According to this article a 2,500 bird’s nest has been found on a cliff in Greenland. The nesting site is used by gyrfalcons and includes three other nests all of which are more than 1,000 years old. Ornithologists discovered how old the nests were when they were trying to find out long the birds return to the same site. They used carbon to date the bird droppings and debris left behind and were surprised to find out how the nests actually were. One of the nests also contains feathers from a bird which would have lived more than 600 years ago.

Shoppers in Germany will soon be able to buy something a little more high end from vending machines as machines selling precious metals are introduced across the country. The machines are being introduced by TG Gold Super Mart at 500 locations across Germany including train stations and airports. The aim is to tap into increasing interest in the buying of gold and the prices will be updated every few minutes, although they will be around 30 per cent higher than the current market prices. The prototype machine offered the choice of purchasing a 1g wafer of gold for 30 Euros, a 10g bar for 245 Euros and gold coins. It appears the aim is to take advantage of people that want an investment they can put in their pocket rather than something that is invested in markets you can’t see. It will be interesting to see if the machines prove to be popular.

One lady got a shock when she opened a jar of tikka masala sauce from her local Asda and found that it contained something extra. Along with the curry sauce she found a dead mouse which it seems had fallen into the jar before it was sealed. The jar of sauce has since been sent away for analysis in order to establish where it came from.

Sir Paul McCartney has launched a campaign to try and get people to eat less meat. He has urged people to give up meat for just one day a week, hence why it has been called meat free Mondays. The campaign has been launched after a United Nations report said that meat production is responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. In comparison transport is responsible for 13 per cent of emissions. Personally I have been cutting down on the meat that we eat, but more for financial reasons rather than environmental considerations. The aim has been to try and have two days a week where we do not eat meat in order to save a little more money during what is proving to be an expensive house move. So far it is going quite well and the shopping budget has definitely got a lot more manageable. I do miss eating meat every day but just look forward to the other days when we still have it.

This is interesting, its an idea that is being tried by Sainsbury's to make their stores greener. Under the scheme the checkout would be powered by energy which is created by the shoppers. Kinetic road plates will be installed at a new branch in Gloucester. The plates will generate energy when customers drive over them when entering and leaving the car park. The device will then convert enough energy to power the tills inside the store reducing the amount of energy taken from the National Grid. The devices are already being tried at distribution warehouses but this will be the first time they will be used at a supermarket. If the scheme is successful in Gloucester it could soon be put into place at more stores across the country.

Well its not really a giant parrot, but it is a new type of dinosaur that looks a bit like one. It has been discovered in Mongolia and has been called Psittacosaurus gobiensis which means parrot lizard. The dinosaur is thought to have lived around 110 million years ago and is one of the latest finds in the Gobi Desert. When alive the creature would have had, strong jaw muscles and a powerful bill for crushing and biting, similar to parrots that live today. It would have been much bigger, however, measuring about three feet long. It is thought it would have mainly eaten a high fibre diet such as nuts and seeds and that it was a good runner.

A woman has called off her wedding after learning that her future husband was a porn star. The couple had been together for a year and were due to marry in a church wedding. However, when searching online for a male stripper for the hen night a friend of the bride came across a porn movie with a man who looked suspiciously like the groom. After further research she found out that it was him and the bride later called the vicar to cancel the wedding. It seems she had a lucky escape a large part of a relationship is trust so a marriage where one partner is not honest with the other is doomed to failure in my opinion. Then again, I suppose it must be hard to drop into a conversation “there's something I need to tell you before the wedding, I’m a porn star”.

I came across this article about these adorable little panthers. They have been born in a zoo in the Tierpark Zoo in Berlin on the 26th of April and seem to be creating something of a sensation. They are certainly very cute.

A fisherman had a surprise when he caught a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico. The missile was caught 50 miles off the coast of Panama City in an area that the US Air Force and Navy use for weapons training. Bearing this is mind, it might not be as surprising as it first seemed. What is surprising, however, is that the fisherman kept the missile aboard his boat for ten days before returning to port. Once this boat docked the bomb squad was called in to dismantle it. They described it as being in a live and unstable state.

According to this article wine sales in Britain have fallen for the first time in ten years. Figures show that the average British household does still drink more than a bottle of wine a week, however, it appears that people are cutting back. 1.16 billion litres of wine were sold in Britain in 2008, a two per cent fall on the previous year and the first time there has been an annual fall since 1995. One factor that might be behind the fall is the increase in wine duty last year which means a duty of £1.61 on a standard bottle. It might also be that people are spending their money more wisely in the current economic climate. What do you think? Are you buying less wine?

This is interesting, its what has been dubbed the anti stab knife. The knife is designed so that it works as normal in the kitchen but it has a rounded tip which makes it harder to stab someone. The rounded edge will snag on clothing or skin and should make it almost impossible to use it to stab someone to death as well as cutting down the risk of accidental injuries. It has been invented by industrial designer John Cornock and is likely to cost between £40 and £50 when it goes on sale.