The innovation, launched by book chain Blackwell yesterday, removes the need to order a hard-to-find novel, or the wait to buy one that has sold out.

Even out-of-print works can be printed off in minutes.

The Espresso Book Machine will also benefit aspiring novelists who can walk in to a shop with a CD of their work and have their book professionally printed in minutes.

The cost of buying a book will be generally the same as if it were in stock.

Currently there are 400,000 books ready to be be downloaded. Blackwell hopes that by summer, one million will be available.

It has bought one of the machines for its store on Charing Cross Road in Central London, but if it is a success then more could appear at shops across the country.

The machine, which resembles an industrial photocopier and printer, prints 105 pages a minute, or one book every five minutes or so.

Blackwell's aim is that the customer will be able to browse a catalogue in a kiosk next to the machine then press 'Make Book' and watch as their novel is created.

First the cover is run off, then the pages are printed and collated.

The pages are then clamped and glue applied to the spine. In the final stage, the pages are stuck to the cover before being trimmed to size from A4. The completed book then pops out of a slot in the side of the machine.

'With the Espresso Book Machine you can order it and have it in your hand within a few minutes. Having books printed on-demand also reduces the carbon footprint and cuts down on the number that are pulped or sent back.'

Out-of-copyright books will be sold at 10p a page, meaning a 300-page book would be £30, although Mr Hutchings hopes the cost will come down.

All other books will cost the same as if they were bought off the shelf.

A novel idea: The machine that can print off any book for you in minutes

Sure, we’ve all heard of the common phobias such as claustrophobia, the fear of closed-in places, or acrophobia, the fear of heights. In fact, we all have fears; some people have more fears than others and some are severe while others are mild.

Some fears are completely unjustified,but if you say you don’t have any fears, then perhaps one thing you’re afraid of is telling the truth!

So, we’ve established that fears are normal; however, there are some individuals that are afraid of some not-so-normal things. Sure, there are some strange phobias out there, but none stranger than that of things that don’t exist.

1. Spectrophobia: Fear of ghosts (Boo!)
It’s true that some people truly believe in ghosts and some don’t so this is certainly up to your interpretation.

Most people that have spectrophobia (the fear of ghosts) realize that this is an irrational fear and that there’s truly nothing to be afraid of. These people may be afraid to be in old, empty houses, dark places, or quiet woods, especially at night; even though the logical side of them says that nothing will happen.

2. Ambulothanatophobia: Fear of zombies
Ambulothanatophobia is fear of the walking dead, or zombies. It’s a long name for something so irrational.

This is a genuine fear in which it can be argued that Hollywood is somewhat responsible for with movies such as the Resident Evil movies and Dawn of the Dead. Though most people realize that zombies aren’t real, individuals with this fear let their imaginations get the best of them.

3. Demonophobia (also called Daemonophobia): Fear of demons
Demons are said to be evil spiritual beings. Individuals with this fear take the fear to the extreme and often realize that it’s irrational. Like people with spectrophobia (mentioned above), people suffering from demonophobia would most likely be afraid to go into an old, dark house, or be alone in the woods.

4. Pneumatiphobia: Fear of spirits
Pneumatiphobia, the fear of spirits, is very similar to spectrophobia and demonophobia. This fear however is more broad and open to all supposed forms of spirit life. Because some people believe that there are spirits all around us, this can be a truly dehabilitating, though the individuals who suffer from it do realize how silly it is.

5. Wiccaphobia: Fear of witches
These days, we have people who openly practice witchcraft and it’s perfectly lawful in the United States for them to do so. However, if you have wiccaphobia, this could be very disturbing.

6. Sanguivoriphobia: Fear of vampires
The literal translation of sanguivoriphobia is “the fear of blood eaters”, or quite simply put, the fear of vampires. Again, with all of the vampire movies out, some individuals are bound to go a little overboard and take things a bit too literally.

7. Teratophobia: Fear of monsters
Though not a very common fear in people over the age of ten years old, teratophobia (the fear of monsters) does indeed exist. Though for the most part, we all suffered from it as a child for at least a short amount of time.

8. Phagophobia: Fear of eating, or being eaten
Perhaps phagophobia should be a fear in farm animals or wild game animals, but it’s definitely an unreasonable fear for a human to have. Though there have been some gruesome real stories over the years of true cannibalism, the chances of you really getting eaten aren’t very good.

9. Spakafobia: Fear of aliens
Do you believe in aliens? Maybe, maybe not. Do you believe that people on Earth have ever been abducted by aliens. Whether you believe in aliens or alien abductions or not, most of us can agree that the chances of you getting abducted are slim to none. However, some people suffer from this fear so badly that they may even be afraid to leave their house.

10. Capgras Syndrome: Fear of an individual being replaced by an imposter
Capgras Syndrome is actually a condition, but the condition is a fear. Individuals with this condition fear that a person or people normally a spouse or immediate family member, has been abducted and replaced by an imposter that looks exactly the same.

Can you imagine trying to convince someone that you really are you? If they truly believe that you’re not, they will only get more paranoid and defensive against you for trying to convince them otherwise.

11. Ornithoscelidaphobia: Fear of dinosaurs
Individuals who suffer from ornithoscelidaphobia perhaps watched the Jurassic Park movies a little too much. As any rational person can see, the fear of dinosaurs is a truly illegitimate fear since these animals have been extinct for a long time. It’s quite possible that people suffering from this fear also realize that it’s irrational, but they can’t help it.

12. Automatonophobia: Fear of wax statues, ventriloquist dummies
The fear of wax statues and ventriloquist dummies, or automatonophobia, is caused by people thinking that these inanimate objects will come alive. While it’s true that the items these people are afraid of exist, the fear of what they believe may happen isn’t real. Of course movies such as Child’s Play harbor that fear in people. Remember Chuckie?

13. Gnomophobia: Fear of gnomes
Gnomophobia is the fear of garden gnomes. Of course no one is afraid of a garden gnome if they realize that it’s an inanimate object. However, some people are afraid that the gnome may come to life and attack them. Perhaps this is a childhood fear that some people never grew out of.

14. Santaphobia: Fear of Santa Clause
When you were a child, you may have suffered from Santaphobia, the fear of Santa Clause. Why not? Your parents try to teach you not to talk to strangers and then they put you on some fat guy’s lap. The guy is covered in hair and red clothing. What are you supposed to feel? Seriously, there are some children that have the fear for longer than a season or two.

15. Bogyphobia: Fear of the boogieman
Seriously, this is a true phobia. Sure, you may have feared the boogieman when you were a child, but some people don’t outgrow it. Some individuals have been known to have full blown anxiety attacks from fearing that the boogieman will get them.


Afraid of What!? Strange Fears of Things that Don’t Even Exist

They're giving these glasses away at the Rotterdam Zoo after a woman was attacked by a gorilla she made eye contact with. These could also be marketed towards the perpetually shy, or those with crazy-eye envy.

Scientists have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love.

The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass.

A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers. They found that about one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited (identified on MRI brain scans) the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.

Previous research suggested that the first stages of romantic love, a rollercoaster ride of mood swings and obsessions that psychologists call limerence, start to fade within 15 months. After 10 years the chemical tide has ebbed away.

The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls “intensive companionship and sexual liveliness”.

The researchers nicknamed the couples “swans” because they have similar mental “love maps” to animals that mate for life such as swans, voles and grey foxes.

Scientists discover true love

Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company, has presented a new program to citizens. There are currently 250 individuals expecting to fly into space. A ticket to near space is not cheap - $200,000. This is a lot less than a trip to the International Space Station. However, the new trip pales in comparison with a flight to the orbit.

The company promises to organize a flight above Earth’s surface at the height of 100 kilometers.

Virgin Galactic has already started to accept payments from space passengers. The company promises to launch its flights already in 2010. The date of the first flight has not been exposed yet. Nevertheless, the number of people willing to fly into space is quite impressive – 85,000. Two hundred and fifty would-be passengers have already made their payments, either partially or in full.

Commercial space flights will be conducted from a private space port in New Mexico, the USA. SpaceShip Two will be taken to the orbit on board carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo, which has the wingspan of 42 meters.

The spaceship is designed to carry six passengers and two members of the crew. Four powerful engines Pratt and Whitney PW308A installed on the carrier aircraft will take SpaceShip Two at the height of ten kilometers and subsequently undock from the craft. Afterwards, the ship will continue its flight to upper layers of the atmosphere where it will cross the line between space and the atmosphere.

SpaceShip Two will be able to perform two flights a day. Aerospace pioneer Bart Rutan, the head of the company that designed the tourist spacecraft, said that the company would be able to operate 40 spaceships and 15 carriers for 12 years.

The interior of SpaceShip Two is reminiscent to that of Golfstream, a business class airplane. The program of every flight also includes several minutes of weightlessness. Passengers will be able to watch their flight through wide (46 cm) windows.

Every day should be Earth Day in spirit, but April 22 really is, so why not kick up your green heels a little bit? Celebrate the environmental acts you've already done and learn about new stuff you can do.

Happy Earth Day, everyone. Get out there and party for the planet by cleaning up, chilling out, or getting a deal. And then celebrate the earth every day by keepin' green.

Five Fun Things to Do For Earth Day

How to Celebrate Earth Day

Parties for the planet

For a growing cohort of Japanese men, women just aren't worth the effort. Instead, these guys have decided to entrust their affections to the increasingly realistic sex dolls manufactured by Orient Industry of Tokyo.

Orient Industry Co. now makes 80 dolls a month in an eastern Tokyo factory to nine designs that sell for between $850 and $5,500 each. The more expensive models are made of silicon and have 35 movable joints. While initially marketed to handicapped or deformed men, they are finding an audience among the merely awkward or socially introverted.

Orient Industry President Hideo Tsuchiya suggests that his product's success is due to the fact that "nowadays, women are sometimes more dominant than men in the real world, and they don't always pay attention to men."

Nearly all of the people who buy these dolls are single men and about 60 percent of them are over the age of 40, a company official said.

In a similar vein, pseudonymous 40-something doll owner "Ta Bo" points out that while "a human girl can cheat on you or betray you," the dolls will never do such a thing (due to being inanimate objects).

It's not a wife or girlfriend who await Ta-bo when he gets home to his apartment, but a row of dolls lined up neatly on his sofa.

Each has a name. Ta-Bo often watches television with his toys before bathing them, powdering them so that their skin feels more human, dressing them in lingerie and then taking them to bed.

Read the full story on Reuters.
'Love dolls' woo Japanese men (VIDEO)