Science, Curiosity and Life
Back to the sea for this week’s Mystery Creature, a walking lump of jelly to some. Cute or ugly, what do you think and can you name it?
If you know the answer do share, or if not it can be fun to try to find it out before I reveal all at the end of the week. Want a clue? Just ask in the comments below.
This week’s Mystery Creature was cracked in record time by Eco Evolution. It was the Panda ant, did you get it? Here are five facts about this interesting little insect…
Five Panda Ant facts….
We went to the Carlow Walking festival! That was two weeks ago but it is still a hot topic of conversation. The youngest got very upset last weekend when he realised it was not a weekly event. None of us had ever been to Carlow but now we are complete converts. So what was it that we loved about it? Read on…
THE JOURNEY AND ARRIVAL
Admittedly it was a long journey from Galway, about three and a half hours but thanks to google maps and my flukish wonderful navigation skills, we made it door to door with no errors. The first half of the journey was motorway which is nice for covering ground and the second half was cross country, which is good for the eyes and the soul! Despite the torrential rain as we arrived in Carlow, it already showed lots of potential. Even under such conditions it impressed us with the beautiful scenery, lush green landscape, beautiful deciduous trees splendid in their Autumn robes and the evidence of a previous era of gentry farming in the many high granite walls lining the fields.
Another thing that struck me was the number of small public parks dotted throughout the towns and villages. Many with nice signs outlining what wildlife could be seen in the area. This is something that I feel very passionate about; it would be lovely to see a lot more of this around the country.
THE HOTEL AND ACCOMMODATION
Exactly three and a half hours after we set out, we arrived at our destination…. Mount Wolsley Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort in Tullow. Before we had even checked in the children were asking about WHEN they were going to the swimming pool! Our ‘home’ for the weekend was a three bedroomed, self catering holiday lodge on the grounds of the resort. We are big fans of self catering for family trips but I have to admit we have had our fair share of disappointing properties so I was quite nervous when I turned the key and opened the door. I need not have worried…. I was met with a warm, spacious and beautiful interior. Hands down this is the best self catering accommodation we have ever experienced in Ireland.
Once we had settled in we met with Dee Sewell of Green & Vibrant who provided us with all the details of our action packed weekend ahead. Dee had worked carefully with Carlow Tourism, the organisers of the Walk Carlow Festival and provided us with all maps, routes and information … we could tell we were in good hands and that all angles had been covered. All that was left for us was to turn up and enjoy what the Walk Carlow weekend had to offer.
All good adventurers need to ensure they are well fuelled so we headed up to the main hotel for dinner. As a parent I was conscious of dining out with children in tow but straight away I was put at ease by the friendly and welcoming staff. We chose to eat early and there were other families doing likewise in the large dinning room.
I was impressed with the children’s menu, always a good marker of the quality of the establishment, in my opinion. As well as the usual “nuggets and chips” option there was a wide and varied menu. My children were delighted to see “calamari” as an option on their menu and two of them chose it and liked it. The soup was delicious and home made, there were yoghurt and fruit options and the children’s burger was again of the “home made” variety. Plenty of choice for all the family and after two courses we were almost too full for dessert… but there is always room for ice cream, right?
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
After a good night’s sleep we headed back up to the hotel for breakfast. I just love self catering accommodation when you don’t have to self cater! The breakfast spread was AMAZING! There was everything you could think of…. cereals, fruit, pancakes, pastries, full Irish breakfast and more. I was impressed to see a “free from” section in the breakfast buffet too.
With full tummies and a packed lunch from the hotel we headed off for Borris and for the first stage of our adventure… a canoeing safari along the river Barrow.
CANOEING SAFARI ON THE RIVER BARROW
There were 12 of us in total on the safari with Go with the Flow river adventures. We were a mixed bunch with regard to experience and age from the fairly young (three years old) to the slightly older (there was a very capable and adventurous Granny among us). Kevin, our guide was a very pleasant, chatty man who put us all at easy from the start. There were two to three people per canoe, they were the larger, open Canadian canoes that are very safe and stable… perfect for the complete beginner to the more advanced.
The sun shone bright and warm as we all kitted out in the wetsuits, helmets and buoyancy aids provided, and before we knew it we were travelling up the river. It is one of those adventures where you can just take off and learn on the go, even with children involved (although we may have found ourselves going round in circles a few times).
The weather and conditions were ideal for us and the scenery was truly beautiful. There was a comfortable camaraderie established as we all made our way down the river, taking in our surroundings.
One of the first “obstacles” of the trip was to pass through a lock. It appeared to me that the adults were even more excited about this than the children, many of us exclaiming “I always wanted to do this” and marvelling among ourselves at the efficiency of such an old system.
I was a little surprised when Kevin told us we would be going down some weirs and rapids, to add a little adrenaline injection to the whole experience. We got a quick talk on what to do and the reassurance from Kevin that if we capsized he would be straight over to help us… as soon as he had taken a photo of our demise. It certainly added to the excitement for us all and luckily we didn’t give him any opportunities to have a little laugh at our expense.
Travelling along the Barrow was a great way to learn more about the county. We got to see and hear about some local flora and fauna but we also got a sense of the local history. Kevin told us a very engaging story of a local legend that earned his name of The incredible Arthur Mc Murrough Kavanagh who, despite having no arms and legs, travelled most of the known world.
The whole experience was amazing for every one of us. It is lovely when you hit on something that keeps the whole family entertained and even better when it is outdoors and among nature. Our last canoeing trip as a family was along the Dordogne in France, but much to our amazement the Barrow topped it and had lots more to offer. We would definitely recommend this as a “must do” adventure. You can check out the various activities offered by Go with the Flow, from family canoeing safaris to youth activities, team building excursions and lots more. They post lots of adventure photos on their Face Book page too.
I always think that it is the people that can make or break an activity and that is why I really feel that the staff of Go with the Flow require a special mention. Kevin and Mike were excellent. Mike was the quiet, calm type that kept to the back and helped us out when we got a little left behind. Kevin was the main guide on the day and really had that special quality among people. From the young to the not so young, he kept us all relaxed and smiling.
Disclaimer: I was invited on the blog tour of the Carlow Walking Festival by Green and Vibrant. I was provided with accommodation and activities for the purposes of review but received no other compensation for this post. All views expressed are my own, or that of my family.
There were a few right answers for last week’s Mystery Creature, did you guess it? This week’s creature is a lot smaller and a land dweller this time.
This series is just a little fun to start off the week, I post a picture of an animal on a Monday and you can feel free to say what you think it is in the comments below. If you want some hints just ask or why not do a little gooling or research of you own to see if you can work it out?
At the end of the week I will reveal what the creature is, along with a little information or interesting facts about it.
Cute or ugly, what do you think and can you identify it?
There were a few correct answers to this week’s Mystery Creature – but in case any of you are still waiting in anticipation it was the Blanket Octopus (Tremoctopus)
This creature is a real marvel of nature.. here are three reasons why…
1. As the name suggests the blanket octopus has a cape like web that extends down its longest arms. This cape can be spread out behind it as a dramatic deterrent to predators… it makes the animal look a lot bigger and more daunting.
2. That is not to say that the animal is not pretty daunting already. It is lucky in that it is immune to the poisonous sting of the Portuguese Man O’ War. Rather than just counting its blessings and moving on it turns this round to its full advantage and actively removes the stinging tentacles from the creature and carries them around with it, wielding them as weapons when threatened.
3. The female of the species can grow to an impressive two metres in length, but the male… well, he comes in at little more than two centimetres in length making the species one of the most sexually dimorphic in the animal kingdom.
Check back tomorrow for a new Mystery Creature to keep you guessing!
I have been asked a few times lately if I am going to recommence the Mystery Creature series on the blog…. so here it is. The idea behind this little series is that I post a new Mystery Creature at the start of each week and at the end of the week I will update the post to say what the creature was, along with a little information about it.
If you know what the Mystery Creature is then share in the comments below. It is all in the interest of learning and a bit of fun so feel free to ask questions, guess or even do some googling or research to find out the answer yourself.
Here is the Mystery Creature for this week… do you know what it is?
Update: Want to know what the creature is? Check out the end of week “reveal” to find out.
It has been a little busy in the Science Wows household of late but now it is time for some fun! We are off to Carlow on Friday for the Carlow Autumn Walking Festival (I’ve been invited on the blogger tour by Green and Vibrant) and we are all very excited. Only two more sleeps! I wrote recently about my love of Autumn and a bit of the science behind how the leaves change colour so I think it is a wonderful time of year to hold a walking festival.
Amazingly, I have never been to Carlow although I do have some friends from there and anyone I have asked seems to rave about it. These photos are certainly selling the area to me (as if I need convincing to go on a family weekend away with lots of outdoor activities to keep us all happy and entertained).
Before we had children, myself and Mr. Science Wows often headed off on walks and climbs around our local counties. More accurately, he walked… I followed, blindly!… some times to my near peril and once down a mountain (one of the twelve bens) in complete darkness, with the reassurance that “it’ll be grand!”. Mr. Science Wows told me that if we did get into difficulty we would not be able to call out the mountain rescue squad as his mum was a member and it would just be too embarrassing.
Nowadays things are a little calmer but as our children get older we are able to increase the activities we can do together. That is why this weekend is so appealing. There are a number of walks available, for the novice to the advanced and plenty we will look into as the children get older. For now though there are a couple that have really caught our eye….
…A Walk on the Wildside with Mary White, environmentalist and walking enthusiast, will include foraging for delicious edible greens and fungi, learning about the native trees and mammals around the area, identifying wild herbs and checking out the flora and fauna of Kilbrannish Woods. This is a two-hour (7.5km) C graded leisurely walk
…Walking with Wildway Adventures – Green Walk 11, a two-hour leisurely walk with Una Halpin from Wildway Adventures.The 6km stroll will begin at Clashgranny Lock and take in the trees, plants and insect life along the Barrow Way and through the Borris House Estate, ancestral home of the ancient Kings of Leinster, the MacMurrough Kavanaghs.
Our weekend will include more than walking as there are a number of other activities available. We are really looking forward to a canoe safari trail on the river Barrow. We have dabbled in canoeing on previous family holidays but usually one of us was left holding a baby and waving from the bank. This time round it will be all inclusive as the event has been developed with families in mind.
We also plan to hire bikes to round off our active weekend. Our youngest decided to dispense with the stabilizers this Summer and due to his stubborn persistent nature, perfected the art in no time. We have travelled with bikes before in Ireland and in France but this time we will be getting five bikes for our family of five and we will all be pedalling under our own steam.
We love cycling as a family activity and the fact that we will be off road in Carlow is a great reassurance as we will be able to relax and enjoy the wonderful scenery knowing the children are safe.
It is easy to forget about all the wonderful activities available to us in our own land but Ireland really does have so much to offer. For us this festival will really tick all the boxes for the entire family:entertainment, outdoor activity, exercise and lots of nature. It seems that a lot of thought has gone into planning this event to appeal to the young and not so young, the novice to the experienced with plenty of fresh air included free for all!
For more information on the event check out these two blogs by Greenside Up and Vibrant Ireland. You can see all that is available on this online brochure or you can go directly here to pre-book your chosen events.
If you want to share or follow the event the hastag is #WalkCarlow
Happy Autumn Equinox! With all this lovely weather we have been having it was easy to forget it. I thought it was apt that the weather became more chilly today as it is the official Autumn Equinox, marking, for many, the start of Autumn.
I have written before of how we Irish like to define the seasons in our own bizarre ways. The same post also describes what an equinox is, if you want the nitty, gritty detail. Personally, I judge the seasons more by the cues in Nature and I certainly have noticed the birds starting to gather for their migration, the days beginning to shorten and the leaves on the trees beginning to change colour. I always thing the colour display of Autumn is worth the colder nights and darker days.
Did you ever wonder why and how the leaves change colour? Well it turns out I wrote about that too, in my first ever blog post. Today I get to share it with you again while joining in a blog linky by lovely fellow Galway blogger, Aedin, over at Minis and Mum, as she invites people to share their first ever post in celebration of her lovely blog’s three year anniversary.
So here is a repost of mine…
CARROTS, CABBAGES AND CUPS OF TEA…
It’s funny how Autumn comes around every year and I realise how much I love this time of year…. it’s as though I seem to forget I like it all throughout the other seasons. Of course we have had a particularly nice Autumn this year in the West of Ireland and maybe that has re-enforced my happy memories of the season. The days have been bright and crisp showing off all the beautiful colours in all their glory and splendour.
I grew up in Co. Wicklow surrounded by some beautiful deciduous woods and forests and this Autumn has really brought my childhood memories flooding back. My mother brought us often to the woods as children and we would hunt around for hidden treasures and delights to bring home and turn into some “masterful” collage in homage to the season. There was also the foraging, a distinctive primordial instinct in us all, there is nothing as pleasing as returning home with your bounty… be it blackberries or sweet horse chestnuts- to be turned into jams and tarts or painstakingly peeled off all nasty layers to reveal the divinely sweet, fruity, nutty delight beneath. In fact the joy that came with eating the nut always made it suddenly worth your while to start the arduous task of peeling all over again!
…and I hope that I will never outgrow the delight of running, kicking, shuffling through a crisp new crop of fallen leaves!
Carotenoids are the pigments responsible for the orange colour of carrots. If carotenoids are present their colour tends to dominate leaving the leaves yellowy and orange.
In the absence of carotenoid, anthocyanin is the dominant pigment. Anthocyanin (the same pigment found in red onions, red grapes, red apples and red cabbage) is a natural pH indicator, meaning that it can change colour depending on the levels of acids or bases/alkali in its environment. In fact one of my favourite experiments that I often do with children is to demonstrate this colour changing using anthocyanin extracted from red cabbage (but that’s a whole other blog in itself). At the beginning of Autumn the levels of sugar in the leaves tends to be quite high, increasing the acid levels in the leaves, this strengthens the red colour of Anthocyanin if it is present in the leaves.
At the end of Autumn the leaves die off and the levels of carotenoids and anthocynins die off too, leaving another pigment to dominate… and this is the brown pigment of tannin, the same pigment that give a cup of tea it’s colour!
We came across one of our favourite animals on holidays this summer… the gecko. They really are fascinating creatures and their ability to holds their own body weight while scaling a vertical wall or even walking upside down, is quite incredible.
These photos show a gecko “sticking” to my husband’s upturned hand. he said it felt like he literally turned on and off the stickiness, and it seems that is exactly what he does.
How do geckos defy gravity in this manner? This is a topic of great interest and debate among scientists – can you imagine all the positive applications to society if we could replicate this ability?
DID YOU KNOW THAT A GECKO CAN SUPPORT ITS ENTIRE BODY WEIGHT ON ONE TOE?
Firstly, a little look at the science behind HOW THEY DO IT…
The toes of a gecko are covered in hundreds of small ridges called lamellae. Each ridge is covered in millions of hairs called setae. Setae are much thinner that human hair (up to 30 times thinner). Each seta then splits at the top into tiny strands called spatulae – there can be up to 1000 spatulae on one seta (if you think you have problems with split ends, pity the poor gecko!).
So you can begin to imagine how tiny these spatulae are, in fact, they are so tiny that they can bond with the molecules of the surface they are touching. This bonding is referred to as van der Waals interaction! The minute size of the setae and their sheer numbers means that the gecko can get a lot closer to the surface he is climbing, with a really large contact area.
Another great thing about this type of bonding is that it is what is called dry adhesion – it doesn’t require any sticky compounds or leave any messy residue.
How does the gecko unstick itself?
This gives us an idea of how the gecko sticks to the surface, but HOW DOES IT UNSTICK?
The adhesion (sticking) process is said to be one-directional…imagine sticking a piece of sticky tape to a surface and then taking hold of one edge and peeling it back to remove it… the gecko does something similar.
The direction of the setae that bond to the surface are very important as they allow a directional force to be applied. A directional force that can be reversed means that the gecko can unstick as quickly as it sticks. It really is like turning on and off a switch.
As well as changing the direction of the setae, geckos’ toes bend in the opposite direction to humans so they can “peel” their toes off the surface from the tip backwards. Add to this the fact that geckos have rotating ankles and you start to understand how they can move in any direction.
All of this combines to a very efficient system that allows the animal travel at great speed across seemingly impossible surfaces.
DID YOU KNOW THAT A GECKO CAN TRAVEL AT 20 TIMES ITS OWN BODY LENGTH PER SECOND?
Gecko technology – what could we do if we had this ability?
With all this amazing ability at its “finger tips” it is not surprising that geckos and their “dry adhesion” are of great interest to the worlds of science, technology and medicine.
Robots that can scale any surface would be great in extreme or rescue situations, right? Or how about a suit we could wear to allow us to climb like a gecko? Geckskin is one of the newest gecko inspired materials where the physiology of the gecko (skin, tendons, bones) is part of the inspiration. Or how about gecko inspired paddles that can support a weight of approximately 115 kg? Maybe the amazing feats of spiderman will no longer be confined to comic books and movie animation.
Did you know that geckos can climb in a vacuum? So now we can start thinking about using this technology in space! Or how about using the technology in bandages? – inspired by the observation that geckos can climb in wet conditions… a bandage that stays on when wet.
It seems, once again that, through the gecko, Nature tempts us with an enticing model and man responds in the inevitable wish to study,imitate and recreate. I find many studies in the areas of bioinspiration and biomimicry fascinating, but I am also reminded of this quote…
Jellyfish have been getting a lot of attention recently for all the wrong reasons.
The news was afloat (pardon the pun) last week of deadly jelly fish off the Dublin shores. Red flags were raised and warnings were put in place on certain beaches as lion mane jellyfish (cyanea capillata) were spotted in the water.
We had our own jelly fish encounter on holidays a few weeks ago. Both my husband and brother got stung on a tiny beach off the south east coast of Mallorca. The culprits were small and innocent looking but still came with a real sting in their tail (puns are really flying today). They were the Mauve Stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) jellyfish and both men got stung on their arms… they managed to bite back the tears but they were definitely in pain. It took most of the day for the swollen ridges to recede.
We were very lucky as these small jellyfish came right to the shore. My brother was stung within seconds of entering the water, in a place that our children had been swimming in just a few minutes before.
Although we encountered these in the Mediterranean, they are, in more recent years, not uncommon in Irish waters. In November 2007 a large swarm of mauve stingers, about 16 km in diameter, completely wiped out more than 100,000 fish from a Salmon farm off the coast of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
HOW DOES A JELLYFISH STING WORK?
Apart from the pain element, the stinging process of the jelly fish is remarkable and quite unique. Many jellyfish have tentacles that contain thousands of tiny nematocysts – these are cell like capsules that contain venom and a hallow, coiled, barbed tube. When triggered the coiled, bard tube is shot into the body of the prey and the venom is released.
WHICH IS THE MOST DEADLY JELLYFISH SPECIES?
Certain species of the Box jellyfish are considered the most deadly in the world, producing a toxin that attacks the heart, nervous system and skin cells. A sting from a Box jellyfish can prove fatal for humans, often due to a heart attack from the shock and pain.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU GET STUNG BY A JELLYFISH?
ARE JELLYFISH THE CURSE OF THE SEA OR AMAZING CREATURES WITH A LOT TO OFFER?
They certainly seem to cause a lot of bother and pain to humans but is there a “good side”? Some of the problems may be due to increased numbers of jellyfish. Is there really an increase in jellyfish swarms and what does this tell us about the seas in which they live?
A KEY TO THE HEALTH OF OUR OCEANS?
There have been a number of large swarms or blooms of Jellyfish reported over the last few years. Scientific studies and surveys are ongoing to determine if what we are seeing are just natural ebbs and flows in the jellyfish population, or an annual and steady increase in numbers. Some feel that factors such as overfishing (removal of natural jellyfish predators) or human pollution of our oceans (increasing algal growth and plankton… jellyfish food) are causing a steady increase in jellyfish numbers. Others feel climate change is a factor. Perhaps what we are seeing is just a natural peak in the jellyfish life cycle. Time, and further research will tell, but the monitoring of jellyfish numbers will give us more insights into the state of our oceans.
A LINK TO THE PAST?
It would appear that jellyfish play an important part in the story of evolution. Genetic sequencing and fossil dating have changed the evolutionary tree somewhat, with suggestions now that the comb jelly (a relative of the jellyfish) may be the earliest divergent animal lineage. These studies put the comb jelly in existence some 600 million years ago. Did we all evolve from a lump of jelly? The question has certainly made the evolutionary tree wobble, shaking a few of it’s branches.
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION AND INVENTION?
Although jellyfish are carried by currents they can also move propel their bodies upwards in a pulse like motion. The shape and movement have been the inspiration in the design of a new lightweight robot. What is particularly remarkable is that the robot moves through air, not water. Most jellyfish live for about a year, some species have much shorter life spans but there is one, called Turritopsis nutricula, that is effectively immortal. It has am amazing ability to revert back to an earlier phase of it’s life cycle under certain conditions. Commonly called the “Benjamin Button” of the ocean, it has naturally caught the attention of the worlds of science and medicine, inspiring advances in stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Some species of jellyfish, including the Mauve Stinger mentioned above, are luminescent. The gene responsible for this luminescence, and the luminescent protein it encode have been used by scientist and medics in a variety of research areas from crop advancement to cancer diagnosis. You have to admit, this certainly sheds new “light” of the humble jellyfish.
Despite their threat, jellyfish are certainly very interesting, unique and inspiring animals. Are you convinced or does the thought of them still make you quiver??
WHILE YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND, HERE ARE FIVE FUN FACTS ABOUT JELLYFISH…