrials may lead to us “making little green men extinct before we can get the chance to interact with them”, said the tabloid. “As space continues to fill with people who prioritise profit or colonisation over scientific exploration, our window to detect potential life in the solar system without terrestrial contamination is likely closing”, said astrophysicist Erika Nesvold.
Message in a bottle author found
A man who found a message in a bottle from Ireland on a US beach was able to connect with the woman who wrote the message in the summer of 2019, said UPI. Frank Bolger of Wildwood was collecting litter on a New Jersey beach when he found the message in a bottle. His discovery went viral online, eventually coming to the attention of Aiofe Byrne, from Ireland, who had written it. “I am kind of obsessed, well, very interested in messages in bottles, to be honest,” said Byrne.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For more odd news stories, sign up to the weekly Tall Tales newsletter
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Lost and found
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 24, 2023
Daily Briefing Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian population to leave region amid fears of persecution, Atlantic coast remains under flood warnings from Ophelia, and more
By Justin Klawans Published
-
6 new horror novels to read this fall
The Explainer These upcoming releases will have you on the edge of your seat — or hiding under the covers
By David Faris Published
-
Parents ‘smacking salmonella’ on kids’ foreheads
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
What happens in our brains when we die
feature New study of people close to death shows neural activity associated with consciousness and lucid dreams
By Arion McNicoll Published
-
Men better at dieting than women
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By The Week Staff Published
-
North Korea blames Covid outbreak on ‘alien things’
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Are we facing a brain fog epidemic?
feature Loss of mental clarity and inability to concentrate linked to long Covid
By The Week Staff Published
-
Man kicked off flight for wearing woman’s thong as mask
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By The Week Staff Published
-
Omicron anagram leads to ‘Christmas hoax’ claim
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By The Week Staff Published
-
Woman who married herself divorcing after meeting someone else
feature And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published