Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
- A couple who installed a pet-cam to keep an eye on their two dogs while they were out were amazed to see one of them - a miniature American Shepherd called
Ayce - pikcing up all of his toys from the living room floor and dropping them back into his toy basket before taking a nap on the sofa. ● Seven
thousand male Southern Darwin's frogs, endangered in the wild due to a fungal disease - have been flown 7,000 miles (11,270km) from their home on a remote
island off southern Chile to London Zoo to give birth. Tadpoles of the species grow up inside their fathers' vocal sacs to be 'born' as froglets through the
mouth. Fully-grown male Southern Darwin's frogs are tiny, weighing less than 0.07oz (2g). ● Dolphin pods usually number up to 30 of the aquatic mammals
but a "super pod" of over 1,500 Risso's dolphins, which can grow to over 10' (3m) has been seen playing and feeding in California's Carmel Bay.
● One important factor in monitoring the health of an ecosystem is its food chain, specifically the animals or plants near the bottom of the chain,
which for much marine life means krill, the prawn-like marine crustaceans no bigger than a little finger. The mass of krill in the ocean around Antarctica
is thought to outweigh that of humans and cows worldwide, but because of their size they have been impossible to count until now. The World Wildlife Fund, the British
Antarctic Survey and the University of Strathclyde have revealed details of a plan first speculated on in 2020, to use satellites which image the ocean in
colour. Because krill contain red pigment their presence should slightly alter the colour of the ocean when seen from orbit, detectable using an AI system to scan the
images. ● Bureaucrats in the Czech region of Brdy spent weeks arguing over the building of a dam on the Klabava River to keep water within valuable
wetland nature habitats, only to find that beavers had built several dams across the river in a single night, achieving the same result and saving them trouble
and expense - the project was expected to cost CZK 30,000,000 (£900,000; $1,238,000). ● Rescuers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue
charity, members of the local community and emergency services worked together to cut free a humpback whale that had become entangled in ropes near a fish
farm off the Isle of Skye. The ropes were not of a type used at the farm so it is thought that the whale had become caught up in them elsewhere and had become exhausted
after swimming to the location. ● Arachnophobes beware... spiders in the Whitefather's Cave on Ireland's Fermanagh/Cavan border have become infected
with a fungus that turns them into "zombies", leaving their concealed lairs or webs to die exposed on the roof or walls of the cave.
- Astronaut Sunita Williams, stuck on the International Space Station since problems with the Boeing Starliner capsule led to it being returned to Earth
unmanned, has not been wasting her time. Last week she conducted her ninth spacewalk, collecting samples from the exterior of the station and setting a new
record for female astronauts, having now spent 62 hours and six minutes spacewalking. She is also in fourth place for all astronauts. She, and crewmate
Butch Wilmore, are expected to return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule no earlier than the end of March. ● The idea of using a 'lightsail' in
space to propel craft using the force of light particles from a star, or a laser, has been a staple of science fiction for decades, and last year NASA
successfully tested an 860 sq. ft (80m2) sail in orbit. Now a team at the California Institute of Technology have created a platform to test
ultra-thin membranes for their suitability as future solar sails. ● NASA has revealed that the 26th rock sample collected by the Perservence
Mars rover is "unlike anything we've ever seen before". The rover's samples are sealed in titanium tubes for future recovery and return to Earth,
possibly as soon as the next decade. ● Scientists using a quantum device have confirmed a theory that the universe could undergo a catastrophic change.
In the 1970s it was suggested that the universe could be stuck in a "false vacuum" quantum state, which appears stable but is not, and could move
into a "true vacuum" state, which would be more stable but would change the entire structure of the universe. It is not known how long such a
change would take, or how likely it is to happen. ● On a recent flyby of Jupiter's moon Io NASA's Juno spacecraft found a volcanic hotspot that is
larger than Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake on Earth by surface area, and erupting with six times more power than the total energy of all the power plants
on Earth combined. ● Samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, taken by NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft and returned to Earth in 2023, have shown the
presence of amino acids, nitrogen (as ammonia) and nucleobases, fundamental components of DNA, suggesting that life on Earth could have been seeded from
outer space, to develop in sodium-rich salt waters on the early planet's surface.
- A prize of £800,000 ($1,000,000) is being offered to anyone who can decode 4,000 inscriptions on seals, pottery and tablets in a 5,000-year-old
language. The artifacts bearing the language were discovered over a hundred years ago in Pakistan's Indus Valley, and historians have been unable to
translate them despite there seemingly being just 34 characters used. There is a high probability that the language is connected to ancient graffiti in
India's Tamil Nadu, 1,400 miles (2,250km) to the south. ● A metal detectorist in Westphalia, Germany, has discovered a 1,600-year-old gold Roman
miniature padlock, the first of its kind discovered in Europe. It is a miniature version of iron or bronze locks found across the former Roman Empire.
● The wreck of the Vital de Oliveira, the only Brazilian ship destroyed by German U-boats during World War II has been discovered off Rio
De Janeiro. It was found after two brothers, called to help a fisherman free his nets from something on the sea bed called in a deep-sea diver who found that
they were caught on a gun and notified the authorities, who used side-scanning sonar and multibeam echo sounding to map the location. ● Fragments of
inscribed stone found in separate graves at a Norwegian grave site dating to between 50 BCE and 275 CE have been pieced together "like a jigsaw"
according to Kristel Rumer, professor of runology at the University of Oslo, to reveal a a pre-Viking runic language. ● A hardback copy of John
Lennon's book In His Own Words, signed by Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, has sold at auction for £2,000 ($2,500). The book is a illustrated
collection of Lennon's humorous poems, short stories and observations. ● A silver W196R Mercedes Strominierwagen (Streamliner) racing
car driven by both Juan Manuel Fangio, to win the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix, and Sterling Moss, to set an average lap speed record of 143mph (230km/h) at
Monza in the same year, has been sold at auction for a record €51.16m (£42.75m; $53.59m). There are only four examples of the model known to still
exist.
- Police in Anchorage, Alaska, are asking the public for help to name a new "potential crime fighter" caught on camera climbing into the back of a
patrol car to explore its interior. The "pint-sized" volunteer was a stoat, or short-tailed weasel. Suggested names on social media have included
'Furlock Holmes', 'The Erminator', 'Feretta', 'Miss D'meanor', 'Sgt Squeazel' and - after the police department joked that they were still negotiating
terms to recruit it, "mostly about how many snack breaks are acceptable", 'Detective Ernie Flash of the Snack Enforcement Task Force'. ●
Rhiannon Evans, 25, from Caernarfon, Wales, has been fined £100 ($124) compensation, £199 ($247) in costs, given a 12-month community order,
ordered to attend 15 alcohol rehabilitation session, to abstain from drinking for 60 days and given a two-year restraining order after being
convicted of cyber harassment against her ex-partner. She had sent him a series of close-up videos of her rear end as she farted into the camera, laughing,
as well as other offensive videos. They had been in dispute over child visitation rights.
- The Greenland Ice Sheet, the world's second largest body of ice, is cracking open faster than previously thought, according to scientists who created
3D maps of its surface. Since 1992 sea levels have risen by 0.55" (1.4cm) due to the loss of ice from Greenland alone. [Climate change or stress at the
stated desire of the incumbent Felon47 wanting to take over the country? You decide. -Ed] ● Seismic activity around the Axial Seamount, a volcano more than
a mile (1.6km) below the sea surface some 300 miles (483km) off the coast of Oregon has been increasing in intensity with hundreds of small tremors every
day over the last couple of years, suggesting that there could be a an eruption before the end of this year. The volcano erupted in 1998, 2011 and 2015.
Any eruption is more likely to ooze lava onto the sea floor rather than exploding. ● One victim of Storm Eowyn, one of the most powerful storms to
hit the UK in a decade, was a 166-year-old Himalayan cedar at the Rotal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It was the city's tallest tree. ● Thousands of residents
have been evacuated from the Greek island of Santorini and firefighters and rescue personnel flown in after hundreds of earthquakes including a magnitude
five struck it in less than a week, and authorities said they could not rule out the possibility of a devastating magnitude six quake. Although Santorini
lies on the Hellenic Volcanic Arc, a group of islands created by volcanic activity, the earthquakes are thought to be due to tectonic plate movement rather
than volcanoes.
IN BRIEF: Beccy Webster, landlady of the Gedling Inn, in Nottinghamshire, thought she had a surefire promotion for the pub's showing of live
televised soccer matches - a free pint for everyone in the pub every time Nottingham Forest scored a goal in their Premier League match against Brighton
last Saturday. Forest won the game 7-0... "Never in my wildest dreams did we imagine they'd score seven goals", she told reporters, adding that
the stunt had cost them almost 300 pints of beer, but also gained worldwide publicity. "People were singing, and people were respectful with the offer -
people were still buying drinks, people stayed for food and lots of people have been asking if we'll be having any more offers on! It's just nice to
get behind the team - it's good for the whole city, they're putting us on the map," she added. ● The Johnstown Flood Museum in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, which is dedicated to remembering a 19th-Century flood that devastated the town and killed 2,209 people has had to close
temporarily because the recent extreme cold weather caused pipes to burst, creating a water leak which damaged carpets and walls, but none of the exhibits...
● Mount Taranaki in New Zealand, or Taranaki Maunga to give it its proper Maori name, has been granted the same legal rights as a person. To the Maori
the mountains are ancestors and living beings, and Taranaki Maunga will be represented by a public body comprising four members of local Maori tribes and four
people appointed by New Zealand's conservation minister. It it the third natural feature in New Zealand to be granted legal personhood. ● Thomas Judge,
from Stockton, is walking 1,400 miles (2,250km) - from Middlesborough to Benidorm in Spain - with a 99lb (45kg) refridgerator strapped to his back, with the
aim of raising £200,000 ($250,700) for the First Contact UK Mental Health charity which helps people living with post-traumatic stress disorder and
dissociation disorder. ● Suffolk IT professional Harry Watson, 25, has celebrated after reaching the finals of the World Excel Championships, in which
competitors have to creatively solve problems using the Microsoft spreadsheet software. The finals are being held this year at a three-day spreadsheet conference in
Las Vegas.
UPDATES: A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after the prop gravestone for Ebenezer Scrooge in the graveyard of St Chad's Church in Shrewbury
was damaged last November. The prop had been made for a 1984 film adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and had become a popular tourist
attraction. It was repaired for free by a local stonemason and returned - still bearing some cracks but legible again - to the graveyard in time for
Christmas. ● Another plate of peeled bananas has been left on a street in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. The culprit is still unknown [But we are guessing
he is not large, orange, hairy and going "Ook!"... -Ed]
Little Jennifer had spent the afternoon at her friend Little Mary's, and her parents had come to collect her. She did not want
to go home and sat sulking in the back of the car.
"Why don't we go and get some ice cream," her mother suggested. There was no response from the back seat.
"Little Jennifer," her father said, "if you keep pouting like that we might as well just go home." There was
still no response.
"Well", her mother said, "I think we're getting the silent treatment."
A small voice piped up, "There's no such flavour! I'll have chocolate!"
