According to this article thousands of microscopic worms have been sent into space. The worms which were collected from a rubbish tip in Bristol have boarded the Atlantis space shuttle for a mission to the international space station. It is hoped that studying the worms will help scientists explain how astronauts build and lose muscle as they circle the earth. The worms will be exposed to conditions in space for four days before being frozen and returned to the laboratory where they can be studied.

The New Oxford American Dictionary has named the word unfriend as its word of the year. It has beaten other finalists such as hashtag, intexticated, sexting and funemployed to win the title. If you are confused as to the meanings of any of these words there are explanations here. I find it interesting that most of them are only likely to be used by regular users of social networking sites and probably not in everyday language.

According to this article a new chocolate has been made that could help you lose weight. The chocolate is supposed to taste just like regular chocolate, it does, however, have a disturbing green tinge. The chocolates are designed to be eaten before a meal and are supposed to make you feel full so you want to eat less. They contain the dietary supplement spirulina and vitamins A and B12 which all have weight loss benefits. At £5 for a box of five they are not cheap and they are currently only available in Spain so it may be some time before you spot them in your local supermarket.

According to this article lost golf balls are becoming something of a problem. That’s because they can take take anything between 100 and 1000 years to decompose and are becoming something of a litter problem. When they do start to break down the balls release a high quantity of metals including zinc. When submerged in water this poisons the surrounding flora and fauna damaging the environment. I wonder if there is such a thing as a biodegradable golf ball.

This video made by Simon Tofield appears to have become a hit on YouTube. Inspired by his cat the simple video features an animated cat trying to wake his owner up. Most cat owners will identify with the persistence of the cat which starts by prodding its owner before resorted to hitting him with a bat and then pretending to be asleep. Sometimes the most simple things make the best viewing. Simon’s cat now has his own website where you can check out his other videos.

If this article is correct the recession is responsible for a rise in middle class shoplifters. Rather than stealing goods to sell them on it appears more people are stealing to maintain the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. It seems when people have less money rather than cutting back, some decide to simply steal what they can no longer afford.

According to this article an indoor market in Luton is currently looking to recruit an ale taster. They are looking for someone with a “genuine love of food and drink” and although the role is on a volunteer basis so is unpaid it does have some rather obvious advantages.

A man has been arrested by Brazilian police after he was caught trying to smuggle 1,000 live spiders out of Brazil. The man who is a pet shop owner in London was stopped at the airport when police became suspicious about his luggage. He was found with boxes of live spiders in his suitcases. It could have been entertaining if one or two got loose on the plane.

According to this article Aldi and Lidl are both selling a bottle of champagne for just £9.99. Aldi’s Vue Monsigny and Lidl’s Comte de Brismand both sell for just under £10. They get mixed reviews from critics with some experts suggesting the taste is not that great but others calling it elegant and fruity. Unfortunately I don’t have an Aldi or a Lidl near me otherwise I would buy some and post a review. Have you tried either of these bottles of champagne and if so what were they like?

If you want to lose weight then you could try eating more slowly. According to this article people who eat their food quickly are more likely to overeat than those that take their time. The reason is that eating quickly stops the release of a hormone that tells the brain that the stomach if full leading you to overeat. The findings come as a result of a study which looked at diner eating a 300ml serving of ice cream. Those who took a leisurely 30 minutes to finish the ice cream described themselves as feeling fuller than those who ate the the food more quickly. So next time you are tempted to bolt your food it might be worth eating it a little more slowly.

It looks like its good news for water voles if this article is correct. The creature which was declared an endangered species in 2008 now appears to be becoming more common and there were twice as many spotted this year as there were last year. According to the article water voles have been the UK’s fastest declining mammal with numbers declining due to unsympathetic farming and watercourse management. Most of the recent sightings have been on the Kennet and Avon Canal between Reading and Bristol.

According to this article two companies with rather different products are currently developing wines specifically for Asian food. Taylor and Shroff wines and Atul Kochhar have both developed wines that are matched to the food. Kochhar has worked with classic sauvignon blanc and merlot and developed them to complement complex curries. Taylor and Shroff on the other hand have created cherry, apricot and ginger wines that are designed to be drunk over ice. The Taylor and Shroff wines are currently available at around a dozen restaurants and Kochhar sells his wines at his restaurant in London and Southampton so they are not yet widely available. I will be interested to try both, I wonder how long it will be before they come to a restaurant near me.

New legislation means that it will now be possible to create protected marine zones in areas which contains endangered species. The Marine Act will allow conservation groups to stop practices such as scallop dredging and trawler fishing in areas that are under threat. Species such as the Atlantic salmon, the pink sea fan (a type of coral), the harbour porpoise and seahorses should all benefit from the new protected zones.