The butterfly effect: diclofenac, vultures and rabies.
The idea that the flap of a butterfly wing in China could cause a tornado in Texas comes from the concept of ‘sensitive dependence on initial conditions’ as part of the chaos theory, and has inspired short stories, poems and films, and the term ‘Butterfly Effect’ has entered the language. Assigning cause and effect in…
Virgin flight fuels aviation and energy debates
The first flight by a commercial airline to be powered partly by biofuel has taken place. No passengers were on board, and just one of the aircraft’s four engines ran on fuel comprising a 20% biofuel mix together with 80% normal aviation fuel. But with both aviation and biofuels arousing strong emotions among environmentalists, the…
Watch out – there’s a snakehead about!
A giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes) has been caught it British waterways causing alarm amongst anglers. Branded as "Sid Fishious" by the press, the catch featured in this week’s Angler’s Mail article "Killer Frankenfish caught in UK river!" The predatory piscean (all 3lbs of it!) was caught from the River Witham in Lincolnshire. Staff at the…
National Invasive Weed Awareness Week in USA
Sunday marks the beginning of the 9th annual "National Invasive Weeds Awareness Week" over in Washington D.C., USA. Looking at the packed agenda, the week looks to be well supported by all the players in US invasive species research, control and policy sectors. If you can not make any of the meetings and are…
Haemodynamically yours
Planning to woo your beloved with a romantic tête-à-tête this evening? Looking forward to the incomparable moment when your eyes meet in the flickering candlelight over that bottle of expensive red wine you ordered to get you both in the mood for love? At this point if you can tear your eyes away from the…
From Kenya with love…
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander is urging UK consumers to buy Kenyan flowers today. Given the unrest in the country, flower producers have had to work extra hard to ensure flowers reached the market in time for Valentine’s Day. Kenya is a leading exporter of cut flowers, roses in particular, and the UK is one…
Beetroot with everything
I heard today that drinking a pint of beetroot juice (500ml) lowers your blood pressure, effects are seen within one hour. Good news for the EU (all those sugarbeet fields: what a quandary do they make sugar, use it for reaching their 10% biofuel goal OR change the type of beet so they can juice…
Feed me. Feed me…
Like many over 50’s I have aged parents: the health of mine is falling apart and finally they are facing up to moving from the only house they have ever owned after nearly 50 years. It’s a worry for me but at least their minds are intact. Unfortunately this is not the case for everyone.…
Year of the Ratte
As editor of Potato Abstracts I thought it only fitting to let you know that the UN has designated 2008 as International Year of the Potato. It’s also Chinese Year of the Rat – hence my hilarious pun on Ratte – a small potato with a nutty flavour! For some really interesting potato factoids then…
Virus infections-it’s a zoo in there!
Take a look at Nature this week: the article ‘The battle within’ by Melinda Wenner gives an intriguing insight into the interactions taking place between viruses in the body. She highlights the interaction between HIV and two other viruses, human herpesvirus-6 and GB-virus-C. Infection with the first hastens HIV disease and infection with the second…