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. 

La Rambla, Barcelona

The capital of pickpocketing? 

When you step out onto the street of la Rambla is the first thing you notice the crowds of people that swarm the streets, the people clutching their bags in fear or the brightly coloured stalls lined up informally along the streets? Or is it the illegal salesman that approaches you confidently, waving his product and trumpeting the childish toy in your ear. The street is buzzing with activity. It is the type of place that would look rather like an ant's nest from above. The mixture of tourists and slightly poverished locals mingle together, browsing the stalls. The stalls are piled high with souvenirs and memorabilia with olive coloured Spaniards slumped behind. Each one is practically the same and a person is likely to make just one purchase as they walk up and down; yet despite that the sellers must get a fair few buys throughout the day with the sheer enormous amount of people. 
          Everything seems rather relaxed as people gaze up at the towering department stores that line the outside beyond the road and sip icy, fruit enriched drinks. Until the phantom pick pocketer strikes. No one ever sees it: or notices it. Not until it's happened. Only then do you realise the necessity of the armed, pacing policemen that eye the crowds suspiciously. A woman reaches to pay, realising she no longer can. Frantically she raises the alarm. Like a tidal wave the panic spreads from one person to another. But it is no good. Somewhere, distant in the gaggle, a young man is proudly fingering a designer purse. 

           In the market I casually conversed with a retired tour guide, back because she couldn't stay away, to the place she has visited thousands of times. I spoke to her with enthusiasm about my experiences of the day. Nodding with wisdom of the place in her eye she revealed in a strong Spanish accent "not once in my 45 year career did I bring a group here without something being taken." I felt quite taken aback by this statement, realising the scale of the theft that goes on here. Or do they just target the naive looking tourist? 

Word: Jovial - Where does it come from?

Jovial adj [jo-vi-al] endowed with or characterised by a hearty joyous humour or spirit of good-fellowship. 

The word can be first observed in the 1580's meaning love for the God Jupiter, who is also known as Jove and is the Roman God of the sky. The modern meaning is derived from it being believed that being born under the sign of Jupiter would give you such dispositions.

Can a candle burn in zero gravity?

Here you can see the difference between a
normal flame and a micro gravity one.

Yes it can; but the flame looks very different. It behaves as it would in space, which is quite different to how it would behave on Earth. A micro gravity flame creates a kind of sphere around the wick. Oxygen feeds the flame and carbon dioxide moves away from it. It is almost invisible and cannot be detected by ordinary cameras. There is relatively no soot or smoke due to the lack of air flow which would ordinarily create a gas exchange.