China’s ‘robot girl’ takes social media by storm

In a world where AI and robotics aim to mimic humans, one Chinese woman is doing the opposite — perfecting the art of impersonating a robot.

Dubbed “Robot Girl”, she first gained fame at the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing, where her lifelike android act left audiences struggling to tell her apart from an actual humanoid robot.

Now a popular content creator, she recently went viral for visiting her rural hometown in full android attire, stunning locals with her stiff movements and emotionless face. Standing 1.8 metres tall with a 58 cm waist, she enhances her robotic appearance with thigh-high heels and a special android suit.

The world’s smallest escalator

Hidden in the basement of More’s Department Store in Kawasaki, Japan, the world’s smallest escalator has just five steps and measures only 83.4 cm (32.8 inches).

Originally meant to connect the store to the Azalea underground shopping centre, a design flaw left the escalator too short to serve its purpose. Instead, it leads to a small flight of stairs, making it more of a Guinness World Record oddity than a practical invention.

Despite its lack of function, the ‘Petitcalator’ remains a quirky tourist attraction, now operating upward instead of downward — so visitors can at least enjoy a pointless 83 cm ride.

World’s largest collection of bricks

Clem Reinkemeyer, 87, was stunned to receive a Guinness World Record for his collection of 8,882 unique bricks, secretly counted and documented by his daughter Celia and son-in-law Dan Bisett while he was out of town.

Returning home to the surprise, he said, “It was a big surprise, and I’m very happy to have this certificate.”

Reinkemeyer, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, has been collecting these bricks for 40 years, with his oldest brick dating back to AD 100, though most are from 1870 to 1910, a peak period for brickmaking. His collection includes rare finds like a misspelled ‘Tulsa’ brick with a backward ‘S’ and a sidewalk brick from a Washington facility where the Pentagon now stands.

“Bricks have names, and you can trace them back historically. It’s unusual, but I like it,” he expressed.

Deadly snake inside washing machine

An Australian snake catcher responded to a family’s home where the world’s second most venomous snake was found in the washing machine.

Hudson Snake Catching posted a video to Facebook, showing what the snake catcher discovered when he arrived at a family’s home in Maudsland, a suburb of Gold Coast in Queensland.

The video shows a young eastern brown snake, the second most venomous snake in the world, inside the tub of the family’s washing machine.

The reptile wrangler was able to capture and relocate the snake without any injuries to humans or any other mishap.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 15th, 2025