TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Stanley]

Thanks for that link Peter. What a lovely clip, I could listen to him all day and he would undoubtedly cheer me up as well! So glad he's well and happy, he deserves it. (I hope he's right. Nothing wrong with that brain!)
BTW. I agree with him completely about Covid19, I'd like to hear him expanding on that. (The politicians should listen to him and David Nabarro instead of making statements designed to 'encourage and reassure' us.)

[Tizer]

I'm always pleased to see more investigation of the ocean and sea floor. We still have a lot to learn about the underwater world before we go rushing off to Mars! Here are two British developments...
`Robot boat completes three-week Atlantic mission' LINK

`Robots go their own way deep in the ocean' LINK

[Stanley]

Couldn't agree more Peter. We know so little about the oceans and what inhabits them.
Bit like archaeology, the more you look, the more you find.

[Stanley]

I heard a report yesterday about a break through in the treatment of heart disease that has been achieved by looking at the metabolism of slugs! Unfortunately I can't find it anywhere on Tinternethingy.
Sounds like a bit of excellent lateral thinking.

[Tizer]

This is interesting but I'd say that the claim `Earliest art in the British Isles' is a bit misleading. The Channel Islands are geographically and geologically more part of France than of Britain (just off the French coast)) and just because this type of art reached through France to the Channel Islands doesn't mean it got any further. We'll need to find it closer to home for that. It's a bit like the French claiming that some typically British rock art found in the Isle of Wight is the first time it's found in France!
`Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey' LINK

[Stanley]

I too thought that the claim was a bit tenuous, to be strictly accurate the fact that there was a land bridge in that era means that we weren't 'isles' but a peninsula of Europe.
All this is splitting hairs of course, leaving aside national claims it's still an interesting find.

[Tizer]

This has been a bad business. It's mind-boggling to think how this could be allowed to happen in the 21st Century in what's supposed to be the most advanced nation in the world...
`Flint water crisis: Michigan 'agrees to pay $600m'' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that report as well Peter and reflected that this is what happens when a government loses sight of its main raison d'etre, relaxes regulation and lets the market take control. Sounds familiar? Never forget the commanding heights!

[Tizer]

`Ancient Egypt: Mummified animals 'digitally unwrapped' in 3D scans' LINK

[Stanley]

The detail revealed is amazing Peter. Thanks for that!

[plaques]

If this technique was automated up to a point where everybody passing through an airport customs check or even high level security it could give rise to some very embarrassing images.

[Stanley]

I think that's already happened Ken! Don't worry, when they see your image they can't fail to be impressed.

[Tizer]

A step on the way to a simple modification for saving the lives of birds, including sea eagles...
`Black turbine blade 'can cut bird deaths'' LINK

[Stanley]

What a simple and totally feasible improvement! I wish them good luck with it. (I like simple solutions, they are often the most effective.)

[Tizer]

It's what scientists always search for and describe as `elegant'.

[Whyperion]

A step on the way to a simple modification for saving the lives of birds, including sea eagles...
`Black turbine blade 'can cut bird deaths'' LINK

were other colours trialled as comparisons ?
do blades still work if in cages like fans or does that disrupt wind flow.

[Stanley]

I like 'elegant'. Just one simple word that precisely describes the concept.

[Tizer]

`Black holes: Cosmic signal rattles Earth after 7 billion years' LINK

[Stanley]

Mind boggling isn't it. And they say they can grow ten times bigger! Makes an asteroid strike look like a walk in the park...

[Stanley]

Very interesting discussion on World Service this morning about the use of fire for cooking. The leader of a team researching a cave says that they have proved the use of fire for cooking 500,000 years ago. She gave all the evidence of their research methods.
I was reared in an ethos which said that three hot meals a day was ideal. My mother may have been right because the same lady described research that has been done on cooking versus raw foods. The conclusion is that our systems have evolved to take advantage of the 'external digestion' process of cooking to the point where experiments with a group of people that ate nothing but raw food showed that there were disadvantages. One striking result was that most women on a raw food diet stopped menstruating which is an obvious evolutionary disadvantage.
The bottom line is that cooking food makes the nutrients more available to the trillions of bacteria in our guts that actually do the work of processing our food. This evolution to a preference for cooked food was established at least 500,000 years ago.
Fascinating research.

[Marilyn]

500,000 years...
And my man still can’t cook!

[PanBiker]

I suppose it depends what raw food you are consuming. At the age of four or five, our Dan refused all cooked food, he said it tasted funny. For the next eleven or twelve years he exclusively ate raw vegetables and fruit. All vegetables as well, raw potatoes and produce straight from the ground after a quick wipe. He used to go down to granddads allotment and eat the carrots and spuds straight from the ground. He had perfect teeth, never had to go to the dentist for any treatment. he had no childhood illnesses until he thought he was dying when he caught a cold when he was around 16 Didn't stunt his growth he was 6' 2" by the time he was 17.

[Cathy]

That was a bit of an eye opener Stanley. Still can’t fathom that length of time.
I looked into different things around 500,000 yrs ago and was reminded that we are born herbivores, and we only started eating meat about 6,000 years ago. Is 6,000 years right, because considering that, it makes you think why the ‘Chef’s’ are still trying to teach meat eaters how to cook the perfect steak!

[Marilyn]

I am still trying to teach my husband how to poach an EGG, Cazza....

[PanBiker]

I am still trying to teach my husband how to poach an EGG, Cazza....

Stop feeding him and he will soon learn.