Month: January 2025

Nature loves to call when we’re fast asleep, and the phenomenon of needing to wee at night, dubbed nocturia, can be caused by a variety of factors.

Davina Richardson, a nurse at the charity, Bladder and Bowel UK, said it can be a nuisance as frequent disrupted sleep can adversely affect our day-to-day lives and wellbeing.

The nurse also said it could be caused by consuming too many caffeinated drinks during the day or drinking too late at night before your head hits the pillow.

Yet doctors warn there’s a fine line between normal nighttime bathroom use and when your nocturia could be signs of a deeper problem.

What is a ‘normal’ amount of times to pee in the night?

Well, NHS doctors say it depends on your age, as normal can stretch from once per night to as many as four times as we get older due to the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) essentially withering away with age.

The hormone regulates how much water human bodies can hold on to and helps to ward off dehydration.

For people over the age of 70, needing to pee twice a night is considered normal which goes up to four times for those in their 90s.

Meanwhile, medics say getting up to use the bathroom once every night is pretty common for people under the age of 60.

So, what are the potential health problems?

Having to wake up to relieve yourself more than once could be a sign of a urinary tract infection or even more concerning conditions like diabetes, kidney stones, high blood pressure, prostate cancer and even heart disease at the more severe end of the scale.

But doctors warn an increase in nocturia alongside other symptoms should send alarm bells ringing.

Common symptoms of diabetes include feeling very thirsty, losing weight without trying, blurry vision and an increase in nighttime bathroom visits.

Another sign could be needing to drink more (Getty Images)

The UK’s National Health Service says this is because high blood sugar not only irritates the bladder but increases thirst levels, meaning you’re more likely to drink more and therefore need the toilet.

Meanwhile, people who have chest pains, swollen ankles, feel sweaty and require more midnight bathroom breaks than normal, the NHS says this could be a sign of a heart condition.

As for urinary tract infections, Bladder and Bowel UK says other symptoms to look out for include a burning sensation when using the toilet and/or cloudy or bad smelling urine.

Alternatively, a sudden surge in needing to go at night could be due to a sleep disorder, certain medicines, an overactive bladder or a hike in water intake.

Orcas are one of the most intelligent animals in the world and I’d argue that they are far more dangerous than sharks if they want to be.

Meanwhile, I spoke to a shark expert recently who explained that even great whites don’t want to eat humans and if they do swim up to you, all you need to do is push them away on their nose with your fins – if you’ve gone in with scuba gear anyway.

Although orcas have never killed a human in the wild, four people have died from killer whales kept in captivity.

Anyway, so news of relentless orcas attacking and sinking a yacht in just 45 minutes is scary, to say the least.

It happened in October 2023 when a killer whale pod – which is a family group of orcas – launched a vicious attack on a Polish yacht while travelling in the Strait of Gibraltar.

It lasted for 45 minutes and even the Moroccan Navy couldn’t thwart their attack, with the vessel sinking close to the port of Tangier Med, in Morocco.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the attack.

Taking to Facebook at the time, Morskie Mile, the operators of the yacht, posted: “Yesterday, in the Strait of Gibraltar, in the early afternoon, our yacht was attacked by a pod of killer whales. They hit the rudder blade for 45 minutes, causing major damage and a leak.

“Despite attempts to bring the yacht to port made by the captain, the crew and rescuers from the SAR [search and rescue vessels], port tugboats and the Moroccan Navy, the unit sank near the entrance to the Tanger Med port. The crew is safe, safe and sound in Spain.

One theory suggests the orcas were practicing their hunting (Getty Stock Image)

“For us, this yacht was everything that was great about sea sailing. Long-term friendships were formed on board. We sailed this yacht through the most beautiful places in Europe and the Atlantic archipelagos, trained numerous yacht helmsmen, discovered beautiful and unknown places, tasted Mediterranean specialties and sailed, sailed, sailed.

“We will take very good memories to Grazie Mamma II. Love for the sea always wins, and friendships will remain with us.

“We are working to ensure that the upcoming cruises in the Canary Islands take place as planned on our friends’ yachts. We will contact all our guests in the coming days.”

Having seemingly taken every precaution, with the boyfriend having washed himself, his mouth and even his fingernails, a 20-year-old woman – with a deadly allergy to a specific type of nut – thought no harm would come with them sleeping together.

Unfortunately, she was wrong but a study was launched on the back of their misfortunes.

“The patient’s partner was aware of the patient’s very significant nut allergy and had bathed, brushed his teeth and cleaned his nails immediately before intercourse as he had consumed mixed nuts roughly two to three hours earlier. These had included between 4 to 5 Brazil nuts,” researchers in their 2007 study, published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, said.

“The patient had been diagnosed with Brazil nut allergy 2 years earlier as a result of several episodes of urticaria and angioedema after consuming foods containing nuts,” doctors stated.

Urticaria, also known as hives, is a skin condition that causes red, itchy bumps to appear while angioedema refers to the swelling of the skin.

The researchers continued: “The cause of the patient’s post-coital reaction was initially unclear. However, the history suggested a possible Brazil nut reaction with the Brazil nut proteins being secreted into her partner’s semen.”

The woman had a deadly allergy to nuts (Getty Stock Image)

Yes, I’m sure you saw where this was going… if you’re reading this I’m sure you’ve already had the birds and the bees conversation so you don’t need me to spell it out.

“A 20-year-old woman in a stable relationship developed widespread urticaria and angioedema shortly after vaginal intercourse with her partner. Condoms were not used as the patient was taking the contraceptive pill,” explained authors AS Bansal, R Chee, V Nagendran, A Warner, G Hayman, of the Department of Immunology at St Helier Hospital, in Surrey, England.

After having sex the young woman ‘suffered significant itching and swelling of her vagina and vulva and felt faint even when sitting’, although there was no obvious sign that she was going into anaphylactic shock so she took an antihistamine and started to improve within 45 minutes.

“Throughout the following day she noticed a marked fatigue but no skin rash, dyspnea or faintness,” researchers noted.

After visiting doctors they then ran a test.

Skin prick testing with partner’s semen before and after he had consumed four Brazil nuts (AS Bansal, R Chee, V Nagendran, A Warner, G Hayman)

The researchers explained: “With the patient’s consent, skin prick testing (SPT) was arranged to the partner’s semen before and roughly two and a half-hours after he had been asked to consume 4 Brazil nuts.

“The results showed an unequivocal 7mm weal to the semen sample after, but not before, he had consumed Brazil nuts (figure). The patient was asked to avoid sexual intimacy if her partner had consumed nuts and to keep antihistamines and her adrenaline pen at hand.

“Unfortunately the couple separated soon afterwards and it was impossible to formally confirm the secretion of Brazil nut proteins into seminal fluid by Western blotting and other techniques.”

They concluded: “To our knowledge, this is the first case of a severe food allergic reaction transferred by normal vaginal intercourse.”

There’s nothing worse than going on holiday and finding out that your bags have been lost.

Well, posting on Reddit, a member of airport staff has shared an explainer of what to be mindful of when travelling to either avoid this from happening, or to know exactly what to do if the worst is to happen.

They shared that they work in maintenance at an airport in the US, and explained that one of the airlines ‘can have over 120,000 people departing, arriving, and catching a connecting flight through the airport’. That’s a lot of people!

This many people means ‘3,000 to 5,000’ bags per hour can pass through at peak flight times.

He went on to explain that this is by no means official advice, as “I am just a guy who knows what it feels like to travel somewhere and either your bags never made it, or made it and was damaged.”

His top tip includes purchasing hard case luggage, as it holds up better than fabric luggage with a wire frame.

He says: “I have seen both get pinched between diverters and while the hard case will pinch, they usually pop back into place, sometimes the fabric bags get their frames broken or rip open.”

Here’s the catch: the colour or pattern of your bag could be causing it to get lost.

The handler explained that mirrored colours and metallic patterns can wreak havoc behind the scenes.

While they may look pretty, it might end up with your bag going missing.

He explained: “Mirrored colors and paint schemes with a metallic flake act like reflectors and send the beam back to the sensor.”

He said it basically ‘turns the bag invisible’.

The poster continued: “Once that happens, it can’t be diverted to its assigned location to be loaded on the plane it belongs on. We only see it when it passes through the tag scanners again, but with the sheer volume of bags, it gets hard to catch them,” which is bad news for your bag arriving here it should.

There’s nothing worse than having your luggage go missing (Getty Stock Image)

He also said that loose straps, buckles, buttons and handles not secured can also snag and cause a bag to get lost.

There’s one type of bag to avoid, too: the humble duffle bag.

“I’d say 50% of the issues I get are calls for duffle bag style bags with handles that are not strapped together and have gotten hung up on a conveyor or trapped under a diverter arm,” he explained.

“This in turn has caused other bags to pile up from different flights and we have to try our best as safely and fast as possible to get everything unstuck and moving again.”

So not only is your bag getting lost, but it’s causing chaos for everyone else, too.

What can you do then to make life easier?

The poster recommends: “Make sure to secure all straps together, roll up and tape down adjustable straps like on hiking packs or military sea bags or packs.

“For small bags with telescoping handles, make sure you can secure them down. If they are supposed to latch but the latch feature is busted or it pulls out easily, chances are it will be open when put onto a conveyor.” Not what you need.

Be careful with ‘identifier items’ too, so scarves, luggage tags and the like, as they get caught easily too.

The other big problem is overfilling bags, with the poster saying they can burst open easily, and again slow things down.

So now you know! Happy travelling.

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman made his way to the top of the University of Texas Tower, in Austin, equipped with a bag full of guns and ammo.

While there he bludgeoned a receptionist to death with his rifle and shot two families who made their way to the observation deck, unbeknown to them that he was preparing to unleash hell on the campus.

The 25-year-old killed 15 people and injured 31 more during the shooting before he was shot dead by a police officer.

However, before that tragic event, Whitman had already murdered two people close to him.

He left a note saying: “It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight … I love her dearly, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationally pinpoint any specific reason for doing this.”

Kathy Leissner and Whitman got married in 1962 (Getty/Bettmann)

Whitman also wrote: “I don’t want her to have to face the embarrassment my actions would surely cause her. I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die, and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it… Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother’s life.”

He had already murdered his wife and his mom in the early hours of the same morning but his actions allegedly came completely out of the blue – something he noticed himself.

An autopsy was carried out that confirmed Whitman’s belief that something strange was going on with his brain.

The coroner made a shocking discovery that he had a tumor, around the size of a pecan, in his brain.

Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower in Austin to unleash hell on pedestrians below (Getty/Bettmann)

It was pressed up against his amygdala, which is the part of the brain that helps configure our emotions – especially fear and aggression – meaning this new aggressive behavior he was exhibiting could likely have occurred as a result of the growth.

In fact, the autopsy was actually something he had requested.

Prior to the shooting, Whitman wrote: “I don’t really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I can’t recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.

“After one session I never saw the Doctor again, and since then I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail.”

He added: “After my death I wish that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder.”

Edwin Castro hit headlines when he claimed the massive $2 billion Powerball Jackpot after buying a ticket from a local gas station way back in November 2022.

He came forward with the winning lottery ticket February 2023 and his life changed forever with an eye-watering amount of money.

As you can imagine, he quickly got to work on investing and spending that money, most notably a bunch of properties.

One of the properties he did buy was a $3.8 million home in Malibu, however, recent photos, obtained by the US Sun show the property burnt down to the ground. All that appears left is smouldering wood and foundations.

A blaze first broke out in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening (January 7), with hurricane-style winds of up to 100mph blowing it through the Pacific Coast to Pasadena.

The two biggest wildfires ravaging the area have killed at least 10 people and burned more than 10,000 homes and other structures to the ground, officials said as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.

Both the number of casualties and homes destroyed is expected to rise as firefighters continue to struggle to get the blaze under control.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said all three of its one million-gallon water tanks that supply fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had run dry by 3am on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden ultimately pledged the federal government would support California’s effort to tackle the inferno with 100 percent of financial support for 180 days.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the LA fires (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

Biden praised local power companies for turning off the power and applauded the Democrat California governor, Gavin Newsom, for his efforts during the crisis.

He said: “What I know from talking to the governor [is] that there are concerns out there that there’s also been a water shortage.

“The fact is, the utilities understandably shut off power because they’re worried the lines that carry energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires.

“There’s a direct correlation between the utility company and the ability to pump water out of a hydrant. And so it allows for a lot of uninformed people to make assertions or concerns or accusations about the local officials not caring or not working.”