Real live Hydra: two-headed, albino snake!

STEP RIGHT UP and feast your eyes on the slithering wonder--a diamond in the rough--an albino aberration with not one but TWO, HUNGRY HEADS! The mighty Hercules himself would feign at the sight of a such a sinister serpent!

Or so the story might go from the Venice Beach freak show proprieter who ponied up a cool $20k for this dual-headed hognose, appropriately called Lenny and Squiggly. It's rarity is enhanced by the genetic crap-shoot that is albinism. Apparently bicephalic animals suffer from many ailments which tend to significantly shorten their lifespans. The snake(s) is/are only 9 months old, but the owner has hopes it will live long and bring him a windfall. From The Examiner:

Like many two-headed snakes, both of their heads are fully functional and independent, though one of them exerts a far greater control over the body. Conjoined animals like Lenny and Squiggly often of difficulty moving due to conflicting orders from the two heads, making survival in the wild all but impossible. Life in captivity fares little better, though several animals have lived their full lifespans.

Not to second guess the founders of Western civilization, but these guys are almost too cute to really be a threat to Mediterranean demigods. Almost (they are snakes after all). Hognoses can be kept as "exotic pets," and it would seem their new owner has hit the mother lode.
 
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Glow in the Dark Mushrooms!

Image: Cassius V. Stevani / Chemistry Institute, University of Sao Paulo via MSNBC

I guess I thought these were based more in science fiction and fantasy than fact (what do I know?!), but they're REAL! Researchers have found them in regions spanning the globe:

The freaky findings, reported today in the journal Mycologia, increases the number of aglow mushroom species from 64 to 71, shedding light on the evolution of luminescence in nature.

The newly identified mushrooms, which emit a bright, yellowish-green light 24 hours a day, were found in Belize, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico. They include four species new to science and three new reports of luminescence in known species.

Even more interesting is a now emerging theory that many more types of mushrooms once had the glow, but lost their magical powers--er, their characteristic bioluminescence.

"What interests us is that within Mycena, the luminescent species come from 16 different lineages, which suggests that luminescence evolved at a single point and some species later lost the ability to glow," Desjardin said.

Read more on MSNBC and LiveScience...

Chinese Cat Grows Wings!

This would definitely fall under an X-File type of story--a cat in China has apparently grown "wing-like" appendages due to a genetic malformation. From MSNBC:

While some think the bony limbs may be a mutation of some kind — or even a Siamese twin growing inside the cat — others speculate it's a genetic change perhaps caused by chemicals ingested by the kitty's mother while she was pregnant.

Did the mention of a twin inside the cat make you gag a little bit? You're not alone. Even more disturbing is the fact that this is nothing new. Click this pic from Sodahead for more weirdness:

No word on how much Red Bull these cats may have ingested.

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Props: Photos borrowed from MSNBC and Sodahead.