How hard is it to walk in a straight line? Very hard, actually – according to a new study by psychologist Jan Souman of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, people who are lost in the woods or desert actually do walk in circles:

At first, Souman wasn’t sure if that common sensation was actually true. When lost, he suspected, people might veer to the left or right. But he didn’t expect them to actually walk in true circles.

To find out, he instructed nine people to walk as straight as possible in one direction for several hours.

Six walkers forged through a flat, forested region of Germany. Three trekked through the Sahara desert in southern Tunisia. (A sandstorm stopped further testing in the desert). All walkers wore GPS receivers so that the researchers could analyze their routes.

The results, published today in the journal Current Biology, showed that no matter how hard people tried to walk in a straight line, they often ended up going in circles without ever realizing that they were crossing their own paths.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by OddNumber.

A British man and his Spanish sweetheart have finally married after 16 years apart, brought together by a love letter thought lost.

Steven Smith and Carmen Ruiz-Perez, both 42 years of age, first met 17 years ago when she was a foreign exchange student in Southwest England.  The relationship ended when she moved to France a year later for work.  In an effort to rekindle the romance, Steven sent a letter to her mother’s home in Spain a few years later, where it was placed on a mantelpiece.  It slipped behind the fireplace and was hidden for years, before being discovered by workers dismantling it for renovation work.

“When I got the letter I didn’t phone Steve right away because I was so nervous,” Ruiz-Perez told the Herald Express local newspaper.

“I nearly didn’t phone him at all. I kept picking up the phone then putting it down again.

“But I knew I had to make the call.”

When they were reunited, it was as if time had stood still, said Smith, a factory supervisor.

“When we met again it was like a film. We ran across the airport into each other’s arms. We met up and fell in love all over again. Within 30 seconds of setting eyes on each other we were kissing.

“I’m just glad the letter did eventually end up where it was supposed to be,” he said, after the couple married last Friday.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Jorge Garcia who plays the loveable Hurley on LOST posted pictures on his own blog. The show will air in May.

Link – via larryfire

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by larryfire.

A bag belonging to a World War II soldier from Lancashire has been discovered in the Egyptian desert after lying there for more than 60 years. Alec Ross, from Burnley, lost the bag containing personal letters and photos, while serving with the 8th Army. Egyptian tour guide Kahled Makram found the bag in the Sahara desert and traced Mr Ross’s family through a BBC website on World War II. The bag is being sent to Burnley to Mr Ross’s sister, Irene Porter.

Video: LiveLeak – Via: BBC