Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
- Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service's Twitter account was in good form after a crew was called out to rescue a calf that had got its head stuck in the foot of a pylon, tweeting that after the calf had made a
"miscowculation" the animal rescue team worked "on the hoof" to free it before concluding with "he was last seen mooving off to rejoin his herd." ● Dogs are known to be able to
sniff out explosives, drugs and some illnesses but new research has found that they can also detect chemicals in breath or sweat released when their owners are stressed. The team at Queen's University Belfast who
conducted the trials hope that their findings will help in the training of therapy and assistance dogs. ● Species including grey seals, European bison, grey wolves and European beavers are reportedly thriving
across the continent thanks to legal protections; in Britain European beavers have recently been given protected status following their trial reintroduction at several locations. ● A wild boar piglet that
became separated from its family has been adopted by a herd of cows in Brevoerde, Germany. Farmer Friedrich Stapel told reporters that he has instructed the local hunter not to shoot 'Frieda', as she has become known,
and hopes she will move into the cow shed with the cattle over the winter. ● A study of wildlife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone has revealed that the radiation, coupled with minimal human activity, has led one
group of Eastern tree frogs to evolve black skins instead of green. ● Naturalists have discovered praying mantises living wild on the Channel Island of Jersey. They are common across Europe but as the climate
changes they appear to be moving northwards, and could become widespread across Britain in a few years. ● A tree dormouse has been found in an Austrian forest, twenty years after the last sighting of one in the
wild. ● Commuters on the train line between Staines and Ascot at around 8am last Monday found their journey delayed for about an hour after a swan was reported on the tracks. A transport policeman eventually
managed to carry it to safety using a large bag. ● A Greggs pastry shop in Pitlochry, Perthshire, was forced to close after a red squirrel got trapped inside. The shop's Twitter account related that "friendly
locals offered their help to lure the Greggs squirrel out [..] but ultimately, if you were having a tasty sleepover in Greggs, would you leave? No, of course not. It's only right we made the Greggs squirrel part of the
family." The squirrel was eventually caught safely and released into nearby woodland, while the store posted a picture of a Greggs name badge made out in the name of 'Squirrel'. The shop remained closed for
three days for a deep clean. Red squirrels are a protected species in Britain.
- Astronomers have determined why Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star and one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye (it is on Orion's left shoulder), suddenly dimmed then brightened again in 2019. The cause was
a massive ejection of part of its surface, some 400 billion times bigger than the Sun's coronal mass ejections. It is not thought that ejection implies Betelgeuse is about to go supernova; that is still expected to
happen in about 10,000 years' time. ● The asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA's Dart spacecraft successfully impacted last week now has a 6,000 mile (10,000km) debris trail behind it. ● Some of the grains
of dust sampled from asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese Hayabusa 2 and returned to Earth have been found to predate the formation of the Solar System. ● The Indian Space Research Organisation has confirmed that
its Mangalyaan Mars orbiter has failed after eight years of surveying the Red Planet, on what was originally planned as a six-month mission. ● NASA and SpaceX are studying the feasibility of a private
mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and push it back to a higher orbit, ideally to its original 373 miles (600km). Since its last servicing mission in 2009, when the Space Shuttle was still flying, its
orbit has decayed by 15.5 miles (25km) and unless it can be moved higher the HST will eventually fall back into the atmosphere and break up. A successful service and reorbiting mission would extend the telescope's life
by 20-30 years, dependant on its systems and instruments continuing to function. ● An autonomous rover built by a UK-based Airbus team for a planned NASA/European Space Agency mission to Mars is looking for a new
mission after the Mars plan was repurposed for helicopters a few months ago. It is hoped that it could be reconfigured for a Moon mission. ● Fresh evidence for the presence of extensive liquid water below Mars' southern polar ice cap has
been published. ● A new theory about the origin of the Moon has been published. It has been thought that a Mars-sized object called Theia crashed into the young Earth 4.5 billion year ago with the cloud of debris
thrown into orbit gradually coalescing to form the Moon, but the new theory, based on higher-resolution supercomputer simulations, suggests that the bulk of the Moon broke off in one piece with debris collecting on its surface over time.
If future Lunar missions can establish the structure of the Moon, the two theories will be able to be tested. ● The first published image from the James Webb Space Telescope has been found to include what could be
the oldest stars ever seen from Earth, a globular cluster thought to have formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. ● Three-dimensional renders of data from the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter
have revealed the structures of clouds on the planet as resembling "frosted cupcakes" ● New analysis of computer simulations and geological sites around the world has suggested that the asteroid impact
that wiped out the dinosaurs would have sent a tsunami up to a mile (1.6km) high as far as 7,500 miles (12,070km) away, roughly the distance between the Chicxulub crater on the north coast of Mexico - thought to be
the impact site, and New Zealand.
- Geneticists have determined that every person on Earth who has blue eyes is descended from a single individual who lived between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago because of the very specific gene mutation that causes
the colouring. ● Hundreds of preserved human and animal footprints found in ancient mud on Formby Beach north of Liverpool have shed light on the coastal environment between 1,000 and 9,000 years ago. They
included a teenager's footprint complete with evidence of a bunion. Because each layer of exposed mud is liable to be washed away by the tide within weeks scientists have had to race to scan them. ● Forty-four
7th Century solid gold coins have been discovered in a wall at a nature reserve in northern Israel. It is speculated that they were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the area, then part of the Byzantine
Empire, in 635. ● Singer-songwriter and classically-trained flautest Lizzo wowed fans at a recent concert when she played a 209-year-old crystal flute that had been presented to fourth US President James Madison. The flute, which had not been heard
since Madison's time, was escorted on stage by a police guard and a representative from the Library of Congress where it is kept. ● The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Paabo, for his work on
cracking the genetic code of Neanderthals, something which was thought impossible. The research will help in the understanding of how we evolved and how Homo sapiens became the dominant human species. ●
A set of rare photographs of The Beatles performing in the original Cavern Club in 1961 with Pete Best still on drums, months before they met Brian Epstein and a year before "Love Me Do" was released, has
been discovered. ● The Hooper Island Lighthouse, off the coast of Maryland in Chesapeake Bay has been sold at auction for $192,000 (£169,000). The lighthouse has an outer ladder but no moorage for boats,
no water, electricity or other utilities, contains asbestos, benzene, lead-based paint and other hazardous substances and the new owners are obliged to maintain it as a Coast Guard navigational aid, keep it to historic
preservation standards and sign a U.S. Navy memorandum detailing when it can be visited. ● A Hermès Himalaya Retourné Kelly 25 mother-of-pearl-white handbag made of crocodile skin has sold at auction in Paris
for €352,800 (£306,000 ;$346,800), more than three times its estimate and a record for luxury bags.
- After cheating allegations in world-class chess surfaced recently [TFIrs passim], the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles is investigating after a poker player called an all-in bet by her opponent to scoop a
$269,000 (£2410,000) jackpot with an inferior hand, and two fishermen taking part in a tournament on Lake Erie, Ohio, have been found to have stuffed lead weights into their catches to increase their weight and
help the men win a reported $30,000 (£26,500) cash prize. ● California has passed a law to decriminalise jaywalking - crossing a road anywhere other than designated pedestrian crossings - from January
1st "as long as it is safe to do so". For years American police officers have been accused of using suspected jaywalking to target and harass people of colour or of low income. ● Simon Wingett has been ordered by the High Court
to pay more than £117,000 ($133,000) to local cancer charities in Wrexham after being found to have invested £410,000 ($465,000) of earnings from a charity foundation shop he ran in Wrexham Maelor Hospital
into an unrealised scheme to build a 210'- (64m)-high bronze dragon statue on a former colliery site near the A5 road. He had claimed that the statue would rival others such as the Angel of the North; the court ruled that it had
no connection or benefit to cancer charities. The last payment from the foundation to an actual charity was in 2011. ● A Brazilian couple are being investigated by the national environment ministry after dying a
waterfall blue as part of a gender reveal party. The waterfall is on the Queima Pé river, which is a primary water source for the nearby town of Tangará da Serra, and which they are suspected of
contaminating. ● A Kansas man has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for wire fraud, after operating an illegal autopsy scheme. Shawn Parcells, 42, is a self-taught pathology assistant with no formal
education who made more than $1.1m (£0.97m) from more 350 clients who contracted his unlicensed National Autopsy Services company to perform autopsies. ● Discount supermarket chain Lidl has been ordered to
destroy its own-brand chocolate rabbits after a court battle with Lindt. The court found that the only visible difference between Lindt's chocolate bunnies and Lidl's was the colour of the ribbon around their neck. The
packaging, apart from the ribbon was almost identical. The court suggested that Lidl's chocolate bunnies could be melted down and the chocolate reused so it would not be wasted.
- A new report has found that the generation of electricity used to power computers to 'mine' the Bitcoin virtual currency is more damaging to the environment than the beef industry and more than seven times as bad
as gold mining. ● It has been alleged that Drax, the UK's largest renewable power station, has bought logging licenses to cut down swathes of old-growth trees in an environmentally-significant part of British
Columbia, Canada. Drax claims to only take sawdust and waste wood from the area, but an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme, using drone and satellite images as well as eye-witness statements
contradicted the company. As well as the environmental cost of shipping wood pellets from Canada to Yorkshire, whatever their source, burning them produces more CO2 than burning coal. ● From January
1st per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs, chemicals which are linked to developmental effects in children and persist in the environment will be banned from use in cosmetics, textiles and personal
care products in California. They are commonly used in waterproof cosmetics, non-stick cookware and other products. ● There are fifteen times as many electric cars in use across Britain today as there are public
charging points. ● A 1,824 acre (738 hectare) former industrial wasteland in Greater Manchester has been converted into a nature reserve. ● It has been estimated that the practice of 'flaring off' to burn
emissions from oil and gas wells could release five times more methane than previously thought. ● The first prototype nuclear fusion plant in the UK and possibly the world will be built at the West Burton power
station site in Nottinghamshire. It should be operational by the early 2040s. ● An American start-up claims to have developed a solid-state electric car battery that can be fully charged in minutes and last twice as
long as conventional batteries. ● Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used an AI system to design better electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries which would let them charge faster than conventional
ones.
- As Hurricane Ian approached Florida last week WBBH-TV's Kyla Galer drew bemusement for how she had waterproofed her microphone to report during the rainfall. She later responded on Instagram that "It is
what you think it is. It's a condom. It helps protect the gear. We can't get these mics wet. There's a lot of wind, a lot of rain. So we gotta do what we gotta do, and that is: put a condom on the microphone."
● A 29-year-old man won praise as the hurricane started to hit for wading through knee-deep water to rescue a cat that he had seen stranded on top of a ventilation unit. "[I knew that] if I don't save him, he's going
to die", he told reporters. ● Fox News' Tucker Carlson, a man so out of touch with the truth that the judge in a slander lawsuit stated that "Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr Carlson's
reputation, any reasonable viewer [Does Fox News have 'reasonable' viewers? -Ed] 'arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statement he makes", has his own view of hurricanes - he thinks they
are a "scam". In a recent segment he said "So, you hate to hype hurricanes, because it's just a staple of TV and everyone's kind of onto the scam. But there's a legitimately large hurricane barreling
toward the Gulf Coast of Florida tonight." As one Twitter user commented sarcastically, it is obvious that hurricanes are being staged by "big weather"...
IN BRIEF: Amazon has announced a new range of surveillancehome-assistance devices. ● Beyond Good & Evil 2 is now the computer game with the longest gap between first being
announced and being released. Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997 and released 5,156 days later (to general disappointment, as we recall); Beyond Good & Evil 2 was announced in 2008, and more than
5,234 days later there is still no sign of a release date. ● Last month it was widely reported that actor Bruce Willis had sold the rights to his face to a deepfake company, to allow the creation of a digital
'twin' to be used in films as Willis has retired after being diagnosed with aphasia. A spokesman for Willis has denied the report, and a spokesman for the company has said that only Willis has the rights to his face.
● A food delivery drone operated by Alphabet subsidiary Wing which landed on overhead power lines in Brisbane, Australia, during a "precautionary controlled landing" knocked out the power for hundreds
of homes for three hours. ● Twitter users have been posting to the @LizTruss account since she became Prime Minister. That account does not belong to her, it belongs to a Liz Trussell, who has been responding
good-naturedly and wittily to the posts from a flood of new followers (she went from 2,475 at the start of September to almost 40,000 this week), for example, when asked about the new cabinet she replied "Grabbed
lunch @IKEAUK today, picked up a new cabinet." The Prime Minister's Twitter account is @TrussLiz. ● An appeal has been launched to raise the money to buy a flat in Birkenhead, on the Wirral peninsula, after
its occupant Ron Gittins died. It was only after his relatives were asked to clear it that his legacy became apparent - the flat was filled with his artworks including paintings and a scultured red minotaur head. It is
hoped that "Ron's Place" will be turned into a space for artists. ● Just in time for Hallowe'en (or Thanksgiving) Emmett, Steve and Scott Andrusz have set a new American national and New York state
record for the heaviest pumpkin grown, with a 2,517lb (1,142kg) specimen. ● Leanne Cartwright, from Carlise, was amused when she found that she had been photographed on Google Street View in 2009. She was stunned
when she realised that she had been photographed again, in exactly the same location, and almost exactly the same pose, holding a carrier bag in her right hand and with her handbag strap across her body, by a Street View
camera in 2018.
UPDATES: Four women have been selected from a record number of applications to run the Port Lockroy post office on Goudier Island, Antarctica, the world's most remote post office, for five months. They
include newlywed Natalie Corbett, who will run the gift shop, and who described the trip as a "solo honeymoon".
The children were having a lesson about spelling. "Alright, children," the teacher said, "who can spell 'newspaper'?"
Little Simon's hand went up. "N-E-W-S-P-A-P-E-R, Miss."
"Quite right. Now, who can spell 'magazine'?"
Little Julie raised her hand. "M-A-G-A-Z-I-N-E, Miss."
"Well done. Let's see, who can spell 'television'?"
Little Jennifer's hand shot up. Smiling as only she could, she answered "T-V, Miss!"
