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Deb Knight raises a stink with ongoing dog poo debate

<p>TV and radio presenter Deborah Knight has stirred up an ethical debate on putting dog poo in stranger’s bins. </p> <p>While chatting to journalist Chris O’Keefe on <em>2GB Sydney</em>, Deb admitted that she is guilty of sneaking the waste into the bins she passes while walking her dog, Scooby. As she explained to Chris, “a bin’s a bin.” </p> <p>The conversation began with Deb explaining that there aren’t as many bins on the side of the road in the city, and that she suspected it had been done to make people take their rubbish home. This led to the question that started it all, “but when you have a dog and you take your dog for a walk and you pick up their business ... is it okay to put that in someone else's bin?" </p> <p>O’Keefe wasn’t so sure, pointing out that he’d seen people write on their bins that they didn’t want droppings placed in there. </p> <p>"But why not?” Deb countered. “Why do you care? It's a bin, right?" </p> <p>O’Keefe suggested that it could be a problem in the summer heat, particularly if the bins were situated near a window - especially a bedroom window. </p> <p>"I reckon a bin's a bin,” Deb repeated, “but some people are very territorial about their bins. When I take Scooby for a walk, if there's a bin out on the nature strip that someone's put out there, I'm gonna put my droppings in it.”</p> <p>O’Keefe seemed to consider this, before finally making a confession of his own, telling Deb, “in the middle of the night, when my bins are overflowing - I've got nappy bags, I've got cardboard boxes - and I am just searching the street for bins. Any real estate and our stuff's going in."</p> <p>While Deb and O’Keefe managed to laugh it off, allowing that they might be revealing too much, the same couldn’t be said for the last time this debate erupted in the media. </p> <p>In July 2022, <em>news.com.au</em> reported on one Sydney resident who penned a note to the dog walkers behind the unwanted bin additions. </p> <p>“Dog owners,” it read. “Please do not put dog poo in residents’ empty bins.”</p> <p>It went on to call those owners “inconsiderate”, and sparked an intense conversation between those on both sides. Some believed the bins - which technically belong to the council - were “fair game”, while others declared that they accepted the responsibility of waste disposal when they welcomed their dogs to the family. Some simply mentioned that it was, in the end, a better solution than leaving the poo on the pavement. </p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Family & Pets

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$5000 fine for smelly bins set to cause a huge stink

<p dir="ltr">New rules introduced in a Perth suburb could see them face a fine of up to $5,000 if their rubbish bins get too smelly.</p> <p dir="ltr">A new law could see residents of Victoria Park cop a hefty fine if their green-lidded Garden Organics (GO) bins have a bad odour, which were introduced for the disposal of grass clippings, weeds, leaves and sticks.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mayor Karen Vernon told <em><a href="https://www.6pr.com.au/rumour-confirmed-vic-park-ratepayers-face-5k-fine-for-smelly-organic-bins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6PR</a></em> the fine was introduced in a bid to ensure people sorted their rubbish correctly.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We will need some powers, as a local council, to be able to make that behaviour change appropriately,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So what’s really important is that the contents of that third bin is just organic material, so there needs to be no level of contamination in there, that’s what makes an organic collection process to work really well,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">While some have shared their support for the move, others have taken to social media to critique the “rubbish” decision.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Fining someone because their rubbish bin smells, should be a council service to disinfect bins when emptied. We pay astronomical rates let‘s see them justified,” Sheldon Baker wrote on Facebook.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Omg who seriously has clean smelling rubbish after a week in an outside bin? Maybe they can provide deodorant for our bins or perfume!” Christine Stephan said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I mean, if your bins smell, it‘s because you are lazy and that’s on you,” Kendall Mulvena-Trinder said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rumours have also emerged that the council would employ “bin smellers” as part of the decision, with Councillor Vernon dismissing them as “exaggerated”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That certainly doesn’t mean we will be employing people to go smell other people’s bins,’’ she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">While the GO bin is currently restricted to garden waste, the council is hoping to expand this to food organics in the “not too distant future”.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3c38e030-7fff-0f36-9a51-abf4ba6ea50d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @townofvicpark (Instagram)</em></p>

Legal

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Food poisoning or stomach bug?

<p><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <p>You've been up all night with stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting. You feel rotten and you can't keep anything down. Everyone's got a theory as to what's going on and you no doubt wonder yourself…</p> <p>Was it something you ate? Or have you been struck with the latest horrible tummy virus? </p> <p>It's true that gastroenteritis – an inflammation of the gut usually caused by an infection – can be caused either by something you ate or a viral infection passed from another person, says Dr Jas Saini, a GP in the western suburbs of Sydney.</p> <p>Both scenarios can result in similar symptoms such as fever, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting. But there are often clues that suggest which problem you're dealing with, Saini says.</p> <p>Typically (but not always) food poisoning starts more dramatically with sudden onset of severe symptoms. But viral gastroenteritis can also cause quite severe abdominal pain, and it can make people just as miserable, Saini says.</p> <p>"It's not always easy to work out the difference and your doctor will ask a series of questions to try to work out the cause."</p> <p><strong>Viral gastro</strong></p> <p>Viral gastroenteritis, caused by bugs like rotavirus and norovirus, tends to peak in winter and spring. It is spread by you coming into contact with surfaces that have been contaminated with human faeces. Symptoms may come on gradually.</p> <p>"Surfaces can become contaminated if you have not washed your hands properly after using the toilet, or got some stool on your hands when wiping and not washed it off properly. You can then pass the virus on when you touch the tap, toilet flush, door handle or other surfaces."</p> <p>"Viruses can be present on surfaces anywhere, including escalators and traffic lights and they can stay around for a period of time."</p> <p>Viral gastro can also be spread through food if people don't wash their hands properly before preparing food. And you can still spread the virus for up to 48 hours after your symptoms have disappeared completely too, Saini says.</p> <p>That's why it's important to wash hands properly after using the toilet and before eating food.</p> <p><strong>Food poisoning</strong></p> <p>On the other hand, food poisoning usually refers to gastro related to eating food that is contaminated with bacteria such as <em>Salmonella</em>, <em>Campylobacter</em> or <em>E.coli</em>.</p> <p>"Whilst exposure to the culprit food may occur hours or weeks before you fall crook, the symptoms of food poisoning tend to be more dramatic and build up much more quickly than those of viral gastroenteritis."</p> <p>"You may experience intense vomiting, high fevers and severe abdominal pain. Severe dry retching may also occur, and people describe the feeling of their gut vigorously squeezing out its toxins. It's also more common to see blood or mucous in your stool with food poisoning," Saini says.</p> <p>"If you do notice blood or mucous, then it's important to go to the doctor to get checked out."</p> <p>"Stool samples are taken if the doctor is uncertain about the diagnosis, there is blood or mucous in the stool, a bacterial infection is suspected, or symptoms have gone on for a long time. Your doctor may also consider stool samples if you have recently returned from overseas, or if she or he feels your immune system is compromised"</p> <p>"Antibiotics may be considered for bacterial infection, although many people can get better without using antibiotics," Saini says.</p> <p><strong>Nailing the culprit </strong></p> <p>If you think you may have food poisoning, particularly from food you have eaten out, tell your doctor, so they can report it to the public health department who can investigate the source of the problem, Saini says.</p> <p>But knowing the source of your food poisoning can be tricky. It's not always the last thing you ate that made you sick – it could be anything you have eaten days, weeks or, in the case of listeria bacteria, even months before.</p> <p>And what you bring up is not necessarily the cause of your illness – it's just what was in your stomach when the symptoms started.</p> <p>But if your whole family all ate the same dish at your local restaurant and all suddenly got violently ill together shortly afterwards, that's a pattern more suggestive of food poisoning.</p> <p><em>Preventing the spread </em></p> <p>For viral gastro, preventing its spread through families is actually very difficult.</p> <p>"There's always a bit of guilt," Saini says. "You can be very careful with hygiene and cleaning surfaces but it's very easy for the whole family to affected all at once."</p> <p>What's more the common gastro virus norovirus can travel in air droplets, causing much wider contamination of surfaces, says virus expert Professor Bill Rawlinson. Norovirus can also reach the gut by being inhaled into the back of the throat.</p> <p>"We think it's not a classic aerosol spread like you see with respiratory viruses," says Rawlinson, director of virology at South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Health Service. You probably need to be in quite close proximity "like a parent cleaning up a child's diarrhoea or vomit". Wearing a mask may be helpful in these circumstances, he says.</p> <p>To prevent gastro from any cause, it's important to:</p> <ul data-component="List"> <li data-component="ListItem">Practice good hand hygiene including always washing your hands with soap and hot water before preparing food, after handling raw food, before eating, after using the bathroom or changing nappies, after working in the garden, or after playing with or feeding pets.</li> <li data-component="ListItem">Store and handle your food safely such as separating raw and ready-to-eat foods, keeping hot food hot (over 60°C) and cold food cold (under 5°C), cooking and reheating foods thoroughly, refrigerating food within two hours of cooking, and thoroughly washing fruit and vegetables.</li> </ul> <p><strong>When to go to the doctor?</strong></p> <p>'Gastro' can be life threatening in vulnerable people such as babies, pregnant women and elderly people. "That's because they have limited reserves and require more fluids," Saini says.</p> <p>He recommends going to the doctor if you have:</p> <ul data-component="List"> <li data-component="ListItem">vomiting without diarrhoea – this may not be a gastro bug at all and could be another problem such as an ear infection or a urinary tract infection.</li> <li data-component="ListItem">severe stomach pains that are getting worse quickly or came on very suddenly</li> <li data-component="ListItem">blood or mucous in your stool, or stools that are black or very smelly. Black stools may indicate there is bleeding higher up in the gut.</li> <li data-component="ListItem">difficulty passing urine or only passing small amounts of urine</li> <li data-component="ListItem">symptoms that last for more than a few days</li> <li data-component="ListItem">other medical conditions that require careful monitoring, such as diabetes</li> </ul> <p>Take babies to the doctor if they are not tolerating their feeds, they are pale and lethargic or have fewer than four wet nappies in 24 hours.</p>

Body

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Cats love it but mozzies don’t

<p>At the risk of becoming the Pied Piper of cats, you could use the garden herb catnip as a non-toxic insect repellent – and scientists have now nutted out why it wards off mozzies and other irritating bugs.</p> <p>The active ingredient nepetalactone in the mint-like herb (<em>Nepeta cataria</em>) selectively activates the irritant receptor <em>TRPA1</em> (transient receptor potential ankyrin 1) in certain insects, according to a study <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00217-7" target="_blank">published</a> in the journal <em>Current Biology</em>.</p> <p>The protein is best known as the “wasabi receptor” (many people will be familiar with the eye-watering sensation caused by the Japanese horseradish), but although humans and other animals have it, catnip doesn’t affect us in the same way.</p> <p>More intriguingly, tear gas – which contains mustard oil – activates the same irritant receptor in both mosquitoes and humans, says co-senior author Marco Gallio from Northwestern University, US.</p> <p>“But it may not be a good insect repellent,” he adds, “as it makes people miserable too.” Even better, catnip doesn’t seem to deter bees (although aphids don’t mind it either).</p> <p>Importantly, it’s particularly effective at repelling mosquitoes, which pose a major <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/bacteria-v-mozzies-bacteria-holding-their-own/" target="_blank">public health problem.</a> Some studies show it to be as effective as chemical repellents such as DEET – <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-36814-1" target="_blank">if not more so</a> – which many cannot afford or avoid due to concerns about toxicity.</p> <p>And its use is not new. As lead author Nadia Melo, from Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues note, Pliny the Elder described several medicinal uses of it in his encyclopedia <em><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.livius.org/articles/person/pliny-the-elder/pliny-the-elder-natural-history/" target="_blank">Naturalis Histori</a></em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.livius.org/articles/person/pliny-the-elder/pliny-the-elder-natural-history/" target="_blank"><em>a</em></a> back around AD 77.</p> <p>In the ninth century, they write, <em>Bald’s leechbok</em> “reports catnip as effective against everything from bedevilment (mix leaves with ale, chant 12 masses) to shoulder pain (pound leaves in ale, drink by fire)”.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p140820-o1" class="wpcf7"> <p style="display: none !important;"> </p> <!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></div> </div> <p>In humans it was known to be soothing and calming, while for cats, rolling in it seems to evoke euphoria – apparently it gives them an opioid-like hit – and it’s thought the aim is to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/search/mozzies+vs+moggies/" target="_blank">help them deter mosquitoes</a>.</p> <p>But it’s long been observed that mozzies and other insects are not nearly as keen on catnip – the team notes its historical use as a repellent against “pesky small creatures”, as referred to by Johannes Franck’s <em>Speculum botanicum</em> in the 1600s, and others.</p> <p>Adding some modern molecular science to this, the collaborative experiment by Melo and colleagues at Marcus Stensmyr’s lab in Sweden was quite thorough.</p> <p>First, they tested Pliny’s claim that catnip repels scorpions by allowing four <em>Heterometrus cyaneus</em> to choose a pot to hide in, one of which contained catnip. The scorpions all chose the pot with catnip, “displaying no apparent distress”. To be fair, the authors say the plant Pliny refers to as <em>Nepeta</em> may have been a different herb.</p> <p>They continued with a vast array of experiments with different arthropods ranging from ticks, mites, aphids and planthoppers to bees, wasps, weevils, beetles, flies and mosquitoes, finding evidence to support the notion that nepetalactone is an irritant.</p> <p>Then they used cultured cells expressing the <em>TRPA1</em> genes – a molecular mechanism for “pain” and response to irritants <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2017/october/wasabi-receptor-for-pain-discovered-in-flatworms/" target="_blank">discovered</a> by Gallio’s lab – in flies, mozzies and humans to test if they are activated by catnip and nepetalactone.</p> <p>Finally, the team tested catnip on mutant mosquitoes and flies without the <em>TRPA1</em> receptor and found they lost their aversion to the herb. “<em>TRPA1</em> mutant mosquitoes in particular do not avoid catnip any more at all,” says Gallio. “Cool.”</p> <p>Now they’ve shown why catnip works and is so powerful, he says their study further supports its widespread use as a natural, safe repellent, accessible in poor countries afflicted by mosquito-borne diseases. “Great because it’s cheap and it grows like a weed.”</p> <p>What can you do to avoid excessive feline affections while warding off the pesky bugs? Not a problem, says Gallio: “We like cats.”</p> <!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=140820&amp;title=Cats+love+it+but+mozzies+don%E2%80%99t" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p> <!-- End of tracking content syndication --> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/cats-love-it-but-mozzies-dont/" target="_blank">This article</a> was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/natalie-parletta" target="_blank">Natalie Parletta</a>. Natalie Parletta is a freelance science writer based in Adelaide and an adjunct senior research fellow with the University of South Australia.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Home & Garden

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“The bed was alive”: Woman issues warning after horror hotel stay

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">An Australian woman has issued a warning to fellow travellers after she was attacked by bed bugs during a mini holiday with a friend.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Justine Martin and Anna McLean were heading out for a getaway to the Gold Coast following Melbourne’s tough lockdowns last year and checked into a “resort-style” hotel after their long trip.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the pair were about to fall asleep, Justine said she felt a “crawling sensation” on her neck.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I noticed the sheets were a little bit sandy down at the feet end, and it was very late by the time we got there, so I tried to drift off,” she told </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://travel.nine.com.au/latest/bed-bugs-travel-warning-australia-summer-la-nina/b45cd682-5754-482c-9cda-14da230f6092" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">9Honey</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I was lying there tossing and turning, and I could hear Anna scratching. Next thing, I felt something crawling on me.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When she brushed against her face, Justine realised something was biting her neck - a tiny bed bug.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I turned on the light and there was a wine glass sitting on the side table, so I popped it in the wine glass,” she recalled.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Then we got out the bed and pulled the sheets back… and the bed was alive.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Victorian women were shocked to find that both of the single beds were covered in dozens of the bugs, while the “sand” Justine thought she could feel at the end of the bed turned out to be sprinklings of bed bug excrement.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 396px; height:223px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846740/bedbugs1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/006f2ce30aa548019add5f955070bc68" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Justine and Anna found bed bugs and their excrement in their hotel rooms while on a holiday in Queensland. Image: 9Honey</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After alerting the night manager, Justine and Anna were moved to a new hotel room - only to find that the queen bed within was just as infested with bed bugs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We pulled back the sheets, and it was full of bed bugs as well,” Justine said. “The whole place was infested.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We both had showers to wash bugs off our skin, and I have long black hair so I was worried it was going to get into my scalp.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fortunately their clothes were still packed away, protected from the tiny bugs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With two strikes against their current hotel, the pair were determined to salvage their holiday, demanding a refund and checking into an expensive hotel along the beach.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We lost a whole day, we slept for most of the Friday and had to do our washing,” Justine added.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’m not being a snob, it shouldn’t matter what you’re paying for a motel or hotel room, the quality of the room should be 100 percent and it should be clean.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Now when I go into a hotel, the first thing I do is pull up the sheets and look for any signs of bed bugs… their excrement or stains on the mattress, because bed bugs will be hiding during the day.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to bed and sleep expert </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories/expert-issues-warning-to-summer-travellers-as-bed-bug-populations-surge/news-story/344bc7d4c6d68bde43bb57304d4ffadf" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Darren Nelson</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, December through February are common months to find bed bugs. With increased travel during this period, the bed bugs are able to spread from holiday homes, hotels and campsites to bedrooms at home.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As for how to combat them, Mr Nelson suggests keeping bedding and sheets clean, and washing sheets separately from clothes to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Most people wash their sheets every week or two - but forget about their pillow and doona, going months if not years, between washes,” he explained.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These are the breeding ground not only for bed bugs, but for dust mites.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: 9Honey / news.com.au</span></em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Clever tricks to keep bugs off your picnic rug

<p><span>To keep insects from biting, stinging or annoying you – and just as importantly, to keep them away from your food – follow these 13 surefire, all-natural tips.</span></p> <p><strong>Turn your body into a bug repellant</strong></p> <p>By eating certain foods, you can repel many insects. For example, munch on a clove of garlic every day for three days before a picnic.</p> <p>As you sweat out the garlic odour, it repels many insects.</p> <p>You can also take 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar three times a day for three days before the picnic, too.</p> <p><strong>Use the power of produce</strong></p> <p>Rubbing a slice of onion over your skin can be a good way to keep away mosquitoes and other biting insects.</p> <p>Fresh orange or lemon peels also work.</p> <p>And another time-honored approach to keep gnats and mosquitoes at bay is to moisten a cloth or cotton ball with white vinegar and rub it over your exposed skin.</p> <p>All these work on your picnic table as well; wipe it with vinegar or onion, for example, and bugs will stay away.</p> <p><strong>Be vanilla</strong></p> <p><span>Turns out that bugs don’t like the smell of vanilla. Dilute 1 tablespoon vanilla extract with 1 cup water and wipe the mixture on your exposed skin (and if you wish, your picnic tablecloth) to discourage mosquitoes, blackflies, and ticks.</span></p> <p><strong>Spray some natural mint mouthwash</strong></p> <p><span>Insects do not like the smell of mint in any form. Transfer your favorite natural mint mouthwash into a spray container and spray it on yourself and the area around you while outdoors.</span></p> <p><strong>Plant garlic, mint and rosemary</strong></p> <p><span>Naturally ward away bugs from your patio meals by planting these three plants in decorative pots or your outdoor garden. They’ll keep the bugs away, plus you can use them in your cooking.</span></p> <p><strong>Turn on a fan</strong></p> <p><span>Set up a portable fan facing your outdoor food and eating areas, and turn it on to a calm breeze while you serve and entertain. The wind from the fan will make it difficult for bugs to fly in and pester you and your guests.</span></p> <p><strong>Don't wear heavy perfumes or scents</strong></p> <p><span>Stay away from wearing heavily scented shampoos, body sprays, perfumes, or deodorants while outdoors. The fragrances can attract bugs and the stings that follow.</span></p> <p><strong>Leave sticky sweets at home</strong></p> <p><span>Insects are particularly drawn to foods like melon, grapes, peaches, fruit juices and soft drink – to them, they’re like flower nectar. They can easily detect these foods, and will be persistent in their pursuit. While they may be terrific summer foods, avoid them at outdoor meals, or keep in well-sealed containers that you open only when everyone is ready to have some.</span></p> <p><strong>Set up separate food tables for bugs</strong></p> <p><span>One clever bug-battling tactic is to put plates of sweet foods (things like watermelon rinds, overripe peaches, or a large bowl of coloured sugar water) several metres away from your serving and eating areas, so the bugs feast separately from you and your guests. Keep your garbage cans far away as well, as bugs will flock to them for your leftovers.</span></p> <p><strong>Cover all drinks</strong></p> <p><span>Only serve drinks in covered cups or bottles, and drink through a straw. This is particularly important if your drink is sweetened. If you don’t have covered cups, use aluminium foil and poke a hole for a straw.</span></p> <p><strong>Light some candles</strong></p> <p><span>Smoke repels mosquitoes and flies. Tiki torches and citronella candles add ambiance to outdoor entertaining, anyway. Plus, they’re affordable, effective and have a pleasant scent.</span></p> <p><strong>Float your table</strong></p> <p><span>The best way to keep ants off your table is to put the feet in wide containers filled with water. Ants won’t be able to make it across the water to climb up.</span></p> <p><strong>Cover up with a colander</strong></p> <p><span>A simple wire-mesh colander can be used to keep bugs off dinner. If you are setting up a buffet-style meal, an upside-down colander over a plate of food protects it, while keeping the dish on display. You can also buy domed food covers or nylon netting.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">This article first appeared in </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/kitchen-tips/13-tricks-keep-bugs-away-picnics" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Reader’s Digest</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, </span><a rel="noopener" href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">here’s our best subscription offer.</span></a></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Getty Images</span></em></p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

Home Hints & Tips

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How do animals see in the dark?

<p>On a moonless night, light levels can be more than 100m times <a href="http://bit.ly/2mZLkEL">dimmer than in bright daylight</a>. Yet while we are nearly blind and quite helpless in the dark, cats are out stalking prey, and moths are flying agilely between flowers on our balconies.</p> <p>While we sleep, millions of other animals rely on their visual systems to survive. The same is true of animals who inhabit the eternal darkness of the deep sea. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the world’s animals are primarily active in dim light. How is their formidable visual performance possible, especially in insects, with tiny eyes and brains less than the size of a grain of rice? What optical and neural strategies have they evolved to allow them to see so well in dim light?</p> <p>To answer these questions, we turned our attentions to nocturnal insects. Despite their diminutive visual systems, it turns out that nocturnal insects see amazingly well in dim light. In recent years we have discovered that nocturnal insects can avoid and fixate on obstacles <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6240/1245">during flight</a>, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v419/n6910/full/nature01065.html">distinguish colours</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/2mi1XqU">detect faint movements</a>, learn visual landmarks and <a href="http://bit.ly/2miaSIF">use them for homing</a>. They can even orient themselves using the faint celestial polarisation pattern <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v424/n6944/full/424033a.html">produced by the moon</a>, and navigate using the constellations of <a href="http://bit.ly/2nvmNUu">stars in the sky</a>.</p> <p>In many cases, this visual performance seems almost to defy what’s physically possible. For example, the nocturnal Central American sweat bee, <em>Megalopta genalis</em>, absorbs just five photons (light particles) into its tiny eyes when light levels are at their lowest – a <a href="http://bit.ly/2miaSIF">vanishingly small visual signal</a>. And yet, in the dead of night, it can navigate the dense and tangled rainforest on a foraging trip and make it safely back to its nest – an inconspicuous hollowed-out stick suspended within the forest understorey.</p> <p>To find out how this kind of performance is possible, we recently began to study nocturnal hawkmoths. These beautiful insects –- the hummingbirds of the invertebrate world –- are sleek, fast-flying moths that are constantly on the lookout for nectar-laden flowers. Once a flower is found, the moth hovers in front of it, sucking the nectar out using its proboscis, a mouth-like tube.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160495/original/image-20170313-19263-1u8f9id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /> <span class="caption"><em>Deilephila elpenor</em>.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <p>The nocturnal European Elephant hawkmoth, <em>Deilephila elpenor</em>, is a gorgeous creature cloaked in feathery pink and green scales and does all its nectar gathering in the dead of night. A number of years ago we discovered that this moth can distinguish colours at night, the first nocturnal animal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v419/n6910/full/nature01065.html">known to do so</a>.</p> <p>But this moth recently revealed another of its secrets: the neural tricks it uses to see well in extremely dim light. These tricks are certainly used by other nocturnal insects like <em>Megalopta</em>. By studying the physiology of neural circuits in the visual centres of the brain, we discovered that <em>Deilephila</em> can see reliably in dim light by effectively adding together the photons it has collected from different points <a href="http://bit.ly/2mi1XqU">in space and time</a>.</p> <p>For time, this is a little like increasing the shutter time on a camera in dim light. By allowing the shutter to stay open longer, more light reaches the image sensor and a brighter image is produced. The downside is that anything moving rapidly – like a passing car – will not be resolved and so the insect won’t be able to see it.</p> <h2>Neural summation</h2> <p>To add together photons in space, the individual pixels of the image sensor can be pooled together to create fewer but larger (and so more light-sensitive) “super pixels”. Again, the downside of this strategy is that even though the image becomes brighter, it also becomes blurrier and finer spatial details disappear. But for a nocturnal animal straining to see in the dark, the ability to see a brighter world that is coarser and slower is likely to be better than seeing nothing at all (which would be the only alternative).</p> <p>Our physiological work has revealed that this neural summation of photons in time and space is immensely beneficial to nocturnal <em>Deilephila</em>. At all nocturnal light intensities, from dusk to starlight levels, summation substantially boosts <em>Deilephila</em>’s ability to see well in dim light. In fact, thanks to these neural mechanisms, <em>Deilephila</em> can see at light intensities around 100 times dimmer than it could otherwise. The benefits of summation are so great that other nocturnal insects, like <em>Megalopta</em>, very likely rely on it to see well in dim light as well.</p> <p>The world seen by nocturnal insects may not be as sharp or as well resolved in time as that experienced by their day-active relatives. But summation ensures that it is bright enough to detect and intercept potential mates, to pursue and capture prey, to navigate to and from a nest and to negotiate obstacles during flight. Without this ability it would be as blind as the rest of us.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74101/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/eric-warrant-344184">Eric Warrant</a>, Professor of Zoology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/lund-university-756">Lund University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-animals-see-in-the-dark-74101">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: United States Geological Survey</em></p>

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5 things in your house that are attracting pests right now

<p><span>What’s the best way to control pests in your house? Don't make it enticing for them to live there. Use this list to help reduce the odds that insects move into your space.</span></p> <p><strong>Moisture</strong></p> <p><span>Dampness attracts many different types of pest. “We need water in our everyday lives, but so do pests,” says entomologist Cherie Hartzer. “Even small amounts of water dripping from an air conditioning unit may attract wasps that are foraging for water. Water that has soaked into wood is attractive to termites. Downpipes and gutters that hold water can be perfect habitats for mosquitoes. And a dripping tap may attract rodents, especially if it has been dry and there aren’t other water sources around.” The cure? Regular maintenance that fixes leaks that could provide pests with a water source.</span></p> <p><strong>Unused drains</strong></p> <p><span>A dormant drain – especially one that has a little water and some organic material like hair and soap coating the insides – makes a perfect home for drain flies. “Unused drains create a slimy film that creates an ideal breeding spot for drain flies,” Smith says. “If these flies are present in the house there is almost certainly a slow or clogged drain.”</span></p> <p><strong>Still air</strong></p> <p><span>Keeping those ceiling fans running during the summer can do more than keep your air conditioning costs down – they help keep unwelcome critters at bay. “Many flies love still air,” Ricci says. “Fans don’t necessarily blow flies away, but they make the air turbulent enough to discourage them from hanging around too long.”</span></p> <p><strong>Clutter</strong></p> <p><span>Here’s another incentive to get rid of your extra stuff – all that clutter can make wonderful homes for insects you definitely don’t want hanging around your house. “If clutter is kept to a minimum, and a home is kept relatively clean, there will be few places for insects to hide,” Ricci says.</span></p> <p><strong>Overripe fruit</strong></p> <p><span>That fruit bowl on your counter may be appetising – until one piece of fruit gets a little overripe and attracts fruit flies. “Don’t leave food lying around – place it in the refrigerator or sealed containers if possible,” Hartzer says.</span></p> <p><span><em>This article was written by Lisa Milbrand and first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/13-things-in-your-house-that-are-attracting-pests-right-now" target="_blank">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a rel="noopener" href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank">here’s our best subscription offer.</a></em></span></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

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Toddler survives ordeal with flesh-eating bug

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A mother in Melbourne has spoken out about the terrifying ordeal her family went through after her daughter almost lost her leg to a flesh-eating infection caused by Strep A.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At just 11 months old, Eden contracted the bug after a bout of severe colds that affected her for weeks.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the night she was rushed to hospital with a fever, it was discovered she had Strep A that was affecting her leg.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We were obviously very scared because it was a very dangerous bug that got into her system quickly,” Eden’s mother Tania O’Meara </span><a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/melbourne-toddler-almost-loses-her-leg-to-strep-a-as-murdoch-childrens-research-institute-trial-vaccines-c-2808830"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told 7NEWS</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Luckily the doctors were able to save her leg, but Eden was left scarring on her right calf.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It was a very precarious point in her life,” O’Meara said.</span></p> <p><strong>The need for a vaccine</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr Josh Osowicki from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute said Strep A is a “high-priority” bug for vaccine development.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As part of their efforts, researchers at the institute are deliberately infecting healthy volunteers with the bacteria to trial different vaccines and treatments.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We’ve kept the participants in an inpatient environment and we had really close clinical support and we’ve watched them really closely,” Dr Osowicki said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We hope the vaccine can stop other children going through what Eden went through,” O’Meara said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Strep A causes a lot of different disease, from a strep throat or a mild skin infection to really severe and dangerous infections,” Dr Osowicki said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The infection kills more than 500,000 people globally every year, with young children, the elderly, and pregnant women especially at risk.</span></p> <p><strong>Image credit: 7NEWS</strong></p>

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“Something hatched!" Mum’s disturbing backyard discovery

<p><span>A woman’s terrifying discovery in her yard has left a number of social media users baffled.</span></p> <p><span>The woman, believed to be from Australia, posted a video of a small black mound sitting on top of dirt to a Facebook group last week, as she asked members to help her figure out what it is.</span></p> <p><span>“Has anyone seen these before? Just appeared today in a few spots around the yard. It has been raining here overnight,” she said. </span></p> <p><span>In the footage, the woman touched the mound, causing what appears to be thousands of tiny alive bugs to move.</span></p> <p><span>They seem to go right back to where they were as she pulls her fingers back.</span></p> <p><span>Horrified users on Facebook jokingly told the mum to burn her house down or move away from the “alien eggs”.</span></p> <p><span>“I have never seen anything like that before!” one woman said.</span></p> <p><span>“It looks like kinetic sand,” another wrote. </span></p> <p><span>“Something hatched!” a third chimed in. </span></p> <p><span>But one person revealed that the bugs appear to be springtails, otherwise known as Anurida Maritima.</span></p> <p><span>“Springtails for sure! We have the same thing happen to us and know they come every year. Hate it lol,” someone responded to her. </span></p> <p><span>Springtails are a common occurrence in gardens, but they’re still relatively unknown due to their small size, according to the agricultural school of Texas A&amp;M University.</span></p> <p><span>“Springtails are common insects that live in leaf litter, compost piles and lawn soils, recycling dead plant material into nutrients to fertilise your lawn,” according to the school.</span></p> <p><span>“Only about a millimetre long, springtails are rarely seen, but given the right environmental conditions, they can multiply to become a nuisance.”</span></p> <p><span>They are not harmful and do not bite people, pets, spread disease or damage homes. </span></p>

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Australian bushfires could drive more than 700 animal species to extinction

<p>The scale and speed of the current bushfire crisis has caught many people off-guard, including biodiversity scientists. People are scrambling to estimate the long-term effects. It is certain that many animal species will be pushed to the brink of extinction, but how many?</p> <p>One recent article suggested <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-season-in-hell-bushfires-push-at-least-20-threatened-species-closer-to-extinction-129533">20 to 100</a>, but this estimate mostly considers large, well-known species (especially mammals and birds).</p> <p>A far greater number of smaller creatures such as insects, snails and worms will also be imperilled. They make up the bulk of biodiversity and are the little rivets holding ecosystems together.</p> <p>But we have scant data on how many species of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-01-08/insects-invertebrates-frogs-affected-by-bushfire/11843458">small creatures</a> have been wiped out in the fires, and detailed surveys comparing populations before and after the fires will not be forthcoming. So how can we come to grips with this silent catastrophe?<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> </span></span></p> <p>Using the information that is available, I calculate that at least 700 animal species have had their populations decimated – and that’s only counting the insects.</p> <p>This may sound like an implausibly large figure, but the calculation is a simple one. I’ll explain it below, and show you how to make your own extinction estimate with only a few clicks of a calculator.</p> <p><strong>Using insects to estimate true extinction numbers</strong></p> <p>More than <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/abrs/publications/other/numbers-living-species/contents">three-quarters</a> of the known animal species on Earth are insects. To get a handle on the true extent of animal extinctions, insects are a good place to start.</p> <p>My estimate that 700 insect species are at critical risk involves <a href="https://conservationbytes.com/2011/07/26/predicting-marine-biodiversity/">extrapolating</a> from the information we have about the catastrophic effect of the fires on mammals.</p> <p>We can work this out using only two numbers: <em>A</em>, how many mammal species are being pushed towards extinction, and <em>B</em>, how many insect species there are for each mammal species.</p> <p>To get a “best case” estimate, I use the most conservative estimates for <em>A</em> and <em>B</em> below, but jot down your own numbers.</p> <p><strong>How many mammals are critically affected?</strong></p> <p>A <a href="https://time.com/5761083/australia-bushfires-biodiversity-plants-animals/">recent Time article</a> lists four mammal species that will be severely impacted: the long-footed potoroo, the greater glider, the Kangaroo Island dunnart, and the black-tailed dusky antechinus. The eventual number could be much greater (e.g the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/04/ecologists-warn-silent-death-australia-bushfires-endangered-species-extinction">Hastings River mouse</a>, the <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/fires-rage-across-australia-fears-grow-rare-species">silver-headed antechinus</a>), but let’s use this most optimistic (lowest) figure (<em>A</em> = 4).</p> <p>Make your own estimate of this number <em>A</em>. How many mammal species do you think would be pushed close to extinction by these bushfires?</p> <p>We can expect that for every mammal species that is severely affected there will be a huge number of insect species that suffer a similar fate. To estimate exactly how many, we need an idea of insect biodiversity, relative to mammals.</p> <p><strong>How many insect species are out there, for each mammal species?</strong></p> <p>The world has around <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/abrs/publications/other/numbers-living-species#downloads">1 million</a> named insect species, and around <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/abrs/publications/other/numbers-living-species#downloads">5,400 species</a> of land mammals.</p> <p>So there are at least 185 insect species for every single land mammal species (<em>B</em> = 185). If the current bushfires have burnt enough habitat to devastate 4 mammal species, they have probably taken out around 185 × 4 = 740 insect species in total. Along with many species of other invertebrates such as spiders, snails, and worms.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309629/original/file-20200113-103971-8f6187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309629/original/file-20200113-103971-8f6187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">There are hundreds of insect species for every mammal species.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://imgbin.com/</span></span></p> <p>For your own value for <em>B</em>, use your preferred estimate for the number of insect species on earth and divide it by 5,400 (the number of land mammal species).</p> <p>One recent study suggests there are at least <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/far-fewer-species-animals-plants-5803977">5.5 million</a> species of insects, giving a value of <em>B</em> of around 1,000. But there is reason to suspect the real number could be <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-earths-biodiversity-could-be-much-greater-than-we-thought-61665">much greater</a>.</p> <p><strong>How do our estimates compare?</strong></p> <p>My “best case” values of <em>A</em> = 4 and <em>B</em> = 185 indicate at least 740 insect species alone are being imperilled by the bushfires. The total number of animal species impacted is obviously much bigger than insects alone.</p> <p>Feel free to perform your own calculations. Derive your values for <em>A</em> and <em>B</em> as above. Your estimate for the number of insect species at grave risk of extinction is simply <em>A</em> × <em>B</em>.</p> <p>Post your estimate and your values for <em>A</em> and <em>B</em> please (and how you got those numbers if you wish) in the Comments section and compare with others. We can then see what the wisdom of the crowd tells us about the likely number of affected species.</p> <p><strong>Why simplistic models can still be very useful</strong></p> <p>The above calculations are a hasty estimate of the magnitude of the current biodiversity crisis, done on the fly (figuratively and literally). Technically speaking, we are using mammals as <a href="https://conservationbytes.com/2011/07/26/predicting-marine-biodiversity/">surrogates</a> or <a href="https://methodsblog.com/2018/10/08/biodiversity-vascular-plants/">proxies</a> for insects.</p> <p>To improve these estimates in the near future, we can try to get more exact and realistic estimates of <em>A</em> and <em>B</em>.</p> <p>Additionally, the model itself is very simplistic and can be refined. For example, if the average insect is <a href="https://blog.csiro.au/the-impact-of-bushfires-on-australian-insects/">more susceptible</a> to fire than the average mammal, our extinction estimates need to be revised upwards.</p> <p>Also, there might be an unusually high (or low) ratio of insect species compared to mammal species in fire-affected regions. Our model assumes these areas have the global average – whatever that value is!</p> <p>And most obviously, we need to consider terrestrial life apart from insects – land snails, spiders, worms, and plants too – and add their numbers in our extinction tally.</p> <p>Nevertheless, even though we know this model gives a huge underestimate, we can still use it to get an absolute lower limit on the magnitude of the unfolding biodiversity crisis.</p> <p>This “best case” is still very sad. There is a strong argument that these unprecedented bushfires could cause one of biggest extinction events in the modern era. And these infernos will burn for a while longer yet.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129773/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mike-lee-8293">Mike Lee</a>, Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/flinders-university-972">Flinders University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-bushfires-could-drive-more-than-700-animal-species-to-extinction-check-the-numbers-for-yourself-129773">original article</a>.</em></p>

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How do magpies detect worms and other food underground?

<p><strong>How do magpies detect worms and other food sources underground? I often see them look or listen, then rapidly hop across the ground and start digging with their beak and extract a worm or bug from the earth – Catherine, age 10, Perth.</strong></p> <p>You have posed a very good question.</p> <p>Foraging for food can involve sight, hearing and even smell. In almost all cases learning is involved. Magpies are ground foragers, setting one foot before the other looking for food while walking, called <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7677/" title="Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird">walk-foraging</a>. It looks like this:</p> <p>Finding food on the ground, such as beetles and other insects, is not as easy as it may sound. The ground can be uneven and covered with leaves, grasses and rocks. Insects may be hiding, camouflaged, or staying so still it is hard for a magpie to notice them.</p> <p>Detecting a small object on the ground requires keen vision and experience, to discriminate between the parts that are important and those that are not.</p> <p>Magpie eyes, as for most birds, are on the side of the head (humans and other birds of prey, by contrast, have eyes that face forward).</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305806/original/file-20191209-90592-eed4d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305806/original/file-20191209-90592-eed4d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">A magpie’s eyes are at the side of its head and it can only see something with both eyes if that is straight in front of the bird.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Webb Photography</span></span></em></p> <p>To see a small area in front of them, close to the ground, birds use both eyes together (scientists call this binocular vision). But birds mostly see via the eyes looking out to the side (which is called monocular vision).</p> <p>This picture gives you an idea of what a magpie can see with its left eye, what it can see with its right eye and what area it can see with both eyes working together (binocular vision).</p> <p>You asked about underground foraging. Some of that foraging can also be done by sight. Worms, for instance, may leave a small mound (called a cast) on the surface and, to the experienced bird, this indicates that a worm is just below.</p> <p>Magpies can also go a huge step further. They can identify big scarab larvae underground without any visual help at all.</p> <p>Scarab larvae look like grubs. They munch on grassroots and can kill entire grazing fields. Once they transform into beetles (commonly called Christmas beetles) they can do even more damage by eating all the leaves off eucalyptus trees.</p> <p>Here is the secret: magpies have such good hearing, they can hear the very faint sound of grass roots being chewed.</p> <p>We know this from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347281801121" title="Localization of soil dwelling scarab larvae by the black-backed magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham)">experiments</a> using small speakers under the soil playing back recorded sounds of scarab beetle larvae. Magpies located the speaker every time and dug it up.<span class="attribution"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" class="license"></a></span></p> <p>So how do they do it? Several movements are involved.</p> <p>To make certain that a jab with its beak will hit the exact spot where the juicy grub is, the magpie first walks slowly and scans the ground. It then stops and looks closely at the ground – seemingly with both eyes working together.</p> <p>Then, holding absolutely still, the magpie turns its head so the left side of the head and ear is close to the ground for a final confirming <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318003665_Audition_and_Hemispheric_Specialization_in_Songbirds_and_New_Evidence_from_Australian_Magpies">listen</a>.</p> <p>Finally, the bird straightens up, then executes a powerful jab into the ground before retrieving the grub.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305292/original/file-20191205-70133-1fvy04l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305292/original/file-20191205-70133-1fvy04l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <span class="caption">An Australian magpie digging for food gets a grub.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_Magpie_Digging_Grub.jpg" class="source">Wikimedia/Toby Hudson</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-SA</a></span></p> <p>That is very clever of the magpies. Very few animals can extract food they can’t see. Only great apes and humans were thought to have this ability. Clever magpies indeed. And farmers love them for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347281801121" title="Localization of soil dwelling scarab larvae by the black-backed magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham)">keeping a major pest under control</a>.</p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gisela-kaplan-2401">Gisela Kaplan</a>, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-new-england-919">University of New England</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-magpies-detect-worms-and-other-food-underground-125713">original article</a>.</em></p>

Caring

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3 things a first-time gardener needs to know

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As it’s the beginning of a new year, many are thinking about what kind of hobbies they’d like to take in 2020. If gardening is on your list, here are three things that beginner gardeners need to know.</span></p> <p><strong>1. Don’t start too big</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Beginner gardeners might just see what kind of seeds they want to grow and begin planting, but according to Barbara Murphy, a master gardener coordinator and horticulturist with the University of Maine, this is the opposite of what you should do.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Starting too large is the most common mistake made by first-time gardeners,” said Barbara Murphy, a master gardener coordinator and horticulturist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension for 23 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Limit yourself to 10 feet by 10 feet, [3 metres by 3 metres]” she says. “If you grow frustrated because of too many things happening the first year, there’s a good chance you won’t feel like gardening for a second. You can always expand as your skills develop.”</span></p> <p><strong>2. Know your soil</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Knowing what your garden needs soil wise is vital for success.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Good soil preparation is important to success, but be patient,” said Rosie Lerner, an extension horticulturist with Purdue University to <a href="https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/01/05/features/advice-to-first-time-gardeners-think-small-and-find-your-spot/"><em>Star Advertiser</em></a>. “Don’t force the soil when it’s wet. Soil structures will compact and get tight. That makes it tough for water and air to move through and greatly inhibits growth.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Squeeze the soil gently in your hand. If it crumbles a bit when squeezed, it’s ready for use. “It can take a long time to get good soil texture, and just minutes to destroy it if you work it while it’s too wet,” Lerner said.</span></p> <p><strong>3. Get rid of insects as quickly as possible</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Insects are bad news for growing gardens.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Make regular visits to your garden to check for plant pests,” Murphy said. “Don’t worry about the adults. You want to go after the eggs before they develop into juvenile leaf cutters. Most eggs are on the underside of leaves. Use soapy water and picking or simply remove the infested leaves.”</span></p>

Home & Garden

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4 easy steps to get rid of stink bugs

<p>Anyone who’s had a citrus tree will be familiar with bronze orange bugs. Also called stink bugs, they produce a foul-smelling secretion and suck the sap from stalks, causing flowers and fruit to drop.</p> <p>These pests need to be controlled in winter before they can build up their numbers in spring and summer.</p> <p>They lay eggs on the underside of leaves with the young, called nymphs, appearing in winter. The nymphs are flat, lime green and about 6mm long.</p> <p><strong>1. Know the beast</strong></p> <div id="page1" class="slide-show"> <div id="test" class="slide"> <div class="slide-description"> <p>Nymphs can be harder to spot as their green colour helps them blend with leaves.</p> <p>As they mature they turn orange or bronze and become rounded, going from brown to black and reaching 25mm long as adults.</p> <p><strong>2. Get them while they are young</strong></p> <div id="page2" class="slide-show"> <div id="test" class="slide"> <div class="slide-description"> <p>Adult stink bugs change from orange or bronze to black or brown in colour.</p> <p><strong>3.  Methods of control</strong></p> <p>Numbers of bronze orange bug build up rapidly, making control difficult, so take action immediately. A high population may be a sign the tree is stressed. Give it a deep watering and apply a citrus fertiliser.</p> <p>Wear goggles to control bronze orange bugs, as they expel a caustic liquid that can cause severe irritation. For small trees, blast them off with a jet of water from the hose then collect in a bag and squash, or drop into a bucket of methylated spirits.</p> <p>Large trees should be sprayed every 10 to 14 days with Eco-Oil or Confidor to kill the nymphs before they develop into breeding adults.</p> <p>You may also notice green bugs with sharp shoulder spines. Native to Australia they’re called spined citrus bugs. They like lemons and mandarins but suck sap from other citrus fruit.</p> <p>This pest causes young fruit to develop flat patches of skin and brown stains on the flesh.</p> <p>Treat them the same way as bronze orange bugs but you’ll have to look a little closer to find them, as their green colour helps them blend in well.</p> <p><strong>4. Organic remedy</strong></p> <p>One way to treat small nymphs in winter is with a soap spray, concentrating on the underside of leaves and the lower part of the tree.</p> <p>To make the spray, add one tablespoon of pure soap flakes, such as grated Velvet soap, to half a bucket of warm water.</p> <p>When the soap has dissolved in the water, fill a spray bottle and treat leaves early in the day.</p> <p><strong>TIP:</strong> Don’t use any sprays on hot days, as this can damage stressed plants even more.</p> <p><em>Written by Handyman. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.handyman.net.au/4-easy-steps-get-rid-stink-bugs">Handyman.</a></em></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Home & Garden

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“Bit of extra protein!”: Sonia Kruger makes gross cooking confession

<p>Sonia Kruger, co-host of <em>Today Extra</em>, confessed on Thursday that she gives her baking a secret kick.</p> <p>During a debate about whether it’s okay to drink expired milk, Kruger revealed that she used flour last week despite finding evidence that it was once a nest for beetles.</p> <p>She chuckled: “You know when you see a few little cobwebs on it and you think, ‘Oh, its got weevils’? But I still used it!”</p> <p>Kruger justified her choice by saying that after further inspecting the flour, she found that the insects had moved on.</p> <p>However, co-host Richard Wilkins remarked that she had just revealed that she couldn’t’ stomach off dairy but was more than happy to use flour that had evidence of beetles living in it.</p> <p>“Oh, so you're OK with weevils!” said Richard Wilkins, to which Sonia jokingly replied: 'It's got extra protein!'</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Do you drink expired milk if it passes the 'smell test'? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9Today?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9Today</a> <a href="https://t.co/Iuww8WY2x9">pic.twitter.com/Iuww8WY2x9</a></p> — The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/1171942487461519360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>The mother who started the debate admitted that she gave her children full cream milk that was two days past its use-by date. She insists it’s “perfectly fine”.</p> <p>Her opinion divided milk lovers, with some saying they rigorously follow the use-by date whereas others admitted they just see whether or not the milk pasts the “sniff test”.</p>

Food & Wine

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Passenger’s “disgusting” find in airport bread roll

<p>A traveller was left disgusted after finding two “weird looking” flies squished into his breakfast roll.</p> <p>The bagel was bought at Terminal 1 inside Dublin Airport by Martin Warde, an Irish comedian.</p> <p>Mr Warde was rushing to catch a bus, and when he opened his meal he was met with a startling discovery.</p> <p>“Just bought this breakfast roll in the shop at terminal 1 at @DublinAirport,” the comedian wrote in a post to social media.</p> <p>“Why are there two weird looking insects stuck to it? F***ing disgusting.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Just bought this breakfast roll in the shop at terminal 1 at <a href="https://twitter.com/DublinAirport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DublinAirport</a> <br />Why are there two weird looking insects stuck to it? F**king disgusting. <a href="https://t.co/sIipugNtKL">pic.twitter.com/sIipugNtKL</a></p> — Martin Beanz Warde (@martinbeanz) <a href="https://twitter.com/martinbeanz/status/1130026970413240320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>When asked if he took the roll back to be replaced or refunded, he explained: “I was rushing to get the 9.15 am citylink (bus) to Galway and I was buying it at 9.13am.</p> <p>“I rushed to the bus before opening the packet.”</p> <p>While social media users were disgusted by the discovery, many reacted with humour.</p> <p>“Free extra protein,” one person wrote.</p> <p>Another comment read: “It’s one of your five a day.”</p> <p>A user guessed the bugs ended up on the bagel because “someone used the bread roll to whack the flies dead as they walked along the countertop.”</p> <p>Mr Warde later kidded, saying that he “ate them” as he was on a “protein rich diet.”</p> <p>A spokesperson for the Dublin Airport told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9127773/tourist-bugs-breakfast-roll-dublin-airport/" target="_blank">The Sun</a> they had apologised for the “unacceptable experience that he had at one of the food outlets here.”</p> <p>“We have raised the issue with the company that operates the outlet in question, and it has also apologised to Mr Warde directly.</p> <p>“The company has confirmed that the issue did not arise within its Dublin Airport outlet, as its bread rolls are sourced externally.</p> <p>“The company is investigating this incident with its supplier and will report back to Mr Warde and to Dublin Airport officials in due course.”</p>

Travel Trouble

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The $7 product Aussies swear by to get rid of sweat and stink on clothes

<p>A brand best known for its anti-fungal products has received rave reviews from women across Australia for its “must-buy” laundry liquid.</p> <p>Aussie mothers have taken to the Internet to sing the praises of a $7 laundry rinse from Canesten, a company mostly known for its fungal treatments.</p> <p>The product, which is described as antibacterial and antifungal, claims to eliminate 99.9 per cent of germs and prevent cross infection by removing bacteria and fungi from garments. It can be used in cold or hot wash.</p> <p>“If you have teenagers it’s a must buy,” a woman shared on a Facebook group for mothers.</p> <p>“Two caps full in the softener section of the washing machine (along with clothes washing detergent) and the sport uniform tops smell as good as new … I will never buy softener again, this is amazing.”</p> <p>Another commented, “This is my favourite laundry product.”</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 265.625px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7826141/canesten.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2173601c9da34e3bb383f505830518be" /></p> <p>Many others vouched for the rinse, saying the product came as a reliable help for tricky situations. “I use this on my hubby’s chef clothes and it gets the kitchen smell out,” one shared.</p> <p>“This was a great product to sanitise cloth nappies I was given second hand – made sure that my baby didn’t get any bacterial infections from others,” a woman wrote on a <a href="https://www.mouthsofmums.com.au/rate-it/bags-food-wraps-cleaning/laundry-liquid-soap/canesten-inwash-soaker-lemon-hygiene-laundry-rinse/#AqEMxfMJTlqX1U14.97">review site</a>. “Smelt good and easy to use in washing machine.”</p> <p>One chimed in, “This product came in real handy after a bout of gastro in my family. All bedding washed in this and came out without that vomit smell even if the machine wasn’t on the disinfectant wash cycle.”</p> <p>While the product is available in major retailers, many other women pointed out that a similar offering is available at ALDI for a cheaper price. ALDI’s version of the rinse, named Di San, is sold at $3.69 for a 1L bottle.</p> <p>Have you tried any of these laundry products? Let us know in the comments.</p>

Home & Garden

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Family booted off plane due to offensive body odour

<p>Jennie and Yossi Adler, as well as their 19-month-old daughter were escorted from their flight from Miami to Detroit after fellow passengers made complaints about their body odour.</p> <p>Yossi explained to <a href="https://www.local10.com/news/local/miami/family-kicked-off-american-airlines-flight-in-miami-after-passengers-complain-about-body-odor"><em>Local 10 News Miami­</em></a><em>:</em></p> <p>"All of a sudden, as soon as they took us off, they closed the gate and then they said, 'Sorry, sir, some people complained you had body odour and we're not letting you back on’."</p> <p>Despite claims from airline staff, the family were left without their possessions that were already on the flight. Jennie said:</p> <p>"They have our car seat, stroller, everything,".</p> <p>The airline carrier, American Airlines, were quick to address the issue, with a statement to <em>Local 10 News Miami</em>, saying:</p> <p>"Mr. Adler and his wife were removed from the flight when several passengers complained about their body odour," the statement said.</p> <p>"They have been booked into a hotel for the night and given meal vouchers. They have been rebooked on a flight Thursday."</p> <p>Despite the family getting home safe on a later date, they’re still unhappy with the explanation from the airline.</p> <p>"We stopped several people in the airport and, it's embarrassing, but we asked them, 'Do you think we smell? Because we just got kicked off a plane for smelling’," said Jennie.</p> <p>“I want them to own up to what really happened and to tell me the truth,” said Yossi. “What was it?”</p> <p>Have you seen something like this on your flight? Let us know in the comments below.</p>

Travel Trouble

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