An Australian company, Vow, has wowed the science and food worlds with a meatball made of meat cultivated from the genetic sequence of an extinct mammoth, the Associated Press reported on March 29. Using genetic information from the mammoth, along with data from the African elephant, Vow grew the cells in a lab.

The large meatball — somewhere between the size of a softball and a volleyball — was displayed at the Nemo science museum in Amsterdam. "We wanted to get people excited about the future of food," said Tim Noakesmith, founder of the company. "We thought the mammoth would be a conversation starter."

People who were there as it was being cooked said it smelled good. But before you rush off to the nearest fast-food franchise, keep in mind that the high-tech treat isn't available to order yet.

A real oldie

Wilma Flintstone, eat your heart out. French luxury brand Coperni has revealed a fall 2023 limited-edition handbag that'll put buyers back $43,000, Oddity Central reported on March 24. The Mini Meteorite Swipe Bag is made of a meteorite that fell to Earth 55,000 years ago. It weighs about 4½ pounds, is too small to hold much, is nonrefundable and will take about six weeks to arrive. So, maybe, yabba dabba don't?

No vacancy

As you drive along the EastLink toll road in Melbourne, Australia, you might be tempted to spend the night at the Hotel EastLink, Oddity Central reported. But it's impossible to get a reservation there, because it's not really a hotel. It's a sculpture that was unveiled in 2007 by artist Callum Morton. About 60 feet tall, the "hotel" sits in the middle of an empty field. But it fools passersby with lights that come on at night in the "rooms" — enough that people try to call for reservations. "Putting something in a space that is slightly beguiling or is a little bit strange ... changes the way people think about art or practice," Morton said.

This stinks

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that using mindfulness to treat social anxiety is more effective when combined with sniffing body odor, Sky News reported. The body odor for the study was collected from people watching films, but it didn't matter whether they watched comedy or horror. Women who participated in a mindfulness session while exposed to the odor saw a 39% reduction in social anxiety, while those who did mindfulness alone saw only a 17% reduction. The scientists aren't sure why human sweat affects the response to the treatment.

Wrong game

On March 24, a sheriff's deputy from Chisago County just north of the Twin Cities pulled over a driver who had been speeding, WFLA-TV reported. When the officer asked for the driver's identification, he was handed a driver's license and a "Get Out of Jail Free" card from a Monopoly game. "The state of Minnesota does not recognize this as a valid document," the sheriff's office posted on its Facebook page. "Points for the effort and humor though!" The driver was issued a verbal warning and allowed to proceed.

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