Youngest brothers to earn all 63 NPS Junior Ranger badges

Jeremy, eight years old, and Peter Rush, six years old, have become the youngest brothers to complete the Junior Ranger programme at all the 63 US national parks and 108 other NPS sites. Their journey began in 2020 at Death Valley National Park when they were just three and one years old respectively.

The Junior Ranger programme involves completing activities, sharing answers with a park ranger and earning a badge and certificate. Their father, David Rush, has submitted their achievement to the NPS and Guinness World Records for official recognition.

Teen with ‘Werewolf syndrome’ earns GWR award

Lalit Patidar (18) from India has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the hairiest face, with 201.72 hairs per square cm due to hypertrichosis, a rare condition affecting only 50 documented cases since the Middle Ages.

With hair covering 90 percent of his face, Patidar faced fear from classmates, but later gained acceptance. Despite suggestions to remove the hair, he embraces his look. “I like how I am and don’t want to change,” he said.

The YouTuber expressed pride in his record, calling it an honour and a moment of happiness.

Man finds alligator in his kitchen

A Florida man who left his patio door open for some fresh air ended up coming face-to-face with an alligator in his kitchen.

Paul Quinn was checking his email at his Fort Myers home one Sunday when he discovered an alligator had broken through the screen and entered through his open patio door.

Quinn called 911 and a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trapper was summoned to remove the approximately eight-foot-long gator.

He recorded video as the trapper used a catch pole to drag the reptile out of the house.

The world’s most accurate clock

Looking more like a small fridge than a high-tech device, the Aether Clock OC 020, by Japan’s Shimadzu Corp, is the world’s most accurate clock. Standing about three feet tall with a 250-litre volume, it’s so precise it would drift by just one second in 10 billion years — 100 times more accurate than current caesium atomic clocks.

While optical lattice clocks have existed, this is the first commercially available model. It reduces the need for frequent adjustments and is compact enough to be relocated easily. Potential applications include measuring gravitational shifts, monitoring plate tectonics and volcanic activity with centimetre-level accuracy.

Priced at $3.3 million, Shimadzu has already sold one unit and aims to sell ten more over three years, mainly to research institutions. The clock operates by trapping laser-cooled atoms in an optical lattice and analysing transitions in a cryogenically cooled chamber, using a system of lasers, an optical resonator and a vacuum chamber.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 19th, 2025