StrangeSights

• Insects already form part of the diet of an estimated two billion people but they may well be on even more menus in the future as experts look to alternative means of feeding people. The Food and Agriculture Organisation says that insects (and there are about a million known species) could provide a “readily available source of nutritious and protein-rich food”. To whet your appetite, the most consumed insects at present include beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and ants, and grasshoppers, locusts and crickets. But there are many issues that need to be dealt with first - including legal hurdles against eating insects in many countries. For more, see www.fao.org.

• A Canadian astronaut has created the first music video recorded in space, singing the David Bowie song, Space Oddity, while free floating inside the International Space Station. Chris Hadfield made the video, which has gone viral, a few days before he returned to earth after his six month stint in space. The astronaut did alter some of Bowie’s lyrics to better suit his circumstances.

• A Zimbabwean man surprised mourners when he reportedly came back to life. One of those at his funeral noticed one of the man’s legs twitching and called an ambulance. The man, who had suffered from long illness before his funeral, has no recollection of the event.

• A four-year-old boy has reportedly been elected mayor of a town in Minnesota in the US. Dorset’s mayor is apparently chosen through the process of drawing a name out of a hat and this year it was Mayor Robert ‘Bobbie’ Tufts turn. The good news is that Mayor Tufts apparently does like talking to the townspeople.

• A Spanish village has been painted blue for the premiere of the new Smurfs movie. Homes, shops and even a church have reportedly been daubed in the color in the village of Juzcar in southern Spain - selected by Sony as the site for the film’s world premiere. Locals are hoping for a tourist boom but how long the color remains on the buildings at this stage is unknown.

• Cicada icecream is now off the menu. A shop in Missouri in the US starting selling icecream containing cicadas recently (they were dewinged and boiled before being coated in brown sugar and chocolate) but has reportedly now decided to pull them off the menu after concerns were raised about their inclusion by health authorities. No apparent concerns among consumers, however - the first vats of the icecream had apparently sold out in just a few hours.

• Conspiracy or simple mistake? The Australian Department of Defence have reportedly admitted that its files on UFO sightings - dubbed the X-Files, after the TV series - have been largely lost or destroyed. The admission came after the Sydney Morning Herald lodged an freedom of information request with the department. The defence force no longer takes reports of UFOs. Conspiracy theorists enjoy!

• It was an unusual idea as far as Valentine’s Day’s gifts go. The Bronx Zoo in New York offered lovers the chance to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after their beloved for a small donation and more than 5,700 took up the offer for $10, raising more $57,000 to save wildlife around the world. “We are thankful to everyone who believed that naming a roach after a loved one was more romantic than chocolate or roses,” said zoo spokesperson John Cavelli. The zoo, officially known as the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, has more than 58,000 of the roaches living in its Madagascar! exhibit. It says that while the naming opportunity is now closed for this year, they’ll be looking to do it again next year.

• Spectacular natural rock terraces in New Zealand - referred to as the eighth wonder of the world - have reportedly been rediscovered at the bottom of a lake on the North Island. The Pink Terraces had been one of the island nation’s key tourist attractions until they disappeared when Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886. Scientists now believe they have found them 60 metres under Lake Rotomahana after sending in underwater vehicles to capture images. The terraces are the largest silica terraces in the world.

• Building a backyard bird house can be a good project to undertake with the kids. A Canadian, however, has taken the craft to the next level, creating a series of bird hotels with one reportedly boasting as many as 103 rooms and a swimming pool. Toronto resident John Looser came up with the idea of building the “extreme birdhouses” after a car accident led to an early retirement and now creates them for a living, selling his hand-made birdhouses (prices range well into the thousands of dollars) and the plans to make them.

• It’s taking a love for Star Trek to another level altogether. Tours at the Jenolan Caves, west of Sydney, are now being offer in the language of Klingon. Two Klingon language scholars were brought from the US to record the audio guide tour which will be offered alongside those in 10 more Earth languages from 22nd August. It’s not the first connection between the caves and Star Trek - the Next Generation series features a Sydney Class starship known as the USS Jenolan.

• It’s a world record to be proud of (not to mention murder on a massive scale). A Taiwanese woman has reportedly set a world record for killing mosquitos, splattering as many as four million in a single month. The woman, Huang Yuyen, beat 72 others to take out the prize in a contest which was organised by an insect-trap making company.

• A sailboat made almost entirely from 12,500 plastic bottles docked in Sydney Harbour last week, having left San Francisco four months before. The catamaran ‘Plastiki‘ set out with a crew of six on 4th March with the aim of raising awareness of the effects plastic waste has on our oceans and those who live there. The expedition was completed in four legs with stops in Kiribati, Western Samoa and New Caledonia along the way.