The Design Museum in London has included a "DIY meal kit" featuring steaks that could be grown from a diner's own human cells among the nominees in its Beazley Designs of the Year exhibit. Developers of the Ouroboros Steak envision that individuals will be able to harvest cells from their own cheek and feed them with serum derived from donated blood that has expired, Dezeen reported. After about three months, the steaks would be fully grown. "People think that eating oneself is cannibalism, which technically this is not," said Grace Knight, one of the designers. Researcher Orkan Telhan added, "Our design is scientifically and economically feasible but also ironic in many ways."
Collateral damage
Police in Corvallis, Ore., said Dylan Milota was high on marijuana when he crashed the Tesla he was driving at more than 100 mph into a utility pole on Nov. 17, breaking the pole and spraying hundreds of small batteries through the windows of two nearby residences. One landed on a bed and started a fire, KMTR reported. And a tire struck the second story of a nearby apartment building so forcefully it broke water pipes inside the wall, destroying a bathroom and causing flooding in the lower level, police said. Citizens were warned not to pick up any batteries, which can stay hot for up to 24 hours and release toxic fumes. Milota fled on foot but was quickly apprehended.
Hand sanitizer, fire don't mix
College student Benjamin LaRose of Millis, Mass., is recovering from third-degree burns he suffered at an outdoor party with friends this fall when someone used hand sanitizer as an accelerant in the fire pit they were gathered around, Boston25 reported. "It was rather sudden how quick it reacted," LaRose said, "very much like napalm," catching his leg and shorts on fire and requiring skin grafts to treat the burns. LaRose's pediatrician, Dr. Lester Hartman, warned of the dangers of using hand sanitizer and then being exposed to open flames: "Alcohol is very volatile and explosive ... and people that are doing a barbecue or even lighting a cigarette or lighting a candle" need to let the alcohol evaporate first. Or, experts say, use soap and water.
Meteor strike a sign of luck
Josua Hutagalung, 33, was outside his home in Sumatra in August when a meteorite crashed through his roof and landed outside. United Press International reported the rare 4.5-pound meteorite was valued at almost $1.9 million, which attracted American expert Jared Collins, who paid more than $1 million for the rock. "I have also always wanted a daughter," Hutagalung said, "and I hope this is a sign that I will be lucky enough now to have one." He also plans to donate some of the funds to his local church's new building project.
Election rigging uncovered
Evidence of election rigging in New Zealand's Bird of the Year competition has set organizers all atwitter, NPR reported. Officials at Forest & Bird, a conservation organization, noticed that more than 1,500 votes had come from one e-mail address on Nov. 9, all in favor of the spotted kiwi. "That is an amazing bird," spokeswoman Laura Keown said, "but ... these votes had to be disallowed, and they've been taken out of the competition." The disqualification cleared the way for the competition's eventual winner: the kakapo, a rare nocturnal bird and the world's only flightless parrot.
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