German villagers share DNA with cavemen
Local people in a small German village share the same rare DNA pattern as the bones of cavemen who lived in the area 3,000 years ago.
The Bronza Age remains were discovered by archaeologists in the Lichtensteinhohle cave in the foothills of the Harz mountains in Lower Saxony, near the village of Nienstedt in 1994. The bones of 40 people were shielded from the elements by calcium deposits that formed a protective skin around the skeletons.
All the remains turned out to be from the same family group who had a distinctive - and rare - DNA pattern. When people in the local area were tested with saliva swabs, two nearby residents turned out to have the same distinctive genetic characteristic.
Sugary snacks help kids concentrate
It is a discovery to delight children and horrify parents - sugary drinks and snacks may be a good thing.
Researchers have found that a sugary drink improved primary school pupils' memories and concentration. Teachers fear the findings may promote junk food and the results confound suggestion that high-sugar diets cause hyperactivity.
The scientists, however, believe learning would improve through small regular snacks rather than large lunches.
Professor David Benton insisted: “The evidence sugar might cause hyperactivity is non-existent. We have shown it can help memory and concentration.”
“Children between the ages of five and ten need twice as much glucose for their brains compared to an adult, but unlike other organs the brain does not store energy so it has to obtain it straight from the blood.”
“The message we would like to encourage is that children need to be fed a little and often, but the risk is that they get fed a lot and often leading to problems with obesity.”
Professor Benton gave 16 nine and ten-year olds fruit squash containing either artificial sweetener or glucose, a basic form of sugar. When the children consumed glucose, he found their memory test scores improved by over ten per cent. The children also spent between 11 and 20 minutes longer on a task when asked to work individually in class.
But Professor Benton did insist that schools should not start feeding pupils fizzy drinks between classes, proposing regular fruit of muesli bars instead. His discoveries - some made personally, others as part of a team - have made him a star in the world of palaeontology.
Mick Brooks, secretary general at the National Association of Head Teachers, warned: “The worry would be that after a hit of sugar, this energy high would be short lived before dropping off quickly. It might be useful just before doing tests but in lessons it would be better to ensure children had good healthy meals at breakfast and lunch.
Man lets his baby play in £40,000
Some parents give their baby a rattle or a cuddly toy to play with. Fraudster Adu Bunu Presented his nine-month-old son with a mountain of stolen banknotes.
Bunu, who is believed to have made more than £1 million by cloning cash point cards, surrounded the child with £20, £10 and Euro notes. He then photographed the scene and sent the pictures home to Romania to show how easy it is in England to be literally rolling in cash.
Champagne-swilling Bunu, 34, was so brazen that even when caught he denied the snaps were evidence of guilt, insisting the money had been given to his son on his christening. His claims were dismissed by a jury at Hull Crown Court, and he was beginning a five-year jail term after being convicted of cloning more than 2,000 cash point cards and milking his victims' accounts.
As the Government threw British borders open to all Romanians last year, the number of similar crimes is only likely to grow. Bunu is believed to have initially come to England illegally in 2005 - his fingerprints were found on cash point machines used for huge frauds in the South in 2006.
At some point he slipped back home so, at the beginning of 2007 as Romania joined the European Union, he could return legally with a glamorous wife and newborn son.
He described himself as a painter and decorator, and claimed to be seeking labouring work. He moved into a rented three-bed semi in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and immediately launched into crime with his Romanian accomplice.
They made false cashpoint fronts fitted with a card reader and pin-hole camera to record account details and PINs without raising suspicion. The devices could be fitted and removed in seconds.
In just four months, the pair collected details from more than 2,000 victims and cloned them on to loyalty cards, writing the PINs on the signature strips. They then travelled the country, covering up to 830 miles a day, to collect up to £500 a time with each card using different cashpoint to avoid detection. In court it could be proved only that £43,000 was stolen, but the jury was told the fraud could have netted up to £1.1m within a matter of weeks.
Neighbours said Bunu always dressed in designer suits, sometimes had two new BMWs, and that his back garden was littered with champagne bottles. He was caught by chance after he was cautioned for speeding on the M62 last year, and gave police a fake driving licence.
Beggar amasses coin fortune
When 60-year-old Laxmi Das recently deposited her earnings in an Indian bank in Calcutta, it was a bit more then the usual mundane money transfer.
Ms Das handed over 91kg (200lb) of coins - the produce of 44 years of hard
begging - enabling her to open an account and qualify for a credit card. Laxmi began begging near Hatibagan, a busy road junction in northern Calcutta, at the age of 16. Officials say she could have saved as much as RS 30, 000 ($692). “She would spend frugally from her daily collection and save the coins. She was very possessive about them,” says her sister Asha.
Ms Das saved the coins in iron buckets covered with jute bags at her home in a shanty town near the crossing. In all, she collected four buckets of coins - of all denominations - some even minted as far back as 1961 and now clearly out of date. “But we will accept those coins as well because she is poor and needs all our support,” said Central Bank of India spokesman Shantanu Neogy. He says there is a directive from India's Reserve Bank to accept all such outdated coins and reimburse the depositor in full.
Ms Das told bank officials that she had stored the coins for when she reached 'old age' and needed a pension plan Bank officials say they are counting thousands of her coins and still do not know the exact amount. They say that there are 'a lot of coins to count'. Once her account is opened, officials at the Bank will give her advice on how to use her money.
