Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
- A scheme to revive the population of bats in the southwest has been hailed a success. Three years ago Dorset County Council bought 32 acres (13 hectares) of meadow land to
transform into a habitat for moths, beetles and spiders, the primary food for Greater Horseshoe bats, by planting hedgerows and trees. In 2022 there were 538 recorded sightings
of bats at nearby Bryanston School; last year there were 685. ● The Canadian town of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, 40 miles (64 km) west of Montreal, has passed a resolution officially
recognising trees as living beings with "the right to life, to natural growth, to integrity and regeneration". ● Residents in Orange County, Texas, were advised
to keep their doors and windows shut after an 18-wheel lorry overturned and an estimated 2 million bees escaped from the hives it was carrying. Emergency workers moved the
hives to other vehicles and most of the bees were safely recovered. ● A corn snake that escaped its vivarium in Bridlington and slithered unseen into a car was later
discovered sunning itself on the bonnet after the car had been parked in Scarborough, 17 miles (27km) away. By the time a reptile handler arrived to recover it, the snake was
inside the engine compartment. The snake has now been reunited with its owner. ● Earlier this month a black panther, or melanistic leopard, was recorded by a camera trap
in Duling Reserve Forest, Assam, in northeast India, for the first time. ● A camera trap in the Amazon rainforest has recorded a short-eared dog, an animal so rare it was
considered almost mythical. ● A fossilised wing phalanx bone from a pterosaur, almost perfectly preserved in three dimensions, rather than compressed by rock, has given
scientists a glimpse into the flying dinosaur's diet, as it contains traces of steroids, found in fish and squid, and confirmed that, like modern birds, pterosaurs had hollow
bones, reducing their weight to help them fly.
- NASA has officially begun the decommissioning process for the MAVEN Mars orbiter after efforts to reestablish contact since the probe went silent in December have all
failed. MAVEN, NASA's first mission to study the Martian atmosphere, has been in orbit of the red planet since 2014. The most significant discovery made with it was the
effect of solar radiation on atmospheric gases, which helped explain how Mars went from being a potentially habitable planet to the barren world it is today. ● Astronomers
have discovered a third galaxy seemingly void of dark matter, the unseen stuff that acts as gravitational scaffolding, holding galaxies together. The galaxy is part of
a chain of 12 galaxies, two others of which have no dark matter. It is hypothesised that two galaxies collided, their stars and dark matter passing by each other, but their
gasses colliding to form clouds that eventually coalesced and formed stars to make new galaxies, without dark matter. ● NASA's plucky Perseverence rover has now trundled
a distance of 26.1 miles (42km) on the surface of Mars, the equivalent of a marathon, although at a top speed of 0.1mph (160m/s).
- Archaeologists digging on the site of a planned nature reserve in the Netherlands have discovered more than 3,000 artifacts dating from the Stone Age to World War II, including
a C10th or C11th fibula pin, held to fasten clothing together, and a precursor to buttons or zips, and a C3rd or C4th gold ring,
in perfect and undamaged condition. ● Decades of work researching wild cotton has traced the origin of farmed cotton to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. ● A C11th
sword, recovered from the Warta River in western Poland, has been found to be remarkably well preserved, giving archaeologists insights into how it was made and used. It is not
known if it was dropped accidentally or placed in the river as a ceremonial offering, something there is historical evidence of for other rivers in the area. ● Researchers
in Warrington think they have identified the location of a lost medieval castle and have launched a fundraising campaign to begin a properly-conducted exploratory dig. ●
A team of archaeologists led by Phil Harding, best known for TV's Time Team, have unearthed a complex ritual site about three miles (4.8 km) from Stonehenge. The site
consists of fifty ritual pits and what were almost certainly two timber structures 394' (120m) apart and aligned with the summer and winter solstices. It was constructed around
5,000 years ago, likely a precursor to the famous stone circle. The circular earthen bank at Stonehenge, which long predates the erection of the stones, is almost exactly the
same diameter, suggesting that there might have been a similar totemic structure there before the stone circle. ● The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is
contesting plans by RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based company licensed to retrieve objects from the famous 1912 wreck site, after they proposed auctioning some of the
artifacts, including a eart-shaped pendant, a gold necklace and a bronze cherub. According to NOAA the plans would violate the legal obligations of RMS Titanic to honour the lost
lives; artifacts carried by survivors have previously been auctioned. ● An early large-scale chalk drawing of the Suffolk coast by Thomas Gainsborough is to be auctioned
later this month, with an estimated value of up to £50,000 ($66,100). ● A lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker during the Cloud City duel with Darth
Vader in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, complete with the severed hand effect prop, is to be auctioned with bidding expected to start at around $1m
(£760,000). [As an aside, Hamill marked Father's Day on social media this year with a picture of Vader... -Ed]
- A man and woman were arrested in Laurel County, Kentucky, this week after police, searching their car, discovered a bag on which was printed "DEFFNITELY NOT A BAG
FULL FULL OF DRUGS" [sic.]. It was, despite the label, full of drugs, as was another plain bag. The officers also found that there were outstanding arrest warrants
for both suspects. ● Australian police who raided an underground bunker system in Sydney have seized 2.7 tons (2.7 tonnes) of cocaine, a record seizure in the country. Two
people who tried to flee were arrested.
- Researchers have mapped the underground network of fungi that link 70% of the Earth's plants and tree. Unlike mushrooms, they are hyphae, microscopic tubes thinner than
a human hair. The total length of the network's strands is an estimated 68 quadrillion miles (110 quadrillion kilometres), almost a billion times the distance from the Earth
to the Sun, or about a tenth the width of the Milky Way, and it all weighs about five times as much as the total mass of every living person. ● One of the main arguments used
against wind turbines is their threat to birds. While the cited figures are often highly exaggerated researchers in America have now confirmed a Norwegian study that found that
painting a single turbine blade black the number of birds hit by the turbine can be reduced by over 70%. ● A team at the University of Edinburgh have developed a system to
recover lithium, cobalt and other expensive rare minerals from old batteries, using microbes. ● Eight adults and a child have been injured after lightning hit during a
handball competition in Germany. ● New analysis has suggested that the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people also shifted the entire country
to the east by 0.2" (5-6 mm). ● Environmental lawyer Paul Powlesland, who organised a group of volunteers to remove 200 bagfulls of rubbish from Alders Brook, a small
tributary of the Thames in northeast London, has learned that he is under investigation by England's environmental regulator for not having a permit...
IN BRIEF: A production of Prokoviev's ballet Romeo and Juliet in Türkiye last week took an unexpected turn just after Romeo, thinking Juliet dead, drank
poison and died, himself. As the dancer lay motionless on stage while the reawakened Juliet mourned him, a cat wandered on from the wings and sat down beside him before
scratching at his head. With remarkable composure the dancer stayed still, before, in an act of improvisation we think is totally new to the ballet, Juliet dragged him away from
the cat, by the feet, before continuing to mourn while the cat, oblivious to its newfound starring role in modern ballet, jumped up onto a table [No paws-de-deux? Sorry... -Ed]
● Former pararooper Karl Bushby, 57, is nearing the end of a 36,000-mile (58,000km) walk around the world, begun in 1998, but has hit an unexpected snag. He is due to
reach Calais, France, in September, and had asked for permission to walk through the service tunnel between the two rail tunnels of the Channel Tunnel, but Eurotunnel has
declined, citing safety and operational reasons. Bushby commented that "my team will need to have conversations, but if I have to swim across the channel then I am
prepared to do that." As part of his journey he swam across the Bering Strait in 2006 and became the first person to swim the 16-mile (300 km) width of the Caspian Sea, in
2024. ● A Chinese paraglider was left dangling nearly 200' (60m) in the air after getting caught on a crane atop a bridge. It is not clear how long he was there for but
the first pictures posted on social media were taken in daylight while pictures of him being rescued with a cherry picker were taken at night. ● Waymo is recalling almost
4,000 of its robotaxis after six logged incidents in Phoenix, Arizona, in April, and secven in the San Francisco Bay Area, in May, in which the autonomous cars failed to
recognise road construction zones, driving past closure signs or between traffic cones marking closed lanes. ● We are partial to Lego, especially Technic, models here at
Irregular Towers so we were very impressed to hear that, to celebrate the release of a Lego Technic set based on the Koenigsegg Sadair's Spear variation of the Jesko hypercar,
Lego built a full-sized, drivable version and took it Goodwood, home of the annual Festival of Speed. It took more than 9,400 hours and 327,906 bricks to build and includes
features such as Koenigsegg's "ghost mode" which opens the doors and bonnet, and turns in the mirrors at the touch of a single button. Markus Lundh, Koenigsegg's
official test driver got the replica car up to 69mph (111km/h), more than twice the previous record for a full-scale Lego Technic car, set with a Lego McLaren P1. The commercial
Lego Technic Sadair's Spear has a mere 4,104 pieces.
Little Jennifer's family were going out for the day by train and her parents were waiting for her to finish getting ready and come downstairs.
"Little Jennifer!" her father shouted, "Come on, we'll be late."
A few minutes later there was still no sign of her so her mother went upstairs and found her daughter dressed and ready but looking out of the window
at the birds in the garden. "Come on, Little Jennifer," she said, "didn't you hear Daddy calling you?"
Little Jennifer looked at her mother and smiled as only she could. "Oh yes, Mummy, but he should have started shouting earlier if he's in a
hurry."
^ ...end of line
