Latest news with #Hochuli
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Bizarre 'thing' dangling from tree in rural Aussie town stops man in his tracks
A bizarre sack-like 'thing' dangling off a tree branch in a rural Aussie town stopped a man in his tracks this week. The strange growth, which resembles a 'cocoon' of some sort, was spotted hanging from the limb on a remote property in Gulargambone, in the central-west plains of NSW. Photos posted online in search of answers show what appear to be small fibres tightly woven together to create a nest. While some Aussies joked that the oddly-shaped item was a 'drop bear', or just one incredibly large moth, others pointed to one specific native creature — Ochrogaster lunifer, a sub-species of the bag-shelter moth. Otherwise referred to as 'processionary caterpillars' due to how they congregate in a line, the species is also infamous for the potentially long-term skin irritation it can cause humans and animals that come into contact with them. Speaking to Yahoo News, Associate Professor Dieter Hochuli, who leads the Integrative Ecology Lab at the University of Sydney, confirmed the sack did appear to be a 'nest of processionary caterpillars'. 'They leave the nest at night and go feeding,' he explained. 'The nest is usually full of caterpillars and poo! At the end of their caterpillar stage they go searching for a place to pupate. 'They are currently considered one species that lives all over Australia, but some recent work from the University of Queensland suggests that they may actually be around 20 different species that are closely related to each other that cover the continent.' 🚪 Aussie woman's disastrous discovery outside front door 🪴 Woman stumped by bizarre 'death spiral' discovery in backyard 🌳 Sad find on tree stump prompts urgent plea to Aussies: 'Will take years' Processionary caterpillars have a one-year life cycle and live communally, with adult females known to lay 100 to 500 eggs on the trunk or in a nest made from silk, excrement and leaves on the end of a branch of a host tree, typically a wattle, according to the Atlas of Living Australia. If they have totally defoliated the tree and need to move to another, or are ready to leave the nest permanently and pupate underground over winter, the caterpillars will migrate in a single-file, leaving a silk trail that attracts others to follow. Such behaviour was captured on camera by Associate Professor Hochuli at Uluru last year. You can watch the characteristic behaviour below. After they abandon their nests, Hochuli told Yahoo the silk on the outside 'starts to break down when exposed to the elements', revealing the 'bag of poo and shed caterpillar skins'. The adult moths emerge in the spring. Last year, a Queensland woman got the shock of her life after she found 'over 300' of the hairy caterpillars making themselves at home by her front door. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Fox Sports
28-01-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Tush push could play a prominent role in the Super Bowl if championship Sunday was any indication
Associated Press If the conference championships are any indication, some of the highest drama in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in two weeks could come on the tush push perfected by the Philadelphia Eagles and decrypted by the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles (17-3) are so adept at their vaunted short-yardage plays that the Commanders committed four penalties with Jalen Hurts & Co. at or inside the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of Philadelphia's 55-23 wipeout of Washington on Sunday. Kansas City's 32-29 squeaker over Buffalo that sent the Chiefs (17-2) to their third consecutive Super Bowl turned early in the fourth quarter when they stuffed Bills quarterback Josh Allen — or did they? — on fourth-and-inches at midfield while trailing by a point. Although it initially appeared to millions of viewers at at least one official that Allen got the nose of the football across the line to gain, the call on the field was no gain and a turnover on downs, and replay concurred. In Philadelphia, referee Shaun Hochuli admonished the Eagles to stop their shenanigans or he'd award the Eagles a touchdown via an obscure regulation in the unsportsmanlike conduct section of the NFL's thick rule book. Sandwiched around Jonathan Allen lining up in the neutral zone and getting flagged for encroachment, linebacker Frankie Luvu mistimed his jump over both lines for encroachment penalties on successive plays in a desperate attempt to keep the Eagles out of the end zone. The four flags in a five-play sequence — the Commanders legitimately stopped Jalen Hurts once — put the ball within an inch of the goal line, and Hurts finally plowed into the end zone to give Philadelphia a three-score lead. After Luvu's second illegal leap, Hochuli warned Washington that he'd call unsportsmanlike conduct. After Allen jumped offside again on an Eagles hard count, Hochuli had seen enough and, like a scolding parent, announced that referees can, indeed award a team a touchdown for repeated penalties. 'Washington has been advised that at some point, the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again,' Hochuli fumed during his in-game announcement. 'Simply put, a team can't commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score," Hochuli told a pool reporter after the game. "So, No. 4 (Luvu) jumped the ball a couple of times, that was when the warning came in. Again, if it's meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.' It's right there in Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the league's rule book. Titled 'Fouls To Prevent Score,' it states, 'The defense shall not commit successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score.' Further, the rule reads that 'if the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team." The Commanders finally stayed onside, the flags finally stayed tucked into officials' pockets and Hurts finally scored, giving Philly a 41-23 lead. In Kansas City, where the Bills were eliminated by the Chiefs for the fourth time in five years, Buffalo rallied to take a 22-21 lead and faced a fourth-and-1 at Kansas City's 41 early in the fourth quarter. Allen was stopped on a sneak even though it appeared one official marked the ball past the line of gain before another placed it short. Replay review upheld the call because there wasn't clear evidence to overturn it. 'It looked to me like he got to it,' Bills coach Sean McDermott said, 'and that's all I can say.' CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with him, saying on the broadcast, 'I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football." But the Chiefs took over and drove for a go-ahead touchdown. K.C. also benefited from a debatable ruling in the first half when Xavier Worthy was credited with a catch when he wrestled the ball away from Bills safety Cole Bishop for a 26-yard gain to Buffalo's 3 even though the ball is seen hitting the ground. The Bills challenged but the play was upheld and Mahomes then ran in for a score and a 21-10 lead. These pair of calls came a week after Kansas City benefited from two roughing-the-passer penalties during a 23-14 victory over Houston, and added fuel to the widely held perception among non-Chiefs fans that officials favor the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. A flag on Kansas City, however, actually came back to bite the Bills on Sunday. McDermott took an extra point off the board when Chiefs safety Justin Reid was whistled for being offside on the kick. With the ball at the 1, the Bills tried to run it in and the 2-point attempt failed. That left the Bills trailing 21-16 at halftime and chasing that point the rest of the game. After Buffalo took a 22-21 lead on their first drive of the second half, Allen was sacked on another 2-point try. ___ Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season. ___ AP NFL: recommended
Associated Press
28-01-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Tush push could play a prominent role in the Super Bowl if championship Sunday was any indication
If the conference championships are any indication, some of the highest drama in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in two weeks could come on the tush push perfected by the Philadelphia Eagles and decrypted by the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles (17-3) are so adept at their vaunted short-yardage plays that the Commanders committed four penalties with Jalen Hurts & Co. at or inside the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of Philadelphia's 55-23 wipeout of Washington on Sunday. Kansas City's 32-29 squeaker over Buffalo that sent the Chiefs (17-2) to their third consecutive Super Bowl turned early in the fourth quarter when they stuffed Bills quarterback Josh Allen — or did they? — on fourth-and-inches at midfield while trailing by a point. Although it initially appeared to millions of viewers at at least one official that Allen got the nose of the football across the line to gain, the call on the field was no gain and a turnover on downs, and replay concurred. In Philadelphia, referee Shaun Hochuli admonished the Eagles to stop their shenanigans or he'd award the Eagles a touchdown via an obscure regulation in the unsportsmanlike conduct section of the NFL's thick rule book. Sandwiched around Jonathan Allen lining up in the neutral zone and getting flagged for encroachment, linebacker Frankie Luvu mistimed his jump over both lines for encroachment penalties on successive plays in a desperate attempt to keep the Eagles out of the end zone. The four flags in a five-play sequence — the Commanders legitimately stopped Jalen Hurts once — put the ball within an inch of the goal line, and Hurts finally plowed into the end zone to give Philadelphia a three-score lead. After Luvu's second illegal leap, Hochuli warned Washington that he'd call unsportsmanlike conduct. After Allen jumped offside again on an Eagles hard count, Hochuli had seen enough and, like a scolding parent, announced that referees can, indeed award a team a touchdown for repeated penalties. 'Washington has been advised that at some point, the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again,' Hochuli fumed during his in-game announcement. 'Simply put, a team can't commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score,' Hochuli told a pool reporter after the game. 'So, No. 4 (Luvu) jumped the ball a couple of times, that was when the warning came in. Again, if it's meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.' It's right there in Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the league's rule book. Titled 'Fouls To Prevent Score,' it states, 'The defense shall not commit successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score.' Further, the rule reads that 'if the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team.' The Commanders finally stayed onside, the flags finally stayed tucked into officials' pockets and Hurts finally scored, giving Philly a 41-23 lead. In Kansas City, where the Bills were eliminated by the Chiefs for the fourth time in five years, Buffalo rallied to take a 22-21 lead and faced a fourth-and-1 at Kansas City's 41 early in the fourth quarter. Allen was stopped on a sneak even though it appeared one official marked the ball past the line of gain before another placed it short. Replay review upheld the call because there wasn't clear evidence to overturn it. 'It looked to me like he got to it,' Bills coach Sean McDermott said, 'and that's all I can say.' CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with him, saying on the broadcast, 'I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football.' But the Chiefs took over and drove for a go-ahead touchdown. K.C. also benefited from a debatable ruling in the first half when Xavier Worthy was credited with a catch when he wrestled the ball away from Bills safety Cole Bishop for a 26-yard gain to Buffalo's 3 even though the ball is seen hitting the ground. The Bills challenged but the play was upheld and Mahomes then ran in for a score and a 21-10 lead. These pair of calls came a week after Kansas City benefited from two roughing-the-passer penalties during a 23-14 victory over Houston, and added fuel to the widely held perception among non-Chiefs fans that officials favor the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. A flag on Kansas City, however, actually came back to bite the Bills on Sunday. McDermott took an extra point off the board when Chiefs safety Justin Reid was whistled for being offside on the kick. With the ball at the 1, the Bills tried to run it in and the 2-point attempt failed. That left the Bills trailing 21-16 at halftime and chasing that point the rest of the game. After Buffalo took a 22-21 lead on their first drive of the second half, Allen was sacked on another 2-point try. Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season. ___
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why referees warned they will award score to Eagles for 'palpably unfair act'
The Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders met for the third time this season in the NFC championship game. The NFC East foes split their season series with one team winning a game each. At the end of three quarters, the Commanders had cut the Eagles' lead to 34-23. Philadelphia drove 50 yards at the start of the fourth quarter to near the goal line for another touchdown. As they had multiple times, Philadelphia lined up in the formation for its infamous "Tush Push" play with quarterback Jalen Hurts set to run it in behind the offensive line with help from players lined up in the backfield. But Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu jumped over the line multiple times to disrupt the play for back-to-back encroachment penalties. Commanders lineman Jonathan Allen was also flagged for encroachment on the next attempt, leading referee Shawn Hochuli to announce a warning. 'Washington has been advised that at some point the referees can award a score if this type of behavior happens again," Hochuli said. "For now, it's a replay of second down." "Encroachment, defense No. 93. Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again. For now, it's a replay of second down." - Shawn Hochuli, after Fox's Mike Pereira alluded to this as — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 26, 2025 The Commanders did not move early on the next attempt and Hurts scored on a run up the middle. This statement from Hochuli is backed by rule 11, section 2, article 1.5 of the NFL rule book regarding scoring plays. That article states a touchdown can be scored when "the Referee awards a touchdown to a team that has been denied one by a palpably unfair act." This is the rule Hochuli was using and inferred that the repeated encroachment penalties were an unfair act by the Commanders used to prevent the Eagles from scoring. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why referees warned to award Eagles TD for 'unfair act'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NFC championship: Commanders warned by officials that bad goal-line 'behavior' could result in a free Eagles TD
Has there ever been an NFL touchdown awarded without one actually being scored? None that we can think of, but the Washington Commanders came precariously close to that scenario in Sunday's NFC championship game. With the Philadelphia Eagles in their trademark tush-push formation at the goal line in the fourth quarter, the Commanders repeatedly jumped off sides, drawing multiple warnings from the officiating crew. One of those included referee Shawn Hochuli telling the Commanders that the Eagles would be awarded a touchdown without actually scoring one if they kept doing it. Frankie Luvu started it all. The Commanders linebacker leapt over the line of scrimmage before the snap on the second-and-goal play and crashed into the Eagles offensive line. He was flagged for encroachment, and the ball was moved half the distance to the goal inside the 1-yard line. We think he might have jumped early 😂 — FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 26, 2025 On the next play, Luvu did it again, except this time he hurdled the Eagles offensive line into the backfield. Frankie Luvu did it again lol — Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) January 26, 2025 This foul drew the first warning from Hochuli. 'Encroachment, defense No. 4," Hochuli said, announcing the penalty. "Washington has been warned if that foul is intentionally done again, it will be an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. For now, it's half the distance to the goal, and it's still second down.' The Commanders did not heed the warning. Luvu was done with his high-flying shenanigans. But multiple Commanders defenders jumped across the line before the next attempted snap, and defensive lineman Jonathan Allen drew Washington's third consecutive encroachment penalty. 'Encroachment, defense No. 93," Hochuli said. Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again.' — The Comeback NFL (@TheComebackNFL) January 26, 2025 Hochuli's "some point" appeared to be in play if Washington jumped again on the next snap. Fortunately for the Commanders, they did not. Unfortunately for the Commanders, Jalen Hurts scored a touchdown the old-fashioned way. The Eagles quarterback carried the ball across the goal line for a 41-23 Eagles lead. The entire sequence begged the question. Can officials really award a touchdown if one isn't actually score. It turns out that they can. Here it is, straight from the NFL rulebook: Article 1. Touchdown PlaysA touchdown is scored, and the ball becomes dead when: 1. the ball is on, above, or behind the plane of the opponents' goal line (extended) and is in possession of a runner who has advanced from the field of play into the end zone 2. a ball in possession of an airborne runner is on, above, or behind the plane of the goal line, and some part of the ball passed over or inside the pylon 3. a ball in player possession touches the pylon, provided that, after contact by an opponent, no part of the player's body, except his hands or feet, struck the ground before the ball touched the pylon 4. Any player who is legally inbounds secures possession of a loose ball that is on, above, or behind the opponent's goal line (3-2-4 and 3-2-7.) 5. the Referee awards a touchdown to a team that has been denied one by a palpably unfair act. Bullet point No. 5 is the relevant point here. It turns out that referees, in fact, can award a touchdown if one has been denied by what officials deem to be "a palpably unfair act." The Commanders straddled that line and came dangerously close to committing a "palpably unfair act." Ultimately, they couldn't stop the Eagles either was as Philadelphia lit up the scoreboard with a berth in the Super Bowl at stake.
