SIDELINES...

SUPERBOY

A 14-year-old boy who can deadlift two-and-a-half times his bodyweight might be the world’s strongest teen. Josh Bland from Sunderland, who weighs 147lb (66.7kg), can hoist 364lb (165kg) – heavier than a baby elephant. He is the son of a former Army fitness instructor. Sun, 27 Feb 2021.

BRISTOL BROCK’S RESCUE

A badger found clinging to a tyre in Bristol Harbour was rescued after passers-by raised the alarm and notified Pauline Kidner, founder of Secret World Wildlife Rescue, who said: “It was heart wrenching to see him swimming and crying at the same time”. The badger had fallen into the harbour overnight and had been struggling to stay afloat for two hours before dragging itself close to mooring ropes. It will stay with Secret World Wildlife Rescue for a few days to recover from its ordeal. BBC News, 25 Mar 2021.

UNDER HIS NOSE

Mike Rumsey, curator of minerals at the Natural History Museum in London, has discovered a new mineral in a sample mined in Cornwall 220 years ago. Long thought to be liroconite, which is bright blue, this rock was dark green and found to be sufficiently chemically different to be defined as a new species, now called kernowite. Around 100 new mineral species are found each year, but very rarely in the UK. D.Telegraph, 24 Dec 2020.

LURKING IN MUSEUMS

Fossils dug up in the Fens in the 19th century and stored in the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge and the Booth Museum in Brighton, were originally categorised as parts of a shark. Now PhD student Roy Smith has identified them as parts of a mystery species of pterosaur (flying lizard). D.Telegraph, 11 Nov 2020.

CASTAWAYS

Two men and a woman survived on a diet of coconuts, conches and rats for 33 days after they were cast away on an uninhabited atoll between Florida and Cuba. The trio, from Cuba, told US coastguards their boat had capsized, so they swam to Anguilla Cay, whence they were rescued on 9 February. D.Telegraph, 12 Feb 2021.