QUIRKY WORLD ... Scientific discovery may lead to fade-proof paint and clothing
A team from Sheffield University looked at how the colours are created in the blue-and-white feathers of the jay and found they come from the way they are structured rather than the pigments that colour human hair. The researchers found that instead of using dyes that would fade over time, the birds use well-controlled changes to the nano- structure to create their vividly coloured feathers, which are possibly used for jays to recognise one another.
A sportswoman and conservationist is set to undertake the 4,500-mile (7,242km) migration of Bewickās swans by flying with the birds using just a parachute wing and a small propeller engine.
The dramatic journey by paramotor will take former free-diving champion Sacha Dench over hundreds of miles of desolate Arctic tundra, to unvisited wetlands and through landscapes where she will have to navigate wind farms and tall buildings.
Dench, who works for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, which has studied Bewickās swans for over 50 years, will leave the Russian Arctic with the birds next autumn, flying with them along their migration route through 11 countries.
Someone has slipped a $1,000 bill (worth about ā¬917) into a Salvation Army tin in Morgantown, West Virginia, every year for nearly four decades.
And the long-running mystery has continued this year after a $1,000 bill was found in a collection tin in a supermarket.
No-one knows who the donor is, but the Salvation Army says the donation is a massive help to its work each year and energises its fundraising campaign.
Tired of the dog-eat-dog politics in their Russian city, the residents of Barnaul say they want a cat to be their next mayor.
The Siberian city of 650,000 people is to get a new mayor next week when a commission comprising of the city council and the regional governor choose from six candidates.
But none of the six appear to spark much affection among Barnaulās residents. An informal online poll asking residents to express their preferences among the six plus a Siamese cat named Barsik gave the feline 90% support ā and officials have taken it as a sign that there is āabsolutely no trust among voters for any of the candidatesā amid allegations of corruption.
Chinese officials are naming and shaming another five tourists for bad behaviour ā and say they are working with airlines on a possible flying ban.
They include two women and a man who brawled after one womanās seat was bumped on a flight from Cambodia to the western city of Chengdu. Another fought with a Japanese convenience store clerk, and the last was involved in a dispute over tickets to a western China scenic site.
Their names and a description of their alleged misbehaviour have been entered on to a National Tourism Administration list and will remain there for up to three years. Over that period, they can be refused service by travel agents, airlines, hotels, and scenic sites.
An Applebeeās waiter in central California turned over $32,000 (ā¬29,335) in cash that a family forgot at a table, an amount that exceeds his annual salary after taxes, because it was the right thing to do, the waiter said.
Brian Geery, 33, said he found a canvas pouch at a table in the restaurant where he works in Fresno after a family finished eating, and noticed a rectangular shape inside.
He showed the pouch to his manager, who suggested it might contain medicine, and at his bossās suggestion Geery opened the pouch to check.
The rectangular shape was a stack of bills.
āI couldnāt believe it, Iād never seen so much cash in my life before,ā Geery said.
Carrie Hellyer, Applebeeās regional director, said Geery declined a reward from the family, and initially withheld his name from media outlets wishing to cover the story.
āHe just said that he did it because it was the right thing to do and he didnāt want the right thing being overwhelmed by anything else,ā Hellyer said.
Geery, a 10-year Applebeeās veteran, said: āIām a big believer in karma. I just feel like you treat others as you would want to be treated.ā
The cash was picked up by police later in the day, said Fresno police spokesman Lieutenant Joe Gomez.
Gomez said the money was returned to the family only after a detective determined it was obtained legally. The cash came from rental properties and a Mexican restaurant the family operates in San JosƩ he said.
āYou know how some people donāt use banks, I think theyāre that type of person,ā he said.
