Scientists have watched the end of the world

And other stories from the stranger side of life

Earth as viewed from space

Scientists have watched what the end of the Earth could look like, reported The Telegraph. The fate of planet Earth is “sealed”, said the paper - in five billion years it will be “engulfed by our own Sun and devoured by a stellar inferno”. Experts from Harvard, Caltech and MIT watched a star 12,000 light years away which expanded in an attempt to extend its lifespan because it was running out of fuel and started dragging an orbiting planet towards it, before engulfing it.

Phallic iceberg floats past town called Dildo

A penis-shaped iceberg has been given a naughty name after it was spotted floating near a town called Dildo. After an image of the huge iceberg went viral, residents dubbed it the ‘Dickie Berg’ due to its phallic-like shape. Speaking to the Toronto Star, the Canadian photographer who first spotted the iceberg said: “The resemblance is… you know, it’s good, right? It’s unreal how much it looked like part of the male anatomy.”

Location of Mona Lisa claim

A new study into the Mona Lisa claims the backdrop is a valley near the village of Laterina in Tuscany, said The Times. Silvano Vincenti, an Italian historian, says he has identified several features in the landscape, starting with a four-arched bridge. “It’s a Roman bridge, called Romito in the municipality of Laterina in the province of Arezzo,” said Vincenti. The famous artwork, which draws two million visitors each year, is the subject of “tireless research”, said the paper.

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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.