The importance of bees
Emma Joslin says “Regarding the National Pollinator Strategy here is a youtube video I found that explains very simply the importance of bees but is quite cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uVeyH7XQXg&feature=player_embedded” (thank you Emma!)
Illustration course
Jake Snaddon sent in this link for a course called “Introduction to naturalistic and scientific illustration”. The course is on 18th-22nd May, which is unfortunately during the 1st week of exams so you will have to wait for the semester 2 timetable to know whether you will be free. So, one to keep in the back of your mind for now http://www.transmittingscience.org/courses/draw/scientific-illustration/ (thank you Jake – staff contributor of the week!)
Interesting animals
Owen Middleton sent in 2 species of the week suggestions (thank you Owen!), as I was also sent another suggestion for this item I thought I’d find an article for you on each of his suggestions.
- Fish-eating spider, Dolomodes facetus – Owen says “The fish-eating spider (Dolomodes facetus) – captures pond fish in gardens in Australia. Just one species out of many spiders beginning to be seen around the world with the ability to catch fish.”
The Queensland museum has a webpage on this species http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Spiders/Modern+Spiders+Infraorder+Araneomorphae/Water+Fishing+or+Nursery+Spiders/Fishing+or+Water+Spider#.VH750stybcs, which includes information on its bite “Mild local pain; usually only bites if handled. Venom: Toxic to fish; recorded bites to humans have all been minor.” Apparently its legs span 70mm
- The Olinguito – Owen says “a newly discovered mammal, the Olinguito, related to the racoon, was discovered in the cloud forests of Columbia and Ecuador, the first mammal to be discovered in the Western hemisphere for 35 years.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23701151; you can see an untamed science film about the project that discovered it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZzay8mmkGw (well worth watching)
Newly discovered species in 2014
The Olinguito inspired me to find some more examples of newly discovered species. Here’s a youtube film of 2014’s top 5 newly discovered species https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-U9b7J3-p4. IFLS lists a top 10 http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/top-ten-newly-discovered-species which lists the same top 5 plus 5 more but no plants.
Royal Society’s resilience report
The media are today reporting that 2014 was the warmest year on record. The Royal Society has produced a report on how we can reduce the impact of extreme weather today and into the future https://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/resilience-extreme-weather/. The report was being launched today and you can follow the action on Twitter – #RSresilience
Beating malaria
The disease needs to be treated as an ecological problem http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/11/26/to-beat-malaria-we-need-to-see-it-as-an-ecological-problem/
Free content from Nature
All research papers from Nature will be made free to read in a proprietary screen-view format that can be annotated but not copied, printed or downloaded http://www.nature.com/news/nature-makes-all-articles-free-to-view-1.16460
Posted By : Judith Lock