Tuesday afternoon's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. New Big Bird documentary reveals the sadness behind the suit.

There’s more to Big Bird than meets the eye — or more specifically, more to the man inside the famous suit.

Caroll Spinney, 81, has played Big Bird on the beloved children’s show Sesame Street since day dot.

But a new documentary reveals Spinney has an interesting history of his own.

I Am Big Bird explores the puppeteer’s battle with depression, his divorce and how he has occasionally cried inside the suit.

He also once narrowly escaped death, after being kicked off the Challenger space mission. In order to get children interested in the space program, Nasa enlisted Big Bird to be one of the people on board the Challenger space shuttle.

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After Big Bird’s suit wouldn’t fit on the spacecraft, he was replaced with a teacher. Tragically, the Challenger disintegrated during take-off, killing everyone on board.

According to Gawker, Spinney also has some very powerful friends — and is distantly related to President Barack Obama.

The documentary is available on iTunes this month.

2. The dictionary adds a gender neutral title.

People who don’t identify as being male or female, can now officially call themselves Mx as a title.

Mx is an alternative to the traditional Mr, Mrs or Ms.

According to The Sunday Times, the title started appearing on British government documents and applications — so The Oxford English Dictionary decided to make it official.

“This is an example of how the English language adapts to people’s needs, with people using language in ways that suit them rather than letting language dictate identity to them,” assistant editor Jonathan Dent told The Sunday Times. 

3. Simon Gittany’s ex-girlfriend accuses Daily Telegraph of “gutter journalism”.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper is accused of defaming the girlfriend of convicted murderer Simon Gittany.

Rachelle Louise has accused the News Corp publication of ” the worst example of gutter journalism imaginable.”

Ms Louise’ barrister, Clive Evatt, told the District Court that the Daily Telegraph falsely stated Ms Louise stripped in Las Vegas, kissed actor Woody Harrelson and accepted diamonds from strangers, ABC News reports.

He also considered Ms Louise a modern-day Joan of Arc.

“[The Daily Telegraph] hate her for standing up for the man she loves and they ridicule and scorn her, defame her, but she stands up to them,” Mr Evans told the court.

“You’ve got to go a long way back in history to find a young woman who stood up to oppressors; one that comes to mind is Joan of Arc.

“It could be said that Rachelle Louise is a modern-day Joan of Arc.”

Ms Louise also defended Gittany, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison for throwing his then-fiancee Lisa Harnum to her death from a 15th floor balcony.

The case is ongoing. Ms Louise and Mr Gittany are no longer together.

4. Parkes telescope scientists discover strange ‘space signals’ actually came from kitchen microwave.

Scientists at the Parkes telescope in central west New South Wales have discovered that strange signals first believed to be from space were actually coming from the facility’s kitchen microwave.

Scientists at the radio telescope facility detected radio signals described as “fast radio bursts” which they thought could be intergalactic signals.

PhD student Emily Petroff was one of those investigating.

“We were getting some strange signals that appeared to be coming from very nearby,” she said.

Ms Petroff said the source had now been identified as coming from the facility’s kitchen.

“We were actually able to trace them back to the microwave at the Parkes radio telescope site.”

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She said the fast radio bursts were sent when someone opened the microwave door before the heating process was finished.

“It turns out that you can generate these particular local signals by opening the door of the microwave to stop the microwave, and that produces these weird bursts that we’re seeing at Parkes,” she said.

“It was kind of a surprise to all of us.”

This article was originally published by ABC News. 

5. Interest rates slashed.

The Reserve Bank has cut official interest rates by 25 points to a record low of 2 per cent.

ABC News reports, if the banks pass it on, the borrower with a $300,000 mortgage around $47 per month in repayments. However, analysts predict the next rate move will be up, but probably not until 2016.

6. Woman found safe and well in Brisbane after going missing from Gateway Motorway car crash

Police have located a woman who had been reported missing after an accident on the Gateway Motorway in Brisbane.

Mihiata Bruce, from Springbrook, was last seen getting into a utility after crashing her own car into a guard rail last Wednesday.

The 45-year-old contacted family members last night and has since been found safe and well at West End in inner Brisbane.

Police would not comment further.

This article was originally published by ABC News.

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au.

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