February 3, 2000

WATCHING RATS SCREW IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE

Researchers at Concordia University studying the mating habits of rats have found some interesting parallels to human sexual activities. 1) Rats are choosy about their partners, but their standards diminish after a bit of alcohol. 2) Rats are attracted to rats they associate with their first sexual encounter. 3) Rats will cross electrically charged grids and climb cliffs to have sex. 4) Young male rats are inept sexually, sometimes trying to mount the female's head. One important difference between rats and humans: a female rat will beat up a male rat if he makes sexual advances on her and she isn't in heat. (Montreal Gazette)

GOOD PARROT

An African gray parrot being studied at the University of Arizona has acquired an intelligence far beyond what is expected of a bird, matching the intelligence of chimpanzees and dolphins. "Alex" can recognize 50 different objects, knows the numbers one through six, recognizes seven colours and five shapes, and understands concepts such as bigger, smaller, same and different. (Fox News)

BAD PARROT

Percy the parrot has been fired from a British children's stage show after forgetting his lines and swearing on stage. After a clean rehearsal, the parrot improvised some of his own material during the show, including the lines "Piss off mate," and "Bugger off!" (Reuters)

FREAKY MUTANT HAIL

Over a dozen large iceballs, some as heavy as ten pounds, have fallen on Spain over the past two weeks. Originally, authorities blamed passing airliners accidently dumping their load (so to speak), which is known to happen occasionally. But the continuing phenomenon of huge balls of ice falling from the sky has left scientists baffled. So far, only one injury has been reported, when a woman in Almeria, Spain was hit and knocked down by a "large, flying, frozen object." (www.newsunlimited.co.uk)

TAKE MY WIFE, PLEASE

The German television station RTL has cancelled the airing of a talk show in which a man offered a night of sex with his wife in exchange for one million marks (CDN$760,000), amid complaints that the show would be seen by children and fears that the station could be charged as an accessory to prostitution. The man's wife simply said "it's only one night, perhaps it would be a nice change." (Province)

HEY DUMMY, TAKE A PILL

Researchers from the University of New Mexico claim that a pill will be developed within a few years that will increase your I.Q. Having discovered that there is a direct correlation between I.Q. scores and the amount of certain chemicals such as choline in the brain and central nervous system, the scientists hope to create a "smart-pill" containing the right mix of those chemicals. (Quest)

SMART ASS

In order to disprove the recently over-hyped belief that the internet is a source for easy money, internet marketer Mike Enlow set up a website offering $100 to anyone willing to send him a self-addressed stamped envelope. He had no takers. "I've always said that if you don't do everything exactly right in your online sales campaign, you can't even sell hundred dollar bills," he said. This story would be a lot funnier if the stunt had backfired and left him penniless. (AP)

LERNING KIDS TO SPEL

England's Department of Education had to recall 48,000 literacy posters they had sent to schools, which included the word "vocabluary" in place of "vocabulary" and encouraged kids to learn about writing "though" their work, instead of "through" it. (Reuters)

"MIRACLE" DRUG BACKFIRES

Dr. Julian Whitaker, writing in the journal Health and Healing,claims that virtually all of the gun-related massacres that have become so common in the past few years have one thing in common: they were perpetrated by people taking prozac, zoloft, luvox, paxil or a related anti-depressant drug. These drugs are "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors," which, Dr. Whitaker warns, can cause mental and physical agitation that sparks self-destructive, violent behaviour. They also induce dissociative reaction, making those who take the drugs insensitive to the consequences of their behaviour.

BLIND AS A BAT WITH ELECTRODES IN ITS BRAIN

A 62-year-old man who was blinded at age 36 has had his vision restored to 20/400 by having electrodes implanted into his brain and connected to a tiny television camera and ultrasonic distance sensor mounted on a pair of eyeglasses. The contraption is run by a 10-pound computer worn on a belt pack, and gives him the ability to read two-inch tall letters at a distance of five feet. (The Journal of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs)

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Copyright 2000 by Andreas Ohrt (604) 803-7485
Email:aohrt@hotmail.com
Website:www.curioustimes.com