In case these stories went by unnoticed…
Gored and tossed
A bison in Yellowstone Park gored a 25-year-old woman, tossing her 10 feet. She suffered a puncture wound and other injuries, according to a park service news release. As the bison walked near a boardwalk just north of Old Faithful, the woman on the boardwalk approached the animal, who evidently felt threatened. Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal. The huge animals can stand 6 feet tall, weigh more than a ton, can run three times faster than humans and are unpredictable, according to the release. Park regulations require visitors to remain more than 25 yards away from large animals such as bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves.
No return on investment
Parents in India are suing their son because he and his wife have not produced a grandchild. The parents paid for pilot training in the United States, bought him an Audi, and financed his Indian wedding and a Thailand honeymoon. They expected a grandchild in return. After six years and still no grandkid, they said give us a grandchild within a year or pay $650,000 in damages on the grounds of “mental harassment.”
The face that launched a brand
The original Gerber baby, Ann Turner Cook, a Tampa resident, passed away at age 95. She was 5 months old when a charcoal sketch of her was submitted to a nationwide contest as part of a marketing campaign. Her likeness became the company trademark in 1935 and her identity remained a secret until 1975. Cook became a teacher in Florida and a mystery writer.
Planet Hell
The new James Webb Space Telescope will focus in on a planet that is entirely covered in lava. Classified as a super-earth exoplanet, “55 Cancri e” has an atmosphere similar to Earth’s, but thicker. However, it’s so close to its star—1/25th the distance Mercury is from our sun—that one face consistently faces the sun resulting in permanent day and night sides. It’s estimated that the “cool” side temps of the planet ranges from 2,400-2,600 degrees Fahrenheit while the hot side is about 4,200 degrees. One other thought: As a potentially carbon-rich planet with such a high temperature and pressure, its interior could contain a large amount of diamond.
World’s largest organism
A new study of sea grass off the tip of Australia was discovered to be the world’s largest living organism. The study revealed the grass, called Poseidon’s ribbon weed, is the same individual plant that’s been cloning itself for about 4,500 years. Other large living organisms include Utah’s Pando, a colony of 40,000 aspen trees connected by their root system covering an area larger than 80 football fields. By contrast, Australia’s seagrass covers 77 square miles, an area larger than Baton Rouge. The sea grass, which is not seaweed, provides a food source for dugongs, cousins of the Florida manatee.
Holt Enterprise News 