UK authorities are on the look out for an infamous ghost ship that is said to be crawling with rats.
The ill-fated cruise ship Lyubov Orlova might have seemed like any other until, on one fateful day in November 2006, it ran aground in the South Shetlands. Four years later the ship ended up deserted in Newfoundland when the crew walked out over a pay dispute, eventually leading to it being sold for scrap in 2012.
The Orlova's spate of misfortune continued when during an effort to tow it to a scrapyard in the Dominican Republic, the line broke, prompting the decision by authorities to give up on it and set it adrift in the Atlantic.
In the months that followed the ship became something of a legend, a ghost ship, drifting on the tides destined never to reach its destination. Recent reports have suggested that winter storms may have pushed it on a course towards the UK, a possibility that has helped to generate a renewed interest in its story.
To add to the Orlova's intrigue, it has also been suggested that rats stowed away on the vessel, having run out of food, are likely to have resorted to cannibalism to satiate their appetites.
Coastal authorities are still on the look-out for the ship but to date its exact whereabouts remain something of a mystery.
Stone Age artifacts left behind by Swedish nomads have been unearthed on the floor of the Baltic Sea.
Divers exploring the bay of Hanö off the coast of Sweden have uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts dating back more than 11,000 years. Made from both stone and bone fragments, the items exhibit impressive levels of preservation thanks to the lack of oxygen and abundance of peat-based sediment on the ocean floor.
"What we have here is maybe one of the oldest settlements from the first more permanent sites in Scania and in Sweden full stop," said Professor Björn Nilsson who lead the project. Among the finds was a harpoon carved from animal bone, flint tools, rope, horns and other items that had once been discarded in to the water.
"Around 11,000 years ago there was a build up in the area, a lagoon or sorts... and all the tree and bone pieces are preserved in it," said Nilsson. "If the settlement was on dry land we would only have the stone-based things, nothing organic."
For the first time ever, researchers have caught on video the process responsible for memory formation.
The remarkable footage depicts the complex processes of memory formation which involve changes to the molecular structures and synaptic transmissions of the brain.
One of the biggest challenges was making the neurons visible enough to record. Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University managed to solve this by tagging certain molecules with fluorescent markers.
"This observation that neurons selectively activate protein synthesis and then shut it off fits perfectly with how we think memories are made," said lead researcher Robert Singer. "Frequent stimulation of the neuron would make mRNA available in frequent, controlled bursts, causing beta-actin protein to accumulate precisely where it's needed to strengthen the synapse."
A herd of cows managed to cause a significant gas explosion on a dairy farm in Rasdorf, Germany.
Police investigating the peculiar incident concluded that a stray spark of static electricity had ignited a concentrated area of methane gas produced by the flatulent behavior of around 90 dairy cows. The subsequent explosion blew the roof off the building and injured one of the animals.
Cows are well known for their rather excessive production of methane, with some experts estimating that a single cow can produce anywhere between 100 and 500 liters of the volatile gas each day.
So significant is the problem in fact that some scientists believe methane emissions from cows have been a contributing factor in global warming.
Researchers have discovered that we possess up to one fifth of our prehistoric cousins' genetic code.
In an effort to learn more about the genetic similarities between Neanderthals and modern humans, Benjamin Vernot and Joshua Akey at the University of Washington sequenced the genomes of 600 people and then used a computer to identify gene variants that seemed to be Neanderthal in origin.
Their remarkable results suggested that the combined total amount of Neanderthal DNA present in modern humans was as high as 20%.
"Although Neanderthals are extinct, there's still a lot of genetic information about them floating around, in our own genomes," said Vernot. "It's not necessarily useful in that it will cure cancer, but it helps us to learn about our history."
It is believed that the genetic similarities are the result of encounters between Neanderthals and modern humans up to 65,000 years ago. Despite interbreeding being rare, some of the benefits obtained from the Neanderthal genes would have been sufficient enough to ensure their perseverance in humans all the way up to the present day.
The discovery is particularly helpful to scientists as it means it is possible to study a significant percentage of the Neanderthal genome without having to extract it from ancient fossils.
Police officers were called out after a group of 200 youths turned up at an abandoned hospital building.
Wannabe ghost hunters arrived at Wakefield's Clayton Hispital on Saturday night in their droves after word got out on social media that the building was haunted.
Security guards soon found themselves overwhelmed and were forced to call the police. Four people ended up being arrested but were later released without charge.
"Whether it is haunted or not, it is a dangerous site and members of the public should not enter it for any reason," said Inspector Richard Clare.
The hospital was originally opened back in 1854 but ended up abandoned after it was closed to the public in 2012.
A rare and highly valuable blue diamond has been found in South Africa's famous Cullinan mine.
The remarkable blue 29.6-carat diamond was extracted by Petra Diamonds and could be worth almost $20 million. Blue diamonds are more rare and valuable than regular diamonds with Cullinan mine being one of the world's best known sources.
"This stone is one of the most exceptional stones recovered at Cullinan during Petra's operation of the mine," said a company spokesman. "The stone is an outstanding vivid blue with extraordinary saturation, tone and clarity, and has the potential to yield a polished stone of great value and importance."
A similar diamond was unearthed back in 2009 and fetched $10 million at auction. The mine was also the place from which the famous 'Star of Africa' blue diamond originated, a 530-carot stone that was presented to King Edward VII and ended up as part of Britain's crown jewels
