Chick born with four legs

A rare four-legged baby chicken has been discovered in rural India where it happily lives with an extra set of limbs. The two-month-old chick was born with polymelia, meaning it developed two extra legs in the egg. It has two normal legs and an extra set that dangle behind it in a video filmed at its home in Rojhada, Betul, in northern India.

Javed Ali, who owns the four-limbed chicken, said that the unusual creature has sparked much excitement in the local community. And people have even tried to buy the diminutive bird for as much as 5,000 rupees (£55.30). But Javed has grown attached to the chick and has been reluctant to sell it. Despite the local interest in the bird, Kamlesh Ahirwar, professor of zoology in Betul, told local media that such incidents are normal in nature and the bird’s unusual appearance is not a miracle.

Grocery store ‘fires’ robot employee

While we often hear of humans losing their jobs, a robot being fired for incompetence is almost unheard of. However, that is exactly what a Scottish grocery store did after its newly-employed humanoid robot proved woefully inept at performing the assigned tasks.

The intern, nicknamed Fabio, was part of an experiment conducted by the Heriot-Watt University for BBC’s Six Robots and Us, which explores the integration of men and machine. It is a member of the Pepper family of humanoid robots that are “employed” by companies worldwide. Fabio’s job was to make customers feel welcomed and assist them in locating grocery items if asked. Things seemed to start-off well. But soon its friendly demeanour appeared to wane when a shopper needed help.

For example, a customer inquiring about the location of cheese would receive a vague answer like “in the dairy section.” Not surprisingly, store visitors began to avoid the robot and started seeking out human employees for help.

Since Fabio was not trai­ned for any other job, the grocery store management decided to “fire” the robot.

Glowing plants

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor of chemical engineering and his team are well on their way to making their dream come true with a luminescent plant, which they hope will someday replace your bedside or table lamp!

To create the glowing plants, the scientists turned to fireflies for assistance. In the bioluminescent insects, an enzyme called luciferase reacts with a molecule called luciferin, causing it to release light. Another molecule, dubbed coenzyme A, helps the process along by getting rid of a by-product of the reaction that inhibits luciferase activity.

The researchers extracted all three chemicals and packaged them in separate nano-particle carriers. This would ensure that they would reach the appropriate areas of the leaves in the required quantities without harming the plant.

While the initial luminescence lasted just 45 minutes, the researchers have since been able to increase the time to a respectable 3.5 hours. MIT Lab, a pioneer in Plant nanobionics, previously invented explosive-detecting plants that relay the information to smartphones and ones that send out distress signals when in need of water!

Have you ever heard of barking trains?

Japanese train researchers have developed a new technology they hope will scare animals, specifically deer, away from railroad tracks.

The system will mimic barking sounds from dogs and snorting sounds from deer to prevent train-animal collisions on the tracks. Testing from researchers at Tokyo’s Railway Technical Research Institute suggests it may be successful. Its use in early trials correlated with a 45-percent reduction in deer sightings from the train every 100 kilometres.

The tests included three-second blaring of deer snorts and 20-second recordings of dog barks. Japan set its national record in 2016 for trip suspensions and delays of at least 30 minutes because of animal collisions. There were 613 of those cases that year, 185 more than there were in 2015. The creators hope for a launch date no later than March 2019.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 24th, 2018