fish n dicks

KIRUNA, Sweden - Tanks of fish are to be blasted into space from northern Sweden so that scientists can study motion sickness. The tiny cichlids will be carried by a 25-foot-long rocket more than 160 miles above the Earth's surface, The Local reported. Liftoff is scheduled for next week from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden, an iron-mining town above the Arctic Circle. The fish will spend about 6 minutes weightless during the trip. "Quite simply, they are going to be seasick until they have managed to acclimatize," said Johanna Bergstrom-Roos, a spokeswoman for the space center. Once the fish are backon Earth, German researchers will examine their otoliths, structures in the ear that sense changes in acceleration. The scientists are testing a thesis that otolith structure may determine how sensitive a human -- or a fish -- is to motion sickness.

 

 

MANSFIELD, N.Y. - An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile had to be fished out of the median of a New York highway after spinning out in a weekend snowstorm. The vehicle's two occupants, Emily Volpini, 22, of Lexington, Ky., and Caylen Goudie, 22, of Hinsdale, Ill., were unhurt in the accident on Route 15 about 2 miles from Mansfield, state Trooper Rex Johnson said Sunday. The duo were just coming out of the worst of the storm when they lost control, the Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette reported. Police contacted Dave Kurzejewski of Costy's Truck and Auto Mart, who brought along a heavy four-wheel-drive vehicle and some chains to haul the frozen wiener back onto the highway. Kurzejewski, who has performed hundreds of tows over the years, said Sunday's experience was a new one. "I've pulled out a lot of vehicles," he said. "But that's the first wiener I've ever pulled out."