Tooth growing inside man’s nose

Doctors at a New York hospital found a tooth growing in the nasal cavity of a patient. A case study by surgeons with the Mount Sinai Health System, New York, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The 38-year-old man had been having trouble breathing through his right nostril for several years.

Doctors discovered he had a deviated septum — a condition in which the partition between nasal passages is pushed to one side —discovered the cause to be a tooth growing on ‘the floor of the right nostril.’

The ectopic tooth, a term for a tooth growing in an abnormal place, was measured at about .6 inch long. The tooth was removed without complications, and the man was able to breathe normally through both nostrils.

Oldest wombat ever in captivity

A wombat living at a Japanese zoo was dubbed the oldest wombat ever in captivity by Guinness World Records, after the animal celebrated its 33rd birthday in January.

The Australian marsupial, named Wain, was officially dubbed the oldest ever wombat in captivity during a ceremony at the Satsukiyama Zoo in Ikeda.

Wain took the record from a male wombat that died at the age of 32 in 2017. Wombats in captivity generally live to be between 20 and 25 years old. The zoo said Wain is in good health, despite cataracts in the animal’s eyes.

Lasers to combat nuisance crows

Sunnyvale, in California, is turning to a potential high-tech solution — lasers — to combat the public nuisance of thousands of crows. The crows flock over the downtown area, covering sidewalks and outdoor seating areas with their droppings. They also create a lot of noise at night with their calls.

The city has tried numerous methods of driving the birds away, but none showed any long-term success. Now they want to start a pilot programme to test green lasers to drive the crows away. But there are concerns.

“I have real concerns about the use of lasers,” said Matthew Dodder, executive director of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. “Lasers can blind the birds, which is a death sentence for the birds because if they can’t see, they can’t fly or feed properly.”

Opal sells for nearly $144,000

A gemstone billed as one of the largest gem-quality opals in existence, was sold for $143,750 at an auction in Alaska.

The opal, dubbed the “Americus Australis,” weighs more than 11,800 carats. It was kept in a linen closet in a home in Big Lake, north of Anchorage, by Fred von Brandt, a gold miner.

The opal is larger than a brick and is broken into two pieces, a practice used decades ago to prove gem quality. The stone has been in Von Brandt’s family since the late 1950s, when his grandfather bought it from an Australian opal dealer. For decades the opal was in the care of von Brandt’s father, who decided “it’s time to put it back out in the world and see what interest it can generate.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 5th, 2022