Bungling Burglar Caught Escaping WWE Wrestlers’ Home

It is pretty unlucky for a burglar to get caught in the act when fleeing the scene of a crime, but maybe even more so when the home they are leaving happens to belong to not one, but two professional wrestlers with the WWE .

Bryan and Brianna Danielson, better known by their stage names of Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella, were returning home late last Thursday night to see two men running out of their home’s back door, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bryan, 33, who is a multiple-time WWE and World heavyweight champion but is currently recovering from a neck and shoulder injury, chased after the pair and was able to catch up with 22-year-old Cesar Sosa after only 400 feet (122 metres).

The wrestler subdued the man with a rear naked choke (RNC) hold - in which the arm is used to choke an opponent from behind - and waited until police arrived. Sadly, the other suspect managed to escape.

“I saw the guys running out the back,” Bryan said at a press conference. “I chased them. I caught one of them. I kept him until police got there.”

"He was very, very tired and it literally took zero effort to take him down," he added. "He put up very little resistance."

While he admitted that he was very angry when he had seen the men leaving his property, Bryan said that Sosa was lucky that it hadn’t been Brianna who had chased after him as she would have been much more “violent” with him. Brie Bella is part of the Bella Twins tag team on WWE with her twin sister Nikki Bella and also a former WWE Divas Champion.

The Danielsons, who married in April earlier this year, had only lived in their home for 10 days when the incident occurred, and were worried about Josie, their two-year-old French bulldog, who was found cowering in the couple’s bathroom.

Sosa, who already has an outstanding warrant for kidnapping and burglary, was arrested on suspicion of one count of burglary.

Medical Students Replace Cadavers with 3D-Printed Body Parts

A grim but necessary part of learning about the human anatomy as a medical student is dissecting cadavers. You might be surprised to find out then that there is, unfortunately, a shortage of this vital training tool all over the world, be it for religious or monetary reasons, or people understandably just not wanting to donate their body to science.

But a team in Australia may have found the answer! No more uncomfortable wielding of a scalpel over a cadaver, no more worrying about how to store the cadavers to make it last as long as possible, no more reduction in quality because the same cadaver has been used over and over again and it’s been around for a while now.

Instead, medical students can look forward to the possibility of dissecting 3D-printed body parts. Anatomy kits have been developed using this technology by a team from Monash University in Melbourne, led by Professor Paul McMenamin, who heads the Centre for Human Anatomy Education there. They have also published their work in Anatomical Sciences Education .

The body parts are made of dry powder instead of human tissue, so they don’t deteriorate like a conventional cadaver does, and different parts of the anatomy are falsely coloured to help medical students distinguish between each part. Again, this colouring doesn’t fade as it would in a real specimen, which gradually loses its own colour the longer it is kept.

Professor McMenamin explained that without students being able to look inside a body and take a precise look at the inner workings, it makes their learning all the more difficult for them. But the 3D-printed body parts look just like the real thing, right down to the smallest details, and so have everything needed to teach a student everything they need to know about that particular part, from muscles and ligaments to blood vessels and tissue.

The initial process to create the kit involves numerous CT scans of actual body parts before printing layer by layer, which can take up to 12 hours. While this might sound like a long time, once this has been done, copies are only a click away. “If you dropped [a body part] and it broke, you just order another one and we press print,” explained Professor McMenamin.

While the 3D-printed anatomy kits will be beneficial to pretty much everywhere, they are likely to be particularly so in hospitals and medical schools in many Middle Eastern countries, as well as developing countries.

“How do you get a group of people who religiously believe a body shouldn’t be desecrated or touched, to donate their bodies?” asked Professor McMenamin. “A lot of these countries don’t have bequest programmes; they rely on unclaimed bodies, and that creates another ethical debate.”

Another plus side to the kits is that you don’t need to order parts you don’t need. For example, podiatrists need only order foot kits and hand therapists can just order a load of hands though entire bodies are also available.

Professor McMenamin said that the next step is to develop a way of using 3D-printing technology to teach surgery, creating skin-like skin, muscles and tendons that have the same consistencies as the real articles. “We could create a surgical training tool which could be used over and over again," he explained, "instead of surgeons having to learn by using real patients."

It is hoped that the anatomy kits will be available to buy within the next year - perhaps as soon as six months away - so it won't be too long before medical schools and hospitals, and ultimately their patients, will be benefitting from this innovative concept.

Will We Soon Be Communicating with Our Household Appliances?

According to a computer sciences expert from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, household appliances that are able to communicate with us may only be a few years away.

Dr Kevin Curran said that in only five years, your fridge could be texting you that you are running low on milk, or your dishwasher could inform you remotely that it has finished its load and is ready to be emptied. Ultimately, we could be receiving more texts from our household appliances than from our friends.

“Within the next five years, using mobile devices simply for communication will seem outdated,” he declared.

Dr Curran has called this system that will allow consumers to remotely interact with pretty much every device they own the “Internet of Things”, or IoT. There are actually already some examples of this technology on the market right now, such as being able to control your lighting or heating with your mobile phone, or receiving alerts from your smoke detector.

He did warn, however, that there are some important factors to take into consideration and require critical focus if IoT is going to be taking control of our digital lives, such as standards, overburdened networks and internet security.

“Security needs to be a main priority for connected devices,” he explained, “especially since it will be difficult to tell if a toaster or refrigerator, which has no visual interface, has contracted a virus or malware.”

Because of this, he said that manufacturers of these products in the future will have to keep an eye on their networks and devices constantly, looking out for unusual activity as devices connected to the internet at the moment are monitored.

And while big companies like Samsung, Apple and Google are currently competing for brand loyalty, encouraging their customers to buy products exclusively integrated with their own, Dr Curran explained that this approach would be “strong-arming” consumers to only buy one brand, meaning that competing products wouldn’t actually be competing with each other and thus removing the consumer's ability to pick the best product for them.

With so many more devices connecting to the internet over the next few years, Dr Curran said that industry technicians need to focus on ensuring a fluid user experience, making this their primary objective before putting anything on the market.

Because it is unlikely this infrastructure development will occur immediately, limiting the number of devices on a given network would be a good way of easing IoT into our homes. “This will still allow the consumer to control features outside of the home but will limit the strain on networks and will maintain a level of privacy,” he explained.

Now, imagine the possibilities…

Mysterious Stranger May Have Just Saved This Woman’s Life

Stephanie Headley, 48, has been struggling with systemic scleroderma for more than a decade. It is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to produce too much collagen, which then hardens the skin, blood vessels and vital organs, eventually leading to the heart to fail.

Stephanie, a single mother of four, felt that her time was running out, tweeting on social media site Twitter that she just hoped to live long enough to see her youngest children graduate.

She then found hope in stem cell treatments when researching online, and even tracked down a hospital that could perform treatment on her with an 80% chance of success!

But there was a catch, as there often is. She would have to get to Chicago, and the treatment comes at a hefty monetary price of USD$116,000 (£68,000), which translate into CAD$125,000 for Stephanie - money that just wasn’t within her reach.

Stephanie’s children - aged 15, 18, 23, and 30 - did what many have done in recent technological times, and started a fundraising page online , hoping to raise enough money to send their mum to Chicago and save her life. Money started to come in, but it just wasn’t enough.

Then on July 3 came possibly the most peculiar and yet wonderful evening for the Headleys.

Someone phoned the family home, originally asking to speak to Skylar, Stephanie's daughter, but then telling Stephanie that he would like to donate to her cause. Stephanie said the man’s voice was strange, like one of those that has been deliberately altered, made monotonous, as if he didn’t want to be recognised.

Stephanie didn’t dwell too much on it and was just grateful that he wanted to help, writing him out a thank you card and awaiting his arrival.

Just ten minutes later there was a knock on the door, which upon opening revealed a tall, slender man. His coat was buttoned up as far as it would go, and he wore a hat and reflective sunglasses. He handed Stephanie an envelope without the hint of a word or a smile, “completely stone-faced”, much as you would imagine a secret agent to behave on a top-secret mission.

As she handed the strange man the thank you card and said, “God bless you,” he finally smiled before turning away and walking off, with no indication as to who he was or what the envelope held inside.

“I opened [the envelope] and literally fell on the floor, collapsed, crying and screaming,” Stephanie recalled. “I thought I was seeing the numbers wrong, the decimals wrong, the zeroes wrong.”

Inside the envelope had been a cheque for CAD$128,000 (£70,000), enough to cover Stephanie's life-saving treatment.

The family still have no idea who the man was, but thanks to his generosity, Stephanie is now scheduled to begin three months worth of treatment in Chicago from September 22.

Stephanie is still hoping for donations to fund her trip and accommodation in Chicago (you can donate here ), and assuming that all goes well, she should be out and about again after a year or so, and she will be planning to campaign for the treatment to be brought to Canada.

But right now, she is just happy that she has a chance to spend more time with her children, all down to a mysterious man who knocked on her door.

“He gave me my life back and saved my children from a horrible loss and pain that would have changed their lives immeasurably,” she said. “They are going to have their mother back; we are going to have our lives back and live like normal people for the first time in 13 years.”

English National Parks to Get Better Mobile Phone Coverage

England’s National Parks are places of great peace and beauty, but for the modern person there is nothing more frustrating than the lack of mobile phone signal bound to be experienced in these places. And while mobile broadband has become the norm for urban folk, the people who live and work in some of the more remote parts of the country are yet to have enjoyed this "everyday" luxury.

But technological change is just around the corner! National Parks England have come to an agreement with the four main mobile network operators (Vodafone, Three, O2 and EE) who make up part of the Mobile Operators Association (MOA) , to get improved mobile coverage into our National Parks.

These beautiful regions have more than 330,000 people residing in them and make up about 10% of England: Peak District, Lake District, North York Moors, Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, The Broads, New Forest, and South Downs.

At the moment, the radio waves that carry mobile phone signals from mast to mast are often obstructed by the National Parks’ hilly terrain, and can also be affected by stone buildings - which is why even some houses in urban areas have poorer signals than others.

National Parks England Director Paul Hamblin explained that for mobile signals to be boosted in natural regions, new phone masts may have to be built, though in such a way that the environments are still protected.

“There are compelling social and economic reasons for having good mobile connectivity, including mobile broadband, in rural areas,” added MOA Executive Director John Cooke, explaining that better connectivity will help local people overcome the difficulties that come from living in such isolated locations, such as poor transport links. He said that better mobile phone coverage will also help the people living in these areas to "survive and thrive in the 21st century".

It has been noted, however, that people visiting such areas shouldn’t become lax in their preparation once the mobile coverage issue has been addressed. While mobile phones do often come equipped with their own inbuilt maps and compasses, they do also run out of battery, and this will be something to think about when going for a hike in the future.

Ed Vaizey, Communications Minister, explained that while England’s National Parks are great areas of incredible beauty, they are also still places where people work and live, and these people need the same kind of access to modern communication that those in the rest of the country have been able to take advantage of for years now.

“The new agreement could make a real difference,” he said, “to those who love, work, or visit our glorious National Parks.”

Remote-Controlled Birth Control: The Future of Contraception?

Contraception: a necessity in most people’s lives at one point or another. But often, finding the right birth control for you can be a tricky and arduous task, and if you decide that you want to try for a baby, many of the contraceptives currently on offer require you to make an appointment with your doctor to have it removed, or you have to wait for the effects to wear off.

At the moment, the longest-lasting contraceptive comes in the form of IUDs (Intrauterine Devices, often called the coil) which is a copper and plastic device fitted into the uterus and prevents pregnancy. Some hormonal IUDs can last for up to five years, but the non-hormonal variant with more copper last between five and 10 years.

But what if there was a form of birth control that not only could last for more than 15 years, but you could also just switch off if you decided you wanted to start a family?

That’s the idea from US company MicroCHIPS , and such a popular concept it is, that it is being backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , who gave $4.6 million (£2.7 million) towards the project in January.

“The ability to turn the device on and off provides a certain convenience factor for those who are planning a family,” explained MicroCHIPS President Dr Robert Farra.

A device holding a tiny microchip, measuring 20 by 20 by 7mm, would be implanted under the skin and contain enough levonorgestrel - used in many hormone-based contraceptives - to last up to 16 years. This is held in airtight, sealed reservoirs, released when an electric current passes from an internal battery through the thin membrane, melting it temporarily to release the contents.

And if it comes to a time when a woman with the implanted device decides she would like to conceive a child, she could simply turn off the device with the hypothetical touch of a button on a remote control.

The technology was originally conceived at MIT in the 1990s, by Robert Langer, Michael Cima and John Santini, who then licensed it to MicroCHIPS. And when Bill Gates himself visited the MIT lab and asked whether it would be possible to create a long-lasting birth control method that could be turned on and off at will, he was pointed to MicroCHIPS, and a beautiful friendship was formed.

The device is still a long way off yet - it is hoped to be on the market by 2018 - and still needs to undergo pre-clinical testing and FDA approval. But it will definitely hold appeal for a lot of people, and provides another option for those searching for their perfect contraceptive.

Accurate Leukaemia Prognosis Test Developed

Scientists from Cardiff University have developed an unparalleled new test, funded by charities Cancer Research UK and Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, that can accurately predict the prognosis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). They have published their findings in the British Journal of Haematology .

More than 3,000 people in the UK - most of which are over the age of 60 - are diagnosed with CLL every year. It is one of the most common cancers of the blood and so-called because it affects the white blood cells called lymphocytes. Once diagnosed, outcomes vary amongst patients; some only survive for a couple of months while others might never need treatment.

At the end of our chromosomes are tiny repeating pieces of DNA called telomeres that stop the chromosomes from deteriorating when a cell divides or from fusing with one another. Each time such a division occurs, the telomeres shorten until the cells can’t divide any further, and then a signal is sent to the cell to let it know it should stop dividing, and then die. But in cells with CLL, the signal doesn’t get through.

By measuring the length of the telomeres in patients with CLL, the test can help doctors to work out how much time a patient has left and what the best course of action and medication might be for that patient.

“This should prove enormously valuable to doctors, patients and their families,” said lead researcher Professor Chris Pepper, adding that there is nothing hindering the use of "this powerful prognostic tool" as soon as clinical trials are out of the way.

Henry Scowcroft from Cancer Research UK said that one of the most difficult things a person and their family and friends have to go through after a cancer diagnosis is the waiting and not knowing what is going to happen. “Anything that could help patients plan their lives and immediate futures can only be a good thing,” he added.

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research ’s Dr Matt Kaiser said that the accuracy seen in the test has never been seen before, and if it can be further proved in clinical trials, “[the test] would help doctors decide on the best treatment courses for CLL patients”.

And, if the clinical trials do show the viability for such a prognosis test for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, it could even be developed for other kinds of cancer, effectively eliminating one of the hardest parts of coping with the illness.

The Crying Elephant: Raju’s First Taste of Freedom

An elephant who was held in abusive captivity for 50 years, cried tears of relief as he was being released during a daring rescue mission last week - on Independence Day, no less. Some of the details in this story may be distressing for some readers, but we promise you that there’s a happy ending.

Last July, London-based animal charity Wildlife SOS were contacted by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in India, bringing their attention to Raju, an elephant who was suffering terribly at the hands of his owner, surviving on scraps from passersby and close to dying.

As Raju’s owner didn’t have any legal documentation for him, Wildlife SOS could go through the process of rescuing the elephant, but it was going to take time to go through the courts.

But last week, a year after originally finding out about Raju, a team of 10 wildlife experts and vets, as well as 20 forestry department officers and six police officers, were finally able to rescue him in a secret mission that took place under the cover of darkness - the fewer people around, the better, and it meant that Raju would be protected from the Indian sun.

Wildlife SOS-UK spokesperson Pooja Binepal said that not much is known about Raju’s years as a calf, but it is believed that he was snatched from his mother at a very young age. In lots of cases, poachers either kill the mother elephant for her child, or drive a herd over traps that are only small enough for calves to fall into. These poor creatures are then tied and beaten until their spirit is broken and they submit to their new owner.

The charity believes that Raju had been sold on repeatedly, having around 27 owners in his lifetime, each one treating him as a mere commodity and tourist attraction to raise money. All the while, Raju was chained up with spiked shackles permanently digging into his sore skin, bloody and infected.

As soon as the court order for the elephant’s rescue was issued, the team - led by Wildlife SOS founder Kartick Satyanarayan - swept in for two days of surveillance and planning before launching the mission. They saw that Raju had no shelter at night and was being used from sun-up to sun-down to beg from tourists.

He was in such a state of exhaustion and hunger from not being fed properly that tourists had started giving him scraps of food, of which Raju would eat the paper and plastic wrappings as well. “His nails are severely overgrown,” added Binepal. “He has abscesses and wounds because of the shackles, and continually walking on a tarmac road has led to his foot pads overgrowing.”

The team realised that Raju’s situation had become so desperate that they needed to act as quickly as possible, and decided to launch the rescue a day earlier than planned.

“[Raju’s] cruel handler even tore out hair from his tail to sell as good luck charms,” said Satyanarayan. “The exploitation and abuse just had to stop.”

But as the team moved in, Raju’s owner decided he was going to get in the way and try to prevent the freedom the elephant so desperately deserved after 50 years of mistreatment. “[The owner] began to shout commands to terrify Raju,” Satyanarayan explained. “It created an incredibly dangerous situation, as a bull elephant could snap a human like a toothpick if he becomes afraid or angry.”

When scaring Raju didn’t work for the handler, constricting chains were wrapped around the elephant’s legs, cutting into them, to try and prevent him from moving.

But the team refused to step down - they were going to get Raju out of there no matter what.

Satyanarayan said it was as if Raju understood what was happening, as tears began to slide down the elephant's cheeks. “It was as if he felt hope for the first time in a very long time.”

With Raju’s owner hindering every step of the way, the team decided the removal of his shackles would have to wait until he was in safety so they brought their transportation truck as close to the elephant as possible, but it was still 200 yards (183m) for Raju to walk.

And as if knowing what he had to do, Raju calmly walked the distance to the truck, despite the agonising pain each step much have caused him. Once there, he was sedated and taken to the charity’s Elephant Conservation and Care Centre, 350 miles away.

“Incredibly, he stepped out of his truck and took his first step to freedom at one minute past midnight on July 4th, which felt extraordinarily fitting,” said Satyanarayan.

Raju was then able to feast upon bananas and leaves, mango, bread and biscuits, and plenty of fresh water. And when he had had his fill, head vet Dr Yaduraj Khadpekar and two handlers set to the terrible and wonderful process of removing those spiked shackles. It took 45 minutes in total, and as the final piece securing the last spike to Raju’s skin was removed, there was not a dry eye amongst those watching.

Asian elephants can live for up to 80 years in captivity, so it is hoped that Raju still has a few good decades left for him to finally enjoy his life, though he has a long rehabilitation process ahead of him. In time, he will hopefully learn that humans don’t have to mean fear and pain.

Satyanarayan explained that two other rehabilitated elephants will be able to show Raju how life is meant to be, and when he is rehabilitated himself he will be able to join the rest of the elephants at the sanctuary - “including five flirtatious females”.

“The team were astounded to see tears roll down [Raju’s] face during the rescue. It was so incredibly emotional for all of us,” said Binepal, describing elephants as both majestic and highly intelligent creatures. “Until we stepped in, he had never known what it is like to walk free of his shackles… But today he knows what freedom is and he will learn what kindness feels like and what it’s like to not suffer anymore.”

Wildlife SOS relies on contributions, and are hoping to raise £10,000 to help Raju settle into his new life of freedom. You can learn more about the charity or donate to Raju by clicking here .

Amazing Coffee Shop Run on Honour System

There is a café located in Valley City, North Dakota, that is unusual, to say the least - but in the best possible way.

This café, known as The Vault, works on an honour system, which means that its service is based on trust, honour and honesty. No members of staff grace the counters of The Vault, nor is it wall-to-wall vending machines, if that was what you were thinking.

Instead, The Vault is self-serve, so if you want a cup of tea or coffee or some other beverage, you prepare it yourself. You can even grab a cake, some chips, maybe an ice cream, or whatever is on offer while you are at it. But how do you go about paying for these treats?

A price list clearly states how much each item costs, so the customer needs to keep track of what they intend to buy, check the price of those items and then pay for them by either putting cash or a cheque into the slot provided on the counter, or by slipping their credit card into the reader.

“The thing that is amazing is that people have been extremely honest,” said David Brekke, who owns and operates the café with his wife Kimberly ("Kyly"). He explained that in the nine months that The Vault has been open, the till holds an average of 15% more than their asking prices at the end of the day. This means that more people are paying extra for their purchases than not paying at all.

It is possible that people don’t steal from The Vault because there are, in fact, cameras dotted around, but David said that these are more for the customers’ peace of mind, rather than to prevent stealing.

Kimberly also handily only works next door, in her jewellery shop, Kyly Creations Handmade Beaded Jewelry, as well as a bakery called Kyly’s Kitchen that supplies the baked goods on offer in the café.

The Vault isn’t only used as a café, though. There are books for sale in the shop and it doubles as an art gallery to feature artwork from local artists. The space is also available to rent for six evenings a week, allowing for gallery exhibitions, concerts, independent film screenings and theatre performances, as well.

When the Vault opened last October, the Brekkes were surprised that more places like it didn’t exist already. “In this community, we thought an honour system coffee shop would make a lot of sense,” David said. He explained that it was only when turning to Google that he and his wife realised how unique their little venture was. “There really isn’t anything else like it.”

If you'd like to learn more about The Vault, you can visit their website or Facebook page .

Cricket Scheme Keeps Youngsters Away from Gangs and Crime

New research on participants of a scheme called StreetChance , carried out on behalf of charity New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) , suggests that playing cricket - and other team sports - can help deter young people from committing crimes and joining gangs.

StreetChance is a programme set up in partnership between Barclays Spaces for Sports and the Cricket Foundation , which is responsible for another programme called Chance to Shine , that aims to “educate through cricket”.

The aim of StreetChance is to bring children and young people together from a range of backgrounds and social groups, engaging them in cricket and keeping them off of the streets, as well as offering informal classes on drug abuse, knife crime and gangs. Since the scheme was launched in 2008, almost 40,000 people have been involved with it, helping young people from deprived areas of England from hanging out in the same social groups that might normally lead them into a life of gangs and crime.

The cricket game has even been adapted so it can be played on hard courts or in small areas, where a grass field is not an option. In these instances, a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape takes the place of the hard cricket ball, and games last about 20 minutes long.

As part of the report, 433 StreetChance participants between the ages of eight and 18 were surveyed, and current available research on the benefits of community sports programmes for young people were also reviewed.

Not only did the latest results back the earlier research that suggests that participation in sports can have a positive impact on both physical and mental health, they also indicated that being involved in sports as part of a group or team can boost the self-esteem of shy children, and reduce their social anxiety.

Although the majority of young people who took part in the survey had positive social attitudes, between 10% and 20% felt they were “quite like” or “just like” their peers who were involved in gangs. These young people have been described by the study authors as a “small but significant group who are at risk of committing crime and antisocial behaviour”.

The conclusion was that schemes like StreetChance are offering an alternative activity for young people and, therefore, reducing the opportunity and likelihood of them committing offences, and thus brightening their futures.

“It diverts [young people] away from negative influence,” said Richard Joyce, Operations Manager for StreetChance, “and introduces them to positive role models and supportive peers.”

Rare Butterfly Species Reintroduced, Another Helped Out by Cattle

In February, we told you how last year’s great summer led to butterfly populations flourishing across the country. Now there has been news of a couple of projects to help boost the numbers of two failing species in Northern England.

Large Heath Butterfly populations were once widespread, inhabiting bog habitats in the northwest of the county. The last recorded sighting in Lancashire’s Heysham Moss, a peat bog with a wide range of plant and animal life, was at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Heysham Moss is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a captive breeding programme from Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Chester Zoo was instigated last year to restore the butterfly to the area.

A healthy population of the Large Heath still dwells in nearby Winmarleigh Moss, and so a small number of females were taken from there to the zoo. These were then bred, under the guidance of experts, before being released at Heysham Moss.

“We are extremely pleased that the pupae we have so carefully reared are now hatching at Heysham Moss, their new home,” said Sarah Bird, Chester Zoo’s biodiversity officer.

Large Heath Butterflies need hare’s tail cotton grass for their larvae to feed on and cross-leaved heath for the adults to get their fill of nectar. Extensive land management of the habitat has provided sufficient quantities of the two plants to support the reintroduced butterfly.

The programme is going to continue for at least another year, with the intention of releasing more Large Heaths at Heysham Moss in 2015.

Now moving onto the Lake District, where cattle at a hill farm in the region have been helping to create the perfect habitat for a critically endangered butterfly called the High Brown Fritillary, as part of a programme set up by Natural England .

A herd of Luing cattle, considered amongst some of the best traditional cattle breeds for conservation grazing, is being used at High House Farm in Winster to trample down bracken, keeping it in check and allowing violets - the main food source of the butterfly larvae - to grow.

“The Luings have demonstrated many valuable benefits to our farm and to our landscape,” said farm manager Alec Smith, adding that they had wanted to use a cattle breed that would be able to navigate the farm’s terrain without difficulty.

So there you have it, butterflies thrived last year - and they might yet this year as well - and with programmes dotted around the country to encourage butterflies and insects of all kinds to prosper, hopefully it won’t be long before it isn't news that they are all doing so well.

Dominic’s Wish: Paying it Forward

When he was just two years old, Dominic Kerr from Pennsylvania in the US was diagnosed with leukaemia. Two years on, the now four-year-old Dominic has been offered a wish from the Make-a-Wish Foundation , but instead of using it for himself, he pays it forward.

You may remember our story about Iron Max, the little boy whose wish was to fly like Iron Man , and thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, he was able to spend the day - and fly - just like his hero.

That is what Make-a-Wish does: children who are diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions are offered the chance to do something amazing, that they have chosen just for themselves, “because wishes make very sick kids feel better, and sometimes, when they feel better, they get better”.

Dominic remembered spending time in the oncology clinic when he was at hospital, and something that really brightened his day was rummaging through a treasure chest filled with toys.

With his wish, Dominic decided that he wanted to go on a huge shopping trip so that he could fill a chest with what he had bought, and the chest could be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He wanted to make sure there were enough toys at the hospital for children just like him.

He spent an afternoon shopping in Walmart and Toys R Us, picking out toys for children at the hospital, and delivered them personally, each toy labelled: “Donated by Dominic.”

And when the boy was asked why he had chosen the wish he had, he said, “Because I want to make other kids happy.”

“[We] let him decide and he always enjoyed getting toys out of the chest,” said Dominic’s dad, Mick. “Just seeing him, as happy as the toys made him, I hope it makes other kids as happy. And I hope it gives them hope and makes it an easier time in the whole situation.”

The perfect opportunity to be deservedly selfish and yet Dominic spends that chance giving to others… A hero in the form of a four-year-old boy.