Pupils
and teachers heading back Bridge Farm Primary School in Whitchurch, Bristol after
half term yesterday were stunned to find an original Banksy mural painted in
the playground.
The
secretive graffiti artist had left a spray-painting of a child holding a stick
and chasing a burning tyre on the wall – the image is believed to be a modern
take on hoop rolling, a popular game played by children during the Victorian
days.
The
six-foot high artwork also features a flower and a small house with ‘Banksy’
signed to the bottom left of the brick building.
A
further note from the artist, pinned behind the mural, said: “Dear Bridge Farm School.
Thanks for your letter and naming a house after me. Please have a picture.
“If
you don’t like it feel free to add stuff, I’m sure the teachers won’t mind.
“Remember
- it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission. Much love Banksy.”
A
London ‘farm food’ home delivery service has become the first in the capital to
use only electric vehicles.
Farmdrop,
which specialises in food from 70 farms and other producers within 150 miles of
London, says the move will save hundreds of tonnes of CO2 as well as other
harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxide from being pumped into the
atmosphere.
Farmdrop
founder and former Morgan Stanley investment banker Ben Pugh said: “The
mainstream food chain is harmful to our health, our environment, our local
producers, and it needs fixing.
“Farmdrop
is on a mission to make it easy to buy the freshest food direct from the best
local producers and delivered to people’s doors in a convenient and green way.
“Our
larger supermarket rivals all use diesel and petrol engines, but Farmdrop is
the only grocery delivery service using 100 per cent electric. Not only does
this mean cleaner air for Londoners but the savings on fuel allow us to
continue to offer great value.”
Electric
milk floats were once a mainstay of home delivery but have all but disappeared
from London’s streets to be replaced by diesel vans. A conventional diesel
delivery van emits 13.89 tonnes of CO2 and 10.36kg of nitrogen oxides into
London’s atmosphere every year.
The
small lorries that use diesel-powered transport refrigeration units are
particularly harmful, giving out 164 times more particulates — the microscopic
sooty flakes that are a by-product of burning diesel —than a diesel car. There
are estimated to be 84,000 transport refrigeration units in Britain.
This tiny kitten pictured above was found clinging to the tyre of a truck by a kind-hearted soul who decided he just had to come to its rescue. Immediately after finding the kitten, he
sent the picture to his wife asking 'Can I bring it home?' His wife
immediately answered: 'Who could say no to that face?' They took it
to the vets where they found out the kitten was only 4-5weeks old.
It's a mystery what happened to the poor kitten's mum but at least
she has found a new, loving secure home to belong to – alongside
her new siblings, a 19-year-old cat and 2-year-old dog.
When James Young lost an arm and a part
of a leg in an accident on his morning commute, he thought his love
of playing video games was over.
But after spotting an advert he
began to work with prosthetics designers to create a unique limb that
looks like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Enjoy
the lovely BBC news video right here.
Plastic six-pack rings are the bane of
conservationists, entangling and killing sea life. But a
Florida-based brewery has come up with an environmental alternative.
Saltwater Brewery has partnered with
the ad agency We Believers to create what they say is the first fully
edible beer can packaging. Made from byproducts of the brewing
process such as wheat and barley, their six-pack holders, which are
just as strong as the plastic variety, are fully biodegradable and
completely digestible. Rather than ensnaring wildlife, the six-pack
rings could serve as a satisfying snack. And if nothing bites, it
will quickly decompose.
The company 3-D printed a test batch of
500 holders in April and now plans to scale up production to meet its
current output of 400,000 cans per month. While the edible holders
are more expensive to make, Saltwater Brewery wants this to set an
example for other beer producers and encourage them to adopt the
idea. They say if their edible holders become commonplace, they could
potentially be as cheap as the regular plastic rings.
The six-pack ring crisis is not as dire
as it was in the 1970s, when images of trapped wildlife first began
to appear. Six-pack rings are now widely made from photo-degradable
plastic, meaning that they dissolve in sunlight and should eventually
fall apart. However, the current standards specify that the rings
should be made to break down within 90 days, leaving plenty of time
to harm wildlife. And, they don’t completely disappear, at least
not for a long time, so they could still pose a risk to animals that
eat them.
Moving away from plastic entirely and
embracing sustainable solutions would be a much better idea. It’s
not just drink holders that threaten wildlife - plastic of every size
and description floats in the oceans. The Ocean Conservancy’s 2015
investigation found plastic inside many species of marine animals.
New research from the University of
North Florida has found that running barefoot boosts our working
memory, the ability to categorise and remember figures, information
and details within a short period of time.
Researchers enrolled 72 participants
and split them into two groups – one would run barefoot at
their own pace for 16 minutes, and the other group would run in shoes. Both groups had
their working memory tested before and after the run.
The results were startling – the
group who ran with nothing between their feet and the ground
increased their working memory by a whopping 16 percent from the
baseline, while those with shoes on found no increase whatsoever.
According to Dr Ross Alloway, one of
the lead authors of the study, this is because barefoot running
provides your brain with incredibly more 'feedback', warming it up
for the later memory test.
"The little things often have the
greatest impact. This research shows us that we can realise our
cognitive potential and enjoy ourselves at the same time," says
Alloway.”If we take off our shoes and go for a run, we can finish
smarter than when we started."
The experiment is the first in the
world to demonstrate that running barefoot leads to better mental
performance compared to running in shoes.
Astronauts call it the 'overview
effect' - the profound sensation of seeing Earth from space. They
speak about how beautiful the Earth is and how fragile the
atmosphere. They return to Earth telling of auroras draped over the
Earth like a green curtain, and borderless land masses rather than
countries.
Those spending time on the
International Space Station, the orbiting laboratory 240 miles above
our planet have become some of Instagram’s biggest celebrities
posting stunning photos of Earth. Now those images have come together
in a new IMAX, 3-D film shot by the astronauts on the station.
Narrated by Jennifer Lawrence, “A Beautiful Planet,” gives
viewers the closet view of Earth from space they can get without
strapping into a rocket.
Only 550 people have visited space
since Yuri Gagarin 55 years ago. But director Toni Myers aims to
change that in the 45 minute documentary.
“I hope that it gives audiences an
opportunity to experience what we experience,” said Kjell Lindgren,
one of the NASA astronauts featured in the film. Despite whizzing
over the surface of the Earth, he said he felt a strong connection to
the planet, which is, ultimately, the point of the film.
One of the first to experience the
'overview effect' was Ed White, the Gemini 4 astronaut who in 1965
became the first American to perform a space walk. Floating in space,
while passing over his hometown of Houston, then California, he was
supposed to stay out for about 12 minutes. Instead, he stayed outside
for twice that long, giddy and agog, 103 miles high, until commander
James McDivitt was forced to call him in like a mother summoning her
children at dinner.
