Baking yourself in a tanning booth remains a popular activity among the vain and pasty of Caucasian descent, despite increasing health warnings. But at the other end of the spectrum, skin tempering practices are just as risky, and ever growing in popularity. Read more...

Chances are you've heard of Facebook's Lying Down Game, a completely pointless yet wildly popular activity which consists of lying down in random, awkward places, getting your photo taken and posting it on Facebook. Sounds harmless... Until you risk losing your job for it, as seven British hospital staff members found out. Read more...

When Naples found itself under piles of rubbish early last year, the whole world knew about it. But in comparison with what you're about to see, those rubbish piles no longer look that monstrous. Read more...

The debate over President Barack Obama's universal health-care bill turned nasty this week when town meetings became chaotic. One in particular sparked an online debate after footage aired by news networks showed an African American woman being escorted out by police apparently disrupting the event. Images filmed from another angle and posted online by a blogger, however, proved that the story was not what it seemed. Read more...

This image was sent to fellow anti-health reform campaigners by Florida neurosurgeon Dr. David McKalip. So why, if their argument draws on such crass resources, are anti-reformers succeeding in their attempt to stop Obama from implementing a comprehensive health plan in the US? Read more...

Unlike all the fad diets, pills and electronic toners, there's a new way to lose weight that actually works, doesn't cost anything, and doesn't involve going to the doctor. It's called Flickr, the photo sharing website. Read more...

Authorities in China's Gongan county in the central Hubei province have found a simple method of giving a boost to local cigarette producers — ordering all civil servants to meet "smoking targets" or face a fine. Read more...

Where did the A (H1N1) flu come from? Residents of the Mexican town where the first case was diagnosed say that a US-owned factory just a few miles down the road, which produces 950,000 pigs a year, is to blame. A blogger from the area went to the factory to look into the conditions. Here are his findings...

A student from Mexico City, whose mother was taken to hospital after she was infected with the A (H1N1) flu, tells us how he's getting through the ordeal. Read his account...

As the first cases of swine flu are confirmed in Europe and the first fatality in the US, everybody wants to know how best to protect themselves from the virus. Are the masks we see worn in Mexico City efficient? Not really, according to a specialist... Read more.