Hand of God: Scientists reveal amazing X-ray image of a supernova in deep space

We've already seen pictures of his eye... now we have the first image of the hand of God.

The ghostly blue cloud seems to form an outstretched thumb and fingers grasping a burning lump of coal.

This astonishing image was taken by Nasa's Chandra X-ray observatory, which is orbiting 360 miles above the Earth's surface.

It recalls those of the Helix planetary nebula, whose blue centre surrounded by white clouds earned it the nickname 'the eye of God'.

The hand was created when a star exploded in a supernova, creating a rapidly-spinning 12-mile-wide star called a pulsar, which is deep inside the white blob at the hand's wrist.

The pulsar is spewing out enormous amounts of electromagnetic energy, creating a dust and gas cloud so wide that it would take a light beam 150 years to cross from side to side.
The red disc is a separate cloud of gas. The fingers are thought to have been created as the energy passed from the pulsar to this gas cloud.

Nasa scientists estimate the moment depicted here actually happened 17,000 years ago.

It has taken since then for the X-rays, travelling at 670million mph, to reach Earth.

Dolphins perfect bubble rings underwater

SeaWorld has revealed amazing footage of dolphins blowing bubble rings out of their blowholes.
They are captured blowing puffs of air and angling their heads so that they rise in a straight line thereby creating the perfect circles.
The underwater mammals from Sea World Orlando's Dolphin Cove are shown playing with the large bubble rings and spinning them around with their noses. They also bite into them to create smaller circles.
'It's a cool behaviour the dolphins seem to learn from one another,' one trainer said.
Another said it was the 'most incredible thing' he had ever seen.

Most of the playful mammals who display the behaviour are females. This may be because males are preoccupied with socialising with eachother.
SeaWorld has kept dolphins for more than 30 years, but one trainer said they were still surprising them.
'Just when you think you've seen it all, something new comes up,' he said.
'These animals have alot more to teach us.'
Watch the incredible video here...

The mother of all baby bumps: Octuplets mum bares her ENORMOUS stomach just eight days before giving birth

There are baby bumps and then there are baby bumps.

But there must be few women in history who have ever had a baby bump quite like octuplets mother Nadya Suleman.

These extraordinary pictures show the 33-year-old baring her stomach eight days before having her brood.

Smiling proudly, the mother-of-14 hoists her green patterned smock to show off her hugely distended stomach to the camera.

The photographs, which first went up on tmz.com, show the strain her body was under as she reached the end of her record-breaking pregnancy.

Single mother Suleman, who already had six children by IVF, used a fertility doctor to give birth to her babies.

The new pictures surfaced on the day it emerged she had fled her house in Whittier, California, to go into hiding with her older children after receiving death threats.

She has even taken on the services of a security firm to ensure the safety of her family.

Her publicist Michael Furtney said: 'There has been some really nasty stuff about wanting to physically harm Nadya, and outrageous statements about both her and her children.

'We have a security firm that we've been working with and they have certainly made contact with the police about the threats. I don't know where that will go, but we'll see'

Much of the anger surrounds the eight babies' conception by IVF.

Yesterday, Suleman launched a website, encouraging readers to give her money via credit cards and send parcels.

The American mother, who already receives a raft of state handouts to care for her growing brood, also left a message to well-wishers.

'We thank you for the love and good wishes sent to us from around the world,' she said.

And she adds that the octuplets, born on January 26, are 'all healthy and growing stronger by the day.'

The babies have been named Noah, Maliah, Isaiah, Nariah, McCai, Josiah, Jeremiah and Jonah.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Miss Suleman has three disabled children

Despite previously insisting that she will not be claiming benefits, her publicist confirmed that she already receives food stamps and child disability payments to help feed and care for her six other children.

But he would not disclose the nature of the disabilities, or the type or sum of the payments.

The news came as it was revealed that all of Suleman's children were conceived with help from the same fertility doctor - Dr Michael Kamrava.

The 57-year-old, who runs a clinic on glamorous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California, is being investigated by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Dr Kamrava, who helped pioneer embryo implantation, is a controversial figure in the field.

'He's tried some novel techniques and some of those methods have been controversial,' said Dr John Jain, founder of Santa Monica Fertility Specialists.

He criticised the decision to implant so many embryos, saying: 'I do think that this doctor really stepped outside the guidelines in a very extreme manner, and as such, put both the mother and children at extra high risk of disability and even death.’

Dr Jeffrey Steinberg, a professional acquaintance of Dr Kamrava's, said he worked to develop an embryo transfer device that allows doctors to implant an embryo - or sometimes sperm with an unfertilised egg - directly into the uterine lining.

Pictured: The life-like pumpkins carved to look like famous faces

Forget your run-of-the-mill Halloween pumpkin carvings, these incredible designs by American sculptor Ray Villafane have taken the annual ghoul-fest tradition to a different artistic level.

Using his background in high art and his work in designing models for D.C and Marvel comics, Ray, 39, has sculpted intricate faces out of the common pumpkin that make your hair stand on end.

Based in the rural Michigan town of Ballaire, Ray's pumpkins have become something of an internet sensation, and include some familiar faces.


His carvings, which include 'The Predator' and Barack Obama, also take in a wide variety of gothic gargoyles in keeping with the devilish theme of the popular American holiday.

Using only common clay carving tools to create his Halloween pumpkin masterpieces, Ray explains how his artistic method works.

'Not all pumpkins will look good and the most important thing about a pumpkin is it weight. You need to pick the meatiest pumpkin.

'Sometimes I pick up a beautifully shaped pumpkin but when I pick it up I realise that it is not heavy enough. Its wall is just not thick enough for the carving rigours.

'I also like a pumpkin with character. One with nobly ridges is good, so that I can utilise that in the carving procedure, like with sculpting noses,' says Ray.


'The sculpting has always been a passion,' says Ray.

'I used to be an art teacher for 13 years at a Michigan School called Bellaire school and one day I was approached for Halloween to do some pumpkin carving.

'I thought why don't I try and carve the pumpkin like it is a piece of clay as opposed to a large vegetable.

'It came out alright, but the most important result was that the kids at the school absolutely loved it.

'I used to arrive at school and there would be a dozen pumpkins just sitting there waiting for me at my classroom,' explains the pumpkin carver.


At the beginning Ray didn't always get the results he was looking for, resulting in a few fists through the front of the pumpkins.

However, working for D.C comics, the home of Superman and Batman, Ray has honed his incredible seasonal talent.

'Recently I have been really sitting down and giving my Halloween pumpkin designs more thought than usual due to the increased interest in my carvings.

'Now that the thing has grown in popularity I am definitely feeling the pressure to deliver on the pumpkin front.

'The most intricate pumpkin model that I have designed is 'The Predator' model, which took the best part of a day. Otherwise, the models take a couple of hours,' says Ray.

Over the last two Halloween's Ray's pumpkins have begun to appear in online blogs and have really raised his profile.

He has even made national television appearances and has been scheduled to appear on the US sports network ESPN where he is supposed to unveil his Barack Obama carving.

Obviously, carving a potential president is a serious pressure, so Ray has to ensure that he gets it right.

'If it is someone like Obama or even the Predator then I will have to use five or six images to make sure that I get the right details.

'If it is something that I am creating myself then I will do it off the top of my head, like the skull and gargoyles,' says Ray.

Around this time pumpkin carvings are usually a couple of triangles cut on the outside of the flesh, with his carvings Ray has seriously raised the bar to frightening levels.

Pictured: The baby tigers who like nothing more than a daily dip in a swimming pool with their female trainers

It's fun in the water for these amazing animals who love to swim at their owner's outdoor pool.

Measuring over two metres in length and weighing 200lb, these one-year-old tigers are having the time of their lives.

Reaching for their human playmates with their giant paws, they dive, splash and even swim - in the same pool.

Together with their handlers, Moksha Bybee and Ragani Ferrante, tigers Balavan, Bali, and Oden display unusually close interaction between man and beast.

Animal expert Dr Bhagavan Antle has taught these amazing creatures to swim as part of an enrichment programme at his animal park in Miami.

'Tigers have a natural desire and ability to swim, exceeding that of all the other big cats,' said Dr Antle.

'It is rarely seen and we wanted to be able to present it to people so they could really get the feel of that incredible beauty and grace that a tiger has in the water.

'Tigers have modified webbing between their toes that makes their feet like flippers and they are superior swimmers.

'Because of those attributes we thought it was something people would love so we built this custom-made pool to allow people to experience this unique behaviour.'

The water-loving animals all live at the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, or TIGER, in Myrtle Beach, near Miami.

Filled with 100,00 gallons of water, one side of the entire pool is made of glass, allowing guests of the institute the unique opportunity to see the handlers and the animals up close swimming together.

'There are other pictures out there of tigers underwater but people have never been able to get this close to a tiger because it is so dangerous,' says Dr Antle.

'These are the only shots I have ever seen where people are swimming with tigers like this.'

Dr Antle has a 25-year career caring for threatened species and has about 200 animals in large enclosures at the TIGER park.

He said: 'I started swimming with tigers about 25 years ago.

'We found that in the water people and tigers were on a more equal footing when the tiger was swimming around on the top.

'As they were floating around we could manipulate them more easily because they don't stand up on their back legs.

'When they are younger they love taking baths and then we slowly introduce them to the pool.'

Dr Antle and his animal-trainers give one-on-one tuition to each of the animals while they are in the water.

'These are hand-raised tigers,' he said.

'At the institute we feel that swimming with the big cats gives them a closer bond between the animal and their human companions.

'As part of our wildlife education program they are all hand-reared.' But despite the apparent danger, Doc ensures his trainers are never at risk.

'There is always a team of handlers in the water at any given time,' he explains.

'I don't think many people in the world try to get in the water with a tiger these days. It is all done from the edge when people throw meat and the tiger chases it.

'We are playing with the tigers and letting then have that interactive capacity with the handlers instead of allowing them to have meat.'

Each tiger is introduced to the pool a few months after they are born.

With a potential to grow to over 500lbs and 8ft in length, it is often considered that handlers will only swim with the tigers when they are no more than a year old.

However Dr Antle often looks at each individual case when considering how close his trainers can remain to the tigers.

'I depends on the tiger,' he says.

'I personally have had full-grown 15-year-old adult tigers that I swam with and adult ligers [cross between a lion and tiger]. But that is me and I wouldn't put my staff at the same risk.

'We will allow the tigers to swim with the handlers as they mature but we have to monitor each one on its own merits.'

The TIGER centre has several programmes allowing people to interact closely with the animals.

Many of the animals are also trained actors and have appeared in advertisements and films including Forrest Gump and Ace Ventura.

Builder completes Titanic matchstick model - 15 years after he started it

Dedicated Tim Elkins has finally finished building a scale model of the Titanic made out of 147,000 matchsticks - 15 years after he started.

Builder Tim, 42, has slaved away for 3,500 hours erecting the 1:115 scale of the famous liner at his home in Worthing, West Sussex.

Tim, who spent £100 buying the matches, said: 'It is the first and only model I've built and I'm chuffed it is finished. It has come together better than I ever thought it would.

'The secret is to have a very steady hand and a good pair of tweezers.'

He added: 'I'm not going to start building another one yet because I think my wife Debbie might divorce me.'

The model has been snapped up by Ripley's Believe It Or Not for £8,500 pounds, who will display it at a new museum in Piccadilly Circus, London.

Tim added: 'I'll be pretty gutted when it goes but I'm really pleased with where it's going because everyone's going to see it.'

The model is eight-foot by 39-inches and has 1,600 portholes and Tim even used lettering 5mm tall on the name plate by cutting matchsticks into sixteenths.

Tim was inspired to start the sculpture of the Titanic after seeing a matchstick model of a gypsy caravan at his parent's home.

The great heave forward... Chinese passengers are forced to get out and push their broken passenger plane

Anyone who has ever used budget airlines know only too well how uncomfortable it can be: long queues, cramped seats and every tiny extra costs you.

But at least they are never told to get out and help push their plane.

That is exactly what happened to a group of passengers in China were after their jet broke down just after landing.

The CRJ7 plane, which had just flown some 500 miles from Guilin in the south of the country with 69 passengers and seven crew members on board, conked out before it could taxi to the arrivals terminal at Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province.

At first, airport staff were the only ones required to help push, but they could not budge the plane.

Even with the combined muscle power of staff and passengers, it took the group nearly two hours to push the plane about 1,000 yards to a side lane.

'Thank God it was only a 20-ton medium-sized airplane,' said one of the airport workers. 'If it were a big plane, it would have knocked us out.'

The jet was still parked in the side lane today waiting for technicians arriving on the next flight to fix the problem.

A-stone-ishing: The artist who balances heavy rocks on top of each other

You probably wouldn't want to challenge Bill Dan to a game of Jenga if your life depended on it, as he claims to be a master of balancing things.

The performance artists insists his skill is genuine but some people believe his work could be fake.

Dan has been wowing the crowds in San Francisco Bay since 1994 with his stunning sculptures of different-sized rocks resting on top of each other.





He has since picked up a legion of fans on the internet - his work on YouTube has clocked plenty of hits - and has been asked to create sculptures for galleries and private events.

In fact his gravity-defying work is so amazing that people sometimes refuse to believe he doesn't use glue or some other trickery.

'I had so many negative e-mails from curious sceptics saying that it is computerised art that I got tired of explaining over and over again,' Dan said.

'Please no more questions about glue!'

The artist, who is in his mid-50s, claims he can also balance shoes, glassware and cans.

Explaining how he does it, Dan said: 'I don't picture what the sculpture looks like beforehand, it just forms as I work. It is not difficult to stack two or three rocks upwards.

'Don't worry if you start with large contact points, you can get smaller and smaller as you build your skills.'

Dan said he enjoyed the art because it was 'uniquely beautiful'.

'Based on curiosity alone I could create a piece of beautiful art, unlike any other.'

Andrew Burton, one of Britain's most respected sculptors, said: 'I would just say that this is possible – after all, he would be found out pretty quickly if it were not.'