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A  student visiting Vatican city has spotted a Sylvester Stallone look-a-like. Student Anthony Zonfrell, 20, couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the image of Pope Gregory IX on Raphael’s fresco.  On returning home, he uploaded the picture to Reddit, and was amazed to find the image had received over 700,000 hits…. more than Rocky!

See if you  can spot the look-a-like!

The Mirror reported on this story here (includes close-up image): http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/sylvester-stallone-spotted-in-500-year-old-painting-827771

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Image credit showing Jack as a man: Illustrated London News for October 13, 1888

A Birmingham Author is causing a bit of a stir among Historians and Jack the Ripper experts, by claiming that the Ripper was not a man, but a woman. The author, John Morris (former solicitor) claims that there is no doubt that the Ripper was a woman, and even goes on to name Lizzie Williams, the wife of Royal Physician Sir John Williams.

John’s new book, Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman, was written with his late father, and is the result of many hours work pouring through thousands of medical and legal documents.

According to John:

“The case for a woman murderer is overwhelming. But unfortunately it does not sit well in some quarters where such a theory flies in the face of long-held beliefs.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that the Ripper was a woman. But because everyone believes that the murderer was a man, all the evidence that points to a woman has always been ignored.”

“There are numerous clues scattered throughout the crimes which, taken individually, may mean little, but when grouped together a strong case for a woman murderer begins to emerge.”

The five Ripper victims were all women who had their wombs removed, and were East-End prostitutes.

Facts covered by the author include:

• No sexual assaults took place
• Small buttons from a lady’s boot were covered in blood near one of the victims
• Personal items laid out at the feet of a victim in a typically feminine manner
• Remnants of a woman’s clothes not worn by the victim found in Mary Kelly’s fireplace

Mary Kelly (one of the victims) was having an affair with Sir John (Lizzie’s husband), who ran abortion clinics in Whitechapel.

The killings stopped when Lizzie suffered a nervous breakdown and died of cancer in 1912. She was never questioned by police.

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A Spanish man was struck Thursday night  by lightning in his testicular region. His son called emergency services who treated him to burns to his scrotum and feet. After being taken to Madrid’s Hospital de la Paz, tests showed that his heart and brain function were unaffected. He is said to be in a stable condition.

Story also reported by: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/898280-man-in-madrid-survives-being-struck-by-lightning-in-the-scrotum#ixzz1uH8YtlHZ

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The Metropolitan Police said, “”We can confirm we are in close dialogue with Crimestoppers to ensure that all material in their possession – from any source – is shared with us.”

Kate and Gerry McCann said: “It’s hard to define succinctly how it feels to have reached five years without Madeleine.

“Impossible, heart-breaking, frightening, exasperating, incomprehensible. Sometimes it feels like forever and at other times, just like yesterday.

“What is certain though is that since the Metropolitan Police review was commenced last May, the chances of finding Madeleine and discovering what happened are now significantly greater.

“Additionally, albeit less importantly, our lives and those of our family have been much more bearable over the past year, simply by knowing those stones are finally being turned.

“We hope that the investigation will be reopened in Portugal soon, as this will give us the best possible chance of finding Madeleine and the person who committed this crime – of solving the case.

“The term ‘mystery’ (commonly used by the media) is not applicable until all possible avenues have been explored. They haven’t been, and can’t be until the case is reopened.

“Abducted children have been found many years following their disappearance. We cannot give up. We won’t give up. Please keep looking for Madeleine.”

Also reported by: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/9243290/Madeleine-McCann-police-to-re-examine-evidence-of-psychics.html

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Thousands of pills have been seized by South Korean authorities, containing powdered babies and fetuses. The pills had been smuggled in from China where they are sold on as alternative forms of Viagra. In a statement on Monday, Korean Customs had claimed that 17,500 pills had been confiscated since August of last year.  South Korea started the crack-down last year after a Chinese documentary claimed that pharmaceutical companies were collaborating with abortion clinics. Beyond being a bit ‘creepy’, Korean authorities are warning that the pills contain hazardous  ‘super-bacteria’.

Fox News also reported on this story here: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/07/south-korea-finds-smuggled-capsules-containing-human-flesh/?test=latestnews

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Windy dinosaurs, particularly sauropods, may have been to blame for the warmer climate that they lived in. Around 150 million years ago, the microscopic organisms living inside large dinosaurs such as Brontosaurus (now known as Apatosaurus louise) would have produced vast amounts of methane gas.

David Wilkinson from Liverpool John Moore’s University said,

“Cows today produce something like 50-100 [million tonnes] per year. Our best estimate for Sauropods is around 520 [million tonnes].”

News source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17953792

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Yesterday, a charity match of football was played that can truly be called weird. All 22 players had the surname ‘Bungay’, along with the subs, referee and linesmen. And that’s not all! The Doctor on hand for injuries, mascot,  and even the town the match was played in, were also all called  ‘Bungay’.

Bungay Town FC employee Shaun Cole organised the charity match, sending invitations around the world to people called ‘Bungay’ to participate in the match. People attended from as far away as America and Australia.

Altogether, 70 ‘Bungays’ met during the game!

The Mirror also reported on this story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/final-score-bungay-6-bungay-823163

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Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/aliens-caused-boeing-jetliner-crash/story-e6freuy9-1226341481882

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Image credit: NASA - SOHO

Did NASA’s SOHO satellite capture evidence of a UFO? The image that some liken to an extraterrestrial craft was taken as a still frame from longer footage. Unfortunately, the object does not appear to move, and so could have  a number of other explanations. What do you think?

The Daily Mail reported on this here (includes enlargement and video): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2134916/The-Icarus-spacecraft-Mystery-Nasa-sun-watching-satellite-captures-UFO-surfing-hellish-surface-sun.html

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A group of 53 cells inside pigeons’ brains that respond to the direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field have been found.

Dubbed  “GPS neurons” this group of cells could possibly be the answer to how birds can navigate over such large distances so successfully.

This story was reported here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17855194

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Credit: Paul Mannix

Parts of an Egyptian scroll dating from 1420 BC missing for 120 years have been found in the basement of Australia’s Queensland Museum, a report said on Saturday.

The discovery was made by the British Museum’s curator of ancient Egyptian artefacts, who was visiting the museum in Brisbane to open a special exhibit on Egyptian mummies, The Australian newspaper said.

Read more of missing ancient scroll found.

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In a discovery that has baffled Chinese archaeologists, more than 200 ancient fortresses have been found in a mountainous region in the northern part of the country.

The fortresses were discovered in the Qinling mountains in Shaanxi province during the recent third national cultural relics survey, the People’s Daily reported.

Li Guang, chief of the county cultural relic management institute, said the fortresses are scattered across mountain tops or tucked in hidden places.

While small fortresses could only hold a few people, more than four large sites were found that could each hold between 400 and 500 people, he said.

According to available records, most of the forts were built at the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to protect the wealthy from farmer uprisings.

Read more on Ancient Forts.

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Credit: Archit Patel

In the antiquities, nanoparticles were used by the Damascans to create swords with exceptionally sharp edges and the Romans to craft iridescent glassware. So were these archaic artisans also nanotechnologists? And what can today’s scientists learn from such historic artefacts?

Read more about Ancient Nanotechnology.

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On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman and crew members William A. Anders and James A. Lovell, Jr. became the first humans to photograph the Earth rising over the moon. Now, the rest of us can see what it was like in a new NASA visualization that draws on richly detailed maps of the moon’s surface made from data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter!
The narration in this visualization comes from the original audio recording of the Apollo 8 astronauts. The flight time has been compressed for effect. The Earth in this visualization is not an exact duplication of what the astronauts saw but a mosaic of more recent images taken by Earth-observing satellites. Representative clouds were then layered on top of the mosaic.

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Credit: U.S. Army Corps

A professional photographer has documented ancient stone-walled terraces, stone cairns and the apparent ruins of structures on publicly owned land.  This site is 74 miles (119 km) due south of the 1,100 year old Track Rock Gap Terrace Complex, which is identical to the fieldstone villages and agricultural complexes built by Itza Maya farmers in Central America.

Continue reading on Examiner.com

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Credit NASA

NASA has released a collection of stunning timelapse videos from the NASA International Space Station.

The dazzling images, set to the tune of Walking in the Air, provide a four-minute breathtaking look at the earth’s surface from the Expedition 30 crew on the Space Station.

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