'Remarkable' owl seen on Springwatch for first time

The BBC's Springwatch programme has captured an animal never seen before in the show's 20-year run while filming in Derbyshire.The show is currently stationed at the National Trust-owned Longshaw Estate in the Peak District National Park until 12 June, broadcast live every night.A family of short-eared owls were captured by the cameras for the first time, with presenter Chris Packham describing them as remarkable.Co-presenter Michaela Strachan praised the Peak District and said the "habitat variety" made the location a great fit for the programme.
Behind the scenes, the huge production has 100 people working on the show but planning the marathon broadcast begins the year earlier, to assess what wildlife is likely to appear.Around 30 cameras have been set up around the estate and they are monitored 24 hours a day by teams of two who work in shifts.Those cameras have showcased a vast array of animals that call the estate home.Packham said: "We've got our first lot of birds that are fledging the nests, last week we were watching those youngsters develop so we're now on fledge-watch for the first time, which is always nice. "We saw short-eared owls which have never featured on the programme before."They're remarkable birds and are interesting in the way they fledge unsynchronised, so you'll see one big chick and one small chick."We've also had the long-eared owl which we've never had live before which was very exciting."
In a new feature, producers of the popular nature programme decided to place hidden cameras in ordinary gardens for the show's 20th anniversary run.Filming took place on a street eight miles from the Longshaw Estate, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where residents had installed "swift bricks" to attract the birds.The cameras have captured badgers, foxes and hedgehogs as well as the nesting swifts."What we see in that street is people have gone that extra mile looking after the wildlife and it is paying dividends," Packham added.
The show first appeared on TV with Bill Oddie and the team in Devon back in 2005.Strachan said the Peak District was a perfect fit for its 20th anniversary."It's a beautiful place," she said. "But what we look for when we come to a new site is the variety of habitats and the Peak District has a fantastic variety."You have oak woodland, you've got moorland, peaks, rivers and all that supports a wide-range of wildlife and that's what we look for."Despite the incredible animals on show, Packham said the programme has a more serious message."We don't mince our words, wildlife is in trouble so part of our remit as a programme is to try and engage people so they develop a deep-rooted affinity for it and they want to look out for it."

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Common prescription drug prevents heart attack and stroke WITHOUT deadly risk, scientists discover

The Sun

28 minutes ago

The Sun

Common prescription drug prevents heart attack and stroke WITHOUT deadly risk, scientists discover

A COMMON prescription drug has been linked to lower rates of heart attack and stroke - with no increased risk of major bleeding, say scientists. Low-dose aspirin is recommended by the NHS to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people who are at high risk of them. 1 Because aspirin helps to stop your blood from clotting, it can sometimes make you bleed more easily. For example, you may get nosebleeds and bruise more easily, and if you cut yourself, the bleeding may take longer than normal to stop. Now, a study published by The BMJ supports the use of P2Y12 therapy instead of aspirin for long term prevention. Giving the anti-clotting drug to patients with coronary artery disease was associated with lower rates of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke compared with traditional aspirin, with no increased risk of major bleeding. P2Y12 inhibitors are usually given to patients alongside aspirin after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) - a procedure to widen or unblock a coronary artery to help prevent cardiovascular events. After several months, patients are usually switched from dual therapy (both drugs) to lifelong aspirin, but some trials have suggested a P2Y12 inhibitor may be more effective for long term prevention than aspirin. So in the new study, researchers analysed individual patient data from five randomised clinical trials involving 16,117 patients who were assigned to either a P2Y12 inhibitor or aspirin after completing dual therapy. When they were followed up four years later, P2Y12 inhibitor therapy was associated with a 23 per cent lower risk of an outcome that combined cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke, compared with aspirin - with no significance different in major bleeding. When considering outcomes individually, P2Y12 inhibitor therapy reduced heart attacks and stroke compared with aspirin. The researchers said: "Overall, this study supports preferential P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy prescription over aspirin due to reductions in major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events without increasing major bleeding in the medium term." Women vs. Men Heart Attack Symptoms But, they note "medium term efficacy does not necessarily extend lifelong, which is the duration we advise patients to continue these medications". To prevent heart attacks and strokes in patients with coronary artery disease, it's crucial to make lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, and following a balanced diet. Smoking significantly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, so quitting is recommended. People should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week and choose a diet low in saturated and trans fats, high in fibre, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in salt. If you drink alcohol, you should do so in moderation. And practice relaxation techniques, like deep breathing or yoga, and find healthy ways to copy with stress. Seeing your doctor regularly for screenings and to monitor your heart health. And making sure you get enough sleep (seven to nine hours per night) is important. Various symptoms and warning signs can indicate heart disease, and being aware of them can help in early detection and treatment...

Derek Brockway: Could AI weather forecasting cost me my job?

BBC News

an hour ago

BBC News

Derek Brockway: Could AI weather forecasting cost me my job?

Weather forecasts play a huge role in our daily lives. They help us to decide how we get to work, if we need an umbrella and when to hang out the washing. For industries like farming, shipping, aviation and renewable energy, accurate forecasts are essential.I've been presenting the weather on the BBC for nearly 30 years. Over that time, I've witnessed how our changing climate is bringing more extreme and intense weather is so important to keep improving the way we predict the weather, and scientists are exploring how AI could make forecasting more accurate, efficient, and faster than ever before. In some countries, broadcasters have even begun to experiment with AI-generated weather does all this mean that forecasters like me could soon be out of a job? Traditionally, weather forecasting relies on complex numerical weather prediction models which require vast amounts of data and supercomputers - like the ones used by the Met Office. But the Met Office is now working with experts from the Alan Turing Institute, the UK's national centre for data science and AI, to build a new global forecasting system powered by AI. One of their models, called FastNet, uses machine learning to improve prediction Kirstine Dale, Chief AI Officer at the Met Office, said it had the potential to revolutionise forecasting. "AI is phenomenally fast - not just a bit faster, but tens of thousands of times faster," she told me. "That means it can produce up to date forecasts with a fraction of the computational cost and carbon dioxide."She said AI could also produce "hyper-localised" forecasts, "potentially offering more up to date forecasts tailored to your postcode".Forecasts driven by AI could also help to mitigate against the impacts of storms, floods and heatwaves by providing earlier and more accurate warnings of severe weather. But there are challenges - especially in predicting rare or extreme weather events. "The past is no longer a reliable indicator of the future," said Prof Dale."So we need traditional numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to explore how the climate may change and generate recalibrated datasets. "These recalibrated datasets of future climates can be used to train AI-based models."AI-based models simply aren't aware of the physics - and changing physics - of the atmosphere, so NWP will likely continue to play a vital role in forecasting extreme events, as well as adding a layer of validation to AI forecasting outputs." Dr Scott Hosking, Mission Director for Environmental Forecasting at the Turing Institute, said that once trained, AI models were cheaper and quicker to run than traditional forecasting systems."AI has surprised us in a number of ways," said Dr Hosking."One of them is how well it predicts the tracks of cyclones and hurricanes. AI is always learning what it has seen in the past."But he said AI still had some way to go in certain areas, including in its ability to forecast high-intensity rainfall - the kind that often leads to flash could also play a key role in space weather forecasting, helping to predict solar storms more accurately and efficiently. These storms, caused by solar activity, are best known for producing the aurora borealis - the Northern Lights - which have been seen in Wales several times recently. But space weather can be hazardous too, affecting Earth's magnetic field and potentially disrupting communication systems and Huw Morgan, Head of Solar System Physics at Aberystwyth University, led a project to enhance the Met Office's space weather forecasting. Speaking from the university's AI Hub, he told me AI could offer a vital role."It's a very complicated system to try to model. Forecasts exist but they have many weaknesses because space weather is so complex," Dr Morgan said."And unlike on Earth, we can't put recording stations on the Sun or between the Sun and Earth. "We are really dependent on remote data from telescopes. "So AI offers a good solution, because we can't monitor the whole system constantly, and we cannot really build models that are appropriate for the system yet."However, Dr Morgan acknowledges AI has its challenges and scientists will continue to rely on traditional space weather forecasting techniques for now. 'No one wants an AI Derek' So what about AI-generated weather presenters?Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern is not so sure."It's important for people to have presenters they trust," he told me. "No one wants an AI version of Derek. "They want the real Derek - someone who can take all the data and explain it in a way that makes sense."Aidan is optimistic about what the future holds for forecasting."When I started this job 18 years ago, we couldn't really predict beyond four or five days. "Now we're giving outlooks 10 or even 14 days ahead. "We may not be able to give specific details that far out but we can already offer a sense of whether it'll be warm or cold, wet or dry - and highlight big changes on the way."And with AI, the potential only grows."Just imagine - in the near future, we might be able to talk about a month's worth of weather at once, and visualise it in a way that really connects with the public. "That's hugely exciting."The potential for AI in weather prediction is immense, but AI won't replace traditional forecasting methods entirely. It's more likely to work alongside them and be another tool for meteorologists like me to use. For now, at least, I think my job is safe. Hopefully the real Derek will continue to say "hello, shwmae" for a long while yet.

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