WEIRD STUFF: Bear spotted in Jacuzzi

Bear spotted in jacuzzi

BURBANK, California (AP):

With the summer heatwave in full swing in Southern California, a backyard pool is a tempting place to take a dip.

Even for a bear.

Police in the city of Burbank responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighbourhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.

After a short dip, the bear climbed over a wall and headed to a tree behind the home, police said in a statement last Friday.

The Burbank police have issued warnings for residents to avoid bears and to keep all garbage and food locked up, to discourage bears from coming to their residences.

-------

Research suggests sex can beat cancer

Experts have found that four minutes of lovemaking per day cuts the risk of the disease by up to a third.

The study by Australian scientists claims that 3.5 minutes of "vigorous, intermittent lifestyle physical activity" reduced the chances of suffering from 13 types of cancer -- including breast, lung and bowel -- by 18 per cent, with housework and carrying heavy shopping also particularly useful.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, of Sydney University, suggests that increased exercise is a "promising cost-free recommendation for lowering cancer risk".

He explained: "Upping the intensity of daily tasks for as little as four to five minutes a day, done in short bursts of around one minute each, is linked to an overall reduction in cancer risk."

------------

Scientists breathe life into dead worms

Frozen worms have been brought back to life after 46,000 years. The creatures are believed to have lived in the time of the woolly mammoths and were removed from Siberian permafrost, where they were thawed out and resurrected.

The worms -- from a species thought to be long extinct called Panagrolaimus kolymaensis -- had been in a dormant state known as cryptobiosis, and radiocarbon dating of plants where they were found indicates that the critters are approximately 46,000 years old.

Professor Teymuras Kurzchalia, of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, said: "This little worm could now be in line for a Guinness World Record, having remained in a state of suspended animation for far longer than anyone thought was possible.

"That it could be reanimated after 46,000 years left me absolutely flabbergasted. It is rather like the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, but over a far longer period."

----------

INDIANAPOLIS (AP):

Dog kills sheriff's deputy

A sheriff's deputy died after being attacked in her Indianapolis home by a dog that also bit and wounded her eight-year-old son, authorities said last Wednesday.

Tamieka White, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene last Tuesday night shortly after Indianapolis police officers responded to her home on the city's east side, officials said. She had been a deputy with the Marion County Sheriff's Office since 2007.

Her young son was also bitten in the dog attack, which was reported about 7:45 p.m., officials said. He is recovering from non-life-threatening injuries, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Indianapolis police said the attacking dog charged at a responding officer, who fatally shot the animal.

A spokesperson with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the dog was not owned by White, and police have identified the owner. They declined to release further information about the owner.