Marathon fakes

Almost a third of the runners who finished in the top 100 of the Xiamen marathon have been disqualified for cheating. The competitors were stripped of their rankings after it emerged some had hired impostors to compete in their place and others had jumped into vehicles part way along the route, Chinese media reported.
Others gave their time-recording microchips to faster runners. Jiefang Daily, the Shanghai Communist party newspaper, said organisers caught the cheats when they scanned video footage. The paper said most of those involved had apologised, but those without a co-operative attitude would be barred from future events.

Barometer Migraine

The MET department may not be sure always. But, a the 29-year-old British woman always gets a migraine before the heavens open up. Bizarre it may appear, but Shakira Robson can predict when a downpour is on its way even without any technology. In fact, she can even tell how heavy the rainfall will be by the intensity of her headache. "It was a joke at first. I would text my friends and warn them to take an umbrella out with them as I was getting a migraine -- but when it was always correct, I thought I would monitor it. Now, I'm like a human barometer," she said.

This may be due to the inability of the brain to adjust to a drop in air pressure. It is believed that such abilities were present since the dawn of man and they helped people predict the weather. such people would have got important positions in society.  

Smarty fish

Fish can remember things for months, according to researchers, who have dismissed the myth that the animals have a three-second memory. The view that fish lack the brain power to retain memories is "absolute rubbish," said Dr Kevin Warburton of Charles Sturt University's Institute for Land, Water and Society in Australia.
He made his conclusions after studying the behavior of Australian freshwater fish such as the silver perch, which can remember a predator for several months after only one encounter. "They can learn to avoid predators after being attacked once and they retain this memory for several months," he added.

Painful Release

The governor of the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands is feeling the heat after ordering the temporary release of a jailed suspect to give him a massage. Benigno R Fitial, the most senior politician there, demanded Chinese masseuse, Qing Mei Cheng, be set free to treat him for back pain. The masseuse was taken from the local prison, where she was being held on people smuggling charges, to the governor's mansion before being returned to jail."I made this request because this was an unusual situation where I needed to address the extraordinary pain I was experiencing," Fitial said in a statement.

Weight loss / gain

Overweight people in Britain could be paid up to £1,750 for slimming under a new scheme. Patients who meet weight loss targets can earn from £200 for losing two stone in five months under the privately-run scheme, run by a company that hopes to make it available on the NHS. The latest trial follows a pilot with the NHS in Kent where patients earned up to £425 from private firm Weight Wins for meeting weight loss targets. One person in the pilot earned the maximum £425 payout after reaching the target of losing 23 kilograms in seven months and keeping the weight off for six months.