EU to ban pesticides

The European Commission will restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths by researchers, despite a split among EU states on the issue.

There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators. The UK did not support a ban - it argues that the science behind the proposal is inconclusive. It was among eight countries that voted against, while four abstained.

Wild species such as honey bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production.

There is heated debate about what has triggered the widespread decline in bee populations. Besides chemicals, many experts point to the parasitic varroa mite, viruses that attack bees and neglect of hives. 

Some restrictions are already in place for neonicotinoids in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.The three neonicotinoids are clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam.

Our planet's core is hotter that originally thought

New measurements suggest the Earth's inner core is far hotter than prior experiments suggested, putting it at 6,000C - as hot as the Sun's surface. Measurements in the early 1990s of iron's "melting curves" - from which the core's temperature can be deduced - suggested a core temperature of about 5,000C. 

The solid iron core is actually crystalline, surrounded by liquid.But the temperature at which that crystal can form had been a subject of long-running debate.Experiments outlined in Science used X-rays to probe tiny samples of iron at extraordinary pressures to examine how the iron crystals form and melt.Seismic waves captured after earthquakes around the globe can give a great deal of information as to the thickness and density of layers in the Earth, but they give no indication of temperature.That has to be worked out either in computer models that simulate the Earth's insides, or in the laboratory.

The Assassin bug and its peculiar hunting techniques

The assassin bug Has a extra-ordinary way of hunting spiders: Assassin bugs plucked the  spider web's silk threads that replicate the vibrations of a fly or other insect, causing the fooled spider to head towards the assassin bug. Once within reach, the bug slowly tapped the spider with its antennae before lunging and stabbing the lured arachnid with its sharp snout. The team from Macquarie University, Australia, said the behaviour - known as aggressive mimicry - was one of two strategies employed by the bug (Stenolemus bituberus) to trap its prey. The other involved "stalking" spiders, where the assassin bug slowly approaches the unsuspecting victim until within striking range. 

The Brazilian wandering spider

The Brazilian wandering spider is one of the most dangerous spiders known to man. It's venom contains a potent neurotoxin, known as PhTx3, which acts as a broad-spectrum calcium channel blocker that inhibits glutamate release, calcium uptake and also glutamate uptake in neural synapses. At deadly concentrations, this neurotoxin causes loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation. In addition, the venom causes intense pain and inflammation following a bite due to an excitatory effect the venom has on the serotin 5-HT4 receptors of sensory nerves. This sensory nerve stimulation causes a release of neuropeptides such as substance P which triggers inflammation and pain. Thankfully there is an anti venom so not many fatalities occur.  

10 Amazing science facts

1. The Earth spins at 1,000 mph but it travels through space at an incredible 67,000 mph
2. Every year over one million earthquakes shake the Earth. 
3. To escape the Earth’s gravity a rocket need to travel at 7 miles a second
4. Our oldest radio broadcasts of the 1930s have already travelled past 100,000 stars.
5. 32/ Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967 – the patient lived for 18 days.
6. Englishman Roger Bacon invented the magnifying glass in 1250
7. Around a million, billion neutrinos from the Sun will pass through your body while you read this sentence.
8. ‘Wireless’ communications took a giant leap forward in 1962 with the launch of Telstar, the first satellite capable of relaying telephone and satellite TV signals.
9. One million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang the Universe was the size of a pea.
10. The Earth is 4.56 billion years old…the same age as the Moon and the Sun.

Eastern Emerald Elysia

The eastern emerald elysia is a specie of sea slug that is found along the eastern coast of the U.S and only eats algae, it has been known for a long time that the Eastern Emerald Elysia had a special relationship with the algae but it has only been recently discovered that the Eastern Emerald Elysia uses the algae's genes for photosynthesis.
The sea slug eats the algae to absorb it's chloroplasts (the cells that do the photosynthesizing) but in order to do this the chloroplasts need a whole new set of specialized cells, but the slug can lift genes from the algae which allows the slug to make the Proteins it's self. The slugs also pass on the genes to its offspring and they only need to eat for two weeks of the year and the other fifty they're just soaking in the rays.

Planets found that could sustain life

Scientists are reporting a bounty of new worlds that may be capable of sustaining life, with the discovery of three exoplanets slightly larger than Earth orbiting within their stars’ habitable zone.

These findings come from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, a dedicated planet-hunting mission currently wrapping up four productive years in which it has spotted more than 100 planets outside our solar system. The telescope stares at about 150,000 stars simultaneously, watching for a tiny dip in their glow, which could indicate that a planet has passed in front and blocked their light. Though the majority of Kepler’s discoveries are Jupiter-size worlds, the mission has lately been homing in on planets the size and temperature of our own, suggesting they may be good places to find life.

Two of the newly discovered potentially habitable exoplanets orbit the same star, Kepler-62, which is located about 1,200 light-years away. The system resembles our own, with five planets total, though the other three worlds are all too close to the star to contain life as we know it. The two farthest planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, have 1.6 and 1.4 times the radius of Earth and go around their parent start every 122 and 267 days, respectively.

Because their parent star is only about two-thirds the size of our sun, the estimated surface temperatures of the two worlds is -3 degrees and -65 degrees Celsius. While that sounds very chilly, the calculation doesn’t take into account a potential atmosphere, which would act like a warm blanket, heating the planets up and possibly producing temperatures where liquid water could exist.

There is a great deal of uncertainty with the new worlds and scientists are careful about drawing any conclusions. The Kepler team members don’t know if the planets ”have a rocky composition, an atmosphere, or water,” they write in a paper available Apr. 18 in Science. Unless those properties can be found out, they “cannot determine whether the exoplanets are in fact habitable.”

The other new world, reported today in The Astrophysical Journal, is called Kepler-69c. It takes 242 days to go around a star named Kepler-69 and has a radius about 1.7 times that of our own planet. Its surface temperature is estimated to be a balmy 27 degrees Celsius, basically beach-going weather. Given its size, it’s unknown exactly how Earth-like conditions on its surface might be.

We're running out of helium

Helium is the second-lightest element. And it is one of the rarest elements on planet earth. It's the most widely-used of the inert gases. Used in arc welding, diving, growing silicon crystals, and as a coolant in MRI scanners.

In addition to being rare, helium is a non-renewable resource. The helium that we have was produced by the radioactive decay of rock, long ago. Once the gases is leaked into the atmosphere, it's light enough to escape the Earth's gravitational field so it bleeds off into space, never to return. We may run out of helium within 25-30 years because it's being consumed so freely.
Without helium the magnets in the large Hadron collider will not be able to work.

Flash eating bacteria (Necrotizing fasciitis)

Necrotizing fasciitis is an extremely rare infection of the lower layers of the skin. Over 70% of cases are recorded in patients with one of the following clinical situations: immunosuppression, diabetes, alcoholism/drug abuse/smoking, malignancies, and chronic systemic diseases. It occasionally occurs in people with an apparently normal general condition. The bacteria don't necessarily eat the bacteria they release toxins This toxin is capable of activating T-cells non-specifically, which causes the overproduction of cytokines and severe systemic illness (Toxic shock syndrome). In the early stages, signs of inflammation may not be apparent if the bacteria are deep within the tissue. If they are not deep, signs of inflammation, such as redness and swollen or hot skin, develop very quickly. Skin color may progress to violet, and blisters may form, with subsequent death of tissues 

Note: There will be no picture because the infection is way too graphic.

Shutdown of thermohaline circulation

A shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation is a postulated effect of global warming. There is some speculation  that global warming could, via a shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation, trigger localized cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling, or lesser warming, in that region. This would particularly affect areas such as the British Isles and the Nordic countries, which are warmed by the North Atlantic drift. The chances of this occurring are unclear but there is some evidence for the stability of the Gulf Stream but a possible weakening of the North Atlantic drift and there is evidence of warming in northern Europe and nearby seas, rather than the reverse. In coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models the THC tends to weaken somewhat rather than stop, and the warming effects outweigh the cooling, even over Europe. 

This would also Wipe out a lot of the deep living sea animals because the thermohaline circulation is also what brings oxygen down to the depths of the ocean, also they entirety of the sea will be a huge stagnant pool.

A 40 year old self sustaining Eco-system!

In 1960 a man called David Latimer planted a spider wort seed int a pile of compost and gave it a pint of water, 12 years later he gave it another pint of water and tightly sealed the carboy shut as an experiment. 

Having access to light through the glass, it continues to photosynthesize. The water builds up on the inside of the bottle as condensation and then drips back down on the plants in a miniature version of the water cycle. As leaves die, they fall off and rot at the bottom producing the carbon dioxide and nutrients required for more plants to grow.

It has occupied the same spot under his stairs in Cranleigh, Surrey for 27 years. He rotates it every now and then so it receives light evenly from a nearby window.

Climate change

• Humans release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning coal, gas and oil. We also like to destroy natural carbon sinks such as the amazon rain forest and replace them with other things that produce carbon dioxide such as cattle. Planet earth has seen these massive increases of carbon dioxide before and they have all caused mass disaster, also what scientists cant get their head around is what apocalypse will strike first.
• Growing conditions could drastically change because of climate change and this is a really bad thing, most of the wealth of people are distributed where the better growing conditions are and as the world continues to warm these excellent growing places could become lifeless hellscapes. And by the time we reach something as subtle as a three degree increase in global temperatures could completely stop most of the food growing, and what always comes with high amounts of hunger and drought well you get famine and its counterpart war. As you may know the earth's human population is seven billion and every one of those wants to eat food and when they get really hungry they start hurling little hunks of metal through one another's bodys.
• 
  
• So next time you are going anywhere maybe it would be a good idea to walk, cycle or even take public transport.

Prince Rupert's drop

The prince Rupert's drop is a truly amazing thing.When molten glass hits cold water, its outer surface cools rapidly and shrinks as it solidifies. Since the center is still fluid, it can flow to adjust to the outer shell’s smaller size. As that center eventually cools and solidifies, it also shrinks, but now the outer shell is already solid and can’t change its shape to accommodate the smaller core. The result of this is a high amount of internal pressure, as the inside pulls the outside from all directions the glass is set to release a lot of energy. If you break the thin glass at the tail, a chain reaction travels like a shock wave through the drop. As each section breaks, it releases enough energy to break the next section, and so on, shattering the whole drop in less than a millisecond. At the same time The glass can be extremely strong aswell glass breaks when tiny scratches pull apart and spread into fractures. Since the surface is compressed by internal stress, scratches can’t grow, and the glass is very difficult to break.

Amazing animals: Platypus

The Platypus is one of the most extraordinary mammals because it goes against one of the properties of mammals, it lays eggs. Native to the eastern coast of Australia the Platypus feeds on insect larvae, worms or other freshwater insects.
Amazing facts about Platypuses:

• Platypuses can consume their own body weight in food in a 24 hour period
• The male platypus has venom strong enough to can kill a small dog, or cause excruciating pain among humans.
• They are the only mammal to lay eggs.

The sun and it's eventual dangers!

Red dwarf

The sun:
The thing that keeps humanity alive. But It's star and all stars come to an end right?What were to happen if our sun came to an end.The way this will happen is when the sun runs out of it fuel (hydrogen). The sun will collapse but as it does that gravity heats up the star to millions of degrees causing it to expand about 3 time its size.As it expands it engulfs Mercury,Venus and possibly Earth.This is called a red dwarf because when it stops expanding it shrinks and gives of little specs of light BUT there is no reason to worry because this wont happen for another 6 billion years.

Amazing animals: Angler fish

The Angler fish is one of the most ugliest animals in existence, but there way of luring and hunting is very impressive. Their height can vary from 20cm to 1 meter and they weigh around 50kg. These fish are named after their characteristic methods of predation.  Anglerfish typically have at least one long filament sprouting from the middle of the head this resembles the preys animal  and they to act as bait to lure other predators close enough for the anglerfish to devour them whole. The jaws are triggered in automatic reflex by contact with the tentacle. 

Mind controlling parasites: Green banded brodsac

 This is a kind of worm that likes to live inside of birds. But to get inside of a bird it has to get into a birds food. Certain snails like to eat bird feces which is where the Green banded brodsac larvae end up. When the snail finds this piece of bird feces it will eat it, but little dose it know that it is also eating a parasite. Once the Green banded brodsac is inside the caterpillar it takes over its brain and makes it go to a really open place, it then works its way into its antenna and moves backward and forwards making the birds think it is a maggot. The bird then eats it and the Green banded brodsac can now reproduce and continue its life cycle.

The immortal jellyfish: Turritopsis dohrnii

This jellyfish is the only animal that we know of that can reverting back to a younger stage of its life cycle, it dose this when it is facing starvation or other stresses in its environment. To reverse the aging cycle the Turritopsis dohrnii will change back to the polyp stage of it's life cycle from here it can grow more cells and continue life as normal. Although they can be killed through infection, disease of if they get eaten.

Transdifferentiation plays a big role in this because every cell can be changed into other cells for example a lung cell could be recycled into a skin cell. This isn't unique to the Turritopsis dohrnii because if you take a lens out of a chicken the iris will turn into lens cells. 
This extraordinary specie of jelly fish is extremely important to scientists because they are always looking to reasearch new ways to regenerate tissues in the body.

Ants that do slavery

The Polyergus breviceps is a specie of ant that doesn't know how to look after its self of its offspring The workers do not forage for food, feed the young or the queen, or even clean up their own nest. There only mean of survival is to invade other ants nests and take their pupae, once hatched they become workers of a mixed nest. This sort of relationship is not unique, of the approximately 8,800 species of ants, at least 200 have evolved some form of symbiotic relationship with one another. What makes Polyergus special is the way a newly mated queen can, all by herself, take over a Formica nest and start a new colony.
These type of ants are only found in america so they will not be taking over the world of ants anytime soon.

Facts about super volcanoes.

• A super volcanic eruption occurs somewhere in the world approximately every 50,000 years or so.
• The last super volcanic eruption happened around 74,000 years ago in Indonesia so we are probably overdue for one.
• Yellowstone has experienced three super volcanic eruptions in the past 2.1 million years, they were 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago and 640,000 years ago. Disturbingly, this cycle of approximately 600-700,000 years suggests another eruption could be brewing.
•  A super eruption at Yellowstone would eject over 2,000 million tonnes of sulfuric acid into the stratosphere.
  This would form a veil around the earth that deflects sunlight, triggering a catastrophic volcanic winter.
  Temperatures would drop by up to 12 degrees in the northern hemisphere and up to 16 degrees in the southern hemisphere.
  
  

  

Mushrooms could replace plastic

Plastic we all use it on a daily basis but it is one of the most polluting and toxic materials that we use. Eden Bayor co-founded a company called mylobond. The idea was to replace the Styrofoam with the 100% biodegradable material from mushroom. They called it mushroom packaging. Mushrooms naturally create a root system called mycelium this is what holds the mushroom together acting like glue. This mushrooms packaging is 100% recyclable and uses 1/10th of the cost of making styofram.