Buzz
With the weekend upon us, it's a great chance to unwind and catch up on the week's happenings. You can click here for all the serious updates. However, this list highlights the more unusual and quirky headlines.
This week, mathematics has seen its fair share of both positive and negative attention. There have been some curious stories involving animals, surprising new findings about ancient locations, and, of course, a memorable firefighting achievement.
10. The Theft of the Fields Medal
This week saw a surge of bold criminals. First, Swedish crown jewels were stolen in an audacious speedboat robbery. Then, a nefarious thief made off with the most coveted prize in mathematics, just minutes after it was presented.
On Wednesday, the International Congress of Mathematics took place in Rio de Janeiro. Among the highlights was the presentation of the Fields Medal, often called the 'Nobel Prize of mathematics.' Four individuals were honored, including Caucher Birkar, a Kurdish refugee now teaching at Cambridge University. But, tragically, he had no time to admire his award, as it was stolen just thirty minutes after he received it.
Birkar had left his medal in his briefcase on top of a table at Riocentro, the venue for the event. The thief made off with the briefcase, which was later discovered under a bench, but the Fields Medal was missing. Police have identified the suspect through security footage, though it remains uncertain whether they will recover the medal.
9. Zebra or Donkey?
An Egyptian zoo has been ridiculed after a donkey was painted to resemble a zebra. The photo, taken by a student, quickly went viral on social media, sparking a wave of mockery.
Last week, Mahmoud Sarhan visited the International Garden in Cairo. While at the zebra enclosure, he noticed something odd: the animal seemed more like a donkey, despite the black and white stripes. He took some photos of the counterfeit zebra, which soon spread online.
Animal experts were quick to point out the many signs that the creature in the photos wasn’t a real zebra. It had long, pointy ears, a gray snout, and a smaller build. To make matters worse, some of the black stripes were smudged.
A similar incident occurred in 2009 in Gaza when a zoo struggled to bring in actual zebras due to the Israeli blockade. However, that zoo owner openly admitted to painting donkeys. Cairo's zoo director, Mohamed Sultan, continues to deny that his zebra is a fake.
8. Man Pees Out A Fire
Southend Pier, a famous landmark in Southend-on-Sea and the longest pleasure pier in the world, nearly faced disaster last Friday when a small section of it caught fire. Thankfully, local hero Thomas Watson was on hand to extinguish the flames by peeing on them.
Watson was visiting the pier with his partner and daughter. As the weather shifted, they found themselves as the last ones there. Noticing the fire and heavy smoke rising from beneath the wooden planks, Watson's partner called the fire service. Fearing the fire might worsen before they arrived, Watson decided to take action himself. By the time the emergency crew showed up, the fire was completely out, leaving only a few charred wooden boards.
The local council expressed gratitude to Watson for his 'quick-thinking tinkling,' though they also noted that the sprinkler system might have managed the 'miniature inferno.' That said, Southend Pier had suffered significant damage from a fire back in 2005, so it's hard to say what might have happened if Thomas Watson hadn't been there, ready with both courage and a full bladder.
7. Do Spiders Like Colors?
A new study from the University of Cincinnati (UC) tackles a classic question—what color do spiders favor?
It was once believed that arachnids, with their dichromatic vision, paid little attention to colors. However, recent findings show that male peacock jumping spiders flaunt their vibrant hues during courtship, and females respond to those bright colors. Intrigued by this, biologists at UC wondered if the same preference for color would be observed in less colorful species, like the wolf spider, which displays only dull shades of brown and tan.
The researchers took lab specimens and showed them footage of courting spiders, manipulating the color and contrast of the video. They discovered that female wolf spiders reacted more strongly to color than to grayscale, but intensity was the biggest factor. Videos where the male spiders stood out sharply against the background generated the strongest reactions. Surprisingly, color also influenced 'eavesdroppers'—male spiders who observe others to learn courtship behaviors. These spiders paid closer attention to those with more vivid coloring.
6. Lennon Or McCartney?
Scientists from Harvard and Dalhousie Universities have used stylometry to determine whether John Lennon or Paul McCartney was behind some of the most iconic Beatles songs ever written.
Lennon and McCartney, one of the most famous songwriting duos in music history, decided early in their careers that both would receive credit for the songs they contributed to. However, after the Beatles disbanded, they began offering conflicting accounts of their involvement in certain songs. For instance, McCartney claimed that Lennon contributed 'half a line' to the lyrics of 'Eleanor Rigby,' while Lennon insisted he wrote 70 percent of the song.
A mathematician and a statistician, both passionate about the Beatles, decided to use stylometry to resolve some of these songwriting disputes. Stylometry, the study of linguistic style, is most notably used to identify authorship, as seen in the case of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.
The researchers first analyzed all Beatles tracks from 1962 to 1966, identifying 149 key components across five categories. They also broke the songs into 'contours'—four-note melodic sequences made up of patterns of 'ups,' 'downs,' and 'stays the same.' Using 70 tracks with confirmed authorship, they established a baseline for comparison.
Although they didn’t come up with conclusions for every disputed song, the mathematician duo determined that there was only a .018 chance that Paul McCartney wrote 'In My Life.' This song, ranked fifth by Rolling Stone as the best Beatles track and 23rd as the greatest song of all time, sparked debate, as both Lennon and McCartney claimed to have written the melody.
5. Ancient Library Found In Germany
During excavations for a church in Cologne, an ancient library was uncovered that may be the oldest known building of its kind in Germany. Dating from between AD 150 and 200, the structure might have housed up to 20,000 scrolls.
Archaeologists first suspected something was amiss in 2017, when work began on a community center for a Protestant church in the heart of the city. Initially, they thought the site had once been a public assembly hall, but after making an 'astonishing' discovery, they re-evaluated. The ancient walls featured small niches, about 80 by 50 centimeters (30 x 20 in). While too tiny for statues, these niches were perfectly sized for cupboards meant to store scrolls.
Dirk Schmitz, head of the Cologne archaeological monument authority, believes the wall niches found are identical to those discovered at the Library of Ephesus in present-day Turkey. He further speculates that since the building was centrally located in the forum of Roman Cologne (Colonia at the time) and constructed from durable materials, it must have been a public library. The current plan is to continue work on the community center while preserving the ancient walls and allowing the public to access them.
4. Rare Hybrid Spotted In The Wild
Researchers recently announced what they believe to be the first-ever sighting of a hybrid between a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphin. This animal (pictured in the foreground) was spotted in August 2017 in the waters off Hawaii and may be only the third confirmed case of a wild-born hybrid from the Delphinidae family.
The creature is a male, estimated to be nearing adulthood. One of the study’s authors, Robin Baird, a biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, urged the public and media to refrain from calling the animal a “wholphin.” Not only is it predictable, but it’s also inaccurate since the melon-headed whale is technically a type of dolphin. Therefore, the animal is a hybrid of two species within the same family, and the “wholphin” label would only lead to confusion.
Scientists are unsure how the hybrid came to exist but hypothesize that a melon-headed whale might have become separated from its group and joined a pod of rough-toothed dolphins.
3. Geometry Has A New Shape
An international team of researchers has introduced a new geometric shape, which may be found all throughout our bodies. They’ve named it the scutoid, as it resembles part of a beetle's shell known as a scutellum.
Their study, published in Nature Communications, used simulations to understand how epithelial cells come together to form human skin. Since our bodies aren’t flat, traditional shapes like cubes, prisms, or columns can’t create the necessary air- and watertight seals. This led them to the scutoid, a shape similar to a five-sided prism where one of the diagonal faces is sliced off to form a sixth side. This allows scutoids to fit tightly together and form curved surfaces without falling apart.
While computer simulations suggested the existence of this geometric shape, it wasn’t until scientists found it in nature that the prediction was confirmed. They identified scutoid-like shapes in the epithelia of zebrafish and the salivary glands of fruit flies. Researchers are now confident that scutoids are present in many other species, including humans.
In terms of practical applications, this discovery could be instrumental in growing artificial organs. By creating a scaffold that encourages cells to pack in a similar manner, it could replicate the most efficient tissue development found in nature.
2. Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved Yet Again
The Bermuda Triangle is once again making headlines, thanks to a documentary that claims to have cracked the mystery surrounding this perilous area of water between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. The documentary highlights a study by oceanographers at the University of Southampton, suggesting that rogue waves may be responsible for some of the baffling disappearances in the Devil’s Triangle.
The real question might be whether the Bermuda Triangle is anything extraordinary at all. No official geographic or oceanic authority recognizes its existence, and investigations into the phenomenon reveal that many incidents attributed to the triangle are either exaggerated, unverifiable, or can be easily explained by mundane factors like human error.
However, there are still some mysterious disappearances, like the case of the USS Cyclops, that remain without clear explanation. The ship vanished at sea in 1918, taking 309 crew members with it, marking the largest noncombat loss of life in U.S. Navy history. Dr. Simon Boxall, who led the study, suggests that a rogue wave could have caused the sinking. His team modeled the USS Cyclops and simulated the effects of a 30-meter (100 ft) wave, showing how it could split the ship in half and sink it in mere minutes.
For centuries, rogue waves were thought to be mere myths, concocted by superstitious sailors. It wasn’t until 1995 that science confirmed these waves were indeed real. Since then, these massive waves have been considered a plausible explanation for numerous ships that vanished without a trace.
1. Rappers Brawl At Paris Airport
A fight broke out between two French rappers, Booba and Kaaris, and their entourages at Paris Orly Airport, leading to the temporary closure of a departures hall.
At one time, Booba and Kaaris were close friends, but a falling out in 2013 turned them into rivals. The two rap stars were both scheduled to perform in Barcelona and crossed paths while waiting for their flights. What started as a verbal argument quickly escalated into a full-blown brawl. The fight broke out in the cosmetics section of a duty-free shop and spilled into the waiting lounge. Passengers either ran for cover or started filming the chaos on their phones.
Police took eleven individuals into custody for questioning after the brawl. Several flights were delayed by 15 to 30 minutes. Booba’s lawyer argued that his client was ambushed and acted in self-defense, while Kaaris’s side presented a similar claim. No charges have been filed yet, but the multitude of videos should help clarify who is responsible for the incident.
