Bottle-fed babies ‘more likely to develop rubber fetish’

And other stories from the stranger side of life

Baby's feet

Babies who are bottle-fed or suck dummies are more likely to develop rubber fetishism or a fixation on gimp suits later in life, according to a leading feminist. Antonella Gambotto-Burke said she thinks such tots derive comfort and gratification from the smell, taste and feel of the synthetic teats they sucked on as infants. Gambotto-Burke, who was once portrayed by Amber Heard, believes that breast-fed babies are less likely to be aroused by rubber in adulthood.

Scientists find Europe’s largest dinosaur

‘Superworm’ could help recycling

A “superworm” that can eat plastic could hold the key to recycling, Australian scientists have said. The researchers have found that the larvae of the Zophobas morio beetle can exist on a diet consisting solely of polystyrene because there is a bacteria in their guts that allows them to digest it. “We found that superworms fed a diet of just polystyrene not only survived, but even had marginal weight gains,” said one of the team. “It turned out that they have a great appetite for it.”

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.