Mysterious fires in Italian village baffle scientists

The Sicilian village of Canneto de Caronia has been the centre of interest and attention of geologists, physicists and volcanologists for a long period of almost 10 years due to the mysterious and unexplained fires that seem to erupt out of nowhere. But no one has been able to provide an accurate, scientific explanation so far.

The bizarre phenomenon, which has seen a sudden surge this year, includes spontaneous combustion of mattresses, beds, cars, and devices like fridges and mobile phones, even when switched off.

Naturally, the villagers are blaming supernatural entities like UFOs, poltergeists, or other demonic forces. And with no other logical reason in sight, one tends to wonder if they actually might be right.

It all began in January 2004, when, without any apparent cause, appliances (including a cooker and a vacuum cleaner) in several houses began to catch fire.

Wedding presents, random pieces of furniture, and even a water pipe erupted into flames. In response, the local electric company tried cutting off the power supply to Canneto, but that made no difference.

The village was evacuated and a through investigation was conducted, but the experts and authorities simply failed to locate the problem.

Even with the arrival of volcanologists from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and a team of experts from the Italian Navy, no viable solution was found.

Understandably, the villagers were terrified, and a few of them even suggested calling in a priest to conduct an exorcism. Months went by, and a period of calm followed, when most of the villagers returned to their homes.

Unexplained fires still occur from time to time, and the villagers have pretty much learned to live with them. Other bizarre events have taken place as well - there were unexplained leaks from water pipes of three different houses, a vanity mirror in a bathroom caught fire three times in 35 hours, and an entire plantation of eggplants developed rainbow-like colours, making them unfit to be sold.

In April 2005, the Italian government created a special Task Force (of high-ranking army officers, engineers, architects, geologists and physicists) to investigate the situation in the sleepy little village.

The group conducted an extensively thorough analysis - aerial photo-remote sensing, assessment of geophysical and geochemical data, detection of magnetometric and electromagnetic fields, radio-electric spectrum monitoring, and more.

The results, however, were inconclusive.

In 2007, an Italian newspaper published a leaked interim report from the Civil Protection Department, concluding that the only plausible explanation was 'aliens', because the fires were 'caused by high power electromagnetic emissions which were not man-made and reached a power of between 12 and 15 gigawatts'.

A year later, the case was dismissed following further investigation - they just attributed it to an 'unknown electromagnetic radiation'.

Now, after a period of respite, the inexplicable fires have returned to plague the citizens of Canneto. On September 30 a series of fires were reported throughout the otherwise peaceful settlement. First, a chair covered in cellophane caught fire for no apparent reason.

Hours later, someone else called the fire department to report a stack of folded clothes had burst into flames, and then an entrepreneur who was getting ready to drive away in his car but returned to get something he had forgotten from the house, found his vehicle burning. A book and a sofa were also found scorched for no apparent reason in different areas of the town.

You're smelling of whisky!

If you happen to be wearing a garment made out of this special fabric you'll be ordered to blow into a balloon as you will be awfully smelling of whisky. Now you'll be wondering what this is all about.

It is that Johnnie Walker Whisky and Harris Tweed Hebrides, two of Scotland's most iconic brands, teamed up with Heriot Watt University to create a new smart fabric that permanently smells like whisky.

Recently launched in Berlin, the smelly fabric is said to have key notes of malt, vanilla, red fruits and dark chocolate tones, which closely resemble the aroma of Johnnie Walker Black Label. "The unique scent, inspired by the nose of our liquid, echoes the masterful whisky production process.

The key notes of rich malt, golden vanilla, red fruit and the trademark dark chocolate tones have been layered onto the fabric to achieve the unique final nose and finish of the Johnnie Walker Fabric of Flavour", the famous spirit maker said.

The colours of the fabric match the colours of the Johnnie Walker label [that is black, gold and off-white].

But what makes the new fabric special is that its aroma can withstand washing and dry-cleaning. Donald Mackay, head of the finishing department at the Harris Tweed Hebrides mill, said the clothing company had worked with aromas in the past, but they were only meant to withstand one dry-clean. However, with the help of scientists from Heriot Watt University, they were able to make the whisky fragrance permanent.

"The process we have devised for Johnnie Walker means that this scent is layered into the fabric throughout the finishing process and is permanently imbued in the tweed," Mackay said.

Light-bulb has been burning for 113 years

It may be bizarre but its true.It is hard to believe yet this centennial light bulb at fire station No 6 in Livermore, California has been continuously burning for 113 years since 1901.

The exact date the centennial bulb was turned on is unknown, although its birthday is usually celebrated on June 18. However, we do know that it has been alight 24 hours a day since then, shining a dim light over the fire engines.

Apart from the few power outages it has faced in the last 113 years, the unbreakable light-bulb has only had two breaks - one in 1976, when it was moved from one fire station and installed in another, and one in 2013, when it was off for 9 3.4 hours.

The bulb was moved, almost 40 years ago but the people were so cautious not to break it that they severed the cord, instead of unscrewing it, and transferred it with a full police and fire truck escort.

The whole business lasted just 22 minutes, after which it was back to business as usual.

The impressive light-bulb is apparently an improved hand-blown incandescent lamp with carbon filament. Debora Katz, a physicist at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, has conducted extensive research on the centennial light-bulb and what makes it so special, using a vintage light bulb from Shelby Electric Co. that is a near replica of the Livermore lamp.

"The Livermore light bulb differs from a contemporary incandescent bulb in two ways," says Katz. "First its filament is about eight times thicker than a contemporary bulb. Second, the filament is a semiconductor, most likely made of carbon.

When a conductor gets hotter, its ability to conduct electricity goes down. When the Shelby bulb gets hotter, it becomes a better conductor of electricity."

The Livermore light-bulb has baffled scientists for more than a century, and so far no one has been able to explain how it has managed to last so long. To shed more light on the matter, Katz plans to test the filament of a vintage Shelby bulb at Annapolis Naval Academy, using a particle accelerator. "It is possible that the Livermore light bulb is one of a kind," she said.

The centennial light-bulb has been recognised by Guinness World Records as being the longest burning light-bulb in the world.