WEIRD STUFF: Woman in love with aeroplane

Brace for digital babies

Artificial intelligence expert Catriona Campbell has predicted that one in five couples will opt for a digital child over a real infant in the next 50 years.

The computer-generated children will exist in the virtual metaverse and will come to life at the touch of a button, while parents will interact with them through next-generation AR (augmented reality) glasses and haptic gloves - which give a realistic sense of touch when handling virtual or holographic objects.

The 'kids' will speak with simulated emotional responses, have a digital memory, and will grow up in real time. The virtual children could be accessible through a subscription service for as little as PS20 per month.

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Woman in love with aeroplane

A woman has fallen in love with an aeroplane. Sarah Rodo refers to the Boeing 737 as her boyfriend and flies on the aircraft as often as possible.

Rodo - from Dortmund, Germany - identifies as an Objectum Sexual, meaning that she is sexually attracted to inanimate objects and has 50 replica models of the plane at home.

She calls the plane Dicki, and hopes to get married one day, even though it is against the law in Germany.

Rodo explained that she didn't enjoy past romances with men and claimed that she has also been in love with a plane.

She said: "My plane is called Dicki. I love everything about him, but particularly his face, wings and engine - they're so sexy to me.

"Some people don't understand my love but my friends took my coming-out very well and encouraged me."

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Scientists bridge human, animal language barrier

Humans could soon be having two-way conversations with pets.

This comes after scientists successfully used AI to "translate" bat noises. They said that the technology could help owners converse with their dogs and cats in the future through "Dr Dolittle machines".

Dr Yossi Yovel, from Tel Aviv University in Israel, said that the discovery was "like a miracle, like magic".

He explained that the noises made by the bats related to different events such as fighting over food, allowing the researchers to work out when they were 'chatting' to each other.

The breakthrough means that the human race could be communicating with animals in the future with the help of machines.

Yovel said: "Machine learning can revolutionise our understanding of animal communication."

Roboticist Daniela Rus suggested that humans should say "sorry" if they do crack the code for talking with other species.