Schools want to pay research subjects to eat avocados

A team composed of researchers from four US colleges is seeking subjects interested in being paid to eat avocados for six months.

Loma Linda University announced researchers from its School of Health are partnering with teams from Penn State University, Tufts University and the University of California, Los Angeles, to conduct a six-month study that will examine whether avocados promote weight loss.

Each school will gather 250 subjects and the participants will be split into two groups, one that consumes an avocado a day and another that eats two avocados per month.

Loma Linda University said interested applicants must be at least 25 years old, with male participants measuring at least 40 inches around the waist and female subjects measuring at least 35 inches across the waist.

Participants in both groups will each receive $300 at the end of the study.

The world’s tiniest diamond heist

A New York City gem dealer didn’t need the long arm of the law to catch a recent would-be diamond thief — the bandit travelled only a few feet from the scene of the crime, and measured just a fraction of an inch in length.

The perpetrator of what is probably the world’s tiniest diamond thief was an ant, and its daring caper took place in plain sight. Not only was the theft detected within moments, the ant’s antics were captured in a video.

In the video clip, piles of very small diamonds can be seen on a desk blotter. The camera zooms in and focuses on an unusual flurry of activity near a corner of the blotter, revealing an ant hurrying away with a diamond grasped firmly in its mandibles. At the very least, the determined insect deserves points for its confidence — the diamond appears to be nearly as big as the ant’s own body.

For about 47 seconds, the camera follows the ant as it carries its glittering prize across the table. Sometimes the ant forges forward with the diamond, and sometimes the insect reverses direction and drags the diamond behind it.

Beach or a door?

There is a new photo which is confusing people on social media. The optical illusion baffles people as nobody can work out what the photo is actually of First, we had the blue or gold dress, and then the pink or green trainers, and more recently we were all scratching our heads over Yanny or Laurel .

The latest picture confusing people online is this seemingly innocent snap of a blue, white and green door frame. Hang on, or is it a beach photo on its side?

The photo was originally shared by a woman called Becky on social media. She later revealed the answer, but not before letting her friends stress about it for a few days.

It started a huge row on social media, with half of people refusing to believe the snap shows anything other than a slightly tatty door frame.

Two days later, Becky shared another photo revealing what she was actually photographing at the time. And the answer is ... a beach!

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 8th, 2018