Emperor

Electrocuted, flaming bird carcasses are falling off of power lines and causing wildfires across the U.S. This surprisingly common phenomenon has been responsible for at least three Colorado wildfires so far this summer.

These events are not isolated. A 2022 study found that electrocuted birds caused 44 wildfires in the contiguous United States between 2014 and 2018. That study was led by Taylor Barnes, a biologist who now works for electric utility company EDM International. In the paper, Barnes wrote that “avian-caused ignitions” happen when a bird sits on an overhead power line. For reasons that can vary from case to case, sometimes the bird receives a powerful electrical shock, setting its feathers on fire. The dead or dying bird then falls, and, on occasion, lands in some brush or other flammable material.

“Sometimes they burst into flames,” Barnes told 9News, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. “Sometimes they just fall dead. Not every bird that is electrocuted will fall to the ground and start a fire.”

Odds are, you’ve seen birds perched on electrical wires countless times without witnessing spontaneous sparrow combustion. Barnes said birds just going for a sit pose no threat. Because the birds are not touching the ground, the electricity in the power line has no way to the ground and is not dangerous to them. It’s only when the birds get into a part of the power infrastructure where a circuit can be completed that they end up crispy.

The '80s were a special time for cinema, as moviemakers could easily get away with producing fantastical stories that were also nightmare fuel for kids. Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, did exactly that with The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. If you're interested in revisiting these weird but enchanting masterpieces, Walmart has opened preorders for exclusive limited-edition 4K Blu-ray versions for both films. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth release November 19 and cost $29 each.

This isn't the first time that these films have been available as 4K Blu-ray editions, but Walmart is offering them with very cool steelbook covers. The Dark Crystal's steelbook cover features a gorgeous illustration of one of the key locations in the movie.

Law enforcement descended on a Monmouth County recycling facility after employees reported seeing a dead body on a conveyor belt Wednesday afternoon.

State Police Sgt. Charles Marchan said workers at the Republic Services recycling facility were sorting materials on a conveyor belt around 2:40 p.m. when they saw the body.

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The body of a man was found by troopers but has not yet been identified.

Bolton Wanderers striker Victor Adeboyejo missed their EFL Trophy victory at Barrow on Tuesday having injured himself after a "hefty sneeze".

The 26-year-old suffered a back injury on Monday which was set off by the sneeze, manager Ian Evatt said.

Bolton won the fixture 3-2 to get their EFL Trophy campaign off to the perfect start despite Adeboyejo's absence.

"He had a pretty hefty sneeze – now Victor is a powerful boy and even his sneezes are powerful," Evatt told the Bolton News.

“He felt a bit of a crack in between his ribs and we are hopeful it is just a cartilage or muscular issue, but until we had a good look at the scan we won’t know.”

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“I have to start having a long look at myself when players start getting injured sneezing,” Evatt added.

Doritos are a revered snack for many. Now, scientists have found one of the ingredients in the triangle-shaped tasty tortilla chips has a superpower – it can make the skin of mice transparent.

Researchers at Stanford University detail, in the Sept. 6 issue of the journal Science, how they were able to see through the skin of live mice by applying a mixture of water and tartrazine, a bright yellow-orange food coloring used in Doritos and other foods, drugs, and cosmetics.

The experiments arose from the quest for better methods to see tissue and organs within the body. The researchers chose tartrazine because the dye's molecules absorb blue and ultraviolet light, which makes it easier for light to pass through the mouse skin.

“For those who understand the fundamental physics behind this, it makes sense; but if you aren’t familiar with it, it looks like a magic trick,” said Zihao Ou, the lead author of the study who is now an assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, in a description of the research on the university's website.

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Before you start slathering yourself in Doritos – the coloring is used in several Doritos flavors including Nacho Cheese, Cool Ranch and Flaming Hot Nacho – tartrazine won't necessarily give humans a cloak of invisibility á la Harry Potter.

That's because human skin is about 10 times thicker than a mouse and it's not sure how much of the dye – or how it would be administered – is needed to work in humans, Ou said.

AffordableOn August 27, Patricia Sierra, 47, broke into the Cremation & Burial funeral home at 2127 W. Charleston Boulevard and stole a coffin containing a human body.

Surveillance footage showed the woman breaking through a window and unlocking the front door before proceeding to enter the property’s viewing room and wheel a coffin outside. Sierra apparently dumped the body outside the funeral home. After that, she left the coffin as well and fled the crime scene.

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A citizen contacted the police two days after the incident. The caller had recognized the woman while she was shopping at a local convenience store. The authorities arrived promptly, arresting Sierra.

Sierra admitted that the woman on the surveillance footage was her but said that she had no memories of the accident. She told the police that she had drank six beers before the accident and added that alcohol often makes her black out.

Sierra apologized for the incident, emphasizing that it had not been prompted by malice. Despite that, the woman faces charges of burglary, grand larceny and disturbing human remains. As of the time of this writing, she remains in custody with her bail set at $11,000.

A Persian cat has made history by being the first to conquer the Three Peaks, completing the challenge while walking on a lead with its owner.

Louis the seven-year-old cat made the journey alongside owners Jess Peters and Dan Taylor earlier this week, and spent 29 hours walking up Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Mt Snowdon.

Jess, 31, and Dan, 34, made it to the top of each peak with Louis in tow, and said their cat was ‘better prepared than we were’ due to his habit of walking up to six miles each day.

The couple, from Sherfield English, Hants, said Louis ‘loves adventures’ and claimed he was ‘a bit like a dog’. They also said he tried to walk the entire length of the trip and refused to be carried- although they had to scoop him up near the end when he started to get cold near the summit.

‘There are other cats that have climbed mountains, but we have checked and Louis is the first cat to climb the Three Peaks,’ said Dan, who is training to be a truck driver. ‘It feels great to have him immortalised, hopefully he goes down in history.’

Animal-lover Nicci Knight got the shock of her life when her beloved cat, Ted, arrived home – four days after he’d been cremated.

Nicci was halfway through a family holiday in Turkey when she received a heartbreaking message, revealing poor Ted had been found dead back home in North Yorkshire.

She was relaxing by the pool in the resort of Dalaman when the message came through on her mobile phone – via her video doorbell – in the North Yorkshire village of Newby, near Stokesley.

Nicci burst into tears when her neighbours’ children even held up five-year-old Ted’s distinctive black and white body to the camera as proof of his untimely passing after being found dead in their garden pond.

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However, four days later, Elise, who was also popping in to feed Ted’s sister, Moosh, made a traumatised call to say: “You’re not going to believe this – Ted’s just walked in through the cat-flap!”

“I thought I was seeing a cat-ghost,” exclaimed Elise.

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Nicci immediately called Heavenly Pets to alert them to the mistake but was told the cremation had already taken place.

“It’s not Ted – it’s a lookalike!” Nicci found herself yelling down the phone.

It led to the ashes of the doppelganger moggie being temporarily stored in a container labelled: “Not dead Ted.”

Previous research has shown these rare pooches, known as gifted word learners (GWL), have a unique ability to learn the names of hundreds of different objects.

However, a new study, published in the journal Biology Letters, now suggests they can remember the names of some of these toys for an extended period.

The hope is that the talented dogs could help scientists understand more about how animals other than humans retain their memories.

Dr Claudia Fugazza, the head of the research group at Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, said: "We know that dogs can remember events for at least 24 hours and odours for up to one year but this is the first study showing that some talented dogs can remember words for at least two years.

"The findings of our current study cannot be generalised to other dogs because we only tested GWL dogs, individuals that show a special talent for acquiring object words."

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The research is part of a project known as the Genius Dog Challenge and the scientists are urging owners who believe their dogs know multiple toy names to contact them via the project's website.

The UK's competition regulator has launched an investigation into Oasis ticket sales after widespread complaints over pricing.

The investigation is also set to include a wider probe into how "dynamic pricing" was used during the sale.

Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing meant that when reunion tour tickets went on sale, prices would rise in-line with demand.

The 90s Brit rock icons announced two extra Wembley Stadium shows as part of their 2025 UK tour on Wednesday, after "phenomenal demand" for tickets left many fans empty handed during the main sale on Saturday.

Tickets for the band's tour went for up to £350 per ticket, around £200 more than had been advertised.

In response to widespread uproar over pricing, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced it has launched an investigation.

The CMA confirmed it is now scrutinising whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.

The probe follows Oasis' comments hitting out at Ticketmaster's pricing policy, with many fans pay over the odds to secure access to the tour.

In an apparent response to the anger about dynamic pricing, they say tickets will be sold by a 'staggered, invitation-only ballot process'.

An explosion near the O2 Arena which sparked bomb fears was staged by a convicted child abuser for a bizarre film stunt, it has been claimed.

Dozens of calls to 999 were made after a fireball blast at a construction yard across the river from the East London venue sent smoke billowing into the sky and was heard from miles away on Saturday.

People nearby said it sounded like a ‘bomb going off’ or an ‘earthquake’, and those looking from a distance could see vehicles and a shipping container on fire.

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A video shared on social media suggests sex offender Jacky Jhaj, 38, was heavily involved in the shoot.

He was jailed for four years for sexual activity with two 15-year-old girls he groomed while posing as a film producer.

The footage appears to show him completely naked walking in front of a lorry trailer bearing BBC branding and a prop police van, which suddenly explodes.

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It’s thought the fire got out of control, forcing the crew to call emergency services.

Jhaj had hired the crew under the name ‘Toby’, wearing a prosthetic ‘villain mask’ on set which concealed his identity, according to a MailOnline report.

One of the cast was said to have recognised him when he removed his mask, prompting the crew to pull out.

In addition to being pictured in media reports of his conviction, Jhaj has repeatedly made headlines since his release for staging bizarre scenes which put him in close contact with children.

In November last year, some 200 children and young women were reportedly hired to play fans at a fake film premiere in London’s Leicester Square where Jhaj appeared on a red carpet to greet them.

In April it emerged he was behind a £10,000 fake funeral at a west London church and used a well-known casting website to hire child actors to play some of the mourners.

Although the funeral was staged, it was held in the name of a real drowning victim and the presiding priest was led to believe it was real – only halting proceedings after realising it was being filmed mid-way through.

The Radiance Films Blu-ray imprint has just released the second volume in its World Noir series, which collects global noirs from Japan, France and Germany. “Noir is a thread that runs through cinema history in complex ways, and allows us to explore all sorts of topics,” says managing director Francesco Simeoni, “which is very exciting from a curatorial perspective.” For example, Volume 2 includes the Yakuza heist drama Cruel Gun Story (Takumi Furukawa, 1964), which transfers the plot twists of 1950s American gangster movies into the 1960s Tokyo underworld.

This week’s rerelease of The Third Man (1949) suggests a detour closer to home: a British film noir with American stars, set in postwar Vienna, which is divided into zones controlled by different international powers, and home to travellers from across Europe and the US. Here the accent of the all-important voiceover is American, courtesy of Joseph Cotten, as is the charismatic Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, but the story and direction are by Brits (Graham Greene and Carol Reed respectively) and its visual style, with those deep shadows and even deeper tilted angles (the cinematographer Robert Krasker was Australian), draws on Hollywood’s translation of German silent cinema. For Phullar, the significance of The Third Man is in the way that “you see and hear and feel those long journeys of film noir, perhaps more than other films of that era”. In this light, Harry Lime’s famous speech, elaborated by Welles, about how great art is produced only by countries riven by violence and turmoil, seems especially on the nose.