Dormice in Britain 'vulnerable to extinction'

Britain's native dormouse has declined by more than a third since the year 2000 according to a new report by wildlife charity, the People's Trust for Endangered Species.

The State of Britain's Dormice report also shows that hazel dormice are extinct in 17 English counties.

The researchers assessed more than 100,000 records gathered from across the UK over 25 years.

The report says the dormouse is now vulnerable to extinction in Britain.

Since 1998 trained volunteers around the country have been gathering data on the tiny hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). It is one of the longest-running small mammal monitoring projects in the world.

The creatures live mainly in hedgerows and woods, weaving ball-like nests in the undergrowth from bark in the summer and hibernating on or near the ground in winter between October and May.read more

Ticks found on 'one third' of dogs, researchers say

Almost a third of dogs checked at random across the UK were found to be carrying a tick, researchers say.

The finding comes from the largest survey of ticks in dogs.

Researchers also found that the risk of an animal picking up a tick is as great in urban areas as in rural ones.

Ticks can carry a range of diseases including Lyme disease, and also a parasite discovered in the UK for the first time earlier this year that is potentially fatal to dogs.

Lyme disease has the potential to cause serious health problems, such as meningitis and heart failure.

In the most serious cases, it can be fatal.

Almost 15,000 dogs from across the UK were examined in the study, which was carried out by Bristol University last year.read more

Scientists in search for hottest life forms

SCIENTISTS will start drilling off Japan this month to seek the hottest place where life can survive in an uncharted realm deep below the seabed.

Drilling under the Nankai Trough in the Pacific Ocean will be part of a project by 900 experts to map carbon underground, hoping for clues to everything from the origin of life on Earth to the formation of oil and gas.

Previously, microbes have been found living at a torrid 121 degrees Celsius around a volcanic vent on the seabed in the Pacific Ocean off the United States.

Scientists will now drill into rocks where temperatures reach 130 degrees in a two-month trip off southern Japan starting on Monday, said Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, of the University of Bremen in Germany who led the scientific proposal for the mission.

He reckoned life was likely to exist at temperatures around a maximum 85 to 90 degrees beneath the surface. He said there was probably less food in such rocks, heated by the molten core of the Earth, than near volcanoes on the seabed.

“But we’ve been surprised in these systems before. I wouldn’t bet any money on it,” he told reporters.

Water in the Nankai Trough is 4.7 kilometers deep and the scientists will drill another 1.2km into the Earth. Researchers reckon it is easier to prevent contamination of samples on a drilling ship than on land.

Scientists say they are discovering vast amounts of carbon-based life in the little understood subterranean zone.read more

Surprise! Giraffes fall under 4 species, not one

For centuries, scientists believed all giraffes fall under one species.

But genetics now show the lanky creatures are not one species, but rather four different ones, changing the game for the world's tallest mammals.

The new findings appeared in the journal Current Biologythis week, highlighting the need for further studies of the four genetically isolated species, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, which was part of the research.

Until now, the gentle African mammals were all classified under the Giraffa camelopardalis species.read more

Does Weather Affect Joint Pain?

The skies are clear blue, but your ankle starts flaring up with arthritispain. Could a storm be looming? You feel it in your bones, but is it just an old wives' tale? Or can joint pain actually predict weather changes?

Believe it or not, your weather forecasting might have some validity, thanks to the effects of barometric pressure changes on your body.

It's common for people to blame increased pain on the weather, according to Robert Newlin Jamison, PhD, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School and a researcher who has studied weather's effects on chronic pain patients.

"Everyone's got an aunt who complained that her knee or ankle would flare up. Or Uncle Charlie's shoulder would give him trouble and he would say, ‘Oh, the weather's changing,'" he says.

But Jamison, who is also the chief psychologist at the Pain Management Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, has seen patients worry about being ridiculed. "For whatever reason, people with chronic pain are real shy about saying it, because they think other people think they're nuts," he says.read more

Animated 'Doctor Who' series will re-create 'Power of the Daleks'

 BBC America and BBC Worldwide say they have ordered a six-part, animated series re-creating the long-lost, Doctor Who adventure The Power of the Daleks.

The installment of the sci-fi program was notable as Patrick Troughton's debut as the Doctor, but the master negatives for it were destroyed in an archive purge in 1974 and no complete film recordings are known to have survived.

Original audio recordings, photographs and film clips will be used to refurbish the episode, which is to air this fall.

"Fifty years after its inception, Doctor Who continues to be a global phenomenon that perpetually re-animates itself -- literally, right now," Sarah Barnett, president of BBC America, said in a statement. "The Power of the Daleks is the latest uniquely creative storytelling to spring from the extraordinary mythology of the Doctor Whoworld -- there are only a handful of global franchises that have the depth to evolve in this kind of way. We are so proud to present this work to our BBCA Doctor Who fans, who we think will go crazy for this reverent, yet shockingly re-invented, 'mash-up.'"read more

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why am i writing about a number ,well carry on reading this post and you will find out more .many moons ago i lived in ilfracombe near barnstaple devon and to get a little extra cash i went to garages and various other places picking up scrap iron with a friend .one whilst awaiting items to be weighed at barnstaple scrap yard i spotted an old 56 lb weight may have been used to weigh potatoes -so i put it inside the front of van and from that day i have used it in every home weight routine and would hate to depart with it -how sad.so i bet your glad dear reader you stuck this intesting post out -ha.