Odd News Roundup: Flying off the shelves: Chocolate-covered cicadas a hit in Maryland; Denmark trial uses virtual reality game to boost COVID vaccinations and more

Sarah Dwyer, of Chouquette Chocolates in Bethseda, started coating cicadas in chocolate and selling them when the periodical Brood X emerged this spring for the first time since 2004. Denmark trial uses virtual reality game to boost COVID vaccinations Denmark researchers are using virtual reality to encourage more COVID-19 vaccinations, through a game of maneuvering through a virus-infected crowd in a city square.

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Flying off the shelves: Chocolate-covered cicadas a hit in Maryland

Some might cringe, but at one Maryland chocolate shop, 17-year-old insects are flying off the shelves. Sarah Dwyer, of Chouquette Chocolates in Bethseda, started coating cicadas in chocolate and selling them when the periodical Brood X emerged this spring for the first time since 2004.

Denmark trial uses virtual reality game to boost COVID vaccinations

Denmark researchers are using virtual reality to encourage more COVID-19 vaccinations, through a game of maneuvering through a virus-infected crowd in a city square. In an experiment by the University of Copenhagen, participants wear goggles to play an elderly person crossing the square while avoiding red-clothed bypassers infected with COVID-19. Vaccinated characters dress in blue.

Giant drone sculpture menaces New York City, with intent

A giant, white sculpture of a drone has appeared 25 feet (7.6 m) over Manhattan's High Line park, unnerving New Yorkers - which was the creators' intention. Sam Durant, the artist behind the fiberglass "Untitled (drone)," said the work was designed to "remind the public that drones and surveillance are a tragic and pervasive presence in the daily lives of many living outside - and within - the United States."

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