iblog

Jeanne: Elephants appear to be better at keeping tabs on family members than some humans, it seems. In a recent study, scientists found that elephants were able to use their absent relatives’ scent to keep track of their location despite the fact that these relatives were not present in the group at the time. The research was carried out by examining the behaviour of wild elephants in Kenya and provides further evidence to suggest that certain members of the animal kingdom may be more developed than previously believed.

Wild elephants often move in herds. However, they frequently leave the companionship of their pack and break off into smaller groups to compete with other elephants for good and grazing land. Elephants were shown samples of pack members’ urine and, in general, reacted with surprise when presented with the scent of a family member that they believed not to be in the area. Dr. Lucy Bates, one of the researchers involved in this study, elaborated on the phenomenon when speaking to the media:

“We reckoned that only if each elephant was continually updating its memory of where everyone was, and was able to identify specific individuals from their urine, would they show any different reaction to such cases.”

The elephants’ need to keep track of their fellow pack members has interesting parallels with human behaviour. Anybody with young children, for example, will know how difficult it can be to keep track of youngsters in a crowded area. As Dr. Richard Byrne of St. Andrews University comments:

“You think of a comparable human situation - perhaps a mum in the supermarket with three kids and a husband who’d rather be looking in the DIY section - keeping track of four or five people is really quite a strain. But our elephants are doing it in parties of 20 to 30 family members. It may be that where elephants really excel in memory is not remembering things for very long periods but in everyday working memory - where it is important to update and delete things rather than remember things forever.”

If only human parents could adopt a similar technique!

Jeanne: To many of us, a long lie-in is a luxury. As a university student, I regularly get by on four or five hours of sleep a night (and sadly that has nothing to do with partying the night away.) However, I’ve decided to rethink my sleep habits having come across recent research which points to the healing powers of sleep. Getting a good night’s rest is more important than I ever imagined.

Here’s why sleep is so important.

A good night’s sleep helps you to live longer. Sleep duration has declined from an average of eight hours during the early 1990s to about seven hours today. At the same time scientists have found that blood pressure has become a growing problem in the western world. Sure, people are now consuming fatty foods as never before, but the relationship between poor sleep patterns and the increasing incidence of high blood pressure holds true even after accounting for other causal factors.

Sleep helps you look better. Well, we all know that, so why the need to elaborate? In any case, there are hundreds of creams and lotions which will help get rid of those nasty dark circles and bags under your eyes. However, researchers have found that dark circles are probably the least of your worries. People who receive insufficient sleep undergo the same changes in metabolism that humans experience as they age. So effectively, you’re making yourself look older by not getting that much-needed shut-eye.

Sleep helps build a better brain. It goes without saying that we all feel a lot more alert after a good night’s sleep. However, sleep also improves your memory and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, lack of sleep can have similar effects on the brain as an evening of light boozing. If you’ve been up for seventeen hours straight, you’re likely to be as alert as someone who has a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent.

Sleep can help you lose a few pounds. For one thing, you won’t be tempted to scoff down ice cream at 1 am. However, inadequate sleep also lowers leptin levels. This is the hormone which instructs your body to ‘feel full.’

I doubt I’ll be compromising as much on sleep next term!

Jeanne: Here’s another troubling abortion-related issue in light of Kayleigh’s recent blog.

Female foeticide has long been a problem in a number of Asian countries, especially India. However, researchers and social workers now believe that many UK Asians may be choosing to abort female foetuses rather than experience the ‘shame’ of having a female child.

The study, carried out by Oxford University examined birth statistics within the Asian community between 1990 and 2005. It found that 1,500 girls are missing from national birth data in England and Wales. In addition, the proportion of sons born to Asian women has been steadily increasing since the 1970s. In 1970, statistics suggest that 103 British Asian boys were born for every 100 girls. Between 2000 and 2005, however, the ratio had increased to 114 boys for every 100 girls. The difference may appear small, indeed insignificant, but it is a trend which can only really be explained by female foeticide. Dr, Sylvie Dubec, who was responsible for undertaking this study has underlined the problem posed by sex-selective abortion:

“According to my calculation around 1,500 girls are missing… it’s significant compared to the total number of births.”

However, this is a trend that is likely to continue. In India, the perceived superiority of the male child is a widely held notion. Many British Asian women state that they abort female foetuses in order to avoid pressure back home. Speaking anonymously to the BBC, one lady described her thoughts on learning the sex of her baby:

“Unfortunately, it was another girl. My husband and I thought the burden would probably be too much and the pressure when I got back home. So we decided to terminate.”

As a reflection of the extent of this problem, many British Asian women are willing to go back to their countries of origin simply to abort female foetuses. This is despite the fact that, officially at least, female foeticide has been illegal in India since 1980. However, during the last 25 years some seven million girls have been reported as ‘missing’ from Indian population statistics. Without government action, there is every chance that this sorry tale will be repeated in the UK as well.