World's Smartest Dog Impresses on Today

Marie Bardi · 02/09/11 10:30AM

Chase, a female Border Collie, has a vocabulary of over 1,200 words - by far, the largest known of any canine. Watch her respond to several of Matt Lauer's commands, even recognizing the word "Spongebob."

Impossibly High Heels Turn Model's Legs to Jelly on Runway

Marie Bardi · 02/09/11 09:50AM

Although she starts off strong, this model simply cannot stop her legs from buckling in a pair of killer heels. We all know the adage "beauty is pain," but maybe shoes this dangerous go a bit too far.

Somali Pirates on a Ship-Seizing Streak

Hamilton Nolan · 02/09/11 09:03AM

Somali pirates have seized a Greek supertanker off the coast of Oman—just one day after seizing an Italian supertanker! "Don't forget us, news media!" they seem to be saying. "Egypt is a passing fad." [USAT. Photo: Getty]

Freeze Frame

Whitney Jefferson · 02/09/11 09:00AM

Can you guess what movie this image comes from? Check back for the answer at 4pm today.

Scientists Brewing 200-Year-Old Shipwreck Beer

Max Read · 02/09/11 03:38AM

Being a professional beer-taster probably sounds like a pretty good job, until you are asked to taste samples of 200-year-old beer found in a Baltic Sea shipwreck. The tasters who were asked to do so recently, on behalf of researchers in the Åland Islands (an autonomous region of Finland), said that the beer, found in a shipwreck dating back to the early part of the 19th century, "did taste very old... with some burnt notes," not to mention "quite acidic."

The Mystery of the 700,000 Missing Condoms

Max Read · 02/09/11 12:34AM

Has anyone seen 700,000 ultrathin Japanese condoms? Malaysian police are looking for them. The condoms, manufactured by the Sagami Rubber Corporation, were loaded onto a container in Malaysia last week, but never arrived in Japan (the container did arrive, empty, with its locks changed). Rest assured, no expense is being spared:

Syria Unbans Facebook, YouTube

Max Read · 02/08/11 11:28PM

The Syrian government apparently unbanned Facebook and YouTube on Tuesday, five years after those and other social networking sites were blocked nationwide. (Not that the ban had stopped anyone—both sites "are popular across the country" and accessed through anonymous proxy servers. You can't stop viral videos, guys!) So far, Syrian attempts at generating protests on the same scale as those in Egypt and Tunisia have failed, and it'll be interesting to see if a more easily-accessible internet will facilitate anti-government activity, or just get everyone hooked on Farmville. [Guardian]