Woman climbs out of coffin 6 days later

CHINA: A 95-year-old woman in China terrified her neighbours when she climbed out of the coffin six days after she had supposedly passed away.

More than a fortnight before her 'death', the elderly woman had taken a fall and injured her head. One day, she was found not breathing or moving by one of her neighbours. The neighbour assumed the old woman had passed away even though her body had not turned cold, reports UK daily Mirror.

Since the woman used to stay on her own, her neighbour arranged for her funeral and even got a coffin so others in the neighbourhood could pay their respects. The woman was transferred to her coffin two days after her neighbour discovered her.

The neighbour did not nail the coffin as he had decided to do it just before the funeral.

He went to check on the coffin two days before the funeral only to get the shock of his life. The dead body had disappeared from the coffin. When the neighbours got together to look for the body, they found the 'dead woman' sitting on a stool in her kitchen and cooking food.

She told her neighbours that she had just woken up from a long sleep and was famished and hence she was cooking some food for herself.
 

Baby born with foetus in abdomen

BANGALORE: A baby was born with a foetus inside his abdomen in the Indian city of Bangalore recently. In medical terms, it is known as 'foetus in fetu' or baby within a baby, reports The Times of India.

The undeveloped doetus was the infant's twin that did not develop during the mother's pregnancy and entered the child's abdomen.

When the baby turned two, he was operated upon to remove the dead foetus. The doctor who operated upon the baby was quoted talking about the foetus by the daily: "Cross-examination showed two limb-like structures at the upper end of the mass, and well-developed bone, cartilage, friable pale areas and cystic structures."

Specialists say it is a rare occurrence, maybe one in 5 lakh pregnancies.

Bridge stolen in daylight, sold for scrap

POLAND: In a case of a robbery in broad daylight, two men in Poland came up with a plan to steal a bridge and sell the content for scrap. And they almost managed to get away with it too.

The duo managed to saw several parts of the bridge, which was used by a Polish mine, and sell off the metal at a recycling unit. The thieves' luck ran out when the truck broke down as they were on their fag end of the operation.

Finally, the security officials from the mine got suspicious when they noticed a truck parked on the side of the road. They notified the police and the duo were apprehended.

It is still not known how the security officials did not notice the two robbers taking off with parts of the bridge!

Total recall: Robot finds lost things

JAPAN: Forgot where you put your glasses? A Japanese robot can find them for you, and guide you to where they are.

The red and white robot, named EMIEW2, is about the size of a six-year-old child and glides everywhere on wheels at the bottom of its legs, its round, white face with two black eyes vaguely reminiscent of the iconic "Hello Kitty."

But the robot, the latest version of one that debuted in 2005 and developed by electronics firm Hitachi <6501.T>, is more than just another cute face. It has enough artificial intelligence to identify and locate objects it has been shown, as well as recognising human faces.

Shown a digital camera in a recent demonstration, the robot said, "That's probably a DSLR camera."

When it sees an object, the robot uses two cameras mounted on its head to compare the colour and shape with images stored in its database.

"EMIEW collects images of various objects from the internet and saves them on an external database," said developer Takashi Sumiyoshi.

"Then, when you show it something, EMIEW figures out what it is by comparing the colour and shape. If you name an object, EMIEW searches for it and guides you to where it is located."

To do so, the robot communicates with a network of cameras mounted around the room.

Asked to find a watch, the robot said, "The watch is on Mr. Tanaka's desk. I'll lead you to it." It then glided towards the desk at a speed of 6 km (3.7 miles) an hour, about the pace at which a human can follow with brisk steps.

The unit weighs 14 kg (31 lbs) and its legs fold up for easy carrying. The wheels feature "posture control" technology that helps it make smoother turns.

"We developed this robot to mainly provide guidance services for people, so it has to be nimble in moving around without bumping into people and light as well so it wouldn't hurt anybody even if it accidentally hit them," Sumiyoshi said.

The robot's developers have no plans to commercialise it but believe it will eventually become a standard feature of care homes for the elderly, hospitals, tourist attractions -- and ultimately, the home.

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