‘Singing penis’ sets noise record for water insect

A tiny water boatman is the loudest animal on Earth relative to its body size, a study has revealed.

Scientists from France and Scotland recorded the aquatic animal “singing” at up to 99.2 decibels, the equivalent of listening to a loud orchestra play while sitting in the front row.

The insect makes the sound by rubbing its penis against its abdomen in a process known as “stridulation”.

Researchers say the song is a courtship display performed to attract a mate.

Kyle Richards thinks that the ban on pornography and erotica enforced by the Macomb County Jail—and, to a lesser extent, the absence of video games in individual cells—amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment,” and is therefore unconstitutional.

Braving sub-zero temperatures, she has thrown caution — and her clothes — to the wind to tame two beluga whales in a unique and controversial experiment.

Natalia Avseenko, 36, was persuaded to strip naked as marine experts believe belugas do not like to be touched by artificial materials such as diving suits.

The skilled Russian diver took the plunge as the water temperature hit minus 1.5 degrees Centigrade.

check the link below for more text and pictures
Princess of whales: How a naked female scientist tries to tame belugas in the freezing Arctic

HOQUIAM, Wash. (AP) – Police say a man was carrying a dead weasel when he burst into an apartment and assaulted a man in Washington state.

The victim asked, “Why are you carrying a weasel?” Police said the attacker answered, “It’s not a weasel, it’s a marten,” then punched him in the nose and fled.

The attacker was apparently looking for his girlfriend and had gone to her former boyfriend’s apartment Monday where the victim was a guest.

KXRO reports he left the carcass behind.

Police later found the 33-year-old Hoquiam man arguing with his girlfriend at another location and arrested him after a fight.

He said he had found the marten dead near Hoquiam, but police don’t know why he carried it with him.

A marten is a member of the weasel family.

source: Man carrying dead weasel accused of assault

A Michigan hospital has isolated a patient who reportedly ingested rodent poison and is now emitting potentially toxic gas, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Washtenaw County hazardous material team arrived Monday morning at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., and took control of the situation by isolating the patient—who’s identity has not been revealed—in a private room of the intensive care unit.

“The hospital is open, and the situation is isolated,” said hospital spokeswoman Lauren Jones. She said she could not release specifics of the case due to patient privacy laws.

Traffic through that section of the hospital has been restricted to staff caring for the patient and the hazardous material team.

Public affairs manager of Huron Valley Ambulance, Joyce Williams, told the Detroit newspaper that the patient had already been admitted to the hospital for more than a day before the hazmat team was called because of suspicious emissions.

“They were doing air purity testing,” Williams said.

The hospital issued an e-mail statement dismissing rumors that the man’s flatulence was flammable.

“Hazmat teams … here are monitoring the levels of gas in the room; the levels are not at explosive or flammable levels. The air has been tested and confirmed for low levels. Hazmat teams are continuing to monitor the levels to ensure maintaining a safe environment; the level of gas in the room is only expected to improve,” according to the statement.

IBM researchers created a new type of nanoparticles that are capable of destroying the membrane walls of certain drug-resistant bacteria strains, leaving the cells to harmlessly degrade without any trace. The new system works by using biodegradable plastic to engineer electrically charged nanoparticles that in turn attract to the bacteria’s opposite charge, in turn destroying the membrane walls hence the cell entirely.

An Indiana man is suing a strip club, claiming he was injured by a heavy-heeled shoe that came off an exotic dancer’s foot when she was performing a “high-kick maneuver,” his attorney said today.

“He was bleeding [and] his front four teeth were chipped,” Saeed said. “It was not a situation where it was a light tap on the face. It hit him with quite a bit of force. You can imagine the velocity at which the shoe must have come out when it hit him in the face.”

and apparently there are a bunch of other lawsuits over the past few years:

• In October, Michael Ireland, a roofer from West Palm Beach, Fla., was awarded a $650,000 judgment from a strip club. Ireland said he was seated at the stage inside the establishment when a stripper spun around and accidentally struck him in the face. In court, Ireland’s attorney successfully argued that his client suffered broken bones and chronic double vision.

• A man named Yusuf Evans filed a $25,000 suit against an Akron, Ohio, strip club in January 2009. Evans said he was watching a dancer perform a high kick when her shoe flew off and struck him in the face. Evans said he suffered injuries to his nose and required surgery because after the incident he could only breathe out of one nostril. The case reportedly was settled in May 2010 after the strip club countersued Evans for defamation and filing a frivolous action.

• Paul Shimkonis, a physical therapist from Clearwater, Fla., filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 against the Diamond Dolls club in the late 1990s. Shimkonis said he was at a bachelor party at the club where Playboy cover girl Tawny Peaks was performing when she slammed her size-69HH breasts into his head, causing him to suffer whiplash. “I saw stars. … It was like two cement blocks hit me,” Shimkonis told The Eugene Register-Guard.