iblog

Virgil: A new pioneering power-station in southern Spain produces electricity for 3 times the normal monetary cost, but without any greenhouse emissions and using only renewable sources. It’s a solar power plant, but not in the traditional sense. With solar power we’re used to seeing fields of grey-blue solar panels that convert light to electricity (very expensive). This power station, however, uses the tried and tested basic technique of harnessing the sun’s heat.

The power station looks more like a futuristic temple of worship than a generator. I imagine some post-apocalyptic explorer concluding as much. 600 mirrors reflect the light of the sun up to a singular point at the top of a massive tower, where the heat can reach 400 degrees. From here a boiler powers a turbine to create electricity. From a distance it looks like something from Final Fantasy X.

New areas are being cleared for even more plants like this, with even more mirrors, and the building of plants in the Sahara is even being discussed. The news is very refreshing after so many warnings that fossil fuels are destroying the planet.

Virgil: As an endangered species, getting Pandas to mate is very important. It is also very difficult. They’re extremely picky and we don’t understand exactly what it is that they’re picky about. However, researchers at a zoo in California think they’ve worked some of it out, because after many months of trying to prepare amorous environments, two of their Pandas suddenly became madly erotic.

They didn’t stop after the first libido-charged engagement. The second frantic burst of love-making wasn’t enough either. Only after three rounds of wild sex was the passion satisfied. After that, the male “was no longer interested” and barked a few times before walking away.

The zookeepers are hoping for a baby Panda, to add to the mere 1,600 giant Pandas on Earth. I wish the couple well.

Rushda: An octopus in a New Zealand aquarium has amazed everyone by the fact that it’s actually learnt a trick. It can actually open the lid of a bottle with its tentacles in order to get the food inside. The video of it can be seen here. The keepers describe the creature, who was brought to them a few months ago, as “friendly” and willing to play games. I think it’s interesting as this kind of mental power (could you call it that?) has been rare even in higher-level creatures. I just wonder if it has any kind of “inner life” or is it just mindlessly following patterns!

Caroline: If you are a keen gardener and live in the south of England you might be advised to wear good gloves. The poisonous False Widow spider which first arrived from the Canaries is now growing in number because of globla warming. Whilst the spider’s bite will not kill an adult its bite can be extremely nasty, causing swelling and severe pain. A spokesman from the Natural History Museum reckons that there are already tens of thousands in our gardens in the south and that they will be found further north in the not too distant future. Being a real coward where spiders are concerned I am going to stop listening to my little voice of reason which keeps telling me not to be ridiculous and that they can’t hurt me!

Rushda: I was just browsing BBC News and came across this incredible picture of twins where one is only a third of the size of the other. They have recently beaten huge odds to survive, with one weighing just 1b and the other being about 3lbs. The mother was told that the best option would be to give birth at 29th week to increase chances of survival. The little one was said to have a 1 in 3 chance of living but even though he has required heart surgery he’s now a happy thriving baby along with his brother. Wow, never have I seen a pair of baby twins look so different!

Anna: North Sea cod are in crisis. And I don’t mean they are having trouble with their identity, rather that stocks of cod are so low that this tea-time favourite is in real danger of disappearing from our tables for good. Since the 1980s over-fishing has drastically reduced the cod population, to the point where the species is, basically, in danger of total collapse.

Surely we have all known about this for years? As a veggie myself, I can’t really do much damage to fish stocks, but I do encourage my other half to opt for less endangered types of fish than cod. But what about the economic consequences of a cod boycott (a boycod, let’s call it) for fishermen? Well, it’s simple really - we need to develop a taste for all the other species. There are, very simply, plenty more fish in the sea so there’s no reason why we need stop supporting UK fishermen just because we no longer want to eat cod.

If you want to sample some sustainable seafood, I suggest you check out the Marine Conservation Society’s FishOnline website. Here you can search by species, to check on which fish need some quality time to recuperate and which types you can feast on without ruining your green credentials. There’s even a fish purchasing guide telling you in which months to buy your fish, whether it’s salmon, plaice or Chilean seabass. Greenpeace is also campaigning for marine reserves to be created from what are currently areas of degraded sea. These would be like national parks at sea, where ocean-dwelling creatures would receive the same protection from commercial exploitation as land animals do in protected onshore reserves.

Matthew: Planktos, the California based environmental engineering company, has come up with a way to save the world from global warming. They are going ’seed’ iron into parts of the ocean, vastly increasing populations of plankton. This plankton photosynthesises, taking carbon out of the water. It then dies and falls to the bottom of the ocean, where the carbon stays, safe and sound, leaving the ocean able to suck more CO2 out of the atmosphere.

This development comes as part of the developing market of ‘carbon offsetting’, in which companies ‘buy’ carbon credits from other companies who are taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Inevitably, there has been a good deal of concern about the ecological implications, as well as the effectiveness, of such a project.

I am yet to fully accept the link between global warming and carbon emmissions, but if you do, this kind of thing probably looks worth a try.

Rushda: Mount Etna, Europe’s highest and most active volcano, has erupted on the southern Italian island of Sicily. Many are coming from all over the world to see it, especially as there is very little danger posed by it. Despite temperatures of the lava being around 1000 degrees celsius, Etna has been named “the good giant” by locals. Eruptions can be enjoyed without fear, as they have been known to kill very few people. This is because the lava is slow and viscous, and usually moves in the right direction away from inhabitants. Violent eruptions of Etna happen every ten years, and each time people can come and see (from a safe distance of course) their familiar mountain become a dazzling display of firey light.

Virgil: Researchers from the US have managed to simulate half of the brain of a mouse (the squeaky cheesy kind) on their supercomputers. This is incredibly interesting in the context of the philosophy of mind and neuroscience (the latter being much more the purpose of the research). All brains, including those of humans, are made up of a vast network of interconnected neurons. Neurons act like messengers - they receive signals and pass new signals on. As it is very commonly believed that brains are responsible for thought, decisions, memory, rationality and consciousness, it seems logical to suppose that in some way these mental properties are the result of the spaghetti of signals in your neurons.

The wonderful thing about neurons is that they can be simulated. This is because they work exactly like a computer function, a piece of code that can receive and send on signals. This idea has been used for many years to create special programs called “neural networks” which are capable of some very limited brain-like learning for specific tasks. In a similar way, this new research has mapped half of the neurons from a mouse’s brain onto computer functions in a neural network called a “cortical simulator” - a simulated half-mouse.

When the program was run, the artifical cortex had “biologically consistent dynamical properties” - the “nerves” fired in the characteristic staggered, co-ordinated patterns seen in nature. Half a mouse was inside the computer. Although this research is still very much in its infancy, perhaps one day in the future we’ll be able to attach a different kind of mouse to our computers.

Alex: Faced with the inconvenience of introducing real falcons into the eco-system to battle their pigeon problem, Liverpool City Council have opted to purchase Robotic Falcons to keep the numbers down. Splashing out £20,000 on 10 ‘Robops’, the ersatz birds of prey will bravely protect the European City of Culture against the rats of the air by flapping their robotic wings and no doubt emitting their robotic squawks before eating the pigeons in a robo-orgy of unadulterated robo-violence. The menace posed by our filthy feathered friends actually makes this a worthwhile if bizarre investment: cleaning buildings and monuments of bird poop costs the council £160,000 a year.

“When we get the full force up, they won’t know what hit them”, council spokeswoman Sarah Langworthy chuckled sadistically, whilst mentally calculating pigeon death to council saving ratios. Robo-cats to catch largely non-robotic rats are said to be not currently under consideration.