NOW YOU KNOW

Japanese schoolchildren have been swept up in a new craze—eyeball licking. The bizarre practice, known as “worming,” supposedly is an expression of intimacy, and was sparked by a music video in which a woman licks the lead singer’s eye. Ophthalmologists warned that the practice is causing scratched corneas and infections that could lead to blindness. But Japanese teens have ignored the warnings, with one teacher reporting that as many as 10 of his pupils turned up to class wearing eye patches to cover sties and conjunctivitis.