UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Science could make 'Spider-Man' suit real

ROME, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The form-fitting suit worn by superhero “Spider-Man” in the comics and the movies could be made from tiny “hooked molecules,” an Italian scientist said.

A research paper by Nicola Pugno of the Turin Polytechnic, published in the journal Physics, postulates that a sticky carbon-fiber glue theoretically could enable the wearer to crawl up walls and on ceilings like Spider-Man, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

In addition to allowing users to emulate the popular web-slinging Marvel Comics character, a carbon-fiber atom garment would shed dirt and water, so no laundering would be needed.

Pugno said the glue could be used in gloves and boots worn by window washers and deep-sea divers.

Saggy-pants wearers face big fines

SHREVEPORT, La., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The City Council in Shreveport, La,, has had it with low-riding saggy-pants favored by some youths and next month a fashion offense could cost $100.

Mayor Cedric Glover is expected to sign an ordinance setting a community decency standard approved 4-3 Tuesday that essentially bans people from wearing their pants below their waists, exposing undergarments or flesh, the Shreveport Times said.

Fines would range from $100 for a first-offense, $150 for a second offense, and $250 for a third violation. Chronic saggy-pants wearers could be sentenced to court-ordered community service like picking up trash.

However, civil liberties advocates say the law is flawed because it also could ban wearing a bikini or jogging shorts.

“There’s no question in my mind that this will be challenged,” an opponent of the law said.

Skywalker’s lightsaber destined for space

HOUSTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Discovery will carry young Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber into space to mark the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster “Star Wars” movie series.

The movie-prop weapon -- favored by the Federation’s Jedi knights -- arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Tuesday morning aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland, Calif., The Houston Business Journal reported.

Actors dressed as Princess Leia; Chewbacca, the hairy Wookie; spunky robot R2-D2; green-armor-clad bounty hunter Boba Fett -- and a few Imperial Stormtroopers -- met the plane to escort a padded aluminum case containing the lightsaber to the space center’s visitor complex where it will be on display through Labor Day.

The force is with the prop, which resembles a fancy flashlight. The lightsaber will remain stowed during Discovery’s 13-day mission to the International Space Station, but there’s no word on whether it will be returned to Lucasfilm, the studio home of "Star Wars," upon its return from orbit.

Previous space shuttles have carried a shred of fabric from the Wright Brothers airplane and some cremated remains of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry.

Discovery is scheduled to launch Oct. 23 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Swedish cyclist sprints to avoid bear

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Inga Akerstrom may have set an unofficial speed record as she was chased by a bear while out for a ride on her bicycle in northern Sweden.

“I was on an upward slope when I saw something at the side of the road and began to wonder what it was,” she told the newspaper Dagbladet I Sundsvail.

The "something" turned out to be a belligerent bear that began romping toward her at top speed near the town of Boltjarn Monday. Akerstrom made a quick U-turn and began cycling downhill as fast as she could pedal.

When she zipped past her husband, who was walking their dog, the bear stopped and lumbered back into the woods.