Inventor Marek Baczynski demonstrates his latest wacky creation that will nevertheless have you screaming ‘Shut up and take my money!’

It’s a self-driving potato, which he’s called Pontus, and has been imbued with cat-like qualities so you can have it as a pet.

The moment has finally arrived, where wildlife expert Coyote Peterson has fulfilled his quest to work his way up the insect sting pain index until he reaches the bullet ant.

The bullet ant is considered to have the most painful insect sting in the world which feels like ‘being shot by a gun and last for over 24 hours’—Coyote has been getting stung by various creatures and now he takes on the top one. Ouch.

We live in uncertain times, this much is certain. Times when no one it seems—not politicians, not your neighbour, not even your know-it-all work colleague—knows what Britain leaving the European Union will actually mean. Meanwhile, across the pond in the US they’re potentially facing a future with Donald Trump as president.

Bleak times, indeed. It’s times like this that you need to keep hold of your sanity by looking for advice about the future from a Zoltar fortune telling machine.

You know, like the one in the 1980s Tom Hanks movie Big. Although it’s nothing at all like this Zoltar machine which features Donald Trump making gloomy forecasts of his presidency if he won.

No, instead take the Zoltar machine in the video above which instead of bringing gloom is bringing hope—to Britain, anyway. With sterling at a record low, UK inflation due to rise, and Game of Thrones season seven’s return delayed until the summer, 2017 isn’t looking good.

But Zoltar, who no doubt has more insight than any so-called expert, is saying that the town of Wigan—yes the same Wigan a “supercomputer” declared the most liveable place on the planet—is Britain’s economic saviour. Our all-consuming hope for a better tomorrow.

Because Wigan has a plan.

Zoltan’s prophetic words reveal that, “Wigan will show you that it is conviction that burns as hot as coal, and the fires laid down in every western wharf, of every Keith and Keith, that fires us into who we are, that drives us forward as one. And what is true about Wigan can be true about all of us.”

And if the ‘Great Zoltar’ says it’s true then, well, it must be true.

Vox reporter Christophe Haubursin takes a look at the madness that is the 2016 clown sightings, which seemed to have snowballed recently in the US and are now happening around the world.

It’s got so bad that, as Haubursin notes, people have asked if its OK to shoot clowns and schools have gone on lockdown—the video also explores how clowns became so scary in the first place.

American skydiver and stuntman Luke Aikins recently made history by jumping out of a plane from 25,000 feet with no parachute.

Instead of a parachute there was a net that he fell into, gliding through the air, which he described as like levitating, before landing safely. His huge balls no doubt cushioning thefall

If you love magic then you’ve probably seen ‘Now You See Me 2′, the sequel to 2013’s Now You See Me, which sees the four illusionists forced into a heist by a powerful mogul (Daniel Radcliffe), which means they have to pull off an elaborate stunt to clear their names.

People love falling under the magician’s spell and plenty of elaborate and hugely impressive card tricks are featured in the new film.

To ensure these card tricks were performed convincingly the movie recruited magician and card expert Andrei Jikh and Blake Vogt to advise the actors and help them practice. A lot of magic is about doing things accurately with speed—so practice is crucial. Undertaking such complex manoeuvres with ease and finesse is integral to the trick convincing the audience.

An example of this and how deftly some magicians can perform is The Pendragons ‘Metamorphosis’ trick. Performed definitively in 1986 at the International Magic Awards it showed The Pendragons—husband and wife Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon—swap places with each other while one is locked in a chest. You can watch the trick here and once you’ve seen it you’ll wonder just how they managed to switch places all in under a minute.

Well, The Secrets of Magic Revealed explains, “The secret here is a hidden hole and impeccable timing. There is a hole concealed at the back of the chest, which the audience and camera can’t see. If you take the time to notice, once Jonathon is inside the box, Charlotte takes an awfully long time dramatically sealing and locking box, giving her partner ample time to get out of the bag (through a hidden zip in the bag, of course), and out of the hole in the back of the box.

So there you go. There are plenty more classic tricks explained on The Secrets of Magic Revealed, from Siegfried & Roy’s transition trick of turning a woman into a tiger to David Copperfield’s insane “death saw” illusion, to the classic optical illusion trick of linking rings, performed by Richard Ross.

When you get a new pet you may decide to get it from a shelter, a local breeder, a pet shop, or you may choose to buy it online through a classified ad site. That last option comes with risks that buyers might not be fully aware of.

International animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS carried out research on 42 classified ad sites and found evidence of sites offering illegally imported puppies, banned breeds, and endangered and wild caught species.

The following were all uncovered by the charity, allowed to happen due to a lack of proper regulation: a puppy being swapped for a smart phone, a pit bull advertised illegally for professional dog fighting, illegally imported puppies from Lithuania, an unwanted pregnant monkey, wild boar being advertised to train hunting dogs, an endangered ring-tailed lemur for sale as a pet and a parrot being swapped for a lap top.

Countries included in the research were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK.

To combat the problem the charity have developed an online tool which can be accessed at petdeception.org. The tool ranks the sites according to a set of measures designed to safeguard and protect the animals sold on them.

“With our international campaign FOUR PAWS wants to stop this ‘pet deception’,” says Julie Sanders, international director of companion animals department at FOUR PAWS, “As part of the campaign we have developed an online tool which ranks the more commonly used classified ad sites to show the public which sites could be putting them, and indeed the animals, at risk. We have [also] developed a set of recommended measures and are calling on global brands to lead the way in protecting animals and people by adopting them.”

There is an online petition which calls on these global brands, like eBay Classified Group, to adopt these measures.

To learn more about the campaign visit the Pet Deception campaign website.

Coyote Peterson hosts nature web show Breaking Trail and he was in Costa Rica’s remote Osa Peninsula at night looking for reptiles and amphibians, when an ocelot attacked! Kind of.

Because it didn’t really attack, instead it began playing with Peterson, playfully biting him and romping around—basically doing what your house cat does, except if it wanted to this ocelot could savage the hell out of him.

playful young ocelot