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A WILD LIFE

HOPEFULLY I’LL avoid too many boring springtime cliches, but after a week as sunny as the one we’ve had, I can’t help but get excited about the emergence of life as summer ap-proaches.

Birds. Getting really into birds is a bit of a dangerous area in terms of beards and hats. However, spending a little time thinking about the life of a bird is quite amazing. Between mid March and May, fi ve billion of them migrate north from summer hideouts in Africa. � ough an incomprehensibly large number, it is worth remembering that every one of these journeys represents an individual’s struggle across immense distances and exhausting obstacles, de-pendent solely on limited fat reserves, navigational skills and stamina.

At the same time, most birds are truly tiny. � e swallow, about the size of a sausage roll, fl ies 12,000 miles be-tween Britain and wintering grounds in Africa’s southern tip every year. � ese journeys have been part of the life of many bird species since the last ice age around 20,000 years ago, and are tightly synched to climatic patterns. If, for instance, rain fails in a feeding stop-over one year, the results may be grave. As Spring’s arrival is driven earlier by climate change, migrating birds are in-creasingly fi nding themselves arriving at the end of the party with springtime food sources already dwindling. � e rapid population decline in many spe-cies due to this and a number of other recent environmental changes is a so-bering issue.

On a happier note, a yellow haze may be seen over Arthur’s Seat and other surrounding hills. � ough per-haps not as pretty as spring’s popular harbingers daff odil and crocus, a closer look at gorse fl owers is well worth it for the smell - coconuts! � e younger fl owers are dazzlingly bright, standing sharply against the green background with almost hallucinatory vibrancy. � is is a result of their colouration in ultraviolet light wavelengths beyond our vision, but attractive to the eye of insect visitors.

Zac Gratin

With the infl ux of summer mi-grants coming in, keep your eyes peeled for birds that may surprise you. You can get excited about bird-watching without ageing forty years and growing a pair of binoculars. Who knows? You may be surprised. I spotted a breeding pair of birds of prey engaging in some air acrobatics over Pollock when gazing out at the sun from my room last week. I usu-ally recognise our local birds, so the white mottled bellies of these buz-zard-like birds hurt my birdwatching pride.

When I reached for my RSPB Guide to Scottish birds (I'm a shameless birdwatcher) the only two birds that resembled the mysterious raptors were the rough-legged buz-zard or the honey buzzard. Both would be rather rare for Midlothian, so look out for any more treasures the summer may bring.

Nina Seale

Unknown gems of the universeAs the Science Festival approaches � e Student looks for the hidden wonders our universe has to off er

Black hole drool or a doughnut ocean?Picture a doughnut of water 140 trillion times the size of all the world’s seas orbiting a black hole. It’s a lot of wet. For scope, try comparing a small swimming pool to the Pacifi c Ocean. How did all this water get there? Apparently a quasar is to blame. Under normal circumstances a quasar emits huge amounts of energy from a point in space, like a star with more oomph. In this circumstance, there is a quasar emitting huge amounts of water from a point in space, like a really enthusiastic hose powered by the black hole around it. Upon leaving, the fl oating ocean is held by the gravity generated by the supermassive black hole (not just a Muse song, a really dense black hole) surrounding the quasar and forms a loop around it. � ese have an exceptionally large gravitational pull, sucking in nearby mass. According to Einstein, E=mc², so this mass (m) must become en-ergy (E) and go somewhere, i.e. out the top and bottom. Makes sense, but for some reason this one is spewing out water. Why is it doing this? As scientists don't have a clue, the story goes thus: And on the eighth day, God created the black hole, And he liked it, so he put a ring on it. Stewart MacLean

Peculiar Planet: Geometric storms and walnut moonsSome strange sights can be spotted within our solar system- Saturn is well known for being a bit unusual. It is the second biggest and least dense planet in our solar system, and would even fl oat on water if given the chance. But the second most spectacular sights on Saturn (the fi rst being its famous rings) are its storms- over 10,000 times more power-ful than ours, which have been of interest to scientists for decades. � is windy planet hosts a hurricane almost 5,000 miles across, which hovers over the south pole stubbornly without shifting, baffl ing scientists. � e north pole, however, has a storm almost 15,000 miles across, six times the diameter of Earth, which is shaped like a hexagon. Why this gargantuan storm should form such a perfect geometric shape is as yet unknown.Saturn has over 60 moons, some of which are completely surreal. Ia-petus, the third largest of these moons, is one of the most bizarre. Half of the surface is icy white, and the other is charcoal black; it has been called the ‘yin-yang’ moon. Most of the moon is composed of ice, but the ‘dark material’ seems to be a currently unidentifi ed organic com-pound. To add to its strangeness, Iapetus has a ring of mountain-like formations around its equator. Scientists studying these formations have described the resulting shape of Iapetus as being like a walnut. Lindsey Robinson

Geysers of salty ice explode from a frosty moon surface� e eighth of Saturn’s 53 confi rmed moons, Enceladus, sparkles as the brightest object in our solar system with a chilling -201C surface covered in water ice. � is one hundred million year old moon is considered young and one of only a few in the solar system that is geologically active; huge geysers shoot water vapour and tiny grains of ice from its south pole through fi ssures known as ‘tiger stripes’ on its surface. � e Cassini-Huygens mission captured both images and samples of these plumes and recent analysis has confi rmed that close to the moon's surface these particles have an ocean-like composition. � e samples predict the only plausible source for this is a large saltwater body below Enceladus’s icy surface. � e salt in this extraterrestrial subsurface ocean would originate from the moon's rocky inte-rior. When a crack in the surface occurs, the sudden drop in pressure forces water and the fl ash-frozen salty ice crystals out into space. Rebecca Jackson

Starry-eyed witch fl ies through the skiesPeople have a long history of looking up at the sky and trying to fi nd familiar patterns in the confusing randomness of space. In some cases, as the Witch Head Nebula attests, this is easier than others. IC 2118 is a nebula in the constellation Eridanus. Like all nebulae it is an enormous cloud of spaceborne dust and gas that spreads across a literally astro-nomical distance. As you can see above, this one happens to resemble a sinister human face, complete with eerie crooked nose, jutting chin and gaping mouth. You can even spot a couple of witchy warts. Nebulae are often made up of the remains cast out by dying stars, but they also happen to be one of the best types of environments for new stars to form. IC2118 nestles a number of relatively new stars within its centre. As a Refl ection Nebula, the Witch Head is visible on Earth, across a distance of about a thousand light years, because it refl ects the light of the star Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion . Rigel’s already blue light refl ects effi ciently off the dust motes of the nebula, scattering to give it its characteristic blue colour. Alasdair MacLeod

Our planet and its doppelgangerPlanet hunters in the US have identifi ed a planet with enough Earthly features that it may entertain life on its rocky surface. Gliese 581g orbits around the star Gliese 581, a Libra red dwarf star, and its planetary path has been labelled as a ‘habitable zone’ where liquid water could exist on the surface. It has enough gravity to hold onto an atmos-phere, and half the planet is basked in an eternal daylight that stabilises the climate. Although there isn't any conclusive proof of even microbes, life is stubborn. Nature inhabits all corners of our planet, from deep sea vents of boiling water to miles under the Earth’s surface, fi ghting the odds. What are the chances that we have the only planet that sustains them? Slim, I reckon. But still, even without discovering martians or gliesians, life still triumphs as the most unknown wonder of the universe. � e discovery of four new species of colourful freshwater crab was announced just last week, and we still marvel at curious creatures like the Dumbo octopus (right) and strange behav-iours like earthquake early warning systems and even fl atworm penis fencing!

Nina Seale

ice age around 20,000 years ago, and are tightly synched to climatic patterns. If, for instance, rain fails in a feeding stop-over one year, the results may be grave. As Spring’s arrival is driven earlier by climate change, migrating birds are in-creasingly fi nding themselves arriving at the end of the party with springtime food sources already dwindling. � e rapid population decline in many spe-cies due to this and a number of other recent environmental changes is a so-bering issue.

On a happier note, a yellow haze may be seen over Arthur’s Seat and other surrounding hills. � ough per-haps not as pretty as spring’s popular harbingers daff odil and crocus, a closer look at gorse fl owers is well worth it for the smell - coconuts! � e younger fl owers are dazzlingly bright, standing

planet, from deep sea vents of boiling water to miles under the Earth’s surface, fi ghting the odds. What are the chances that we have the only planet that sustains them? Slim, I reckon. But still, even without discovering martians or gliesians, life still triumphs as the most unknown wonder of the universe. � e discovery of four new species of colourful freshwater crab was announced just last week, and we still marvel at curious creatures like the Dumbo octopus (right) and strange behav-iours like earthquake early warning systems and

Nina Seale

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Science & Environment 15