City Electrical Storm wallpaper, Hedgehogs may not be problem for birds, Oldest fossil of flying insect discovered

City Electrical Storm wallpaper

Good news for Hedgehog fans, Hedgehogs may not be problem for birds

A new report says that the oystercatcher population has dropped 5 percent on North Uist, where most of the hedgehogs have been killed or moved. On South Uist, the oystercatcher population is up 20 percent and has grown 9 percent on Tiree, where hedgehogs continue to flourish.

Hedgehogs were an introduced species to the British Isles in the 1970s. While they’re cute, exotic species of animals in particular usually have negative consequences for the environment.

Tomb of the real Gladiator hero found beneath Rome warehouse

Marble columns and a Latin inscription to Marcus Nonius Macrinus have been uncovered at a 1,800-year-old stone mausoleum built in his honour on the banks of the River Tiber at Saxa Rubra, not far from the headquarters of Rai, Italy’s state-run television station.

The site, which also includes friezes and stone blocks, was discovered as a warehouse was being demolished to make way for a housing development.

The remains are located north of Rome, near the ancient road, the Via Flaminia, which once connected the city to the Adriatic, on Italy’s east coast.

General Maximus Decimus Meridius, the character portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie The Gladiator was a fictionalized version of Marcus Nonius Macrinus.

World’s oldest fossil of flying insect discovered in North Attleborough

Scientific sleuthing by a Tufts University geology team in a rock formation behind a strip mall in North Attleborough has yielded the world’s oldest whole-body impression of a winged insect, according to Tufts. The discovery was announced today.

The exquisitely-detailed fossil has been identified as the imprint left 310 million years ago by a primitive mayfly that lighted briefly on a muddy outcropping in what was then a steamy Carboniferous Period flood plain.

Photo by Jodi Hilton/Tufts University

It takes a very fortuitous set of circumstances to create a fossil specimen. Even more so in the case of this mayfly since its lifespan was about 24 hours. The insect measured about 3 inches(7.6cm).