Customs agents in Milan, Italy seized 88 pounds of Beluga caviar as it was smuggled from Poland. The stash is valued at over half a million dollars!

Newspaper Corriere Della Sera says the caviar had an estimated value of $550,000 (£370,000).

Tests showed the caviar to be edible, so it is to be given to canteens, hospices and shelters for the poor.

Beluga caviar is the most expensive variety of the delicacy.

Link -Thanks, Justin!

A kitten was found injured in Akita, Japan and his back legs and tail were amputated. Employees at a book store nursed him back to health and found a home for him. The kitten has learned to balance and walk on his two front legs! http://misterstarfish.typepad.com/misterstarfish/2008/12/kitten-walks-with-only-2-legs-%EF%BC%92%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%89%8D%E8%84%9A%E3%81%A0%E3%81%91%E3%81%A7%E5%85%83%E6%B0%97%E3%81%AB%E6%AD%A9%E3%81%8D%E5%9B%9E%E3%82%8B%E5%AD%90%E7%8C%AB.html (embedded YouTube clip) -Thanks, Haj!

A modified cell phone could allow doctors to analyze blood samples for HIV, malaria, and other diseases in remote villages where costly lab equipment and the power to run them are unavailable! The device is called a LUCAS imager (Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging).

UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan images thousands of blood cells instantly by placing them on an off-the-shelf camera sensor and lighting them with a filtered-light source (coherent light, for you science buffs). The filtered light exposes distinctive qualities of the cells, which are then interpreted by Ozcan's custom software. By analyzing the cell types present in a much larger sample, a more accurate diagnosis can be made in a matter of minutes. No more sending blood away to a lab and waiting days or weeks for the results.

Ozcan is seeking a manufacture so these devices can be mass-produced. Link -Thanks, Dave Bullock!

The recent incident involving president Bush (previously at Neatorama) inspired RJ Evans to investigate the meaning of the thrown shoe outside the Middle East. He found many examples of the flung shoe (or is it flinged?) as a cultural meme or even as art. The "shoe tree" shown is outside of Fallon, Nevada. Link -Thanks, RJ!

(image credit: Flickr user NessieNoodle)

Here's a pleasant diversion for baseball fans! You know the poem Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer. Now see the entire poem rendered in an appropriate medium -baseball cards! Link -Thanks, Ben Henry!

A shark at at the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas jumped out of its seawater enclosure onto a nearby water slide and slid down into the swimming pool! No one was in the pool Tuesday morning when it happened.

"Yesterday morning at around 9:30 AM, prior to the resort's waterscape opening to guests, a 12+-year-old female reef shark jumped over an 18 inch wide and 1 foot high sustaining structure into the resort's Leap of Faith water slide.

The Atlantis Aquarists believe the shark was startled by an unusual circumstance that we have no way of defining completely. In the over ten years guests have experienced the Leap of Faith, the reef shark itself, harmless to humans as it is fed regularly by our staff, had shown no previous incidences of leaping out of the water in the marine habitat ...

The aquarium staff immediately retrieved the shark from the pool, but the chlorinated water had already poisoned the fish. She died shortly after. Link -via Simply Left Behind

Not once, not twice, but eight different times has Popular Science or Popular Mechanics magazine declared that the future of travel is the monowheel. Wesley Treat collected the covers of these issues for a retrospective spanning from 1914 to 2007. The "One-Man War Tank" shown is from 1933. Most impressive is that you could buy a magazine for fifteen cents! Link -Thanks, beth!

Here is an incredible papercraft recreation of Han Solo’s famous ship. The detail is extraordinary and true to the movies. This is a great project for inmates with a science fiction passion or any young man who has no desire to kiss girls in his teen years. If you’ve got the time, put it together and we’ll show it off proudly.

Make your own Millennium Falcon with a printable download from VectorVault. Link -Thanks, Adam!

Ronnie Dabal was fishing in Puerto Princesa Bay in the Philippines when a squall capsized his small boat. He avoided drowning by hanging onto a piece of styrofoam. 24 hours later, he woke up on the beach. He told a tale of being rescued by dolphins!

Dusk came as Dabal’s hopes started to vanish and a creeping darkness began to envelope him. From out of nowhere, a pod of around 30 dolphins and a pair of whales measuring about 10 meters in length came and started to flank him on both sides.

“Dumating yung mga dolphins. Ang dami nila. Tapos may lumapit na dalawang balyena. Dun sila sa tigkabilang tabi ko lumalangoy,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (There were dolphins, lots of them. Then a pair of whales started swimming on both sides)

Dabal, 35 and father of two kids, swore it was not his mind playing tricks on him even as his energy was starting to fail him.

As he lay still on top of his piece of plastic board, Ronnie narrated how the dolphins would alternately nudge his tiny life raft using their pectoral fins towards the direction of land.

Dabal is a part-time dolphin warden for the bay. His duties include spotting dolphin groups for tourists and removing garbage from their territory. Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn was excited by the story.

“Ronnie’s experience is the greatest proof that what we are doing to protect our marine environment is worth all the effort that we are putting into it. I’d like to think that this is the animals’ way of also thanking us for helping protect their habitat,” said Hagedorn.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20081216-178325/Dolphins-save-Puerto-Princesa-fisherman -Thanks, Marco Martinez!

(image credit: Flickr user julesnene)

Every summer in Catalonia, Spain, teams of "Castellers" can be seen competing against each other to see who can build the highest human tower.

See more pictures at Oddee. Link -Thanks, Emily!

Dr. Carl Winter takes popular songs and changes the lyrics to incorporate food safety instructions. The results are funny! I Want to Hold Your Hand by the Beatles becomes You Better Wash Your Hands, Heartache Tonight is turned into Stomachache Tonight, and We Are The Champions becomes We Are the Microbes. Many songs have accompanying videos. Link -via Eat Me Daily

Chessington Zoo in London has issued an apology to guests after giving the gorillas a Christmas treat of Brussels sprouts. The seasonal sprouts are highly nutritious, but the gorilla farts caused horror among people around them.

Gorilla keeper Michael Rozzi said: "We feed the gorillas brussel sprouts during the winter because they are packed with vitamin C and have great nutritional benefits.

"Unfortunately, an embarrassing side effect is that it can cause bouts of flatulence in humans and animals alike.

"However, I don't think any of us were prepared for a smell that strong."

The zoo has taken the sprouts off the menu while the zoo is open to the public. The gorillas will enjoy them when the zoo is closed on Christmas Day. http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157157175032?packedargs=aid%3D1157157175032%26suffix%3DArticleController -Thanks, Rich!

(YouTube link)
Just watch the slow-motion video, because this is something you don't ever want to actually do. -via Geeks Are Sexy

How much do you know about starfish? You know a lot more after reading the post at ScienceRay! Starfish are predators. They don't have real eyes, but they have light sensors. And they sometimes have more than five "arms", like the one pictured here. Link -Thanks, Amit!

(image credit: Flickr user candyonthebeach)

Rotterdam artist Bert Simons creates realistic sculpture portraits made of paper! See more in his portfolio, including sculptures of some European celebrities. Link -Thanks, Stephen Douge!