Quirky World: Sweet magnolia blossoms for scientist with a keen eye
Two new species of magnolia have been identified with the help of a photograph held on a UK-based archive of life on Earth.
A picture of a magnolia, one of the Earth’s oldest flowering plants, identified as the endangered Magnolia dealbata, was among a series of images donated to the Arkive website by Mexican photographer and conservationist Roberto Pedraza Ruiz in 2010.
A botanist at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, raised questions over the plant when he spotted it in a search of the 16,000 online flora and fauna fact files on the Arkive database, based 8,000km away in Bristol. Jose Antonio Vazquez asked for more images. The move led to the identification of two new species.
The brains behind Boaty McBoatface has apologised and said he will not be backing the name he put forward for a new polar research ship.
James Hand said that while he stands by Boaty McBoatface as a “brilliant name” for a boat, he has actually voted for David Attenborough to be the new name. The former BBC radio presenter explained his reasons for suggesting the name to the Natural Environment Research Council on Thursday, on BBC Radio Jersey.
He said: “I would say 90% of the entries at that point were funny so I thought, I’ll throw one into the ring. By the time the site eventually crashed yesterday it was leading by about 8,000. I have apologised profusely. The storm that’s been created, it’s got legs of its own.”
A nine-year-old rock fan up late at a Bruce Springsteen concert had a note for his teacher if he was late for class the next day. And it was signed by The Boss himself.
Fourth-grader Xabi Glovsky and his father Scott attended the sold-out show in Los Angeles and they caught Springsteen’s eye with a homemade sign that said: “Bruce, I will be late to school tomorrow. Please sign my note.”
After the show, Springsteen invited them backstage and scribbled a note for the boy’s teacher. The note said: “Dear Ms Jackson, Xabi has been out very late rocking & rolling. Please excuse him if he is tardy.”
The world’s largest aircraft has been unveiled for the first time since being fully assembled in the UK.
The 92m-long Airlander 10 — part plane, part airship — was floated in a First World War hangar in Bedfordshire. Photographers struggled to capture the whole length of the aircraft, which is around 15m longer than the biggest passenger jets.
It was first developed for the US government but fell foul of defence cutbacks. British firm Hybrid Air Vehicles launched a campaign to return the Airlander 10 to the skies in May 2015.
A second man has pleaded guilty to his role in the theft of more than €300 from a group of Girl Scouts selling biscuits at a Massachusetts store. Cassidy Michalski, of Deerfield, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to theft, assault and battery with a deadly weapon and shoplifting. Taverna got the same sentence earlier.
With their beloved baguette already available 24 hours a day, it seems only logical that Parisians can now get the Bayonne ham and Basque pate that goes so well with the bread from the first meat vending machine installed in the French capital.
The lively Rue de Charonne area has at least two dozen butcher’s shops and no shortage of meat, but that did not deter the owners of one of those shops, Florence and Michel Pouzol of L’ami Txulette, from investing €40,000 to set up their project, selling vacuum-packed meat from the refrigerated machine.
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