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Published 18 Aug, 2018 06:32am

The weekly weird

Bermuda Triangle mystery ‘solved’, scientists claim

British scientists believe 100ft ‘rogue waves’ could be the reason why so many boats sunk in the mysterious Bermuda Triangle. The infamous body of water in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean stretches 700,000 square km (270,271 square miles) between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.

Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, the area features multiple shipping lanes and has claimed over 1,000 lives in the last 100 years. But experts at the University of Southampton believe the mystery can be explained by a natural phenomenon known as “rogue waves”.

Rogue waves — which only last for a few minutes — were first observed by satellites in 1997 off the coast of South Africa.


Bear steals food from car

Bears aren’t known to be the most intelligent of animals, but when it comes to the pursuit of food, they are downright savvy – and unsettlingly well-adapted to human technology.

The Goldilocks paradigm shifted, when a full-grown bear sauntered up to a sedan parked outside a store in South Lake Tahoe.

Video captured by a ring camera shows the animal rear on his hind legs and manages to open the passenger side door of the car. He slinks inside and emerges seconds later with a plastic bag, full of food.

This bear proved increasingly lacking in courtesy — he not only pilfered the vehicle but left the door ajar, hardly covering his tracks.

Though the incident makes for a cute video, human food is harmful to bears.


Giant potato that looks like a human foot

This is the mutant-looking eight-kilogram potato that has grown into the shape of a human foot.

The startling spud was discovered by farmers Marli and Paulo Ciquinel in the town of Meleiro, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Cantarina.

Photos show how the huge potato has grown to resemble a human foot, complete with toes that descend in height order. The largest of the ‘toes’ is covered in roots that looks like hair and the ‘foot’ reaches up to nearly knee-height.

The mutant-looking potato appears to have one extra toe.

The couple planted the potato in the vegetable patch behind their home where they also grow other vegetables.

Marli told reporters: “We have never seen anything like it. Let’s see what we are going to do with the potato.


Shark stolen in a baby carriage!

Thieves smuggled a shark out in a baby carriage from San Antonio Aquarium recently.

“One suspect is in custody and the shark is alive and well and on its way back to the aquarium,” Jenny Spellman, the aquarium’s general manager told.

Leon Valley Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said officers initially refused to believe that the 911 call that came in was real. But, “they finally convinced me that it was true somebody had walked in and stole a shark out of the aquarium,” he further said.

The aquarium said the thieves brought their own net with them to snag the shark from an interactive “touch pool” at the tide pool exhibit while an attendant was assisting other visitors.

They then ducked into a filter room and emptied out a bleach bucket, into which they deposited the shark, the aquarium said. They used the bucket to transfer the shark into the stroller and “hurried up the stairs and out to the parking lot,” it said.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 18th, 2018

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