'Pear-Shaped' UFO Spotted in East Kilbride, Scotland
STV - A motorist on the East Kilbride Expressway has reported spotting a mysterious object in the sky.
George King reported the mystery on the UK UFO Sightings website, following his unexplained sighting on Sunday, January 2 at around 8pm.
He said: "I was sitting in my car, facing west, when I noticed two orange lights - one smaller than the other - flying low.
"I thought it was a police helicopter but it kept coming with no noise and suddenly shot up skywards right in front of me.
"I jumped out of car to phone my son and to the left of me I saw a large, pear-shaped, bubble type thing heading towards Hamilton/Strathaven."
UFO expert and author Ron Halliday said: "There have been a number of sightings in the East Kilbride area, certainly since the beginning of this Millennium. It is somewhat of a hotspot for UFO activity, with a regular series of sightings.
"It is an intriguing sighting. There have been a number of odd objects seen in that area, strange things such as a coffin shaped UFO. Lights in the sky and moving off at a high speed both fit the patterns of a typical UFO report.
"Pear shaped is a new one to me, although ‘bubble’ shaped things are often described as looking like space crafts."
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Caligula's lost tomb found after police arrest man trying to smuggle statue
guardian - The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site.
After reportedly sleeping with his sisters, killing for pleasure and seeking to appoint his horse a consul during his rule from AD37 to 41, Caligula was described by contemporaries as insane.
With many of Caligula's monuments destroyed after he was killed by his Praetorian guard at 28, archaeologists are eager to excavate for his remains.
Officers from the archaeological squad of Italy's tax police had a break last week after arresting a man near Lake Nemi, south of Rome, as he loaded part of a 2.5 metre statue into a lorry. The emperor had a villa there, as well as a floating temple and a floating palace; their hulks were recovered in Mussolini's time but destroyed in the war.
The police said the statue was shod with a pair of the "caligae" military boots favoured by the emperor – real name Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; as a boy, Gaius accompanied his father on campaigns in Germany; the soldiers were amused he wore a miniature uniform, and gave him his nickname Caligula, or "little boot".
The statue is estimated to be worth €1m. Its rare Greek marble, throne and god's robes convinced the police it came from the emperor's tomb. Under questioning, the tomb raider led them to the site, where excavations will start today.
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Explosive Death for MRSA
newscientist - An antibody which causes MRSA bacteria to explode rather than divide brings hope for a universal vaccine.
MRSA is a highly antibiotic-resistant form of the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus which kills about 20,000 people in the US alone each year. Although a small number of antibiotics work against MRSA, the bacteria is constantly evolving resistant strains.
Edward Schwartz and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York have identified an antibody which targets a protein called glucosaminidase (GMD) deep within MRSA that has a key role in breaking down the cell wall, enabling the bacterium to divide.
What's more, the protein is genetically identical in all strains, so a vaccine that targets GMD could potentially be universal.
The team grew MRSA in culture alongside the new antibody. Bacteria exposed to the antibody either fused into long chains or exploded, significantly inhibiting bacterial growth.
The research was presented on Saturday at the Orthopaedic Research Society meeting in Long Beach, California.
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Man axes wife for 'lucky' fetus
abc.net.au - A Laotian man has told police he murdered his pregnant wife with an axe because he wanted the fetus to make a lucky charm which might help him win the lottery, a report said.
The 38-year-old was arrested a day after allegedly luring his wife, aged 24, into the forest of north-eastern Xieng Khuang province on January 3 and killing her with an axe blow to the back, the Vientiane Times reported.
It said the fetus had not been found.
Police told the state-linked newspaper that the man confessed he planned to use the three-month old fetus to produce a "louk lord", a mystical object which, according to local legend, can give its owner great power and fortune.
"The murderer confessed to the terrible crime, but he won't explain where the body of his unborn child is," Major Khamsouk Phonkhamdy, chief provincial police investigator, was quoted as saying.
The suspect said he had heard that if he "produced a 'louk lord' he would be able to ask the ghosts for lucky lottery numbers," Major Khamsouk added.
"Or he could sell the 'louk lord' at an extremely high price."
The investigator reportedly said it was unclear whether the killer worked alone or had accomplices who were still trying to produce the "louk lord".
Laos is one of Asia's poorest countries. While most people are Buddhists, belief in spirits remains widespread.
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Hundreds of steers mysteriously turn up dead in Wisconsin
naturalnews - In the latest of a string of mysterious animal deaths taking place across the globe, the Portage County, Wisc., Sheriff's Department recently issued a press release about 200 steers that were found dead on a farm field in the Town of Stockton. Preliminary tests by the owner's veterinarian showed that the steers died of atypical interstitial pneumonia (AIP), but authorities reportedly also sent samples to Madison for further testing.
According to reports, the steers did not respond to treatments given them after the first signs of symptoms, and all died within 12 hours. The owner has not provided comment to reporters about the situation.
Oddly, authorities were quick to dismiss any potential threat to humans or other animals from the dead animals, even though the infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) viruses they were claimed to have died from are highly contagious. Authorities hauled the animals out from the farm in giant semi-trucks, where they were stacked in piles exposed to the open air.
The stated cause of death was actually only a guess on the part of both the farmer and his veterinarian, according to reports. And after speaking with local sheriff's deputies about the incident, neither the farmer nor his veterinarian have spoken to the media about the issue. As of this writing, the local investigation is now being headed up by the Portage County Humane Society.
This strange addition to the long and growing list of inexplicable animal deaths is highly concerning, as a virus of this nature is unlikely to wipe out an entire herd within the short period of time that these animals died.
Here's the timeline of recent deaths that have been reported:
12.13.10 - Thousands of dead barramundi fish wash up in Australia, unknown causes
12.15.10 - Thousands of dead fish wash ashore on Florida beach, blamed on cold weather
12.17.10 - Dead fish wash ashore at lake beach in Indiana, blamed on winter storms
12.18.10 - Thousands of dead fish turn up in bay in Philippines, unknown causes
12.22.10 - More than a hundred dead pelicans turn up in North Carolina, unknown causes
12.23.10 - Hundreds of dead sea creatures wash ashore in South Carolina, blamed on cold water
12.23.10 - Ten tons of mostly dead fish found in fishing net in New Zealand, unknown causes
12.27.10 - Scores of dead fish wash ashore in a lake in Haiti, unknown causes
12.28.10 - 70 bats found dead in Tucson, Ariz., unknown causes
12.29.10 - Dozens of fish found dead in San Antonio, Texas, unknown causes
12.31.10 - 5,000+ birds found dead in Arkansas, suffering from massive trauma and blood clots
01.03.11 - 100,000+ dead drum fish found in Arkansas river, unknown causes
01.03.11 - Dozens of dead birds show up in a woman's backyard in Kentucky, unknown causes
01.03.11 - Tens of thousands of dead fish wash ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Md., blamed on cold water
01.03.11 - 100 tons of dead fish wash ashore in Brazil, unknown causes
01.04.11 - Several dead manatees found on Florida coast, unknown causes
01.04.11 - Thousands of dead fish wash up on creek in Florida, unknown causes
01.04.11 - Hundreds of dead fish was ashore on St. Clair River in Ontario, Can., unknown causes
01.04.11 - Hundreds of dead black birds found on highway in Louisiana, suffering from internal injuries and blood clots
01.05.11 - Hundreds of dead birds found on highway in Texas, unknown causes
01.05.11 - Large amount of dead fish wash up on New Zealand beaches, unknown causes
01.05.11 - Up to 100 jackdaw birds found dead on road in Sweden, unknown causes
01.06.11 - 40,000+ dead Devil crabs washed ashore in the U.K., unknown causes
01.07.11 - More than 1,000 dead turtle doves found in Italy, unknown causes
01.10.11 - Countless fish found dead in U.K. brook, unknown causes
01.11.11 - Thousands of gizzard shad fish float to the top of Lake Michigan and wash up on the shores near Chicago, blamed on cold weather.
NOTE: There have been many more incidents this past week...Lon
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Travel to Mars in Three Hours
discovery - We’re going to step into the middle of a nifty science and engineering controversy. Today. On Engineering Works!
If you’ve ever taken a physics course, you know that nothing can go faster than the speed of light, 186,000 miles a second. Seven-hundred-million miles an hour. Everything physicists know says you can’t go faster. But some physicists and engineers think they can do an end run around the speed-of-light limit.
They say that ideas developed about 50 years ago by a German scientist named Burkhard Heim suggest that we could use a very strong magnetic field to push spacecraft into another dimension. A dimension where the physical laws that make the speed of light as fast as anything can go don’t exist.
The idea sounds like science fiction. And a lot of top physicists say that’s all it is. But if it’s real, it could mean traveling to Mars in three hours or to a nearby star in three months. The interesting part is that the Department of Energy has a device -- the Z-machine -- that could produce the kind of ultra-powerful magnetic field we’d need to see if the idea might work. If it does, researchers could be testing a working engine in five years.
Even if everything turns out the way the visionaries think it will, it’ll be a long time before you can buy a ticket for a day trip to Mars.
So, beam us up, Scotty. We’re through here for now.
