Daily Archives: February 7, 2014

The penguins who need p-p-p-Prozac!

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Seabirds in Yorkshire aquarium are fed anti-depressants – because the miserable British weather is giving them the blues

Penguins are being fed ‘happy pills’ at a Yorkshire aquarium – because the miserable English weather is making them depressed.

The South American seabirds are said to be so glum, thanks to the relentless rain and wind, they have all been put on a course of anti-depressants.

The animal welfare team at at Scarborough Sea Life Centre push the medication into the gills of dead fish, which are then fed to the penguins.

 

pill - fish

It is the first time the dozen Humboldt penguins at the centre have needed such medication because of the British climate.

Misery can lower the body’s natural defences in penguins even more easily than in humans, experts say.

Staff say that is why the penguins have been prescribed the sporanox pills to try and head off any more serious symptoms

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Scientists Find 800,000-Year-Old Footprints in UK

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Footprint hollows on the beach at Happisburgh, Norfolk

 

Scientists say they have discovered human footprints in England that are at least 800,000 years old — the most ancient found outside Africa, and the earliest evidence of human life in Northern Europe.

A team from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the University of London uncovered imprints from up to five individuals in ancient estuary mud at Happisburgh on the country’s east coast.

The scientists say the humans who left the footprints may have been related to Homo antecessor, or “pioneer man,” whose fossilized remains have been found in Spain and who died out 800,000 years ago.

The find was announced Friday, and published in the journal PLOS ONE.

 

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Australian authorities destroy $630 million worth of heroin

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The Australian navy has destroyed nearly 353 kilograms (780 pounds) of heroin after intercepting the drugs on a smuggling vessel off the coast of Tanzania, the Australian Department of Defense said Friday.

Authorities estimate the street value at 706 million Australian dollars ($630 million U.S.).

A team from the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne boarded the smuggler ship Wednesday during a sweep, according to a prepared statement.

It tested the substance on board, determined it to be heroin, then confiscated it. Members then extracted samples and destroyed the rest.

Syrian Government to Take Part in Peace Talks

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The Syrian government announced Friday it will take part in a second round of peace talks in Geneva next week, as a first batch of civilians prepared to leave besieged rebel-held areas in a battleground Syrian city under an evacuation deal struck with the United Nations.

The Syrian opposition has also said it will take part in the second round of talks. The first was adjourned with no signs of progress on Jan. 31.

The negotiations aim to broker a political solution to Syria’s civil war. The nearly three-year conflict has killed more than 130,000 people, forced more than 2.3 million to seek refuge abroad, and sent sectarian tensions soaring across the region.

State TV quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as saying that the government delegation will head to the talks scheduled to resume on Monday in Geneva.

Also Friday, the governor of the central Syrian province of Homs said the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in the provincial capital is expected to begin “within hours.”