How to Walk the Nile

The man who conquered the Nile, Levison Wood battled through blisters and exhaustion, he walked the length of the Nile, through war zones and completely deserted regions of Africa. He had to bypass a small section of the Nile because he found himself caught in the midst of a civil war in South Sudan, he also battled through temperatures as high as 62C, he raced to reach a well in the desert through dwindling water supplies, but he made it, 9 months and thousands of miles later. 

Lev had to stay hydrated, walking with guides and journalists covering his adventure, unfortunately an American journalist, Matthew Power collapsed due to heatstroke, hours away from help he died, Lev carried on, dedicating the rest of the expedition to Matthew and his wife Jess. The tragic incident was a stark reminder of the physical challenge which lay ahead, not only to get to the end of the Nile but simply to survive. 

Lev, a former British Army Captain was used to being around in war but he said this was like nothing he'd ever seen, he said "One guy tried to attack me, and threatened to kill me", in the Channel 4 series, he talked about the fact he became a target because they wanted to attack anyone accosiated with the UN, potentially supporting the other side. 

Months later he completed his expedition, although his hopes for being the first to walk the length of  the Nile were ended after he was forced to skip a 400 mile war torn stretch of the Nile. 

As he entered Egypt, he viewed it as a kind of respite, although he was consistently followed by two police cars and a personal bodyguard, all to protect him from extremist groups or any other problems which may have occured. Throughout the trip, he explored some of the treasures of Africa, even some pyramids that a Pharoh blew the tops off to hunt for treasure - all to no avail, as he found treasure in only one of the pyramids! 

So how do you walk the Nile? The answer? Walking the Nile is a battle, a battle with the elements, a physical and mental battle and certainly not for the faint hearted,with temperatures averaging 50C it's about staying hydrated, drinking as much water as humanly possible - but as Lev has proved, it's all possible. 

Levison's book, Walking the Nile is available to buy from all well known book stores and Amazon

Meet the people who want to head to Mars... (part 1)

It's crunch time, the Dutch firm called Mars One have just a few months left to decide whether they will launch the first unmanned mission to the moon in 2018. The firm has whittled 200,000 entries down to just 50 men and 50 women. Now, they need to cut this down to just 40 people, with four travelling on the first mission. Of these entrants, five are from the UK, including Maggie Lieu who's studying for a PhD in astrophysics, she said it would be a privilege to be the first woman to give birth on Mars which would give her, a baby martian. 

The story of the final four, who begin their new lives in 2025 will feature in a reality TV programme, the company that's behind Big Brother. It's thought that this is going to be "Big Brother on Mars", showing the difficult selection process, documenting the thoughts of these aspiring pioneers every step of the way, this is a journey that continues and will continue to do so as the final four embark on a journey of a life time.

Part 2 coming soon 

Richard III and his right to rule...

Richard III (1452-1485), Monarch of England he died on the Battle of Bosworth field - written into the history books until a couple of years ago when a mystery skeleton was discovered in a car park in Leicester (UK) in 2012. The previous year DNA tests made him the oldest man to be identified by genetic analysis. Scientists are pretty sure that this is him they've dug up, although last year a paper was published in the journal "Nature Communications". The research says that a false paternity occured somewhere between the 14th an 19th Century - which raises a whole load of questions - is the Windsor monarchy illegitamate? 

He died on in the Battle of Bosworth, he was the last English monarchy to die in battle - but since he was dug up from the car park, he remains buried at the Greyfriars medival church. Since 2012, scientists at the University of Leciester have managed to unlock some incredible secrets. When the remains were first discovered, they immediately were able to identify that the person had a curved spine (scolioisis), they also used radioactive carbon dating to identify the skeleton was from the 15th Century. They then identified the skeleton was male and bore scars which fit with a death in battle. At this point - the signs pointed to Richard III but no one could be 100% certain until they had concrete, genetic evidence. 

Although there was a problem. Richard III didn't leave any descendents, which makes tracing a person with any kind of genetic link virtually impossible. So, scientists had to painstakingly trace his family tree back four generations to Edward III in the 12th Century, then back down to people living today but the scientists found someone, Michael Ibsen, a London cabinet maker. They compared the skeleton's maternal DNA with Michael's and it was an exact match. They even shared one of the rarest types of mitochondrial DNA which is given the very long name of "haplotype J1C2C", only carried by about 1% of the population. They also tested a descendent of Anne of York - again a match, not as close match, but close enough. 

As the issue of paternity goes, the scientists working on Richard III's skeleton say there MUST have been a "false paternity" at some point after the reign of Edward III, so at some point in 19 generations. Even multiple scientific surveys suggest that one in 50 children are not the children of their believed to be fathers. Of course the papers where quick to jump on the face Queen Elizabeth II may not be entitled to the throne, but whatever you believe this has unlocked huge secrets behind the human genome. 

Processes Explained: The Movement of Water Through Plants

Water needs to travel up through the roots of a plant for photosynthesis in order for a plant to survive. Roots, like everything have cells, these are root hair cells. These root hair cells are long and a thin extension of the root epidermal cell. They only live for a few weeks before they die and are replaced by others growing near the tip. Because roots absorb water, minerals and ions they constantly loose water by transpiration so this needs to be replaced.
Every root hair cell is adapted to its function because:

• They have a large surface area because there's thousands of branches which come off of each root. 
• The root has a thin surface layer (made up of the cell membrane and the cellulose cell wall) which allows material to move across the plant easier. 

In damp conditions when there's more water, a solution forms which contains minerals and mostly water. 

In areas of high water potential in the soil means water moves by osmosis from the soil into the root hair. 

Once it's in the root hair cell it takes one of two paths - 

• the apoplastic pathway
• the symplastic pathway

To be continued...

This is based on AQA AS Biology Chapter 13 Movement of water through plants. 

Song lyrics you just Can't Get out of your Head...

To quote a famous song, Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head to be precise, there are just some song lyrics that you just can't get out of your head. They just play and replay over and over. Scientists call this phenomena an 'ear worm' (sometimes called involuntary musical imagery)- it can last for minutes or sometimes hours. They say these can be triggered through a whole number of ways, from stress to simply recalling a memory where perhaps the song was last played. Polls across the internet name Kylie, Adele, Abba and Queen as some of the worst offenders. A scientist called James Kellaris conducted research which found that up to 98% of individuals experience earworms  although they tend to last longer in women and are more irritating! Although we might see these as intrusions, songwriters love them because after all, it's what makes us buy the record!

Kylie Minogue one of the worst ear worm offenders performing on her Aphrodite Tour
in 2010