Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Doctor Claims Rare Condition Allows Him to Feel Patient’s’ Physical Pain

Posted: 31 Jul 2015 05:52 AM PDT

People often use the phrase “I feel you pain” when trying to comfort somebody, but usually it has a figurative meaning. That’s not the case with Joel Salinas, a doctor suffering from a rare condition called mirror-touch synesthesia which actually allows him to feel the physical pain of his patients.

Salinas, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that he has had the condition since childhood. Whenever he would observe other people hugging, for instance, he would feel hugged as well. And when he saw people get hit, he felt the discomfort too. "When I see people, I have the sensation of whatever touches their body on my own body, and it's kind of reflected as a mirror," he explained.

mirror-touch-synesthesia

Belgian Man Shuns Civilization to Live as a Hunter-Gatherer in Slovenia

Posted: 31 Jul 2015 04:56 AM PDT

Angelo Valkenborg had it all – a good job, a marriage, and a nice home, but at one point in his life, he realised that none of that made him truly happy. So the 31-year-old Belgian left his old life behind and moved to a forest in Slovenia to live like a hunter-gatherer.

Angelo had always been fascinated by the great outdoors and started getting into survival techniques in the wild. But his work and family life didn’t exactly go hand in hand with his favorite pastime. It was after returning from a three week expedition in the wilderness of Northern Sweden that he learned his marriage had failed. His “intense passion for the outdoors” was apparently too much for his wife to handle. “Who can blame her?” he wrote on his blog. “I went fr’om a salesperson who cared a lot about going out and having a good time to a always dressed in outdoor gear geek.

Angelo-Valkenborgh

It’s Late Summer but This Everlasting Pile of Snow in Buffalo Still Hasn’t Melted

Posted: 31 Jul 2015 03:12 AM PDT

The residents of Buffalo, New York, are baffled by a 12-ft pile of snow that hasn't melted in eight months. The giant pile, located near Central Terminal on the Queen City's east side, has been around since the 'Snowvember' storm last year, and seems unaffected by the summer heat.

According to New York state climatologist Mark Wysocki, the "original problem started back in November." After the storm, city workers had no place to put all the excess snow so they decided to dump it in a vacant lot. Then they used bulldozers to flatten and compact the pile. By doing that, they created insulation, effectively producing a very slowly melting snow pile.

"It's not unprecedented, but it's weird when you think about it," said Storm Team 2 meteorologist Patrick Hammer. "That pile of snow is like a glacier. It's very dense and it's covered in dirt and garbage, which acts to insulate the snow from the sun's rays. That's what melts the snow, not just the heat but the sun's rays, and it's protected."

buffalo-snow-pile

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