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Britain Not So Great - EU Referendum

David Cameron regrets the day he entered politics. The Queen is tough. She will seemingly live forever. However, there is one thing that could diminish her driving force to continue ruling. That is the independence of Scotland. She will have one man to thank for that - David Cameron. Her Highness was pleased when the referendum two years ago favored Scotland staying in the UK. Indeed, Mr Cameron was praised by the Queen in a private audience. The Queen stands over David Cameron like she made Maggy Thatcher wait Things are much different now. Shame on the Prime Minister for even offering the Scottish referendum and the poll on separation from the EU. He did it just to save his political life. That is selfishness indeed. He will go into history as the man who caused the breakup of the United Kingdom. Just as Tony Abbot will be known as the PM who killed Australia's Holden car. If they were both in the same room, there would be a terrible smell! The first S

Sea Simulator Shows Ocean Heat Does Not Increase Coral Acidification

Though heat itself may damage the Great Barrier Reef, higher levels of acidity due to raised temperatures will not increase coral bleaching. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ends up absorbed in the surface of sea water. This raises acidity. There is not a direct relationship between acidification and coral bleaching . However, the kinds of animal life present in an area will be changed by more acid conditions. The whole ecosystem of the reef will be altered forever. Both heat and more acidity will cause this. Tests have been done with the national sea simulator which gives quite specific results. The Sea Sim is new technology. It is being given test runs at present. Acidification and heat together do not raise coral bleaching. This is a major finding. Scientists are now going down a new path. The new premise came from a combined research program using the Sea Sim and hands on tests off the coast of Papua New Guinea; so coral itself is relatively safe, but

Australian and Mediterranean Great White Shark Evolution

Luck plays a large part in evolution. Climate suddenly changes and if by chance a species of animal carries suitable genes to flourish in the new environment that animal lives on. Other species die off because they cannot cope. New findings about the great white shark highlights this. Australian great whites and the Mediterranean type have genes that point to common ancestry. It is believed that a few related female sharks split up. Some going north to the Mediterranean from the larger gene pool in the south, or they peeled off from the main group in the Atlantic some going north the others going south. Narrow channels in the Mediterranean stopped this group from rejoining the Australian gene pool. This happened 450,000 years ago. Mutations since that time make the timeline clear. It is believed that swordfish and tuna the main food of the great white also split off from the their main groups. Great white sharks followed the food supply. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com

Nullarbor Created by Many Small Rivers

The Nullarbor plain in the central-southern part of Australia is one of the driest regions on Earth. It is called the Ceduna Delta. The Murray-Darling further to the east is the largest river system extant today. It is difficult to accept that the Nullarbor was created by many small rivers flowing southward into the ocean. These rivers flowed very fast cutting through hills which were formed by the land rising between Australia and Antarctica. Ultimately, sediment was deposited in the drying riverbeds. Analysis of sediment from drillings in the delta showed rivers flowed there 80 million years ago. Sources of gas and oil have been identified which could be tapped in the future. The Ceduna Delta is as large as the Niger Delta in Africa. It contains half a million cubic kilometers of sedimentary sandstome and shales. Hydrocarbon reserves are already being exploited in the Niger Delta. Because the "destination" of the rivers was close to the Great Australian Bight lar

Great View Dog

"Wow! What a great view." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

Dog Haircut

"Good haircut, huh?" http://vistacomputersolutions.blogspot.com/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

Male Bower Bird Deludes the Female

Human males often lie to female partners to make them bond more and ultimately become a lifelong mate. Whether the female is aware of this doesn't seem to matter. Even when she knows, her affection is stronger than accepting she has been duped. Male great bower birds also deceive females. He makes an intricate, often beautiful, structure to lure a prospective mate. First a bower is constructed which consists of twigs piled on top of each other. Then a walkway is built with an arch big enough for both birds to walk through. The final sweetener is the cache of rocks, shells, bones and fruit. The male bird carefully places each piece of the cache either further away or at the front of the display to look better from the perspective of the female. He picks up each article waving it in front of her. The deception is that large objects are place further away and small objects are placed toward the front. She is transfixed by his display and while "hypnotized" he

Preserved Leaves Found in 500 Year Old Bible

Information about the climate five centuries ago has come to light from leaves found in an old Bible. Susana Melo de Howard was returning the 1540 Great Bible back into its humidity-controlled room when she saw the preserved leaves. The book is kept at the University of Western Australia. It came from the monastery of Ely Cathedral in England and was the first English translation of the Bible. William Tyndale was executed in Belgium for this "crime". The West Australian university got the book at the bargain price of $500 in 1977. No one had viewed the Bible in the last twenty years. Detective work began on the leaves as soon as they were found. By sending photographs of the leaves to academic centers all around the world, they were identified as Wych elm which was common in England 500 years ago. Carbon dating showed the leaves were placed in the Bible in the 1560s. Nitrogen was high on wetland farms in those days. Mercury, chromium and arsenic pollution was also