“His controversial art has included a pickled shark, a rotting cow and a human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. But Damien Hirst’s latest installation, on display at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, may be his most skin-crawling to date. Let’s Eat Outdoors Today features a perspex box in which thousands of flies plague an abandoned barbecue. The piece is divided in two with one side featuring maggots lying in trays on a barbecue while they slowly develop in to flies. In the other side, linked to the first by a small hole, four perspex chairs sit around a table laid for a roast chicken meal complete with beer and wine. Ominously for the thousands of inhabitants of the sculpture, there is also a large fly-zapping machine that electrocutes them if they make contact. It is the controversial 45-year-old’s contribution to the Academy’s Modern British Sculpture Exhibition which opens this weekend. In an email exchange with the sculptor Keith Wilson, who has co-curated the Royal Academy exhibition, Hirst explained the thinking behind the exhibit, which he originally devised in 1990. He said: ‘I was thinking about how we all avoid dirt, but we all ultimately go back into dirt. ‘I was very interested in how we were trying to isolate the horror from our lives and remove it.’ Let’s Eat Outdoors Today is follows on from Hirst’s previous work A Thousand Years. This featured maggots hatching into flies that feed on a severed cow’s head. The insects are then fried by another fly-killer.” w/ photos

“A former milkman has been forced to build a museum in his back garden after his home became too small to hold his collection – of more than 10,000 milk bottles. Dedicated Paul Luke, 33, saved his first milk bottle when he was just nine years old while earning pocket money as a ‘milkman’s mate’. But his collection has swelled to more than 10,000 bottles over the years – with some of the rarest dating back to the 1890s. Paul’s collection grew so large that it wouldn’t fit inside his home so he was forced to build a museum in his back garden. Father-of-one Mr Luke, who edits Milk Bottle News website for fellow fans, admitted that his hobby has ‘got a bit out of hand.” w/ photos

“A commuter has found a novel way of defying soaring petrol prices – by travelling to work each day in a pedal-powered ‘torpedo bike’. As for many, the daily gas-guzzling commute had become an increasingly expensive chore for Ian Fardoe. So the cycling development worker found an aerobic way to beat the petrol price hikes on his home-made velomobile. The 39-year-old, travels the six-mile journey from his home in Whitmore Reans, Staffordshire, in the wacky vehicle, which consists of an adapted tricycle wrapped in a plastic casing. Sitting only a few inches above the gravel of the A449 Ian can be seen each day being passed by stunned drivers of cars, vans and articulated lorries. But Ian has been in love with this futuristic form of travel since his first encounter with a velomobile seven years ago. And he says he feels perfectly safe traveling this way along the Midlands’ busy highways.” w/ photos

“A German Shepherd called Mitzi has become the first dog in the world to be fitted with a pioneering prosthetic ankle. The three-year-old had her rear right foot amputated after she was trampled by a horse. But the lively dog is back to enjoying walks with her owner after being fitted with an artificial foot and ankle by pioneering vet Dr Noel Fitzpatrick. The prosthesis is the first in the world to have been inserted into a fully moving bone and allows Mitzi to walk with a normal gait and no limp. Mitzi’s owner Viv Davis, from Dorchester, Dorset, and her daughter Zoe Randle were desperate to find a way to give her a better quality of life after she lost her hind foot. Ms Davis said: ‘The options were three legs, euthanasia, or give her a chance to walk. We had to give her a chance to walk.’ Dr Fitzpatrick, from Godalming, Surrey, added that the implant proved a success when Mitzi was taken off her lead for the first time on Thursday.” w/ photos + video

“These wild haired primates prove that being a real life gorilla in the mist can wreak havoc with your hairdo. Looking in desperate need of some frizz-ease, the grizzled gorillas have the local weather to thank for their curly look. Each morning the damp forested slopes of the volcanic Virunga Mountains, along the northern border of Rwanda in the East Africa, are blanketed in mist. This event, and the gorillas who call the slopes home, became famous thanks to gorilla expert Dian Fossey’s book and the subsequent film ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. When the haze eventually burns off it leaves everything coated in a fine layer of water – resulting in the gorillas’ curly coiffures.” w/ photos

“A cheese wedding cake expert is hoping to smash the world record for the largest cheese sculpture with her half-ton cheddar crown. Cordon Bleu trained chef Tanys Pullin, 46, spent 90 hours crafting it out of a 1,322lb block of Farmhouse Cheddar. She carved the sculpture in the shape of a crown to mark the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. After completing it yesterday Tanys said she was nervous but thrilled after completing the large-scale carving. ‘I’m elated but it was very daunting,’ she said. ‘Can you imagine being given a massive round cheese and told you have to go into a fridge on one of the hottest days of the year to carve it?” w/ photos

“The hippo is most dangerous animal in the whole of Africa. But they’re not all bad – as these incredible pictures show. A South African farmer has developed a friendship with one that is so trustworthy, the hippo helps him cross lakes on his 400-acre farmstead. Marius Els breeds 20 different species of wildlife on land near Petrus Steynlakes, including giraffe, buffalo, rhinos and antelope. But he has a real soft spot for Humphrey, whom he bought aged just five months and allows to roam free. He even built a dam to create a 656ft wide and 59ft deep lake that is perfect for wallowing in. The gargantuan pet is now six, and as Marius, 40, explains, ‘could rip a man my size apart with no problem’. Sometimes he does get tired of his ferrying role. ‘If he decides to get me off his back, then he throws me over like a horse.’ However, it is usually a case of Marius clinging on for dear life as Humphrey plunging through the water like like a giant grey tank. The powerful hippopotamus, who at 2,645 lbs weighs well over a metric ton, is such a strong swimmer that the water barely reaches Marius’ knees before they ride to the far side of the lake where the two sit down for a well deserved break.” w/ photos

“This zebra wasn’t too shy to have his photo taken as he thrust his head into a carload of tourists driving through a wildlife park in Georgia. Just like Marty the Zebra from hit film Madagascar, the cheeky beast flashed a toothy grin for the camera. The pictures was captured by Irina Koehler while she was driving through Pine Mountain Wild Animal park in with her family. The family had been taking pictures of animals at the park all day when they spotted an approaching Zebra. They wound down their windows to take a snapshot but got more than they bargained for when the cheeky Zebra stuck his head through the window and opened wide with a smile of teeth and gums. Irina said: ‘We nearly jumped out of our skin, I thought I’d be lucky if the zebra stood still long enough for me to get a picture, I didn’t expect him to pose for the camera.” w/ photos

“A team of architects have created a ‘transparent cement’ that lets light pour into a room so that the walls look like giant windows. The material, called i.light, has dozens of tiny holes in it which lets light through without compromising the structural integrity. Up close, the 2-3mm gaps make a startling pattern and from certain angles or at a distance appear exactly the same as normal concrete. But on a sunny day inside a building made from the cement, the effect is akin to little more than a light mesh on the wall filtering the light coming in. The cement has been formed by bonding special resins in a new mix created by Italian architects Italcementi. So far they have only used it for one building, the Italian pavilion at last year’s Expo in Shanghai, but it has already been suggested it could save electricity that would otherwise be required for daytime lighting.” w/ photos

“While other dogs romp in the snow, Princess the puppy can only gaze longingly through the window. Her skin is so delicate that she cannot go outside in any weather – even a warm jacket would irritate her beyond endurance. Staff caring for her at a rescue centre say her only hope is a course of drugs which would cost a five-figure sum if given for life. ‘She’s the saddest-looking dog we have ever seen,’ said Neil Martin, manager of the Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, near Edenfield, Lancashire. ‘Our staff are all in love with her but it’s only recently that she’s started learning how to enjoy a cuddle. ‘She didn’t even know how to play. We tried to get her to cheer up with some toys but she was scared of them. ‘We’re a long, long way from having a happy and trusting puppy wagging her tail.” w/ photos