Seeing the Changes 1141

Windy and wet but what looks like Wrinkled peach (Rhodotus palmatus) fungus developing on rotting wood in Loughor.

Seeing the Changes 1140

Goat willow (Salix caprea) catkins in my Loughor garden!

Seeing the Changes 1139

More of the flowers of Spring out in Loughor with the appearances of Ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) and Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys).

Itchy Feat?

Some interesting studies on 'contagious scratching' have been made using mice at Washington University (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scratching-catching-mice?tgt=nr). Their animals started scratching when housed with a scratching conspecific but did not respond in this way when paired with a non-scratcher. Even more remarkably (given that their vision is not good), the mice started scratching when viewing a video-recording of a scratching mouse. The scientists suggested that scratching is 'hard-wired' in the brain establishing a role for a brain area called the suprachiasmatic nucleus and  gastrin releasing peptide (mice without the ability to manufacture this peptide showed little scratching but the activity was induced by injecting the hormone). It was suggested that scratching was a potential defence against disease. Whilst there is no absolute reason why 'contagious scratching' should be controlled by precisely the same mechanism in primates (including ourselves), the study does raise several lines for investigation

Horn of Plenty?

Disturbing news that 'poachers' have killed a young male rhinoceros ('Vince') in a zoo at Thoiry, west of Paris and removed one of its horns with a chainsaw (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/07/rhino-shot-dead-by-poachers-at-french-zoo). It seems likely that the criminals involved (possibly disturbed or suffering an equipment fault before removing the second horn) were intent on selling the horn to the Chinese 'alternative medicine' fraternity where such rare items can generate very high prices (in spite of there being no evidence that the materials are curative). This is a very worrying development as one might have expected animals to be safe from poachers in such a location.

Seeing the Changes 1138

It must be Spring! Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) buds unfurling.

Pools in the Pool

Studies on 2 public swimming pools in Canada have recorded the amount of the artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium that is present in many foods and is passed unchanged through the body to be voided in the urine (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/01/how-much-pee-is-in-our-swimming-pools-new-urine-test-reveals-the-truth). The workers conducting this study have estimated that, over a 3 week period, the swimming pools of around 830,000 litres each received about 75 litres of pee (equivalent to a dustbin full). They have also recorded substantial quantities of urine in hot-tubs. It appears that you get really close to your neighbours in these locations!