FEAST OR FAMINE

Bed bugs like colours – but only some colours. Bed bugs are blood-sucking parasites that live on human blood, and they like warm beds. But a new study revealed that they have a preference for coloured sheets, and they have a preference for different types of beds. A study in the Journal of Medical Entomology in April 2016 (BBC News, 26 April 2016) showed that bed bugs like black and red, but hate yellow and green, and that they prefer fabric and wooden beds, but hate plastic and metal beds. Researcher Corraine McNeill, assistant professor of biology in the Department of Science and Mathematics at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, and colleagues from the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida, conducted experiments with bed bugs. McNeill placed bed bugs in Petri dishes (alone or with a group of bed bugs) with different coloured shelters made of cardboard. The shelters (called harborages) were small tent-like structures that the bed bugs ...

The Museum of Science and Industry in the United Kingdom conducted a study of catchy songs. The study was based on how fast it took people to recognize the song once it started playing. Participants were timed, and the clock stopped when they identified the song title (Daily Life, 29 April 2016). There is no clearly identifiable artist with the most instantly recognizable songs in the top 20, nor is there a clearly identifiable decade. The winning song – the most instantly recognizable song – took an average of 2.3 seconds to identify. In the top 20 most recognizable songs are two by Elvis Presley, two by Michael Jackson, and two by Lady Gaga. Nine of the top 20 most recognizable songs were performed by a group, seven were performed by a male artist, and four were performed by a female artist. In the top 20 most recognizable songs are five from the 1970s, five from the 1980s, and five from the 1990s, with three from the 1960s and two from the naughties (...

Archaeologists in Taiwan have discovered a 4,800-year-old fossilised skeleton of a mother and child. The mother and child are together, with the mother cradling the baby in her arms (Fox News, 27 April 2016). In the Taichung excavation site in central Taiwan, in operation from May 2014 for almost a year, archaeologists found 48 sets of human remains. Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science announced the discovery on 26 April 2016. The curator of the Anthropology Department of the museum, Chu Whei-lee, said the fossilised mother and child were in an embrace with the mother looking down at   the baby in her arms. Carbon dating technology was used to determine the ages of the fossils, which included five children. The fossils were believed to be 4,800 years old. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/04/27/archaeologists-discover-4800-year-old-fossil-mother-cradling-baby.html?intcmp=hphz06 MARTINA NICOLLS is the author o...

Big Ben – the clock at Westminster Palace in London – is about to undergo emergency renovations to restore it to its original colour scheme. However, it is more than a face lift – the repairs are needed for maintenance. Big Ben was built in 1856 and completed in 1858. The Great Clock (or The Great Bell) – or commonly just The Clock Tower – is nicknamed Big Ben. It was officially renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The clock face is the second largest four-faced chiming clock in the world (second to the Minneapolis City Hall clock in America). Part of the renovations are to change the current black and gold paintwork of the clock face to its original colour scheme of green and gold. This is to reflect Pugin’s original design. Augustus Pugin (1812-1852) designed the 96 metre-high (315 feet) clock tower in Gothic Revival style in 1852 to complement the Neo-Gothic style of the Houses of Parliament. Charles Barry won ...