Monthly Archives: February 2013

Bizarre slug regrows penis after sex

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nudibranch sea slug

A sea slug from the Nudibranch family.

The sex life of a bizarre sea slug has become the subject of scientists’ attention after it was found to lose and regrow its penis after sex.

A study published in the Royal Society’s Biology Letters journal revealed that some species of sea slug grow a new sex organ after at least three sessions.

Conducted by Japanese researchers, the study looked closely at the copulation habits of sea slugs that had been captured in the Pacific Ocean. Their findings proved shocking to the scientific community, which has never seen anything like this before.

“No other animal is known to repeatedly copulate using such disposable penises,” the researchers said. They added: “We propose that the tissue at the spiral part of the penis is compressed and undifferentiated, gradually differentiating into the next penis. It may need approximately a day for the spiral structure to be ready for copulation.”

Almost all sea slugs are thought to be simultaneous hermaphrodites, which means that they are equipped with both female and male sexual organs and are able to use them both at the same time.

Sweden concludes ice block contest

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ice

Numb bum anyone?

Sweden’s bizarre pole-sitting competition has come to a close for another year. The event saw a group of contestants struggle through a 48-hour period sat on top of blocks of ice in freezing conditions.

It all came to an end this weekend after two women and four men battled it out to see who could sit on an 8.25 foot high block of ice for the longest.

Temperatures dropped to below -18 degrees Fahrenheit during the competition, which was held in the Swedish town of Vilhelmnina after a local resident took part in a similar thing in Russia and decided to bring it back to their hometown.

Annica Anderson, the organiser of the Swedish event, explained that ever since then the competition has been held annually every since for the past dozen years.

Competitors aren’t just in it for the glory or the frostbitten bums, however. The individuals who manage to sit on top of their ice blocks for the longest are in with a chance of taking home a share of a £1,960 prize. They were allowed down for toilet breaks every other hour, but according to contestants, the most frustrating thing about the event is dealing with the boredom.

Man tattoo’s name on girlfriend’s face

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Lesya Toumaniantz

Is this the face of true love?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, many loved-up couples are getting round to writing a card, buying some flowers or planning a nice meal to enjoy with their loved one. But a certain Russian college graduate has decided to display her love in another way and has allowed her boyfriend to tattoo his name on to her face.

The Sun has reported that 18-year-old Lesya Toumaniantz allowed tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz to ink his first name across both her cheeks in five-inch high Gothic lettering.

This is a pretty extreme declaration at any stage in a relationship, but the inking occurred on the very day that they met.

Leslya and Rouslan met on an online chatroom and appear to be wrapped up in their romance. Amid the first flurries of love, Leslya has already changed her surname to that of her beau’s on her social media account and the pair are now engaged to be married.

Writing on her Facebook page, Leslya explained her own thoughts behind the tattoo: “It’s a symbol of our eternal devotion. I’d like him to tattoo every inch of my body.”

This isn’t the first time that Rouslan has made the headlines. Last year he fled Belgium after another young woman, Kimberley Vlaeminck, accused him of tattooing a large area of her face with stars when she had only asked for a few.

Wanted: Woman to give birth to Neanderthal

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neanderthal

A face only a mother could love?

One of the world’s leading geneticists has announced that he is to bring the Neanderthal man back to life, and all he needs is one female willing to be its birth mother.

The primitive Neanderthal man has been extinct for 33,000 years, but Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School believes that he can change all that with the use of genetic code.

Professor Church’s in-depth analysis of Neanderthal genetic code using bone samples from bones is detailed enough that he now believes he can reconstruct Neanderthal DNA. However, he needs the assistance of a woman willing to act as a surrogate to the ‘child’.

“Now I need an adventurous female human. It depends on a hell of a lot of things, but I think it can be done,” The Daily Mail reported the scientist as saying.

If a volunteer can be found, Professor Church would start the process by artificially creating Neanderthal DNA based around the genetic codes that have been discovered in fossil remains. This DNA would then be put into stem cells and injected into cells from a human embryo.

The ‘neo-Neanderthal’ embryo would then be implanted into a surrogate mother’s womb.

“They could even be more intelligent than us,” said Professor Church, who believes that the plans could benefit humankind.

“When the time comes to deal with an epidemic or getting off the planet, it’s conceivable that their way of thinking could be beneficial,” he went on to say.

However, Philippa Taylor of the Christian Medical Fellowship said, “It is hard to know where to begin with the ethical and safety concerns.”

 

Cat hops on a train… for 1,700 miles

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cat

A well-travelled cat.

It seems that one cat got a bit more than it bargained for when it investigated the undercarriage of a train.

The tabby, named Polly, was found trapped on a train that had been hurtling cross country after train manager Emily Mahoney-Smith heard her crying out. It is thought that she became trapped after crawling into the carriage when a maintenance panel was removed at a rail yard in Plymouth.

A spokesman for the train operator First Great Western said: “We’re pretty sure the cat had been stuck on board for some time. It was ensconced in the underbelly and couldn’t have got there unless the train was in a depot.

“That part of the train isn’t accessible from a normal station stop so the latest it could realistically have stowed away would have been at Plymouth, where it started service. We’ve calculated it did at least 1,667 miles.”

The cat was said to be in surprisingly good condition considering its escapades, but she did have an infected leg which has had to be amputated. However, the animal was microchipped so she is all set for a reunion with her owners, Arthur Westington and his wife Louisa, who live near Plymouth.