Caffeine

Okay - now I've read everything!

On average, wild Soay sheep on Scotland's island Hirta are five per cent smaller today than they were in 1985, according to a team of researchers led by Tim Coulson of Imperial College London.

and you are asking why?

"The decrease in body size was due to a reduction in growth rates caused, in part, by the changing climate," Coulson said

Apparently its because of Global Warming, a phenomenon that has yet to bring much heat this way.

Here's the full article.

Evolution favours the development of large sheep, which can more easily survive harsh winters, Coulson explained. So the researchers became curious about the overall decline in size of the animals on Hirta.

They discovered that as the climate has grown milder, small lambs that would not have survived previous winters were now living to grow up and reproduce.

Since size is inherited, the survival and reproduction of these smaller animals lowered the average size of the herd.

In addition, Coulson noted, there is what he termed the "young mum effect," with the younger mothers physically unable to produce large offspring.

The find adds to the understanding of how change occurs in many types of animals, he said, including birds, fish and mammals.

It shows how evolution and ecology each play a role in change, Coulson said: "And that, for our wild sheep at least, climate change is having a detectable effect on body size - a trait that is partly determined by genes - and that this complements previous research showing how climate change can influence population size."

"This study addresses one of the major goals of population biology, namely to untangle the ways in which evolutionary and environmental changes influence a species' traits," said Andrew Sugden, deputy and international managing editor at Science, which published the report.

The research was supported by Britain's Natural Environment Research Council.

Baaaaad news - I'm shrinking.

Just like your favourite wool sweater that you mistakenly toss into the dryer - the beasts are shrinking from the heat. This is really too funny.

From Science Mag News here's another article.

Thankfully I made it through another week of frantic people, confused coders and generally unqualified people all looking for a "magic button" to press to make their jobs easier. Sadly I have to report that up to now they have all been very slow in learning or even changing their work habits.

I'm talking about making electronic documents accessible, web pages that are filled with tables, graphics and a gazillion spacers just don't cut it. Enlarging font sizes in Word aren't exactly doing much either, just because it is larger doesn't mean its a header.

Some day they'll get it. Probably when they are older and needing binoculars to read a screen, will they finally understand the need to do a little planning.

That's life isn't it? Everyone is resistant to change no matter how small it might be.


On with a different subject, silly and ridiculous news stories.

According to a group in Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Ufology Research group to be exact; 2008 saw a record number of reports of unidentified flying objects.

The Winnipeg-based volunteer group noted 1,004 reported sightings last year - by far the highest number since the group started counting in 1989.

Spokesman Chris Rutkowski says the vast majority of sightings turn out to be airplanes, towers or other known objects, but a few sightings each year are strange and remarkable. He says one of the strangest cases occurred last March, when people in two vehicles saw an object the size of a car float quickly across a highway near Wadena, Saskatchewan.

I think they are all just standing out in the cold without a hat just a bit too much. If you've never been to Winnipeg, don't go, there is absolutely nothing there to see or do; except maybe spot a UFO or two.

Read more...

Another weekend soon to be here. If you're in Ontario - this is a long weekend with "Family Day" coming up on Monday. What the heck is Family Day you're wondering, well our benevolent government decided we all needed a day to spend time with our families so they gave us a holiday Monday to do just that.

Problem is of course - a lot of people don't want more time with their families, screaming kids with nothing to do because libraries and museums are closed tends to get on your nerves fairly quickly. Add to the Monday holiday that today is a day off for teachers and this 3 day weekend becomes a 4 day holiday that is sure to increase the sales of Tylenol and Aspirin.

Good thing there is still something funny and odd happening in the world.

Read more...