During the early years of the Cold War, Britain proposed placing nuclear mines along the eastern border of West Germany. These could be detonated when Warsaw Pact armies crossed, destroying them and deterring follow-on forces from invading Western Europe. But there was a problem with the mine design. It tended to freeze during the winter and become useless. So the British military considered nesting live chickens on the bombs. The body heat from the chickens would keep the vulnerable components of the bombs from become disabled:

Scientists working on the project realised that the bomb could fail in winter if vital components become too cold, so they explored ways of keeping the inner workings warm. One proposal put forward consisted of filling the casing of the nuke with live chickens, who would give off sufficient heat, prior to suffocating or starving to death, to keep the delicate explosive mechanism from freezing. Despite the potential importance of chickens to the project, the mine was codenamed 'Blue Peacock'.

The plan was never carried out.

Link via Dan Lewis | Photo by Flickr user MonkeyMyshkin used under Creative Commons license

Researchers at the University of Bonn have found that people with a certain gene are more likely to be altruistic. The researchers took a genetic sample from study participants, and then asked them to participate in a quiz on memory retention. For this, participants were given five Euros, and invited to donate that amount to a charity. Prof. Martin Reuter described what happened:

"Students with the COMT-Val gene donated twice as much money on average as did fellow students with the COMT-Met variant," explains Reuter. This is the first time that researchers have been able to establish a connection between a particular gene and altruistic deeds. However, it was already known from studies on twins that altruistic behavior is also partly influenced by our genes.

Link via Hit & Run | Photo by Flickr user meddygarnet used under Creative Commons license

Artist Kim Rugg specializes in re-arranging shapes and text on paper. We've previously posted about her discovery that Royal Mail stamp reading machines would take any shaped stamp, so as long as they had the correct colors. Rugg responded by making her own usable stamps.

More recently, she rearranged the letters in the lines of text on the front page of a newspaper so that they were in alphabetical order. The linked video is an exploration of that project, as well as Rugg's other experiments.

Gallery Link and Video Link via Boing Boing | Photo: Mark Moore Gallery

As a part of their ongoing efforts to destroy the universe, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva created a small version of the process that may have triggered the Big Bang. The experiment resulted in the highest temperature and densities ever created in a controlled setting. David Evans, one of the researchers, said:

"We are thrilled with the achievement," said Dr Evans.

"This process took place in a safe, controlled environment, generating incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

"At these temperatures even protons and neutrons, which make up the nuclei of atoms, melt resulting in a hot dense soup of quarks and gluons known as a quark-gluon plasma."

Quarks and gluons are sub-atomic particles - some of the building blocks of matter. In the state known as quark-gluon plasma, they are freed of their attraction to one another. This plasma is believed to have existed just after the Big Bang.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: CERN

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We've previously covered the increasingly daring stunts of jetpack pilot Yves Rossy. Last Friday, he performed loops in the air:

The former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast, 51, described himself as "very happy and satisfied" with the stunt and said he now hopes to fly his custom-made jet pack through the Grand Canyon.

Rossy performed his aerial display at an altitude of 7,874ft (2,400m) after jumping from a replica of the Breitling Orbiter, the first hot air balloon to complete a continuous around-the-world flight.

He said on his website: "The flight went well, despite a little problem when starting my engines. I was able to do my two loopings and I am very happy."

Link via Comics Alliance

Home theater specialists Bowser & Wilkins makes a high-end model of speaker called the Nautilus. They're pricey at about $60,000 for a set. Alfonso de Rojas wanted some, but didn't have the money. So he spent 400 hours building a set on his own. The finished product, which you can view at the link, certainly looks like a Nautilus.

Link via Technabob | Second photo: Kilpsch.com

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This video from 2009 shows an emergency landing of a single-engine plane on a street in Winter Haven, Florida. Kyle Davis, the pilot, and Joe Surowiec, his passenger, were recorded on camera during this frightening experience:

The landing of the dual-seat SkyRanger airplane shortly after 10 a.m. was caught on video by Surowiec, a professional videographer, and was posted on YouTube.[...]

Deputies were called to the scene, but there wasn't much for them to do. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board cleared the incident, Wood said.

Two cameras on the plane captured the drama. One focused on the cockpit, taping their conversation, and the other was facing the plane's engine.

Link via reddit

(Video Link)

It was simple and brilliant play by the football team of Driscoll Middle School from Corpus Christi, Texas. The quarterback took the ball and casually strolled forward, acting as though the play hadn't started. But it had, and he passed the opposing team's defensive line before they realized it.

Link via Wired

This isn't a cake in the traditional sense of the term because it's cooked with ground turkey breast, yams, and mashed potatoes. But Amy Wisniewski's concoction is shaped like a cake, so you might as well serve it for dessert. You can find the recipe at the link.

Link via Geekologie | Photo: Amy Wisniewski

A man was arrested and charged with trying to rob a food store in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was unsuccessful because one customer beat him with a nearby squash:

The market's owner said Cullen came in, displayed a threatening note, and verbally told her, "Give me your money, or you're going to die."

The owner said one of her neighbors walked in and she told him she was being robbed.

He sprung into action, forcing Cullen to the ground, as the store owner called police.

Witnesses said Cullen tried to get away but another man delivering food to the market picked up a large squash and used the fruit to hit Cullen over the head.

Link via Say Uncle | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user La Grande Farmers' Market used under Creative Commons license

Bill Owen of Mod Brothers made a PC case mod out of a 1:6 scale RC ZR1 Corvette. It still drives after the conversion! At the link, you can view an extensive list of process photos and a video showing how Owen did it.

Link via Geektoplasm | Photo: Mod Brothers

Food artist Barbarann Garrard made a birthday cake inspired by the Kill Bill movies:

the bottom represents "the bride".. the scene in which Beatrice is gunned down in the opening scene.. there is white bridal lace with blood and realistic chocolate bullets...the next teir is a Japanese pagoda.. this represents the scene toward the end in which Beatrice fights the "crazy 88's" and O-Ren Ishii..it has the traditional rooftiles and curves and bamboo of a pagoda.. all edible .... the top is yellow with a black stripe to represent the suit Beatrice wears when she is fighting O-Ren Ishii contains an edible peice of notebook paper made of fondant with Beatirice's "death List five" , and katana..
( which was not edible.. i thought it would make a nice keepsake) and a mask that represents the "crazy 88 ".. with a whole lotta royal icing blood splatter = )

Link via Super Punch

A camper was stolen from its owner in Linton, UK. But a Google Street View picture may reveal the man responsible for the theft:

The owner, who has not been named, believes the Google image may have been taken shortly before the theft. The 4 x 4 was backed into the private drive and is parked yards from the caravan, with a side and rear door open.

When the homeowner spotted the image in March this year, the 4x4's registration plate had been obscured.

Link via Jalopnik | Photo: PA

A restaurant in Chandler, Arizona will serve free food to anyone over 350 pounds. It's called the Heart Attack Grill, and its managers just hired a 600-pound man named Blair River to be a model in their commercials:

Blair River stands 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 600 pounds. His weight and his enthusiasm for the food at Chandler's Heart Attack Grill have won him a $100-an-hour modeling contract.

This week he shot a YouTube video commercial to promote the grill, which invites anyone over 350 pounds to eat for free.[...]

The Heart Attack Grill, at 6185 W. Chandler Blvd. near Kyrene Road, has a medical theme. Waitresses are dressed in skimpy nurses' uniforms. Customers, called patients, wear hospital gowns over their clothes. The menu features no diet drinks and high-calorie food called such memorable names as Double Bypass Burger. Fries are cooked in lard.

The restaurant is owned by former nutritionist Jon Basso, who ran a chain of seven Jenny Craig weight-loss centers in Oklahoma.

Link via J-Walk Blog | Official Website (warning: sound)

Food artist Gina Lee made a bento boxes inspired by the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas:

Ol' Jack is made up of nothing more than rice, black sesame seeds, and nori.

Sally got it going on with a face of eggwhite, eyes of cheese, seeds and nori. Nose of mustard seeds, mouth of nori and bologna. Her hair is Beni Shoga.

Link via Super Punch | Artist's Blog