Le Poids du Réel

May 30, 2006—As if bird flu fears weren't enough to make ordinary waterfowl suddenly seem creepy, now there's this: an x-ray of a duck with what looks like an alien hiding in its gut.

Workers at the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in Fairfield, California, took the x-ray May 21 while treating a mallard duck that had been found with a broken wing.

The scientists—not likely prone to feats of imaginative fancy—were surprised by what they saw: a head snarling at them from within the bird's gizzard (see lower right of photo).

"We're a 35-year-old organization, and we've seen a lot of things—bullets, fish hooks—but this is the first time anything like this has shown up," IBRRC executive director Jay Holcomb told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The center's experts say there's no telling for sure what created the eerie image. Holcomb said he suspects it was caused by grains of food in the duck's digestive system.

This explanation, rather than a bird-borne alien invasion, seemed more likely when the duck died from its injuries soon after the x-ray was taken. An autopsy revealed grain in the bird's belly and little else.

But the duck didn't die in vain: IBRRC has put its curious x-ray up for auction on eBay, with all proceeds benefiting the center's bird-rehabilitation program.

"The poor duck died, but maybe this will help other animals," Holcomb said.

—Blake de Pastino 

Lien 

May 15, 2006—She can hold a conversation, make eye contact, and express joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. But is she good with kids?

These school-age tots seem to be making friends with EveR-1, a female android that made her debut this month in South Korea. The robot was built by Baeg Moon-hong, a senior researcher with the Division for Applied Robot Technology at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) in Ansan, just south of Seoul (see a map of South Korea).

EveR-1 is designed to resemble a Korean female in her early 20s, according to a KITECH press release. Fifteen motors underneath her silicon skin allow her to express a limited range of emotions, and a 400-word vocabulary enables her to hold a simple conversation.

The android weighs 110 pounds (50 kilograms) and would stand 5 feet, 3 inches (160 centimeters) tall—if she could stand. EveR-1 can move her arms and hands, but her lower half is immobile.

Researchers at Osaka University in Japan unveiled their own life-size female android, Repliee Q1, last June (see a related photo of the ultra-lifelike robot). That robot could "speak," and gesture and even appeared to breathe but, like EveR-1, was only mobile from the waist up.

KITECH scientists are now working on EveR-2, which they say will have improved vision, a wider range of facial expressions, and the ability to stand and move all four limbs.

—Victoria Gilman

Lien 

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