Argentine scientists are taking a novel approach to studying global warming - strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows to collect their burps.
Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.
Scientists are studying the amount of methane in cow burps and Argentine researchers say they have come up with a unique way. Attaching a red plastic tank to a cow's back and connecting it through a tube to the animal's stomach, scientists say they can trap bovine burps and analyse them.
"When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty per cent of Argentina's (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cows," said Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology. Mr Berra said the researchers "never thought" a cow weighing 550 kilos could produce 800 to 1,000 litres of emissions each day.
Brothel offers customers fuel rebate
A Nevada brothel is trying to stimulate business by offering free gasoline. Clients of the Shady Lady Ranch will get a $50 (€32) gas voucher if they fork out $300 (€190) - about one hour's worth of services - at the brothel in Beatty, Nevada, northwest of Las Vegas.
Owner James Davis said he already has had to order another $1,000 (€635) set of gas vouchers because the first $1,000 were spent in one week.
"It's rocking along. We're doing quite well. June and July historically are not big months," said Mr Davis, who is co-owner of the brothel along with his wife Bobbi.
The $50 rebate would roughly cover the cost of a round trip drive from Las Vegas to the ranch.
US gasoline prices hit a record $4.08 (€3.05) a gallon last week, up 38 per cent from a year ago.
Kills husband with folding couch
A Russian woman in St Petersburg killed her drunk husband with a folding couch, Russian media reported yesterday.
St Petersburg's Channel Five said the man's wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall.
The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch. The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband.
Emergency workers had to saw away the side panels of a couch to remove the man in his underwear lying headfirst between the cushions. They said the man had died instantly.
Pitch tents in queue for iPhone
New Zealanders eager to be the first in the world to buy Apple's new-generation iPhone have began queuing up in freezing temperatures, two days before its release, local media reported yesterday.
People with deck chairs, sleeping bags and a small tent started queuing on Tuesday night outside the Auckland shop of Vodafone, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Vodafone will start selling the much-hyped and keenly sought 3G iPhone at 12.01 a.m. Friday (12.01 GMT Thursday), the first in the world, from three of its shops in New Zealand's main cities.
The phone sells for as little as NZ$199 (€95.20) if consumers sign up for a two-year contract. Demand for pricing details was so heavy it crashed Vodafone's New Zealand website on Tuesday.
Former lawmaker poses nude
A disgraced ex-lawmaker who threw Colombian politics into turmoil by saying President Alvaro Uribe's re-election was tainted by corruption has added body to the scandal by appearing naked on the cover of a magazine.
Yidis Medina was found guilty last month of taking illegal favours from government officials in return for voting for the constitutional amendment that permitted the 2006 re-election. Monthly men's magazine SoHo showed a curvaceous Medina posing nude while in jail with her hands covering her breasts. The 12-page photo spread is titled "Body of Crime".
In an interview, Ms Medina says she is ready to leave politics behind because it "has brought me so many unwelcome things".
Ms Medina was sentenced to nearly four years of house arrest but will remain in prison while she is investigated as part of a separate kidnapping case.