Commonwealth Times

Drug bugs

Customs officers in Amsterdam discovered 100 dead beetles stuffed with cocaine when examining a package from Peru. The bugs had been slit open and filled with a total of 300 grams of cocaine. The estimated street value of the drugs is 8,000 euros ($11,270). A government spokesperson said they'd never seen anything like this before. The package was opened after it was scanned and found to contain what appeared to be insects.

Expecting sex proves fertile

Researchers at the University of Texas have discovered that if a male bird anticipates sex, his fertility rate will increase. The unorthodox study conducted on 28 male quails and 14 female quails.

The scientists used two chambers - one green one near a noisy room and a white one with an isolated table. The males were put into each of the chambers for a short period each day over a period of five days. Half of the males were given access to a female immediately after their time in the green chamber but not the white; for the other half, it was the opposite.

The male quails came to associate one chamber with the act of copulation. Finally, the experiment paired the males with single females. One male would go into the romantic chamber and then have access to the female, then one would go into the non-romantic chamber and afterward have access to the same female.

DNA testing tracked the paternity of the eggs and found that the males who anticipated the act of copulation fertilized 72 percent of the eggs.

The study concluded that the anticipation of mating appeared to induce them to produce more offspring. Blonds have more orangutans

An orangutan at a primate park in the Netherlands has his keepers miffed by his lack of sexual interest in other orangutans. It seems he is only attracted to blond human women with tattoos. The park hoped that he would become the breeding male when he arrived two weeks ago, but it doesn't look like that will be the case.

He chases or ignores female orangutans. Instead he fancies blond women, which a park spokesperson said isn't uncommon. He also has a fetish for tattoos, since the person who raised him was heavily tattooed.

Tax breaks for mamma's boys

Italy's minister of the economy has sparked uproar by offering "big babies" a tax break if they'll finally leave home.

More than a third of Italian men age 30 and older live at home with their parents. This phenomenon is blamed on the extremely high apartment rents and bleak job prospects. The economy minister offered a remedy - a 1,000 euro ($1,411) tax break for 20- and 30-something single Italians who rent their own apartments.

"We must send those we call 'big babies' out of the house," the minister told a Senate hearing on the 2008 budget.

Politicians countered that young Italians couldn't be blamed for the state of the economy and high rents. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said problems facing Italy's youth were the country's biggest challenge.

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Drug bugs

Customs officers in Amsterdam discovered 100 dead beetles stuffed with cocaine when examining a package from Peru. The bugs had been slit open and filled with a total of 300 grams of cocaine. The estimated street value of the drugs is 8,000 euros ($11,270). A government spokesperson said they'd never seen anything like this before. The package was opened after it was scanned and found to contain what appeared to be insects.

Expecting sex proves fertile

Researchers at the University of Texas have discovered that if a male bird anticipates sex, his fertility rate will increase. The unorthodox study conducted on 28 male quails and 14 female quails.

The scientists used two chambers - one green one near a noisy room and a white one with an isolated table. The males were put into each of the chambers for a short period each day over a period of five days. Half of the males were given access to a female immediately after their time in the green chamber but not the white; for the other half, it was the opposite.

The male quails came to associate one chamber with the act of copulation. Finally, the experiment paired the males with single females. One male would go into the romantic chamber and then have access to the female, then one would go into the non-romantic chamber and afterward have access to the same female.

DNA testing tracked the paternity of the eggs and found that the males who anticipated the act of copulation fertilized 72 percent of the eggs.

The study concluded that the anticipation of mating appeared to induce them to produce more offspring. Blonds have more orangutans

An orangutan at a primate park in the Netherlands has his keepers miffed by his lack of sexual interest in other orangutans. It seems he is only attracted to blond human women with tattoos. The park hoped that he would become the breeding male when he arrived two weeks ago, but it doesn't look like that will be the case.

He chases or ignores female orangutans. Instead he fancies blond women, which a park spokesperson said isn't uncommon. He also has a fetish for tattoos, since the person who raised him was heavily tattooed.

Tax breaks for mamma's boys

Italy's minister of the economy has sparked uproar by offering "big babies" a tax break if they'll finally leave home.

More than a third of Italian men age 30 and older live at home with their parents. This phenomenon is blamed on the extremely high apartment rents and bleak job prospects. The economy minister offered a remedy - a 1,000 euro ($1,411) tax break for 20- and 30-something single Italians who rent their own apartments.

"We must send those we call 'big babies' out of the house," the minister told a Senate hearing on the 2008 budget.

Politicians countered that young Italians couldn't be blamed for the state of the economy and high rents. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said problems facing Italy's youth were the country's biggest challenge.

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