Weekly News Roundup 1/19 – 1/25/18

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Man bites dog, dog bites man, man gets tasered

A New Hampshire man was charged with resisting arrest and biting a police a dog. The incident occurred last Sunday when a New Hampshire state trooper sent his K9 police dog, Veda, into a trailer to flush out a suspect hiding under a pile of clothes. As the suspect resisted, he managed to put Veda in a chokehold and bit her in the head. Veda turned the tables and bit the suspect in a clear case of self-defense. After being tasered by officers, the suspect was charged with resisting arrest, interference with a police dog, and assaulting a police officer. 

Grumpy cat slightly less grumpy after winning $700,000 lawsuit

On Monday, a California jury awarded the scowling internet star’s owner Tabatha Bundesen $710,001 in damages in a copyright infringement case.  Bundesen created Grumpy Cat Limited after her pet went viral in 2012, and signed with a beverage company to make Grumpy cat the disgruntled face of "Grumpy Cat Grumpuccino" iced coffee. When the company used the cat's congenital bad-tempered expression, which is caused by a combination of an underbite and feline dwarfism, to promote other products, Bundesen sued. The company countersued and lost. “It’s the first verdict ever rendered in favor of a viral meme,” her lawyer said. “Memes have rights too.”

Down Boy: Delta Air Lines may ground unruly service animals

Delta Air Lines will soon require owners of service and emotional-support animals to provide proof of their animal’s good behavior before allowing it to fly in the passenger cabin. Complaints about animals biting or soiling plane cabins have nearly doubled since 2016. The new rules are aimed primarily at emotional-support animals, which unlike service animals, require no behavioral training. Both fly free, and are not required to be caged during the flight. Delta says it transports about 700 service and support animals every day.

Chinese scientists clone monkeys, claim humans aren’t next

 Chinese scientists have cloned monkeys using the same techniques use to clone Dolly the sheep two decades ago, breaking a technical barrier that could open the door to cloning humans. Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, two identical long-tailed macaques, are the first primates to be cloned from a non-embryonic cell. Scientists say they plan to use the cloned monkeys in medical research—and that’s it. “The reason … we broke this barrier is to produce animal models that are useful for medicine, for human health,” said one scientist who helped supervise the program. “There is not intention to apply this method to humans.” 

NEWStat Advancements & research News Interesting/unusual