I’m not surprised to hear that sleeping with your pet can make you sick. I am surprised, however, that it was deemed necessary to conduct research into the issue to come to that conclusion. The results found that pet owners who sleep with their pets are at risk of picking up over 250 known diseases which are transmitted from animals to humans. It is possible to catch diseases such as chagas disease which can cause life- threatening heart and digestive system disorders. Cat-scratch disease, MRSA and even plague can also be caught from animals. Personally, although I have four cats who I love very much, they are confined to the downstairs part of the house and are never allowed to sleep on the bed. I may love them, but not the thought of sleeping with fleas in the summer.

An artist is installing 38 giant roses across ten blocks in Manhattan as part of a floral project. The roses are made of plaster, wire mesh, PVC tubing, steel, fibreglass resin and brass and are complete with bees, ladybirds, aphids and beetles. The project has been created by artist Will Ryman along Park Avenue between 57th Street and 67th Street. Each installation includes up to six painted roses that stands around 25ft high. The whole project has cost about $1 million to create.

This is the view from a new restaurant which has recently opened in Dubai. Called At.mosphere the restaurant is on the 122nd floor of the world’s tallest building. At 1,350 feet from the ground via a minute long elevator ride the restaurant is renowned for its haute cuisine. It’s certainly an impressive view. I think the food would have to be really good to compete.

According to this article hedgehogs could be at risk unless we take methods to save them. One suggestion is to create hedgehog friendly zones in communities to increase the areas over which the creatures can roam. This would involve householders linking their garden by creating small holes in shared walls and fences to increase the areas over which the animals can roam.

Hedgehog numbers have dropped steeply over the last decade, with the decline being blamed on the fragmentation of their habitats by road and house building schemes. Thousands of hedgehogs are also killed on the roads every year. The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is now mounting a campaign to try and reduce the decline. As well as allowing hedgehogs to pass between properties, householders are also being encouraged to provide suitable hibernation areas in their gardens and provide conditions that attract insects such as log piles of leaves and areas of long grass. I will certainly be doing all of these things to see if I can attract some hedgehogs to my garden.

If you keep your central heating turned up during the cold weather then you could also be adding a few pounds to your waistline. That’s according to this article which suggests many of us now keep our homes so warm that we no longer have to burn as many calories to naturally warm up our bodies. In fact a study claims that centrally heated homes with efficient double glazing are helping to send obesity rates soaring. Coupled with the fact that we now spend more time indoors, the prolonged exposure to warm temperatures may permanently reduce the body’s ability to burn a fat known as adipose tissue. Based on this if you want to lose a few pounds perhaps you should try turning your heating off for a few hours.

If this article is to be believed a new generation of pesticides could be linked to Britain’s vanishing honeybees. The results from a new study show that chemicals which are routinely used on farms and in garden centres can attack the central systems of insects and make bee colonies vulnerable to disease. The claims come from a study carried out by the US Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory and could explain why bee colonies are declining.

The number of bees in Britain have fallen by half since the 1980s. The new study points to neo-nicotinoids as a pesticide that makes bees more susceptible to infection. The pesticides which were introduced in the 1990s to replace the controversial organo phosphates appear on the surface to be harmless but when applied to seeds are found in low levels throughout a growing plant including in its pollen and nectar. The study certainly looks damning and the Co-op has already banned neo-nicotinoids on its UK farms, however the manufacturer Bayer has insisted its products do not harm bees.

That’s according to this article which suggests that driving for three hours at night can have the same effect as driving drunk. A study has found that as little as two hours continuous motorway driving in the dark can affect the drivers performance as severely as having a couple of drinks. Experts are now calling on the government to impose a maximum two hour limit on continuous night time driving in order to cut the number of accidents. I’m not entirely sure how easy it would be to enforce this if a limit were brought in but surely it is common sense that driving for several hours does make you tired. Particularly when driving on the motorway which is boring at the best of times.

According to this article numbers of wild birds in the UK are still falling dramatically. Populations of farmland birds are at a record low and woodland birds are also experiencing a 24% decline. Only seabird populations remain above 1970 levels. The decline has been blamed on habitat changes which means there are fewer nesting sites for birds. Food shortages may also play a part in the falling numbers. Some solutions include projects to financially reward farmers for managing land in an environmentally friendly way.

According to this article two thirds of women are unable to find a pair of jeans that fit. It seems many women find shopping for jeans frustrating as they are unable to find a pair that fits correctly. Personally I have many pairs of jeans but if I am honest none of them really fit correctly. I am unfortunate enough to have a fairly slim waist but wide hips and a round bottom. Although jeans do fit I usually have to buy a larger size that might fit my waist and bottom but ultimately gapes at the waist. It’s interesting, however, that I don’t have the same problem with trousers. I wonder why its so hard to find jeans that fit.

This is interesting its a giant pool table. The table which measures one and a half feet high has been built by Steve Wienecke in his garden. It took him 250 hours to create the table. He uses ten pin bowling balls as pool balls.

If this article is to be believed Australians are increasingly choosing wine over beer. If the trend continues it is thought wine sales will overtake beer sales within 10 years. In fact the consumption of beer has dropped by almost half to its lowest level in 50 years. Wine sales, however, have increased three fold over the same period.

Whenever I see an article like one I am reminded of the importance of micro chipping your pets. The article is about a cat called Star that went missing from the Isle of Wight. Surprisingly he has now been found over a year later 300 miles away from his home in York. Star was handed into a York Cats Protection Centre where he was scanned for a chip. He has now been reunited with his owner but it is still not clear how he ended up in York.

This is interesting its a wine that contains a venomous snake. Produced in a village in Vietnam the wine contains snakes and scorpions. It is made with either a cobra or scorpion encased in the wine. The poison of the creature, however, is cancelled out by the alcoholic content of the drink and the fermenting process. The wine is thought to have many health benefits and is used to treat various problems such as back pain, rheumatism and lumbago. It is also thought to increase male virility.