Osmosis

Osmosis. The word that haunts GCSE biology. But what actually is it?

Osmosis

It's the movement of water from a high concentration to a low concentration through a partially permeable membrane. It happens in all living cells. It is used when plants are absorbing water through their roots. Inside the root cells before water has been taken in there should be a high concentration. So the process of Osmosis brings in water until there is a lower concentration than on the other side of the membrane. When it is used up the process begins again.

5 Years Time (Noah and the Whale) Lyrics

Oh well in 5 years time,
We could be walking round the zoo,
With the sun shining down over me and you, 
And there will be love in the bodies of the elephants too,

And I'll put my hands over your eyes but you'll peek through. 


And there will be sun, sun, sun, all over our bodies,
And sun, sun, sun, all down our necks,
And there will be sun, sun, sun, all over our faces,
And sun, sun, sun, so what the heck.


'Cos I'll be laughing at all your silly little jokes,
And we'll be laughing about how we used to smoke,

All those stupid little cigarettes and drink stupid wine,

'Cos it's what we needed to have a good time,

But it was fun, fun, fun, when we were drinking,

And it was fun, fun, fun, when we were drunk,

And it was fun, fun, fun, when we were laughing,

And it was fun, fun, fun, oh it was fun.

Oh, well I'll look at you and say it's the happiest I've ever been,

And I'll say I know how you feel, I have to be James Dean,

And she'll say yeah well I feel oh pretty happy too,
And I'm always pretty happy when I'm just kicking back with you

And it'll be love love love all through our bodies
And it'll be love love love all through our minds
And it'll be love love love all over her face
And love love love all over mine

And though really all these moments are just in my head
I'll be thinking about them as I'm lying in bed
And I know that really it might not even come true
But in my mind I'm having a pretty good time with you

Oh in 5 years time I might not know you
In 5 years time we might not speak
In 5 years time we might not get along
In 5 years time you might just prove me wrong

Oh there will be love love love wherever you go

The 0.006mph champion - Snail Racing

A possible athlete and champion

Following the recent World Snail Racing championships we discuss this rather strange past-time.

Last month, in Norfolk, Zoomer the snail broke the world record at the World Snail Racing Championships. He completed the 13 inch course in 2:00, obliterating the previous record. It's 6 year old owner revealed to the telegraph that it was 'lovely he had won' and 'he would set Zoomer free in the woods'. 
        The World Snail Racing championships            
        While the whole thing seems rather ridiculous we can enjoy this amusing sport on a smaller level. Many a small child has bounded outside, clutching their mother's marker pen, then crouched in the mud eagerly watching which of the slimy creatures will cross the finishing twig first and carefully placing wanderers back on the right path. On joining in on one such event I discovered how entertaining it actually is! I have to say it's rather more enjoyable than horse racing!
          Some have questioned whether the sport is actually cruel to the snails; so I spoke to a spokesmen of wildlife enthusiasts. He said: "It brings people closer to nature. It doesn't affect the snails in a very large way at all. As long as people avoid tippex as this makes them more visible to birds, it's really quite harmless." 
          So go on organise your own snail race!!!

How do salmon breed and the project that is giving them a helping hand

Can you imagine having to journey for thousands of miles in order to lay thousands of eggs and then just.. dying? That is what a female salmon goes through at the end of their life. Pretty awful - huh? 

          Salmon grow and mature in the ocean, but when they are ready to breed they enter fresh water in order to spawn, travelling to a stream or a pond high in oxygen. The female digs a redd (a hole) in the gravel with her tail. She lays thousands and thousands of eggs into it, many of which will not reach adulthood. It is then that the male fertilizes the eggs. Most of these salmon die after reproducing - their organs just give up. The newly emerged salmon which are called alevins have a food sac in them when they hatch and they stay in the nest. When the food sac is used up the salmon fry. When they emerge they eat mostly insects. As it grows it becomes camouflaged, called parr, and then turns silver into a smolt. After that it swims downstream to the wide, wide ocean. In the estury the fish adapts so that it can survive in the sea. Depending on the species the salmon live for one to seven years before swimming up stream to their place of birth and repeating the cycle. The salmon do not eat at all on the journey back. 

          One thing stands in the way of this incredible quest. The weir. This dreaded construction completely blocks the salmon's path on its voyage. If you're lucky, and you get the time of year right, you can sometimes see salmon leap out of the air and over the weir. However some salmon cannot get across that easily. Other threats to the journey are abandoned coppices causing collapse of many trees. 

          The Wye Habitat Improvement Project aims to make changes that allow the salmon to safely make the journey up the tributaries. Large areas will be improved to create a smooth ride for these slippery friends. It will work with farmers who own tributaries. The project aims to show the farmers that they can use the improvements for their own benefits such as fishing. After getting through a mountain of paperwork they have now received permission for the project from higher authority.