Kanzi the bonobo chimp learns to create tools by himself - repeating humanity's first steps towards civilisation

Chimpanzee who has grown up with humans and loves fires learns to create flints and scrapers to get to hidden food


By Eddie Wrenn


A world-famous bonobo chimp known for his skill at sign-language has taken one step closer to humanity - by learning to create tools.

The 31-year-old, Kanzi, is able to understand and communicate with humans and is believed to understand around 500 words - 30 to 40 of which he uses on a daily basis.

Now he has stunned researchers at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, by creating his own tools during a mission to extract food from a container.

Tool-building: Kanzi the bonobo picks up one of the logs, which contains treats inside, and sets to work scraping it open

New Scientist reports: 'Kanzi the bonobo continues to impress.

'Not content with learning sign language or making up 'words' for things like banana or juice, he now seems capable of making stone tools on a par with the efforts of early humans.'

The tool-making was part of an exercise devised by Eviatar Nevo, of the University of Haifa in Israel.

He and his colleagues placed food inside a sealed log, mimicking marrow locked inside long bones, and then watched as Kanzi tried to tackle the problem.

His companion bonobo went for the tried-and-trusted approach: repeatedly smashing the log on the ground in order to get to the food within.

But Kanzi took a different approach, building the tools early man is believed to have come up with tens of thousands of years ago.

While his companion only succeeded in cracking two logs, Kanzi managed to get his way inside 24 of the treat-filled logs, using a variety of methods.

New Scientist reports: 'Kanzi used the tools he created to come at the log in a variety of ways: inserting sticks into seams in the log, throwing projectiles at it, and employing stone flints as choppers, drills, and scrapers. In the end, he got food out of 24 logs, while his companion managed just two.'

Kanzi also used flakes to unearth buried food, after making the tool by chipping off bits of stone

The choppers and scrapers devised by Kanzi are believed to be similar to the tools men created as they marched towards civilisation, fuelling a debate as to whether tool-making is the mark of modern human culture - or if it something innate in other species as well.

Kanzi and his companion had both been taught to break flint flakes in the 1990s using a stone and a hammer, but the rest of the tool-creation appears to be Kanzi's initiative alone.

Kanzi is one of eight bonobos in the care of Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, one of the world’s leading experts in ape behaviour and language.

He had previously been taught to light matches and create fires.


Intelligent cooking: The chimpanzee searches for the perfect site for a camp fire then carefully piles sticks onto a bed of dry leave


Adept: His hands look almost human as he strikes a match and, with a look of satisfaction, watches the smoke start to rise as the fire takes hold

And for dessert... he pops a marshmallow on a long stick and toasts it with care making sure he doesn't get his fingers burnt

Dr Savage-Rumbaugh, of the Great Ape Trust, in Des Moines, Iowa, adds: ‘Kanzi makes fire because he wants to.

He used to watch the film Quest For Fire when he was very young which was about early man struggling to control fire.

He watched it spellbound over and over hundreds of times.
'He was also fascinated by the camp fires his keepers made to cook food.

'And he was encouraged to interact with humans and copy them.

'At the age of five, he was making small piles of bone dry sticks.
'He was taught to use matches, a skill he picked up quickly.

'There’s something eerie about watching Kanzi strike a match.

'The way he then holds the flame - taking care not to burn himself - is remarkably human.'

Kanzi, who weighs 12st, is the brightest of the apes at the Great Ape Trust.

With two other apes at the centre, he uses paper keyboards to communicate with Dr Savage-Rumbaugh and fellow primatologist Liz Pugh.

In conversation with the researchers he points to symbols, known as lexigrams, on the keyboards representing different words.

He has learnt to ‘say’ around 500 words through the keyboard, and understands 3,000 spoken words.

Bonobos are one of the most endangered species and there are around 10,000 to 50,000 left in the wild, all in Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo.

They share 98 to 99 per cent of their DNA with us.

New Scientist speculated: 'Do Kanzi's skills translate to all bonobos? It's hard to say.

'The abilities of animals like Alex the parrot, who could purportedly count to six, and Betty the crow, who crafted a hook out of wire, sometimes prompt claims about the intelligence of an entire species.

But since these animals are raised in unusual environments where they frequently interact with humans, their cases may be too singular to extrapolate their talents to their brethren.'


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Scientists unveil 20 new species ... including a giant blue scorpion and massive hairy spider (how DID we ever get by without them?)

By Eddie Wrenn


Brave scientists: To discover a species such as the goliath bird-eating spider is one thing - to put your hand next to it is quite another

For 20 years, field scientists working with Conversation International have been exploring some of the world’s most abundant, mysterious and threatened tropical ecosystems.

To date, they have discovered more than 1,300 species new to science - although so far only 500 or so have been formally described by taxonomists, in terms of classification and naming.

And now, to celebrate their 20 years of cataloguing, the group has released 20 of their favourite finds.

While some - like the fish that flashes a beautiful array of colours when it is in love - make a great sight, others are more than likely to quiver, such as the giant blue scorpion, or the ants which hook on to each other with sharp barbs when threatened.

And arachnophobes - take a deep breath, because this is what is thought to be the largest tarantula known to exist - oh, and it eats lizards.

Sends a shiver: This is the largest (by mass) spider in the world, reaching the weight of 170g and a leg span of 30cm

The giant spider is the Goliath bird eating spider (theraphosa blondi) and is the largest (by mass) spider in the world, reaching the weight of 170g and leg span of 30cm.

It was observed by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program scientists in Guyana in 2006, where it lives in burrows on the floor of lowland rainforests.

Despite the name, it feeds primarily on invertebrates - but have been observed eating small mammals, lizards and even venomous snakes.

They have venom fangs, which are not deadly to humans, but their main line of defense are hairs that cover their entire body – when threatened their rub their legs agains the abdomen and send a cloud of microscopic barbs that lodge in the skin and mucus membranes of the attacker, causing pain and long-lasting irritation.


The Emperor scorpion (Pandinus imperator): With an eight-inches-long body, this is one of the largest scorpions in the world (a species from India is reputedly slightly longer)


Meanwhile the emperor scorpion (pandinus imperator) has an eight-inches-long body, this is one of the largest scorpions in the world - a species from India is reputedly slightly longer.

Observed by scientists in Atewa, Ghana in 2006. Despite their enormous size they feed primarily on termites and other small invertebrates, and its venom is not particularly harmful to humans.

The venom of this species contains compounds that are being tested as potential drugs to control arrhythmia (a heart disease) and the blue fluorescent betacarbolines that cover its body (visible only in ultraviolet light) are studied in order to understand degeneration of proteins in human eye lenses, which leads to cataract blindness.

Not new to science, but observed by the RAP team, is the fish-hook ant. Scientists, as well as mammal and bird predators, think twice before messing with this large (1.5 cm) ant in the forests of Cambodia - their curved spines can easily slice through skin and tend to hold on for a while.

These ants live in large numbers in nests in dead tree trunks on the forest floor, and when attacked they swarm out and hook onto each other, making extracting an individual ant by a predator difficult.

The hooking together behavior is inadvertent - they do not seek each other to hook together - but nevertheless quite effective as a defense mechanism.

Ants play an important ecological role as scavengers - they are often some of the first organisms to feed on dead insects and animals, which help to recycle organic material back into the ecosystem and to keep dead animals from piling up.


A fish-hook ant spotted in Cambodia in 2007: These ants live in large numbers in nests in dead tree trunks - their curved spines can easily slice through skin and tend to hold on for a while


The RAP project's achievements are highlighted in the new book 'Still Counting…'

edited by Leeanne Alonso, Director of CI's Rapid Assessment Program in collaboration with other leading scientists.

Part memoir, part historical report, part methodology guide, 'Still Counting…'
revisits RAP expeditions to some of the most remote and least known areas on the planet, recounting the physical challenges and personal highlights experienced by its scientists and features more than 400 amazing color photographs of rare and exciting species from around the globe.

'It's been an amazing adventure,' said Alonso, who has coordinated and led surveys for the past 13 years.

'Despite the pressures we put on nature, it continues to mystify, inspire and teach us with a wealth of hidden treasures and ecosystem services that people rely on, and that we're still only beginning to understand.'

To mark the twenty years, CI has designated the Top 20 'RAP stars' of the program's history. Species include some of the most biologically surprising, unique, or threatened discoveries of the teams' surveys, and include poster species that have captured the public's and media's imagination with popular nicknames like the 'Pinocchio frog'.

Launched in 1990, the idea behind the creation of CI's Rapid Assessment Program was to build a team of the best field biologists from different disciplines, and create what CI founder, CEO, and Chairman Peter Seligmann described in the foreword to the book as 'An ecological SWAT team that could accurately assess the health of an ecosystem in a fraction of the time it would normally take'.

Among the program's achievements, are the completion of 80 surveys in 27 countries, including 51 terrestrial RAPs, 15 MarineRAPs and 13 freshwater AquaRAPs.

The next animal on the list is the strumigenys tigris ant, which lives in the leaf litter of rainforests of Papua New Guinea.

This tiny ant, about 2 mm long, walks around with its mandibles held wide open so that it can capture small invertebrates with a lightning fast snap.

Its colour pattern may help it blend into the rotting sticks in which it lives.

Predaceous ants such as these help to keep populations of small organisms in balance.


This tiny ant (about 2 mm long) walks around with its mandibles held wide open so that it can capture small invertebrates with a lightning fast snap

The ant, carrying a larvae, blends in with its surroundings

Nyctimystes is a large tree frog, approximately 15cm long, with enormous eyes was found next to a clear running mountain river during an expedition to Papua New Guinea’s highlands wilderness in 2008.

It belongs to a group of frogs with an unusual vein-like pattern on the eyelid and its tadpoles have enormous sucker-like mouths that allow them to graze on exposed rocks in torrential stream environments.

The abundance and diversity of amphibians are indicators of an ecosystem's general health. Amphibians are often referred to as 'the canary in the coal mine', as they have permeable skin meaning that they all too easily absorb toxins or pollutants to which they are exposed, making them some of the first species to disappear from ecosystems declining in health.

Their disappearance can be used as an early warning sign that something bad is happening to a given environment - including environments humans inhabit.

A large tree frog, approximately six inches/15 cm, with enormous eyes was found next to a clear running mountain river in Papua New Guinea

Uroplatus phantasticus, is 'the satanic leaf-tailed gecko', observed in Madagascar in 1998 - the species was first described in 1888.

The gecko is the smallest of 12 species of bizarre looking Leaf-tailed geckos and are nocturnal, with extremely cryptic camouflage.

They are only found in primary, undisturbed forests, so their populations are very sensitive to habitat destruction. Large uroplatus species have more teeth than any other living terrestrial vertebrate species.

In 2004, WWF listed all of the uroplatus species on their 'Top ten most wanted species list' of animals threatened by illegal wildlife trade, because of it 'being captured and sold at alarming rates for the international pet trade'.

The satanic leaf-tailed gecko was observed in the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor of Madagascar in 1998: They are usually nocturnal animals - and very sensitive to landscape changes

The tube-nosed fruit bat nyctimene, from the Muller Range mountains does not yet have a name but has been found in other parts of New Guinea. It is likely restricted to hill forests on the island. Fruit bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests.


What a hoot: The tube-nosed fruit bat is likely restricted to hill forests on the island of New Guinea. Fruit bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests.

This genus of salamanders has fully webbed feet which help them climb high into the canopy of tropical forests; they also have no lungs and breathe instead through their skin

The walking shark (hemiscyllium galei), found in Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia in 2006, can swim, despite the name.

However, it prefers to walk along the shallow reef flats on its fins, preying on shrimp, crabs, snails, and small fish. They emerge above the reef, show off their grandeur with lateral displays and just as quickly dive back into their coral lairs.

The chinchilla tree rat was discovered in the Vilcabamba mountain range, very close to the world famous ruins of Macchu Picchu.

It is pale grey in color, possesses a stocky build, has large claws, and is characterised by a white stripe along its head.

It is related to the chinchilla rats which are known to have been buried alongside the Incan people in their tombs.

The fact that this is a new genus (i.e. a group of individuals that have similar characteristics) made the discovery even more exciting for the team, as it suggests there could be many more similar species just waiting to be uncovered.


Don't be fooled by its name, this shark can swim! However, it prefers to walk along the shallow reef flats on its fins, preying on shrimp, crabs, snails, and small fish

The chinchilla tree rat was discovered in the Vilcabamba mountain range, very close to the world famous ruins of Macchu Picchu

The peacock katydid (Pterochroza ocellata) observed on an expedition to Guyana's Acarai Mountains in 2006.

It is a large rainforest insect that employs two effective strategies to protect itself from predators: at a casual glance it looks just like a dead, partially damaged leaf, but if threatened is suddenly reveals a pair of bright eye spots and starts jumping excitedly, which gives the impression of a giant head of a bird suddenly pecking at the attacker.

Males of this species produce very loud but almost entirely ultrasonic and thus inaudible to humans courtship call.

Peacock katydids are found across the Guiana Shield in lowland, undisturbed rainforests. While not currently threatened, their survival is closely tied to the survival of their habitat.

The RAP katydid (brachyamytta rapidoaestima) – discovered in Ghana and Guinea is a newly discovered species and a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf.

Males communicate with the females by producing ultrasonic songs that are inaudible to humans.

It was named after the RAP program because it was first discovered during a survey in 2002 and it lives in the most threatened habitats of West Africa that the RAP program is trying to save.


At a casual glance it looks just like a dead, partially damaged leaf, but if the peacock katydid is threatened is suddenly reveals a pair of bright eye spots and starts jumping excitedly


So.... er... Don't mess with it


Dragonfly platycypha eliseva have a unique combination of colors which differentiate it from other species; specifically the yellow tipped abdomen and the red and white tibiae


The dragonfly platycypha eliseva, discovered in 2004, has a unique combination of colors which differentiate it from other species; specifically the yellow tipped abdomen and the red and white tibiae.

The species was found on three clear sandy streams within 5km of the Congo River.

Two streams were in dense forest and largely shaded, while the other ran along an oil palm plantation and was largely sunny. The species may be localized: despite being conspicuous, it is absent from the substantial collections from surrounding areas.

Dragonflies are good indicators of water quality since they need clean water, aquatic nymphs feed on other insects and aquatic organisms (predators), adults are also predatory and thus help to regulate insect populations including mosquitoes, serve as food for larger animals.

Many dragonfly larvae are voracious predators on mosquito larvae and have been used in human-health programs to control disease-carrying mosquitos

Moving on to fishes, the male paracheilinus nursalim go through an amazing courtship ritual in which "electric" colours are flashed periodically to attract nearby females

The courtship dance takes place every afternoon, beginning about one hour before sundown and continuing until dusk.

The modified mouth and lips allow the fish to feed, breathe, and attach to the substrate through suction.

Parental care is usually well-developed and the male guards the eggs and sometimes the larvae.

Meanwhile the RAP katydid (brachyamytta rapidoaestima) discovered on a survey in Ghana and Guinea.

This newly discovered species is a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf.

Males communicate with the females by producing ultrasonic songs that are inaudible to humans. It was named after the RAP program because it was first discovered during a survey in 2002 and it lives in the most threatened habitats of West Africa that the RAP program is trying to save.


The male paracheilinus nursalim goes through an amazing courtship ritual in which 'electric' colours are flashed periodically to attract nearby females


The RAP katydid newly discovered species is a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf

The honeyeater was discovered at an altitude of 1,650m (5,445 feet) above sea level, in the Foja Mountains of Western New Guinea

A new species called 'smoky honeyeater', discovered in the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea in 2005.

The honeyeater was discovered at an altitude of 1,650 m (5,445 feet) above sea level, in the Foja Mountains of Western New Guinea.

This medium-sized, sooty-gray songbird has a short black bill, and each eye is surrounded by an orange-red patch of bare skin, below which hangs a pendant wattle.

It is these features that distinguish it from the more widespread Common Smoky Honeyeater.

In addition, the species is exceedingly quiet, rarely giving any vocalizations. The Wattled smoky honeyeater is a common and unwary inhabitant of the Foja uplands. The Honeyeater eats nectar and thus pollinates flowers, it also eats insects and thus helps to regulate their populations, food for larger animals

The 'Pinocchio' frog has a long, protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active

This frog (litoria sp. nov.) was also discovered in the Foja Mountains in 2008.

The frog has a long, Pinocchio-like protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active, represents a particularly distinctive find that scientists are interested in documenting and studying further.

Its discovery was a happy accident, after herpetologist Paul Oliver spotted it sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.

The abundance and diversity of amphibians are indicators of an ecosystem's general health. Amphibians are often referred to as 'the canary in the coal mine.

Amphibians have permeable skin meaning that they all too easily absorb toxins or pollutants to which they are exposed, making them some of the first species to disappear from ecosystems declining in health. Their disappearance can be used as an early warning sign that something bad is happening to a given environment - including environments humans inhabit.

Meanwhile the ET salamander - bolitoglossa - found in Ecuador in 2009.

This genus of salamanders has fully webbed feet which help them climb high into the canopy of tropical forests; they also have no lungs and breathe instead through their skin.

So there you have it - a lot of new species making themselves known to man, just some of the 1,500 new ones out there - and some of the potentially 10million, maybe 50 million species out there in total.



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Welcome to a brave new world: Genetic scientists create freakish man-made monster ants with huge heads and jaws

-Ancient genes activated by dab of hormones
-Ants seem to contain a 'toolkit' for creating monsters
-May be a throwback to ancestors from millions of years ago


By Rob Waugh


Nightmarish 'supersoldier' ants with huge heads and jaws have been created by activating ancient genes.

Scientists believe the monster ants may be a genetic throwback to an ancestor that lived millions of years ago.

Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone - the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants.

A supersoldier next to a normal ant: Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone - the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants


Supersoldier ants can occur naturally in the wild, but only rarely. In the deserts of America and Mexico, their job is to protect the colony from raids by invading army ants.

The supersoldiers use their enormous heads to block the nest entrance and attack any enemy ants that get too close.

Scientists showed that ordinary ants of the species Pheidole morrisi contain all the genetic 'tools' needed to turn them into supersoldiers - they just need a hormonal push.

The research is reported today in the journal Science.

Scientists created the monster ants in the laboratory by activating ancient ancestral genes


Authors Dr Rajendhran Rajakumar, from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues wrote: 'We uncovered an ancestral development potential to produce a novel supersoldier subcaste that has been retained throughout a hyperdiverse ant genus that evolved 35 to 60 million years ago.'

The results suggest that holding on to ancestral development toolkits may play an important role in evolving new physical traits, say the researchers.


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'Insane manoeuvres': The player lands safely back inside the cockpit of his own jet at the end of the stunt

By Daily Mail Reporter


Scroll down for video

In his sights: The video starts with the gamer flying a jet, with an enemy craft on his tail


On first inspection, you might be forgiven for thinking you were watching a scene from an over-the-top action film.

A fighter pilot being chased by an enemy plane ejects himself from the cockpit and launches a rocket at the craft before landing safely back in his seat.

Somewhat incredibly, this clip has attracted more than 5million hits on YouTube. But perhaps more incredibly, the video was actually taken from someone playing a video game.

Daring stunt: The player ejects himself from the cockpit and takes aim


Battlefield 3 player RendeZook's 'daring' stunt has become a 'see-it-to-be-believed' spectacle among the gaming community, many of whom believe it could be one of the greatest ever feats pulled off in video game history.

Rendezook has become somewhat of a gaming hero on YouTube, where millions of Battlefield players have viewed his stunt in awe and flooded online forums with praise.

One gamer, Thomas Olson wrote: 'It's hard enough to even kill anybody in BF3, let alone pull off insane manoeuvres like this.

'One time, I managed to drop a low-flying Apache with an unguided rocket, and I was pretty stoked about it for the rest of the night. I can't even imagine the exhilaration experienced from throwing down a move like this.'

Over-the-top: Rendezook launches the rocket at his enemy, blasting it to smithereens


While Eloy Sanchez posted: 'This can be practiced and repeated. Knife throws are random people throw them for hours and sometimes get a kill it is random by definition. I don't think at all this was a first try at all.

'A beginner can get lucky by throwing a knife across the map and getting a kill but I highly doubt any beginner can pull off this move.'

Players from all over the world play Battlefield fighting each other online on foot, in tanks or SUVs and flying choppers or jets, in opposing U.S. and Russia forces.


'Insane manoeuvres': The player lands safely back inside the cockpit of his own jet at the end of the stunt





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Meet the world's heaviest insect, which weighs three times more than a mouse... and eats carrots

-New Zealand's giant weta is the heaviest insect in the world and this one is the largest ever recorded


By Jessica Satherley


Big appetite: A former park ranger from America found the heaviest ever recorded giant weta on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island and fed her this carrot out of his hand


A nature-lover has revealed how he spent two days tracking down a giant insect on a remote New Zealand island – and got it to eat a carrot out of his hand.

Mark Moffett’s find is the world's biggest insect in terms of weight, which at 71g is heavier than a sparrow and three times that of a mouse.

The 53-year-old former park ranger discovered the giant weta up a tree and his real life Bug's Bunny has now been declared the largest ever found.


Various species: There are over 70 types of Weta species in New Zealand but the giant weta has been named the biggest insect in the world because of its weight

He came across the cricket-like creature, which has a wing span of seven inches, after two days of searching on a tiny island.

The creepy crawly is only found on Little Barrier Island, in New Zealand, although there are 70 other types of smaller weta found throughout the country.

The giants of the species were wiped off the mainland by rats accidentally introduced by Europeans.

After Mark found the female weta he fed it the carrot before putting it back where he found her.

Mark, 53, said: ‘Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta.

‘We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

‘The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice.

‘She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

‘She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

‘After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her.’

Mark, from Colorado, America, added: ‘We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect.

‘This became all the more amazing when we realised that this was the largest insect recorded.’




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The underwater icicle of death: Bizarre 'Brinicle' forms BENEATH the sea and kills everything in its path

By Daily Mail Reporter


An underwater 'icicle of death' which sinks to the seabed destroying everything it comes into contact with has been caught on camera for the first time.

The sinking brine is so cold that it causes the seawater to freeze around it.

BBC film crews recorded the brinicle for the first time ever as it sunk to the bottom of the sea in Antarctica.

The icicle of death: The brinicle can be seen extending towards the seabed. Slowly it grows bigger over time as more water freezes around it


When it hits the surface, a web of ice spreads killing sea urchins and starfish.

The remarkable underwater footage was filmed for Frozen Planet on BBC One using timelapse technology.

The 'icicle of death' grew so rapidly towards the seabed that teams could see it advancing before their eyes. Brine falls to the surface as it is a lot more dense than seawater.


Remarkable broadcast moment: The ice begins to expand outwards. The brine is a lot more dense than seawater so sinks to the bottom. It is also a lot colder - causing the freezing

Touchdown: The brinicle reaches the ocean floor. Starfish can be seen. Often the brinicles break up before they become so large


When the seawater freezes as it comes into contact with the brinicle it is a lot more spongelike than normal ice.

They are usually found in the Antarctic when saline water is introduced to the ocean.

The remarkable footage was filmed underwater in temperatures of -2C by BBC cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson at Little Razorback Island, near Antarctica's Ross Archipelago.

Mr Miller said the sinking brine grew rapidly before their eyes.


Killer: The ice floods outwards across the ocean surface rapidly, destroying everything in its wake

Destruction: The starfish are frozen by the ice as it expands outwards


'It was a bit of a race against time because no-one really knew how fast they formed,' he told BBC Nature.

'The one we'd seen a week before was getting longer in front of our eyes... the whole thing only took five, six hours.

'I do remember it being a struggle. All the kit is very heavy because it has to sit on the sea bed and not move for long periods of time.'

Although the existence of brinicles has been known since the 1960s, it is the first time it has been caught on camera.

Frozen Planet was screened at 9pm on Wednesday November 23 on BBC One and is available on iPlayer.


Broadcasting feat: Although the existence of brinicles has long been known it is the first time they have ever been caught on camera


Seabed spread: When the seawater freezes as it comes into contact with the brinicle it is a lot more spongelike than normal ice


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World's fastest ever crash test: Car smashes into wall at 120mph (a speed most family runarounds can hit)

By GARETH FINIGHAN

Too late to pull out now: Travelling at 120mph, the Ford Focus is just inches away from impact

The complex operation saw engineers setting up a winch which catapulted the Ford towards the wall using 16-times the pulling power of a Bugatti Veyron.
As the contraption was activated, the Ford Focus hurtled towards its final destination with Fifth Gear presenter Jonny Smith looking on edge.

Hitting the wall: In the blink of an eye, the front half of the hatchback is completely crushed

This is the terrifying moment a Ford Focus smashes into a solid concrete wall at 120mph in the world's fastest ever crash test.
Industry experts EuroNCAP normally crash vehicles at speeds of 40mph when giving production cars a safety rating.
But Five's motoring show Fifth Gear wanted to see what would happen in a head-on collision at three times this speed - a figure most family cars are capable of.

It then smashed into the concrete wall and was obliterated on impact - to the horror of the visibly shocked host.
Within just 60 milliseconds, the car went from 120mph to 0mph, with the mannequins subjected to forces of up to 400g.

Going, going...: The driver compartment is next to buckle under the pressure. Thankfully only a cheap crash test dummy was behind the wheel

Because of the expected destruction, organisers refused to use expensive crash test dummies and instead opted for cheaper mannequins for the experiment.
Had anyone actually been inside the vehicle at the moment of impact, it would have resulted in a certain fatality.
Fifth Gear described the test as 'shocking and sobering' with Smith adding it was 'mighty haunting'.

Gone: The car seems to have almost completely disintegrated as the back end hurtles towards the wall

Ellie Pearson from road safety charity Brake praised the programme for carrying out the test, which demonstrated the potential risk of high-speed driving.
She said: 'Modern cars are capable of reaching immense speeds and it is important that people realise how dangerous high speed driving is.
'This footage demonstrates the utter destruction of a high speed impact and hopefully anyone who sees it will think twice about their speed the next time they drive.'

Scrap metal: the car is unrecognisable after its high-speed collision

Fifth Gear [20x01] - Ford Focus 120mph Crash Test



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Meet the Tutankhamun of Torquay: Terminally ill taxi driver who chose to have his body mummified for a Channel 4 documentary

By Colin Fernandez


One ruled over a vast kingdom from his royal palace by the Nile. The other reigned over the roads from behind the wheel of his taxi in Torquay.

But despite their vastly different lives, and the thousands of years between them, King Tutankhamun and Alan Billis have one important thing in common.

The late Mr Billis has become the first man to be mummified in the style of the ancient Egyptians for at least 3,000 years.

Making history: The late Alan Billis and his wife Janet, before he became the first man to be mummified Egyptian style for at least 3,000 years

Using the techniques that preserved Tutankhamun’s body after his death in 1323BC, scientists embalmed the 61-year-old following his death from lung cancer.

Mr Billis, who loved watching documentaries, agreed to have his body preserved after seeing an advertisement from a television company looking to film the process.

His wife Janet, 68, said: ‘He just said, “I’ve just phoned someone up about being mummified.” I said, “You’ve what?” I thought here we go again. It’s just the sort of thing you would expect him to do.’

But Mrs Billis and the couple’s three grown-up children gave his decision their blessing, and the resulting programme – Mummifying Alan: Egypt’s Last Secret – is due to be screened on Channel 4 on Monday.

The experts: Professor Vanezis, Dr Buckley, Dr Fletcher and Maxine Coe with a mummified Alan Billis before them

The mummy: Dr Stephen Buckley with mummified Mr Billis

Taxi driver Mr Billis, who has been dubbed Torquay’s Tutankhamun, explained his unusual decision in the documentary, saying: ‘People have been leaving their bodies to science for years, and if people don’t volunteer for anything nothing gets found out.’

Over a period of several months following his death in January, Mr Billis’s internal organs were removed and kept in jars, with the exception of his brain and heart.

His skin was covered in a mixture of oils and resins and bathed in a solution of Natron, a salt found in dried-up river beds in Egypt.

After a month in a glass tank at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield, which houses the city’s mortuary, his body was taken out, placed in a drying chamber and wrapped in linen.

Dr Stephen Buckley of the University of York, who helped research Egyptian mummification techniques before the programme, said Mr Billis’s body could now last several millennia.

And wherever Mr Billis goes, a folder full of drawings by his grandchildren goes with him.

In an interview with the Radio Times, Mrs Billis said: ‘I didn’t find it upsetting. There wasn’t anything scary.

Mummified: Alan Billis becomes the first person to undergo the procedure performed here by Maxine Coe and Tim

Ancient techniques: Mr Billis has his body preserved using the same methods as were used on Tutankhamun. Pictured is the Valley of the Kings in Egypt

'I think it was because you could see they all took such good care of Alan. When I did eventually watch the film and saw his mummified face, you could see it was still him, still very much Alan. “I won’t be Tutankhamun, I’ll be Tutanalan,” he used to say.

‘The involvement in the television programme kept him occupied, took his mind off the illness.’

As well as Dr Buckley, the team of experts behind the mummification included Dr Joann Fletcher, Maxine Coe and forensic pathologist Peter Vanezis. Professor Vanezis said he was pleased with the result, adding: ‘The skin itself has this leathery appearance which indicates that he has become mummified all over.

‘It makes me very confident that his tissues have been mummified correctly and in a very successful manner.’

Mr Billis’s mummy is expected to stay in Sheffield until the end of 2011. It will then be studied by scientists researching decomposition.

Television viewers will see on Channel 4 how the former taxi driver was mummified


source:dailymail

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