Life

World snail racing championship takes place in UK

ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Snails returned to Congham in Norfolk, eastern England, for the annual celebration of the gastropod games, otherwise known as the World Snail-Racing Championships on Saturday (July 15). This year’s festivities involved the participation of over 150 snails. The championships have been running since the 1960s and have become ingrained within the culture of this secluded corner of England. The event takes place at Congham’s cricket ground, which is temporarily converted […]

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Combining origami with modular robotics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) — Mori combines origami robots and reconfigurable, modular robots, a unique marriage say its creators at Switzerland’s École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Current origami robots consist of thin structures that can be folded into a single robot that changes shape. In modular robotics, by contrast, multiple individual robots are used, but are bulkier and more complex. Origami robots are restricted by both the size and folding pattern of the sheet used […]

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Wheelchair prototype lets users ‘lean in’ to turn

(Reuters) — A new wheelchair system that allows paraplegics to manoeuvre by using their upper body movement rather than through breaking and pushing has been designed by a student. Swiss design graduate Reto Togni showed off his Reagiro wheelchair at the Royal College of Art (RCA) graduate exhibition in London in June. Togni told Reuters: “Conventional wheelchairs work the same way as shopping carts, with casters that rotate in every direction. With this wheelchair one […]

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Piano displays Canada’s pride at 150th year

  BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada (Eagle News) — In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Canada, Canadians are showing creativity to showcase and express pride: the colors white and red on cookie tins, chocolate bar wrappers, Tim Horton’s coffee cups to displays of the flag in personal residences, in shopping malls and different private and public establishments. The most creative so far is this piano by Cattle Point, a part of a recreation park in the […]

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Rubik’s cube inventor says puzzle is “like love”

LA PLAINE SAINT-DENIS, France (Reuters) —  It’s been over four decades since Hungarian inventor and architect Erno Rubik created his best-selling toy cube, yet it continues to draw thousands to competitions all over the world, including the World Championship taking place this year just outside of Paris. A challenge for some, maddening for others, over the years enthusiasts have found thousands of ways to solve the puzzle. The cube takes its name from its inventor […]

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South Korean grandmother become Youtube sensation for her makeup videos

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — The granddaughter of Park Mak-rye, 70, now South Korea’s YouTube sensation, first uploaded videos of her five months ago on YouTube to help her preserve her memory in case she contracted dementia, which runs in the family. But they soon exploded in popularity amongst South Koreans in their 20s and 30s who are lapping up Park’s videos of her doing makeup, recreating looks of famous celebrities as well as travelling […]

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Archaeologists go high-tech in 2,500-year-old Greek cold case

by Catherine BOITARD Agence France Presse ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — More than 2,500 years ago, an Athenian nobleman named Cylon — the first recorded Olympic champion — tried to take over the city of Athens and install himself as its sole ruler. According to Thucydides and Herodotus, Athenian and Greek historians who wrote about the coup, Cylon enticed an army of followers to enter the city and lay siege to the Acropolis. They were defeated, […]

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On your marks, get set… who goes? The NY baby race

by Catherine TRIOMPHE Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — It’s a race of laughter, false starts and wild bottle waving: New York’s Diaper Derby sees 30 infants battle it out for glory in a three-meter crawling contest. There is only one real rule: trying to stumble to your feet is not allowed. From the sidelines parents will on their progeny with bottles of milk, television remote controls or key jangling. There is […]

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Russia launches 73 satellites into orbit

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — An imaging satellite and 72 micro-satellites were launched into orbit Friday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Russian space agency Roscosmos and research center Glavcosmos announced. The Soyuz 2-1A rocket successfully lifted off at 0643 GMT with the satellite payload, Roscosmos said in a statement. According to Russian news agencies, Glavcosmos, charged with putting the satellites into orbit, later reported that by 1441 GMT all the satellites had successfully separated. […]

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5-seater solar car going for glory

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (Reuters) —  A student solar racing car team says its newly-created five-seater model has two purposes – to win the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) its third successive Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (WSC) and to make sun-powered vehicles sexy. Solar Team Eindhoven’s Stella Vie has fewer solar panels than its previous four-seater models – Stella and Stella Lux – but spokesperson Beatrix Bos insists this is no problem. “Even though we have one […]

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Neil Armstrong moon bag on sale for up to $4 million

by Jennie Matthew Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Once nearly thrown out with the trash, a bag that Neil Armstrong used to collect the first ever samples of the moon goes on sale in New York next week, valued at $2-4 million. Traces of moon dust and small rock are embedded in what is the only artifact from the Apollo 11 mission in private hands, says Sotheby’s, who is organizing the […]

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Study finds our Sun is like other stars, resolving mystery

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Our Sun is much like other stars, and not an anomaly because of its magnetic poles that flip every 11 years, scientists said Thursday. The report in the journal Science aims to lay to rest the controversy over whether our solar system’s star is cyclic, like other nearby, solar-type stars. “We have shed light on a fundamental mechanism which determines the length of these cycles, which helps us understand the […]

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