BBC NEWS | Health | Dairy for children 'extends life'

BBC NEWS | Health | Dairy for children 'extends life': "Children who eat plenty of dairy foods such as milk and cheese can expect to live longer, a study suggests.

Some 4,374 UK children from a 1930s study were traced 65 years later by researchers in Bristol and Queensland.

They found those who had had high dairy and calcium intakes as children had been protected against stroke and other causes of death, journal Heart reports.

Despite dairy containing artery furring fat and cholesterol, high consumption did not raise the heart disease risk.

The findings appear to back the practice of giving extra milk to schoolchildren."

Blue M&Ms 'mend spinal injuries' - Telegraph

Blue M&Ms 'mend spinal injuries' - Telegraph: "The food dye that gives blue M&Ms their colour can help mend spinal injuries, researchers have claimed after tests on rats."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Green beetle's super-shiny secret

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Green beetle's super-shiny secret: "The stunning metallic green sheen of the 'jewelled beetle' is produced by microscopic cells in its exoskeleton.

Researchers reporting in the journal Science have revealed that, with no green pigments, these structures make the beetle appear iridescent green.

These cells, they said, were almost identical to hi-tech liquid crystals.

The scientists found that the structures make the beetle appear very intensely green under light that is polarised in one direction.

Polarisation can be thought of as the orientation of light waves. And white light, or natural light, is essentially a mixture of randomly polarised light."

BBC - Earth News - Honeybees sterilise their hives

BBC - Earth News - Honeybees sterilise their hives: "Honeybees sterilise their hives with antimicrobial resin, scientists have discovered.

In doing so, they give the whole colony a form of 'social immunity', which lessens the need for each individual bee to have a strong immune system.

Although honeybee resin is known to kill a range of pathogens, this is the first time that bees themselves have been shown to utilise its properties."

'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...' - Home News, UK - The Independent

'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...' - Home News, UK - The Independent: "Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'

At 19, Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher was one of the youngest victims of the Afghan war. These letters – given to The Independent by his family – reveal the excitement of a teenager sent to fulfil his dream, and his maturity in confronting the possibility that he might not make it home"

BBC NEWS | UK | Medieval battle records go online

BBC NEWS | UK | Medieval battle records go online: "The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.

The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.

The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.

Thomas, Lord Despenser is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.

Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem."

BBC NEWS | Americas | San Diego menaced by jumbo squid

BBC NEWS | Americas | San Diego menaced by jumbo squid: "Scuba divers off the Californian city of San Diego are being menaced by large numbers of jumbo squid.

The beaked Humboldt squid, which grow up to 5ft (1.5 metres) long, arrived off the city's shores last week.

Divers have reported unnerving encounters with the creatures, which are carnivorous and can be aggressive.

One diver described how one of the rust-coloured creatures ripped the buoyancy aid and light from her chest, and grabbed her with its tentacles."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Audio slideshow: Man on the Moon

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Audio slideshow: Man on the Moon: "In July 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong's 'giant leap for mankind' was watched by millions of people around the world.

The BBC's aerospace correspondent at the time, Reg Turnill, reported on the Apollo 11 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and later from mission control near Houston.

He is now retired, but here - with the help of archive material from the mission, and the US and UK number one records from that week - he recalls how Nasa rose to the challenge of putting man on the Moon."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New element named 'copernicium'

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New element named 'copernicium': "Discovered 13 years ago, and officially added to the periodic table just weeks ago, element 112 finally has a name.

It will be called 'copernicium', with the symbol Cp, in honour of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Weaving the way to the Moon

BBC NEWS | Technology | Weaving the way to the Moon: "As Apollo 11 sped silently on its way to landing the first men on the Moon, its safe arrival depended on the work of a long-haired maths student fresh out of college and a computer knitted together by a team of 'little old ladies'."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Penguin murders prompt sniper aid

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Penguin murders prompt sniper aid: "Professional snipers have been brought in to guard a vulnerable colony of penguins in Australia.

The deployment follows the mysterious deaths of nine of the flightless birds over the last two weeks.

The mutilated bodies of the animals, known as fairy penguins, were found in a national park near Sydney harbour.

The main suspects are dogs and foxes. At 40cm tall, the world's smallest penguin species is clearly no match for such aggressive enemies.

To even up the fight, two snipers have been deployed as bodyguards."

BBC NEWS | Health | Proof mounts on restricted diet

BBC NEWS | Health | Proof mounts on restricted diet: "Cutting calories may delay the ageing process and reduce the risk of disease, a long-term study of monkeys suggests.

The benefits of calorie restriction are well documented in animals, but now the results have been replicated in a close relative of man over a lengthy period.

Over 20 years, monkeys whose diets were not restricted were nearly three times more likely to have died than those whose calories were counted."

BBC NEWS | Europe | 'Rude' French are worst tourists

BBC NEWS | Europe | 'Rude' French are worst tourists: "French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as penny-pinching, rude and terrible at languages, according to a new survey.

The study by travel company Expedia asked 4,500 hotels worldwide to rank tourists on their behaviour.

Japanese tourists - seen as clean and tidy, polite, quiet and uncomplaining - came top for the third year running.

French travellers made amends on elegance - classed third - as well as for their discretion and cleanliness."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | How the turtle's shell developed

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | How the turtle's shell developed: "Scientists have revealed a spectacular insight into turtle evolution - how the unique animals get their shells.

A Japanese team studied the development of turtle embryos to find out why their ribs grow outward and fuse together to form a tough, external carapace.

Reporting in the journal Science, the researchers compared turtle embryos with those of chicks and mice.

They found that, as turtles developed, part of their body wall folded in on itself forcing the ribs outward."

BBC NEWS | Health | Language 'predicts dementia risk'

BBC NEWS | Health | Language 'predicts dementia risk': "People with superior language skills early in life may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later, research suggests.

A team from Johns Hopkins University studied the brains of 38 Catholic nuns after death.

They found those with good language skills early in life were less likely to have memory problems - even if their brains showed signs of dementia damage."

BBC NEWS | Business | The witch job that pays £50,000

BBC NEWS | Business | The witch job that pays £50,000: "A job centre is advertising a 'witch' vacancy with tourist site Wookey Hole, in Somerset, for £50,000 a year.

The witch, who has to live in the site's caves, is expected to teach witchcraft and magic.

Wookey Hole staff say the role is straightforward: live in the cave, be a witch and do the things witches do."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Roll over Roget

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Roll over Roget: "The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, published by Oxford University Press, is the culmination of 44 years of painstaking work by scholars at the University of Glasgow.

It not only groups words with similar meanings but does so in chronological order according to their history - with the oldest first and most recent last. According to its publisher, the OED, it's the largest thesaurus in the world and the first historical thesaurus in any language.

With 800,000 meanings, 600,000 words and more than 230,000 categories and sub categories, it's twice as big as Roget's version."

BBC - Earth News - Ant mega-colony takes over world

BBC - Earth News - Ant mega-colony takes over world: "A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica."