Ten things which raised an eyebrow 11-10-13
EP brings you a brief round-up of some of the news items which were perhaps as surprising as they were enlightening
- A civil engineer at the University of Idaho has discovered a way to use bacteria to turn cows’ manure into biodegradable plastic which can be used to create, among other things, printer cartridges and plant pots which disintegrate after use
- As the Federal Shutdown continues in America, many non-essential services such as cleaning up 505 toxic waste sites across 47 states have been stopped. Meanwhile the list of services approved as “essential” and to remain open and paid for include the gym at the House of Representatives which is for use by members of congress only; every employee working for US Representative for Iowa Steve King [R] and the Capitol subway system
- Argentinian officials have issued a birth certificate with amended gender details from boy to girl for a 6 year old called “Manuel” who has been dressing as a girl called “Lulu” from age 4
- MIT researchers have been surprised to discover that putting a cracked piece of metal under tension causes it to fuse back together rather than break apart
- From a garden gnome dressed in full Bayern Munich football kit to a set of 30 hunting knives, the list of items found at Oktoberfest 2013 contains some surprizing items
- A recent survey of Britain showed 1 in 6 adults has never cooked a meal from scratch
- There are almost 200,000 potholes on British roads, equating to one pothole for every mile of road in the UK
- In an effort to combat the $80million counterfeit currency market, the US Federal Reserve has issued a new hi-tech $100 banknote which includes security thread woven into the paper that glows pink under UV light
- Norway has elected its first female Prime Minister in 17 years but it’s still very much a man’s (corporate) world in Scandinavia’s richest economy as statistics show that 43% of women only work part-time and none of the 25 largest companies have a female at the helm
- In 1994 an Ohio man who went missing a decade before was declared legally dead. In 2005, however, he was found alive and well. What should be a good news story took a turn for the bizarre this week when a Judge refused to overturn his death notice despite the “dead” man sitting in court while the decision was handed down