Odd news summary

BLINK AND MISS IT

You can tell when someone is being blinking rude and not listening by looking at their eyes, scientists have shown.

A study suggests that when a person blinks, it is a sign that their mind is wandering.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada were inspired by studies showing that when attention falters, parts of the brain that process external influences are less active.

EAR EAR

Careless thrill-seekers risk injuring their ears on high speed rollercoasters, it has been claimed.

Doctors at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the US, have linked a common ear injury to forces experienced on the adrenalin-pumping rides.

The condition, called barotrauma, is caused by rapid changes in air pressure and normally associated with flying, scuba diving and the effects of explosions.

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Wildlife documentaries deny animals their "right to privacy", an academic has claimed.

Producers of nature shows ignore privacy ethics when considering the mechanics of filming, argues Brett Mills, of the University of East Anglia.

BBC show Nature's Great Events - narrated by Sir David Attenborough - was scrutinised in his research.

BOUND OVER

A mother-of-nine has been arrested after binding her eight-year-old son with duct tape and tying him to a coffee table while she slept at night.

Police in Cleveland, Ohio, were called by his 15-year-old brother, who said his mother made his sister tie the boy up every night or be beaten.

They say they found him on the floor with his hands and feet bound behind his back with tape and a shoelace around his neck. His feet were tied to the table.

SOFTLY, SOFTLY

New York is considering silencing the hundreds of double-decker tour buses that roll through city streets by requiring a headphone system to replace loudspeakers.

Beginning in April 2012, a new law would make any bus licensed by the city's consumer affairs department have a headphone system.

Residents on the bus routes have complained about the noisy loudspeakers for years.

DOGS' CHANCE

Animal protection groups are to protest against a Romanian government proposal to put down thousands of stray dogs after 11,000 people were bitten in the capital Bucharest last year.

The city wants stray dogs taken off the streets and put down if they are not adopted within 14 days.

There are between 40,000 and 100,000 stray dogs in Bucharest and activists say they should be sterilised, not killed.