"Can't you see the funny side?"
"Well frankly, I cannot!"
Worry Over Job Security Increases With Casual Work
Gone are the days of local business monopolies where shops, for example, had a higher profit margin so they could keep employees in secure employment for decades. In the past shopping centers didn't exist and a firm had a local licence. Only one type of business could operate in a regional center. If a shop had the fish licence and decided to sell only fish, no fish and chips, you as a customers had to go without a quick hot meal.
The proportion of casual workers is increasing every year. Just how these employees manage to build up capital for retirement is anyone's guess. Holiday pay is said to be built into casual rates, but this is a myth. Such workers hardly ever take a day off because they will not get any pay.
People worry more over job security than anything else. Despite all the troubles in the world, Macquarie University found employees experience more anxiety over losing their jobs than any other issue. This affects men more than women. Seventy per cent of men worry compared to 60 per cent of women. Young people suffered most: eighty per cent were concerned.
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Society
"It's elementary my dear Watson."Magnets Stop Crocodiles Returning to Their Home Range
We have been told that magnets have wonderful powers: not only can they be used to generate electricity, they can be used to reduce pain, etc. Now a new use has been found: crocodiles have been fitted with magnets to stop them returning to their home area.
In Florida they have been carrying out an experiment to find out if magnets can be used to disrupt crocodiles' homing ability. Though small in number, crocodiles do cause problems when they wander into populated areas. People fear them even though they are are small and usually run away from humans. In contrast alligators are larger and more dangerous.
Once a "rogue" crocodile has been caught it is relocated to an area free of humans. Magnets are put on the crocodile's head. This affects the animals natural homing abilities so that it remains where it is placed. The population has increased because fewer wander onto roads. This is a good thing as the species is endangered.
In Florida they have been carrying out an experiment to find out if magnets can be used to disrupt crocodiles' homing ability. Though small in number, crocodiles do cause problems when they wander into populated areas. People fear them even though they are are small and usually run away from humans. In contrast alligators are larger and more dangerous.
Once a "rogue" crocodile has been caught it is relocated to an area free of humans. Magnets are put on the crocodile's head. This affects the animals natural homing abilities so that it remains where it is placed. The population has increased because fewer wander onto roads. This is a good thing as the species is endangered.
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Nature
Higher Rates of Birth Defects With "Injected" ICSI Babies
For many years we have heard nothing but good things about test tube babies, how they are strong and grow faster, etc. Maybe the "authorities" are telling us what we want to hear, with women choosing to have children later in life.
Older women having babies had their age taken into account when measuring birth defects. If they smoked this was also given a mathematical allowance. This could be distorting the true picture.
There has been a change in the way the "art" of test tube babies is done. Today, an individual sperm is injected into an egg. In the normal fertilization process only the fastest, healthiest sperm is successful.
Evaluation of babies shows that birth defects occur in "injected" babies at a rate of 10 per cent. This compares to 6 per cent for naturally conceived babies. Couples who choose the older form of freezing embryos had normal rates of healthy babies. The attempt to get more embryos by injecting sperm, ICSI, seems to have backfired.
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Health
Islander Blondes Are Natural
All black people have black hair - right? This is an incorrect assumption. When Europeans first arrived in Australia they found some blonde Aboriginals. They thought that White sailors must have been shipwrecked off the coast and took Aboriginal wives.
In the Solomon Island near northern Australia 10 per cent of black people have blonde hair. The sun has not bleached the hair white. European sailors are not responsible either. It is a random gene that causes it. This is proven as the tone of blonde is different from Europeans.
A group of Islanders were tested for gene structure: forty two with dark hair and 43 'blondes'. The pigmentation gene was either coded with a "c" which produced blond haired people or 'T' giving dark hair. It is a recessive gene which means both parents must have the blond gene to have a blond child.
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Science
Your Shoes Give You Away
Shoes apparently show your inner feelings. When Kylie Minogue wore those extremely high shoe-boots she was saying "I want Attention." She also shows that she is loaded with money, having the shoes specially made, and is waited on hand and foot.
Victoria Beckham is another one who wears shoes that make a statement. Her shoes say I wear these silly shoes everywhere, even to breakfast, because I can.
Mary-Kate Olsen should be careful though about her choice of shoes - wearing bondage gladiator shoes says she likes her sex to be rough.
These woman choose their shoes for particular reasons of course. They really don't feel this way. They are just playing games with those who look at them.
Victoria Beckham is another one who wears shoes that make a statement. Her shoes say I wear these silly shoes everywhere, even to breakfast, because I can.
Mary-Kate Olsen should be careful though about her choice of shoes - wearing bondage gladiator shoes says she likes her sex to be rough.
These woman choose their shoes for particular reasons of course. They really don't feel this way. They are just playing games with those who look at them.
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Society
The Science of Carrying a Mug of Coffee
You wouldn't think that finding out how to carry a mug of coffee without spilling it would be a subject for analysis by scientists, but you would be wrong. Rouslan Krechnetnikov took it upon himself to solve this disruptive daily issue.
This area of study dawned upon him when he watched people struggling with mugs of coffee at a fluid dynamics conference. He thought that the solution wasn't simple. It was a complex scientific problem. The coffee carriers gender, age and health would affect the solution.
Tests included walking in a straight line with coffee in hand while looking at the mug or looking ahead. A sensor in the mug measured spillage of coffee. Conclusions were that one should walk slower and, wait for it - watch the mug not where you are going.
This sounds like advice leading one to disaster. "Watch your heads and laps everybody someone's coming who doesn't know where he's going! Why don't you get a cup you fool?"
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Society
Male Bowerbird Grows Tomatoes
The bowerbird is unusual to say the least. A fancy structure is built by the male to attract females. It is an arch of still growing undergrowth with a walk through from one side to the other. In the middle and to one side is a collection of leaves, fruit, shells, dead insects and odd glistening objects manufactured by humans.
When a female is in range the male "screeches" at the female to make her look at his handiwork. Males often wave fruit at females. The male stays in the area of the bower for up to ten years so he has an investment in that location. Researchers have found that males do not just pick up fruit laying around. The spotted bowerbird actually grows his own fruit.
As the male tends to his "plot" he throws out dried fruit of the bush tomato and clears the ground, thus leaving healthy seeds to sprout and grow into bushes. The area around the bower is full of bushes in fruit with tomatoes. This symbiosis is part of the bowerbird mating game.
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Ornithology
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