Top 10 Photos of the Week

That skanky-smelling dog next door was going down

Smartphones Could Become the Next Weapon on the Battlefield

U.S. Army soldiers with the 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

Smartphones could become the next weapon in the United States’ battlefield arsenal, as defense companies seek to cash in on the rapidly growing use of sophisticated mobile applications.

Reader's Digest - August 2010

Reader's Digest - August 2010

English | 176 pages | PDF | 44.50 Mb

Black Couple Give Birth To White Blue-Eyed Blonde Baby Girl

 

The baby is as white as they come!

The stunned black dad of a newborn, white, baby girl declared yesterday — “I’m sure she’s my kid … I just don’t know why she’s blonde.” British Nmachi Ihegboro has amazed genetics experts who say the little girl is not an albino. Dad Ben, 44, a customer services adviser, admitted: “We both just sat there after the birth staring at her.” Mum Angela, 35, of Woolwich, South London, beamed as she said: “She’s beautiful – a miracle baby.” Ben told yesterday how he was so shocked when Nmachi was born, he even joked: “Is she mine?”

The Secret to Running and Swimming Faster – The Position of Your Belly Button

Usain Bolt wins the men’s 100m final at the Beijing Olympic Games – his speed could be down to the position of his belly button according to a new study.

Sports commentators have long avoided trying to explain why blacks dominate on the running track and whites often finish first in the swimming pool.  But scientists in America claim they have come up with a very simple explanation to defy the guardians of political correctness.

They say it’s all down to belly-buttons.

Amazing Video of the Sun Melting Steel

Melting steel in a solar oven

Melting steel in a solar oven (aka solar concentrator) isn’t new or unique, but it’s always cool to see and a good reminder of just how much energy is hitting the sunny side of the planet at any moment. The video below shows a short exerpt of James May’s “ Big Ideas” series (James is better known for the Top Gear show), and they start by cooking, er, burning a sausage, and then they melt a steel plate. Impressive to see how quickly it turns to a liquid.

Artist Creates Portrait From 200,000 Dead Ants

Mr Trueman’s artwork made from ants.

Chris Trueman bought the tiny creatures alive in batches of 40,000 for £330 each for his bizarre masterpiece.  The 32-year-old then had to kill them before painstakingly rearranging them into a picture using tweezers.  The final piece, which measures 48 inches by 42 inches, was priced at a staggering $35,000 dollars, around £23,000.

Scientists Prove Which Came First — The Chicken or the Egg

Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

One of the most puzzling and famous life questions has stumped people for generations. It’s the question of which came first: the chicken or the egg? In order for there to be an egg, a chicken would have had to lay it. In order for there to be a chicken, it would have had to hatch from an egg. It seems as though either answer could be the correct answer; until now

Woman Jailed for Sending Threatening Text Messages to Herself

Woman sends threatening text messages to herself.

Everyone has days when they  really don’t like themselves very much.  However, if they feel a need to write these feelings down it is usually in a hidden place on your computer or in your diary where no one else will see them.

It seems, though, that Jeanne Mundango Manunga, a 25-year-old woman from Santa Ana, Calif., took a slightly different philosophical approach.

Little 6-Year-Old Boy With No Legs And One Arm Is Star Of Swimming Team

Gabe Marsh may be missing limbs, but he is still a great swimmer!

When the Marshes adopted another child, Ed told his wife, Ann, “Well, there’s one you’ll never have swim.”

Gabe Marsh, a 6-year-old with no legs and one arm, is 'the greatest accomplishment' on the Guntersville swim team

GUNTERSVILLE, Al. - When the Marshes adopted another child, Ed told his wife, Ann, "Well, there's one you'll never have swim.''

His pessimism was understandable. Gabe, the seventh of their 10 adopted children, was born with no legs and one arm.

Even Ann believed her string of teaching children to swim had ended. By then, her streak had exceeded 60.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

It’s no secret, old women are scary-ass drivers

We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.

Mullets and Spikes Banned In Iran

Ponytails are out but side-partings and Elvis quiffs are in. Not the latest fashion 

advice from a celebrity magazine, but a list of acceptable male hairstyles issued by 

the Iranian government.

Iran does not want decadent Western hair styles to corrupt their wholesome culture.

Top 10 Photos of the Week

Some artists should not be allowed to own dogs

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

6.500 Year Old Baby Goes on Display in World’s Largest Mummy Exhibition

Peruvian child mummy in a remarkable state of preservation and dated to 4504-4457 BC.

More than 6,500 years ago in Peru, this tiny baby’s brief battle for life finally came to an end.  The child, no more than 10 months old, had a serious heart defect and suffered from growth problems.  After contracting pneumonia and then suffering circulation failure the sick child died and was wrapped in linen and buried with an amulet hung around its neck.

Photo of the Only Atomic Bomb Ever Detonated in Space

Exploding nuke in space.

Since we’re coming up on the Fourth of July, and towns everywhere are preparing their better-than-ever fireworks spectaculars, we would like to offer this humbling bit of history. Back in the summer of 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in outer space, some 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. It was a weapons test, but one that created a man-made light show that has never been equaled — and hopefully never will.

How Women Are About To Change the World

Now that women dominate the US workforce, will they become our new robot overlords? Nope. According to current labor statistics, they’ll be the new working class. Here are three ways a female working class could change the world.

 

Women now dominate the U.S. workforce.

Fascinating View of Earth’s Gravity in High Definition

It is one of the most exquisite views we have ever had of the Earth. This colourful new map traces the subtle but all pervasive influence the pull of gravity has across the globe.
 Known as a geoid, it essentially defines where the level surface is on our planet; it tells us which way is “up” and which way is “down”.

Earth’s gravity in high definition.