June 5th 2008
Daredevil To Skydive From Space
A fearless stunt-man plans to set a new world record by skydiving from the edge of space. Steve Truglia is famous in cinematic circles for his daring feats in James Bond movies and the blockbuster, Saving Private Ryan. Now, the former soldier is shooting for an achievement no other human has ever attained - freefalling from 120,000 feet at a speed of 770 mph! "It's the last great challenge on Earth," Truglia, 40, says. "Obviously, it will be dangerous. We're playing with a lot of unknowns. But it's my job to assess risk and I don't believe the problems are insurmountable." Truglia will wear a pressurized space suit that can withstand the boiling point of 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and he will jump from a specially-designed hot air balloon hovering 24 miles above Earth. His training for the next several months will include a jump from 52,000 feet to break the present European record and strenuous workouts in a wind tunnel, practicing all sorts of unusual body positions. "When it comes to planning this jump, I've been Meticulous," declares Truglia, of London, England. "If I spin out of control, I could lose consciousness, so that's something getting myself out of." The 40-year-old adventurer says one of the unknown factors is what will happen when he smashes through the sound barrier. That's why he'll consult with aeronautical engineers from NASA and the U.S. Air Force for help with his computations. "I also have to train to be ver ywatchful," Truglia explains. "If I collided with a bird, for example, we would both be dead. As you can imagine, at that speed, being hit by a bird would be like being hit by a cannonball."
June 4th 2008
No More Marriage For Arkansas Tots
Red-faced Arkansas legislators recently repealed a botched law that allowed even toddlers to marry if they had parental permission! The 2007 bill was intended to establish 18 as the age for marriage, but instead, it mistakenly removed the minimum age completely. Rep. Will Bond, who sponsored the badly written law, begged his colleagues to "throw me a rope and bail me out here." He got his do-over when a special session convened on another matter and the representatives quickly reinstated 17 as the base age to marry for boys and 16 for girls. "I always thought if you put your name on a bill, you should be ready to take the blame if you're willing to accept the credit," says a chastised Bond.
June 3rd 2008
Amateur Sleuths Giving Dignity To Unknown Dead
A loose-knit group of amateur detectives has rallied around their computers with a macabre common goal - to give names to the dead. Known as the Doe Network, they come from all walks of life - farmers to bankers to college students to retired grandmothers. They look at information - lots of information - hoping to match up public records, photographs, DNA and police reports with an unidentified body. "It's like they become family," explains Nancy Monahan, 54, of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. "You feel a responsibility to bring them home." By day, she creates floor displays for discount stores. By night, she chases clues for a handful of cases. She searches computer databases for forensic sketches, missing persons claims or anything else linked to "Beth Doe," a pregnant woman who was shot, dismembered and hurled off a bridge in December 1976 - or "Homestead Doe," a mummified body with silver-painted toenails found in a railroad tunnel in 2000. Members of the Doe Network feel called to the work for various reasons. Some start searching for lost relatives. Some are former law enforcement officials interested in cold cases. And some are captivated by local mysteries. "They do God's work," says homicide detective Mark Czworniak, 50, of Chicago.
Did You Know Law enforcement experts estimate more than 40,000 unidentified dead bodies lie in makeshift tombs across America.
June 2nd 2008
Elephant's Eye-View!
Peek into the inner world of wildlife from an animal's point of view, with amazing photos taken by elephants! Filmmaker John Downer attached four small, high-definition digital cameras to logs carried by the massive animals - and to the gentle giants' tusks - as they wandered majestically through the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India. He spent two years filming a documentary with the elephants and discovered that the colossal creatures opened a window to a whole new world. They're too large to be threatened by any other animals, but too peaceful to be seen as a threat, so they were able to snap stunning photographs of tigers, leopards, monkeys, bears and dozens of other animals normally too shy for humans to see. "We became, effectively, invisible," Downer explains.
June 1st 2008
Snooze Where You Choose - Even On A Street Corner!
Coming soon to a street corner near you - a Metronap Sleep Pod that will allow you to curl up for a refreshing snooze just about anywhere and anytime you feel drowsy. The pod consists of a state-of-the-art recliner enclosed in a temperature-controlled, soundproof cocoon. Weary passersby can just crawl in - after paying a fee with their debit or credit cards, of course - and grab a little shuteye right in the middle of a bustling city. The Sleep Pods are also expected to be a big hit in offices, factories and airports.
May 31st 2008
Tuna Population On Brink Of Extinction
Savor that tuna fis h sandwich - it may be the last you'll eat! Over-fishing has driven the world's tuna population to the brink of extinction - and if we don't stop, they will go the way of the dinosaur. Here's the problem: The average tuna doesn't breed until it's between 8 and 12 years old. Voracious fishing isn't allowing enough of them to reach that age - no breeding, no new tuna, population collapse, extinction. Tuna are following in the fin-tracks of the Canadian cod. In 1968, the cod fishing industry contributed $1.4 billion to the economy of Canada. By 2004, the value had dropped to a comparatively measly $10 million and the cod population had been reduced to a shocking 1 percent of its former abundance. The number of Atlantic bluefin tuna has decreased by 90 percent since the 1970s. The population of Mediterranean tuna has declined by 50 percent during the same period and worse is yet to come, predicts Barbara Block, of Stanford University in California. "Their population is on the brink of collapse, and it has happened during my lifetime," she declares. "We're not letting the fish reach maturity and breed. As a result, young tuna are increasingly hard to find." Fishing before breeding age is also putting a huge dent in the number of yellowfin and bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The loss of tuna has serious health implications because they are an excellent source of omega-3 acids, which fight heart disease. Jose Ingles, of World Wildlife Fund, has called for consumers to eat less tuna now so future generations can enjoy the health benefits the fish bestows. "Ask yourself whose fish, yours or your grandchildren's, you are eating," he says.
May 30th 2008
Lawsuit Aims To Stop Doomsday!
The world's biggest particle collider is set to start smashing atoms in a few months - but not if two worried citizens have anything to say about it. Former nuclear safety officer Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho have filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop scientists from switching on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) because they fear the massive machine could create a black hole large enough to consume the entire universe. LHC is located on the border between France and Switzerland , but Fermilab, a physics research institute in Illinois, is one of the operating partners, so Wagner and Sancho have sued in the U.S., calling for a restraining order to prevent the collider from going online until the American government can verify its safety. Scientists acknowledge that the powerful machine may indeed produce tiny black holes, but insist they won't last long enough to do any harm. Wagner and Sancho counter that the mini-holes could coalesce to form a larger, more stable hole that would begin sucking up all the matter in the universe. In their lawsuit, they also claim the reactor could produce new combinations of quarks, the particles protons are made of, which would turn everything they touch into bizarre particles called strangelets, which in turn would transform all matter into a life-less clump. If that's not enough, the two watchdogs have expressed concern that LHC could produce massive particles that have only one magnetic pole - either north or south, not both - that could disrupt the way atoms and molecules stick together to form the objects of everyday life. The scientists behind LHC say all of this is nonsense. Now, a judge will have to decide.
May 29th 2008
Book Now For A Mini-Vacation In Space
A California company is promising to send you into space for an affordable price. Jeff Greason, chief executive officer of Xcor Aerospace, won't reveal exactly what that price will be, but he vows flights will begin within two years. The rocket ship that will blast you beyond Earth's atmosphere is called the Lynx, It seats two, runs on clean-burning liquid fuel and is about the size of a small private plane. It takes off from a runway like an ordinary plane, soars at twice the speed of sound to an altitude of 37 miles, where you can experience the thrill of weightlessness. Then it circles downward to a runway landing. "We have designed this vehicle to operate much like a commercial aircraft," Greason says. Apart from orbital joyrides, the Lynx can function as a space laboratory for scientists.
May 28th 2008
North American Solar Challenge 2008
Undergraduates are tinkering with futuristic concepts that will one day soon replace the car in your garage. The kids are gearing up the vehicles to withstand the rigors of the grueling North American Solar Challenge, a 2,400-mile race from Dallas, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Anything goes - except all the cars have to be powered by solar energy and nothing else. "The price of gasoline is already sky high and it's not going to come down," says automotive industry analyst Graham Parkes. "Ethanol is not the answer because using cropland to produce fuel drives up the price of food. Solar powered cars are the wave of the future, and the Solar Challenge is the best way to test early versions of the technology involved. The race also gets student engineers interested in this inexpensive means of transportation."
May 27th 2008
Fukuoka Mall Robot
A bright yellow-and-white robot is keeping kids in line - and safe - at a department store in Japan. In a few years, a tweaked-up model may be working as a nanny in your home. The 4-foot-7-inch humanoid is herding kids at the giant Aeon store in the city of Fukuoka. Parents drop off their youngsters, who are out-fitted with special transmitter badges that enable the robot to identify them by name at an age-appropriate level. To keep the toddlers amused, one of the robot's eyes functions as a projector and the other doubles as a camera. The gizmo takes pictures of them and shows them the results while talking to them. Plans are underway to create a home version of the robot to relieve busy moms and dads of the need to keep their children entertained after a long day's work.
May 26th 2008
Sheik Plans World's Tallest Building
A filthy-rich oil sheik is flaunting his colossal fortune by constructing a mile-high tower in the desert. Prince al-Walid bin Talal, 51, is bankrolling the $10 billion project, which will be the tallest structure in the world at an incredible 5,250 feet. Upon completion, the top floor will offer a spectacular view of the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Ocean. The architectural marvel is the planned centerpiece of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a new mini-city being built near the Red Sea. Its height will dwarf the Dubai Tower, which is presently under construction and was once expected to be the world's tallest building at 2,300 feet with 160 stories. Experts say erecting the enormous structure involves many technical challenges. For instance, cranes typically used in skyscraper construction aren't tall enough. So helicopters will do most of the lifting and transporting of materials and workers. Engineers must also solve the problem of devising a tower that can withstand the searing desert sun during the day followed by temperatures below freezing at night. And the strong winds that are prevalent in the area could cause the building to sway and occupants to suffer high-rise motion sickness. Designers believe the answer is a giant computer-operated stabilizer stretching down several floors and two mini-towers flanking the building's base.
May 25th 2008
Caught Dead To Rights
A burglar who broke into a funeral home was caught red-handed when he pretended to be a corpse. Cops were called after neighbors heard the thief forcing open the front door of the business in the middle of the night. As police canvassed the building, they discovered the suspect lying on a table in a glassed-in chamber used for viewing the deceased. Although he tried to play possum, investigators say his disheaveled attire and obvious breathing gave him away. "The cutom is for dead people to be dressed in suits, in nice clothes that look presentable," says a police spokeswoman. "This guy was in everyday clothes that were wrinkled and dirty and he was breathing!" The owner of Crespo Funeral Home in Burjassot, Spain, is mystified by the crime because there were no valuables or cash in the place.
May 24th 2008
Haunted Doll Terrorizes Key West
Visitors to the island paradise of Key West, Florida, are reporting eerie encounters with a haunted doll that has set up shop in a historic home. Locals say Robert the Doll was the real-life inspiration for Chucky, the terrifying possessed toy in the Child's Play horror movies. "There's definitely something not right about Robert," explains Doris Lipschitz, 61, a hotel manager. "He'll move around when no one's watching, and if you try to take a picture of him - well, just try. Nobody can get one to come out right." Snapshots of Robert are often mysteriously blacked out, or show unexplained scratches, cell phones and wristwatches tend to malfunction around Robert. "I've never seen anything like it," says Ernest Goodweather, 42, a tourist from Pocatello, Idaho. "I aimed my camera at Robert, and suddenly my phone and every electronic gizmo on me wnet dead. Then, when I turned to leave, I definitely heard the sound of a boy laughing. It gave me chills." Joan Brinitz, 54, of Great Neck, New York, saw the antique doll move. "I was standing there looking at him and I heard this buzzing noise from the lights, so I looked away," Brinitz recalls. "When I looked back, despite being alone in the room, he'd changed positions and the toy lion he was holding had moved across his lap. I went to get my husband Phil, and when I looked back, he'd shifted back again. It was very creepy - I got the feeling he was playing with me intentionally to make me feel frightened." Robert currently resides in a glass display case in a historic home made into The East Martello Museum, but he originally came to the island as a gift to Gene Otto, former owner of The Artist House Bed & Breakfast. "The Ottos were never very good to their servants, a family of Bahamians," explains local historian Marina Jordan, 36. "Their daughter gave their son, Gene, the doll as a gift. "People say he was made using some kind of Caribbean curse, like a voodoo doll. It would certainly explain a few things."
May 23rd 2008
When Installing A TV Satellite Receiver Turns Deadly
A man fatally shot his wife while trying to cut corners on a home improvement project by using a gun to install a satellite receiver! Ronald Long, of Deepwater, Missouri, had been trying to punch a hole through his exterior wall. Normal tools weren't working, so he reached for a .22-caliber handgun. Unfortunately, his wife, 34-year-old waitress Patsy D. Long, was standing outside the house. "Mr. Long was under the impression that everybody was inside the residence, that he knew where everybody was," explains Sheriff's department spokesman Major Robert Hills. Long's first shot didn't go through the wall. After firing a second shot, he called out his wife's name. When she didn't answer, he rushed outside to find she'd been hit in the chest. Neighbors attempted CPR and Patsy was airlifted to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. "Once we complete a diagram of the incident, we will be submitting everything to the prosecuting attorney and letting him decide if he wants to press criminal charges," says Hills.
May 22nd 2008
New Clues Reignite Search For D.B. Cooper
Just weeks after hopes were dashed that the parachute of infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper had been found, kids playing in the woods stumbled upon other pieces of equipment that an expert confirms once belonged to Cooper. The children discovered a pair of goggles and the tattered remnants of a rain poncho in the southwest Washington woods where the FBI believe the hijacker would have landed. Michael Samson, a private investigator from Seattle, is thrilled by the new evidence. "I've worked on the Cooper case as a hobby for years," Samson explains. "And this new find is the most exciting turn of events since Cooper jumped from the plane." In November 1971, the infamous thief took over a Northwest Orient flight and threatened to blow up the plane if he wasn't paid $200,000. Once he got the cash, he parachuted out the back of the plane into a forest near the Oregon-Washington border. The FBI launched a massive manhunt, but no trace of the audacious hijacker was ever found. "The items match the description of what Cooper was wearing according to witnesses on the plane," says Samson. "I have no doubt that this stuff is his." A shredded parachute was also recently found, but FBI techicians said it couldn't be Cooper's because the pieces were silk and he used a nylon chute. "I was disappointed when the FBI said it wasn't the right kind of fabric," Samson says. "But the goggles and poncho could be the key to finally solving this 36-year-old mystery."
May 21st 2008
Sea Monsters Invade Antarctic!
An army of monstrous sea creatures has stealthily moved into the frigid waters surrounding Antarctica and worried experts have no idea where they came from. The startling discovery came during a survey of marine life in the Ross Sea conducted by an international team of researchers. The eerie species include huge sea snails, jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles, starfish the size of large pizza platters, 3-foot tall glass-like sea tulips, humongous toothfish, bulbous sea cucumbers also known as "sea pigs" and fields of 20-inch-high sea lilies that stretched for hundreds of yards across the ocean floor. "They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their mouths," says Martin Riddle, of the Australian Antarctic Division. "Many of them had very large eyes - very strange looking." Most of the monsters were found more than 6,500 feet below the sea's surface. Scientists speculate that the specimens have grown so large because of cold temperatures, high levels of oxygen and a scarcity of predators. But their origin remains a mystery. "Not all of the creatures we found could be identified," says Graham Hosie, who headed the research effort.
May 20th 2008
Giga Yacht Gives New Meaning To Island Luxury
What could be more luxurious than a private tropical island that comes to you! That's the concept behind the new 325-foot-long, 59-foot-wide "gigayacht" named WallyIsland. This colossal cruiser is so big, it's got its own ocean-going garden - along with tennis courts, pools, a cinema, a library and five decks of accommodations. The poolside green space comes equipped with an irrigation system to keep the trees green and lawn lush. The vessel's fuel tanks are so big, it's estimated to need filling up only once every five years. The world's ultra-wealthy are already familiar with the term "megayacht," designating any private luxury vessel more than 220 feet long. But this new offering from the Wally Yacht shipwrights of Monaco is in a class by itself. Engineers use the prefix "giga-" to describe the next level up from "mega-" - so that, for example, a "gigabyte" is 1,000 times larger than a "megabyte." "This ship fulfills the dreams of someone who wants to live comfortably aboard as if it was on their own estate," explains Wally spokesperson Monica Paolazzi. "This is a yacht where you have a piece of land that you can use to play your favorite sport, to grow your favorite plants, to enjoy your favorite outdoor activity. "This will appeal to someone who wants to be completely independent. No other yachts offer this kind of garden."
May 19th 2008
Ocean-Powered Gliders Study Global Warming
Underwater gliders powered by the heat stored in ocean waters will give meteorologists the most complete picture of global warming patterns ever attained - and they may provide clues about how to halt this environmental disaster. The gliders are being tested in the Caribbean. They require no batteries and can run for months at a time - without human control - collecting vital data on ocean temperatures and depth. Eventually, an armada of these devices will crisscross the Atlantic Ocean, sending reports via satellite to land-based scientists for analysis. "This solid information on what exactly is happening to our oceans in various locations and at various depths will help us find a solution to global warming," says meteorologist Murray Kozinsky.
May 18th 2008
No-Car City Paves Way To The Future
While we sit around twiddling our thumbs behind the wheels of our gas-guzzling, carbon dioxide-belching SUVs, a country that got rich selling us high-priced oil has become a pioneer in global effort to save the planet from pollution. Plans for a totally self-contained city in the Mid-east nation of Abu Dhabi have been unveiled. The most striking thing about Masdar City is that it will have no cars - zero, none! Everyone in the community of 50,000 will walk or ride public transportation powered by clean energy derived from solar panels. The city will be surrounded by walls to protect it from harsh desert winds. Its narrow streets will be covered with solar canopies that will generate all the power required for its citizens to live productive, healthy, active, thoroughly modern lives. Water will be pumped from the ocean and purified in a solar-powered desalinization plant. Food will be grown in nearby greenhouses and every scrap of waste will be turned into compost or recycled in some other way. The city was designed by the environmentally aware British architectural firm Foster + Partners. Most of the people who live there will be scientists and other experts concerned with ecological self-sufficiency, but the concept can easily be adapted to suit any types of activity. The first phase, set to be completed in the next two years, is the construction of the Masdar Institute, a university associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
May 17th 2008
Robot Takes Over Dirty Work In Your Kitchen
Engineers have unveiled the prototype of a robot that will eventually free you from the drudge work you now do in your kitchen. Sure, cooking can be fun. It's cleaning up afterward that's a pain in the you-know-what. That's where Readybot comes in really handy. It's little more than an enamel box on wheels, but it can stretch to full human height and can use its very strong and flexible arms to reach objects on the highest shelves. Its "hands" are sensitive enough to scrape scraps from your very best china into the trashcan without doing any damage and it can even load the dishwasher. Readybot is the creation of a group of engineers from Silicon Valley in California. It's made from simple, inexpensive materials and runs on computer programs that can be downloaded from the Internet for free. Those factors will keep costs down when the robot hits the market in two or three years.
May 16th 2008
World's Oldest Climber Set To Conquer Everest
The senior mountaineer who lost his title as the oldest man to conquer Mount Everest is hoping to win it back - but has to wait for peace in Tibet first! Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, 75, has had a lifelong relationship with the world's tallest mountain. In 1970, he skied down its forbidding, snow-clad slopes. Then, in 2003, he became the oldest man to stand on the mountain's 29,035-foot peak. But Miura's record was broken in 2006 by another Japanese climber, who was three days older than Miura when he reached the summit. And in 2007, Katsusuke Yanagisawa beat both records by conquering Everest at age 71. Miura has already received a climbing permit from Chinese authorities and has traveled to Nepal to start getting his body accustomed to the Himalayan altitude. But tensions recently erupted into bloodshed between Chinese officials and the Tibetan citizens who live in the region around Everest. Exiles loyal to the Dalai Lama, the ousted ruler of Tibet, say 140 protestors have been killed by police so far. "This area has a history of unrest and it's regrettable that something like this happened," Miura says. If the warring sides can reach an agreement, he'll launch his expedition and attempt to reach the summit by may 16.
May 15th 2008
Getting On The Stick!
Two artists who create huge artworks out of tiny pieces of wood prove that even when you're making a big statement, it's the little things that count! Michael Arndt loves Formula One racing so much, he built a car of his very own out of a mind-boggling 956,000 matchsticks. The project took the German-born civil servant six years - and a whopping 1,686 tubes of glue - to assemble in his kitchen. The life-sized car snaps into 45 separate pieces so Arndt can transport it to matchsrick-building conventions. Halfway across the world, San Francisco native Steven J. Backman has spent nearly his whole life building with toothpicks, including a 13-foot-long model of the Golden Gate Bridge made from 30,000 toothpicks, a 4 1/2-foot-long, radio-controlled yacht made from 10,000 toothpicks to sail underneath it and a miniature Golden Gate version made from a single toothpick. But more recently, he's dedicated himself to creating beautiful abstract sculptures one toothpick at a time. "Unlike ordinary wood, toothpicks have personalities of their own," Backman explains.
May 14th 2008
It's Bunny-Zilla!
Hide your carrots - a monster rabbit's on the loose! Amy the Rabbit, the world's biggest bunny, wolfs down two apples, half a cabbage, a pile of hay, a massive bowl of rabbit food and a hefty handful of jumbo-sized carrots each day. At 4 feet long and nearly 50 pounds, Amy won't fit in a regular hutch, so owner Annette Edwards has her sleep in a dog kennel. "She's enormous, but not because she overeats on junk," explains Edwards, 55, a model and former pet store owner. "She gets plenty of exercise and eats very healthily. Amy is a fuddy eater. The carrots must still have their green tops and the hay has to be fresh and green or she won't go near it." Amy was bred to be big. She's a Continental Giant, the same breed as former world record rabbits Rudi, a 22-pound German bunny, and Roberto, the beefy 35-pounder she "married" in a flashy ceremony in 2006 near her home in Worcester, England. "I've never heard of any rabbit being bigger than Roberto, except his wife," insists Edwards. "Luckily, there are no jealousy issues. They get along fine. We do have to keep them separate because if they come together, they start mating - like rabbits! The next record holder will be one of their children, which are all big but still have some growing to do." Amy's best buddies are Edwards' two Chihuahuas, Sadie and Vegas, who she towers over like a colossus. Edwards say they always play together nicely despite their differences in size. "Amy loves children, she loves attention and she adores my other pets," Edwards explains.
May 13th 2008
Giant Killer Ice Mass Set To Terrorize Oceans
Recent satellite images of the South Pole reveal a new hazard from global warming - a killer ice mass set to break off Antarctica and spread ship-destroying icebergs across the world's oceans. Scientists analyzing photographs of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula found a mass of ice twice the size of Cleveland is about to break off and tumble into the ocean. "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened," explains Dr. David Vaughn of the British Antarctic Survey, who previously predicted that global warming would shatter the ice shelf within 30 years. "I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly - the ice shelf is hanging on by a thread." For hundreds of years, the Wilkins Ice Shelf has remained solidly frozen. But as global warming began accelerating through the 1990s, scientists noticed signs of it crumbling away. At the same time, climatologists warn, ocean currents started shifting in response to the change in global climate. "This is like a perfect storm for creating icebergs," explains oceanographer Kathy Lewsdale, of Boston. "This crumbling, city-sized chunk of Antarctic ice will be splashing down into the Southern Ocean at the precise time of year when winds and currents will carry it along the South American coast up to the North Atlantic. "As it nears the equator, the ice will slowly break into thousands of house-sized chunks, which will spread across all the major shipping lanes of the Atlantic Ocean." Scientists agree that nothing like the breakaway ice shelf has ever floated into the Atlantic before. "In 2002, the Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed, spewing out dozens of potentially deadly icebergs," explains glaciologist Fred Hemholz, of Hamburg, Germany. "Luckily, this took place during the Antarctic summer, and the ice didn't last long enough to enter North Atlantic. But in the Southern Hemisphere, May is the beginning of winter. As soon as the Wilkins ice mass begins breaking apart, there will be icebergs everywhere. Their greatest volume will be just below the ocean surface, so these bergs will be too small to track but large enough to sink any number of cargo freighters. It has the potential to be a global disaster."
Did you know the iceberg that sank the Titanic was between 50 and 100 feet tall and between 200 and 400 feet long. The tallest known isberg in the North Atlantic was 550 feet tall - towering over the ocean higher than the Washington Monument!
May 12th 2008
Lost Pooch Comes Home - After 7 Years
A long-lost pooch was returned to his happy owners - seven years after he disappeared! Tim Olson and his wife Paula Davidson weren't worried back in 2001 when their golden retriever Charlie got out of their yard. "We knew he'd be gone for long hours," says Olson, of Deland, Florida. "He'd jump the fence at 9 a.m. and be back at 3 p.m. like 'Hey, let me in!'" When Charlie didn't show up as usual, the frantic couple posted fliers, haunted the local animal shelter and drove all over town. But their beloved pet had vanished without a trace. So Olson was flabbergasted to discover his now 14-year-old dog had been dropped off at the Daytona Beach Humane Society! A microchip implanted in Charlie's neck when he was a puppy was the key to the reunion. Most animal shelters have scanners to read the information on the chips. However, Human Society spokeswoman Michelle Pari says there's seldom such a happy ending after so long a time. Olson thinks the people who kept Charlie all these years probably believed the dog didn't have an owner. "I don't blame them. He's a wonderful dog," Olson says. "I just wish they could have taken him to a place to see if he had a microchip. We would have found him a lot sooner."
May 11th 2008
People Who Can't Stop Praying!
Doctors are grappling with a rare disease that causes victims to perform religious rituals and pray for hours on end. Experts believe Martin Luther and many renowned saints were struck by the disorder, known as "Scrupulosity." James Endicott, a maintenance man at an Indianapolis church, says the debilitating illness dominates his life. "I'm often overwhelmed with the need to pray, no matter how inappropriate the place," Endicott, 47, explains. He blames his affliction for his single state. "There's not a woman in the world who could deal with me," he says. "So my life is dedicated to the glory of God." Therapy helped the tormented handyman deal with some of the compulsive thoughts that plaqued him since childhood. "Years ago, I would drop to my knees on street corners praying that I wouldn't get hit by a car," Endicott says. "Now, I have a bit more control." But the actions of others can cause him to suffer horrifying panic attacks and crying jags. "I can't stand to hear people curse," he says. "It makes me feel sinful just hearing the words. No therapy can make that any better. The only thing that works is lots and lots of prayer."
May 10th 2008
World's First Pregnant Man
Hot on the heels of an Oregon man who was once a woman becoming pregnant, another sex-change couple desperate for children have reversed genders - and now HE is pregnant from HER sperm! Like Thomas Beatie, Carlos Espinoza, of Montevideo, Uruguay, used to be a woman. His wife of five years, Martina Alfassi Espinoza, was born a man. Although both have undergone hormone treatments and cosmetic surgery to live as their chosen gender, neither have had their repoductive organs removed or reconstructed. "This baby was a miracle of our love," Martina explains. "Doctors ridiculed us and told us we were fools to even try it. But we both felt the same call to create our family, and finally, God smiled on us with a child." Carlos stopped his hormone injections for several months before undergoing artificial insemination. Martina had cryogenically frozen her sperm before beginning her transition to life as a woman eight years ago. It took months to find a doctor willing to supervise the in vitro fertilization process. Because Carlos had been taking testosterone treatments, he had grown a beard and stopped his menstrual cycle. But once the hormones left his system, he became a fertile woman again. The couple's first pregnancy, last summer, didn't work out. But the second time was the charm, and Carlos is expecting to deliver a healthy baby boy this June. Because his breasts have been radically reduced - and Martina's are the result of cosmetic surgery - neither parent will be able to breastfeed the new baby. But other than that, medical experts say the pregnancy is progressing normally. "It feels wonderful to be a pregnant man," Carlos declares. "I'm ready for life as a father, just as my wife is ready to be a wonderful, loving mother. The fact that the baby will come out of my womb and not hers is almost beside the point - we're a family together."
http://www.malepregnancy.com/
May 9th 2008
Mystery Of The Island Of No Return
The place known as the Island of No Return is a legendary site of mysterious disappearances. Now, members of a scientific team investigating the area in Africa have apparently suffered the same terrifying fate! "Envaitenet Island on Lake Rudolph in Kenya is called a cursed place by local residents," says biologist Mark Olsen, of Chicago. "There was a thriving community there once, with villagers regularly trading with their relatives and friends on the mainland. Then one day during a torrential rain storm, a thick gray cloud descended on the island, When it lifted the next day, the people were gone without a trace. Men from the mainland paddled over in their canoes to find the huts deserted and fish rotting next to extinguished fires, as if the cooks were taken away in the middle of making a meal. When they couldn't find a soul anywhere on the island, the terrified scouts jumped in their boats and raced back across the lake. For centuries, no one dared approach the cursed island." Olsen says he and his colleagues were working on a project in Africa when they heard the legend of the Island of No Return. "Mike Norm and Fred Thompson, two of my most distinguished colleagues, motored over to the island in an outboard loaded with the latest equipment to record their findings," Oslen explains. "But within 24 hours of their arrival, a thick cloud suddenly enveloped the island. Mike and I were talking on the radio at the time when his transmission cut off in mid-sentence." After the fog lifted, Olsen and his remaining team rushed to the island, only to discover that their colleagues had vanished. "I have no doubt that there's a sinister connection between the cloud and the disappearances," Olsen says. "But I'm not going to risk any more lives on that godforsaken island to find proof of my theory. It will just have to remain a mystery."
http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0308/vanished-print.html
May 8th 2008
Unwrapping The Dinosaur Mummy
For the first time ever, scientists are getting a close look at dinosaur meat - one tiny brushstroke at a time! More than 65 million years ago, something incredibly rare happened in southwestern North Dakota. A duck-billed dinosaur called an Edmontosaurus was buried in the perfect mudslide - just the right moisture, temperature and mineral content to prevent the body from ever decaying. As a result, the whole dinosaur was converted into the world's oldest mummy. "The process of decay was overtaken by that of fossilization, preserving many of the soft-tissue structures," explains paleontologist Phillip Manning, part of the team analyzing the dinosaur they've nicknamed Dakota. "This is the closest many people will ever get to seeing what large parts of a dinosaur actually looked like, in the flesh. This is not the usual disjointed sentence or fragment of a word that the fossil records offer up as evidence of past life. This is a full chapter." Scientists started excavating Dakota in 2004, but the work is so painstaking, it's taken them the better part of four years to bring the creature out of its stony tomb. The process is expected to take another year before Dakota is entirely free. "This is an absolutely priceless relic of a bygone era," declares biologist Dr. Charles Clight. "We can not only see how dinosaurs really moved, but how their tissues fought disease and supplied their bodies with energy. This could turn out to be a medical miracle as well as an historical one."
May 7th 2008
Invisible Art - Artist Disappears Into Her Work
Take a close look at the pile of newspapers, shelbves full of books and cobblestone walkway and you'll see something unexpected - a modern artist's eerie photographs of invisible people! "People always react strongly when they see my work," explains Desiree Palmen, 44. "They have mixed reactions - confusion, surprise and interest. Mostly, people like the idea of wearing garments that make them invisible." To create her illusions, Palmen first photographs her chosen location, whether a bookshelf in a quiet room or rough stone steps leading through a narrow alley. Then she spends hours painting a homemade cotton suit by hand , matching the chosen background in every possible detail - color, line and shape. Finally, she has a model don the suit and pose in the original location, blending as seamlessly as possible into the background. Palmen says she got the idea for her invisible portraits from the increasing use of closed-circuit security cameras. "I wanted to make a suit for the non-criminal citizen whose house is being watched 24 hours by street surveillance cameras," she explains. "I'm also responding to a wish to dissappear."
May 6th 2008
Robots Get Ready To Rumble!
Flying robots based on birds, locusts, flies and moths are squaring off in a competition to see how much assistance they can give to soldiers in battlefield situations. The micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), as they are called, are competing for a $600,000 research and development prize for their inventors. To win the cash, the MAV will have to detect and disarm land mines and lead commandos past enemy combatants to a site where hostages are being held. The U.S. military already uses MAVs the size of a backpack to seek out roadside bombs in Iraq. The point of the competition is to build a version that is smaller - no more than 11 inches - and more maneuverable. The robots are controlled partly by remote operators, but they make most of the decisions about what to do and how to do it by themselves, using advanced electronic brains. The odds-on favorite to win the battle is a Dutch MAV called RoboSwift. It's modeled after a bird called the swift, whose wings are so durable it spends most of its life in flight.
May 5th 2008
A Sound Only Kids Can Hear
A small metal box emits a noise that's as irritating as fingernails scraped across a blackboard - but only to teenagers. No one else - not adults, young children nor pets - can hear the sharp, high-pitched whine. Officials are using the device, called the Mosquito, to disperse crowds of unruly youngsters at shopping malls and other places teens like to congregate and cause trouble. The Mosquito was invented by Howard Stapleton after his daughter endured ongoing harassment from a group of rowdy boys at a popular youth hangout near his home in Wales. The gizmo is based on the fact that after the age of about 25, human beings lose the ability to hear certain high-pitched sounds - sounds that are annoying enough to motivate younger people to get out of their range in a hurry. More than 4,000 establishments in Bitain now use the Mosquito to dispel throngs of kids, and American schools and businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. But kids are clever. They've turned short bursts of the sound only they can hear into ring tones for their cell phones - so they can receive calls while in class without their teachers being any wiser!
May 4th 2008
Hypnotizing Thief Leaves Clerks In A Trance
Asvengali-like thief is convincing supermarket clerks to hand over all the money in the register by hypnotizing them! Stunned staffers tell police they only remember a man leening over and saying: "Look into my eyes." When store clerks snap out of the trance, they discover the tills are empty! The audacious crook recently used his bizarre technique on a teller at a bank in Ancona, Italy. Video footage of the crime shows a female clerk handing over $1,200 to the spellbinding swindler before he calmly walked out the door. Cops say the woman was flabbergasted by the video tape, which clearly showed her giving the mystery man the cash - because she had absolutely no memory of the incident.
May 3rd 2008
Back In The Paddle Again!
A swan whose misplaced love for a bird-shaped boat made her an international celebrity shifted her affections to a better partner - a real swan. But the flesh-and-blood Casanova left the white beauty's feathers ruffled when he ditched her for another black swan. Petra, who glides gracefully across the ponds of Germany's Munster zoo, fell for the giant, swan-shaped paddleboat in 2006, following it across the water all summer long and spending winter cuddling up to it for nesting season. Zookeepers were stumped for a gentle way to seperate Petra from her boat until Mother Nature stepped in. A male black swan named Paul caught Petra's fancy, and she abandoned her plastic playmate in favor of a living, breathing bird. Zoo officials were thrilled - until Paul flew off to return to his flock of black swans. Now, they say Petra "appears to feel lonely," so they're taking her back to her faithful paddleboat partner.
May 2nd 2008
Sit! Stay! Pray!
"Dear God, please let me have a new flea collar and some chew toys. I promise I'll be a good doggie from now on." Conan, a 1/2-year-old black-and-white longhaired Chihuahua, started performing his puppy prayers after watching his master, priest Joei Yoshikuni, don black robes, sit erect and bring his hands together before the altar twice every day. The pious pair carry out their devotions at Shuri Kannondo Temple in Naha, Japan, where curious crowds are starting to gather to see the praying pooch in person. "I think he saw me doing it all the time and got the idea to do it, too," explains Yoshikuni. "word has spread, and we're getting a lot more tourists." Conan still has a lot to learn about life as a Zen monk. Yoshikuni is currently trying to teach the active young dog to sit quietly while he meditates.
May 1st 2008
New 'Area One' UFO Mystery
A secret government installation known as Area One may be at the heart of the mystery of the Yalaha Triangle, say investigators. The latest revelations come on the heels of a report published in Sun Magazine last week on underwater UFOs in the Harris Chain of lakes and canals surrounding the village of Yalaha, Florida. "Residents have swapped rumors about an abandoned base they call Area One for years," explains an investigator from Project Black Book, the top secret probe into the UFO phenomenon. "Unlike most government facilities, it has a cemetery on the property. And the site plays a central role in reports of unexplained phenomena." Eddie Watkins, 55, was courting his wife-to-be, Trudy, 16 years ago when he took her for a drive down Lover's Lane, a little-used dirt track that winds through the woods outside Okahumpka, near one of the lakes in the Harris Chain, 3 miles west of Yalaha. The road ends at the cluster of government buildings known as Area One. "We were sitting in the car, enjoying the moonlight when suddenly there were strange noises and lights from behind the buildings," Watkins recalls. "There was a whirring and pinging, like weird machinery, and these were not like your normal lights. They were flashing across the sky. It was a scary deal, and we left the area pretty quickly." Investigators point out that the facility, like Nevada's notorious Area 51, lies behind signs warning trespassers: "Stop! Authorized Personnel Only, Disease Prevention Area." "It's possible that there are toxic radiation levels in the area," says one Black Book investigator. "Or, it could be that experiments on alien bodies have led to a risk of contamination." Chris Harris, a former world champion water skier, was with friends on Lake Eustis when he came face to face with an underwater UFO. "I was barefooting across the lake when I noticed something strange in the water ahead of us." Harris recalls. "It was like a pothole in the water. The minute I skied over it, we were surrounded by a bright circle of light, beaming up from underwater. It went all the way around the boat and about 20 feet behind me, and it followed us for several hundred yards. Then, in a flash, a glowing globe across a small saucer shape came down from the direction of the Area One buildings and hovered over us. Then the light vanished. It definitely wasn't anything from this planet."
May 0th 2008
Curse Of The Skinwalker
A remote Utah ranch hides a portal to another dimension, say scientists investigating a bizarre wave of encounters with eerie lights, mutilated cattle and a shape-shifting creature called a skin-walker. That's the amazing premise behind Colm A. Kelleher, Ph.D., and George Knapp's new blockbuster book, Hunt for the Skinwalker (Paraview Pocker Books). The authors were part of a scientific team researching a series of inexlicable events on the Gorman family ranch in Utah's Uinta Basin. Shortly after moving his wife, father and two kids to the 480-acre homestead, Tom Gorman began experiencing things he couldn't explain. Once, a giant wolf approached the family like a lost pet dog, before suddenly springing at a 300-pound calf and trying to drag it away. Despite being shot several times at short range, the wolf showed no signs of injury, trotted off to the underbrush and, after the Gormans tracked it for miles, abruptly vanished. After unsettling encounters with colossal bats and bizarre, rectangular UFOs, the Gormans learned the local Ute Indians viewed their land as cursed. It had been declared off-limits to Utes because it was home to a shapeshifting creature known to Indians of the South-west as a skinwalker - part witch, part werewolf. Local legends say the Navajo cursed the land, summoning an unearthly menace after the Utes broke an alliance and began selling kidnapped Navajos at New Mexico slave markets in the 1800s. "Few Navajo want to cross paths with a naagloshii, otherwise known as a skinwalker," Kelleher and Knapp explain. " The cautious Navajo will not speak openly about skinwalkers, especially with strangers, because to do so might invite the attention of a witch. After all, a stranger who asks questions about skinwalkers just might be one himself, looking for his next victim." In the 1950s, the area was known as a major hotspot for aerial phenomena, with hundreds of credible sightings of strange, glowing spheres. From the 1970s onward, cattle were routinely found mysteriously mutilated, their body parts removed with surgical precision by airborne assailants. But Tom Gorman, who valued his privacy, only decided to call in experts after losing nearly 20 percent of his herd between 1994 and 1996 to mysterious mutilations - and after he repeatedly saw a window to another world open in the western sky. The orange structure appeared hours after sunset, about a mile in the distance. From the side, the circle looked like a dim, dusty cloud. From behind, it was completely invisible. When watched through binoculars or a night-vision rifle scope from the Gormans' front yard, it was possible to make out "another sky" inside the glowing circle. And shadowy figures could be seen entering and leaving through the opening. Gorman began to suspect that his unexplained encounters were with trespassers from another dimension - the world on the other side of the orange window. In 1996, Tom Gorman sold the ranch to the National Institute for Discovery Science, the paranormal research institute founded by millionaire Robert Bigelow. Gorman's family moved to another property 25 miles away, but he stayed on as manager, hoping to discover what strange forces had driven him from his land. Explain Kelleher, a trained biochemist: "I, along with a small team of highly trained scientists and investigators, interviewed hundreds of eyewitnesses to these strange occurrences, including law enforcement officers, physicists, biologists, anthropologists, veterinarians, educators, and everyday citizens. We compiled photos and videos and accumulated reports of demonstratable physical effects on people, animals, equipment, everyday objects and the environment. The research team adhered to the strictest scientific protocols throughout the project." During 10 years of research, scientists witnessed phantom predators attacking cattle and infrared cameras picked up traces of invisible creatures and unseen flying objects. But incidents became less common - as if whatever was on the other side of the wormhole lost interest once the terror-stricken ranchers had been replaced by curious scientists.
Did you know many Native American tribes describe Bigfoot as a shape-shifter from a parallel reality. "He is both spirit and real being, who can glide through the forest like a moose with big antlers, as if the trees weren't there," explains Joe Flying By, of the Lakota Sioux. "He can take a hairy form or even change into a coyote."
April 32nd 2008
UFO Home Sells For Down-To-Earth Price
An astronomically unusual house fetched a less-than-stellar price at auction, with a lucky bidder winning the three-bedroom, two-bath flying saucer for only $135,000! The unique home has been a landmark in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for decades. Built by the late Curtis W. King with all modern conveniences in 1970, it perches on six landing-gear legs near the summit of Signal Mountain, and has an entrance staircase that lowers at the push of a button - just like the spaceship from the film, The Day The Earth Stood Still. Neighbors say one former owner got the wrong side of that feature. When he'd argue with his wife, she'd retract the stairs then park his truck underneath so he couldn't lower them, trapping him inside the UFO. Auctioneer Terry Posey says he's surprised the bidding topped out at less than $140,000, with Pearl Johnson, of Cincinnati, placing the winning bid. She's sure to be enjoying her amazing new pad, with multiple levels, a custom-made bathtub and a luxurious curved bar running along the circular wall - not to mention a view that's practically out of this world!
April 31st 2008
U.N. A-Peel: Go Shoot A Potato!
Thousands are starving to death in Darfur, Iraqis are being blown to bits by suicide bombers and protestors are being slaughtered by Chinese troops in Tibet. So what's the United Nations doing about it all? Celebrating the Year of the Potato with a photo contest! The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is sponsoring the competition to find the best portrait of the humble spud. "Photographers who explore the world of the potato will find plenty of subject matter," declares spokesman NeBambi Lutaladio. Potatoes are the fourth most-produced crop in the world, with over 300 million tons grown annually in more than 100 countries. Contest entrants are encouraged to capture the many ways the vegetable is cultivated, processed, traded and marketed. "The contest will help raise global awareness of the potato's key contribution to agriculture, the economy and world food security," Lutaladio explains. There will be separate categories for professional and amateur photographers and winners will receive cash prizes and cameras.
April 30th 2008
Seed Vault Guarantees Food For The Future
It's buried in the side of a permanently frozen mountain, 620 teeth-chattering miles from the North Pole. It can withstand a massive earthquake, a direct nuclear strike - and it ensures that the human race will have something to eat even if the worst possible calamity wipes out all sources of food on the planet. It's the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the home of 4.5 million seed samples from around the world. If human folly or natural disaster obliterates almost every living thing, it is to the doomsday vault that survivors will turn for the seeds to plant new food crops and stave off starvation. It's not the only seed bank, but others are vulnerable to destruction. War devastated seed banks in Iraq and Afghanistan and floods swamped one in the Philippines. The Svalbard vault is designed to resist all threats and its sub-zero temperatures will keep seeds viable for 1,000 years. The vault is buried 425 feet deep in a mountain on an island north of Norway. It is protected by steel tunnels and metal doors, which are always covered with frost. Armed guards patrol outside to keep terrorists and other criminals away. Seed samples have been sent by every country in the world to provide a lifeline for humanity should the unthinkable happen.
April 29th 2008
New Car Costs $5,000 And It Runs On Air!
Now that the price of gasoline has blasted through the roof, drivers are beginning to pay attention to an inventor who's been trying to drum up interest in a vehicle that's cheap to run and cheap to buy. The OneCAT will cost about $5,000 when it goes on sale later this year and once you're in the driver's seat, you can kiss sticker shock at the gas pump goodbye. That's because the car runs on compressed air. The vehicle produces no harmful emissions at all, which makes designer Guy Negre believe his first customers will be environmentalists. But he's sure all those who are staggering under the burden of $4-a-gallon gas will soon follow. The OneCAT is no namby-pamby mini car. It can seat five people comfortably. It's motor is driven by compressed air that is stored in tanks built into the glass fiber body. It takes less than three minutes to fill the tanks, a much shorter period of time than charging an electric car. If you don't mind pumping just a little pollution into the atmosphere, you can add a burner that heats the air to increase pressure on the pistons for better performance. Even with the burner, the OneCAT will get 120 miles per gallon! The car will first hit showrooms in India, but Negre is negotiating with manufacturers to produce it in Europe and America.
April 28th 2008
Doomsday Gas Cloud Zeroing In On Our Galaxy
A massive hydrogen cloud is zooming toward the Milky Way Galaxy - and when it strikes, stars will be exploding like fireworks on the Fourth of July. The cloud is huge - 11,000 light years long and 2,500 light years wide - and it's moving in our direction at the breakneck speed of 150 miles per second. Its outer edges are already beginning to nibble at the Milky Way's borders, throwing up a dense mountain of cosmic debris. As it continues to approach, its hydrogen will mingle with gases already in our galaxy and trigger a frantic round of star formation. These new stars will be large and short-lived, eventually exploding as supernovas. "It will be just like letting a bomb go off," says Dr. Felix Lockman, of the U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
April 27th 2008
New Devil's Triangle
A secret government investigation has found evidence of an underwater UFO base in an area experts are calling "The Yalaha Triangle." The triangle encompasses the mysterious Harris Chain, a series of interconnected lakes in central florida northwest of Orlando. It stretches between the northern tip of Lake Griffin, the eastern shore of Lake Dora and the village of Yalaha on the southern rim of Lake Harris. Witnesses have reported unusual sightings of large swimming objects , strange lights in the sky and other unexplained phenomena in and around the Harris Chain for years. In the April 7, 2008, issue of Sun Magazine a report on Ivan T. Sanderson's groundbreaking research into underwater UFOs, including his theory that unidentified flying objects could come from a technologically advanced civilization hidden somewhere on the 75 of the planet Earth covered in water. Hot on the heels of that report, The Sun Magazine has now discovered that Project Black Book, the extremely classified government probe into UFOs, is secretly investigating phenomena bearing out Sanderson's finding. "We've discovered convincing evidence of a large, hidden UFO facility in a relatively well-populated area," explains a source within the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity. "For security reasons, we've been instructed to share our findings only with the highest levels of military intelligence - but there are hundreds of people living inside the Yalaha Triangle, and thousands who live close enough to be officially considered at risk." The village of Yalaha, population 1,500, is best known for the Yalaha German Bakery, world famous for its sumptuous pastry. Chefs say the secret is the clear water from the springs in Lake Harris. Scientists have recorded unusual magnetic properties in water from all the lakes and canals in the Harris Chain, but are unable to discover the cause. Local water management officials have also been puzzled by recent events in the Harris Chain. "Despite being in an area affected by a long, terrible drought, the water level never changes," explains hydrologist Owen Fogget. "Other spring-fed lakes in Florida have experienced record low water levels, but not the Harris Chain. "Even stranger, when a heavy storm drops three inches of rain on the Harris Chain, the water level rises by three inches, then by the nest day goes down three inches again." Black Book sources say these phenomena are identical to those observed in the Bermuda Triangle, off the southwest coast of India and other locations where UFOs have regularly been witnessed plunging beneath the water. Some experts have speculated that alien ships rely on water as a source of fuel, possibly by using high-voltage electricity to convert it into hydrogen and oxygen. Witnesses have reported seeing strange shapes and experiencing bizarre weather inside the Yalaha Triangle. "I was water-skiing on Lake Harris when I saw something I'll never forget," recalls Brad Chandler, who was visiting friends in nearby Howey-in-the-Hills. "It was a 3-foot-high hump rising up in front of the boat and racing towards us. Then it turned around and began following the boat at 40 miles an hour. In a second, it was gone. But five minutes later, out of a clear blue sky, a waterspout formed, touching down exactly where the hump vanished." Chandler says he grew up hearing stories about strange submarines under the lakes and unexplained aircraft flying around an abandoned military installation locals dubbed "Area One." As early as 1939, extras and crew for the movie Tarzan Finds a Son reported feeling strange "mechanical vibrations" and seeing unusal, fast-moving airships along the Oklawaha River, which runs from the shooting location in Silver Springs into Lake Griffin and the Yalaha Triangle. Film showing the airships zigzagging across the sky was later destroyed in a warehouse fire. More recently, on March 13, 2008, a visitor from Fairbanks, Alaska, was fishing on Lake Griffin when his canoe was suddenly rocked by an explosive splash. "It was like an avalanche - it just came out of nowhere," recalls Hank Giraud, 56. "I spun around to see what had happened and I was blinded by a brilliant orange flash from the sky. It came from a metal sphere, flying upward at more than 100 miles per hour. I had some people try to convince me this was an asteroid splashing down into the lake, but no asteroid flies upward!" Black Book investigators point out that Giraud's account is backed up by pilots from nearby Patrick Air Force Base, who recorded an unusual radar trace in the area at the same time. The base is responsible for patrolling airspace over the rocket launch facilities at Cape Canaveral.
April 26th 2008
Giant Snakes Paralyze City Of 1.5 Million
An invasion of snakes - some as long as 22 feet - has shut down a thriving metropolis as terrified citizens cower in their homes. The citywide panic rose to a fever pitch when Father Horacio de Quental declared in a sermon that he'd had a vision in which it was revealed to him that the slithering marauders were descended from the evil serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and led to humanity's expulsion from Paradise. "These snakes are the judgement of God against sinners," thundered de Quental from his pulpit in the Brazilian city of Belem, a financial and industrial center with a population of 1.5 million people. Civic authorities report more than 11,000 independent sightings of the savage reptiles - and at least three fatalities have been attributed to the snakes, which zoologists confess belong to no known species. So far, none has been captured, but eyewitnesses say their fangs measure 6 inches in length. Home-care nurse Ofelia Moniz was walking in a park with her grandmother when one of the serpents sprang out at them from behind a stone wall. "It grabbed my grandmother by the throat with its fangs," she sobbed during an interview with a local television station. "He clamped down on her and shook her like a doll. Blood spurted everywhere. He reared up and threw her poor body about 30 feet. Then he turned toward me and hissed. I'll never forget the sound - it was like Satan gasping in my ear. I was frozen with fear. Something distracted him and he crawled away - otherwise I wouldn't be alive." Moniz's grandmother was not as fortunate. She was declared dead at the scene. "We don't know where these snakes came from and we don't know how to get rid of them," laments police superintendent Joaquim Cabral. "It will take an act of God to save us from these devils."
April 25th 2008
Firestarter - Investigators Probe Crying Boy Painting
Paranormal experts are puzzling over a thrift store painting that brings fiery disaster to its owners. David and Priscilla DiGioia, of West Lafayette, Indiana, hadn't heard about the Crying Boy phenomenon when they bought a sentimental print at a church rummage sale while vacationing in England. "We thought it was kind of touching and kind of cute," explains Priscilla, 54, a real estate broker. "We didn't know anything about the picture being associated with fires." Once they got home, they hung the print on the wall of their den, right above the television. Less than a week later, faulty wiring inside the TV sparked a fire that incinerated half of their two-story house. Nothing was left of the east side of the building - except the painting, which remained miraculously untouched. "We were stunned, and the firefighters couldn't believe it," recalls David. "But after looking into the history of the painting, we learned this wasn't the first time." In the early 1980s, a series of portraits of sad-faced children were wildly popular in England, with 50,000 prints sold in department stores across the country. But soon, people began noticing that certain Crying Boy portraits attracted fires. Each blaze started in the same room in which the portrait hung. And each time, the painting survived unscathed while everything around it was utterly destroyed. "Researchers traced the prints to an original painting by a Spanish artist named Franchot Seville, who used a homeless child as a model," explains paranormal investigator Bryce Godwin. "The boy had run away from home after seeing his parents die in a fire. A local priest told Seville that the boy couldn't stay in any local charities because every time he was taken in, a fire would break out." No one has been able to positively identify the boy, Godwin says. And despite rigorous chemical testing, no one has been able to explain why Crying Boy paintings appear to start fires without being burned.
April 24th 2008
Drink Your Pizza!
Pizza and beer migh taste great together - but are you ready for both in one gulp? A couple of saucy brewers hope the answer is "yes," because that's their idea behind Mama Mia Pizza Beer! Tom and Athena Seefurth have teamed up with the Sprecher Brewing Company in Glendale, Wisconsin, to create a pizza-flavored brew by adding tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano to the traditional fermented grain and hops. The result is a real tongue-twister. "The first sip is definitely beer," says Tom. "Then it has an opportunity to travel around your tongue where it has a very pleasant tatse, mostly the oregano and garlic. The aftertaste is what blows people away, because it's real good!" The Seeforths plan to sell 400 cases of the mix-and-match beer in Milwaukee and their home state of Illinois.
April 23rd 2008
Moses Was High On Mt. Sinai!
The theory that Moses and his people were high on drugs when he descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments has outraged biblical scholars around the globe. Benny Shanon, a psychology professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University who authored the study, says a brew created from two psychoactive plants found in the Sinai desert produce the hallucinogenic potion called ayahuasca. If the Israelites had imbibed the heady concoction, Shanon says the thunder, lightning and blaring trumpets described in the Book of Exodus, when Moses appears with the Ten Commandments, could have been a mass hallucination. "One of the things that happens when you drink this potion is a visual experience created through sounds," Shanon explains. "In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritul feelings." But many biblical authorities say the new study is a sacrilege. The Bible is trying to convey a very profound event," declares Rabbi Yuval Sherlow. "We have to fear not for the fate of the biblical Moses, but for the fate of science."
April 22nd 2008
Hunt For Skunk Ape
A hunter who survived a terrifying encounter with the infamous Skunk Ape, Florida's answer to Bigfoot, has inspired a group of adventurers to track down the fiery-eyed monster. Jake Armstrong was preparing to duck hunt before dawn in the Florida Everglades when he heard a bloodcurdling howl from behind a stand of trees. "The sound made my hair stand on end," recalls Armstrong, of Jackson, Mississippi. "The Skunk Ape is considered a blood brother to Bigfoot and it's definitely just as big. It stood at least 7 feet tall with huge yellow teeth and thick hairy arms. And the disgusting stench coming off it was like a mixture of manure and rotten eggs. When it started moving toward me, I forget I even had a rifle and just hightailed it out of there." Now, 30 members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization are hoping to get a look at the Skunk Ape for themselves. The team is armed with a variety of video cameras and audio recorders to capture images of the notoriously shy creature. They're also using sophisticated thermal imaging equipment to track the ape's movements. "We have to keep these expeditions low-key," says Mathew Moneymaker. "When people don't take this subject seriously, we don't call it skepticism - we call it ignorance of the fact this rare species exists. They don't understand how creatures could live and die in the woods without us knowing." There have been documented sightings of the Skunk Ape prowling through the wetlands of South Florida for decades. A motorist saw one of the beasts trotting beside a highway in 1975 with its arms full of stolen corn. And eight years ago, a daring homeowner in Collier County snapped two photographs of an ape-like creature skulking around her rural back garden. "Is someone missing an orangutan?" she asked.
April 21st 2008
Marauding Gnome Terrorizes Town
A sinister gnome is stalking children in a small town, and residents are so frightened they're locking their kids up at night. Teenager Jose Alvarez used his cell phone to capture an image of the "creepy" creature and authorities in the Argentinean village of General Guemes have put police on high alert. Dozens of other people have seen the mysterious, threatening figure, who emerges from hiding only after dark, wears a pointy hat and walks sideways like a crab. In the most chilling encounter, Maria Cortez was returning home from a grocery store with her 3-year-old daughter, Elena, when the gnome leapt out at them from behind a shrub. "He tried to grab Elena, but I threw a bunch of bananas at him and he ran away," the shaken mom says. "He was about three feet tall and he was wearing a pointy hat. He cackled like a maniac as he reached for Elena. When the bananas hit him, he shrieked like a girl and took off as fast as he could on his stubby little legs. He wants to steal our children!"
April 20th 2008
301 Pennies For $10.7 Million
A collection of 301 pennies - that's $3.01, going by their face value - recently netted their owner a whopping $10.7 million! This wasn't any old jar of spare change. The collection included one penny from 1793 - part of a run that was only minted for two weeks because Congress decided Lady Liberty looked scared - and a 1794 penny stamped with tiny stars to help prevent counterfeiting. The pennies belonged to Walter J. Husak, owner of an aerospace firm in Burbank, California. He started collecting when he was 13 years old and his grandparents paid him for chores in old coins. The 301 cents had been appraised at about $7 million - but that was before the bidding started. "It was a fabulous night," says Greg Rohan, president of Heritage Auction Galleries. "Every major coin collector of American cents was either there in person, bidding online or on the telephone."
April 19th 2008
Ghostly Warning Captured On Film!
A man's terrifying encounter on a lonely riverbank has produced what paranormal experts say are the world's first photographs of La Llorona, the Crying Ghost of the Southwest. George Ramirez, a contractor from Houston, Texas, was driving across the San Bernard River Bridge when he was startled to see a female figure sitting in the bed of his pickup truck. It was shortly before dawn, and Ramirez hadn't stopped since leaving his home. "There's no way she could have hopped on anywhere without me knowing about it," Ramirez recalls. "She just appeared out of nowhere." Peculiarly, she was wearing a long, black dres and a veil, as if formally dressed for a funeral - and she appeared to be crying. Ramirez pulled over as soon as he crossed the bridge, but the woman was gone. Hearing a rustle and a muffled cry by the shoreline, he grabbed his jacket - which had his digital camera in its pocket - and carefully walked toward the river. "There was no sign of anybody there, but when I looked down at my reflection, I saw the woman's reflection looking back," he explains. "At first, I thought she'd fallen in and was under the water, but then I realized it was a reflection. "I reached for my camera and took a photograph, then I got out of there fast. The longer I stayed the more I felt my hair standing on end - it was a very scary situation." Ramirez showed the photograph to his father-in-law, who said the woman was La Llorona, a mournful ghost who haunts riverbanks and often appears before a family cris. A week later, Ramirez's wife nearly died in a car accident while driving their children home from school. "People have been seeing La Llorona for hundreds of years, but this is the first time she's been captured on film," explains paranormal researcher Gladys Joiner "How she appears the way she does - why only by rivers and before family tragedies - we simply don't know."
April 18th 2008
Would You Believe...Hitler The Cartoonist?
War-mongering madman... genocidal dictator... cuddly cartoonist? That's how historians may think of Adolf Hitler from now on, thanks to a strange discovery made in a Norwegian museum. Director William Hakvaag was inspecting a painting signed A. Hitler that he'd just bought at an auction when he discovered, hidden in the back, a stack of colorful sketches of Disney characters, including Snow White, Pinocchio, and several of the Seven Dwarfs! Hitler, a frustrated art student, was known to have a personal copy of Snow White for viewing in his private cinema. "He thought this was one of the best movies ever made," says Hakvaag. "I'm 100 percent sure these are drawings by Hitler."
April 17th 2008
New Plant Species Is Suicidal
A mysterious plant that commits suicide after it flowers has been discovered on the exotic island of Madagascar. The 70-foot tall palm is a completely new species that's been hidden for centuries in a remote swamp only accessible by air. Scientists say the botanical wonder sprouts blossoms overflowing with nectar and bears fruit only once in a lifetime. After the single cycle uses all the plant's nutrient resources, the palm collapses and dies. "This is a mind-blowing discovery," says Dr. John Dransfield, of London's Royal Botanic Gardens. "Coupled with the great scientific interest of the palm is that it's such an amazingly spectacular species with such an unusual life cycle." With its impressive height and a spread of at least 30 feet, researchers are amazed that the magnificent plant had remained a secret for so long. In fact, it's so big that it's been photographed by satellites in space! "The fact that such an enormous palm has only now been discovered is astonishing," Dransfield says.
April 16th 2008
Neighborhood Black With Fleas And Rats
Hordes of fleas from a vacant house are breeding out of control, blanketing a suburban neighborhood, and attacking everyone in sight! "I walked through into the back yard and back into mu house and I was covered from head to toe with fleas!" says next-door neighbor Leslie Larson. "The fleas come from the lawn and the rats in their yard." The insects and rodents - the same deadly combo responsible for the Black Death - are surviving by eating fallen fruit from trees surrounding the unoccupied home, and the growing infestation is spreading through the whole area. "My husband went to start up the lawnmower and rats took off from underneath and ran back to the yard of the empty house," says Larson, of Deltona, Florida. "I think the city should fine these people for abandoning their house and make them come back and take care of it." But city code enforcement officials say the homeowner isn't violating any laws by having excessive fleas and rats in the yard.
April 15th 2008
Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Outside
As if food shortages, lack of housing and low-paying jobs aren't enough, long-suffering residents of Moscow are being killed by deadly icicles plunging from the roofs of high-rise buildings and piercing their skulls! Wary Russians must dodge the plummeting chunks every spring, when thick layers of winter snow and ice begin to thaw on city rooftops. Medical authorities report a series of horrifying incidents occurred in February, when six people lost their lives to the razor-sharp icicles.
April 14th 2008
Lost Pilot Discovered Doorway To Parallel World!
Missing millionaire Steve Fossett - who disappeared while flying over the Nevada desert last September - discovered a gateway to an alternate dimension, sources reveal. "He was like a kid with a new toy in the weeks before his last flight," says one insider. "He always got that way before doing something big - anyone who knew him realized something was up." Sources began coming forward after a reporter for the online publication Element: World published letters from a friend of Fossett describing how the seasoned pilot found a circle of light over his ranch in Smith Valley, Nevada. "As he approached, he could see that the light was in fact a large 'hole,' and there were several blueish humanoids moving inside," the friend wrote. "He told me he went back several times over the course of the next couple days, and each time the 'white hole' had moved." Other witnesses have corroborated the strange story. "It was like a hole in the sky, and somebody in there was looking down at me," recalls Justin Tongas, 37, a hunter from Carson City, Nevada. "I was stunned to see it, but then it sort of faded away. I didn't tell anyone or think much about it until I heard Mr. Fossett had vanished right around there a week later." Since the disappearance, several of Fossett's close friends reported seeing him standing in a circle of light or hearing his voice. "Many scientists have conjectured that the barrier between dimensions is thinner near Nevada's nuclear test sites," says physicist Bob Wayne. "Perhaps Fossett did indeed travel through it to a different place."
April 13th 2008
Death-Threat Elmo Terrifies Toddler
A family was stunned when a cuddly new doll began issuing death threats to their 2-year-old son. Toddler James Bowman, of Lithia, Florida, had picked the Elmo Knows Your Name doll as his very favorite plaything. The red, fuzzy Sesame Street character could be connected to a computer to learn certain phrases and names. When it recently ran out of batteries, his parents popped a fresh set in. But instead of reciting James' favorite colors or singing happy songs, the doll suddenly began saying, "Kill James." And James was repeating the creepy message back! "It's not something that you would think would ever come out of a toy," says mom Melissa Bowman. "But once I heard, I was kind of distraught." Fisher-Price, the company that manufactores the toy, has said it will provide a replacement for the errant Elmo. The company also promises to examine the model for the source of the menacing message and to ensure that no other family has a similarly unpleasant surprise. "This is his absolute favorite toy," Melissa explains. "We've been going throug a lot of hassle because he's trying to climb up the counter and up the closets to get it."
April 12th 2008
Home Away From Home!
Scientists Search For New Earth
Astronomers are on the verge of finding an Earth-like planet in another solar system - a habitat that could support human life if things go bad here at home. So far, the scientists have identified 270 planets orbiting other suns, but none of them appears capable of being a haven for us. But the super-powerful COROT telescope has found some Earth-sized planets that might just fill the bill. Experts are hopeful that by the end of the year, one of them will emerge that has an atmosphere and other qualities that we humans would find hospitable. "If we experience an environment catastrophe, such a planet could conceivably save the human race from extinction," says astronomer Harley Fuchs.
April 11th 2008
Gulp! We'll Soon Be Drinking Seawater
Drought has become a major problem all over the world, including right here in the good ol' U.S.A. Many states in the Southeast and on the West Coast have already imposed severe restrictions on water use, and climate experts predict the situation is going to get worse. Blame global warming. But California is leading a movement to solve the looming crisis by purifying seawater to make it drinkable. Under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's direction, the state is building 13 desalination plants that will provide 20 percent of its water in the next 20 years. "There's more than enough water in the world's oceans to meet the needs of both developing countries and those that are already fully industrialized," says environmental engineer Sally Telemon. "Until now, removing the salt from seawater has been too expensive for it to be a viable alternative, but new technologies are rapidly bringing the price down."
April 10th 2008
Green Light For Scheme To Pull Gasoline Out Of The Air!
Scientists at the government's Los Alamos National Laboratory have won approval to go ahead with a project that could just be the ultimate solution to two major crises - the worldwide shortage of oil that's driving gasoline prices higher, and the catastrophic environmental problem of global warming. They've figured out a cost-effective way to capture carbon dioxide - the major green house gas fueling global warming - from the atmosphere and combine it with water to produce methanol, a fuel they hope will replace gasoline at service station pumps. Head researcher Jeffrey Martin calls the concept "Green Freedom" because it will both free us from dependence of foreign oil and rid the air of harmful gases. Producing methanol in this way will also relieve the need to use valuable food crops such as corn to create ethanol, a practice that's driving up prices at the grocery store. As an added incentive, researchers at Columbia University in New York claim that the energy needed to drive the methanol-making process could come from non-poluting, inexpensive solar panels.
http://www.lanl.gov/news/newsbulletin/pdf/Green_Freedom_Overview.pdf
April 9th 2008
Deadly 'Frankenfish' Attack America's Waterways
For centuries, vicious fish called giant snakeheads lived only in warm waters Southeast Asia. But now, they've popped up in both America and England, causing anglers and conservationists alike to panic. "We call them Frankenfish because they're like a monster in a horror movie," says fisherman Cy Manken, of Bowie, Maryland. "They eat everything in their path - fish, frogs, birds!" Experts believe the giant snakeheads, which can grow to 3 feet and weigh nearly 50 pounds, were originally smuggled into private aquariums. But when they became too hard to handle, their owners illegally released them into the wild. Andy Alder, of Lincoln, England, was fishing in a river near his home when he hooked a 2-foot snakehead. "It had a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth," Alder recalls. "To be honest, it looked terrifying!" Ben Weir, of Angler's Mail magazine, says the appearance of snakeheads has sent shock waves across the country. "These fish have attacked humans while protecting their young," Weir says. "Everyone within the angling and fishery world is horrified by their presence." Besides their ferocious appetite, snakeheads pose a grave danger to the environment because of their mobility - they can breathe air for up to four days and walk short distances on their fins. "They're capable of moving from pond to pond, devouring every living thing in their path." explains Maine biologist Mary Slate. Authorities in Crofton, Maryland, where a pond teeming with snakeheads was discovered, attacked the problem by poisoning the water with rotenone. Within hours, 1,200 dead giant snakeheads were recovered. "Striking immediately to contain and destroy them is the only way to protect America from a total invasion," Slate says.
Did You Know Giant Snakeheads have been found in California, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
April 8th 2008
Stunning Photos Reveal Proof Of Life On Mars
Huge Avalanche Signals Water On Red Planet
A robotic spacecraft has snapped photos of an orbital scene even eerier than the bodies of long-dead cosmonauts - an image that experts say proves there's life on other planets. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken the first photographs of an avalanche as it took place near the Red Planet's north pole. The images show huge sprays of ice and dust rising into the air as four massive chunks of glacier break off and slide down a steep cliff face into a yawning ravine. "It's very rare to see a natural process like this in action on the surface of Mars, so everyone has been very excited by these images," explains geophysicist Mark Anderling, of Houston, Texas. "But even more exciting is what we can deduce from the data within these photographs." The images show sheets of ice falling 2,300 feet onto an area lightly coated with carbon dioxide frost - a light, bitterly cold blanket of dry ice. But analysis of the tan dust clouds rising from the impact zone shows quantities of water vapor and carbon compounds. In other words, all the ingredients for advanced life forms. "In our recreation of the landslide events, we've determined that a large quantity of the cloud is made from water vapor, as if the debris splashed into some kind of marsh or shallow underground pool," Anderling explains. "And the water isn't pure. It's loaded with the same stuff you'd see near the Earth's north pole - algae, plankton and even small animals like krill. It's become nearly impossible to deny the fact that Mars is home to alien life forms - and in fact, there's no geologic reason for the avalanche to have started at all. On Earth, it would definitely be credited to an animal wandering over a weak spot in the ice or somehow disturbing the snow. If we analyze these images from the moment the avalanche was triggered at maximum magnification, we might catch the first glimpse of a living Martian."
April 7th 2008
Lost In Space!
Dead Russian Cosmonauts Are Still Out There - 45 Years After They Blasted Off!
The first human being is about to soar out of our solar system into deep space! Sadly, he isn't alive to reap the glory of this historic exploit. His perfectly, preserved body, frozen at minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit, is enclosed in a primitive Russian spacecraft, hurtling at 18,000 miles per hour into nowhere, 45 years after it was launched. The tragic cosmonaut is just one of countless victims sacrificed to the top-secret Russian space program in the early 1960s. The heartbreaking last words of another abandoned space explorer - a woman - were recorded by two Italian brothers with a passion for radio technology. In November of 1963, Achille and Gian Judica-Cordiglia picked up this message on their receiver: "Come in... come in... talk to me! I am hot! I am hot! Oxygen! I can see a flame! I'm hot!" At that point, the signal went dead, as the cosmonaut's space capsule burned to a cinder in the vast lonliness of space. The Soviet space program was shrouded in secrecy and no one will ever know how many people died following dictator Nikita Khrushchev's unyielding command to beat America in what came to be known as the Space Race. Vladimir Shatalov, a commander of cosmonaut training, admitted years latter that "six or eight" trainees had died, but he refused to say how. The Judica-Cordiglia brothers recorded nine deaths between 1960 and 1964 with their amateur radio equipment. Experts say the death toll could reach into the hundreds - and many of these brave pioneers could still be flying around the solar system in ghost space ships. "At least one, whose craft veered out of orbit, is now leaving the solar system," says space historian Miller Johnston. "perhaps someday his ship will crash on an inhabited planet light years away and he will find his rest in alien soil."
April 6th 2008
Zombies Invade City Sewers!
Paranormal researchers are investigating a series of terrifying underground encounters with undead creatures lurking in sewer tunnels. Utility employees are refusing to go back to work until experts have gotten rid of the zombie who follows them on their rounds. "There seems to be one particular area that's giving people the creeps," explains parapsychologist Michael Kingscote. "People have seen and felt things." Workers on assignment in the pipes have spotted a shuffling, humanoid figure lurching toward them during their shifts. The figure does not respond when asked to identify itself, and appears anywhere in the tunnels where workers are present. "There's no way any ordinary human could be everywhere this thing appears," explains one employee. "It's like it can pass through walls or swim up the pipes without breathing. I never know what I'm going to see when I turn a corner down there. There's definitely something threatening about it. Not only are these areas off limits to the public, but the things definitely seem focused on us, like they're waiting for a chance to attack." Several workers have attempted to approach the figure, but it vanishes as soon as they draw near - only to reappear once they start walking away again. Managers at the Eastbourne, England, water treatment plant gave sewerage worker Mark Wey the go-ahead to bring in professional help. "A lot of people don't like going in there," Wey explains. "You can hear voices in the tunnels. We can't prove it's haunted because of strong electromagnetic fields, which can cause the feelings of being touched or watched, but there's definitely paranormal activity. "People feel uneasy when they enter the building and the hairs on the back of their necks go up."
April 5th 2008
Terror In The Skies!
Stunned scientists got striking proof of living dinosaurs when a pterodactyl - the winged reptiles that ruled the skies in the age of T. rex - swooped into traffic over a busy city street. Commuters in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, swerved madly to avoid a creature they described as a "flying lizard" with a long, arrow-shaped head and leathery wings measuring 20 feet scross. "I've seen vultures before, and even a condor once in Mexico," explains Ruth Binghamton, 33, whose SUV smashed into a guard rail during the chaos. "Whatever that thing was, it was no bird!" Binghamton was one of 17 witnesses who reported seeing a pterodactyl soaring over a major highway at 8:44 a.m. on Tuesday, March 4. At least five cars required roadside assistance in the ensuing pileup. Experts were stymied when they tried to explain the event. "The witness testimony is very clear and very believable," says evolutionary biologist Raymond Tartuccio, who works at a local community college. "If it was any other out-of-place animal, like an African swallow or a Bermuda ern, then this would be a perfectly acceptable sighting, although mysterious. But these witnesses are describing an animal that's been extinct for at least 65 million years - and that's something we just can't explain." The Prince George pterodactyl isn't the first flying reptile spotted in recent months. In Wenatchee, Washington, a 29-year-old man told police that a pterodactyl caused him to swerve into a light pole at 11:30 p.m. December 27, 2007. A breathalyzer test showed he wasn't drunk and officials at Central Washington Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, reported no signs of other drugs. The previous week, the crew of a fishing boat off the coast of Oregon spotted a pair of giant, bat-like creatures attacking the sea gulls and sharks that followed their boat. "I've never seen a bird take a shark like that," recalled Captain George Haine, 54. "Whatever it was, it was bigger than any eagle I've ever seen." Researchers in the Pacific Northwest also point to a similar wave of sightings of giant birds or bird-like creatures in Alaska in 2002. "This area is fairly rugged and mountainous, and home to some of the last untouched wilderness on the continent," explains Dr. James McTavish, an ecologist from Juneau, Alaska. "If there was one perfect place for a breeding colony of large, flying predators, this could be it. "There are plenty of steep ravines to hide in and a plentiful supply of salmon in the streams. The only downside would be the severe cold of our winters, but once you had some way to lick that - either by being warm-blooded or hibernating or some other evolutionary technique - then this would be a pterodactyl paradise. All that remains for us to do is find one that we can study and postively identify."
Flying Monsters From Kongamato To Thunderbird
The Prince George pterodactyl is only the latest in a long line of giant flying reptile sightings. Ancient Indian legends west of the Mississippi speak of a creature known as the Thunderbird, whose massive, leathery wings and hammer-like head closely match the description of pterodactyls. In South America, the creature is known as Kongamato, the "over-turner of boats," and has been sighted by scientists and explorers over river valleys in Ecuador and throughout the Brazilian Amazon. Natives in Papa New Guinea call the creatures a Ropen, and reports of these large predators have been made by botanists and other researchers from the late 1970s to last year. Ken Gerhard, a cryptozoologist from Texas, believes these creatures could be related to the Argentinian pteratorn. These pterodactyl descendants are known to have survived up to 6,000 years ago, when some specimens landed in the La Brea Tar Pits near Los Angeles.
April 4th 2008
Killer Frogs Coming To America!
Living descendants of a prehistoric frog so big and vicious that it dined on baby dinosaurs have been found on the island of Madagascar. And now that infant dinosaurs have been removed from the menu, the killer frog has begun feasting on human beings! Multiple deaths have been reported in villages on the island, which is off the east coast of Africa, and public health officials attribute them to voracious attacks by the giant frogs. The frogs are 16 inches long and weigh 10 pounds. They hunt in packs - and they may be headed to America. "They can hop at 30 miles an hour, far faster than any human being can run," says biologist Mark Frankel, who was among the first scientists to identify the monstrous amphibian. "When they attack, they swarm over their victim, snapping off huge chucks of flesh. They can eat an adult human down to the skeleton in less than five minutes. They're like piranha fish, except they can carry out their assaults both in the water and on land." The creature, which has a huge mouth, is the largest frog ever discovered. It's so big and vicious that Madagascar natives call it Beelzebufo - the Devil's Frog. There is evidence that at least a dozen of the deadly frogs have made their way to America on board a ship carrying a cargo of vanilla beans, Madagascar's most important export. The ship put into port in Miami, Florida. "They've certainly already started breeding," Frankel warns. "Within a year, there will be hundreds of thousands of them marauding across the U.S."
April 3rd 2008
World's Most Famous Symbol Celebrates Peaceful 50th Birthday
The best-known symbol in the world turned 50 years old on February 21. For half a century, the upside-down V with a line drawn through it has been the banner of idealists hoping for peace in a war-ravaged world. The famous symbol was invented by a British textile designer for a 1958 protest march at a nuclear weapons facility. Since then, it has been adopted by thousands of peace movements around the globe. Age hasn't dimmed the dream it represents. "The peace symbol still radiates emotion," says Isabel Pederson, a professor of communications at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
