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BBC News
3 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Ennerdale's hairy ant experiment to make forest more resistant
An experiment to make woodland more resilient has seen hairy wood ant nests relocated across England moved six colonies with thousands of ants from Cropton Forest in North Yorkshire to Ennerdale in Cumbria, in a bid to bring back lost wildlife species and support Gardner, from Forestry England said the project in the Lake District would help "rebuild complex forest communities" that can better deal with extreme weather, climate change and organisation said hairy wood ants' nests, which are mounded and can be up to 6.5ft (2m) high, are ideal habitats for over 100 species including beetles, hoverflies, mites, woodlice and other ants. "[Hairy wood ants] can reduce plant damage by keeping herbivorous pests away," a spokesman explained."However, other herbivores, with adapted ant-defences, can thrive." This is the second phase of the project, with nests already relocated earlier this year using a different method, and early signs suggest they had been "unaffected by the journey".Hayley Dauben, Forestry England's species reintroduction officer who is leading the project, said they would closely monitor how the colonies establish themselves and any differences between the two methods."The next crucial milestone will be in April 2026 as the ants emerge from their period of winter hibernation," she added. Forestry England has worked on the project with the University of September, the organisations will collaborate to support a PhD to help study the wider impacts of the project at Ennerdale. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Greg James receives honorary University of York doctorate
Radio 1 DJ Greg James said it had been a "fantastic day" as he received an honorary degree from the University of was chosen for the honour for his "remarkable contribution to society" and for championing mental health, according to the university's vice his connection with the institution also involves an unusually tall duck that became an online sensation and was regularly mentioned on the presenter's fondness for "Long Boi" saw him lead a memorial service and unveil a statue after its death. Other people being honoured by the University of York this year were Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood and historian Greg said receiving his honorary degree had been "very thrilling"."I feel very proud to receive this and it was a real genuine delight to watch all those very clever people receiving their degrees and Masters."It was a fantastic day. It was very inspiring actually."He admitted to a few nerves ahead of his speech to his fellow graduates."It means a lot to all the people who were in there, that they'd done something really magical."All their family and friends are there and you don't want to mess it up." Long Boi, a 28in (70cm) cross between a mallard and an Indian runner duck, was regularly featured on James' show after gaining fame among students and is believed to have died in 2023 after vanishing from the admitted the initial idea of Britain's tallest duck had been too funny to resist and it had captured the listeners' attention."It spiralled into this ridiculous movement," he said."I love taking small things on the breakfast show and then taking them to their most ludicrous conclusion."And the ludicrous conclusion was doing a state funeral live on the Radio 1 breakfast show from the same hall where they give out the scrolls."He said he believed "silliness" could really cut through the "world beautifully, the absurd world, the sad bits of the world"."So it was about a dead duck but really it was about everyone being together and celebrating something silly."At the core of everything people want to laugh, that's the one thing that unites every single person." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: What your day of birth REALLY says about you, according to science
We all know from the famous nursery rhyme that 'Monday's child is fair of face', while 'Tuesday's child is full of grace'. Unfortunately for people born on a Wednesday, they are 'full of woe', according to the rhyme, while Thursday's child has 'far to go'. Meanwhile, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living, but the child that is born on Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, good and gay. Whether there's any truth in the popular fortune-telling song – dating back to 19th century England – has long been a mystery. Now, a new study finally sheds light on what our day of birth really reveals about us. Using data from more than 2,000 children, the researchers from the University of York investigated the link between a child's day of birth and their destiny. Thankfully for people born on a Wednesday, they found that Wednesday's child is not 'full of woe' as we've been led to believe. In fact, the age-old verse is simply 'harmless fun'. The nursery rhyme dates back to at least 1836, when it was published in 'Traditions of Devonshire' by English writer Anna-Eliza Bray. Note the variation in the final two lines - most notably with a reference to Christmas day instead of the Sabbath day (Sunday) The nursery rhyme, simply called 'Monday's Child', dates back to at least 1836, when it was published in 'Traditions of Devonshire' by English writer Anna-Eliza Bray. Nearly 200 years later, the memorable verse is so popular that people born on a Wednesday are commonly described as 'full of woe', while those born on a Friday routinely get the compliment that they are 'loving and giving'. Of course, what day of the week you were born on may seem entirely incidental – and many people believe there is no truth in the nursery rhyme. However, the research team theorized that it could actually be having lasting effects on personality. For example, a child born on a Monday told they are 'fair of face' might, in theory, develop higher self-esteem, making them appear more confident and attractive to others. Meanwhile, a child born on a Wednesday might interpret common feelings of sadness as proof of their 'woe', believing they experience these emotions more than others. Parents familiar with the rhyme might also be more inclined to enrol a 'Thursday's child' ('full of grace') in lessons for physical fitness, such as ballet – inadvertently shaping their physical development. To investigate whether there's truth to any of this, the team analysed data from a large study of more than 1,100 families with twins in England and Wales, tracking the siblings from age 5 to 18. 'Monday's Child' Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living. But the child that is born on Sabbath day, Is bonny and blithe, good and gay The data included days of the week in which the children were born, as well as personality traits interpreted from the various lines in the poem. For example, prosocial behaviour corresponded with 'loving and giving' and hardworking behaviour corresponded with 'works hard for a living'. 'Fair of face', meanwhile, was based on attractiveness ratings from an independent figure when the children were at ages 5, 10, 12, and 18. Overall, the team found no evidence that the day of the week a child is born influences their personality, appearance or future success. A Wednesday's child is no more likely to be 'full of woe' than a Monday's child is to be 'fair of face', they report. Instead, factors such as a family's socio-economic status, a child's sex and their birth weight are far more significant in predicting a child's development. According to Professor Sophie von Stumm, senior author at the University of York's department of education, nursery rhymes like 'Monday's Child' are simply 'harmless fun'. 'In an age where parents are increasingly concerned about the messages children encounter, our findings offer reassurance,' she said. Pictured, box plots of children's personality and physical traits by 'Monday's Child' nursery rhyme, across days of the week of birth. Scores are plotted for one twin randomly selected from each pair 'While many older tales and rhymes might seem out of step with modern values, our research indicates they don't have any long-term influence on children. 'We know these rhymes are rich in alliteration and vocabulary which has been shown to boost language and literacy, so parents should absolutely continue to share them.' The team acknowledge that their study did not cover all the many possible interpretations of the 'Monday's Child' nursery rhyme. For example, researchers interpreted 'full of grace' as referring to having grace in physical mobility, such as being nimble and light on one's feet, but it could also refer to being gracious in personality, meaning courteous, kind and pleasant. Thursday's child having 'far to go' may mean having good prospects for achieving success – as in 'he'll go far' – or having an arduous road ahead. The team admit that no data was available on the extent to which the families were familiar with, engaged in, or adhered to 'Monday's Child'. 'Thus, we could not ascertain whether our findings were confounded by family-level differences in children's and parents' endorsement of the verses,' they say in their paper, published in Journal of Personality. After more than 20 years, one of the most successful children's books of all time is getting another installment. A new book in 'The Gruffalo' series, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, is set to hit the shelves in 2026. As any parent will likely know, the original tells the tale of a plucky mouse encountering a series of predators – including the eponymous two-horned beast. But if you thought there was nothing more to this best-selling picture book than a charming woodland narrative, you were wrong. According to a scientific study, this 'vibrant and complex text' has hidden political meanings which until now have been overlooked. The 700-word book 'offers an engagement with world politics' and an insight into 'sociopolitical worlds', the study claims. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Review of International Studies, the paper demonstrates that children's picture books are not 'just for kids'.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This 20-Million-Year-Old Rhino May Have Had the Most Important Tooth Ever, Scientists Say
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: The oldest surviving proteins have been found in the tooth of Elasmotherium, a prehistoric rhino with one unicorn-esque horn. These protein sequences are 20 million years old—far older than the previous oldest sequences, from mammoth (1.2 million year old) and camel ancestors (3.7 million years old), respectively. Elasmotherium was found to be closely related to ancient rhino lineages from Eurasia, even though the tooth was found in Canada. Elasmotherium sibericum, an ancestor of the rhinoceros, once lumbered across the steppes of what are now parts of Eastern Europe and the extreme north of Canada. This prehistoric beast was covered in shaggy fur (much like its relative, the woolly rhino), and brandished a single horn on its forehead which earned it the name 'Siberian Unicorn.' Its genes were hiding another unicorn. Most ancient DNA (aDNA) over 1 million years old is far too fragmented to reconstruct genetic sequences. However, a record of the evolutionary past was preserved in the tooth of one Elasmotherium, which had been buried in the permafrost of the Haughton Crater in Canada's High Arctic tundra for over 20 million years. It has seen minimal effects of diagenesis—the physical and chemical changes that occur in sediments as they fossilize—and some of the original proteins had been frozen in time. The Elasmotherium tooth (discovered by a research team from the University of York) has revealed the oldest known sequence of proteins and amino acids. Before this find, the oldest known DNA sequence pulled directly from a fossil came from the 1.2-million-year-old molar of a mammoth recovered from Greenland. And the protein and amino acid sequences from the bone collagen of camel ancestors (also found in the High Arctic), were 3.7 million years old. Any sequences older than that were degraded beyond understanding. 'Fossils from these sediments are found in a polar landscape, at present characterized by permafrost,' the researchers said in a study recently published in the journal Nature. 'Compared with similarly aged material from lower latitudes, this creates a temperature regime favorable for biomolecular preservation, sparing these fossils from the harshest effects of diagenesis.' Genetic material in labs is usually kept in deep freezers, because DNA is so prone to degrading. This explains why there is little to be found in dry bones, but better preserved sequences—some with soft tissue and even liquid blood—have been seen in specimens that emerged from thick sheets of ice. The York team focused on extracting proteins and amino acids from the enamel of the tooth, since the tightly packed substance protects genetic material. At least seven proteins and 251 amino acids were recovered, and the results did not support what had previously been assumed from the morphological study of rhinocerotid fossils. The researchers used paleotemperatures from an existing model to see how fluctuations in temperature in the region over millions of years could have affected biomolecules, and their results were consistent with previous findings that determined how well proteins survived through the Miocene (23 to 5.3 million years ago), Pliocene (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago), and Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) epochs. Comparing the degradation of the proteins to those in other rhinocerotid specimens proved that the new samples were not contaminants, but did in fact belong to the tooth of an Elasmotherium. Rhinocerotids experienced a burst of diversification before this particular creature was even born. They first thundered onto the scene during the Middle to Late Eocene (47.8 to 34 million years ago) and diversified significantly before the Early Oligocene (34 to 32 million years ago). Analysis of the Elasmotherium protein sequences has determined that this species split from other rhinocerotids some 41-25 million years ago, and that the main rhino clades Elasmothieriinae and Rhinocerrotinae diverged 34-22 million years ago. Despite being found in Canada, Elasmotherium is most closely related to early rhinos across the ocean. 'Morphologically, the Haughton Crater rhinocerotid shares closer affinities with these early-diverging lineages from Eurasia, particularly those in the genus Epiaceratherium,' the researchers said. 'Similarly, some other vertebrates in the highly endemic fauna of the Haughton Formation have their closest relatives in Eurasia.' There are no Elasmotherium de-extinction efforts on the horizon, but this new rhino evolution knowledge could help increase population numbers of endangered rhinos and prevent their extinction. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
India's first creative tech institute to open admissions in August
The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) is set to launch this August, offering specialized courses in AVGC-XR domains. Aiming to develop world-class talent, IICT has partnered with the University of York and industry giants like Google and Meta. The institute's curriculum, aligned with international standards, seeks to position India as a global leader in digital content and immersive technology. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular in Services 1. NCERT textbook revisits Mughal era: Akbar brutal yet tolerant, Aurangzeb austere India's growing digital and creative sectors are set to benefit from the launch of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), which will begin admitting its first batch of students this August. The institute will offer a range of courses focused on the AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality) announced by Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw at the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in May 2025, IICT aims to serve as a specialised institution for skills development in creative technologies The initial academic offerings include six courses in Gaming, four in Post Production, and eight in Animation, Comics and XR. These programmes have been developed in consultation with industry stakeholders to reflect current and emerging trends in the has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of York, UK, to facilitate faculty exchange, joint research, and international certification addition, companies such as Google, YouTube, Adobe, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and JioStar are supporting the institute through partnerships in curriculum design, internships, scholarships, incubation and vision is to make India a global powerhouse in the AVGC-XR sector by nurturing world-class talent, said Dr. Vishwas Deoskar, CEO, IICT. The courses are being aligned with international benchmarks while building on India's creative strengths. Details of the curriculum will be shared later this month, he IICT Governing Board includes Sanjay Jaju, Vikas Kharge, Swati Mhase, Chandrajit Banerjee, Ashish Kulkarni, Manvendra Shukul and Rajan Navani. The Governing Council comprises Munjal Shroff, Chaitanya Chichlikar, Biren Ghose, Bhupendra Kainthola and Gaurav global demand for AVGC-XR talent continues to rise, the institute aims to contribute to India's capabilities in digital content and immersive technology through a structured, industry-linked academic approach
