entire Web this site home > strange news strange news archive Strange news: Latest from the world of the bizarre and eccentric Found: Hawking's initials written into the universe (Feb 8, 2009) Is Stephen Hawking a galactic graffiti artist? Hidden away in the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the big bang, the initials "SH" are clear to view (see picture). We took a closer look and spotted a donkey, a deer and a parrot. Read more. Source: New Scientist Ancient tribal language becomes extinct as last speaker dies (Feb 4, 2009) The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000-year link to one of the world's oldest cultures. Boa Sr, who lived through the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation and diseases brought by British settlers, was the last native of the island chain who was fluent in Bo. Read more. Source: The Guardian Could a frozen camera dethrone Hillary and Norgay as the first to summit Everest? (Jan 27, 2009) On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine left their camp less than a kilometer from the summit of Mount Everest on a mission to be the first mountaineers to ascend the world's highest peak. They were never to be heard from again. Whether either man reached the summit – almost three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic 1953 climb – has been an open question for nearly 86 years. Read more. Source: Scientific American Astronomers hopeful of detecting extraterrestrial life (Jan 25, 2009) The chance of discovering life on other worlds is greater than ever, according to Britain's leading astronomer. Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, said such a discovery would be a moment which would change humanity. It would change our view of ourselves and our place in the cosmos, he said. Read more. Source: BBC Meet the creatures that live beyond the abyss (Jan 23, 2009) It is pitch black, icy cold and the pressure is phenomenal. The deepest parts of the ocean are some of the least hospitable places on Earth – yet footage from recent expeditions reveals that life in the oceanic trenches is thriving. Read more. Source: BBC Strange 'Norway spiral' likely an out-of-control missile (Dec 10, 2009) It looked like a time-travelling vortex fit for Doctor Who, but a strange spiral observed in the skies above Norway on Wednesday morning was actually a failed Russian missile launch, says a Harvard astrophysicist who monitors space launches. Read more. Source: New Scientist Seen a UFO? Don't call the MoD (Dec 4, 2009) For more half a century paranoid fantasies about flying saucers, little green men and alien invasions were officially indulged by the existence of a department within the British Ministry of Defence that investigated UFO sightings. But after more than 11,000 sightings spawning countless conspiracy theories, the department has been scrapped. The UFO hotline is no more. Read more. Source: Guardian Paralysed Belgian misdiagnosed as in coma for 23 years (Nov 23, 2009) A Belgian man who doctors thought was in a coma for 23 years was conscious all along, it has been revealed. Medical staff believed Rom Houben had sunk irretrievably into a coma after he was injured in a car crash in 1983. A doctor at Belgium's University of Liege who discovered that Mr Houben had been misdiagnosed said his case was not an isolated one. Read more. Source: BBC Where do ghosts come from? (Oct 30, 2009) My assignment is to stay overnight in the Tapestry Room at Muncaster Castle in Cumbria, UK. Two previous guests have bolted in the night, one a premiership footballer, the other a diehard sceptic who came to scoff. I am here because of a controversial theory that some reports of ghosts could be caused by unusual magnetic fields triggering strange reactions in the brain. Read more. Source: New Scientist Doubts over Latvia 'meteor crash' (Oct 27, 2009) Scientists investigating a large crater in a field in northern Latvia, believed to have been caused by a meteorite, now suspect it was a hoax. Fire crews were called to the scene on Sunday outside the town of Mazsalaca by locals who said something had fallen from the sky and set the land on fire. One expert who had said the 9m (27ft) wide crater was caused by an impact, said he now thought it was artificial. Read more. Source: BBC The first great balloon hoax (Oct 20, 2009) Quite why the Heene family of Colorado thought pretending to lose their son in the basket of an airborne helium balloon was a good idea is unclear. But as they contemplate possible criminal records for conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, they can at least take comfort in the fact that they have distinguished company when it comes to balloon hoaxes. Read more. Source: The Guardian Cosmic pattern to UK tree growth (Oct 20, 2009) The growth of British trees appears to follow a cosmic pattern, with trees growing faster when high levels of cosmic radiation arrive from space. Researchers made the discovery studying how growth rings of spruce trees have varied over the past half a century. As yet, they cannot explain the pattern, but variation in cosmic rays impacted tree growth more than changes in temperature or precipitation. Read more. Source: BBC Scientist reproduces Turin shroud (Oct 6, 2009) The Shroud of Turin has been reproduced by an Italian scientist in another attempt to prove that the cloth bearing an image of Christ's face is a fake. A professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia said he had used materials and techniques that were available in the Middle Ages. These included applying pigment to cloth and then heating it in an oven. Read more. Source: BBC 'Hitler skull' revealed as female (Sep 30, 2009) A bone fragment believed to be part of Adolf Hitler's skull has been revealed as being that of an unidentified woman, US scientists have said. The section of bone – marked with a bullet hole – was used to support the theory that Hitler shot himself. Russian scientists said the skull piece was found alongside Hitler's jawbone and had put it on display in Moscow. Read more. Source: BBC Bermuda Triangle plane mystery 'solved' (Sep 15, 2009) Two of the so-called Bermuda Triangle's most mysterious disappearances in the late 1940s may have been solved. Scores of ships and planes are said to have vanished without trace over the decades in a vast triangular area of ocean with imaginary points in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico. But journalist Tom Mangold's new examination for the BBC provides plausible explanations for the disappearance of two British commercial planes in the area, with the loss of 51 passengers and crew. Read more. Source: BBC Huge 'sky explosion' investigated (Sep 7, 2009) An Irish astronomy group is calling for help in tracing the origin of a huge explosion in the skies over the country on Thursday evening. Astronomy Ireland said it was currently investigating the explosion, which occurred at 2100 BST. A spokesman said the most likely explanation was a space rock or satellite crashing into the atmosphere. Read more. Source: BBC Moon dust not as strange as hoped (Sep 3, 2009) Ever since a 1998 space shuttle experiment saw what appeared to be an anomalously heavy variety of matter, the hunt has been on for more of the same. Now, a search of lunar soil for so-called "strange matter" has come up short, casting doubt on whether it exists at all. Read more. Source: New Scientist Minister warned over 'UK Roswell' (Aug 17, 2009) A former head of the military told the defence secretary that a UFO sighting dubbed Britain's Roswell could be a "banana skin", official files show. In 1985 Lord Hill-Norton wrote to Michael Heseltine about the "Rendlesham incident" in 1980, when US airmen in Suffolk thought they saw an alien ship. Either a craft entered UK airspace with "impunity" or US airmen were capable of a "serious misperception", he wrote. Read more. Source: BBC Permanent 'ghost' for lighthouse (Aug 5, 2009) The owners of Point of Ayr lighthouse off the Flintshire coast have applied to erect a "human sculpture" inspired by sightings of a ghostly figure. The idea for the 2m (6ft 5in) stainless steel statue came after repeated reports of a man wearing an old-fashioned keeper's coat. The lighthouse has been locked and out of service for more than a century. Read more. Source: BBC Tests raise life extension hopes (Jul 9, 2009) A drug discovered in the soil of a South Pacific island may help to fight the ageing process, research suggests. When US scientists treated old mice with rapamycin it extended their expected lifespan by up to 38%. The findings, published in the journal Nature, raise the prospect of being able to slow down the ageing process in older people. Read more. Source: BBC Bigfoot's likely haunts 'revealed' (Jul 7, 2009) Sasquatch, the mythical "Bigfoot" of western North America, makes its home deep within the fertile imaginations of gullible people. If you insist on looking for one in the real world, though, you should search in the home of the black bear – at least according to a tongue-in-cheek study of the ape-like creature's habitat preferences. Read more. Source: New Scientist Meteors cause flare alert calls (Jun 16, 2009) Reports of strange lights in the sky and distress flares being fired in the English Channel actually turned out to be a meteor shower, coastguards say. Calls were made to coastguards across England's south coast, including Cornwall, Devon and Hampshire, reporting white and green flares. Reports were also made to coastguards in Jersey and France for about 30 minutes from about 2130 BST on Monday. Read more. Source: BBC Plants 'can recognise themselves' (Jun 3, 2009) Plants may be able to recognise themselves. Experiments show that a sagebrush plant can recognise a genetically identical cutting growing nearby. What's more, the two clones communicate and cooperate with one another, to avoid being eaten by herbivores. Read more. Source: BBC Adelaide zoo evacuated after 'ingenious' orang-utan escapes (May 10, 2009) An Australian zoo was evacuated after an "ingenious" orang-utan escaped from her enclosure by short-circuiting an electric fence today. Staff at Adelaide zoo said 137lb Karta used a stick to short-circuit the electric wires around her enclosure before piling up some more sticks to climb out. But the 27-year-old ape only ventured as far as a surrounding fence, still metres from members of the public, during her 30 minutes of freedom. Read more. Source: The Guardian World premiere of brain orchestra (Apr 25, 2009) The Multimodal Brain Orchestra performed its world premiere on Thursday. Led by an "emotional conductor" and a traditional one, music and video change in time with the performers' brain waves and heart rate. According to the work's producer, the orchestra aims to "see what the brain can do without the body". Read more. Source: BBC UFO files reveal close encounter (Mar 22, 2009) A boomerang-shaped object seen from an airport control tower and a woman's encounter with an "alien" are among the secrets revealed in official UFO files. The woman reported seeing a glowing, spherical object rise into the air in Norwich after meeting a man who said he came from a planet similar to Earth. In another sighting, a triangular craft hovered then "shot off at 500mph". Read more. Source: BBC 'Dracula' fish shows baby teeth (Mar 11, 2009) Scientists have discovered a highly unusual fish with fangs made of bone. Dubbed the "Dracula" fish, the creature is about 17mm (0.7 inches) long and has been found in only one Burmese stream. The researchers, from London's Natural History Museum, believe the fish lost its teeth over evolutionary time, but later evolved the bone fangs. Read more. Source: BBC 'Vampire' discovered in mass grave (Mar 6, 2009) A skeleton exhumed from a grave in Venice is being claimed as the first known example of the "vampires" widely referred to in contemporary documents. Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth (see right) while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice. Read more. Source: New Scientist Mystery fireball captured on film (Feb 16, 2009) Mysterious debris said to look like a meteor or fireball in the sky has been captured on film over Austin, Texas. The footage coincides with numerous sightings of falling debris in the area. The American Strategic Command has said there is no connection with the debris from a recent collision of satellites. Read more. Source: BBC Huge increase in the number of UFO sightings (Feb 6, 2009) The number of UFO sightings logged with the UK Ministry of Defence more than doubled to 285 last year, a rise described as "phenomenal" by experts. It is the highest number of sightings in 10 years. All the incidents are included in a document released by the MoD yesterday, which details the date, time and location of the sightings, along with a brief summary of the eyewitness reports. Read more. Source: Telegraph Ten extinct beasts that could walk the Earth again (Jan 11, 2009) The recipe for making any creature is written in its DNA. So last November, when geneticists published the near-complete DNA sequence of the long-extinct woolly mammoth, there was much speculation about whether we could bring this behemoth back to life. Read more. Source: New Scientist UFO claim over wind farm damage (Jan 8, 2009) UFO researchers are claiming damage to a Lincolnshire wind farm turbine was caused by a mystery aircraft. The turbine at Conisholme lost one 66ft (20m) blade and had another badly damaged in the early hours of Sunday. Local UFO groups said they had lots of reports of activity in the area and had teams searching for clues. Read more. Source: BBC strange news archive BACK TO TOP

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