CaaC (John)

Indian inventor revs up the corona car to drive home lockdown message Yadav said police had been 'supportive' of his mission A giant coronavirus is stalking the streets of southern India -- propelled by a 100 cc engine and an inventor trying to drive home the message that Indians should stay indoors as the pandemic sweeps across the world. Sudhakar Yadav's wacky small single-seater car -- made of fluorescent-green fibre and complete with the red crown-like spikes of the virus -- has been racking up the miles in the tech hub of Hyderabad to remind fellow citizens of the dangers of COVID-19. FULL REPORT

Bird alarm calls help rhinos avoid people—and possibly poachers SLIDES - 1/3 In sub-Saharan Africa, red-billed oxpeckers feed on the parasites of rhinos and more than 20 other species of mammal. Now, new research suggests the birds may also serve as sentinels that help rhinos avoid humans—and potentially poachers. Though black rhinos have a good sense of smell and good hearing, they have notoriously bad vision. If you know where one is and stay downwind of it, you can often get quite close to the animal, says Roan Plotz, now a researcher at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. While Plotz was completing his doctoral thesis on black rhinos in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, in eastern South Africa, he began contemplating how black rhinos might avoid humans. In recent years, poachers have decimated the ranks of the black rhino, which in adulthood can weigh a ton and a half. Today, the critically endangered species’ population is a little over 5,000, a tenfold decline since the 1970s. While studying black rhinos, Plotz found that those close enough for him to observe generally didn't have any oxpeckers on their backs. The birds have good vision and make hissing alarm calls when certain threatening animals—such as humans—approach. Is it possible, he wondered, that oxpeckers were alerting the rhinos to his presence? Such a phenomenon is hinted at in the oxpecker's Swahili name, Askari wa kifaru—which translates to the “rhino’s guard.” When Plotz set up an experiment to test his hypothesis, it proved true: Rhinos accompanied by the birds were more likely to detect humans, and from further away, compared to animals without oxpeckers. Testing the hunch For the experiment, Plotz and colleagues put radio trackers on 14 rhinos in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, one of the oldest nature reserves in Africa. They then conducted on-the-ground surveys for both tagged and untagged rhinos on a near-daily basis over the course of 27 months. The tagged animals were easy to locate using radio telemetry. Finding the untagged rhinos was more difficult, and required the researchers to roam the landscape looking for the animals. Black rhinos have very poor eyesight, whereas oxpeckers do not. The birds help large mammals avoid humans, whether intentionally or not. Of the hundred untagged rhinos the research team saw, only 17 had oxpeckers riding on them. “That seemed quite low,” Plotz says, and likely not representative of the true number of rhinos with oxpecker tagalongs. As a control for the experiment, the team located one of the 14 tagged animals on a hundred different occasions over the study period. Of those sightings, the majority—56—recorded oxpeckers perched on the animal’s hide. The discrepancy strongly suggested that the oxpeckers on the untagged rhinos were warning their hosts about the scientists’ presence. To better understand the rhino-bird relationship, Plotz and colleagues did further tests. They conducted 86 trials in which they approached tagged rhinos that were and were not accompanied by oxpeckers. Every time that a tagged rhino had one or more oxpeckers on its body, it showed physical signs that it had detected a human: standing bold upright, facing downwind, and preparing to run. But when the rhinos were not accompanied by the birds, they showed signs of recognizing the human’s approach only 23 per cent of the time. For detecting humans, having more birds on board seemed to be an advantage to the rhino. In the trials, each additional bird perched on an animal was associated with sensing the human 30 feet further away, on average. When Plotz and colleagues did a mathematical analysis of all their research, they concluded that the oxpeckers reduced human’s likelihood of a rhino sighting by 40 to 50 per cent. The research findings show that the oxpecker-rhino relationship is more complex and potentially mutually beneficial than previously thought, Plotz says. They also could have implications for conservation, suggesting that introducing the birds into areas where they’ve been depleted might help avert poaching. Confirming traditional knowledge Taken together, the results show that “black rhinos are able to eavesdrop on oxpecker alarm calls and by doing so, detect approaching humans at substantially greater distances,” says Daniel Blumstein, an ecologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who hasn’t involved the paper, in an email interview. Blumstein was also fascinated by what he called the “dose-response”—the fact that each additional oxpecker on a rhino increased the distance at which it detected an approaching human. The paper, published Thursday in Current Biology, is “a genuinely astonishing study,” said Darryl Jones, a researcher at Griffith University. But Jones acknowledged that “the local peoples of these regions would probably be less impressed, having 'known' about this relationship for millennia. Indeed, that is one of this study's great achievements: confirming using contemporary methods an important example of traditional knowledge.” A way to combat poaching? As for the oxpeckers' motivations, Plotz says, it's unclear if the birds know they're alerting the rhinos. It’s possible they are merely alerting fellow oxpeckers to the presence of a potential predator. Amanda Ridley, a biologist at the University of Western Australia, takes issue with framing this as the oxpeckers “warning” the rhinos about humans. “Rhinos may have responded to the oxpecker alarm call, but there is no evidence that oxpeckers intentionally alerted them to it,” she says. Judith Bronstein, a professor at the University of Arizona, agrees—but says that doesn’t diminish the importance of the paper. “Eavesdropping on other species’ signals is a very well-documented adaptive behaviour, but its distribution in nature is not well understood,” she says. “The example here is carefully worked out and involves large solitary mammals, which is new.” Whatever the intended purpose of the oxpeckers’ calls, they could help reduce poaching by alerting rhinos to humans’ presence at a greater distance where the accuracy of firearms would be reduced, Bronstein adds. Plotz says that introducing the birds into areas where both oxpeckers and rhinos have been depleted could potentially reduce poaching and that potential intervention should be further studied. Red-billed oxpeckers have been extirpated from many areas; when pesticides are applied to livestock to kill parasites, the treatment also unintentionally kills the birds that feed upon those parasites. In Plotz’s view, “There definitely could be a benefit to introducing oxpeckers back into black rhino populations.” https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/bird-alarm-calls-help-rhinos-avoid-people—and-possibly-poachers/ar-BB12pUGE#image=2

@Tommy

Lol, didn't see the small bit, in bed using my mobile, and being sleepy makes me cross-eyed

Don't know about Asda but Tesco's here have a 09.00 - 10.00 & 17.00 to 18.00 hrs for NHS staff only.

Fucking idiots, the majority of them have more than likely been given time off work with full pay or claiming benefits provided by the government to help them out and then all they think is I can get pissed as a newt now and not worry about work.

The 13 Most Shocking Things Discovered in the Titanic Wreckage SLIDES - 1/14 Though the RMS Titanic sank on April 14, 1912, the remains of the doomed ship weren't discovered until 1985 on the bottom of the ocean floor off the coast of Newfoundland. And while much of the ship had naturally perished sitting under the sea for decades, divers were still able to rescue and preserve plenty of amazing items. Wonder what surprising artefacts survived the Titanic wreckage? Well, to quote Britney Spears' discography, "[We] went down and got it for you." And for more interesting tidbits about the Hollywood portrayal of Titanic, check out the 20 Facts "Titanic" Gets Wrong.

BepiColombo: Mercury mission set to wave goodbye to Earth The joint European-Japanese mission to Mercury reaches a key milestone on Friday when it swings past the Earth. The two-in-one BepiColombo space probe is using the gravity of its homeworld to bend a path towards the inner Solar System. It will also bleed off some speed. The mission needs to make sure it isn't travelling too fast when it arrives at Mercury in 2025 or it won't be able to go into orbit around the diminutive world. "It would be so nice if we could take an express transfer and then we'd be there in a few months, but that doesn't work for this mission," Elsa Montagnon, the flight controller in charge of BepiColombo at the European Space Agency (Esa), told BBC News. FULL REPORT

Crops were cultivated in regions of the Amazon '10,000 years ago' Far from being a pristine wilderness, some regions of the Amazon have been profoundly altered by humans dating back 10,000 years, say researchers. An international team found that during this period, crops were being cultivated in a remote location in what is now northern Bolivia. The scientists believe that the humans who lived here were planting squash, cassava and maize. The inhabitants also created thousands of artificial islands in the forest. Coronavirus: 'Pets no risk to owners' vet's stress Some plants recover quickly after crushing blows Exploiting nature 'drives the outbreaks of new diseases' The end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, saw a sustained rise in global temperatures that initiated many changes around the world. Perhaps the most important of these was that early civilisations began to move away from living as hunter-gatherers and started to cultivate crops for food. Researchers have previously unearthed evidence that crops were domesticated at four important locations around the world. So China saw the cultivation of rice, while in the Middle East it was grains, in Central America and Mexico it was maize, while potatoes and quinoa emerged in the Andes. Now scientists say that the Llanos de Moxos region of southwestern Amazonia should be seen as a fifth key region. The area is a savannah but is dotted with raised areas of land now covered with trees. The area floods for part of the year but these "forest islands" remain above the waters. Some 4,700 of these small mounds were developed by humans over time, in a very mundane way. "These are just places where people dropped their rubbish, and over time they grow," said lead author Dr Umberto Lombardo from the University of Bern, Switzerland. "Of course, rubbish is very rich in nutrients, and as these areas grow they rise above the level of the flood during the rainy season, so they become good places to settle with fertile soil, so people come back to the same places all the time." The researchers examined some 30 of these islands for evidence of crop planting. They discovered tiny fragments of silica called phytoliths, described as tiny pieces of glass that form inside the cells of plants. The shape of these tiny glass fragments is different, depending on which plants they come from. The researchers were able to identify evidence of manioc (cassava, yuca) that were grown 10,350 years ago. Squash appears 10,250 years ago, and maize more recently - just 6,850 years ago. "This is quite surprising," said Dr Lombardo. "This is Amazonia, this is one of these places that a few years ago we thought to be like a virgin forest, an untouched environment." "Now we're finding this evidence that people were living there 10,500 years ago, and they started practising cultivation." The people who lived at this time probably also survived on sweet potato and peanuts, as well as fish and large herbivores. The researchers say it's likely that the humans who lived here may have brought their plants with them. They believe their study is another example of the global impact of the environmental changes being felt as the world warmed up at the end of the last ice age. "It's interesting in that it confirms again that domestication begins at the start of the Holocene period when we have this climate change that we see as we exit from the ice age," said Dr Lombardo. "We entered this warm period, when all over the world at the same time, people start cultivating." The study has been published in the journal Nature. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52217636

They should make all toilet paper nowadays with this crisis like army bog roll, it's felt like sandpaper when wiping your arse and rip your arse to threads and soon as the crisis is over with go back to normal bog roll where it is so soft your finger sticks through it and that goes up the back of your arse.

Blame the bloody beans for the mass buying of toilet roll.

Lol, I get that from the wife if I have my laptop off and using my mobile posting in here, lye back on the sofa and start laughing and texting away and the wife gives me funny looks and asking "Who are you texting?", on my laptop now and she is saying fuckall.

Pink Moon: Europe illuminated by a lunar light show Stargazers have enjoyed the emergence of what is known as a pink moon in the night skies of Europe. Despite its name, there is not any noticeable colour difference to the full moon - due to reach a peak in the UK at 03:55 BST on Wednesday. The pink supermoon name is a northern Native American reference to an early-blooming wildflower and is first seen across North America as spring begins. Tuesday evening's lunar light show was captured through breathtaking images. Why the Pink Moon isn't actually pink MORE - PHOTO GALLERY X10

Researchers Map How Ancient Human Migrations Changed Europe's Landscape Forever In the wake of the last great ice age, humans flooded across Europe in slow, creeping tides. A new study suggests some of those mass migrations might have changed the landscape more than others. And, strangely, it's not the people we might have expected that had the biggest impact. By comparing the timing of significant migrations with changes in vegetation, researchers from across the UK and Europe have found the first farming communities to till the land had a surprisingly small impact on the ecology. The same can't be said for a second wave of Bronze Age migrants trudging their way west from the Russian steppes, whose movements were associated with a dramatic reduction in broad-leaf forests and an increase in pasture and grassland. The study relies on a range of assumptions and caveats, so some caution is required. With that in mind, the results add to the emerging story of a Europe transformed by successive waves of cultures introducing new languages, new genes, and new ways of survival. Pull at the genetic tapestry that is modern Europe and you'll quickly find the threads lead back to different cradles around the Asian continent. One of the oldest traces its way into the Anatolian Peninsula, a land now dominated by Turkey. Once, hunter-gatherers, the populations picked up a few farming tricks from their neighbours roughly 11,000 years ago before inching their way northwest. DNA left by this Neolithic wave of Anatolian crop-growers can still be found in modern European populations, along with the genetic legacy of other mass migrations. The researchers used publicly available ancient and present-day genome studies to produce a map showing the distributions of three different genetic populations across Europe throughout the ages. One comprised of the original hunter-gather populations who had established themselves across the post-ice-age landscape. The second was the Anatolian farmers, who came next. A third population are today referred to as the Yamnaya culture, a name borrowed from a Russian word for 'pit' in reference to their signature style of the grave. These people moved into Europe during the Late Copper to Early Bronze Age more than 5,000 years ago, emerging from the lands to the north of the Black Sea and bringing with them relatively advanced technology of horses and wheels, not to mention a talent for digesting milk. Comparing the way each of the gene pools dispersed revealed a significant difference in the speed of the two migrations. Perhaps to nobody's surprise, the Bronze Age Yamnaya took far less time to establish themselves than the Anatolian farmers. Having horses no doubt helped, but there is also the possibility that the land had already been made traversable. Looking back to the earlier wave of Neolithic agriculturalists, the genetic map shows two prongs slowly marching across the land. A close examination of land cover and climatic variable maps failed to show any great shifts in the kinds of vegetation aligning with their branching movement. The researchers do note that other studies have identified local impacts on the environment in some parts of the continent, but overall their influence doesn't seem to have been widespread. When it comes to the Bronze Age migration, the changes were comparatively dramatic, with a large scale depletion in the forest and the establishment of grasslands. "As these peoples were moving westward, we see increases in the amount of pasture lands and decreases in broadleaf forests throughout the continent," says geogeneticist Fernando Racimo from the University of Copenhagen. It's important to keep in mind that it's difficult to prove causation. Changes to the climate could also have played a key role in the evolving ecology, laying out feeding grounds for the horses and opening the land to travel. But the models used by the researchers strongly suggest that swelling populations along the pathway of Bronze Age migration were responsible for the changing vegetation. Relying heavily on DNA data with its known idiosyncrasies leaves plenty of room for debate, as does the potential for untested variables to be behind the changes to Europe's greenery. The story of Europe's past is far from complete, but every new detail adds new insights into the ways past cultures might have affected the landscape as they moved, telling us a thing or two about how the land will continue to change in the future. "European landscapes have been transformed drastically over thousands of years," says Jessie Woodbridge, a physical geographer at the University of Plymouth in the UK. "Knowledge of how people interacted with their environment in the past has implications for understanding the way in which people use and impact upon the world today." This research was published in PNAS. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/researchers-map-how-ancient-human-migrations-changed-europes-landscape-forever/ar-BB12e0mR

Same here, all I am getting is and I am using my laptop and nothing else?

Event Horizon Telescope: Blackhole produces twisting jet One year on from publishing the first-ever image of a black hole, the team behind that historic breakthrough is back with a new picture. This time we're being shown the base of a colossal jet of excited gas, or plasma, screaming away from another black hole at near light-speed. The scene was actually in the "background" of the original target. The scientists who operate the Event Horizon Telescope describe the jet in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. They say their studies of the region of space known as 3C 279 will help them better understand the physics that drives behaviour in the vicinity of black holes. FULL REPORT

Indonesia covers up to protect orangutans from virus threat Poaching and habitat loss have decimated Indonesia's orangutan population, but now coronavirus has emerged as another potentially deadly threat to the critically endangered species. While there have been no confirmed cases of transmission from humans to the fuzzy-haired apes, they share 97 per cent of our DNA. And the staff at a rehabilitation centre in jungle-covered Borneo are not taking any chances. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has closed its doors to visitors and told staff to step up precautions to avoid passing on the infection, including by wearing masks and protective gloves. "There haven't been any confirmed cases of direct transmission, but it's caused other issues like a shortage of masks and disinfectant supplies for our orangutan caretakers," said foundation veterinarian Agus Irwanto. For the apes, however, there hasn't been much change in their daily jungle jaunts. "While the humans at our rehabilitation centres work hard to adjust to these new measures, the orangutans are going about their usual business," the foundation said. Human-to-primate transmission fears are not limited to Indonesia. France is taking precautions at its zoos, with caretakers keeping their distance from gorillas and chimpanzees. Last month the forest-covered African nation of Gabon said it would stop allowing tourists to see its great apes over fears that humans could give them the virus. The Ebola epidemic killed gorillas and chimpanzees as well as humans. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/indonesia-covers-up-to-protect-orangutans-from-virus-threat/ar-BB12cxgP

Medieval shrine from the 14th century discovered by rail workers following a landslide SLIDES - 1/3 A team of rail workers have discovered a small cave believed to be from the 14th century. Engineers were fixing a landslip near Guildford in Surrey when they found the suspected medieval shrine. Archaeologists believe it may be linked to the Chapel of St Catherine, the ruins of which are on a nearby hill. The cave is made up of several sections between 30cm and 70cm high but may have been much larger in the past. Inside, experts found evidence of writing and other markings in the ceiling. The cave roof is covered in black dust, thought to be soot from lamps, and the remains of two firepits were also spotted. A spokesman from Archaeology South-East said: "The cave contained what appear to be shrines or decorative niches, together with carved initials and other markings. "The old name for St Catherine's Hill is Drakehull 'The Hill of the Dragon', so this has obviously been a site of ritual significance long before the construction of the church on the top of the hill in the late 13th century. "Work is underway to analyse soot and charcoal found inside the cave, which will hopefully tell us more about how and when it was used." Mark Killick, Network Rail Wessex route director, said: "This is an unexpected and fascinating discovery that helps to visualise and understand the rich history of the area. "A full and detailed record of the cave has been made and every effort will be made to preserve elements where possible during the regrading of the delicate and vulnerable sandstone cutting." https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/medieval-shrine-from-the-14th-century-discovered-by-rail-workers-following-landslide/ar-BB12ckIA?li=AAnZ9Ug#image=1

Aquarium coronavirus lockdown gives dolphins the chance to meet a sloth The Texas State Aquarium is currently closed to the public due to social distancing requirements, but that hasn't stopped the animals inside from hanging out with new friends. Texas State Aquarium staff have apparently been giving some animals a chance to explore parts of the aquarium and meet other creatures in different habitats. When a celebrity sloth named Chico got to meet some new dolphin buddies, the dolphins appeared to love the playdate. The 3-year-old sloth took a break from his usual enclosure when the staff took him on a tour around the Gulf of Mexico exhibit, which included meeting ducks, seahorses and jellyfish. Because roaming around on his own would have been difficult, staff carried him around hanging by a large branch. The highlight of the trip seemed to be when the dolphins met Chico. "Liko and Schooner were very curious, and Liko was even inspired to attempt an upside-down sloth impression," the aquarium posted on Facebook. The aquarium frequently gives its animals a chance to "meet" each other as a form of enrichment "which helps keep them active in body and mind," a Texas State Aquarium spokesperson told the Bored Panda blog on Thursday. "As some of our most popular animals, it seemed an obvious choice for our sloths and dolphins to get a chance to see each other while we were temporarily closed." Sloths and dolphins aren't the only animals having fun during aquarium lockdowns. In March, a group of curious penguins roamed Chicago's Shedd Aquarium to visit other animals and tour the exhibits. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/aquarium-coronavirus-lockdown-gives-dolphins-chance-to-meet-a-sloth/ar-BB12c1PE#image=1

Me and the wife love candles and we have them scattered around the lounge here and every now and then the wife will light them, especially on a cold winters night, turn the main lounge light off so all we have is the tv surround light and the electric coal firelight flickering away with no bars on, beautiful and gives out a relaxing effect.

Our son being a Liverpool man is bored to shite like us all with no football so on his Face book page he put what he thinks is his best Liverpool side... "To my football fan friends, what's your favourite 11 from the team you support? In your lifetime!! So many to choose from but this is my 11, not necessarily the best but my favourites -" Team - Liverpool GK - Reina RB - Steve Nicol CB - Sami Hypia CB - Alan Hansen LB - Riise CM - Souness CM - Gerrard CM - Alonso LW - Dalglish CF - Rush RW - Mcmanaman 4-3-3 Subs James Glen Johnson Skertle Agger Wark Barnes Berger Fowler Torres All I replied was " Son, Ray Clemence shits all over Reina and you have to remember that Clemence played at the same time as Peter Shilton and they both had to take turn eaches wearing the England gk shirt, pus I would have Grobbelaar as a sub than James, then you are forgetting about the hard man at the time in Tommy Smith, stick him at the back". Just fun and games really but this no football bit is beginning to get at us all.

Novelty this one babies disposable nappies, the wife still has kept some in the drawer for sentimental reason unused from when our grandsons were babies, I told her I would try one to see what I look like with it on and she yelled "DON'T YOU DARE...I have had them for years and they are sentimental to me..."

Lol, I knew what was coming, used to do that in my army days in the NAAFI bar with a pint of Carlsberg, make a bet for a pint of lager and see if you can do everything I do, I won many a pint with that one, go through different moves, take a sip of lager and hold it back, more moves then go and put it back into the glass. I would not recommend doing something like that in a rough pub in Glasgow, them guys and GIRLS don't take a joke bet like that seriously and you would get a pint over your head with the glass.

Sorry to hear about the distant relative passing away. It's weird talking to the grandson's over video cam, especially wee Kaiden the youngest, we have not seen Kaiden for about 5 weeks now and me and the wife got used to him running around in here, sitting down reading with him and drawing etc but the biggest miss is taking him up the local park for a run-around and have a wee kick of the football, we will have a lot of catching up to do once this is all over with

Aye, I know that and our daughter said "it's hard mum & dad but I am just as cautious and won't come around with the grandsons until this isolation period is over with, if I get you any shopping then I will leave it at your front door, knock then keep my distance, video cam for talking, it's better to be safe than sorry". She suggested which is a good idea is just stand at the front door and Evalyne can stand at her front door and you can talk that way as you are both at a safe distance, I think that would be a good idea so we will wait and see.