Seeing the Changes 952

The first evidence this year of breeding birds in Bynea.

Sniffing Out Trouble

Interesting news that trained sniffer dogs can detect the metabolites associated with prostate cancer in urine samples with a more than 90% reliability (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/11/dogs-trained-detect-prostate-cancer-accuracy). This compares very well with existing biochemical tests. Yet another success for 'man's best friend'!

Seeing the Changes 951

The garlic odour of Ramsons (Allium ursinum) permeated the air of Swansea. In Bynea, Lords and ladies (Arum maculatum) was in flower. In Loughor, a Tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva) chillaxed.

Mollycoddling the Cod?

It seems that North Sea stocks of cod are making a welcome return to our waters (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/08/north-sea-cod-stocks-bounce-back-analysis-shows). This is put down to a reduction in fishing activities in the location but it might be a bit premature to put the item back firmly on the menu. The finding goes some way to countering the argument that seals (rather than humans) were mainly responsible for the initial declines.

Hitting the Heights

New research is claiming that individuals with 'genes for short stature' are more prone to coronary heart disease than are taller folk (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/08/shorter-people-at-greater-risk-of-heart-disease-new-research-finds). Being around 2 metres tall, this comes as apparent relief. The workers claimed that the finding was not linked to poor early nutrition (restricting growth) but that people with these genes tended to have familial hypercholesterolaemia (a genetic condition where the subject tends to manufacture too much cholesterol in their bodies). One should note, however, that human height is polygenic (the product of many genes) and that, in 2001, people showed that subjects with relatively short legs had a higher risk of heart disease than subjects of the same overall height but with longer legs. The present authors still, however, note that the best ways of avoiding heart disease are a) not to smoke; b) watch the diet; c) control your weight and d) to take regular exercise. Whether shorter folk should be more likely to be prescribed statins (to reduce cholesterol values) might become an issue.

Tree Demo in Garden

I repeatedly remind students that only the outer-most layers of a tree contain living cells (the centre of the trunk is all dead xylem from previous years). Above is a nice illustration of that from my garden. I took a freshly-cut section of trunk from a Goat willow and up-ended it as an impromptu bird table. It has no roots but the xylem vessels can presumably take up water by capillary action. It is now shooting!

Seeing the Changes 950

Spanish bluebell (Endymion hispanicus) and Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) were in flower in Loughor. Later in the day thousands of fish (mullet?) congregated under Loughor Bridge.