A handful of rather surprising stories that cropped up in the last seven days.
Driveable Lego McLaren: What's the most amount of time you've ever spent putting together a Lego model? It's unlikely to be more than a team of 23 lunatics from the Lego Group and McLaren Automotive who spent over 8,000 hours putting together a full-size working McLaren P1 replica out of a whopping 342,817 Lego Technic pieces - and it actually clocked 40 mph on the Silverstone racetrack when put through its paces by F1 driver Lando Norris. Want to see it in action? Click here
Ig Noble: A team who researched mammals that breathe through their buttocks were among the winners at this year's Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, described as a "tongue-in-cheek celebration of unusual scientific achievements" by UPI, was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The satirical ceremony has no affiliation to the Nobel Prizes.
Daylight Robbery: The UK's policing minister had her purse stolen from the hotel where she was giving a speech to senior police officers last week. The "thieves struck" while Dame Diana Johnson was speaking about an "epidemic of antisocial behaviour, theft and shoplifting" at the annual Police Superintendents' Association conference. The incident will prove "acutely embarrassing for the minister", said The Telegraph.
The Hoiho: It’s noisy, smelly, shy - and New Zealand’s bird of the year. The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election on Monday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species. The hoiho - its name means “noise shouter” in the Māori language - is a shy bird thought to be the world’s rarest penguin.
Proxy Resignations: In good news for Japanese workers who fear their employers' fury when they quit their jobs, there are now agencies that quit for them, The Times reports. Aya Sato, 24, paid US$140 to employ a "proxy resignation" agent when her first attempt to resign from her job at a bank was met with sighs of exasperation from her boss, who then started shouting and desk-thumping. "For Westerners, changing job is something positive," explains one resignation agent. "For Japanese, it's wicked to quit."