Ten things which raised an eyebrow this week
EP brings you a brief round-up of some of the news items which were perhaps as surprising as they were enlightening
- Having already won the Google Global Science Research Competition, 3 girls from Cork, Ireland have been further lauded for their research project which "could play a crucial role in solving the global food crisis" by being named on the Time list of Most Influential Teenagers in the World
- Of all the things "raising an eyebrow" this week, the inflatable Christmas tree erected in the centre of Paris has certainly got locals asking "What's up with that?"
- After wearing the spectacles for no less than 18 hours a day, and confessing that he even pictures himself with them on in his dreams, a 31-year-old US serviceman is the first person to be treated for Google Glass addiction after admitting to feelings of extreme anger and frustration when he is without them
- Is this the future of food-shopping? A grocer in America is experimenting with a radical new philosophy on how to offer shoppers the freshest produce with walls of living plants from which customers can harvest and buy herbs, salads, leaves and vegetables
- World famous violinist Salvatore Accardo has voiced his outrage at returning from a tour of China to be told 182 musicians had been fired from Opera di Roma without his knowledge, effectively abolishing the long-standing orchestra
- Unbeknownst to David Willis, an American tourist visiting London, staff at the Trafalgar Square Waterstone's store, in which he was still browsing, had locked up and gone home for the night, leaving him stranded! Frantic to be released, he set social media platforms alight with "Freedom Tweets" looking for help. Met Police eventually freed the distraught Texan after a 2 hour confinement
- Still no comment from NASA on the video footage posted online which appears to show a UFO hovering over the International Space Station, seemingly "watching" as astronauts carried out a series of repairs during a space walk
- As if crashing while taking part in a mountain bike race wasn't bad enough, one unfortunate cyclist then had to endure the humiliation of giving chase to his own bike which didn't appear to have noticed it was competing, riderless!
- A group of 13 mechanical-engineering students from the Canadian University of Sherbrooke are working on an ambitious plan to build an aerodynamic and hydronamic vehicle which can reach speeds of up to 23mph, powered entirely by human pedalling
- This week's winner of the 'world's dumbest criminals' award goes to - 22 year old Li and 23 year old Wang in China who have been sentenced to almost a year's incarceration for burglary. The two "would-be millionaires" were caught by police who tracked their IP addresses after they posted photos of themselves sitting on the piles of cash they had stolen from a vehicle in the car park where they worked, with the caption "All this in one night!"
For more information on initiatives run by EP and to get involved with the community please contact Arlene McCaffrey