"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
An Attempt to Get Survivors to Another Planet Is Futile
Australian astronomers are searching for planets in other solar system that could sustain human life. Dr Charley Linweaver says Mankind is reaching the beginning of the end. It's time to look for a way out at least for a small group of people. The number of planets identified orbiting other suns now exceeds 750. Though a few of these could be like the Earth, exact information is lacking.
The objective of getting people to such a distant destination is way "off the planet" at present. We do not have the technology to get people in orbit around other planets in our own solar system, let alone reaching a far away planet and landing safely.
Finding an identical planet to Earth is just not possible. This planet is a freak in regard to the universe. Most planets do not have life because they are regularly hit by asteroids and even other planets. Sending probes to a possible twin planet would be a waste of time. It would literally take a lifetime to get a message back.
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Science
Man Tries to Break Into a Cafe With a Chicken
There was no one around at the time. The thief gave himself away when he had to phone emergency services: he injured himself when trying to throw the chicken.
The man will face Kempsey Local Court. He was charged with break and enter offences, police alleging that he attacked a premises with a weapon, a chicken.
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Society
Women Get into Beer
In the past if you took a lady out for a drink you would buy her a shandy or a white wine. Today, she is likely to ask for a beer. They don't just like the stuff, they make it. The number of female brewers is increasing daily.
Brewing is much like cooking. Women find it interesting to vary the recipe and taste the subtle difference. It is an extention of cooking. They may cook but they brew as well.
Even Brewing companies are targeting both sexes for their "craft" beer. The female interest started at beer festivals where a few women ventured. Today 40 per cent of people attending will probably be female. Beer-interested women have formed a mutual support club - the Pink Boots Society. Some are so good they sell their craft beer.
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Society
Dark Matter Theory Is Questioned
Dark matter holds the universe together right? Well, the theory of dark matter may be widely believed, but there isn't much of it in our part of the universe. The research team puts forward its findings. Believers question the accuracy of what they have found.
This isn't a question of how much is out there. The team found no dark matter at all. The dark matter theory holds that dark matter should be plentiful, everywhere. As much as 85 per cent of everything should be dark matter. The sun should be pulled around with dark matter. Unfortunately, scientists cannot find it.
Dark matter theory is based on the premise that stars trapped in a gravitational well light years away travel at a fixed speed. This, with the shape of the well allows a calculation to be made. Star counts give the amount of ordinary matter. subtracting this from the mass determined from the calculation gives the amount of dark matter.
The team found that the dark matter theory was questionable. The speed of the stars did not need dark matter to explain it.
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Science
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