“They look like beautiful works of abstract art that you could frame and hang on your wall. But these brightly coloured shapes are the last thing you would want in your house – particularly if you suffer from hay fever. The stunning forms are in fact microscopic allergy-inducing pollens placed under a Scanning Electron Microscope. The images were taken by retired scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner using an SEM so powerful objects invisible to the naked eye can be brought into sharp relief. The detailed pictures unlock the hidden 3D patterns of the grains, which individually are not noticed when breathed in, but en-mass are the seasonal bane of millions of sufferers.” w/ photos

“A 6-month-old stray male kitten got itself in the soup after foraging for food – literally. The starving male youngster got its head trapped after poking it into a discarded can of Campbell’s soup while desperately foraging for scraps of food. After being found by the roadside, the disheveled kitten was bought to the Metro Animal Services in Louisville, Kentucky, by animal control officer Raymond Thomas and immediately taken to the vet staff. Veterinary assistant Brenda Keel initially tried to remove the can, but the distressed kitten – dubbed ‘Campbell’ – started crying. He was sedated and a pair of bolt cutters were used to cut the can off of his head.” w/ photos

“As audience responses go, it was bound to be a recital with a more muted crowd. But thankfully for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, this unique performance was all in the name of science. The 33-member orchestra played a three-hour recital to an auditorium packed with greenery to help test the theory that plants grow better when played classical music. The unorthodox audience was made up of over 100 different varieties of plants and bulbs including geraniums, fuchsias and perennials. Scientists have claimed that classical music – and the reverberation of sound waves – is thought to stimulate protein production in plants. In theory, this is thought to lead to increased plant growth, although experts have long been divided on the subject. Researchers have previously exposed rice plants to classical music and noted that some samples responded to noise levels with increased gene activity. A 2007 study by the South Korea National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology showed two samples reacted positively to 14 different pieces of classical music.” w/ photos

“A jackdaw bird has become a real-life Kes after befriending schoolboy Emmanuel Adams while he walked to school – and has now moved into the boy’s home. The jackdaw began landing on the head of Emmanuel Adams as he walked to school, and now comes with him into his home, perching on the ten-year-old’s shoulder while he watches television. It resembles the plot of the 1969 film Kes, in which a disillusioned schoolboy develops a relationship with a kestrel that he took from a nest. The curious crow has been living with the Adams family for the past few days. ‘Any time I walk to school or come back, it goes on my arm,’ said Emmanuel, from Sunderland. Since January, the bird pestered other pupils at St Mary’s RC Primary School, dive-bombing them at breaks. But the jackdaw has taken a particular shine to Emmanuel who insists that the bird is ‘not a bully’. His mother, Carolyn, 46, says: ‘The bird took an instant liking to Emmanuel; he would approach him as he walked to school. He picked him out from the other school kids.” w/ photo

“A mother-of-four has appeared in court accused of biting off her boyfriend’s testicles in a drunken attack. Martin Douglas, 45, underwent emergency surgery to reattach his genitals after the alleged attack by Maria Topp. Mr Douglas, a DJ, called 999 in excruciating pain and operators struggled to understand what he was saying. Paramedics who attended his flat in Newcastle called police and Topp was arrested. She has since appeared in court charged with GBH over the February 18 incident in which Mr Douglas was also injured in the arm, the Daily Mirror reported. The victim was forced to spend several days in hospital recovering from his injuries. A police spokesman: ‘At around 4am on Friday, February 18, police were called to a report of an assault. ‘Officers attended and arrested a 43-year-old woman on suspicion of assault. ‘A 45-year-old man was taken to the Freeman hospital for treatment to injuries to his arm and groin area.” w/ photos

“A Suffolk home that is only 7ft wide and boasts an upside-down design has gone up for sale – for the grand total of $132,898… The tiny Victorian property in Framlingham, Suffolk, has the kitchen on the first floor and the bedroom underneath – and once formed part of a steam mill. The one-bedroom house is part of the sought-after Mauldens Mill development. It is the last remaining Victorian part of the old steam mill. The rest of the mill has been redeveloped or was knocked down for new buildings. ‘It’s really for only one person,’ said estate agent Julie Williams. ‘I wouldn’t like to share it.’ The building used to be a bookies but was converted into a home eight years ago. It must be one of the smallest houses in the country, offering just 308 square feet of space inside.” w/ photos

“Fancy getting away from the hustle and bustle. Then head to Buford, Wyoming, where the populatioon is one. Don Sammons, 60, is the only person in Buford, which is 2.5kg up a cold mountain, but denies he ever feels lonely and runs an isolated petrol station and convenience shop. Click to see Don Sammons and his town Mr Sammons left Los Angeles in 1980 with his wife and bought the tiny town with six buildings to escape their busy lifestyle.  When the couple moved there were seven people living in Buford working for a railroad that passes nearby, but they all moved away to bigger towns by the mid-1990s. Then his wife died 15 years ago and his son, now aged 26, moved to Colorado three years ago. So that left Mr Sammons in Buford on his own. “I’m the king of the castle here,” he said. He gets about 1,000 visitors a day to the village during the summer, which has a billboard proclaiming his small empire, but this drops to around 100 during the winter. They stop because they’re intrigued to find this place in the middle of nowhere near the top of a mountain,’ he said. ‘We sell all kinds of souvenirs from hats to mugs. The post card is our best seller. “I’m glad to go back to my house after a 10-hour day talking to folks so I can get some peace and quiet. After I close I’m the only guy for miles around. And I like it that way.” w/ photos

“Racegoers at Cheltenham are often more interested in the fashion than the horses. And it looks as though this year will be no exception if anyone dares to wear the latest in equestrian chic – a pair of high heel ‘horses’ hooves’ designed to mark the occasion. The footwear, made for ladies who want to stand out on Tuesday, features an imitation hoof made from carbon fibre and up to 5,000 individual horse hairs. Cheltenham have never been as strict about how racegoers dress as Ascot, with the general approach being country casual. All the same, encouraging visitors to dress like Mr Tumnus from Narnia – a satyr, who had the body of a man but the legs of goat – is an interesting move, particularly as the stilettos go against their advice to ‘dress for the weather’. The limited edition boots go on sale at the festival and cost a startling $1,810 per pair.” w/ photos

“This baby squirrel coils up into a tiny ball while his doting mother gently carries him across a branch and to the safety of his nest. The affectionate parent was taking her young son to their dray by softly picking him up by her mouth as he clung on to her fur. The mother, an African tree squirrel, scurried along the branch with her child wrapped around her and took him to a new nest she had just finished building. Father-of-one Morkel Erasmus captured the intimate moments while in a park after he noticed movement high up in the tree. Morkel, 28, who was on holiday with his wife, said he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” w/ photos

“Forget glasses, you’ll need a magnifying glass to read the tiny print in these antique miniature books. But simply because they’re small doesn’t mean they don’t tackle big subjects. These thumbnail-sized publications – which are to be sold at auction after they were discovered in a house clearance – include The Bible and the London Almanack from 1842. The smallest of the 16 books measures just 11/8in by 1in and the largest 31/8in by 31/8in – a perfect size for the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput in Gulliver’s Travels. And yet, incredibly, each edition contains every word that the full-size version does. Experts at Bamfords Auctioneers, in Derbyshire, who discovered the books, say they are expected to fetch a total of more than $2,780 when they go on sale next week.” w/ photos