Beached whales in Indonesia

Recently, a desperate rescue attempt managed to save half of a pod of sperm whales which beached off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia.

WWF Indonesia said 10 whales were stranded, seven of whom were returned to the water thanks to the efforts of the navy and locals.

But sadly, three whales died on the beach and in a heartbreaking development for the rescuers, one of the animals that had been saved came back and was stranded again, this time fatally.

Dwi Aryo Tjiptohandono, WWF Indonesia’s marine and fisheries campaign coordinator, said the group was investigating how the whales had come to be stranded. Autopsies will be carried out on the dead animals.

It is not exactly clear why whales and other marine mammals get stranded, but experts say it can be a combination of factors, from old age, illness or injury, to accidental navigation errors.

“The strong social bonding of some species of whales can cause mass strandings,” according to Project Jonah, a New Zealand-based whale charity.

Humanoid robot does back flips

Experts at Boston Dynamics managed to get the world’s most dynamic humanoid to do a back flip. Atlas, a five-foot tall robot even finished its move with a little celebration.

The machine is being developed so that it can be used in search and rescue operations.

Another powerful AI, called Ian, vacuums, sweeps and even takes out the rubbish. He is 6ft 2in tall, weighs 23 and a half stone and we’ll call him a ‘he’ even though as a mass of circuits and switches, he actually has no gender.

A video showing him as House Husband 2.0 (not the official name) was designed to show off his range of movement and balance.

With technology moving so fast, it seems we will be having robot house cleaners in our houses soon!

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 9th, 2017