“Imagine being able to put the kettle on just by making a thumbs-up gesture, redecorate a room with the flick of a light switch and discover you’ve just received a new tweet thanks to a strawberry scent filling the room. This could all be possible in the home of the future, according to experts at the Ideal Home Show. The Home of the Future has been the center piece exhibit of the show since 1928, and this year exhibitors have taken a plunge to illustrate how we will be living in years to come by submerging their vision of the future in a swimming pool… The house features a numbers of gadgets which experts believe could become commonplace in years to come.” w/ photos

“It is unlikely to come equipped with a lighter. A sports car made out of 10,280 cigarette packs has gone on show in China. The unusual vehicle, which can be driven, was designed and constructed by five engineering students in the western province of Shanxi. Starting with a basic frame made out of recycled steel, they added a storage battery, an electric motor, braking system and gear box. They then undertook the painstaking task of covering the shell with a layer with more than 10,000 cigarette packs.” w/ photos

“One false move in a pole dancing competition and you can land in a heap on the floor, but one competitor managed to keep her cool and impress a judging panel with her pole prowess – even though she could only use one arm. At the International Pole Championship in Hong Kong, Australia’s Deborah Roach slide and swung past her competitors to win first place in the disabled division. Ms Roach, said she had always enjoyed dancing and it helped her when she felt she did not fit in with society.” w/ photos

“A 12-year-old girl who has been dubbed the real-life Rapunzel after refusing to cut her hair for her whole life is to cut it all off – and plans the 5ft 2in mane of hair for $4,600 to be made into extensions. Natasha Moraes de Andrade, who lives in an impoverished shanty town in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, has never had a haircut. At 5ft 3in, she is just one inch taller than the length of her wavy chestnut hair – and the maintenance it requires sees her use a full bottle of shampoo every week. Natasha spends four hours per week washing her hair and up to an hour-and-a-half brushing it each day. She has to carry it around when she walks, and fold it onto her lap when she sits down.” w/ photos

“Sushi that glows in the dark has become the latest must try food craze across America. Inspired by genetically modified fish first bred for scientific research, a video showing how to make the glowing sushi has become a huge hit online. The recipes use glofish, a brand of genetically modified (GM) fluorescent zebrafish sold by Yorktown Technologies, which are available to buy in pet shops. The modified fish were originally bred to help detect environmental pollutants. By adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish, scientists planned to create fish that glowed when rivers became contaminated.” w/ photos + video

“Worldwide, there are a number of upside-down houses. Some offer almost an amusement park experience, but many exist simply to turn the everyday world on end… Inside, a TV, microwave, tables, chairs and sofas dangle above visitors who navigate the home’s ceilings, steering around light fixtures and ceiling fans. Playing cards and comic books strewn along the floor, a cigarette in an ashtray, make it seem as though the family has just left the room. Even the washing machine and sewing machine hang overhead. Literally everything in the 1,500-square-foot, two-bedroom home is topsy turvy. But in this house it is the visitors who feel they are ones turned on end.” w/ photos

“It’s no laughing matter though, as Kerry is suffering from a condition called Pica, which makes her crave things that have nothing to do with food. People with Pica are known to eat a variety of things ranging from metal to sand, and even chalk, coal, light bulbs and furniture. For a long time, Kerry’s diet consisted of sponges dipped in tea or hot chocolate, or spiced up with mustard and BBQ sauce. She would never leave the house without a snack – a small plastic bag of cut up sponges and sauce in a Tupperware… So far, she’s consumed 4,000 washing sponges and over 100 bars of soap. Well, I suppose she at least has super-clean intestines!” w/ photos

“An ancient armored fish was fossilized in the act of attacking and drowning a pterosaur in a toxic Jurassic lake, revealing that the winged reptiles were victims of a wide variety of carnivores, scientists find… Now scientists have uncovered five examples of the long-tailed pterosaur Rhamphorhychus apparently within the jaws of the ancient armored predatory fish Aspidorhynchus. The fossils in question, unearthed in Bavaria in southern Germany, are about 120 million years old… The researchers speculate the Aspidorhynchus fish attacked the pterosaur while it was flying just above the water surface right after plucking a fish from the sea, grabbed the pterosaur’s left wing and pulled the animal under water.” w/ photos

“They are known for being one of the world’s most feared predators. But as this picture shows, great white sharks do not always get things right when moving in for the kill. A shocked group of tourists in False Bay, South Africa, were left amazed when they saw this 12ft shark emerge from the water to catch a seal. But rather than carrying out a swift kill, the shark slightly misjudged its attack which resulted in the poor seal being finely balanced on the nose of the predator.” w/ photos

“Thanks to the brilliance of Giacomo Bonzani, an architect and sundial designer, there now resides on the slopes of a mountainside above Viganella, a giant mirror that reflects sunlight into the town square. A place that had not seen the sun’s rays during the winter since the beginning of time, was now suddenly bathed in its glorious light and warmth. The mirror is 128 square miles in size, 25ft wide by 16ft high and is located about 2,784ft above the village. What’s more, it is actually controlled by a computer software that tracks the sun and tilts and turns the panels of the mirror so that the rays are always reflected downwards. It has actually become a tourist attraction of sorts, since its installation over 5 years ago.” w/ photos + video