A skydiving instructor in New Zealand, whose parachute failed to open during a fall at 13,000 feet came back from the mouth of death when he crashed back to Earth and into a thick blackberry bush instead of falling to the ground. Speaking from his hospital bed, British-born Michael Holmes, 25, said, "I realized it was all over. "

Sweden's first astronaut is taking some comfort food along on his planned Dec. 7 trip into space. Swedish particle physicist Christer Fuglesang will bring along one of his nation's delicacies: moose meat. Yes, slow roasted moose meat will make its departure from Earth and orbit the globe with the team of astronauts, that is, until Fuglesang finishes it all off.

In the highly-competitive world of the California Institute of Technology, one of the most popular class is its cooking class where the final exam-meal is graded by a Nobel laureate. The whiz students say they enjoy the fun and relaxed atmosphere and amazing food. "We have amazingly gifted people in science and engineering and they are viewed by many people as nerdy," said Caltech's president, Jean-Lou Chameau.

Online users are taking a stab at President George W. Bush with pranks. One elaborate antic links the search term "miserable failure" to the official White House biography of the 43rd U. S. president.

A high school science teacher is facing charges after police say she broke into a century-old funeral vault and even had two students hold the bones while she took pictures. Candace Longworth, 31, is facing a felony charge of disturbing and defiling a dead person from a place of burial and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The teenagers were charged as juveniles.