A 'virtual cocktail' glass lets you change the flavor of your drink; a mother who has 10 sons vacuums seven times a day; turmeric helps fight off blood cancer; a girl with Asperger receives a toilet paper igloo for Christmas; an inspirational grandmother-of-five celebrates her 80th birthday with a deep-sea dive. Interesting, red-hot and downright odd anecdotes from around the world in our news review of the week.

Virtual cocktails hijack your senses to turn water into wine

A device called the Vocktail is shaking up the traditional cocktail by mixing in a dash of electronics designed to fool your senses.

Made by Nimesha Ranasinghe and his team at the National University of Singapore, the Vocktail – short for virtual cocktail – is a glass that can be made to alter and augment flavors via a phone app.

Once a liquid is poured into the glass, a drinker can change the sight, smell and taste affecting its taste. The interactive drink consists of a cocktail glass that fits nicely into a 3D-printed structure which contains all the electronics for multisensory stimulation.