Amazing 60ft-tall sculpture work of art

Workers today put the finishing touches to a 60ft-tall sculpture of a head that has been criticised for costing taxpayers £2million.

The elongated woman’s face, entitled 'Dream' was erected on the site of a former slag heap alongside the M62 motorway in Merseyside.

It was created by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa following orders by St Helens Borough Council to rival Gateshead's Angel of the North.

The sculpture, which will be unveiled next month, was constructed like a puzzle using 90 pieces of pre-cast concrete mixed with marble.

Each piece has been painstakingly winched into place at a rate of two a day.

The head, whose eyes are closed in a dream-like state, was created in response to the memories of a group of local ex-miners from the former Sutton Manor Colliery as part of Channel 4’s The Big Art Project.

Situated close to Junction 7 of the M62, Dream is intended as a gateway feature for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester, as well as symbolising the regeneration of St Helens.

But its price tag has been controversial – with critics describing the enornmous artwork – built amid a rising unemployment and hardship - as a ‘huge folly’.

The Taxpayers Alliance said the money would have been better-spent creating jobs and helping families hit by the recession.

Spokesman Mark Wallace told the Daily Telegraph: ‘£2million is a huge amount of money at the best of times.

‘But in the middle of a recession, when people are struggling to make ends meet, it's obscene to spend it on this huge folly.’

But St Helens Borough Council has defended its decision.

Spokeswoman for the 'Dream' project, Catherine Braithwaite said: ‘The decision to erect the sculpture was not taken lightly and consultation took over three years. The end result will be amazing.’

And Council leader Brian Spencer, himself a former Sutton Manor Colliery worker, said: ‘It’s an incredible sight witnessing the birth of this amazing new art work.

‘It will put St Helens on the map and provide a landmark sense of welcome and arrival for the region as a whole for generations to come.

‘This transformation is particularly poignant, given the history of the site itself.’

Mr Plensa met with former miners and the local community to discuss their ideas for the art work, which is one of seven linked projects across the UK.

The progress of each of the projects will be broadcast on Channel 4 next month.

Gary Conley, who was 17 years old when he began working in the colliery from 1974 to1991, was among the team which nominated the site.

Mr Conley, who now works for St Helens Council as a resource manager, said: ‘My ex-colleagues and I have been involved in the process every step of the way.

‘It’s fascinating to see how a group of ex-miners now view the world differently, following this amazing art journey.’

The hardest golf shot in the world.

It's the golfing equivalent of climbing Everest.

This is the hole that has taken over the mantle of the world's toughest.

From the top of a mountain in South Africa, players must hit a shot 400m over a near forest onto a green 400m below.

If you manage to overcome vertigo tracking your ball through the air, looking to see where it landed requires a mountaineer's bravery.

And the gauntlet has been thrown down to the world's best golfers: anyone who gets a hole-in-one will win an astonishing $1million (£671,000).

The Extreme 19th hole is part of the Legend Golf and Safari Resort at Entabeni in the Limpopo province in South Africa.

It's so high that it takes the ball 30 seconds to reach the green.

And you can forget golf carts - players willing to take their chances on the million-dollar prize have to take a helicopter to get there.

It is both the longest and the highest par-three on the planet.

'I think this hole is awesome,' reigning Open champion Padraig Harrington said.

'This is the type of innovation and excitement we need to get more people playing golf.

'There aren't many new innovative ways to play the game - but this is certainly one of the best.'

To launch the hole - which does not form part of the round - double Open champion Padraig Harrington and fellow pro Raphael Jacquelin, from France, were drafted in to give it their best shot.

Incredibly, they both managed to hit the green - but a hole in one was beyond even their illustrious reach.

At a towering 8ft, is this the world's new tallest man?

At 8ft tall, Zhao Liang stands head and shoulders above the competition.

Which is lucky, as the 27-year-old is in the running to be the world's tallest man.

The current title holder is Bao Xishun ('the Mongolian mast'), who measures in at a measly 7ft 9in - a whole three inches shorter.

Mr Liang's claim came to light when he was admitted to Tianjin hospital, in China, for a routine operation on an old muscle tendon injury to his left foot.

Doctors confirmed his height as 8ft 0.7in. But his claim to be the world's tallest man has not yet been verified by Guinness World Records.


Mr Liang, who is now seeking official recognition, had been training as a basketball player when he sustained the foot injury over a decade ago.

He remained unemployed until 2006, when an art troupe in Jilin province employed him to perform magic tricks and play the saxophone and flute.

Mr Liang's parents are of normal height, with his father measuring 5ft 9in and his mother, 5ft 5in.

His mother Wang Keyun said that her son had a big appetite, eating eight hamburger-sized steamed buns as part of a three-course dinner.

'But I am so worried about his marriage, job and his health that my hair has turned white,' she added.

Liu Yuchen, a surgeon at the hospital, declared the operation on Mr Liang's foot a success.

He said that he would be able to walk normally in two months' time, but advised against any intense physical exercise.

Dr Yuchen said that Mr Liang was in good health and has no complications in relation to his height.

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.

Girl of five who is the youngest to be given hi-tech legs

No wonder five-year-old Ellie Challis is facing life with an extra spring in her step.

She has become the youngest person in the world to be fitted with the flex-run feet used by leading paralympians including Oscar 'Blade Runner' Pistorius.

Ellie, who lost her hands and lower legs to meningitis as a toddler, had spent the last two years walking on conventional prosthetic limbs. But she complained that she struggled to keep up with her twin sister Sophie.

Her parents Paul and Lisa contacted the world-renowned prosthetic limb centre Dorset Orthopaedic, and managing director Bob Watts agreed to make a junior version of the carbon-fibre blades.

Mr Watts said: 'We were worried that she wouldn't be able to balance properly on them, but she has made amazing progress.'

Ellie, from Little Clacton, Essex, was struck down with meningitis at the age of 16 months.

At one point her heart stopped and doctors called in her parents to say their last farewells.

'Paul and I just stood at the end of her bed shouting at her to survive,' said 35-year-old Mrs Challis, who works as a carer for adults with learning difficulties.

'We thought we were going to lose her, but amazingly she pulled through and her heart started again.'

Over the next four days, however, Ellie's legs and arms started to turn black and the couple were told they would have to be amputated.

'The operation took six hours and I was just so shocked when I saw her - there was so little left of her,' said Mrs Challis. 'I just kept crying.'

Ellie was inspired to overcome her handicaps by Sophie, her constant companion. And well-wishers raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to help her.

She was fitted with NHS prosthetic limbs a few weeks after the operation, but found them too painful.

Mrs Challis said: 'She would wear them for 20 minutes maximum each day as they weren't flexible and they caused her pain.'

In December 2006 Ellie was given new legs with moving knee joints, which were a great improvement.

But the flexible blades will change her life. They helped South African Pistorius race to world records in his 100, 200 and 400-metres events.

Mr Challis, 45, said: 'Ellie can walk twice as fast on these new legs - it really is amazing to see. She is so full of determination.'

The legs cost £10,000 for a pair and will need to be replaced every two years. Mr Watts added: 'We didn't know if it would be possible to make some small enough.

'But now Ellie is the youngest in the world to have such legs - and there is no holding her back.'

Awesome loudspeaker that is thin as a sheet of foil

A groundbreaking new loudspeaker that can be printed on and used as a wall poster has been developed by British engineers.

The lightweight and flexible speakers are less than 0.25mm thick and could also be concealed in car interiors or ceiling tiles.

They were developed by the University of Warwick spin-out company, Warwick Audio Technologies, who plan to start selling them later this year.

Steve Couchman, CEO of Warwick Audio Technologies said: 'We believe this is a truly innovative technology.

'Its size and flexibility means it can be used in all sorts of areas where space is at a premium.'
Enlarge laminate

The laminate is made up of conducting and insulating materials

All speakers work by converting an electric signal into sound. Usually, the signal is used to generate a varying magnetic field, which in turn vibrates a mechanical cone to produce a sound.

The new 'Flat, Flexible Loudspeaker' uses a bendy laminate made up of thin, conducting and insulating materials, which when vibrated by an electrical signal produces a clearer, crisper noise.

The makers say the sound is projected further and doesn't deteriorate in quality or volume like conventional speakers. It can also be angled in a certain direction.

The FFL was first developed by Dr Duncan Billson and Professor David Hutchins, both from the University of Warwick, with early trials using just two sheets of tinfoil and an insulating layer of baking paper to produce sound.

They hope they will one day replace all traditional speakers used in our homes and cars.

Cow gives birth to different breeds

You could argue about it until the cow's come home.

Others would describe it as a moo-t point.

But when these twin calves were born ten days ago, they looked so different that the farmer who owns them has declared then to be completely different breeds.

According to Vic Phillips, you can tell the breeds apart by the colour of their coats.

And when his Aberdeen Angus bull Eric mated with a Simmental cow called Jemima, he says he was blessed with two calves that each continued one of the mating lines.

Mr Phillips, who farms his cattle in Rooksbridge, Somerset, says Ernie has come out a fawn colour and is the same breed as his mother, a Simmental.

And he claims Emily, who is darker shade of black and brown, is an Aberdeen Angus.

Speaking from his 90-acre farm, Mr Phillips said: 'It happens but it is quite rare.

'I thought there must have been a mistake and another cow had given birth as well but it turned out that they were twins.

'We have only been farming for two-and-a-half years this is our first ever set of twins.'

He said he only has one bull, so it is not possible that another bull mated with Jemima.

His wife Trish added: 'Normally when you get twins they are both the same breed but we got one of each which is really rare.

'They are both doing really well and we are delighted with our unusual twins.'

Experts in the field, however, urged some caution before hailing an evoluntionary breakthrough.

Ron McHattie, chief executive of the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society, said: 'I suppose if the heifer had mated with two different bulls of different breeds on the same day two different eggs could have been fertilised and she would have conceived twins of different breeds.'

Cattle specialist Sally Wilson from Evolution Farm Vets in Bridgwater, Somerset, said the only way it can happen is if the female mated with two different bulls, of different breeds in the same sitting.

Steam car ready to break 100 year old land speed recor

Horse that's allergic to grass

Shrouded in what looks like an ill-fitting Christmas jumper and leg warmers, she cuts a comical figure.

But the plight of Pandora the mare is no laughing matter.

The five-year-old thoroughbred has to be kept covered up because she is allergic to grass.
Even a single blade touching her coat is enough to leave her gasping for breath and covered in large, painful boils.

Her owner, Emily Pearce, has no option but to cover her up with a protective layer of high-tech polyester-based breathable fabric to avoid having to lock her away for her own safety.
She also wears a mask to protect her eyes. She is fed a special mixture of sugarbeet chaff and soya oil, along with 15 anti-histamine tablets a day.

'She does look silly but it is the only thing that helps her,' said Miss Pearce, 24, from Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Pandora's £185 rug, imported from a specialist firm in Sweden, is usually used to protect a horse from insect bites. It is designed so that it can be buckled around her but leave her moving freely.

The mask, which costs £50, fits snugly over her ears and down to her muzzle and is held in place with Velcro. Although it covers her eyes, it is so fine she can see through it. Miss Pearce, an auxiliary veterinary nurse, bought the 15.2-hand horse for £2,600 in 2007.

Last summer Pandora began to develop a large, itchy lump on her belly at her stables in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

The lump continued to grow and when it was joined by others, Miss Pearce tried steroid injections but they did nothing to relieve Pandora's distress. In the end, a battery of tests was carried out, revealing she was allergic to every type of grass.

It is not clear what caused the condition to appear so suddenly, and there is no cure. Vet Peter Fenton said he had come across only two other cases - and neither was so acute.

Girl, 3, may never smile again after being scarred for life in 'devil dog' attack

A three-year-old girl may never be able to smile again after being scarred for life by a 'devil dog' who had savaged another child months earlier.

The owner of the powerful Japanese Akita fighting dog escaped prosecution for the first attack, which left the boy, 7, requiring 40 stitches, because the animal was on 'secured' property.

But the family of first victim Charlie Faulding were furious the dog wasn't put down and were taking legal action against its owner when another neighbour's child was seriously mauled last week.

Toddler Demi Franklyn was playing with the dog called Tyson outside her home when it suddenly turned on her - breaking her jaw and leaving her with horrific wounds to her head and neck.

The damage to her facial muscles and nerves is so severe she may not be able to smile properly again.

The girl's mother, Mary Davies, 39, said she had left her daughter playing in their back yard - which they share with Tyson's owner - unaware the dog had a violent history.

Demi has undergone one operation at Bradford Royal Infirmary and doctors may need to carry out reconstructive surgery on her jaw as well.

Mother-of-five Miss Davies of Shipley, West Yorkshire, said: 'I am in shock. I just don't understand how this could have happened. That animal had a taste for blood and nothing was done about it. It beggars belief.

'I just want to know why that dog wasn't put down after the first attack. Something wasn't done that should have been and it is my daughter who has paid the price.'

Last June Charlie was savaged when his football bounced into the dog owner's garden three doors away and he went to retrieve it.

The schoolboy suffered severe injuries to his head and legs.


His father Mark Faulding, 36, was alerted by the boy's 12-year-old sister and found him lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

He fought off the dog to rescue him from the neighbour's garden.

Charlie still bears the scars of the savaging and has been left traumatised by the experience, suffering nightmares and refusing to sleep alone. The family has since moved house.

Mr Faulding, a horse trainer, said: 'It is disgusting. To think the dog's owner left this animal unguarded and near children.

'He knew what this dog was capable of but he didn't stop this little girl playing near it. It is simply unbelievable. It didn't even have a muzzle on.

'We have been fighting to have this devil dog destroyed since Charlie was attacked and the only thing that made that happen was another attack on an even younger child. That child could have died.'

The dog's owner Mohammed Asam Bashir has now had Tyson put down. The first attack happened at his family home, where the dog was kept in a secure pen behind a wall and padlocked gate.

The second attack was at his business address at a different location.

Mr Bashir has been unavailable for comment.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed the dog had been 'destroyed' and the attack on Demi was currently under investigation.

'We can confirm this dog was previously involved in an incident which resulted in no further action being taken at the time due to the circumstances,' he said.

Police decided no offence had been committed in the first incident as the dog was kept at home and secured in the garden. The boy had previously been advised not to retrieve the football unaccompanied.

Awesome pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Africa.

Google Earth reveals fish trap made from rocks 1,000 years ago off British coast

For centuries it has lain undisturbed beneath the waves, just a stone's throw from one of Britain's best-loved beaches.

Stretching more than 280 yards along the sea bed, this bizarre V-shaped structure is a giant fish trap, used at the time of the Norman Conquest to catch hundreds of fish without the need for a boat, rod or net.

The ancient structure - discovered by archaeologists studying aerial photographs of the West Wales coast - is so large it can now be seen on Google Earth.

Scientists believe it is one of the biggest structurse of its kind.

The fish trap is submerged at low tide and no longer catches fish. But in its day, it was designed to act as a natural rock pool - trapping fish behind its rock walls as the tide flowed out.

Dr Ziggy Otto, a diver and lecturer in the coastal environment at Pembrokeshire College, believes the trap is around 1,000 years old.

'It is an amazing structure,' he said. 'It looks well defined on the photographs, but when you are in the water it looks just like a natural reef.

'There can be little doubt that this rather impressive, and quite apparently man made, structure is an ancient fish trap. The structure is entirely underwater at all stages of the tide.'

The trap is just 12ft deep close to Poppit Sands on the Teifi Estuary in Dyfed. Dr Otto believes the walls are made of locally quarried rock or boulders brought down to the coast by glaciers during the last ice age.

The trap's walls are covered in algae, worms and sea anemones. The wall is around three feet wide, and only the top foot is exposed. The researchers are unsure how tall the original trap was - and how much is buried under the shifting sands.

The V-shaped structure has a gap at its point where fisherman would have placed nets to catch fish. They could also have blocked up the gap, and then scooped up fish trapped in the shallows.

The trap could have been used to catch migratory salmon and trout as they swam up the Teifi, said Dr Otto.

Fish traps, or fish weirs, were common and controversial in Britain 1,000 years ago. They were so effective at removing fish from rivers, the Magna Carta banned them - allowing them only on the coast.

Louise Austin, of the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, said: 'Fish traps were a widely used means of catching fish in the past which made a significant contribution to the economy of many coastal and estuarine communities. Today only a few are known to survive in Wales.'

On an exploratory dive, archaeologists discovered that the trap was acting like a natural reef and was covered in tube dwelling worms, red algae and sea anemones.

They plan to visit the trap again tomorrow.

Although it was recently spotted on aerial photographs, an armchair archaeologists could have discovered the trap for themselves on Google Earth.

Google said the V-shaped structure has been visible on its collection of satellite and aerial photos since at least December 2006.

'It's true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth - a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species, a fringing coral reef off the coast of Australia, and the remains of an Ancient Roman villa, to name just a few,' a spokesman said.

'Everyday we're impressed and inspired by what eagle-eyed armchair explorers and scientists alike discover about our world using this technology.'

Last month, a mysterious grid of lines in the Atlantic was spotted on Google Earth 600 miles off the coast of Africa. The discovery set internet bloggers buzzing with excitement and appeared to baffle Atlantis experts.

However, the grids turned out to have been created when the Google map was created - and do not exist in the real world.

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 moment an awe-inspiring desert storm engulfed the Saudi capital

With terrifying majesty, a giant dust storm swept in from the desert and enveloped large parts of the Saudi capital Riyadh today.

The vast, whirling clouds cast an apocalyptic yellowish hue over the city's sprawling surburbs, choking residents with a blanket of grit and sand.

The awe-inspiring storm engulfed buildings and caused huge traffic jams as it enveloped the city of 4million people in a layer of impenetrable gloom.

Riyadh's airport was forced to halt flights as the swirling eddies of dust blacked out visibility from the control tower and on the main runways.

A civil aviation spokesman said: 'It was a very frightening spectacle as it approached the city.

'Outbound flights from Riyadh were suspended and incoming flights were diverted to other airports in the kingdom.'

Motorists said visibility on motorways was reduced a few metres as the storm blew in.

Commuter Nasser Ahmed: 'Most drivers pulled over and shut their windows, while a few ploughed slowly on with their hazard lights on.'

Riyadh, situated in the middle of the Saudi desert, is used to regular sandstorms but today's was described as a 'monster'.

Government spokesman Major General Abdul Rahman Al-Moqbel told Arab News: 'It was enormous. One of the biggest we have seen.

'Luckily there were no serious incidents because of awareness programmes carried out by the Traffic Department from time to time.'

An official from the Saudi Meteorological Department added: 'Sandstorms are due to high pressure in the northern and central parts of the Kingdom.

'This whips up the sand and then the wind can blow it for a hundred miles or more. Tuesday's storm passed in a few hours and temperatures in the north and centre of the country have now dropped, with the wind blowing the storm away to the north.'

But he said many parts of the city were now covered with tonnes of sand, adding: 'No serious damage has been done but people will find they have quite a lot of sweeping up to do.'

Scariest X-Ray Ever

An x-ray derived from a young Australian teenager who was hanging around a club when one of the people fighting chucks a metal chair into his head. The victim miraculously survived the randomed attack after a complex three hour operation. The images were taken at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. To find out more about the story check out Thought Mechanics.