Police jail man for rubbing a hamburger on his wife’s face during an argument.

Florida woman accused of hitting man with raw steak.

A Chinese woman managed to enter Japan illegally by having plastic surgery to alter her fingerprints, thus fooling immigration controls, police claim.

Tucson man died after parachuting from a cell phone tower at night and hitting high-voltage power lines.

After more than 50 years of service, the ministry has shut down its UFO investigation unit, saying it could no longer justify the cost of running the service.

“One of the ladies was so large that she physically wouldn’t be able to exit the aircraft through the emergency exit.”

The hostage business. Kidnapping in the developing world is a grim byproduct of globalization, and a shadowy ransom industry has grown to protect and retrieve the victims.

Since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.

Money changes what we think is fair, research finds.

We tend to think that no-one would confess to a crime that they didn’t commit but there are numerous high profile cases where this has happened. There is now a growing amount of research on what personal and situational factors trigger false confessions.

In general, start high in negotiations, start low in auctions. An article in the latest edition of Current Directions in Psychological Science reviews studies on the best starting points to increase the final price in either negotiations or auctions.

Psychologists find a drug-free way for fears to be unlearned. It’s hoped the discovery will lead to improved therapeutic techniques for people with phobias or intrusive traumatic memories. More: Rewriting fearful memories by bringing them back to mind.

People who chew gum report feeling less stressed.

People identify the sexual orientation of strangers as fast as 50 milliseconds.

Coffee consumption associated with reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer. Plus: Exercise reduces death rate in prostate cancer patients. Also: Between 2002 and 2003, American women experienced a 7 percent decline in breast cancer incidence.

Dirty babies get healthier hearts.

Can you give your muscles a better workout simply by changing your shoes? Reebok claims you can.

In a troubling corollary to the truism that a picture is worth 1,000 words, a new study suggests stereotypical imagery can largely negate the central point of a lengthy text.

How to have a good time in New York without a Wall Street bonus.

Between 1939 and 1941, and again in the mid-1980s, the city photographed every house and building in the five boroughs. New York City is exploring a deal with Google to digitize part of the collection in exchange for the right to use the images on the company’s searchable maps.

Subway cars from the 1930s-era will return to service on the New York City rails, shuttling shoppers on the V line for the holiday season.

A graphic history of magazine income over the last decade. More: Newspaper circulation over the last two decades.

The airplane publication has become an institution, a subject of mockery and fascination.

In a just-published article and an accompanying video, we take a look inside the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra, a chamber music ensemble whose instruments are Apple iPhones, held with fingerless gloves attached to small speakers.

Cutsy animated video from Google Japan to calm privacy jitters re Streetview.

Eight ways in-vitro meat will change our lives.

What are hiccups? Why do we hiccup?

Which countries’ children have the worst teeth?

Winners and losers as the dollar falls. Related: Fear not the falling dollar!

Review of Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate.

Is the Secret Service responsible for keeping the president from getting drunk?

Why Popeye popped onto Google’s homepage.

The origin of red herring.

The future of trains.

Sylvester Stallone is generating some press at Art Basel Miami after selling two paintings for $90,000.

Evolution of the hipster (2000-2009).

Inner ear hair cells at 21,000x magnification.

Rocking chair with integrated lamp powered by the chair’s rocking motion.

The rotating kitchen.

Coffe sex?

It’s in Las Vegas. Architect Frank Gehry’s latest, an institute dealing with brain disease.

My Beauty (LP).

every day the same again | December 9th, 2009