He calls himself Big Cat Derek, and he makes some of the Internet’s most addictive Vines.

Meet the man who made a cougar Internet-famous. Like, an actual cougar.

Jul 23, 2015

In 2014, a cougar named Cassie started an Internet trend when, despite being told not to, she just couldn’t keep from squeaking.

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Cassie gives zero flips and doesn’t even try. All images and Vines via Big Cat Derek.

Big cat and not-so-big cat lovers everywhere followed suit, making Vines to show off their cats’ cheeky lack of cooperation and using the hashtag #trynottosqueak.

Big Cat Derek is the man responsible for Cassie’s fame. He lives at a cat sanctuary and keeps a three-legged llama in his backyard.

Nearly a million people follow his hilarious Vines of animals who live at the Center for Animal Research and Education. Derek Krahn — known among social media as Big Cat Derek — has loved tigers since he was little, so when the opportunity arose to volunteer at CARE, he was floored.

“I fortuitously stumbled upon an opportunity to become a volunteer at the facility, and they couldn’t get rid of me after that point,” he said.

An aviation meteorologist by day and a badass volunteer big cat advocate and caregiver by night, Derek has been with the foundation since 2006 and is now on their board of directors. He even met his wife — human, not cat — there.

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Baby lions really love Derek. And not in the “love him for dinner” kind of way.

Upworthy asked Big Cat Derek to share some of his stories about the totally #dorbs cats he interacts with every day.

You’ve started a lot of trends on social media. Which of your videos went viral first?

Derek: It was our tiger, Levi, and he was just walking around in the snow, and the snow was muffling his steps, and how he was moving and how he approached the camera was a beautiful shot. I remember thinking to myself when I first shot that video that it was a special one.

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This is one freaking majestic animal.

And then you had your biggest trend, “Try not to squeak.”

Derek: Cassie was quickly becoming one of my biggest Vine stars — I call them the “celebrikitties.” Almost every single squeak … in a Vine is taken within the first 40 seconds of me approaching her enclosure because that’s when she’s excited. So I walked up to the enclosure and said, “Try not to squeak,” and of course she did. And it was a hit!

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It’s adorable every. single. time. #cassie #trynottosqueak

I try to capture the different personalities of the cats because I’ve been working with the cats for almost a decade. Pawi (Kannapalli) has this kind of Lenny from “Of Mice and Men” air about him, and he’s a little bit derpy and a little bit feisty.

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Derp.

Each cat is very different. When I do Vines of them or I do posts of them, it’s not just like, “Hey look at this beautiful tiger,” but rather, “Hey, look at Chompers, and here are moments of Chomper’s personality,” and people relate.

[vine https://vine.co/v/OJLE5aEeEPw/embed/simple expand=1]

Luca’s always been a bit of a shithead! The jokes kind of capture him perfectly.

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Ba-dum-tssss. #LucaJokes

It’s a cool thing — you aren’t just seeing this generic animal; you’re seeing this creature with its own personality.

So … big cats in the middle of Texas? This isn’t a natural habitat for lions and tigers. How does this happen?

Derek: Many of the other cats have been rescued from … less than savory circumstances. A lot of them come from people who had them as pets that obviously shouldn’t have them as pets. People have these romantic notions about a lion or a tiger living in their house, and they don’t really think it all the way through; they don’t know exactly what they’re getting into. Our organization is set up to provide a stable, permanent, and loving home for these animals.

[vine https://vine.co/v/enVei0v59pw/embed/simple expand=1]

Happy big cats, livin’ in Texas, roamin’ around.

Can you tell me a story about how one particular cat wound up at CARE?

Derek: I can tell you about Tabula, she’s one of our lionesses. She actually came in 2008.

There was a private collector up in Midland who had about a dozen or so lions and tigers living in these really ramshackle cages out in his backyard, and they were these really small, tight spaces. She was declawed when she first came over to CARE, and she was accustomed to living in a cage of about 10 by 10 feet, and she’d been living in that cage for close to a decade. …

When she first got to CARE, the enclosure was spacious and big and there was grass and there were blue skies and it was overwhelming, and she lost her cookies. She hid underneath a wooden housing unit for about three weeks.

Eventually, she started to come out of her shell, lose weight, and approach the fence to actually show affection. She’s a lot better off than she was, that’s for sure.

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Derek + Tabula = <3

People who get these animals as pets and then they declaw them, that’s pretty brutal. That comes from the idea that it makes these cats safer, and in a lot of ways, it actually makes them more dangerous. Anyone who works with big cats should know the phrase “claws hurt, teeth kill,” and if you take away the “hurt” set of weapons, the only thing that’s left is the “kill” set of weapons.

And then the added detriment to the well-being of the animals themselves — you’re talking wild animals that weigh 400, 500, 600 pounds that now have to hold themselves on portions of their paws that aren’t normally being utilized for sustaining lots of weight like that. … I’ve seen a lot of cats that have experienced difficulties as they’ve gotten older; they’ve become a lot more arthritic too, even, with some of the cats literally having years shaved off of their lives because of the way that they’re holding their bodies. We’ve never declawed any of our cats. The only cats that are declawed are the ones that come to the facility already declawed.

Any final thoughts?

Derek: I’m going to keep on doing this as long as my body will let me! You look at a lot of these Vines on social media. There are a lot of people on social media who have a tailored approach. Yes, my content revolves around big cats because, you know, I’m called Big Cat Derek, but sometimes it’s going to be funny, sometimes it’s going to be educational, sometimes it’s going to be condemning things that I find to be bad, sometimes it’s going to be me putting my heart and my feeling and my emotions out there.

[vine https://vine.co/v/Ou57njxnwAE/embed/simple expand=1]

NOTE: While these cuddly lion cubs and baby tigers are adorable, remember that a 500-pound wild beast with dangerous #peets and giant teeth does not make a good pet. Instead of taking in a stray leopard, why not try virtually adopting one of CARE’s cats?

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In Partnership With Habitat For Humanity →

Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.

Culture, Family

A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.

Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home.

Sarah Watts

3/25/2026
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.

Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.

Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.

Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
- Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
- Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
- Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
- Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
- Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today.
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Photo credit: Canva Photos – A gay man's 30-day challenge to learn how to do things "straight" is going super viral.

Culture, Identity

Gay man learning how to say goodbye ‘like a straight man’ is pure comedy gold

“No whimsy, no enthusiasm, nothing”

Evan Porter

4/14/2026

It’s no secret that there are certain mannerisms and speech patterns we often associate with being gay. The phenomenon of so-called “gay mannerisms” and voice has actually been the subject of quite a bit of scientific research. One study from 2002 found that people were able to accurately predict the sexual orientation of a speaker just by hearing their voice about 62% of the time. Researchers theorize that some, but certainly not all, gay men may adopt more feminine mannerisms and voice patterns as a form of subconscious social signaling.

It’s much more complicated than that, though. The way gay men speak and behave is as diverse and varied as the community itself: which is to say, very.

But one more pressing question remains: If “gay mannerisms” can be categorized and studied, can those of the heterosexual male be quantified? And, more importantly, can they be learned?

Comedic experiment ensues

Content creator Kai Cameron was up to the challenge. The openly gay TikTok star recently launched a tongue-in-cheek 30-day challenge where he attempts to learn how to do and say things “like a straight man.”

On Day 1, Cameron’s brother teaches him how to sit down like a straight man. On Day 4, they move onto answering the phone. Day 7 features more advanced material: entering a party the way a straight man would. Cameron learns to sway his hips less, talk in a deeper tone of voice, and suppress any hint of enthusiasm.

On Day 11, Cameron was ready to tackle the simple but crucial task of saying “Goodbye,” to a friend. His instructor in the clip, this time actor and filmmaker Peter Falls, demonstrates a textbook, nonchalant “Alright, see ya later,” with a barely perceptible hand-gesture-wave-kind-of-thing. Straight guys will instantly recognize it and notice Falls’ impeccable form.

The words come easily enough for Cameron, but he gets stuck on the hand movements. “Can you do the finger thing again?” he asks, before trying it with a dramatic wave. “That’s way too much,” Falls says.

After a little more practice, though, Cameron’s mostly got it. He confidently walks forward, chest puffed out, body stiff, and drops his voice a few octaves before muttering “See ya, man,” with a small (for him) flick of the wrist.

Close enough!

View this post on Instagram

Viewers find the videos hilarious but revealing

Does the video series mine humor at the expense of people who exhibit “gay mannerisms?” On the contrary: thousands of commenters say that it’s rare to see such a brilliant dissection of the straight man.

Many noticed that so much of the demeanor comes from the eyes:

“U just have to lose the light in your eyes,” one commenter wrote.

“I love how the light leaves your eyes everytime and then comes right back,” said another.

“It’s the dead eyes when channeling straight man,” another echoed.

Other viewers went even deeper and more philosophical:

“No whimsy, no enthusiasm, nothing,” someone said.

“Watching [your] content has taught me a lot about what it looks like from the outside to be a straight guy. Just beat up by life. Body language which clearly indicates no one cares about you, so you stay reserved,” one commenter noted.

“I think some cultures have done a ton of damage by brainwashing boys and men into hiding vulnerability, sensitivity or even just being themselves. That takes a psychological toll. A lot of men don’t stay reserved because no one cares but because society (other men) teach them that tough men have to keep it all in. It is not healthy for you,” another said.

A third summed it up: “Basically just act depressed while doing all things and you got it!

View this post on Instagram

The fascinating origins of voice, body language, and mannerisms

Cameron’s social media video series is incredible comedy and entertainment, but it’s also a brilliant educational demonstration.

“Straight voice” isn’t just the absence of the more feminine qualities of “gay voice.” It is, itself, a learned and socially constructed behavior.

“When men enjoy doing things that are typically associated with women or femininity such as shopping, grooming their nails, giggling, etc., they are often quickly labeled as gay or soft and are negatively evaluated by many members of society,” Ayana Ali, a clinical social worker and therapist, told AskMen.

Even many gay men feel self-conscious about their voice and mannerisms, and may even mask them to adopt more traditionally masculine qualities in certain situations.

It’s an incredibly complex web of social conditioning, how we’re raised, biology, sociology, culture, gender norms, and more.

But it’s never been more hilariously deconstructed than in Cameron’s 30-day challenge.

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Photo credit: @racheleehiggins/TikTok – Want out of a relationship rut? The Three hour night might be the perfect solution.

Family, Modern Families

Married couple says the ‘3-Hour Night’ hack has totally improved their marriage

“It’s been so fun and such…a game changer for how our evenings go.”

Heather Wake

Upworthy Staff

4/14/2026

Almost every long term relationship suffers from a rut eventually. That goes especially for married partners who become parents and have the added responsibility of raising kids. Maintaining a connection is hard enough in this busy, fast-paced world. Top it off with making sure kids are awake, dressed, entertained, well fed, oh yeah, and alive…and you best believe all you have energy for at the end of the day is sitting on the couch barely making it through one episode of your favorite show on Netflix.

And yet, we know how important it is to maintain a connection with our spouses. Many of us just don’t know how to make that happen while juggling a million other things. According to one mom, a “three-hour night” could be just the thing to tick off multiple boxes on the to-do list while rekindling romance at the same time. Talk about the ultimate marriage hack.

A couple that has lost their spark. via Canva/Photos

What is the 3-Hour Night marriage hack?

The three-hour night was something that Rachel Higgins and her husband began incorporating into their lives back in early 2024. And so far, “it’s been so fun and such…a game changer for how our evenings go,” she says in a clip posted to TikTok.

Before using the three-hour night, the evening would look a bit like this: their daughter would go to bed, they would lounge on the couch, scroll through social media, then fall asleep. Sound familiar?

But with a three-hour night, Higgins and her husband divvy up the time before bed into three sections, each for a different focus. In the first hour, starting around 7 p.m., is what Higgins calls “productive time,” during which the couple sees to any household chores that might need to be done.

@rachelleehiggins
if you’re stuck in a rut with your evenings try this! i saw someone do something similar to this a while ago but can’t remember who! #marriage #1sttimeparents #newyearsgoals
♬ original sound – Rachel Higgins

The hack put to into action

“So, start with like a quick cleanup of the kitchen or just like things that accumulated throughout the day, and then we try to do something that either … has been being put off or cleaning the bathroom or like organizing the pantry or hall closet or something like, super random like sharpening the knives. Anything that’s productive for the household,” she explains.

Next, the second hour is geared towards re-establishing a physical or emotional connection in their marriage. The phones go away, and they focus only on enjoying one another.

“So, that could be things like showering together or ‘having fun’ together, playing a game together, or just like anything that’s gonna get you guys talking and connecting or like debriefing from the day or just like talking about what you’re doing and like the plans for tomorrow or like how work’s going or whatever. So, anything that’s gonna connect and strengthen and build your marriage,” Higgins says.

Lastly, the final hour of the night is dedicated to anything Higgins and her husband individually want to do, any sort of personal recharge activity. Since this is a judgment-free time, Higgins states that “If you just want to lie on the couch and scroll your phone and watch TikToks or whatever, like watch YouTube videos,” it’s totally acceptable.

But can you really do this every night?

Higgins’ novel approach definitely interested viewers, who chimed in with their own questions. One major concern was how the heck this could be done every night. But even Higgins admits that she and her husband don’t succeed at having a three-hour night every night—they usually try for about 3-4 times a week. And honestly, even once a week could still probably be beneficial in building intimacy.

A happy couple in bed. Photo credit: Canva

“Such a good idea. Good for us empty nesters too! The phone scrolling is outta control!” one commenter wrote. “This is really cool. The housework is equal. The emotional connection is equal and the self care is equal. No room for resentment,” another added. “We don’t have kids yet but I love this and want to do it because the nights slip away so fast!!” a commenter added.

Others wondered how to have a three-hour night when things randomly popped up in their schedule, like when kids won’t magically go to sleep promptly at 7pm. Higgins shares that in these cases, they tend to just shorten each phase. The point being: these can and probably should be customizable, even fun, rather than yet another rigid chore.

Making your relationship a priority

Plus, a three-hour night (or whatever your version of a three-hour night may be) is a great way to remind yourself just how high a priority your relationship has in your life, no matter what else is going on at the time. Odds are you’ll probably find you do have more time for it than you previously thought.

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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Photo credit: Canva – 3-month-old baby repeats full sentences, shocking mom and social media.

Family, Kids

“He’s a baby genius”: 3-month-old stuns mom by perfectly repeating full sentences

The boy’s sister couldn’t believe her ears and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Jacalyn Wetzel

Upworthy Staff

4/14/2026

Babies can’t talk. This isn’t something that needs to be studied and researched, it’s a pretty common fact of human existence. The reasons babies cry is because they can’t talk to tell us what they need, at least that’s what the general understanding has been for centuries. Not only their brains, but their bodies lack the development and coordination needed to form complete words and sentences.

But what if some babies could talk and we simply haven’t been exposed to them because the world is so big? Thanks to social media, the world has gotten a whole lot smaller when it comes to being able to take a peek into other people’s lives. This means we get to be exposed to things that may otherwise gone unseen.

Wait, did that baby just talk?

Mekeia, a mom of two, uploaded a video of her then 3-month-old son talking. Not the cute baby babble that we like to call talking, but repeating actual short sentences.

@foxondemand
Watch until the end 😱omg🥹🥰!!
♬ original sound – foxondemand

Mekeia was recording her daughter playing with the baby when they captured the moment on video.

The little girl holds the baby’s face and says, “say I am two months,” before Mekeia corrects her, “say I am three months,” the little girl pipes back up. Clearly the baby was trying to join in the conversation with what was expected to be baby babble when the mom instructed the older child to let the baby have a chance to “talk.” It was then that the baby shocked everyone by sounding like he repeated the same phrase.

The two are visibly and audibly shocked not wanting to believe the baby actually repeats what the other child says. Mekeia is on the phone with a friend when the entire thing happens. Presumably thinking this is a fluke, the mom attempts to put the phone up to the baby’s mouth. When he just babbles, she tells the baby, “say hey Bam.” Nothing. Just more babble and drool.

This was no fluke

Just when you think your ears were playing tricks on you, the baby does it again when the mom tells him to say, “hey Quintin.” Clearly the baby still sounds like a baby but you can clearly hear him repeating the sound and cadence of the words so much so that it sounds like he’s fully saying the words. His older sister is overwhelmed with emotion and begins to cry while Mekeia seems to be so shocked that she begins to laugh while the person on the phone is just stunned into confusion.

People in the comments were eager to jump in with exclaiming the baby is a genius with one person writing, “he is a baby genius start showing him math problems.”

Another person jokes, “next thing he’s writing emails and making appointments.”

“Talking so clear would scare me sooo bad he’s so intelligent,” someone writes.

There’s actually a name for this

Others explain the phenomenon with a condition called echolalia.

“Echolalia is a normal part of child development. As children learn to talk and understand words, they imitate, copy or echo the sounds and words they hear. Over time, a child usually learns to talk by connecting new words together to make unique little phrases or sentences,” according to Speech and Language Advisor Claire Smith when interviewed by the BBC.

Sometimes this phenomenon rears its head extraordinarily early. Mekeia’s daughter was just three months old in the video above. Another popular video from a few years ago shows an 8-week-old infant from the UK very clearly saying the word “Hello” in response to his parents. A 7-week-old from Ireland was shown doing the same in 2015.

While echolalia can be a sign of autism, that’s not always the case. Many kids grow out of it by the age of three and continue their typical development.

And then there are the real prodigies

What’s really interesting is when kids start to actually understand and utilize language intentionally at an extremely early age. A boy named Michael Kevin Kearney was said to be talking by around 4-months-old, even asking his parents “What’s for dinner?” He went on to become a certified child prodigy, received a masters degree in biochemistry at just 14, and pursued a doctorate in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University.

Most babies who repeat words shockingly early are not little geniuses in the making, just good mimics. Much of the time, they’re not able to consistently repeat the feat once the clip goes viral on social media.

But you can’t blame the parents, and social media users, for getting excited. It’s adorable and fascinating to watch in action!

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

Keep Reading →
Photo credit: NASA – Chris Hadfield playing guitar in space.

Culture, Wholesome

13 years ago, an astronaut sang live from space with singers on Earth. It’s a must-watch.

People are revisiting Chris Hadfield’s performance with Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Gleeks choir.

Annie Reneau

4/14/2026

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield hasn’t seen Earth from as far away as the Artemis II astronauts who circled the Moon, but after completing three space missions, including a six-month stint as commander of the International Space Station (ISS), he is familiar with the “overview effect” in a way few humans ever experience.

In 2013, Hadfield captured what it feels like to see our home from space in a song he performed with Barenaked Ladies. While he played guitar and sang from the ISS, the band and the Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts Glee Club (aka “Wexford Gleeks”) performed alongside him from Earth.

The song is called “(I.S.S.) Is Somebody Singing,” and it’s all the more moving in light of the images from Artemis II.

Here’s a sampling of the lyrics:

Pushed back in my seat

Look out my window

There goes home

That ball of shiny blue

Houses everybody anybody ever knew

The song takes us on a journey: we fly out to space, around the Earth, and return home again, all while looking out the window at our beautiful planet. The visual of people singing from Earth, their “voices bouncing off the Moon,” takes on even greater significance now that we’ve returned there.

A view of Earth from near the Moon, taken during the Artemis II mission. Photo credit: NASA

Even though the video is 13 years old, people are revisiting it now with new appreciation:

“I keep coming back to this everytime there’s a significant step forward in space exploration! and it’s the perfect time to watch this for Artemis II!”

“Coming back to this after watching the Artemis II launch, and it feels so magical knowing they’re going back to the moon for all of us. These launches really make me feel connected to all of humanity.”

“Cried to this as the Artemis crew returned to earth. Watching the earth grow larger through the window, seeing the glow of reentry, the clouds passing by and the big red and white parachutes.”

Commander Reid Wiseman looks out at Earth from the Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA

Some people have asked how it was possible for the musicians to play live together without a delay. In interviews with astronauts on the ISS, there is often a lag in communications. But that’s less of an issue for a song like this than one might expect. Most likely, Hadfield played and sang live from the ISS, while the band and choir followed along with the transmission as they heard it.

As someone explained in a Quora inquiry:

“I actually know some performers who have performed with Chris Hadfield (not Hatfield) while he was on the ISS—Trent-Severn, three women from Ontario. It’s actually quite easy. He plays his guitar and sings. It’s beamed down from the ISS to a ground station, then transmitted by whatever method works (internet, phone lines, satellite link) to get to the destination, where it goes into the sound board. The sound man or woman sends it to the main PA speakers and to the stage monitors so that the performers can hear it. And they just play along with it as they hear it. It doesn’t matter that he actually played it a second or two before. They just play in time with it as it arrives where they are.”

What is challenging, apparently, is the singing itself in space. Hadfield explained that it’s “like singing with a head cold” because of the way the fluids in your body drain—or rather don’t drain—without the assistance of gravity.

The singing astronaut had another musical performance go viral in 2013. In fact, he made a whole music video from the ISS, covering “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. Hadfield said he always felt the song should be sung aboard a spaceship. (He added that if Bowie had been there, he would have done a better job.)

Thanks to Chris Hadfield for giving us these wonderful musical connections to human space exploration.

Keep Reading →
Photo credit: Canva Photos – A medical researcher invented a fictional disease, and then AI started handing out diagnoses.

Science, Technology

A researcher published a paper on a made-up disease. Then people started getting diagnosed.

If you’ve got red, itchy eyes, you might just have the (totally made up) “Bixonimania”

Evan Porter

4/14/2026

There have been a lot of dubious medical research papers published over the years. Famously, there was the 1998 case series that kicked off what would become an entire movement of vaccine skepticism by falsely linking them to autism. Before that, there was a whole slew of research bought and paid for by the sugar industry designed to “downplay the risks of sugar and highlight the hazards of fat,” according to NPR.

Rarely, however, are studies so heavily, and intentionally, fictionalized as a paper that quietly popped up in some small corners of the Internet in early 2024.

Researcher tests AI hypothesis

Almira Osmanovic Thunström, medical researcher at the University of Gothenburg, knew that Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, etc. draw from an expansive knowledge base they’re trained on.

Training data can include anything and everything from books to Reddit posts to song lyrics to articles published in reputable medical journals.

Crucially, hundreds of millions of people log into these AI services every year to ask about symptoms and receive medical advice. It’s the natural evolution of the “Just check WebMD” approach. Thunström wanted to see if she could effect the output of these LLMs by planting bogus ideas into their training data.

So, she made up a disease. She called it “Bixonimania,” which includes symptoms such as sore, itchy eyes and discolored eyelids. Then, she fabricated an entire research study around the condition and uploaded a “preprint” of the paper to a couple of servers—a preprint being a version of the research paper that has not yet undergone peer review, but is still made available for the public to read.

That’s “bixonimania” alright. Photo Credit: Canva Photos

Finally, with the seeds planted, and the false study publicly available for anyone (or anything) to see, Thunström waited to see if LLMs would begin spitting out “Bixonimania” as a diagnosis.

Fake disease finds serious legs in AI chats

If the experiment sounds ethically dubious, that’s fair, but Thunström made every effort to make it clear that the findings were completely false. Not only did she collaborate heavily with an ethics consultant on the experiment, she left plenty of breadcrumbs along the way.

For starters, the lead author of the study is listed as “Lazljiv Izgubljenovic,” a person who does not exist. Translated from Slovenian, the name means “The Lying Loser.”

Second was the name of the disease itself, which was chosen to be ridiculous sounding. “I wanted to be really clear to any physician or any medical staff that this is a made-up condition, because no eye condition would be called mania—that’s a psychiatric term,” Thunström said per Nature.com.

Early in the paper, the text “this entire paper is made up,” appears. As does a note that all of the fifty so-called “participants” were completely fictional. Toward the end, Thunström thanks such esteemed colleagues as “Professor Maria Bohm at The Starfleet Academy … onboard the USS Enterprise” and partners like “the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation.”

Despite the warnings, and the fact that (nearly) any qualified human reading the paper would know it was a fake, it began showing up in search results and even had the authority to appear on Google Scholar.

AI chatbots began spitting out “Bixonimania” as a possible diagnosis to users within just a few weeks—users who were probably suffering from eye irritation due to too much screen exposure. Thunström even has the screenshots to prove that certain models, including Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, still refer to the disease as a “recently” proposed or described condition.

Then something even stranger happened.

“Bixonimania” gets cited by other research papers

The “Bixonimania” paper was never peer-reviewed or published in an official journal, for obvious reasons. But, soon enough, it was referenced and cited in a new paper that was peer-reviewed.

“Bixonimania is an emerging form of POM [periorbital melanosis] linked to blue light exposure; further research on the mechanism is underway,” the authors confidently wrote.

The papers referencing the made-up disease were later retracted.

More than just AI trickery

The TL;DR? People rarely read beyond the headline. In fact, one study (a real one!) found that more than 75% of people who share an article online haven’t even read it. Most of us trust anything that appears in a medical journal.

You’d think physicians and researchers would be more thorough, but the truth is they’re just as susceptible to time crunches, lapses of focus, and even taking shortcuts in their work from time to time. In other words, they’re only human.

This fascinating experiment isn’t just about how a researcher managed to fool AI, it speaks to bigger problems with how we use the technology and our daily media habits.

“The solution isn’t just better filters. It’s better habits, better norms, and better expectations around how we read, verify and cite. Human‑centred resilience has to come first,” an astute commenter wrote.

“This expose has huge implications for academia and ‘googling your symptoms’. I was/am worried about being the one taking the hit for a controversial experiment of this sort. It was done with very high guardrails and ethical considerations, I hope everyone reading will take that in to account,” Thunström elaborated on LinkedIn.

She recently decided to retract the papers and keep them private somewhere curious users can read them, but they’ll no longer be crawled by LLMs.

LLMs are powerful tools, but they can be dangerous. Photo Credit: Canva Photos

“The bixonimania experiment was never about exposing LLMs as flawed tools, or arguing they have no place in medicine. They do. It was about demonstrating that any system can be infiltrated and that researchers who blindly cite AI-generated references really should read what they’re quoting. I know this firsthand,” she says in another LinkedIn post, adding that she herself has been duped by AI-generated summaries of her own research papers.

“The failure wasn’t the system. It was how I used it.”

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Photo credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons – David M. Brown, a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Science

Columbia shuttle astronaut shared a moving take on humanity shortly before reentry tragedy

It’s been 23 years since we lost these brave souls, but David M. Brown’s message remains timeless.

Cecily Knobler

4/14/2026

On February 1, 2003, a tragic reminder of how delicate life is struck those watching the landing of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107). Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. “Willie” McCool, and mission specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, Laurel B. Clark, and Ilan Ramon were selected for Columbia’s 28th mission. The mission involved orbiting Earth while conducting experimental research.

What they didn’t know was that, during liftoff, a piece of insulation foam had compromised one of the shuttle’s heat shields. Upon reentry, with just 16 minutes remaining before they were expected to touch down, the shuttle met its fatal end.

Crew of the STS-107. Photo credit: NASA

Giant leaps

Many have recently taken a renewed interest in astrophysics, inspired by the awe of the Artemis II mission. Astronauts who devote their lives to space exploration are nothing short of magnificent. It’s a pursuit defined by equal parts devotion, incredible bravery, and the ability to see the big picture, quite literally. As astronaut Neil Armstrong famously put it, even “small steps” in this realm are “giant leaps for mankind,” a reminder of the importance of perspective within the smallest scientific details.

Letter from space

Mission specialist Brown had sent an email just one day before the crew was set to land, and his aerial view of our tiny blue marble of a planet clearly gave him perspective.

A Reddit user who said they were related to Brown shared the email and wrote, “I had a family member on Columbia, Dave Brown. We were at the launch and the disaster was put in a very different perspective for us, even though I didn’t know him that well. He emailed the family regularly and the day before reentry sent a very impactful email to us that became much more so after the incident.”

The email read:

“Friends,
It’s hard to believe but I’m coming up on 16 days in space and we land tomorrow.

I can tell you a few things:

Floating is great – at two weeks it really started to become natural. I move much more slowly as there really isn’t a hurry. If you go too fast then stopping can be quite awkward. At first, we were still handing each other things, but now we pass them with just a little push.

We lose stuff all the time. I’m kind of prone to this on Earth, but it’s much worse here as I can now put things on the walls and ceiling too. It’s hard to remember that you have to look everywhere when you lose something, not just down.

The views of the Earth are really beautiful. If you’ve ever seen a space IMAX movie that’s really what it looks like. What really amazes me is to see large geographic features with my own eyes. Today, I saw all of Northern Libya, the Sinai Peninsula, the whole country of Israel, and then the Red Sea. I wish I’d had more time just to sit and look out the window with a map but our science program kept us very busy in the lab most of the time.

The science has been great and we’ve accomplished a lot. I could write more about it but that would take hours.

My crewmates are like my family – it will be hard to leave them after being so close for 2 1/2 years.

My most moving moment was reading a letter Ilan brought from a Holocaust survivor talking about his seven-year-old daughter who did not survive. I was stunned such a beautiful planet could harbor such bad things. It makes me want to enjoy every bit of the Earth for how great it really is.

I will make one more observation – if I’d been born in space I know I would desire to visit the beautiful Earth more than I’ve ever yearned to visit space. It is a wonderful planet.

Dave”

Data from the mission

While these precious lives were ended far too soon, their work was not in vain. NASA was able to salvage much of the data collected during the mission.

One of many examples was video footage that appeared to show a new, unexplained lightning-like phenomenon. In an article for New Scientist, Maggie McKee explains that researchers who pored over the footage saw a reddish glow unlike anything astrophysicists had seen at the time: “The glow occurred about 150 kilometres above the ocean near Madagascar and does not appear to be linked with thunderstorms.”

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A post shared by rocket enthusiast (@rocket.enthusiast)

Similar to the tragic end of the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51L) mission, astrophysicists, as all good scientists do, find a way to carry on. They use these experiences to deepen their understanding and to advance science beyond what once seemed possible. In the words of Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

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Photo credit: Dave Garcia/Pexels – Chicken tacos.

Culture, Wholesome

19-year-old taco shop owner’s heartfelt plea to save his restaurant has been a huge success

He nearly had to say goodbye to his lifelong dream. One TikTok changed everything.

Heather Wake

4/13/2026

Since he was twelve years old, Alexander Quinones had a dream: to open a restaurant. At 19, he invested $5,000 of his own savings, along with graduation money and support from his mother, Julie Stevens, to bring that dream to life. Thus, Detroit Loves Tacos 2 was born.

And yet, that dream was on the brink of fading. The fledgling restaurant struggled to attract customers, and Quinones was making just enough to cover daily expenses and pay his one employee. Closure seemed imminent.

“We had a difficult discussion that day. We’re gonna have to close if something doesn’t give,” Stevens told WXYZ-TV.

“I felt like I was failing in life a little bit. I put all my money into this, I put all my time into this. So it really, really hurt me,” Quinones added.

A plate of tacos with condiments. Photo credit: Canva

That was when the young business owner did something vulnerable: he made a heartfelt plea on TikTok, where he got candid about his situation.

He said his restaurant wasn’t built on “shortcuts” or “big investors,” but instead was the result of someone “working every single day, long nights with a vision.”

“Everything is made fresh with love and ready to serve,” he added, thanking those who have already visited and urging those who haven’t to “come by and check out what we’re doing.”

@detroitlovestacos2
19 years old with a dream . 🌮✨ We are officially just getting started at 25750 Ecorse Rd! Come help a young entrepreneur build something special in Taylor. Every tag and visit counts! #fyp #local #taylormichigan #viral #youngentrepreneur
♬ sonido original – Droxxen

Quinones’ story seemed to be the missing ingredient in his success. Not long after his video went viral, his restaurant was flooded with customers, and he has even sold out several times. As he adjusts to the increased demand, he hopes to remedy that soon. He is also now considering expanding the business, including opening additional locations and launching food trucks. Not bad, considering the restaurant was about to close its doors just days earlier.

Of course, it wasn’t just Quinones’ virality that made him successful. People who have visited the restaurant remark on the quality of his food.

“I just ordered catering from Detroit Loves Tacos last week for a lunch meeting at work! The corn was top notch and the beans were amazing with the big chunks of onion! We also got ground beef, chicken, and vegetarian tacos. The rice was so good too. Everyone was raving about how good it was,” one commenter wrote.

Another said, “10/10!! Hands down the best birria tacos we’ve ever had.”

This is TikTok used for good. A struggling business had something real to offer, just no visibility. The platform changed that. And bam, the community showed up, because it feels good to support someone’s dream. Sometimes, it really is that simple.

@detroitlovestacos2
Started with a dream, a whole lot of faith, and days where I didn’t know if it would all work out… but I kept going. Seeing this on the news isn’t just a moment to it’s everything I’ve prayed and worked for. This is for everyone who believed in me, supported me, and showed love from day one. And for anyone chasing something… don’t stop. It’s coming. ❤️ More to come… this is just the beginning. 📍 25750 Ecorse Rd 🕒 Mon–Fri 11–8 | Sat 12:30–8 📲 313-633-1905 🚗 Available on DoorDash. #fyp #local #viral #taylormichigan #YoungEntrepreneur
♬ original sound – detroitlovestacos2

For business owners, the thought of posting on social media can feel awkward, burdensome, and, at times, impossible to navigate in a way that feels worthwhile. But Quinones’ triumph is a welcome reminder that when it comes to finding your audience, a little authenticity really does go a long way.

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Photo credit: Representative photo credit: Canva – Two men tending bar

Culture, Wholesome

Bartenders expertly handled a ‘creepy’ guy. Then the plot twisted.

Instincts on point. Outcome hilariously unexpected.

Annie Reneau

4/13/2026

People are praising two London bartenders for how they navigated a situation at their bar that raised some red flags, despite a plot twist that changed the whole scenario. In a video shared by Sam Finch, a woman ordered a gin and tonic. Soon a man approached and started dancing up on her. Finch observed that she was “not vibing with it.”

The guy kept dancing in her face, and she pushed him away with her hand. Finch asked her if she was okay, and she gave him a thumbs up. Still, he felt the situation was weird because the guy would not take a hint.

Finch consulted with his fellow bartender: “Do you think she knows this guy?”

“I hope so,” he responded.

@sammfinch
couldn’t believe this 😭 @seffytime #fyp #bartender #london #pov
♬ original sound – Sam

The two were definitely not vibing

But they kept observing and consulting with one another about whether the woman was really okay. As the man’s behavior continued, the bartenders decided to check in more directly with the woman. They asked her if she knew the man, and when he stepped forward, they firmly asked him whether the two knew each other.

The man responded in the most unexpected way: “She’s my sister.”

The bartenders burst out laughing as the reality hit them.

“You guys thought I was a creep?!” the man said.

“OMG yes, he’s my brother!” the woman corroborated. “You were going to kick him out, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, literally,” the bartenders responded as they all had a good laugh over the misunderstanding.

Bartenders can play an important role in safety. Photo credit: Canva

People appreciated seeing the scene play out for the humor in it, of course. A man annoying his sister being mistaken for a man being a creep? That’s pretty darn funny. But people also loved seeing such a good example these bartenders set for making sure someone was safe.

The commenters loved how the bartenders responded

“I think I can speak for all women when I say: Thank you, and please keep doing this. This time it made everyone laugh at the end, but there will be many times when we’ll be really grateful that we don’t have to fight alone. No need to apologize for checking in. This is how men should be! You’re great.”

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for checking.”

“I’m certain they BOTH appreciated you all checking on her.”

“I’d rather you ask and be wrong than assume and be wrong.”

“Please don’t ever stop checking in these moments. I’m so glad this time it was a laugh!”

“Never stop noticing! Once a bartender saved one of my besties because he noticed a bad situation, thanks guyss.”

“Better to ask and have a funny ending than to not ask and wish you had. Well done gentlemen.”

As a guy who has intervened to protect a young woman from a creepy, aggressive guy… this is very good to see.

Hopefully, this encourages/inspires other young men to stand up for strangers in need – women or otherwise. https://t.co/51LTMkob5n
— 🅰️ (@AshtonGgmu) April 13, 2026

We see this scenario all too often: A man approaches a woman in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable, and she can’t easily get away. But the way these bartenders handled it was great. They were aware. They observed. They asked if she was okay. They kept observing even after she indicated she was, and they intervened when they were still unsure. Bravo.

Safety is a communal responsibility, and it was reassuring to see these two young men take it seriously. If we all look out for one another and speak up when we’re unsure if someone’s okay, the world will be a much safer place for everyone.

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