Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was so incensed with royal police officers eating nuts from bowls left out in the corridors of Buckingham Palace that she drew lines on the sides in a bid to catch them out, a London court heard…
A company that runs parking lots in the English cities of Leeds and Manchester is temporarily letting drivers pay with the dark brown seeds that fall from horse chestnut trees each autumn. Town Centre Car Parks is accepting horse chestnuts…
A 99-year-old Iowa woman who dropped out of a high school more than 80 years ago despite needing only one credit to graduate has finally received her diploma. Audrey Crabtree, of Cedar Falls, smiled as she received an honorary diploma…
A Japanese man who runs on his arms and legs broke his own Guinness world record for the 100-meter dash on November 14. Kenichi Ito finished in 16.87 seconds, shaving more than half a second off his 2012 run of…
They work hard, sniffing out crime with only the occasional pat on the nose in gratitude. But police dogs deserve better, according to the police and crime commissioner in the English county of Nottinghamshire, who wants to reward them with…
Scientists have shed more light on how the movements of a dog’s tail are linked to its mood. Earlier research had revealed that happy dogs wag their tails more to the right (from the dog’s point of view), while nervous…
Think your Movember effort is going to be pretty impressive? India’s Ram Singh Chauhan will make you hang your head in shame at your weedy facial fuzz. The 58-year-old is the proud owner of the world’s longest moustache – at…
A young Chinese couple are facing many years in jail after allegedly selling their baby daughter to raise money for an iPhone and other luxury goods. The couple, identified only as Zhang and Teng, are said to have placed anonymous…
Researchers have used an experimental garden to put pollinator-friendly plants to the test. The University of Sussex scientists counted the number of insects visiting the plants in their garden. They say their findings show that insect-friendly plants are just as…
Experiments on samples of iron and rock held at immense pressures have led to new ideas of how Earth’s core formed. Scientists from StanfordUniversity have shown that iron metal will flow through rocks 1,000km beneath our feet. Using sophisticated X-ray…
The brain has a critical window for language development between the ages of two and four, brain scans suggest. Environmental influences have their biggest impact before the age of four, as the brain’s wiring develops to process new words, say…
A village official has been sacked in China over a lavish wedding for his son that cost 1.6m yuan ($260,000;£160,000), state media say. The wedding lasted three days – luxury cars ferried guests around and well-known entertainers kept them amused.…
If you love gardening but your life is a busy place, you’re going to love this batch of great gardening tips that will help you plant, weed and water your garden more quickly. From bringing plants home from the nursery…
Archaeologists working with London’s Crossrail project have uncovered 20 skulls believed to be from the Roman period. It is likely the bones were washed from a nearby burial site along one of London’s “lost” rivers – the Walbrook. In the…
Exercise can be as good a medicine as pills for people with conditions such as heart disease, a large study has found. The work in the BMJ looked at hundreds of trials involving nearly 340,000 patients to assess the merits…
A new campaign asking for the rights for women to drive in Saudi Arabia has attracted more than 11,000 signatures in support. The campaign has set 26 October as a day for Saudi women to take to the roads –…
The first computer built entirely with carbon nanotubes has been unveiled, opening the door to a new generation of digital devices. “Cedric” is only a basic prototype but could be developed into a machine which is smaller, faster and more…
US President Barack Obama conquered a long-term smoking habit because he was afraid of his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, he has joked with a UN official. The jesting admission, which the president made apparently unaware he was on camera,…
A woman who spent two years in a coma was bid a heartbreaking farewell by loved ones, who switched off her life-support machine just hours after she was married. He Jingjing and her fiance Lu Lai, of Guangdong in southeast…
Thieves in northern Italy broke into a prison and made off with a safe containing thousands of euros in the early hours of Wednesday, Italian media reported. The audacious theft occurred shortly after midnight when the robbers eluded surveillance systems…
The feet have been revealed to be the least appealing part of the anatomy by neuroscientists studying the links between sex and the brain. A study conducted jointly by Bangor University and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg found that…
Some lucky customers who acquired United Airlines tickets at zero cost because of a computer programming error will be allowed to use them, an airline spokeswoman said on Friday. “United has reviewed the error that occurred yesterday and decided that,…
India’s leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has issued a fatwa, saying “photography is unlawful and a sin”, even though Saudi Arabia allows photographers inside the holy city of Makkah and live telecast of ‘namaz’ is beamed on Islamic channels across…
Electronic cigarettes appear to be at least as effective as nicotine patches in helping people to give up smoking, research suggests. The devices, which are rapidly growing in popularity, produce a vapour containing nicotine. The findings, presented at the European…
Two cash-strapped farmers have secured a stable income after converting a battered old horsebox into a £100-a-night hotel. Paul and Anne Ormond, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, spent three months turning a 1974 Bedford TK they bought on eBay into a glamorous…
A London skyscraper dubbed the Walkie-Talkie has been blamed for reflecting light which melted parts of a car parked on a nearby street. What happened? It’s like starting a fire with a parabolic mirror. “Fundamentally it’s reflection. If a building…
Worried that Mum’s forgotten to take her medication today? Well, soon there will be no need to be – because scientists have invented a pill that sends a text to say it has been swallowed. Doctors believe the novel device…
Is compulsory voting in a democracy a contradiction in terms? That is the question some Australians have been asking since voting became required by law here nearly a century ago. The right to vote is a freedom fiercely sought by…
Two Kenyan men have signed a written contract to “marry” the same woman, reports say. The woman had been having affairs with both men and refused to choose between them. The agreement sets out a rota for the men to…
While just about every culture and religion has a time-honored way of commemorating the dead, what’s the protocol for welcoming the buried back to life? Sharolyn Jackson’s family found out this week when the 50-year-old woman was found alive 13…
A couch that can store up to 30 rifles and with cushions that can stop a .44 Magnum bullet at point blank range is now available in America. The world’s first ‘CouchBunker’ comes complete with bullet-proof cushions fitted with straps…
A hotel set to be built in Peru has been designed to look like a giant, off-center picture frame. The cliff-hugging structure, designed for a private client by Madrid-based architecture firm OOIIO, will serve as the perfect frame for the…
A man in western Ohio found nearly 300 pounds (136 kilos) of marijuana stuffed into a Mexican-made gun-storage safe that he recently purchased on the Internet, authorities revealed on Sunday. The 1,000-pound steel safe, ordered from Champion Safe Co of…
A simple set of daily vocal exercises can strengthen the weak throat and palate muscles which are a major cause of snoring, experts believe. The discovery was made after a singing teacher devised a way to help a friend stop…
Mohammad has become the most popular name for baby boys in London for the first time. Combined spellings of the Islamic prophet’s name have made it the most popular name for newborn boys in England for three years in a…
A new honey has been produced that has had ‘amazing’ results treating wounds and infections. The bio-engineered product Surgihoney was tested on babies, new mothers, cancer patients and the elderly for over a year in Hampshire hospitals. Wounds and ulcers,…
A luxury toilet controlled by a smartphone app is vulnerable to attack, according to security experts. Retailing for up to $5,686 (£3,821), the Satis toilet includes automatic flushing, bidet spray, music and fragrance release. The toilet, manufactured by Japanese firm…
A 10-year-old German boy has found what appears to be a mummy hidden in a corner of his grandmother’s attic. The “mummy” was inside a sarcophagus complete with hieroglyphic adornments, packed in a wooden crate. But it is unclear whether…
Evolution does not favour selfish people, according to new research. This challenges a previous theory which suggested it was preferable to put yourself first. Instead, it pays to be co-operative, shown in a model of “the prisoner’s dilemma”, a scenario…
Two baby girls who were abandoned in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi have been allocated new parents during a live television broadcast, the BBC’s Orla Guerin reports. At just over a month old Fatima has already lived through a lot.…
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the country’s prisons were impoverished, overcrowded and corrupt. It called on the authorities to deal with what it called a deep structural crisis. The report comes after a fire killed some 360 prisoners…
Silent film star Colleen Moore had a lifelong obsession with dollhouses and spent what would be around $7 million in today’s dollars to build the Fairy Castle—an 8-foot, jewel encrusted little girl’s dream. As one of the most popular actresses…
The world’s first test-tube burger will be served in London next week. It is made from meat grown in a laboratory, rather than cattle raised in pastures. And its developers hope it will show how the soaring global demand for…
Ambulance crews are being told not to take patients to hospital if they have been put on controversial ‘death lists’ drawn up by GPs. Serious concerns were raised last year after it was revealed that thousands had been placed on…
False memories have been implanted into mice, scientists say. A team was able to make the mice wrongly associate a benign environment with a previous unpleasant experience from different surroundings. The researchers conditioned a network of neurons to respond to…
Dubai’s government will pay residents in gold for losing those extra pounds as part of a government campaign to fight growing obesity in the Gulf Arab emirate. The 30-day weight-loss challenge was launched on Friday to coincide with the Muslim…
Scientists have found further evidence that dolphins call each other by “name”. Research has revealed that the marine mammals use a unique whistle to identify each other. A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland found that when…
It could be a scene from Disney classic The Fox and the Hound. Rosie, a 15-week-old fox cub, was left abandoned when her father killed most of her litter before the cubs had opened their eyes for the first time.…
A machine that takes sweat-laden clothes and turns the moisture into drinking water is in use in Sweden. The device spins and heats the material to remove the sweat, and then passes the vapour through a special membrane designed to…
A Cambridge University educated research scientist is so desperate to live the life of a wheelchair-bound person she is prepared to pay a doctor help her become disabled. Since childhood, Chloe Jennings-White has made several attempts at injuring herself so…
