WOMAN MARRIES CATS

The thing different about BARBARELLA BUCHER  is a bit weird.She married her two cats lugosi and spider and she even wore dress and did wedding vows.

WAR GERMANS DID PANTO IN DRAG.

Bob Brookes ,Mayhole,Switzerland found an odd story in a note from his granddad.This was that German soldiers wore woman's clothes  to do a panto in ww1 for British troops.This was to entertain the British during the 1914 Christmas truce.

These are 22 of the weirdest of the weird stories from 2014

READ ON THIS LINK-http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/these-are-22-of-the-weirdest-of-the-weird-stories-from-2014--lkPdnSfUKx

What is the weird 'dinosaur-like creature' washed up on beach baffling surfers and scientists?

This unusual creature has left residents baffled puzzled after being washed up on California beach. The brownish leather-skinned beast with sharp teeth and claws was found in Santa Barbara following a storm. Nobody has been able to identify what species of animal it is after it was discovered near a washout drain near the ocean.Although to many, it just looks like a decomposed seal, some have speculated it could have been roaming the Earth 65million years ago. One local said: "It looks like a combination of a dog and a seal." Another added: "To me it looks like the remnants of a dinosaur." Others thought it may be a bear, while some believe it is an American badger with its hair removed. MORE LIKELY A DOG I AM AFRAID HOW SAD.JON DOWNES-just putrefying

Life on the Edge review – the weird world of quantum biology explained

The scent of an orange, a robin on the wing – nothing could be more festive. But if you think such simple delights are born of simple processes, think again. For as Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden reveal in Life on the Edge, they are rooted in mind-bending physics that made even Einstein think twice: quantum mechanics. While everything is made up of electrons, protons and other particles that obey the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics (among them, the possibility of particles existing in two places simultaneously), collisions, vibrations and so on within a material generally prevent such “trickery” affecting an object as a whole. As the authors point out: “The weird quantum stuff that happens at the level of the very small doesn’t usually make a difference to the big stuff like cars or toasters that we see and use every day.”read more-http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/14/life-on-the-edge-jim-al-khalili-review-weird-world-of-quantum-biology

Dark matter signal: Weird X-ray emission discovery could usher in new age of astronomy

Astronomers might have finally detected a signal emitted from dark matter - the hypothetical material that makes up most of the universe - and if confirmed, this would lead to a new era in astronomical study. Researchers looking at European Space Agency data from the XMM Newton spacecraft found a strange spike in X-ray emissions coming from the Andromeda galaxy and the Perseus galaxy cluster. These signals do not correspond to any known particle or atom, so could have been produced by dark matter. The findings will be published in Physical Review Letters. The presence of dark matter is a hypothetical approach to explaining the physics problem of discrepancies in the mass of objects measured based on gravitational effects, and their mass measured on observable matter. When physicists study galaxies and the movement of stars, they face an intrinsic problem – if they only take visible matter into account, equations do not add up. This means there must be something missing, so they deduced there is likely to be an invisible kind of matter that does not interact with light but does so with its surroundings – and this is called dark matter. Dark matter is hypothesised to make up over 84% of the total matter of the universe.READ MORE AND SEE MORE PHOTOS LINK-http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dark-matter-signal-weird-x-ray-emission-discovery-could-usher-new-age-astronomy-1479320

5 Weird Sexual Fetishes You’ve Probably Never Heard Of .

Sex is sometimes a very strange thing. There’s different strokes for different folks, and then there’s the weird fetishes that we’ve spent our afternoon reading about, for your entertainment (or pleasure). Check out the five below, that cover everything from Frozen-related fantasies to a fondness for Kim K’s ‘ugly crying face’. 1. Psychorophilia Do you really like Frozen? We mean, REALLY like Frozen? Then you may* have psychorophilia, which is arousal that comes from watching others freeze. Read more at http://www.mtv.co.uk/wtf/news/5-weird-sexual-fetishes-youve-probably-never-heard-of#pMGKavtmxOP9P9JW.99

DOG BALANCER

Bella Boo is the name of the dog in the picture .There is a video clip online of this dog with 20 dog biscuits on her nose-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/11242713/The-talented-Bella-Boo-balancing-dog-extraordinaire-in-pictures.html

Poo Power: New British Bus Runs On Human Waste

A bus in Britain is making headlines for running on gas – and we're not talking about petroleum or natural gas. The Bio-Bus runs on biomethane gas that's produced by human sewage and food waste. The Bio-Bus has 40 seats and a range of around 186 miles on a full tank. When it officially goes into service next week, it'll run as a shuttle between the city of Bath and the Bristol airport, along with other routes. It's not hard to imagine the Bath Bus Company's newest power source prompting jokes. But the firm is touting the renewable benefits of the project, wrapping the Bio-Bus in a graphic cartoon that shows a row of people sitting on toilets. The company says that by using the alternative energy source, its new bus will also put out less carbon emissions than those powered by traditional diesel engines. The biomethane is being produced at a sewage treatment plant; the BBC says it "takes the annual waste of about five people to produce" a full tank. While the "poo bus" is a first in Britain, the biomethane idea took hold in Norway several years ago. It's also been used in Germany and Sweden. The U.S. Energy Department prefers to call biomethane "renewable natural gas." The agency says that while use of the resource is on a smaller scale here than in Europe, several projects are under way, in California and Indiana.

GAY BULL SAVED BY SIMPSONS

A gay bull ,Benjy,confirmed by the local vet .Lives on a farm in CO.MAYO,IRELAND,was saved from slaughter  by co-creator of the Simpsons -Sam Simon

A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar, review: 'weird, upsetting, unmissable'

It is proving to be the season for Holocaust novels that sidle up to their subject crabwise rather than with the head-on bull charge of a Schindler’s Ark, evoking icy laughter rather than racking sobs. A Man Lies Dreaming, by the Israeli-born novelist Lavie Tidhar, has not been published with the fanfare bestowed on Martin Amis’s The Zone of Interest or Howard Jacobson’s J, but it is their equal for savage humour. Tidhar’s usual modus operandi, most notably deployed in his prize-winning 2011 novel Osama, is to examine the defining moments of modern history by recasting them as pastiche noir fiction, inhabiting a space somewhere between counterfactualism and fantasy. A Man Lies Dreaming begins in the seedy Soho of 1939 where a German immigrant called Wolf grimly plies his trade as a private eye. Wolf was once a prominent far-right politician in Germany, but his party has been broken up and he has come to London to escape internment by the Communist government. He is now trying to forget about his previous existence, even going so far as to shave off his distinctive moustache. Those who enjoy laughter in the dark will relish Tidhar’s parade of mordant ironies. Leni Riefenstahl, also forced to flee Germany, pops up to tell Wolf that she has hit paydirt and is heading for Hollywood to make a film of The Great Gatsby with Humphrey Bogart (“'We’ll always have Nuremberg, won’t we, Wolf?’”). Sir Oswald Mosley is cruising to electoral victory after whipping up and riding a wave of antagonism towards the right-wing Germans asylum seekers, despite the fact that they are his political allies. And the CIA tell Wolf they’ll back his return to Germany: the Reds out at any price. What makes the novel something more than a compendium of enjoyably sick jokes is a framing device that only gradually becomes apparent to the reader. This Hitler-as-private-eye alternative reality turns out to be the daydream of a man living very much in reality as we know it: Shomer, a crime writer who is an inmate of Auschwitz. He is spinning this fantasy not to escape from his present situation but to avoid the treacherous habit of thinking about his past, about his murdered family: “He is angry at them not for leaving him but for coming back. They come from a world that no longer exists and has no right to intrude upon his present.” The Wolf narrative is merely a story within a story, then, and yet it succeeds as an excellent example of pulp fiction in its own right, with a plot of Chandleresque over-complication, involving a missing Jewish-READ MORE-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11229978/A-Man-Lies-Dreaming-by-Lavie-Tidhar.html

MODERN ART?

This work is created from 5800 oranges, and raises questions about ephemerality, time and decay. Visitors are invited to take an orange and as a result the piece literally dematerialises and changes through visitor participation. This work first appeared at the Arts Laboratory, London in October 1967. At this time, Louw had a large, low-rent studio in Stockwell Depot, which was an artists’ run initiative founded in 1968 by St Martin’s sculptors, Roland Brener and Peter Hide. Stockwell Depot provided an exhibition space for work that was often large-scale and unsellable.Yes modern art is weird but oranges brought for 30,000 ponds by tate modern gallery is very odd .Called SOUL CITY PYRAMID OF ORANGES and visitors are encouraged to eat display.

7 weird and wonderful Science Fiction and Fantasy Fan Theories

Human beings, always seeing patterns in things that aren't there. But part of being a fan of something is all about discussing theories and diving into interpretations of the franchises you're obsessed with. Here's 7 of the strangest, and sometimes silliest, Fan theories about the TV, Films and Games we love. Warning: Some of these theories, particularly the two at the bottom of this post, constitute as Spoilers for their respective franchises. If you've (somehow) not finished the Mass Effect trilogy or (understandably) haven't got round to reading all the A Song of Ice and Fire books, you might want to avoid reading further!READ MORE-http://toybox.io9.com/7-weird-and-wonderful-science-fiction-and-fantasy-fan-t-1658909551

Simulator games, the weird world of ultra-realistic sims

This could be you… The enduring appeal of video games is that they let you pretend to be someone you’re not. Roman emperor, Renaissance assassin and space marine are all standard-issue jobs for gamers. Not only that, most games sex up their subject matter, Michael Bay-style, with relentless, meaningless action and unnecessary explosions. Yet, despite all the high-octane thrills offered by much of the medium, a growing number of players are opting for a less fanciful form of escapism. The upcoming European Ship Simulator, for example, places you at the controls of ferries, tugs and fishing boats, as well as vast, ponderous ocean-going behemoths. Euro Truck Simulator 2, meanwhile, features reasonably lifelike trips between neighbouring European industrial centres, its joy derived from the journey rather than constant gaudy fanfares of achievement. All of which raises the question: what kind of player could possibly find this plodding, accurately detailed depiction of real life more entertaining than the incendiary, brightly coloured fantasy offered by most games? “On the day we published Euro Truck Simulator 2, we had a phone call from an HGV driver of 25 years who said he’d booked the day off work so that he could play the game all day as soon as it was released,” says Richard Barclay of simulator specialist Excalibur. “He suggested that the only way it could be more realistic would be if idiots in small family saloons kept cutting in front of you.”READ MORE-http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/07/simulator-games-euro-truck-simulator

7 weird Halloween facts that will scare the wits out of you

Did you know Somerset has it's own super-creepy Halloween traditions? Here's a round up of terrifying facts about the spookiest day of the year 104 Shares Share Tweet +1 Email Trick or treat? These spooky facts might give you nightmares It's the spookiest time of the year - and it might just be scarier than you thought. Around the world, many countries have their own weird Halloween traditions - and some of them are downright bizarre. Not to mention the deeply unsettling way they celebrate the festival in Somerset, where they call it 'punkie night'. So prepare to be chilled to your very core with these terrifying Halloween facts. 1. If you bite into a Halloween cake and hit a thimble, you'll be unlucky in love GettyHalloween dessertTry not to get the thimble Part of the Halloween tradition in colonial America involved the baking of a Halloween cake. Bakers would hide various things in the cake to tell the future. A thimble was a symbol of bad luck with the ladies or gentlemen. Also, presumably, a sign that you've got a costly visit to the dentist in your near future.READ MORE-http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/7-weird-halloween-facts-scare-4536459

When Did Feminism Become Weird?

Last week Time magazine ran an article entitled It's Not Just You. Feminism Does Seem To Be Getting Weirder. In it, the piece asked how we can push things forward despite pop-culture spinning feminism round faster than a fairground waltzer in reverse.

'On one hand, an increasingly diverse chorus of academic, pop culture, and male voices is claiming the F-word label', it began. 'On the other, it can sometimes look like this diverse set of voices - each with its own set of demands and priorities - will doom the movement through internecine warfare over everything from abortion to hashtag activism.'

The headline itself made me feel weird, much like the celebrity feminism we're calling out these days, but for different reasons.

I find Gwyneth Paltrow's goop website a bit weird or Donny Osmond's wig on last weeks Strictly Come Dancing, but feminism itself? If indeed there is something unnatural or unearthly about this so-called 'crossroads' we hashtag-feminists are tweeting at, is it right to finger-blame an entire movement? I'm not sure that it is, really.

Headlines are, in fact, part of the problem between feminism and the media these days: the personification of feminist theory is a baffling development that increasingly -read more-http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/kat-lister/feminism-has-it-become-weird_b_6015400.html

Crocodile' spotted in garden turns out to be inflatable

When the mother of a toddler spotted a crocodile in the her garden, she was naturally worried for the safety of her three-year-old.

Fortunately, after calling in the police and keepers from the nearest zoo, her alarm turned to relief, when it was discovered that the metre-long reptile in question was an inflatable toy.

The woman, who was making lunch in her kitchen when she spotted the imitation beast, intiailly ran to her neighbour's house, on Cundy Close, Plymouth. They warned her that is was too dangerous to approach the animal, which they said was probably a baby crocodile, unarmed

Even police officers and wildlife experts from Dartmoor Zoo, who sooon turned up, were initially fooled. It was only when officers, who were armed with snare poles, nets and riots shields, threw water over the toy that they realised what it was.

The imitation croc was removed from the garden and placed in police custody, while the Dartmoor Zoo team were stood down.

Related Articles

• Watch: moment drone brawl breaks out 
  15 Oct 2014
• Revenge porn Bill upsets British nudists 
  15 Oct 2014
• 'Elephant Man' has life-changing surgery 
  16 Oct 2014

"I was making my lunch in the kitchen and looked out into the back garden," the woman, who did not wish to be named, said.

"It was pouring with rain and I saw what I thought was a crocodile in the garden. I went to my neighbour's house to ask if they would come and have a look at it.

"They did think it was a baby crocodile and suggested calling the RSPCA or the police but we decided to call the police as I have a three-year-old and was worried.

"A policeman and a policewoman arrived and at that point we were all a bit suspicious because it hadn't moved.

"One of the police officers bravely went out to have a look. They threw water on it and it didn't move. I'm absolutely mortified."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed that officers attended the incident following the woman's call at 12.20pm.

He added: "We received a call from a concerned member of the public reporting that an escaped crocodile was in their garden, approximately 3ft in length.

"The caller was concerned for her child and the RSPCA and Dartmoor Zoo were informed and on their way to the zoo.

"Police officers attended and bravely investigated. The beast turned out to be an inflatable toy crocodile. Police have apprehended the crocodile."

A spokesman for Dartmoor Zoo said experts were regularly called out to deal with escaped pets including lizards and snakes.

He said the zoo received a call from police at around 12.30pm and assembled a team to attend the garden within 15 minutes.

"The team were on the road with all the equipment needed," the zoo spokesman said. "They were halfway there when we received a call from the police to say it was a toy.

"Our team have a variety of equipment to deal with such situations, including snare poles, nets on poles and riot shields.

"We also have dart guns but did not bring them on this occasion."

VAMPIRE SQUIRREL?

Doubt this article is true.During a viewing of New Dracula movie a squirrel leap  from above ,the person who witnessed this said Vampire Squirrel .The cinema closed and hunted for the Squirrel but no luck the cinema  offered the film goer a refund and a free showing of film.

24 gloriously weird wikiHow guides

All of human life is here.

---

From the most basic emotions…

1.

Top tip: “Take notice of their preferred activities, and try to initiate some time together in doing those things. “

---

…To the ins and outs of the heart

2.-READ MORE-http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/24-gloriously-weird-wikihow-guides--gJPJl4ebgl

Six weird and wacky ways to cut energy bills

1. Radiator Booster

For around £25 you can buy a radiator booster which could cut your heating bills by 10pc, it is claimed. The tube sits on top of a radiator and a small thermostatic fan draws the heat trapped behind the radiator and distributes it evenly around the room. Although the fan does make a small sound, test labs have found the booster heats up a room more quickly than without it.

2. Heat powered fan for wood burning stove

Amazon says that sales for this type of fan are up 72pc since the weather turned cooler this week. The fan sits atop the stove and circulates the warm air that would otherwise be confined to the immediate area of the stove.

They cost around £50 and do not need batteries.READ MORE-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/11148945/Cut-your-energy-bills-with-these-weird-and-wacky-gadgets.html

Video: Under attack spider explodes unleashing an army of babies

Isn’t nature gross?

In a scene that would not look to out of place in one of Ridley Scott’s Alien films, a video has captured the moment when a duelling spider explodes causing twelve smaller arachnids to burst out from its back .

The clip begins inconspicuously enough, with the two spiders seemingly sizing each other up as they circle the jar in which they are being kept.

However, when one of the insects comes under attack, it reacts by unleashing an army of twelve tiny spiders in what could be one of the most elaborate forms of self-defence in the animal kingdom.READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO LINK-http://www.independent.co.uk/news/weird-news/video-under-attack-spider-explodes-unleashing-an-army-of-babies-9784325.html

Ebola 'risen from the dead' zombie story is a complete hoax

The ‘confirmed picture’ is a doctored image from World War Z

GRAPHIC CONTENT: Goat born with a HUMAN FACE

The shocked farmer and his family claim that the calf would bring them bad luck, and rushed to bury the animal – that was already dead when it was born.
One of the farmer's neighbours snapped pics of the goat to highlight the excessive use of pesticides in the region of Centro, Argentina.
But supersticious locals decided it was something else altogether, and started spreading rumours that someone connected to the family had been having sex with a goat, producing the mutated offspring.
The farmer's wife Olga Villalba has now been forced into furious denials saying that neither her family or friends had interfered with the goat in any way.READ MORE-http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/402885/Goat-born-human-face-farmer-denies-sex

American TV presenter chased off screen by 'giant bee'

An American television weather presenter was chased off camera after the appearance of a giant bee in her studio. Jennifer Ketchmark, a meteorologist presenting on Fox59, was caught on camera fleeing the studio after what looks to be a giant 3ft bee invades the Indianapolis weather tower. After initially joking with her co-hosts about the insect, the weather presenter briefly loses her sense of humour when the bee arrives. Remaining calm, the presenter screams “Oh my gosh it’s back,” before hotfooting it off camera. “Let’s get past the tower cam, I don’t want to look at it anymore,” she says as she appears to dodge the bee. The great footage was caught when the errant bee decided for a close-up, flying right up to the camera’s lens – and appearing larger than life.-READ MORE-http://www.independent.co.uk/news/weird-news/american-tv-presenter-chased-off-screen-by-giant-bee-9769389.html

THREE TIMES A BOOB.

This model for some unknown reason decided to have a 12,000 third boob,not photo shopped
.

Mystery surrounds bent plane trail photographed over Southsea

Air traffic controllers have been left baffled by a plane which left a bent contrail in the sky, suggesting it suddenly changed its path mid-air.

Teacher Florence Lehmann spotted the plane’s trail, which resembles a ditch, as she left her home in Southsea, Hampshire at around 7:20am on Monday.

Miss Lehmann said: "It's really weird. It looks like the pilot sneezed or fell asleep. Somebody said a UFO had been spotted recently in the area and the pilot had tried to avoid it, which I quite like the sound of.

"There was no wind this morning and the plane actually moved trajectory."

A spokeswoman for Nats, the air traffic control company, said she was unable to explain why the plane had apparently changed direction.-READ MORE-http://www.independent.co.uk/news/weird-news/mystery-surrounds-bent-plane-trail-photographed-over-southsea-9749747.html

The weird afterlife of the world's subterranean 'ghost stations'

In 1920, construction began on what was to become an important new transportation system for Cincinnati, Ohio. Local voters had given near-unanimous support to a $6m (£3.7m) municipal bond, and despite wartime restrictions and shortages, the project began. Little did the city’s officials know that the system they were building would never carry a single passenger. Five years later, the money had run out, the federal government refused to help and construction was halted. Today, there is an entire six-mile subway system abandoned underneath the Cincinnati streets. Though Cincinnati’s empty subway is an extreme example, it’s part of a global phenomenon that’s actually quite common. Underground travel has become a familiar routine for millions of urban dwellers, but most commuters are unaware that lurking on the other side of the walls are the remains of abandoned stations, slowly deteriorating. Known as “ghost stations”, they are silent but powerful reminders of forgotten history. Tom Moran, editor of the website Urban Ghosts and an expert on abandoned stations, says: “For me, what makes abandoned subways more compelling than other subterranean infrastructure is the fact that they were built to cater for large crowds of people – unlike sewers and utility tunnels – and thus contain all the necessary features of a public space, from fire escapes to ornate signage and advertising on the walls. It’s that missing human element that makes them more eerie.” In the west, many stations were abandoned due to the boom and bust cycles of capitalist markets; in former or current communist countries, ghost stations are symbols of the excesses of authoritarianism. But their histories remain local. Though no longer part of the daily lives of people, each abandoned station is firmly rooted in its city’s past – and may yet become part of their city’s -READ MORE-http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/25/-sp-world-subterranean-ghost-stations-tube-abandoned-underground

OP FOR GOLDFISH

 A story about a goldfish named George who had life saving surgery to cut out a brain tumor at cost of 125 dollars ,the fish is well.

Anselm Kiefer, black Victorians and the weird world of Cosplay – the week in art

Heroic Symbol V (Heroisches Sinnbild V), 1970, by Anselm Kiefer. Photograph: Photo Collection Wuerth/copyright Anselm Kiefer

Exhibition of the week

Anselm Kiefer
The most anticipated exhibition of the year. Kiefer is a true great.
• Royal Academy, London W1J, from 27 September until 14 December

Other exhibitions this week

Roman Ostia
Departing from its usual exclusive focus on modern Italian art, the Estorick shows archaeological treasures from ancient Rome’s port, Ostia. (Plus some modern Italian art.)
• Estorick Collection, London N1, from 24 September until 21 December

KP Brehmer
An artistic critique of capitalism. Looks like fun.
• Raven Row, London E1, from 25 September until 30 November

Clare Woods
The winner of this year’s Wakelin Award exhibits paintings rooted in Welsh landscapes.
• National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, until 4 October

The Art of Golf
Celebrate or recover with images of Scotland’s national game, or just soothe yourself among this gallery’s permanent treasures.
• Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, until 26 October-READ MORE-http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/19/anselm-kiefer-black-victorians-portraits-cosplay-week-in-art

Weird and wonderful scarecrows on show

A VILLAGE has become home to a host of characters thanks to crafty residents.

More than 30 weird and wonderful scarecrows have been created in Easington Village as part of a competition.

An astronaut, teddy bears picnic, Britannia and a giant wooden robot have all been put on display by people hoping to win a prize.

Organiser Alice Morton arranged the colourful competition for the second year, and said she is pleased with the response.

“I wanted to organise it because I thought if I don’t do it, then no one will,” she said.

“It is a way to get the whole community together and getting crafty.

“We’ve got a Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, a builder and a genie, to name a few.”

Alice, 18, who is due to start a degree at Leeds Metropolitan University next week, has also organised a scarecrow awards fair, which will take place tomorrow.

Everyone who has entered the scarecrow competition will win a prize, and those who attend will get a chance to see pictures of the entries.

A judging panel will decide who wins which prizes, and there will also be entertainment for all the family, including a bouncy castle-READ MORE-.http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/all-news/weird-and-wonderful-scarecrows-on-show-1-6851310

Quantum control: How weird do you want it?

Entanglement used to be the gold standard of the quantum world's weirdness, now a new and noisy phenomenon could give us all the benefits with less of the fuss

RAYMOND LAFLAMME works in a magnificent-looking building. The Quantum-Nano Centre on the University of Waterloo campus in Ontario, Canada, boasts an exterior whose alternating strips of reflecting and transparent glass are designed as metaphors for the mysterious nature of the quantum world. Inside, it is even more impressive. Its labs are so well isolated from the outside world that an earthquake will barely move their floors. No electric or magnetic fields can get in where they aren't wanted, and the temperature is controlled to within a single degree. That's especially impressive, considering that human beings bring their hot bodies into the centre to perform experiments at temperatures close to absolute zero.

What a shame, then, if all this cutting-edge engineering proves ...

To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.-READ MORE

Dendrogramma,Weird creatures may be relics from dawn of animal life

Is it a mushroom? Is it a jellyfish? No, it's  a new animal so bizarre in appearance that it has defied attempts to place it anywhere in the vast animal kingdom.

What is agreed is that Dendrogramma belongs somewhere in the very lowest branches of the animal evolutionary tree. But whether it is a stingless jellyfish, a comb jelly or even part of a group of enigmatic organisms that most researchers think went extinct half a billion years ago remains up for debate.

"The specimens of Dendrogramma are very intriguing, and raise nearly as many questions as they answer," says Guy Narbonne at Queens University in Ontario, Canada, who researches those enigmatic organisms, called the Ediacaran biota.

Two species of Dendrogramma have so far been discovered. They were found in 1986 by Jean Just at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and his colleagues, on the seafloor off south-east Australia at depths of 400 and 1000 metres. The animals were dead by the time they reached the surface, but their bodies were quickly submerged in formaldehyde to keep them intact.

They resemble mushrooms, with a disc on top and a stalk protruding downwards from the centre (see photo). They are very small, the discs averaging 11 millimetres across and the stalks 8 millimetres long for the nine known specimens of Dendrogramma enigmatica. The second species – Dendrogramma discoides – is slightly larger: its disc is 17 mm across and sits on a 4.5 mm-tall stalk.

Simple creatures

There are no obvious sex organs in the specimens, no nervous system and no apparent means by which the disc could be flexed to enable movement. Unsurprisingly, then, placing them on a known branch of the animal kingdom has proved a bit tricky. Some things are clear, however. Because they don't have any obvious bilateral symmetry – unlike most animals – the two Dendrogramma species must sit on one of the lowest branches in the animal evolutionary tree, occupied by the few animals that lack this symmetry. This means they probably have affinities with very simple marine animals – but which ones?

"Dendrogramma lack the immediately recognisable character-  READ MORE-http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26156-weird-creatures-may-be-relics-from-dawn-of-animal-life.html#.VAsCCKMXN5g-ALSO IN -http://strangeanimalsaghostman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/new-species-found-in-deep-sea.html

Cute or creepy? Man gets smothered by bunnies on Japan’s Rabbit Island

Great Dane devours 43 socks in one sitting

Vets who performed emergency surgery on a “miserable” Great Dane who could not stop retching found the cause of the animal's suffering to be the 43 socks it had eaten.

The three-year-old canine, who enjoyed chewing on socks but was not known to swallow them whole, was rushed to Portland's DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital in February, hospital spokeswoman Shawna Harch said.
After two hours of surgery, Dr. Ashley Magee retrieved all 43 socks from the 140-pound (64-kg) Dane.
"We see some very strange things, but this is by far the most socks we've ever pulled out of an animal," Ms Harch said after X-ray images of the dog's belly won third place in a veterinary industry competition called ‘They ate WHAT?’The canine appeared to have penchant for coloured socks in smaller sizes, according to images of the retrieved items.
The Dane was beaten to the top spot by an X-ray of Kermit the frog who had eaten more than 30 small ornamental rocks from his owner’s garden. The rocks were safely removed and Kermit went on to make a full recovery, according to Veterinary Practice News.
Marley, a male German shorthaired pointer, won second place with an X-ray of his stomach after he devoured a shish kebab – and the skewer.
An X-ray of the Great Dane's stomach DoveLewis will put the $500 (£306) prize money towards funding emergency care for pets of low-income animal owners, Ms Harch said.
"His owners wish to remain anonymous," she added. "But they are getting a kick out of the award.

TRY BEFORE YOU DIE

Well it  had  to happen and yes in Japan.Thousands go to a  funeral to see how they  will look before send off.The coffins are hand -painted and people can choose form clothes rails and even have a final portrait.The SHAKSATSI FESTA  funeral planning exhibition,TOYKO had 5,000 vistors and 50 stalls completing to win business.

EAR-A MOTH

A man found out that he had a  moth inside his head for 3 days.The moth was discovered after going to hospital.

Weird ‘red blob’ washed up on shore baffles beachgoers

Beachgoers on Australia’s Sunshine Coast were left bemused when a fat, slimy, ‘red blob’ washed up on the shore.
The mysterious thing, which has no visible limbs, eyes or mouth, drifted onto Mudjimba Beach on Monday morning, where it was picked up by Debbie Higgs, a local resident, who took it home.
Ms Higgs, who says she takes a stroll along the beach every day, described the frilly red lump as ‘cold and rather smelly’.
‘It is about 25 cm long, so about the length of my arm. I had a tea towel in the car so I picked it up and took it home and put it in a bucket of salty water,’ she said-.READ MORE

Parents delighted as baby gives thumbs up on ultrasound

It might not be a very scientific indication of how an unborn baby is doing, but it must be quite reassuring all the same when your child-to-be pops you a thumbs up on the ultrasound.

This image was posted on Reddit by user meancloth alongside the caption 'recent ultrasound result looks good', and has been viewed nearly 2 million times in 24 hours.
There was further good news too, with another user noticing the 'Baby A' on the monitor and the parent confirming that they are expecting twins.
With so many ultrasounds taking place each day it was inevitable that the antithesis to thumbs up baby would be out there somewhere, and indeed another proud father quickly commented with a scan of his son flipping the bird in the womb:

Cambridge University Selwyn master keeps 'banned' dog as 'very large cat'

The master of a Cambridge University college that banned dogs from accommodation has been allowed to keep his canine companion after persuading officials it was "a very large cat".

YoYo the bassett hound lives at Selwyn College with Roger Mosey.
Mr Mosey said cats were allowed but dogs were "technically" banned.
However, after a past master set a "dog-owning precedent" decades ago, the college "tongue-in-cheek agreed YoYo could stay as a large cat", he said.
Mr Mosey, former editorial director of the BBC, became master of Selwyn College in October.

Mysterious Fissure Splits Ground in Mexico

A Massive crack tore through more than a half-mile of ground in northern Mexico, according to numerous local reports.  Now experts are struggling to explain what caused it and if it is a threat to public safety.
The mysterious trench in question is up-to nearly 16 feet across at its thickets, and stretches for nearly half a mile according to Sky News, one of the first to report this unusual geological event.

Share This Story

Related Articles

Siberia's Giant Hole Just Became a Lot Less Mysterious [VIDEO]

Two More Siberian Holes Discovered

Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Emergency Management released footage taken by a drone flying over the perplexing crack while motorists remained stopped in their cars on either side of fissured roads as early as Wednesday. It is unclear when the earth was first broken, but residents of northern Mexico reported discovering the fissure earlier this week.
Some local officials and experts alike are blaming seismic activity for the phenomenon, with a 5.0 magnitude earthquake occurring only earlier this month-.read more

5 Weird Ways Stress Can Actually Be Good for You

We hear over and over again that stress is unhealthy. And all that talk makes us, well, stressed. But getting worked up isn’t always a bad thing, says Richard Shelton, MD, vice chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alabama Birmingham; after all, the body’s fight-or-flight response is meant to be protective, not harmful.

More

Therapy and Antidepressants Work Better Together Than Just Pills AloneRobin Williams’ Parkinson’s: The Link Between the Chronic Disease and DepressionCalm at Last: Ferguson Peace Holds for a Third Night NBC NewsBattle Plan: What Are Obama's Options for Stomping Out ISIS? NBC NewsSpaceX Rocket Explodes During Texas Test Flight NBC News

It’s only when stress becomes chronic, or when we feel we’re no longer in control of a situation, that it negatively affects our health and wellbeing.
Here, then, are five reasons you should rest easier when it comes to everyday stress—and how a little short-term anxiety can actually benefit your brain and body.
It helps boost brainpower
Low-level stressors stimulate the production of brain chemicals called neurotrophins, and strengthen the connections between neurons in the brain. In fact, this may be the primary mechanism by which exercise (a physical stressor) helps boost productivity and concentration, Dr. Shelton says. Short-term psychological stressors, he adds, can have a similar effect, as well. Plus, animal studies have suggested that the body’s response to stress can temporarily boost memory and learning scores.
Health.com: Best and Worst Ways to Cope With Stress
It can increase immunity—in the short term
“When the body responds to stress, it prepares itself for the possibility of injury or infection,” says Dr. Shelton. “One way it does this is by producing extra interleukins—chemicals that help regulate the immune system—providing at least a temporary defensive boost.” Research in animals support this idea, as well: A 2012 Stanford study found that subjecting lab rats to mild stress produced a “massive mobilization” of several types of immune cells in their bloodstreams.
It can make you more resilient
Learning to deal with stressful situations can make future ones easier to manage, according to a large body of research on the science of resilience. It’s the idea behind Navy SEAL training, Dr. Shelton says—although you can certainly benefit from less extreme experiences, as well. “Repeated exposure to stressful events gives [SEALs] the chance to develop both a physical and psychological sense of control, so when they’re in actually combat they don’t just shut down,” he says.
Health.com: 25 Surprising Ways Stress Affects Your Health
This idea may even hold true at a cellular level: A 2013 University of California San Francisco study found that while chronic stress promotes oxidative damage to our DNA and RNA, moderate levels of perceived daily stress actually seem to protect against it and enhance “psychobiological resilience.”
It motivates you to succeed
Good stress, also known in the scientific community as eustress, may be just the thing you need to get job done at work. “Think about a deadline: It’s staring you in the face, and it’s going to stimulate your behavior to really manage the situation effectively, rapidly, and more productively,” says Dr. Shelton. The key, he says, is viewing stressful situations as a challenge that you can meet, rather than an overwhelming, unpassable roadblock.
Eustress can also help you enter a state of “flow,” a heightened sense of awareness and complete absorption into an activity, according to research from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow can be achieved in the workplace, in sports, or in a creative endeavor (such as playing a musical instrument), and Csikszentmihalyi argues that it’s driven largely by pressure to succeed.
Health.com: 13 Ways to Beat Stress in 15 Minutes or Less
It can enhance child development
Moms-to-be often worry that their own anxiety will negatively affect their unborn babies—and it can, when it’s unrelenting. But a 2006 Johns Hopkins study found that most children of women who reported mild to moderate stress levels during pregnancy actually showed greater motor and developmental skills by age 2 than those of unstressed mothers. The one exception: the children of women who viewed their pregnancy as more negative than positive had slightly lower attention capacity.
Health.com: 12 Signs You May Have an Anxiety Disorder
This article originally appeared on Health.com.

READ MORE

Porn, rhubarb and implants. . . welcome to the weird world of an MP’s summer

Thanks to David Cameron’s stubbornness, it looks as though MPs will enjoy their summer recess without being summoned back to Parliament early, in spite of one of the worst periods in international affairs for many years. The Prime Minister has returned to his second summer holiday, and presumably other MPs are doing the same: relaxing on beaches, clearing their moats: whatever it is out-of-touch Westminster bubble dwellers are supposed to do.

Except, as any MP will remind you given half the chance, that’s not what the summer recess is for. MPs, like teachers, can get a little chippy when you suggest that they’re not working flat out the whole time. In recess, they return to their constituencies to try to catch up on everything left hanging while they are at the Commons.

One study found that a third of MPs spend up to half their time solving problems on behalf of their constituents. For another third it’s more like three quarters. Quite right, you might think. Why aren’t they spending all their time solving voters’ issues? And then you look at the sort of queries that make up the 200 new cases many receive each month.

Moat-clearing it ain’t. When I sat in on Labour MP Tristram Hunt’s constituency surgery in Stoke recently, I watched as a stream of people entered with bags stuffed full of horribly big piles of paper that showed just how horribly they were being treated by the state, the landlord, the bank, or [fill in blank]. They dumped this heaving mass of letters, bills, final demands and court summonses on the trestle table Mr Hunt had set up in one corner of a vast gym. Then they asked him to sort them out.

MPs must give the impression they are all-powerful: why else would a woman have asked the Tory MP Tim Loughton for advice on how to make the man who had dumped her change his mind? Perhaps the man who left a 3am voicemail with another MP telling him he was having a heart attack had similarly high opinions of his representative (when a panicked caseworker phoned back the following morning, the chap was fine).

Doctor Loo! Cafe celebrates show's return with decorated toilet

The Time Lord’s blue police box has been converted into a loo at a Bristol cafe.

It’s fun but functional

Justin Hoggans

Justin and Claire Hoggans picked up the replica Tardis for £1,800 and spent almost as much again installing the “Who Loo” at the Warmley Waiting Room Cafe on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path.

Justin, 41, said: “We went to a B&B that had a Tardis changing room. This gave me the idea. It’s fun but functional.”

Claire, 47, said: “We enjoy Doctor Who but are not crazy Trekkie-people. We get asked numerous times a day ‘is it bigger on the inside?’

SPIDER ON NEWS

One strange thing happened on a Scottish news program during a live  bulletin a spider crawled across the camera lens to catch insect

DALEK AT WEDDING

A darlek appeared as a guest  of honour  at a couples renewal of vows.

YOGHURT CURE- PARKINSON DISEASE.

Its is believed that Sour Sheep Milk Yoghurt may help fight PARKINSON DISEASE.This  was noticed when a German scientist  team noticed a worm had a damaged gene staring its brain of latic acid -1 of  causes.The worm was fed the acid rich yoghurt and had a healing  effect.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/aug/07/monkey-owns-selfie-wikimedia-video

Wikimedia, the company that owns Wikipedia, has refused to delete a photo that a monkey took of itself, claiming there is no copyright. British nature photographer David Slater has argued the photograph belonged to him, as it was his camera that was hijacked by the primate. Slater began a legal battle with Wikimedia after the photo went viral online 

20 Weird and Wonderful Uses for Tomato Ketchup

Everybody loves tomato sauce. Well, everyone except perhaps Jamie Oliver and people from Chicago (they hate it on Hot Dogs, apparently). The rest of us slather ketchup over our comfort foods like its going out of style.
Tomato ketchup is without all reasonable doubt the best condiment, although mayonnaise holds the number one sales spot, apparently. Lord knows why, ketchup is obviously the better choice.
Ketchup started out as a fish sauce, before transforming into a staple we slap on junk food. Along the way we’ve forgotten just how versatile a foodstuff tomato ketchup is; tomato ketchup is a great sauce to have in the kitchen with a range of weird and wonderful uses.
Here are some of the things you never knew tomato ketchup could do -- head over to LifeHacker UK for the remaining 10:

1.) Shine copper and silverware with ketchup

Tomato ketchup is a surprisingly effective cleaning agent. Ketchup has acetic acid content of around four per cent (from the vinegar used in the recipe). And thanks to its high viscosity (the gloopiness) it’s great for shining brass, copper and silverware. Ketchup is cheap, effective and above all it’s eco-friendly. If you only do one thing on this list (and even for a laugh) try using ketchup to clean your metal. There’s a detailed guide to cleaning with ketchup over on wikiHow.-READ MORE

ECHO readers show off their weird and wonderful pets

When a snake was said to be on the loose in Skelmersdale last month, and was later found in the owner's house, we wondered if our readers also shared their homes with exotic animals.
We appealed to our followers on Facebook and Twitter to send in photos of their weird and wonderful pets - and they didn't disappoint.
We received photos from Merseysiders who are sharing their homes with snakes, tarantulas, bearded dragons, geckos and the odd Macaw-READ MORE

What lies beneath ‘weird’ giant cocoon?

A homeowner has been left stumped after a huge mystery web cocooned an entire plant on the side of her house.
Judy Dunbar, of Challoner Place, Aylesbury, was alarmed to discover the 6ft tall bush completely covered in the white stuff.
She said: “It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and find that my whole house has been cocooned!
“My neighbour thought it might be a spider’s web but I’ve not seen one. All that I can see are tiny little worms in the web.”

Judy has contacted a pest control company but they said they could not help.
She said: “I’m tempted to get my husband to jet wash it all off and cut off the plant at the root so it can’t happen again.”
The intricate web could possibly be the work of the Ermine Moth caterpillar, which weave the protective cocoon over their favourite plants to protect themselves and their food before pupating into moths.
Do you know what creature could be responsible for the cocoon? Call reporter Becca Choules on 01296 619762 or email becca.choules@jpress.co.uk.

Weird science leaves my thoughts all over the place

Scientists, it was reported this week, have managed to separate an object from its speed and observed both, at the same time, but in different places!
They have produced evidence that shows a neutron can be observed in one place while its movement is in another. They’re calling it the quantum Cheshire Cat theory.
I’ve tried to read the research paper. It should come with a large whisky.
This mind-numbing discovery raises serious questions about the role of science in our lives, the main questions being: Have scientists not got anything else better to do, and why the obsession with cats?
The findings would probably have made a bigger story in our media outlets, but Kim Kardashian in a bikini taking a selfie of her backside knocked it off the news schedules.
The quantum Cheshire Cat theory has come around too soon for me, but I can empathise- READ MORE

Gentle bear saves crow from drowning

Today in animals that don't usually interact interacting in heart-warming ways, we find a bear nonchalantly rescuing a crow after it falls in the pond in his enclosure.

The footage was taken at Budapest Zoo and according to YouTube uploader Aleksander Medveš sees a "crow rescue".
It's possible what we're actually seeing is a bear fishing a potential snack out of the water and then ditching it when he realises it's not a tasty salmon, but let's stop with the negativity IT IS OBVIOUSLY THE MOST GENTLE BEAR EVER AND HE LOVES THE CROW DEARLY.
The crow looks a little puzzled after its rescue, managing to get back to its feet and staring in disbelief as the bear doesn't chase it down but slopes off to eat an apple.READ MORE AND VIDEO LINK

Viral Video Chart: Kim Jong-un, Weird Al and sperm whales

• read more

• 
  

Kim Jong-un: Fat Guy Number 3

Our first video this week shows Kim Jong-un breakdancing with Obama and running through a field hand-in-hand with Osama bin Laden and, apparently, the North Koreans aren't happy about it. Our choice for number one viral video, Kim Jong-un: Fat Guy Number 3, was uploaded to the Chinese video-sharing site Tencent, where it's been watched more than 55m times.
Meanwhile, Weird Al Yankovic has hit out at the semi-illiterate among us with a video called Word Crimes, a parody of Robin Thicke's controversial anthem Blurred Lines (no, we're not going to link to it).
A video of an unidentified groovy granddad was posted on Facebook from somewhere in Peru and shows an old man throwing down his walking sticks to get down and dirty to some 50s classics. It is now everywhere and has, predictably, been remixed with some questionable music.
Elsewhere, two kayakers near the coastal city of Puerto Madryn in Argentina get a little too close to a sperm whale, the largest toothed predator, and are lifted on to its back. We're not sure, but the resulting video is perhaps too amazing to be true.

The weird and wonderful inventions of Kickstarter

Last year, more than £770,000 was pledged towards Kickstarter campaigns every day - that’s £538 a minute. Some three million people pledged £280m to Kickstarter projects, and now American comedian Jon Stewart has followed the trend.

Stewart has launched a mock Kickstarter project that aims to raise $10bn (£5.89bn) to buy CNN. “It’s a lot of money for anyone,” said Stewart on Tuesday. “But not a lot of money for everyone.“

But while Stewart may be joking, his fundraising campaign wouldn’t be the most incredible project made possible by Kickstarter.

Anyone with an idea they're struggling to finance can post on Kickstarter, along with a budget and a description of what the final product will be if the money is successfully raised. Donors are invited to give as much or little as they choose, and the money will only be transferred if the desired budget is reached.

Here are some of the best projects to date that started their lives on Kickstarter. read more