BaleHaus@Bath (Straw bale house project)

The environmentally-friendly house was built with straw bale panels and could pave the way for the first housing estate of straw buildings.

After putting the dwelling through its paces, tests confirmed it was 'more than strong enough' to withstand hurricane force winds.

The team, from the University of Bath in Somerset, said the success of the house completely rewrote the famous fairytale involving the three little pigs and the big bad wolf.

The BaleHaus@Bath building was built by industrial partners ModCell to assess the performance of straw as a sustainable building material.

The two-storey building was officially opened by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud last year.

The research team, led by Professor Pete Walker, Director of the University's Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, has been monitoring the house since October last year for thermal performance and humidity level.

The team has now tested the structure of the house for resisting winds of up to 120mph.

It used hydraulic jacks which pushed horizontally against the walls with a total force exceeding four tonnes, equivalent to the dynamic force of a hurricane.

During the tests, the walls moved no more than four millimetres under peak loads, well within design requirements and as predicted.

The researchers will use this data to develop a theoretical computer model of the house to simulate how a three-storey, or even higher, BaleHaus building would withstand such winds.

Professor Pete Walker said: 'Straw is a very environmentally-friendly building material because it is renewable and uses a co-product of farming.

'The crop used to make the straw locks in carbon dioxide as it grows and can be sourced from local farms, saving on transport and minimising the carbon footprint of the building.

'The recent test result is excellent as it has both confirmed the robustness of BaleHaus and validated the computer model, so avoiding the need for further tests and providing basis for safe and efficient structural design.

'We hope the data we're collecting on the BaleHaus will help strengthen the case for the mainstream building industry switching to using more sustainable building materials such as straw.'

Craig White, director of ModCell, said: 'This is a fantastic result. All too often, we are asked whether building with straw is durable.

'Our research at BaleHaus@Bath shows conclusively that building with straw using the ModCell System is not only safe, secure and durable, it is also fit for the 21st century challenge of reducing our CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

'These tests will offer proof that renewable building materials are a realistic option for building on a large scale.

Photographer turns everyday images into mind-boggling works of art

A Swedish artist has turned the world on its head by taking images of everyday life and distorting them into mind-boggling works of art.

In one shot a man appears to pick up a tarmac road and drag it behind him like a sheet; in another a young man seems to be ironing his own body.

In all photographs everyday scenes are given quirky twists, offering the viewer a different take on reality.

Erik Johansson, 24, used a computer programme to manipulate his original pictures into mind-boggling pieces of art.

The artist said his crazy ideas just come to him after trying to perceive ordinary events differently.

He sets out with his camera with a concept already in mind, before snapping pictures of everyday situations such as a man cycling along a road.

He then manipulates the images on his computer to create mind-boggling effects.

Mr Johansson utilises the Photoshop programme to bend roads, distort human bodies and change the landscape of the countryside.

In one, a man picks up a road and drags it casually behind him like a sheet.

Another shows a perplexed cyclist staring down a chasm as the street drops off vertically before him.

A third depicts a normal-looking man ironing his own flattened body and another shows a labourer playing naughts and crosses in the road with a digger.

Erik, who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, said: 'I get inspiration from almost everywhere. I actually get most of the ideas from things that happen in my daily life.

'To look at a situation in a different and unexpected way can sometimes generate ideas but the best ideas I get just come to me.

'Everything I do is very well planned. I almost never go out photographing without any idea about what I will do with the photos.

'Looking for the right place to shoot the photos is actually what takes up most of my time.

'The time required to put the photo together is very different depending on the photos that I have. It mostly takes between 10 to 20 hours, sometimes more.

'I like to change my photos in impossible and strange ways.

'From the beginning I started to modify photos just for fun, and I still think it is.'

What a drag! Sensational photographer Erik Johansson shows a man pick up a road and drag it casually behind him like a sheet

Flat out! A normal-looking man irons his own two-dimensional body

Noughts and Crosses: An idle street worker takes on a digger

The sky's the limit: A labourer lays a reflection on the road

Walking in the air: A dog owner gives her lazy pet a lift with balloons

Something fishy? Much like an iceberg, this island lacks the firmest foundations

Water colours: An art lover sees her painting live up to its name

Out there! A man appears to leap out of an apartment window

Einstein, the world's smallest horse

The three-day old pinto stallion, called Einstein, is just 14 inches high and weighs only an incredible 6lbs.

If baby animals are "cute," then how does one describe Einstein the newborn pinto stallion? Weighing in at just six pounds, the New Hampshire-born foal may be the world's smallest horse. Dr. Rachel Wagner, Einstein's co-owner, says the Guinness record for the smallest newborn horse is 9 pounds. Wagner notes Einstein shows no signs of dwarfism, unlike the current record holder.

Pint-sized: Einstein the pinto stallion weighed just 6lbs when he was born on Friday in Barnstead, New Hampshire

Prostitutes sign confuses motorists

Road sign near Treviso, Italy, warning motorists to watch out for prostitutes

The sign states 'Attenzione Prostitute' - seemingly warning people of prostitutes in the area.

Motorists and pedestrians have complained that the sign is 'confusing', saying they don't know if it means to watch out for crossing hookers or if it means prostitutes operate in the area.

One local Dino Vezino, 34, said: "I was driving in to work and saw this sign and had to slow down to get a proper look.

"I couldn't believe it - the woman has a mini-skirt and high heels on and very big breasts.

"I just couldn't work out what it was for?

"Does it mean I have to look out for prostitutes crossing or that they are available around here?"

Library book returned 45 years late

LONDON - Staff at the Dinnington library are used to people bringing books back late but the package they received last month was in a class of its own.

It contained a paperback first edition copy of "Quatermass and the Pit" by Nigel Kneale which had been borrowed on September 24, 1965.

"I thought at first it was just a normal return, until I saw the color of the pages: they were very brown around the edges," said Alison Lawrie, the Principal Library Assistant.

"It's true that some people like to take their time with a good book, but 45 years is an incredible amount of time!"

Staff believe the book was borrowed from the old Dinnington Library, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire which opened in 1936 and is close to the current building which opened in 2000.

However, the identity of the borrower remains a mystery because records do not go back that far -- and there would have been no danger of a huge accumulated fine because all fines are capped at 6 pounds .

Dog saved abandoned human baby

South American dog, this one from Argentina, was credited not with saving a dog but with saving a human baby. The video of that dog story can be seen here. A young Argentinian teenager gave birth to the premature baby boy in a shantytown, panicked, and left the baby in a field of rubbish and wooden crates. La China, a dog who is a mother in every sense of the word, discovered the abandoned baby. The dog saved the newborn by carrying it 50 meters and placing it among her own litter of pups.

A villager learned that the dog saved a newborn when he heard the baby's cries and investigated. The baby had little chance of survival had La China's mothering instincts not kicked in, according to officials at the hospital where the baby was later brought. In the field where La China the dog saved the newborn, the temperature was 3 degrees centigrade.

To many dog owners, the dog saved newborn news does not come as a surprise. There have been stories of heroic dogs saving their human friends as long as there have been dogs and humans.

Dog Attacks Shark

This is the first time i hear dogs attacking shark...

Alaskan malamute howling ease the baby

Grandma has a full body tattoos

Amazing Photoshop Works...