WEIRD IS THE WORLD: SPACE FOR TROUBLE

HEADLINE: Spacewalk ends in screwdriver rage
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 17.5.9
CAPTION: SPACE FOR TROUBLE

SPACE shuttle Atlantis astronauts repaired a failed instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope used to discover black holes and other galactic phenomena following a tedious spacewalk mired by equipment glitches. Like Hubble's advanced camera, which was rewired during a spacewalk on Saturday, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph was not designed to be overhauled in space. ...

But what frustrated the astronauts was a stripped bolt on a handrail that needed to be removed before they could reach STIS. Mr Massimino ended up tearing off the handle with brute force.

HEADLINE: Snoring can lead to brain damage
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 17.5.9
CAPTION: SNORE CRAZY

SLEEP apnoea sufferers who snore may be severely impairing their brain function, NSW researchers have found.
The changes in brain biochemistry linked to obstructive sleep apnoea have been compared to changes evident in people who have "had a severe stroke or who are dying'', researchers at the University of NSW Brain Sciences department have found.
"It used to be thought that apnoeic snoring had absolutely no acute effects on brain function but this is plainly not true,'' lead author of the study Professor Caroline Rae said in a statement...

HEADLINES: Tall men earn $1000 more than short ones
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 17.5.9
CAPTION: SIZING UP WAGES

TALL people really do get ahead.
Australian researchers have found that tall workers earn more than their shorter colleagues, especially among men. A man who is six foot can expect to take home a "wage premium" of almost $1000 a year.
The boffins paint a bleak picture for the vertically-challenged, but there's good news for chubby workers: overweight people actually earn more than their skinny workmates.

HEADLINE: Nude cyclists take over Cannes
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 17.5.9
CAPTION: Nude and Just Passing By

CROWDS hoping to glimpse the stars on the Cannes film festival's red carpet got an eye-popping surprise as a team of nude Belgian cyclists paraded down the Riviera seafront.
Director Felix van Groeningen and four of his actors straddled bicycles and careened down the croisette and back under warm spring sunshine, in a remake of a scene from La Merditude des Choses (The Misfortunates).

HEADLINE: World's Tallest Dog Loses Leg To Bone Cancer
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: cbsnews.com 16.5.9
CAPTION: SAD

The world's tallest dog is battling bone cancer that forced the amputation of one of his front legs. Gibson stands 3 1/2-feet tall at the shoulder and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The black and white great Dane from Grass Valley, Calif., stretches more than 7 feet tall when he stands on his hind legs.

HEADLINE: Bullet removed 42 years after woman shot
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 16.5.9
CAPTION: Bullet Brain

DOCTORS in southwest China have successfully removed a bullet from a woman's head 42 years after she was shot, putting an end to decades of increasingly unbearable pain, state media reports.
Staff at a hospital in Chongqing municipality extracted the inch-long (2.5-centimetre) bullet from the right temple of He Wenying, 65, yesterday, the Chongqing News reported on its website.

She was hit by the ricocheting bullet during a gun battle between warring factions at the start of the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976.

Doctors initially told her that her wound was only superficial, but constant headaches and difficulty eating led to an x-ray in 1978 that revealed the bullet lodged near her right jaw and ear, it added.

HEADLINE: Lover's penis bite puts man in hospital
SOURCE AND DATE OF CLIP: news.com.au 15.5.9
CAPTION: Don't bite the penis that ....

A THAI woman bit her Belgian boyfriend's penis out of jealousy during sex, but doctors managed to save the nearly-severed organ, police and reports said on Friday.
The 56-year-old man was being treated in hospital for severe injuries after the incident early yesterday in the coastal resort of Pattaya, they said. "We still don't know the identity of the suspect or whether he wants her to be prosecuted,'' police Lieutenant Colonel Norwich Chulavanich said. The victim's penis was "severely bitten'' but not severed from his body, he said. ...