This is one of the sessions that was presented at BlueLightCamp 2014 by Matt Wroughton of West Midlands Fire Service, as well as at the recent Policing Social Citizens in Manchester. At both events the idea was well received by those attending the sessions.

Matt Wroughton presenting 999eye

Over the past few months, a team at West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) has been working on an innovative way of increasing the availability of information about an emergency incident to control room operators and category 1 responders during the incident itself. The team developing the solution are now seeking to connect with organisations who may be interested in being involved with the project in order to gain multiple perspectives on how the solution may be developed to provide maximum benefit to a variety of potential users.

Since the birth of the internet, at the very same time a call is placed and received through the 999 system, a vast array of internet enabled services have been providing a platform of information sharing freely and easily between endless numbers of internet users.

Some examples:

• Present-day smartphones have the functionality to record and relay images and video, often in real time, and which may later be uploaded onto internet sites or sold to media agencies.
• Mobile network providers are able to detect an increase in smartphone usage at the location and could potentially have data on numbers of people in the vicinity of an incident.read more

Scavenger robot EATS living organisms

It may not be a living, breathing robot, but UK researchers have created something pretty close. Robotics experts has developed a soft robot capable of consuming organic material for energy, effectively creating a machine which digests living things. The hope is that such self-sustaining robo-scavengers could be used to mop up contaminated water or algal blooms, which choke out life.Using a soft polymer membrane as a 'mouth', the machine filters its aquatic surroundings – a water bath with added biomatter – to gain the energy it needs. 

But unlike the stomach or digestive tract of living organisms, the mechanical imitator relies on a microbial fuel cell packed with bacteria which break down organic matter. 

These microbes break liberate the chemical energy stored in the biomatter, which is transformed into electrical energy which the robot can use. 

The clever design imitates the symbiotic relationships which have helped living things to dominate the planet over billions of years. 

Once the matter is used up, it is excreted out the other end and the robot moves on.

Baby blues - information and support

Feeling emotional or low after birth is very common. The majority of new mothers experience the ‘baby blues’. Find out what it is, signs and symptoms and how long it lasts.

This article covers:
What are the 'baby blues'?
What causes baby blues?
Common baby blues symptoms
How long does the baby blues last?
What can be done to help
Further information

What are the baby blues?

During the first week after giving birth, some mums may find themselves feeling weepy and irritable. This is called the ‘baby blues’ and it is experienced by many mums after giving birth.

What causes the baby blues?

The baby blues are thought to be linked to the changes in chemical and hormone levels two to four days after giving birth. Suddenly, your body has some major adjustments to make. Levels of certain hormones that were required during pregnancy drop rapidly, while others that promote the bonding process and trigger the start of milk production rise. These rapid changes can leave you feeling confused.-read more

arctic live -bbc iplayer

Arctic Live-Episode 1

Every autumn, polar bears gather on the shores of Hudson Bay in Canada to wait for the sea ice to form so they can begin their winter hunt. And every year, they are waiting longer. In one of BBC Two's most ambitious live broadcasts, Gordon Buchanan, Kate Humble and Simon Reeve head north to follow the remarkable story of not just these bears, but the entire Arctic.

Vast and stunningly beautiful, the Arctic spans eight countries and six million miles of frozen ocean. As temperatures rise and the ice starts to melt, it has become an increasingly valuable battleground. Shipping routes are opening up. Oil, gas and minerals are tantalisingly within reach. Suddenly, the polar bears aren't the only ones on the hunt.

Tonight, Simon travels to an unspoilt corner of Greenland that could become one of the biggest uranium mines in the world, while Kate follows the oil money that has shaped Alaska. In Churchill, Gordon learns how to stay safe when living side by side with the world's largest living land carnivore, and the team are live on the tundra to bring you the best of the bears.

The Mistress of Mayfair: Men, Money and the Marriage of Doris Delevingne by Lyndsy Spence

The plot could have been inspired by Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, but unlike Waugh's novel – which parodies the era of the ‘Bright Young Things’ – The Mistress of Mayfair is a real-life story of scandal, greed, corruption and promiscuity at the heart of 1920s and ’30s high society, focusing on the wily, willful socialite Doris Delevingne and her doomed relationship with the gossip columnist Valentine Browne, Viscount Castlerosse.

Marrying each other in pursuit of the finer things in life, their unlikely union was tempestuous from the off, rocked by affairs (with a whole host of society figures, including Cecil Beaton, Diana Mitford and Winston Churchill, amongst others) on both sides, and degenerated into one of London’s bitterest, and most talked about, divorce battles. In this compelling new book, Lyndsy Spence follows the rise and fall of their relationship, exploring their decadent society lives in revelatory detail and offering new insight into some of the mid twentieth century’s most prominent figures.

stop the trade of stuffed tigers

in this photograph you can see stuffed tigers going up in flumes after being seized from poachers and illegal traders from island of java.also among them were stuffed bears,birds of paradise,eagles,a gibbon all  were burned as part of a campaign to stop illegal wild animal trade.

Rare Isabelline shrike spotted in Britain on its annual migration from the Far East

The Isabelline shrike spotted near South Shields, South Tyneside, over the weekend should have been on its annual migration from China or Mongolia to North Africa.

The bird came to rest on land managed by the National Trust north of Souter Lighthouse.

Assistant ranger Dougie Holden, a keen birdwatcher, said: “We get a lot of migratory birds flying over the lighthouse, but I didn't expect to see the shrike - it was a dream come true.read more