Seeing the Changes 1234

After the rain in Bynea, the hairies emerge. Larvae of the Knot grass (Aranicta rumicis) and the Pale tussock (Calliteara pudibunda) moths.

Railway Sandwiches

Good news that all trains will shortly have to stop dropping human excrement from toilets on to the rail lines (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/10/train-toilets-to-no-longer-empty-on-to-tracks), removing it instead from storage containers in depots. I must admit to being totally unexcited by the news that this move will reduce the crops of tomatoes on some lines thought to result from the well-fertilised seeds from consumed cheese and tomato sandwiches!

Rock On!

The good news and the bad news. The good news is that an asteroid, the 'size of a house' (a small bungalow or a mansion?) will miss the Earth today as it passes between our planet and the moon (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/11/close-encounter-asteroid-2012-tc4-size-of-a-house-near-miss-with-earth) being some 44,000 km from our orbit. The bad news, is that we know about this body but many others are, as yet, undocumented. Oh, and by the way, this is a second visit by 2012 TC4 since 2012 and it's getting closer!

Chicken Runny

Apparently reassuring news from the Food Standards Agency that pregnant women; babies and even ye olde folk can again eat boiled eggs with runny yolks (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/11/egg-safety-weve-cracked-it-britons-told-by-food-watchdog). This follows confirmation that flocks in the UK are all routinely vaccinated so as not to carry Salmonella with its risk of food-poisoning (with potentially catastrophic  effects on susceptible groups). Of course, not all eggs on sale here come from UK flocks and people might well not know the origins of their purchased eggs. I must admit that I have always (even since the Salmonella warning) favoured soft-boiled eggs even when driving around abroad!

Sweet!

Sounds like the bee's revenge? Reportedly, 75% of tested honeys (including the whipped variety?) from all continents (except Antarctica, where there are no bees) contain neonicotinoid pesticides (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/05/honey-tests-reveal-global-contamination-by-bee-harming-pesticides). These pesticides (much loved in some agricultural circles) appear to be be implicated in the wide demise of Honey bee colonies but are also not too healthy for humans.

Bags for Death?

It has been reported that 'Bags for Life' can prove to be health (food poisoning) risks if they are used to carry raw meat or fish (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/02/bags-for-life-carry-food-poisoning-risk-if-used-for-raw-meat-or-fish). I would have thought that this was obvious and that people would only put well-packaged meat in their trusty bag (fresh meat and fish can be placed in plastic bags without charge). Perhaps the bags should carry reminders printed on their sides but this would detract from the generally positive messages they traditionally carry. 

Time, Life-forms Please!

News that the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been shared by 3 American scientists who initially independently attempted to elucidate the molecular mechanism found in the cells of all multicellular organisms that controls the circadian rhythm (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/02/nobel-prizes-2017-everything-you-need-to-know-about-circadian-rhythms). Circadian rhythms are, as the name suggests, close to the 24 hours of the day-night cycle imposed on the life forms of our planet by the Earth revolving as it travels around our nearest star. Most life forms are directly or indirectly dependent on solar energy, so it increases biological efficiency if individual cells 'know' (often without direct cues) when it is likely to be light or dark. Studies (largely with the fruit-fly Drosophila) revealed that proteins released from a 'period' gene rise and fall throughout the day in a negative feedback loop (in the same way that a central heating system is controlled- the hotter the room, the less fuel is supplied to the heater). A second gene labelled 'timeless' also produces proteins that combine with those produced by the 'period' gene, facilitating entry to the cell's DNA in its nucleus to 'switch off' the 'period' gene. 'Timeless' essentially controls the periodicity of the biorhythm. Simples.