COFFEE!! | #FutureGadgets

This is the first post in my #FutureGadgets series, this one is very surprising. Coffee is a staple for millions of people across the world, particularly in recent years with the rise of coffee shops - but what happens to the waste from the coffee making process? The answer is, it's currently just waste - but entrepreneurs worldwide are trying to find a use for it. A US entrepreneur thinks he's found the solution. The idea is, that with processing you could turn about 85% of the energy wasted into bio fuels for heating buildings or powering transport which could make a huge difference to the progress of global warming. Although it might not seem like it, we're talking a HUGE amount of energy, London's coffee industry could create around 200,000 tonnes of waste every year, the same amount produced by the UK's biggest supermarkets.

Sea Lions | #BigBlueLive

Sea Lions - one of the stars of last week's Big Blue Live, they reside along the coastlines and islands of the Pacific Ocean. They actually live a pretty long life (between 20 and 30 years). They also use their adaptions to their advantage. It may well be pretty dark in the oceans but they find their way around with the help of their whiskers. 

Every one of their whiskers are loosely attached to their upper lip (scientists call their whiskers vibrissa) and can rotate around with the underwater current so they can sense their food nearby. It's not surprising that their diet mainly consists of seafood, from fish and squid to crabs and clams. Although one particular breed of sea lions actually eat seals, which isn't so good, but I guess it's all nature!

Their front flippers are also very clever! They help to regulate their temperature, constrict blood vessels when it's cold, constrict the blood vessel and increase the blood vessel size when it's warm. They can also manouver their flippers into the air to cool them off- something I reckon would be ideal in the height of the summer!

Sea Lions are just amazing creatures - they might not look like much but they're unbelievably clever, form incredible underwater spectacles and are just AMAZING! :)

TV Viewing Figures

As the X-Factor returns to our screens, doing everything in our power to conquer the TV ratings - how are those figures actually calculated? Surprisingly, the figures aren't actually compiled from every household in the nation. The Broadcasters Audience Research have recruited 12,000 people from over five thousand households and they then scale up, taking into account things like demographic (target audience) and how they view that particular program.

#BigBlueLive | Part 2

Big Blue Live is literally one of the best TV programmes EVER. I love animals and marine animals but there's just something amazing when you see a humpback whale majestically leaping out of the water. But tonight, they're trying to beat everything from the last few days with an encounter with one of the biggest marine animals  - the blue whale. The whale weighs around 180 tonnes - absolutely HUGE!
Thursday night we saw how unique this period of time actually is - the water temperature averages about 16 degrees Celsius, around 3 degrees warmer than it should be (a lot warmer than the North Sea!) which means more animals than ever are flocking to the bay.
Scientists at the aquarium are amazed by the fact they're seeing animals that either never arrive at the bay or only see them every 10 or 20 years - if they're lucky. For example they've had an unprecedented number of crabs washing up on the beach and also caught sight of the Cooper Scollan.

The Great White Shark

Relaxing Sea Otter

They also had shark cam from a helicopter circling the bay, witnessing the incredible sights as the young sharks swim in the shallow waters close to the surface. Although I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of an angry Great White Shark, apparently 1 adult great white shark weighs the equivalent of an American Football team! Thankfully 99% of Sharks are fine with humans and as they rightfully said we remove around 100 million sharks a year from our seas and we need to be fascinated by them rather than scared of them, that way we can appreciate them and then can thrive across the globe.

And of course the Sea Otters stole the show again (not that I'm complaining!), once more the whole of the British public wanted a pet sea otter as Matt Baker documented a Day in the Life of a Sea Otter. One of the cutest moments in their day, has to be when they take a mid afternoon nap - they actually hold hands to form a raft so that when they're sleeping they don't drift apart. Luckily, the Great White Shark prefer seals and other animals with a higher meat content rather than the sea otter.

Cute Baby Sea Lion

As Liz jetted off around the corner of the bay we caught a close up glimpse of the many Sea Lions which have taken up residence on the bay. In fact, sea lions are one of our ocean's most dynamic predators and most intelligent too - they spend most of their day on constant look out for predators like the Great White Shark. Although even if they do end up on the wrong side of the shark they do stand a fairly good chance as an adult male can weigh as much as 60 stone! As well as being on the look out, they do also spend most of the day sunbathing in the heat of the midday sun, particularly this time of the year when the males aren't competing for females. Even when they are competing, an over aggressive male sea lion can easily put the female off.

Big Blue Live airs TONIGHT 7pm BBC1

The Secret Lives of Hedgehogs

Although we may be limited to the odd pigeon or garden bird where we live, the one thing I do remember from years and years ago is rescuing a hedgehog or two that had either been injured or had just gotten a bit lost. Now, however we don't see them, really at all- but like most animals, I suppose it's a case of if there's no food and no appropriate habitat, they'll move on! One thing I was surprised to find out, is that they can't actually drink milk because it gives them diarrhea! Our spiny friends live a pretty amazing life, they're quite sociable and live in packs called an "array", unfortunately many people want to keep hedgehogs as pets, so much so the authorities have got involved - they're now banned in New York, Arizona, California and Hawaii because their governments classify them as wild animals, so for obvious reasons, they can't be kept domestically. Most Hedgehogs also disappear for Winter, making them only one of three species in the UK that hibernate. Luckily, they're pretty much immune to snake venom so they can also stay safe. Whatever happens to our hedgehogs, here in the UK and the US, one thing's for sure is that one legacy they have left, is that the sea urchin was named after them!
Hedgehogs live a surprising life in the US. Because of this craze in the US, with keeping Hedgehogs as pets, there is such a thing as the Hedgehog Olympic Games (it is true, I promise!!) featuring some pretty crazy events like sprints and hurdles in Illinois in the US. You'll be pleased to hear however it's not happening now as many organisations got involved and rightly deemed it unfair on the hedgehogs!!

#BigBlueLive

The ADORABLE Sea Otter

Monterey Bay, California. Quite literally one of the greatest places on Earth. Some of the world's most amazing marine life are arriving or have already taken up residence in the 21 mile wide bay. Brought to you by Matt Baker, Liz Bonnin and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the show is packed with incredible sights from the majestic Humpback Whale to the incredibly cute Sea Otter. The spectacle is quite literally AMAZING. Matt Baker takes the short trip to meet the relaxed sea otters, lolling back on the water - quite literally living the Californian life. Of course there's some ideal conservation opportunities that come with the abundance of wildlife - Matt and the team spoke with the people who are doing their best to allow the wildlife to thrive. Even something as simple as removing sea urchins which eat kelp to help the sea otter. Kelp is actually one of the sea otters favourite food, so something so simple makes so much difference! 

And of course Big Blue UK has been airing all week showcasing  the incredible wildlife Britain has to offer, from killer whales to dolphins and puffins - although somewhat a little worrying how close whales are to our shores! 

Yesterday Big Blue UK met some of the puffins off the coast of Scotland - I won't even start talking about Puffins, I'll be hear until Christmas! (If you do want to hear more, then check out my previous post, FULL of puffins!) But they did look at how they breed, what I didn't realise was how sociable they are and how unthreatened they felt when he was separated from his young (only temporarily though!) 

I think now, it's safe to say Monterey Bay has been added to my bucket list of places to go!

Big Blue Live airs from California 8pm tonight BBC1 

Puffins!

Since we went up to Northumberland this year, Puffins are my new favorite bird! We actually went on a boat trip to The Farne Islands and saw seals and puffins around the island, the highlight of my year!! :) In fact, during the height of the breeding season, there's around 37,000 breeding pairs of puffins and around 7,000 seals! 

My best close-up of the puffin!

Unfortunately, as we went slightly after the breeding season, we really only saw puffins on the water but it was a sight I wouldn't have missed for ANYTHING! :) It was just so incredible to see the puffins scampering away from the boat with beak-fulls of sandeel!  
It really doesn't surprise me that when they do breed however, their presence draws tourists from all over the UK to witness these amazing sights. 

Sunbathing seal!

The Farne Islands are home to just one of the three species of Puffins, the Atlantic Puffin. Much to many people's surprise, the male puffin builds the nest, partly to demonstrate partly strength and fidelity to nearby birds. In actual fact, the puffins put an incredible amount of work into building their nest, even lining it with grass, feathers and leaves to make it that one bit warmer! 

Seals!

Once the nest is built, their breeding season can begin. Unlike many other species they form long term relationships (scientists call these pair bonds) so over the years they can continue breeding together. Once the eggs have hatched and their chicks (called pufflings) emerge they rear their pufflings until they're strong enough to leave with their parents under the cover of darkness where they continue to grow and develop at sea, far from the coastline. However they may be back to their breeding spot soon as puffins have been recorded by scientists to breed as early as 3!

Where else can you see them then? Well as they spend most of the breeding season at very specific locations you need to pick and choose, although you'd stand a good chance of seeing them in Iceland as its home to around 10 million Atlantic Puffins with some specific colonies of them being well over a million.

My absolute favourite picture from the trip! 

They're actually incredibly skilled when it comes to feeding, you may have seen the classic shot of a puffin with its beak stuffed full of fish- sometimes well over a dozen. They can feed on all kinds of fish, from Sandeel and herring to capelin. As well as fish, they also feast on zooplankton. They actually have an amazing hinging mechanism in their beak which allows them to crosswire the fish so take longer foraging trips so they can come back to their pufflings with more energy and their young can thrive too.

Above all else I'd definitely recommend a visit to The Farne Islands, it's one of England's hidden gems! 

The Leafy Sea Dragon | #WeirdestAnimals

The Sea Dragon, hidden in the depths of the ocean and one of the most camouflaged species on the planet -  not many people have actually seen this sea dragon. Living in the waters off the coast of the East and South  Australia they're often recognized by their reddish color and their long and thin snouts. Surprisingly, their snout actually helps propel them through the water, tumbling like seaweed drifting through the oceans. Like sea horses, it's actually the males which are responsible for childbearing, instead of a pouch they have a patch on the underside of their tail where females deposit their bright pink eggs. They then release the miniature sea dragons after about 5 weeks.
Unfortunately, they're actually endangered as divers often take them as pets, so much so the Australian government actually put complete protection on them in the early 1990s - but it might not be too late.

Future Gadgets

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a series of posts based on the revolutionary gadgets which might be an every day sight for us in a few years time, check back here to keep up to date, or follow me on twitter @Sci_Sparks or search the hashtag #FutureGadgets so you don't miss anything.

The Puffer Fish | #WeirdestAnimals

Not you're average looking fish, the puffer fish is known for it's ability to undergo a complete body transformation in seconds. In fact, they're so unique that there's around 120 different species of Puffer Fish that mostly reside in the tropical waters of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Despite their somewhat intimidating shape their size is extremely changeable - from one inch to two feet, all in an effort to scare their predators.

Stay away from them though, as they contain a toxin 1200 times stronger than cyanide, which is enough to kill 30 adult men! Despite the toxin, in Japan, some parts of the fish area actually a delicacy, although you have to be specially trained to prepare it otherwise you might end up killing someone! But of course the toxin does out predators off them, the only species that's immune to the fish is a shark, so in many ways they're quite safe in the oceans!

They also have a body perfectly adapted for a life at sea for example, they have four teeth, fused in a beak like structure ideal for opening mussels, clams and other shellfish. They've also got excellent eyesight so they can spot predators from afar. All in all they're pretty amazing fish, but I'd stay away if I was you!

The Pink Fairy Armadillo | #WeirdestAnimals

This strange Armadillo is actually the smallest kind of Armadillo with a strange fashion sense - they've got very light pink scales and fluffy white fur underneath, mostly smaller than 10cm long. They actually reside in the dry grasslands and sandy planes of central Argentina and are surprisingly skilled at digging burrows beside large ant colonies, partly as ants provide a plentiful food supply for the armadillo. When they dig, they use their large front claws to effortlessly move through the sand. They even live a life surprisingly similar to the mole, they only come out of their burrow to feed at night and are very solitary animals.

How does spider silk collect water?

There are many molecules on Earth which hold water - spider silk being one of them. In nature the leaves of some plants in the desert and the backs of desert beetles are some. In particular, spider silk has an ideal mechanism for holding water. So much so, in 2010, Chinese scientists published a paper in the journal 'Nature' where they wrote about the structure of spider silk in a lot of detail. They showed that when the spider silk gets wet, rough 'bumps' begin to form on what would otherwise be the smooth side of the silk. The idea is that these changes in texture cause changes in pressure which drives the water through and into the bumps -  hence this water collecting ability. This is similar to when you see water droplets on a spiders web - scientists call this phenomenon 'spindle knots' as they kind of act like collection sites. The hope is that scientists could potentially mimic the structure of spider's silk which could be used to harvest water from moisture in fog in dry regions.

Orangutans

Okay so slightly on the lower end of weird, but still very interesting! Orangutans are basically Asian 'versions' of apes mainly found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Scientists discovered with the use of genome sequencing that the two species of orangutans only split around 400,000 years ago. Orangutans spend most of their time in tree canopies and have a hugely varied diet from vegetation to insects and even birds eggs. They also have a comparatively long life span of 30 years both in the wild and captivity.
Similar to their ancestors, the ape, Orangutans use very sophisticated methods to get food and construct sleeping 'nests'. This is because each night they swing across the rain forest branches collecting branches and foliage to delicately construct their nests- a character mirrored by their ancestors as apes are well known for their intellectual abilities.
However, Orangutans are struggling. Both species of orangutan are either endangered or critically endangered because of a number of issues such as poaching, habitat destruction and illegal pet trade - hopefully with your help we can do something about it!

Why do cats and dogs like being stroked?

Most pets liked being stroked, I do know a cat who hates it and runs a million miles every time I come near him but most cats like it!

Stroking a cat or dog releases a hormone called oxytocin. This hormone is actually released in both the owner and the animal, lowering blood pressure and reducing anxiety. Scientists assume that because these feelings are obviously pleasurable to both the owner and pet over time we've 'learnt' to continue. But why have we learnt? Scientists say that it's kind of like natural selection. This is because it's pretty much a huge survival advantage for many animals to be domesticated because not only we benefit from them but our pets get a free home, food and so on. It's this scientists believe is the reason why animals love us stroking them - a feeling which is gotten stronger over time mirroring a much smaller scale of evolution. Now, we've reached a stage where they (well most of them :) ) enjoy our company and vice versa.