Environment
Government must act to help councils protect vital early years services
Urgent action must be taken to protect vital early years services, after research reveals funding in some areas has been cut by almost 50 per cent since 2010, says Barnardo’s. Department for Education figures reveal children’s centres have had funding cut from £1.2bn to an estimated £0.6bn over the last six years. Barnardo’s is calling on the Government to help financially stricken local authorities find new ways of providing a range of essential early intervention and family support services across...
A new study shows pigeons can have abstract thoughts
The humble pigeon is far more intelligent than previously thought and can even have abstract thoughts, reveals new research. Rather than being bird brains, pigeons can understand both space and time, according to the study. Not only can they discriminate these abstract concepts, but researchers found that pigeons seem to use a different region of the brain than humans and primates to do so. In experiments, pigeons were shown a static horizontal line on a computer screen and had to...
Climate change poses the greatest threat to medium sized predators such as foxes as it forces them to spend more time hunting for food
Climate change poses the greatest threat to medium sized predators such as foxes as it forces them to spend more time hunting for food, British researchers found. Medium-sized carnivores which generally weigh between one and ten kilograms, are more vulnerable because they spend the most time foraging. As the climate affects their prey they must spend more time hunting to survive, scientists said. And they found failing to diversify their prey could put the species at greater risk of climate...
Antibiotic resistance began on farms
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria began with farmers pumping livestock with penicillin six decades ago, according to new research. Low doses given to animals to boost their growth from the 1950s in the US and Europe fuelled the evolution and spread of the superbugs, say scientists. Bacteria that can pass on genes resistant to ampicillin - one of the most commonly used antibiotics today - emerged years before human use, the study showed. The discovery comes weeks after the World Health Organisation called...
Supermarket giant Morrison’s has pulled its chicken and mushroom pies off its shelves – because some are actually fish pies
The Yorkshire retailer had to withdraw its Morrisons Traditional Chicken & Mushroom Pie because some may actually contain fish and mustard. This could pose a health risk to anyone who is allergic to these ingredients which are not labelled on the packs. The 400g pies affected have a use by date of 4th December. The supermarket said: Morrisons is recalling the above product because it may contain mustard and fish that are not declared on the label. "This means the...
The world’s deepest living fish has been discovered living in the darkness more than eight kilometres below the surface
The world's deepest living fish has been discovered living in the darkness more than eight kilometres below the surface. Named the Mariana snailfish, the translucent, scaleless fish exist at such depths that the water pressure is the equivalent of an elephant standing on your thumb. They are the top predator in their dark world, living off tiny crustaceans and shrimp at depths nearly as far down as Mount Everest is high. Researchers recover a trap after it landed on the...
Security system branded ‘sad’ by homeless charity for threatening to call cops
A homeless charity has branded a business responsible for a security system that barks at people in a doorway and threatens to call the cops as 'sad'. The bizarre alarm system is triggered when passersby step into the sheltered doorway of an office block in Glasgow. When set-off, a loud voice blares through the speakers, saying: "You have been detected in an unauthorised area, please leave the area or the police will be called - CCTV is recording". A pressure...
Rubbish on our beaches up 10 per cent to worst ever levels, prompting calls for a ‘litter tax’
Litter on Britain's beaches is up 10 per cent in just one year to its worst ever levels, prompting calls for a tax on waste. More than 700 bits or rubbish were found, on average, on every 100 metres cleaned as conservationists accused many people of treating our shores as a "big dustbin." A shock report shows that litter levels recorded in an annual survey were at record levels, with food and drink waste accounting for one in five pieces...
The site of Caesar’s invasion of Britain in 54BC has been discovered – in Kent
The landing site for Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain more than 2,000 years ago has been identified for the first time - in Kent. His ships arrived at Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet at the north east point of the county, a spot never previously suspected because it was separated from the mainland. But the location matches Caesar's own personal account with three clues about the landscape being consistent with the amazing discovery. These were its visibility from...