I decided to plant a small patch of wild flower mix that came from the Prince of Wales’s garden at Highgrove. I thought that the back of this rockery that already has some Iris and Cowslips would be the ideal location. I killed off the weeds with some glyphosphate weed-killer, raked the soil to create …
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Author:SFScience
Retired Schoolmaster living in Wiltshire and Vendee France
Chemosynthesis…
Inspired by a response from Sean yesterday I thought I would write about the strange creatures that eke out an existence in underwater hydrothermal vents or in hot-mud geezers.
Magnetish…
You may not notice anything different here but mysterious and wonderful things have happened. Firstly, I have added a ‘Community’ page for you to explore. Fill in the registration page and I will give you access when I have time. Use it wisely! Secondly, there are new links in the ‘Links’ menu. You should especially …
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Ladybirds…
I opened a window that had been shut for about six months and found a good collection of ladybirds hiding among the carpentry imperfections. I was struck by the diverse patterns and wanted to explore if they were different stages of development or different varieties. What I need to find was a key or identification guide. …
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Urban Jungle…
There are a few posts on Evolution available on this site here and here. You can see more from Minute Earth on YouTube. Twig Prep also has some useful material – some of which can be downloaded and printed out. Questions… To which Kingdom, Phylum and Class do turtles belong? Suggest one adaptation turtles have for …
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SciShow…
I found a new science-based YouTube channel called SciShow – I don’t know how it managed to stay under the radar for so long. I suspect that there is just a lot of choice out there. One of the first videos I saw was about blood colour. I think I may have perpetuated the myth that blood …
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Miracle Drink…
Yesterday, a friend sent me a link to “This Miracle Drink Prevents The Spread of Cancer”, which was posted on a website called ‘Natural Cures Not Medicine‘. They asked me for my ‘thoughts’ knowing that I enjoy looking at medical claims on non-medical websites. It would be easy to dismiss the story straight off without visiting …
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Keys…
Keys are a means of identifying objects by answering a series of yes/no questions. They are sometimes known as dichotomous keys because each question divides the possible answers into two groups. In biology, they are especially useful for identifying an unknown type of organism. Some keys will come with pictures to help with the identification process – …
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Smart Vermin…
You may have noticed that we have huge numbers of grey squirrels around Summer Fields. The Grey Squirrel is an invasive, non-native species that is a threat to our native population of Red Squirrels that had been the only species of squirrel in the British Isles for tens of thousands of years. Grey Squirrels were introduced by the …
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Horrible Histories…
This is a sort of experiment to see if people who could not previously see my posts can now see my posts (do comment – you know who you are…) It is also rather a fun song from the BBC. Questions… Who came up with ‘natural selection’? Suggest a unique characteristic of mammals. Suggest one …
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