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A Japanese satellite to monitor the migration of minke whales will be launched in October. It will collect data from coconut-sized electronic tags that have been attached to whales using airguns. Used in combination with global positioning system technology, the tags should provide information on migratory routes as well as data on how deep the whales swim and how often they surface, says Tomonao Hayashi of the Chiba Institute of Technology, who helped develop the satellite system.

Satellite monitoring technology is used by groups around the world for scientific research into whale migration patterns. But some people fear the Japanese satellite will use the information to provide detailed data for use by the country?s whaling fleet.
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The Tasmanian Mercury newspaper says their own Loch Ness monster has mysteriously reappeared in the middle of Lake Dulverton. ?People are pointing fingers everywhere,? says Tony Cawthorn, of the Friends of Lake Dulverton. ?But it?s a mystery how she got there.?

Local businessman Albert Darkin went down to the lake after customers talked about seeing a hump-backed monster in the water and says, ?It?s Nessie alright,? he says.

A visitor to the lake says, ?I think I saw her move.?
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Florida Today reports that 67 year-old electronics engineer Jim Hughes has been taking out classified ads in their paper saying, ?Would you pay $10,000,000 for a piece of a UFO drive mechanism? (It may contain the secret of microgravity).? His asking price has risen since he began advertising in December and is now to $9 million.

Hughes says he can?t prove that the mysterious object he keeps locked up came from a UFO. But the ads have generated interest from a metallurgist who wants to subject the object to scientific analysis.
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A virus that infects animals but was thought to be relatively harmless to humans might contribute to some cases of mental illness, according to virologist Norbert Nowotny, of the University of Veterinary Sciences in Vienna. The Borna disease virus, which causes a fatal brain disease in animals, might be linked to schizophrenia, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome in humans.

The virus infects the nervous system tissue in horses and sheep, and triggers severe brain inflammation. The animals stop eating, become depressed and in almost all cases progress to paralysis and death within 3 weeks. There is no effective treatment.
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