Researchers who dangled a dozen endangered rhinos upside down earn Ig Nobel
CBSN
What happens when you hang a rhinoceros upside down? That's what a group of researchers from Cornell University and Namibia's Ministry of Environment wanted to find out. So they dangled a dozen tranquilized black rhinos from a crane — and earned an award for their work.
Science humor magazine Improbable Research awarded the study an Ig Nobel — a takeoff on the famed Nobel Prize — for transportation, one of 10 research projects cited Thursday "for achievements that first make people laugh then make them think." The study tested how rhinos fare upside down because that's increasingly how conservationists move the critically endangered animals — suspended from a helicopter with a 130-foot chain while the 1,400-pound mammals are relocated either for their protection or to ensure genetic diversity in breeding efforts. According to the researchers, nobody had ever checked to see if the health of a tranquilized rhino was compromised when being airlifted upside down.Noumea — France's president held a flurry of meetings with local representatives in the restive Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Thursday, urging calm after deadly rioting, and vowing thousands of military reinforcements will stay in place to quell what he called an "unprecedented insurrection."
Kathmandu — Nepali climber Phunjo Lama on Thursday reached Mount Everest's summit in 14 hours and 31 minutes, smashing the record for the world's fastest ascent of the mountain by a woman. Climbers usually take days to reach the top of the 29,032-foot mountain, spending nights on its different camps to rest and acclimatize.
New Delhi — Indian justice officials have changed course amid outrage over the bail terms set for a teenager accused of killing two people while driving a Porsche at high speed while drunk and without a license. The 17-year-old son of a wealthy businessman had been ordered to write a 300-word essay and work with the local traffic police for 15 days to be granted bail — a decision that was made within 15 hours of his arrest.