home > current strange news > strange news archive: May-Jun 2006
Strange news archive: May-June 2006
'Big Brother' eyes make us act more honestly
(Jun 28, 2006)
We all know the scene: the departmental coffee room, with the price list for tea and coffee on the wall and the “honesty box” where you pay for your drinks – or not, because no one is watching. In a finding that will have office managers everywhere scurrying for the photocopier, researchers have discovered that merely a picture of watching eyes nearly trebled the amount of money put in the box.
Read more. Source: New Scientist |
Snake displays changing colors
(Jun 27, 2006)
A snake with the ability to change its colour has been found in the rainforested heart of Borneo. Researchers from Germany and the US discovered the water snake's chameleon-like behaviour by accident when they put it into a dark bucket. The environmental group WWF, which supports conservation work in Borneo, says wildlife in the region is threatened by deforestation.
Read more. Source: BBC |
Dodo skeleton find in Mauritius
(Jun 25, 2006)
Scientists say they have discovered part of the skeleton of a dodo, the large, flightless bird which became extinct more than 300 years ago. One of the team in Mauritius said it was the first discovery of fully preserved bones which could give clues as to how the bird became extinct. Last year, the team found a number of dodo bones at the site, but said the current find was more "significant".
Read more. Source: BBC |
Is it a bird? Is it a spaceship? No, it's a secret US spy plane
(Jun 24, 2006)
It is the stuff of internet conspiracy theorists' dreams. A top secret, hypersonic, cold war spy plane that was allegedly flown by the Americans in UK airspace without the government's permission. Publicly, the UK government played down newspaper stories about people who reported seeing UFO-like phenomena. But documents released under the Freedom of Information Act suggest the Ministry of Defence took the rumours much more seriously.
Read more. Source: Guardian |
Monkeys use weather clues to find food
(Jun 20, 2006)
Humans have been known to check the weather forecast before shopping for food – think ice cream and barbecues. Now it seems some monkeys also use weather clues to decide when and where to forage. The new research finding may support the idea that primates evolved bigger brains to find food more successfully. Scientists already know primates that forage for fruits rather than simply eating leaves have more complex brains.
Read more. Source: New Scientist |
'Fossil' rock rat pictured alive
(Jun 15, 2006)
Images have been obtained of a live Laotian rock rat, the animal science now believes to be the sole survivor of an ancient group of rodents. The kha-nyou, as it is known locally, was trapped by an expedition in May. The pictures show a friendly, furry creature about the size of a squirrel that waddles a bit like a duck.
Read more. Source: BBC |
On the right lines
(Jun 15, 2006)
Tucked away, not too far from Ellesmere, lies Spout Farm. A mix of green, rolling fields and dark woodland, it is the kind of scene you can find all over Shropshire, but something of a mystery is brewing here. The farm first came to the attention of Countryside Service officer, Shaun Burkey, last year when volunteer Rob McBride told him about the ancient oaks growing in the woodland.
Read more. Source: BBC |
Tabby cat terror for black bear
(Jun 11, 2006)
A black bear got more than it bargained for after straying into a family garden in the US state of New Jersey. The unwelcome intruder was forced up a tree – twice – by the family pet, a tabby cat called Jack. The terrified bear was only able to make its escape when owner Donna Dickey called the hissing cat into the house.
Read more. Source: BBC |
666-legged creature rediscovered
(Jun 11, 2006)
She is all legs and after 27 years, she is showing not one but 666 of her rarely seen limbs. After years of searching, scientists have rediscovered Illacme plenipes, a millipede that is the world's leggiest creature, in a tiny patch of San Benito County, California. This type of millipede was first discovered in 1926.
Read more. Source: LiveScience.com |
Hidden ecosystem discovered beneath cement quarry
(Jun 1, 2006)
At a cement quarry in Israel, researchers have discovered eight previously unknown species of small creatures in a newfound underground cave. The limestone cave has long been sealed off from it surroundings – even outside water cannot seep through an overlying layer of chalk – and it contains an entire ecosystem unlike anything known. The newly named Ayalon Cave stretches for about 1.5 miles and is "unique in the world," said Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University Department of Geography.
Read more. Source: LiveScience.com |
Britons report 'psychic powers'
(May 29, 2006)
More than half of Britons believe in psychic powers such as mind-reading and premonitions, a survey suggests. Of 1,006 adults polled for Readers Digest Magazine, 43% reported reading others' thoughts or having theirs read. More than half had had a dream or premonition of an event before it happened and 26% said they had sensed when a loved-one was ill or in trouble.
Read more. Source: BBC |
Strange circles of light explained
(May 25, 2006)
A new enigma is spreading on the Internet. Some even call it a new kind of miracle. According to various Web sites, for the past several years unusual and unexplainable circles of light have been observed in many towns and cities. They began in the United States, but soon spread throughout the world. "These circles," according to a writer named J. D. Rabbit at one of these sites, "most commonly appear on the sides of houses...
Read more. Source: LiveScience.com/Skeptical Inquirer |
UFO 'crashes' into KZN sea
(May 22, 2006)
Port Shepstone: The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is monitoring a mysterious situation on the KZN south coast. "Numerous" eye-witnesses reported an unidentified flying object crashing into the sea on Saturday. NSRI Shelley Beach station commander, Eddie Noyons, said eye-witnesses had reported an unidentified object – possibly an aircraft – crashing into the sea behind the breaker line off-shore of the Port Shepstone High School.
Read more. Source: News24.com |
Ancient mariners reveal tales from the Earth's core
(May 13, 2006)
While sailors plied the Seven Seas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, little did they know that their ships' logs would one day help scientists to reconstruct the history of the Earth's magnetic field. Geophysicist David Gubbins and his co-workers at the University of Leeds in England have used old navigational data, combined with records taken from archaeological artefacts, to figure out how the direction and strength of the magnetic field changed between 1590 and 1840, roughly the time between Francis Drake's voyages on the Golden Hind and Charles Darwin's journey on the Beagle.
Read more. Source: Nature |
Hacker fears 'UFO cover-up'
(May 9, 2006)
In 2002, Gary McKinnon was arrested by the UK's national high-tech crime unit, after being accused of hacking into Nasa and the US military computer networks. He says he spent two years looking for photographic evidence of alien spacecraft and advanced power technology. America now wants to put him on trial, and if tried there he could face 60 years behind bars.
Read more. Source: BBC |
Chinese man buys fighter jet on eBay
(May 1, 2006)
A Chinese businessman has bought a MiG-21f plane from a U.S. seller on the online auction Web site eBay for $24,730 and plans to use it to decorate an empty space at his offices, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Beijing News newspaper identified the Chinese buyer as Zhang Cheng.
Read more. Source: MSNBC/AP |
Scientists make water run uphill
(May 1, 2006)
Physicists have made water run uphill quite literally under its own steam. The droplets propel themselves over metal sheets scored with a carefully designed array of grooves. The US scientists did the experiment to demonstrate how the random motion of water molecules in hot steam could be channelled into a directed force. But the team, writing in Physical Review Letters, believes the effect may be useful in driving coolants through overheating computer microchips.
Read more. Source: BBC |
BACK TO TOP
|
You are here:
Home
> Strange news
> Strange news archive:
May-Jun 2006
Other news sections
Latest science news
Archeo news
Eco news
Health news
Living world news
Paleo news
Robot diaries
Tech news
Also on this site:
Encyclopedia of Science
Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living
News archive
Bookshop
Contact
Partner site:
Transport Concepts & Designs
|
