QUIRKY WORLD ... Robotic stand-up comedian lands photography prize
Have you heard the one about the stand-up comic robot that won a science photography prize?
An image of a robot performing a comedy routine in front of an audience has won the first Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council photographic competition.
The show by Robo Thespian was part of a study called Comedy Lab: Human versus Robot, by Toby Harris, a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London.
The performance at London’s Barbican Centre alongside comics Tiernan Douieb and Andrew O’Neill won the competition for photographs that demonstrate science in action.
A Maine man in search of a valuable mineral cut open a dead porcupine on the side of the road and unexpectedly pulled out its baby.
Jared Buzzell, of Lisbon, said that he was searching for wild mushrooms when he saw a porcupine get hit by a car in Minot.
Mr Buzzell said that he had heard that a valuable mineral deposit used in Chinese medicine formed in the stomachs of porcupines.
He then cut open the dead porcupine to search for the mineral and instead found the baby.
He told WMTW-TV he cut the umbilical cord and thought the baby porcupine was dead until he started massaging it and it began breathing.
Buzzell is caring for the baby porcupine at home and plans to give it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Thirteen tonnes of crisps went up in smoke as firefighters tackled a blaze at a farm building.
Crews were called to the premises at Castle Eden, County Durham, close to the A19. County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service sent two crews from Peterlee, who used jets to tackle the flames.
The crisps were rejects from a nearby Walkers Crisps plant which were destined to be turned into pig feed, fireman Mick Henderson said.
A teenager has published a study suggesting that the US government could save millions of dollars a year in printing costs by switching to a thinner typeface that uses less ink.
Suvir Mirchandani, 14, of O’Hara township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, said that there was plenty of talk at school about saving paper and he wondered about saving ink.
The Government Printing Office says it will review the printing suggestion.
His research began as a school project but was published in the Journal of Emerging Investigators, created for promising middle and secondary school students.
He suggests printing in the 12-point Garamond font.
More than 1,000 people attended a send-off for amassive statue of Marilyn Monroe that had become beloved by tourists and locals in Palm Springs, California, in the two years it was on loan from the Sculpture Foundation.
The Desert Sun said the city centre party included a performance by the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus.
Guests included actress Carol Channing, who originated on Broadway the role Monroe played in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The 9m, 15,400kg statue named Forever Marilyn — depicting Monroe in her memorable billowing skirt pose from The Seven Year Itch — will soon go to Hamilton, New Jersey, for an exhibit honouring its designer, Seward Johnson, but Palm Springs officials told party-goers they would do all they could to bring her back.
