In the picture above is a rescued Alaskan bald eagle named Beauty. She was shot by hunters and as a result lost most of her beak. But the good news is that Beauty will be fitted with a new prosthetic beak soon. The operation is scheduled for this month. Meanwhile, she will remain in a raptor recovery center in Idaho.

German scientists are working to develop autonomous, robotic firefighters that in the future could put Smokey the Bear out of a job. I’ve never wanted to see a forest fire in person before, but a chance to see these bad boys in action just might make me chance my mind!
The beetle-shaped, six-legged robots go by the name OLE, an acronym for “Offroad Loescheinheit”, which in German means “off-road extinguishing unit”.
They’ll be about Volkswagen Beetle-sized, will be guided and controlled by GPS, and will patrol forests armed with ultra heat-resistant armor, fire-extinguishing agents, tactile feelers like insects’ antennae, and infrared and heat sensors.

If you’re like and me would like to cruise around town astride one of these things, the price tag will be about $125-200K.

Studies by three London universities have shown that men and women can usually tell whether members of the opposite sex are looking or short-term flings or long-term romantic relationships based soley on facial features.

The men preferred women with large lips and wide eyes– indications that they were open to short-term realtionships.

The women, strangely enough (or not!), preferred men with “softer features” because these were more likely to opt for commitment.

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via Yahoo