Artist creates world’s smallest pencil

An Indian artist is showing off what he says is the world’s smallest pencil — a functioning writing implement measuring only 2 inches long.

Prakash Chandra Upadhyay, a micro-sculptor, said he drilled a minuscule hole in a piece of wood and inserted the graphite to create the pencil, which requires a pair of tweezers to use.

Upadhyay said it took him about four days worth of effort to make the tiny pencil, which is .2 inches long and only .02 inches wide.

“This pencil is made of a single piece of wood. The wood has been drilled and the lid has been fixed in it,” Upadhyay told.

Upadhyay’s pencil was recognised as the smallest by Assist World Records Research Foundation.

Alligator swimming in the pool

A Florida family woke up to a surprising scene when they discovered an alligator taking an early morning dip in their backyard pool.

The Boca Raton Police Services Department said in a Facebook post that a family awoke to discover an eight-foot alligator taking a swim in the pool behind their Boca Raton home.

The department shared photos of the alligator before and after it was captured by an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It was unclear whether the alligator was released back into the wild or taken to an FWC facility.

Orca whale learns to say ‘Hello’!

This amazing discovery, along with the recording of the vocalisation, was unveiled in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The research team, led by José Zamorano-Abramson, postdoctoral researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, began recording the 14-year mammal, named Wikie who resides at Marineland in Antibes, France, in 2014. The experiment was conducted to test the theory that killer whales learn sounds from social settings. Wikie, who has spent most of her life at the aquatic park, is accustomed to mimicking her trainer’s actions in exchange for fish, and was, therefore, the perfect candidate for the job.

The team began by presenting Wikie with sounds like noisy breath, a piercing peeping sound and the sound of an elephant call. Wikie stepped up to the challenge each time.

The ultimate test was to replicate human sounds like a few simple words: “Ah ah,” “hello,” “bye-bye,” “one-two-three,” and the name of her trainer, “Amy.” To their delight, she mimicked “hello” instantly. Though the others took a little longer, the smart mammal was eventually able to master them all.

Wikie is merely copying the sounds to obtain the reward that follows every attempt. However, this demonstrates the mammal’s intelligence.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 10th, 2018