happy win

Jumbo lens

Win Thida, a 44-year- old zoo elephant in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the first of her species to wear a contact lens. She had to, because she hurt her eye badly while playing with a pal. A vet climbed up a ladder and operated Thida’s eye while she stood. (Elephants can’t lie down for long; their weight impairs their breathing.) After Thida got her jumbo-sized lens, she seemed happier straight away, says the vet. We are happy too!

Sun wash

No scrubbing

what do you do when your clothes get dirty? Wash them, of course. Well, Chinese scientists have created a special cotton fabric that can clean stains and remove odours on its own — if you sun it for just a few hours. It’s treated with chemicals that react to sunlight, removing the dirt and smell stuck to it. Other kinds of cloth too can be treated this way, add the experts. Here’s hoping that we get to wear such clothes soon.

pen marks

Worst disguise

We’ve heard of crooks disguising themselves. But drawing false beards and masks with a pen? That’s child’s play! Well, that’s exactly what two robbers did before breaking into an apartment in Caroll in Iowa, US. The men were drunk and this may have led them to assume that the ink marks made them unrecognisable. However, their black faces gave them right away! Some people called it the worst disguise ever. Police officials — who were perhaps laughing all the time — even nicknamed them Dumb and Dumber.