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Israel may use a new weapon called “sponge bombs” to seal and block off Hamas tunnels. The Israel Defense Force could deploy the new handheld devices to negotiate Hamas’ labyrinthine tunnel system –and trap any hidden fighters in them once they launch their long-awaited ground invasion into Gaza, according to reports. The sponge bombs consist of chemical compounds based around a liquid emulsion. It can be thrown into a tunnel where it swiftly expands and hardens.

Fossils found in rugged mountainous terrain in Canada’s Northwest Territories may give a glimpse at the humble dawn of animal life on Earth – sea sponges that inhabited primordial reefs built by bacteria roughly 890 million years ago. A Canadian researcher said on Wednesday the fossils, dating to a time called the Neoproterozoic Period, appear to show distinctive microstructures from the body of a sea sponge built similarly to a species living today called the Mediterranean bath sponge, or Spongia officinalis. If this interpretation is correct, these would be the oldest fossils of animal life by roughly 300 million years.

Lycopodina hystrix. (Ekins et al., Zootaxa, 2020) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even though we know the deep sea is weird, 'carnivorous sea sponges' still sound like something from a sci-fi movie. And yet, researchers just announced the discovery of three new such species off the coast of Australia. Go a few hundred metres deep into the ocean, and it starts to look like you're in a whole new world: From a creature that looks like a sea star crossed with an octopus, to shark-devouring fish, to carnivorous sponges we've never seen before. "It just goes to show how much of our deep oceans...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is known for many things, like her exceptional wit, her impassioned tweets, her signature red lip, and her always flawless skin - and in a recently released Vogue beauty video, the freshman congresswoman revealed the secret behind the latter two. Every day like clockwork, AOC will glide on Stila’s Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Beso because “the easiest way to look put together is with a bold lip.” Amen. When it comes to her skincare routine, the congresswoman triple loves tinted moisturizers because they’re more lightweight than regular foundation. But while the product you put on your...

FULL TITLE: Flamin' thirsty! Woman turns can of hairspray into a makeshift BLOWTORCH to burn items in a store - because the owner refused to give her free BEER Police are searching for a woman who made a can of hairspray into a makeshift blowtorch and used it to damage items in a Philadelphia store after the owner refused to give her beer for free. The incident happened at 10.30 a.m. in the Wyncote Beer Deli, West 65th Avenue, Philadelphia on November 20 when the unidentified woman wanted beer, but couldn't buy it because she had no money. Store Owner...

Sponges are among the simplest of multicellular organisms, but they contain an advanced human technology: fiber optics. In a case of reverse biomimetics, scientists have determined that one of the products of proud human engineering was already at work in a lowly sponge...

<p>AP) -- Scientists say they have identified an ocean sponge living in the darkness of the deep sea that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light better than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication.</p> <p>The natural glass fibers also are much more flexible than manufactured fiber optic cable that can crack if bent too far.</p>

When a soldier is shot on the battlefield, the emergency treatment can seem as brutal as the injury itself. A medic must pack gauze directly into the wound cavity, sometimes as deep as 5 inches into the body, to stop bleeding from an artery. It’s an agonizing process that doesn't always work--if bleeding hasn't stopped after three minutes of applying direct pressure, the medic must pull out all the gauze and start over again. It’s so painful, “you take the guy’s gun away first,” says former U.S. Army Special Operations medic John Steinbaugh. Even with this emergency treatment, many soldiers...

British makers Paladone have styled a line of cleaning products after carricatures of Dianna Ross and other black soul singers much to the chagrin of campaigners who feel the products are racially offensive. It is the hair of the cleaning products that acts as a brillo-pad that have civil rights groups furious.

EDGARTOWN, Mass. -- President Barack Obama is wrapping up his vacation on Martha's Vineyard and heading for New Orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Possible Impact for Hydrogen Storage tructure of chromium (III) diphenyl dicarboxylate, one of the new crystalline solids, in its crude form following synthesis (middle), with all traces of solvent removed (on the left), and after absorption of solvent and increase in volume (on the right). Source: G. Férey, CNRS 2007 A team of scientists from France, UK and the European Synhrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) have recently discovered an unprecedented giant and reversible swelling of nanoporous crystalline solids with exceptional properties: huge flexibility and profound selectivity. The team from Institut Lavoisier at Université de Versailles developed metal-organic three-dimensional structures with cages...

Reports about a study that found microwave ovens can be used to sterilize kitchen sponges sent people hurrying to test the idea this week -- with sometimes disastrous results. ADVERTISEMENT A team at the University of Florida found that two minutes in the microwave at full power could kill a range of bacteria, viruses and parasites on kitchen sponges. They described how they soaked the sponges in wastewater and then zapped them. But several experimenters evidently left out the crucial step of wetting the sponge. "Just wanted you to know that your article on microwaving sponges and scrubbers aroused my...

An immigrant taxi driver built a seven bedroom mansion in Pakistan after making millions of pounds in benefit fraud, credit card scams and fake passports. Nawaz Sharif - unemployed for the past 11 years - amassed a £2 million fortune through property, selling luxury cars and various criminal activities. The fraudster, forger and "Mr Fixit" - who helped fellow immigrants evade traffic fines - was jailed after his life of crime was brought to an end. The 37-year-old father of three, who came to Britain in the late eighties, was based in Slough, Berkshire. When police, immigration officials and benefits...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said: "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."'Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis.Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes...

Animal weaves strong glass For tips on building sturdy skyscrapers and bridges, you could consult engineering textbooks. Or you could plumb the frigid depths of the western Pacific. There, a not-so-humble sponge called Euplectella has been demonstrating fundamental principles of engineering since long before the dawn of skyscrapers, bridges or engineers. Euplectella weaves an intricate skeleton of glass. If you are a shrimp living inside this glass house, you can throw all the stones you want. This latticework is built to last, scientists from Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs report in today's issue of Science. "What is fascinating is that nature...

The SpongeBob SquarePants robber has struck again, this time hitting a bank at a Cub Foods store in Northfield, Minn., police said Saturday. The robber showed a gun after handing over a bag with the cartoon character on it. The robbery happened at 6:40 p.m. Friday at 2423 Hwy. 3 S., Northfield police said. Police said the man, who fled, is considered armed and dangerous, and a reward has been offered. It's believed to be the seventh time that the robber has hit using the SpongeBob bag. "We're assuming it's the same guy," said Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith. "He...

This is very real: http://www.kelloggs.com/promotions/spongebobsquarepants/limitededitions.html I think somebody at keebler has a very very very dark sense of humor.

ENGINEERS often admire the ways in which living creatures solve problems. The difficulty with man-made fibre-optic cables, says Joanna Aizenberg of Lucent Technologies in Murray Hill, New Jersey, is that they often crack and break. For a solution, Dr Aizenberg and her colleagues have turned to the exquisitely structured siliceous skeleton of a deep-sea sponge known as the Venus flower basket. This sponge, they say, can do things better. As they explain in a paper published in this week's issue of Nature, the sponge has a lattice of spiny outgrowths, or “spicules”, at its base, which provide structural support. These...

For years, women have been asking, "When?" They got their answer this week when a small New Jersey pharmaceutical company announced that it was shipping out new supplies of the Today Sponge, a popular over-the-counter method of birth-control that was discontinued in 1994. Within a day, a Canadian Web site set up to distribute the sponges received so many hits that it crashed; the operators set up a new site to accommodate the thousands of new orders and posted a notice on the original begging for patience. About 1,000 women who had preordered the sponges as far back as two...