purring pet

Feline bait

It seems like it’s time for cat owners to be on their guard. A recent study establishes that our feline pets have the power to manipulate us. Researchers at the University of Sussex, UK, have found that cats use a “soliciting purr” to draw in their owners and attract attention and food. This particular purr is quite different from the usual purring, and sounds more like a cry matching that of a human child’s. It was confirmed that cats know how to influence humans by making a sound difficult for them to ignore, reported BBCNews. Dr Karen McComb, lead author of the study published in the journal Current Biology, used her pet cat, Pepo, in the experiment. Dr McComb said that Pepo would wake her up in the mornings with an indulgent purr and make her fill her bowl. On consulting other cat owners she found that it was a common trait among cats. It was found that cats use this method to manipulate their owners as meowing would only annoy their masters. Smart thinking there.

match point

Building blocks

Fifty-one-year-old David Reynolds may soon find himself a place in the record books for building the biggest ever model of the North Sea oil rig out of four million matchsticks. Reynolds, who used to work at the Brent Bravo oil rig in the UK, has spent 15 years working on it. And he is hoping that he makes it to the record books. The current record stands at three-and-a-half million matchsticks. Reynolds’ model is temporarily housed at Bursledon Brickworks museum after it took up two bedrooms, the loft, two sheds and half of his garage.