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Mysterious patterns in crop fields caused a sensation in the late 1980s, blamed on aliens or paranormal activity. Now, a new novel has been inspired by some of the men who provided a more mundane explanation - without completely putting the theories to rest.

Scientists have grown plants in lunar soil for the first time, an important step towards making long-term stays on the moon possible. Researchers used small samples of dust collected during the 1969-1972 Apollo missions to grow a type of cress.

In a strange corner of our solar system live two alien blobs. With sprawling, amorphous bodies the size of continents, these oddities are thought to spend their time lying in wait for their food to rain down upon them – then simply absorbing it.

A couple in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand are suing their only son and his wife for not giving them a grandchild after six years of marriage.Sanjeev and Sadhana Prasad, 61 and 57, say they used up their savings raising their son, paying for his pilot's training as well as a lavish wedding.

This is the gargantuan black hole that lives at the centre of our galaxy, pictured for the very first time. Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is a staggering four million times the mass of our Sun.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.When Leonid Pliats and his boss were shot in the back by Russian soldiers, the killing was captured on CCTV cameras in clear and terrible detail.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.A passenger has landed an aeroplane at Humberside Airport after the pilot fell ill at the controls.

Months after Faisal Maqbool stopped playing online games on his smartphone, he still struggles with temptation. Last year, the 31-year-old - a project coordinator with a construction firm - lost close to 400,000 rupees ($5,000; £4,010) in five months while playing an online card game.

News networks in Florida are searching for a mystery passenger who landed a plane solo after his pilot passed out. The unidentified man's voice was heard in public flight recordings telling the airport tower that he had "no idea how to stop the airplane".

The allegations that spy software known as Pegasus may have been used to carry out surveillance on journalists, activists - and even perhaps political leaders - highlights that surveillance is now for sale.

The first woman to head Spain's CNI intelligence agency, Paz Esteban, has lost her job in a deepening scandal over phone-hacking software found on the phones of top politicians. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, two other ministers and 18 Catalan separatists were all targeted by Pegasus software.

I am dazzled by the rural beauty of France's Basque Country, where the untamed coast and rolling green hills are dappled with red tile-roofed villages and surrounded by clouds of white sheep.

An iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol has been auctioned for $195m (£158.17m) - making it the most expensive piece of 20th Century art ever sold. The painting, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was painted by Warhol in 1964 using a famous photograph as inspiration.

In 2018 Laura Young purchased a bust at Goodwill, a second-hand shop in the Texan city of Austin, for just $35 (£28). She photographed it strapped into the passenger seat of her car.

As the train pulled into Peradeniya Junction station in central Sri Lanka, the man sitting opposite me leapt out of his seat and leaned out of the window, placing his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and whistling loudly.

The Covid pandemic has caused the deaths of nearly 15 million people around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates. That is 13% more deaths than normally expected over two years.

At precisely 47.5 years old, house carpenter "Polydore" - surname absent - is cited as a "good workman" and the property of His Majesty King George. So reads a 1785 register of enslaved Africans in Antigua in which Polydore appears among hundreds of others.

"Am I virgin?" asked the stranger across the internet, matter of factly, in Abir Sarras's inbox. Sarras wasn’t sure how to reply. It was the first time she had been sent what she describes as a "vagina selfie". 

For those affected, it could seem like the end of the world. Residents of Stinson Beach, a popular tourist destination near San Francisco, are coming to terms with studies that show large parts of their neighbourhood will be under a foot of water in less than 20 years.

In a Sydney suburb in 1981, a teenage George Cruickshank and his two friends painted a border line in his backyard and declared the 10-sq-metre patch the provisional territory of the Empire of Atlantium.

Dentists are not normally known for changing history. And yet a dentist in Sicily has played a small part in rewriting the history of one of Europe's most important battles.

Dangling over the pool of sewage, at the end of a mercifully long handle, was a small fishing net. The Baltimore city worker wielding this instrument angled it gently into the fetid muck and scooped from the surface a sought-after prize – one used condom.

Homes filled with objects culled from the natural world – from gnarled bones and flamboyant feathers to twisted twigs and taxidermy – are increasingly common, as a new book highlights.

Amateur space photographer Andrew McCarthy, or 'space nerd' as he calls himself on his Instagram account, has a passion for astronomy, thanks to his dad introducing him to the moon through his telescope when he was a child.

image copyrightSteve BiroA Canadian amateur photographer says he is "overwhelmed" by the worldwide response to a photograph he took of a bald eagle. Steve Biro snapped the image of Bruce the bald eagle at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy and first posted it on some Facebook photography groups.

The altered signs - including images of flowers and wine glasses - have been seen in South St David Street, Thistle Street and Union Street. The signs were hacked by French artist Clet Abraham, whose work sells for thousands of pounds.

The famous statues of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, are best known for their deep-set eyes and long ears. They also sport impressive multi-tonne hats made from a different rock type.

Satellite pictures confirm there is a persistent lava lake inside the crater of a remote British Overseas Territory (BOT) volcano. Few enduring lava lakes are known globally; the one at Mount Michael on Saunders Island in the South Atlantic may be only the sixth such example.

The 5.1 magnitude earthquake had an epicentre about 22km (14 miles) north-west of Athens. Athenians ran out into the streets as the city shook for 15 seconds.

The governor of the region says the dragons have become too tame. He has a clear vision of how the island should be transformed.   His argument for change has been bolstered by the recent interception of the first known Komodo smuggling ring - from the island of Flores.

Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries. John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino share the prize for their work on these rechargeable devices, which are used for portable electronics.

Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for "ground-breaking" discoveries about the Universe. James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz were announced as this year's winners at a ceremony in Stockholm.

A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks stretching over 150 sq km (58 sq miles) is drifting through the Pacific Ocean, scientists say.The sea of pumice - the size of 20,000 football fields - was first reported by Australian sailors earlier this month.

Researchers have provided the first glimpse of what an ancient group of humans looked like. Denisovan remains were discovered in 2008 and human evolution experts have become fascinated with the group that went extinct around 50,000 years ago.

A royal palace in Nigeria has announced that its resident tortoise has died following a short illness, saying it was a remarkable 344 years old. The tortoise, named Alagba, meaning elderly one, lived in the palace of Ogbomoso in Oyo state.

Deep in the Cambodian jungle lie the remains of a vast medieval city, which was hidden for centuries. New archaeological techniques are now revealing its secrets - including an elaborate network of temples and boulevards, and sophisticated engineering.

Saturn has overtaken Jupiter as the planet with the most moons, according to US researchers. The moons were discovered using the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.

A painting of the Mona Lisa hangs above a fireplace in a London flat in the 1960s. Is this picture not only by Leonardo da Vinci, but also an earlier version of the world famous portrait that hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris?

Twitter is usually awash with topics for discussion, but over the past couple of days one has stood out on the platform above others - what does the future hold for Twitter itself?

Billions of dollars of Chinese money are boosting some European economies - but some of the deals being struck have a catch. Critics say they are "debt traps", where China gets to choose what happens if loans aren't repaid.

Capturing carbon by increasing forest cover has become central to the fight against climate change. But there's a problem. Sometimes these forests exist on paper only - because promises have not been kept, or because planted trees have died or even been harvested.

A woman who took up running after she lost her left leg to cancer has passed the Guinness World Record for most consecutive marathons.Jacky Hunt-Broersma, 46, has run 26.2-miles every day since mid-January, normally taking around five hours.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Millions of women across the US could soon lose their legal right to abortion, according to a leaked Supreme Court document.

The claim of Hemingway's authorship originates in an unsubstantiated anecdote about a wager among him and other writers. In a 1991 letter to Canadian humorist John Robert Colombo, science fiction writer Arthur C.

Getting started with using Gatsby with Drupal is made easier by the dozens of resources available to help you get up and running with a minimum of fuss. We’ve gathered up some of the more popular Gatsby + Drupal resources on the web, and we’re happy to present them here. 

Drupal will always hold a special place in my heart. The first website I ever built for someone else was a Drupal 6 site shortly after it was released. I’ve been around for countless Drupal Camps and Cons, major version upgrade pains, and I’ve always stuck around for the community.

One of the most impactful things you can do to fight climate change is make a few small but meaningful tweaks to your diet. Nearly three-quarters of people in the UK and more than half of Americans think it is important to eat sustainably.

Monica Sousa, an experienced scientist, could barely believe her eyes. In the small plastic enclosure on the lab bench in front of her was a mouse that a few weeks before had been half-paralysed, its rear legs dragging behind it wherever it went.

"Ukraine and its allies, including London, are threatening Russia for the last 1,000 years, to move Nato to our borders, to cancel our culture - they have bullied us for many, many years."

A poster campaign has drawn attention to the issue of "intrusive staring" on public transport, warning travellers it can constitute sexual harassment. Those affected describe being watched by a stranger as a distressing experience.