A penguin called Ralph has recently been given a new wetsuit. Usually Humboldt penguins like Ralph gradually lose their feathers to be replaced by a new set. Ralph, however, lost all of his feathers in just one day leaving him at risk of severe sunburn. His wetsuit helps to protect him from the sun and allows him to do all of the things that penguins usually do.

This is unusual, its artwork created on dirty cars. The work is done by artist Scott Wade who creates these impressive pictures simply out of the dirt on car windows. They range from more traditional pieces based on famous works of art like this Mona Lisa he created in the back of a mini to more unusual works like the one below of a family inside a car.

This is interesting, its a lip gloss that claims it can also help you lose weight. The lip gloss contains green tea, hoodia and caffeine and applying it is meant to energise you, curb your appetite and help you burn fat. I’m not entirely convinced, neither it appears is the lady in the article but no doubt people will be rushing out to buy it, thinking it is some sort of miracle cure. If you want some its called Burner balm and is available from HQ Hair priced at £4.95. If you have tried it, I would be interested to know what you thought so let me know by leaving a comment.

This giant owl shaped crop circle has appeared in a field in Wiltshire. The 400ft pattern appeared overnight in the field. It is not known who is responsible for it but its certainly interesting, I wonder how you go about creating one of these.

This scary looking plant has recently been discovered in the Philippines. The plant which has been named after Sir David Attenborough grows more than 4ft long. It is able to eat prey such as mice and rats which it traps by secreting nectar. Once close enough the animals fall into a large pitcher within the plant. Unable to get out they then drown and acids in the fluid break down the remains.

Many strange things have done in the name of science, this however is one of the strangest I have come across recently. A group of scientists have been looking into what would happen if zombies were to attack. They carried out a mathematical exercise and found that only frequent counter attacks would eliminate the creatures. The researchers choose to model the attack based upon classic slow moving zombies. They found that a strategy of capturing or curing the zombies would only prolong the inevitable and that peoples only hope of survival would be to deal with the zombies quickly and hit them hard and often. I’m glad this issue has been resolved, its reassuring to know that if zombies were to attack we are in fact doomed.

This rare albino swallow was spotted in by Steve Copsey in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire. Apparently there is a one in 18,000 chance of a bird being albino making this little guy very rare.

I have been aware for some time that Christmas displays in shops are getting ludicrously early. This article, however, suggests that some stores are starting to sell their Christmas range now and are even considering offering Christmas items all year around. Debenhams, for example will start stocking Christmas products before the end of the month. The move comes partly to try and take advantage of the summer tourist trade but also because it is thought people are more likely to want to stagger their Christmas purchases because of the recession.

According to this article beer can have some health benefits when it is consumed in moderation. The article suggests that moderate amounts of beer can help strengthen women's bones. A study carried out on 1,700 women found that bone density was better in regular beer drinkers then in non drinkers. It is thought that plant hormones in the beer could the reason behind the effect. It appears beer is good for you, drink too much, however, and it can also have the opposite effect.

Tesco are now offering double the amount of loyalty card points in a bid to tempt more customers. According to the article sales growth at Tesco has been outpaced by its main rivals in the past year prompting the supermarket to look at new ways of retaining customers. All Clubcard holders will now receive double the amount of rewards every time they shop meaning you will now get two point for every pound you spend in store or online. I do have a Tesco Clubcard but personally I find I currently receive very little rewards and that I frequently forget to use the vouchers I receive. I wonder why Tesco don’t go the same way as Sainsbury’s and simply allow you to take the money off your shopping bill at the checkout. I find this works a lot better and means that I can save my points up for an expensive event such as Christmas to buy a few luxury items that we wouldn’t usually be able to afford.

A re-colonisation programme hopes to reintroduce sea eagles to Scotland. Under the scheme a group of 14 chicks from Norway were reared in custom built aviaries in Fife . They have now released at the Tay estuary. The project which is now in its third year has already been successful in the west of Scotland and there are now thought to be around 200 sea eagles in the region. Last year 44 pairs of breeding birds produced 28 chicks so it looks like a good sign for the species.

A study carried out on Twitter has found that 40% of tweets can be classified as pointless babble. The short term study was carried out by the US market research firm Pear Analytics with the intention of producing a snapshot of what people do with the service. They looked at 2,000 messages in total and put them into one of six categories: news, spam, self-promotion, pointless babble, conversational and those with pass along value. It found that 40.5% of tweets were pointless babble, 37.5% conversational, 8.7% had pass along value, 5.85% were self promotion and 3.75% were spam. Pear analytics intend to repeat the study every quarter to track the trends in usage. What do you think, is Twitter simply pointless babble?

If this article is to be believed eating junk food does not only cause you to gain weight, it can also make you less intelligent. Research was carried out at Oxford University on a group of rats. The rats were fed a high fat diet over ten days. It was found that the rodents short term memory was damaged and that they were less mentally alert. The high fat diet also decreased the rats ability to exercise in turn making them more likely to gain weight.

I feed the birds everyday but have never considered that the bees also might need some food. According to this article gardeners are being urged to leave out energy drinks for tired bees to try and help the declining bee population. The RSPB has been inundated with calls reporting bees lying on the ground unable to fly. They recommend leaving out an egg cup filled with two tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water so that tired bees can boost their energy levels.

Back in November 2007 my bank account was compromised causing me all sorts of problems and meaning I had to cancel all my cards and have new ones issued. On that occasion I was alerted when I noticed some Paypal transactions which didn’t appear on my Paypal account but which had been debited from bank account. These were eventually refunded and once my news cards were issued everything was back to normal, until now.

I now find myself in the same situation, although the circumstances are slightly different. This time I was alerted to suspect transactions by a message left on my mobile phone by my bank and the fact that my card had been declined when I tried to use it. Being wary of the phone message I contacted my bank directly to find that they were investigating a case of fraudulent transactions made on my card and as part of this they had suspended my debit card. It appears someone used my card to make several small transactions, followed by a larger transaction to top up a mobile phone. Once again it appears the only solution is for the bank to issue new cards which will take up to seven days to arrive. In the meantime I am left wondering how this happened again. I was over cautious before when using my card online but since the last case of fraud have become somewhat paranoid. I can only assume that a website I use regularly has been compromised and is unaware that they have a security issue. I am now contemplating getting a pre-paid card for ordering online rather than risk compromising my bank account.

According to this article the average British family throw away £610 of food every year. The figure is based on a household with children and amounts to 6.5 million tonnes of rubbish. Based on this ministers want supermarkets to replace buy one get one free offers in favour of half price deals as well as introducing a larger range of pack sizes. They also want supermarkets to use clearer labels so that customers are sure of the difference between the use by date and the best before date. The article made me wonder how much of our household waste is food waste. I am certainly getting better at reducing the amount of rubbish we produce and try to make as much use of leftovers as possible mainly to try and save a bit of money but we still seem to have several sacks of rubbish every week.

If you are looking for a new furry friend then you might want to contact Battersea Dogs Home. Whilst it might not be the first place you would expect to find cats, they do in fact also re-home other animals as well. At the moment they simply have too many cats with 143 of their 145 cat pens being full and 174 cats waiting for a place at the home. The shelter has blamed the recession for the 20% rise in the number of animals being dumped but there are also 10% fewer people who are taking on cats leading to the huge backlog. Some of the cats have been waiting for a new home for as long as a year. Unfortunately I already have fours cats so don’t have room for anymore but if you have room for another kitty in your life then you might want to contact them, you can see some the furries here.

It appears its all change for the Oxo cube as the traditional cube gets a new shape. Rather than being a simple cube it will now have grooves cut into it making it into a X shape. The reason for the change is that the new shape is supposed to be easier to crumble than the traditional cube alternative.

Alton Towers has recently taken the decision to ban speedos and other small swimwear from its water park. The decision has been taken in a bid to keep the parks family friendly and will include a ban on the tight fitting swimming trunks in favour of swimming shorts. The ban does not apply to just men, women bathers are also banned from wearing thongs.

A range of ice cream has been launched which is aimed at dogs. The ice cream comes in three flavours including Panting Peanut Mutter, Oaty Pawfection and Chase Your Tail Cheesecake. If you want to get your paws on some it is available from Frost and Hound desserts who are based in North Yorkshire. It is currently still in the development stage but its creators hope to launch it in the shop in time for next summer.

This is interesting, its a scheme being offered by a farmer that will allow people to grow vegetables above their dead relatives. Under the scheme people will be able to buy a plot for their relative to be buried in and will then be able to farm the land above to grow their own veg. The plots will be available at Richard Sibley’s farm in North Somerset. It will cost £1,400 to bury someone there and £13 a month to continue farming the land.

Several major shoe brands have demanded a moratorium on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Clark, Adidas, Nike and Timberland are among the brands that are putting pressure on suppliers to make changes. According to this article around 65 to 75% of deforestation is linked to the growth of ranching. As well as the moratorium on leather from newly deforested areas the footwear makers want suppliers to bring in a traceability system which will guarantee the source of all leather. Currently some Brazilian companies linked to rainforest destruction export products to blue chip companies across the world. The three major processors Bertin, JBS and Marfrig have now agreed to reject cattle from illegally deforested land. The footwear companies will also refuse to buy leather which is sourced from farms on both legally and illegally deforested land.

According to this article Asda has actually increased the price of one one in five of its products despite its pledge to roll back prices. Trade magazine The Grocer has found that in many cases the supermarket has been rounding price up rather than down. It checked 969 products and found that 173 actually cost more in July than they did in March. A third of the products were the same price that they had been in March and 477 products were cheaper in July than in March. The Grocer found that one in five of the round pound lines which are heavily publicised has been sold for less than pound in recent months. Often customers often see the items priced at a £1.00 and fail to realise that they were actually previously on sale at a cheaper price.

This little guy managed to survive a seven hour long 70mph journey attached to the front of a BMW. Mervyn Draper had swerved to avoid a hedgehog and noticed another creature by the road but had assumed he had missed it. The following morning he found the rather angry stoat wedged through the grille of his car. The stoat was later removed unharmed and is now recovering in a wildlife hospital.

According to this article the World Health Organisation have placed sunbeds on the list of the most cancer causing substances and habits, declaring them as lethal as cigarettes. Previously sunbeds were classified as “probably carcinogenic but after reviewing the evidence WHO scientists have found there is no doubt that they can trigger cancer. Other things on the list include arsenic, asbestos, cigarettes and alcohol. I have never been able to understand why people risk their health for the sake of a tan.

According to this article cats can be left or right handed (pawed) in a similar way to people. Psychologists found that female cats are more likely to prefer using their right paws whilst males usually prefer to use their right. Tests were carried out on 42 pet cats with the animals being given complex tasks. One task involved fishing a piece of tuna out of a jar. Although the cats could use either paw for the task they tended to favour one paw more than the other. All 21 females used their right paw, 20 of the male cats used their left paw and one male cat was ambidextrous. I have two male and two female cats so will be conducting my own tests shortly.

According to this article a report has concluded that organic food is no better for you. The report which was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that organic food contained no more nutritional value than factory farmed meat or fruit and vegetables grown using chemical fertilisers. I think the report might be missing the point. I don’t necessarily buy organic produce because I think its better for me but I do like to know that what I am eating has been farmed in a responsible way and I do like to know where my food comes from. I don’t necessarily purchase organic produce but I am aware that organic farming has stricter animal welfare rules and that it bans artificial chemical fertilisers so am more likely to choose it if the price is not a consideration.

This unusual albino blackbird was spotted by a bird watcher in South Wales.  Mr Jarman spotted the unusual bird in his garden and managed to get this picture of it. The bird which he nicknamed Snowy visited his garden for several months before it disappeared. Unfortunately with its unusual colouring it was probably picked off by a hungry pussy cat or other predator.

According to this article sales of bicycles are booming as people take advantage of a tax break scheme. According to the article the Government’s Cycle to Work scheme allows people to buy a bike out of their salary before it is taxed. The bike is also free from VAT. This can mean a saving of hundreds of pounds on top bicycle models and 26,000 vouchers have been redeemed so far this year. The boom in bike sales has also been put down to the better weather and the fact that people want to save money on their transport costs but it appears cycling is becoming much more popular with shops selling out of many bike models and repair centres being so busy that it can take several weeks to get your bike mended. I have a neglected bike at the back of the shed, perhaps its time to dust the cobwebs off of it and go for a ride.

This article which states texting whilst driving increases your risk of crashing by up to 23 times came as no surprise. What did surprise me, however, was that it took a team of experts to figure this out. It goes without saying that if you are looking at your phone to send a text message then you are not looking where you should be whilst driving your car, at the road. Its beyond me why someone would think they are in control of their vehicle when they are texting their friends. On the same subject there is a story here about a truck driver who crashed into a car and ended up in a swimming pool (pictured). The reason? He was texting on his mobile phone whilst talking on another phone. When will people learn?

According to this article dormice in Devon and Cornwall are crossing some of the regions busiest roads and making their home on the central reservation. The rodents have been found living on verges in the middle of the A30 and the A38. The findings come after 50 animals were electronically tagged to study their movements. The study by the Highways Agency was looking into how the busy roads affected population numbers. Although it is not known how many dormice are killed crossing the road it appears once they are established they prefer to stay put on the central reservation and seem to thrive.

This two headed cow has been born in Bogota, Colombia. Called Jenifer it has two heads but only one brain. The weight of her head means that she cannot stand without help but the farmer has built a hammock to support her.

According to this article chocolate bars could be made smaller in a bid to try and fight obesity. The food standards agency wants the average chocolate bar to be reduced by a fifth to reduce the calorie intake and is trying to get chocolate makers to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. By 2012 the watchdog wants all confectionary to weigh no more than 50g. Manufacturers are also being asked to sell bite size bars as single items instead as part of a multipack. Under the plans fizzy drinks would also be sold in smaller containers. I’m guessing the pack size will go down and the price will not, meaning you get less for your money.

If you fancy driving something a little unusual, then you might be interested in purchasing this van. It is one of the six yellow Reliants which was used in the filming of Only Fools and Horses. The van is for sale on autotrader for £6,995 and it comes with a sheepskin coat, a flat cap, a market keepers suitcase and a bottle of Peckham spring water.

This is interesting its a piece of artwork created by sand artist Andres Amador. He creates these patterns in the sand some of which span over 500 feet. The work involves raking the sand into intricate patterns. Andres first works on the designs in his notebook before working with the sand. The work has to be completed quickly before the sea washes the design away so the effect is only temporary. After all his hard work the artist is left with just a snapshot of each piece of work. Still its fairly impressive stuff.

I drink quite a lot of milk so was interested to read this article that suggests it could cut the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke. According to the article scientists have found that drinking milk can reduce the risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke by as much as a fifth. The research which was carried out at Reading University found that milk could have more health benefits than just building strong bones and helping growth and that there is strong evidence of an overall reduction in the risk of dying from coronary heart disease, stroke and colo-rectal cancer.

My new garden has quite a few fruit trees in it, including various types of apples, plums and pears and I have already started using the cooking apples. I made some apple sauce the other day from apples picked the same day and it put the shop brought stuff to shame. Looking at all the fruit still on trees, I think I will fast run out of ideas on how to use them. Any recipe ideas will be appreciated.