WEIRD STUFF: Pilot falls unconscious during flight

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Pilot falls unconscious during flight

A passenger with no flying experience managed to land a plane when the pilot fell ill.

Darren Harrison took the controls at over 9,000 feet on the flight from The Bahamas to Florida, as he was the only person on board when the pilot fell unconscious.

The hero was assisted by air traffic controller Robert Morgan -- who printed out a picture of the cockpit controls to guide him through the steps of flying and landing the plane.

In recordings from the flight, Harrison could be heard saying: "I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the aeroplane."

Morgan revealed how he kept the reluctant 'pilot' calm as he brought the aircraft down at Palm Beach Airport.

He said: "I just had to keep him calm, point him to the runway and tell him how to reduce the power so he could descend to land.

"Before I knew it, he was like, 'I'm on the ground. How do I turn this thing off?'"

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Man shatters difficult yoga record

A yoga instructor broke a world record by holding the scorpion pose for more than 29 minutes.

Yash Moradiya, a Dubai native now living in India, held the difficult position for a total of 29 minutes and four seconds in a bid to raise awareness of the benefits of yoga.

Moradiya has been practising yoga since the age of eight, and revealed that he had been working on his endurance in the scorpion position for the past five years.

He smashed the previous record, which stood at four minutes and 47 seconds.

He told the Khaleej Times newspaper: "The scorpion position, particularly, is all about stability. The longer we hold the pose, the better we learn to establish the mental resilience to survive any critical situation we face in life with grace.

"Yoga has the ability to transform our physical and mental well-being, driving us to unlock our hidden potential of our bodies away from limiting thoughts."

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Boy has hair like Boris Johnson

A boy with uncontrollable hair syndrome has been compared to Boris Johnson.

Kohen Jax Ponsford has frizzy and fluffy blonde hair like the British prime minister, and the three-year-old has even been nicknamed Boris by his older siblings, Harlie and Cayson.

His mother, Aimee, told The Sun newspaper: "He was bald until one then he started growing white strands.

"His hair is like spun sugar. People are surprised by how soft it is. They think it will be coarse and wiry. They usually want to touch it and I'm happy to let them if he is."

Kohen Jax does not have an official diagnosis but clinicians recognise uncontrollable hair syndrome, even though there are as few as 100 cases worldwide.

Aimee, from Hampshire, added: "He's only had one haircut in his life -- a friend of mine just took a bit off the top. Barbers won't touch his hair. They've never seen anything like it."

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Scientists grow plants in soil from moon

Moon soil has been used to grow plants for the first time.

Scientists used small samples of dust collected during Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 to grow a type of cress and the seeds unexpectedly sprouted after two days.

The plant growth halted after six days, but the findings could be an important breakthrough in the quest to make long-term stays on the moon possible.

Professor Anna-Lisa Paul, from the University of Florida, said: "I can't tell you how astonished we were. Every plant -- whether in a lunar sample or in a control -- looked the same up until about day six."

NASA chief Bill Nelson also underlined the importance of the findings.

He said: "This research is critical to NASA's long-term human exploration goals as we'll need to use resources found on the Moon and Mars to develop food sources for future astronauts living and operating in deep space."