For the more studious we have topics on Medicine, Science and Technology to round off with.

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Butterflies are providing scientists with a glimpse into the world of insects. Whereas larger animals typically have opportunities to breed over a couple of years; butterflies only get one chance in their annual cycle. В Thus, their well-being is of utmost importance as chances of extinction are much higher.

Butterflies are very fragile insects and are greatly affected by temperature change and other environmental impacts. Often, they need large areas of land which has increasingly been made more difficult to find. Conservationists are recognising the importance of butterflies and all other insects in our eco-system and are making efforts to procure a more sustainable future.

A breakdown in law enforcement has led to an increase of the poaching of Zimbabwe’s rhinoceros. Conservationists are highly concerned about the drastic increase in the slaying of the beautiful animal for its valuable horns.

Criminal gangs are killing the rhinos of Zimbabwe for its horns which are highly valuable in Asia. The horns are used in traditional medicine in many countries as well as for ornamental and ceremonial daggers in the Middle East.

A rare Megamouth Shark was accidentally caught by fishermen in the Philippines, and then later on butchered and eaten. The Megamouth is one of the rarest fish in the world, with only over forty of the species having been encountered around the world.

The Megamouth Shark is a deep water fish which can grow up to 5.5 metres in length. It was first discovered in 1976, and since then there has only been 43 sighting of the large shark. Members of the WWF tried hard to dissuade the local fishermen from eating the spectacular fish but to no avail. Shark meat is used to make some of the local specialities in the area, and the large fish was butchered after dying trying to escape from the net.

Researchers in Britain fear the death of many of the trees native to the country. Trees have been struggling with various diseases after a host of microbes have attacked them. The new diseases are not indigenous to Britain, but are thought to have originated from warmer countries. Global warming has contributed to enhancing the ability of the microbes to survive in Britain’s cold wet weather.

Plants all over the country have been struggling with various environmental stresses. Increasing signs of struggle have become apparent in many species of trees, including a loss of leaves and a slow death. Environmentalists are becoming more aware and fearful of the changes occurring due primarily to the higher temperatures brought on by global warming.

Scientists have discovered that the algae in the ocean could play a vital role in stopping global warming. Marine algae capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and when they die they would take the carbon stores to the bottom with them. Researchers have been given the go-ahead to drop quantities of iron into the seas, as the growth of the algae is often limited by the lack of iron.

The project is slightly controversial; with some conservationists worried about the long-term ecological effects of the excessive iron in the oceans. Other scientists are saying that adding iron to the waters will help the algae to grow and thus increase the amount of carbon dioxide that is captured from the atmosphere.

Only a few years ago, the Brown Bear was on the verge of extinction in Italy due to a variety of reasons, including poachers, hunters and vengeful people poisoning the animals. Today however, conservationists are celebrating their success after several cubs have been spotted in the country.

Many people were outraged a couple of years ago, when cubs were found dead having ingested poison given to them by people. Further stories at the time included the death of several bears after being shot by poachers. Brown bears are typically not a danger to humans, and following the stories, conservationists have been trying to protect the big animals. They are overjoyed with the new cubs and hope to keep the population numbers rising.

Twenty years ago the idea of mobile phones seemed far-fetched; yet they became the norm. Ten years ago the idea of sending someone a text message seemed silly; yet that too became an everyday occurrence. Only a few years ago, we believed that mobile phones were as far advanced as they could possibly be; then cameras were introduced into the phones. Today, we can use mobile phones to take photos, to send emails, to look at the internet and even as a global positioning device. How much further can the mobile technology keep going we wonder? Mobile giant Nokia has innovative plans to introduce a home control centre for mobile phones; whereby you can control your entire household when you are not even there.

Imagine a phone that you can use to control the heating at your house. You are running a few hours late from work due to a sudden snowstorm, and all you really want is to come home to a warm and toasty home. With the new Nokia mobile, you will be able to control your heating, and adjust the temperatures of your house to the desired heat. You will also be able to control other home appliances, as well as all the lighting. No longer do you need to worry about burglars thinking that you are away. Just turn on the lights during the day or night to scare them away. The new Nokia mobile may seem far-fetched, but then, didn’t we say that about everything that is today considered to be normal?

Thousands of Britons will be horrified to find out that the bacon and ham that they have been eating comes from pigs brought up under cruel farm conditions. Almost 70% of the pork imports would be illegal if they had been produced in Britain, as the appalling conditions which the pigs face are inhumane. In 1998, a ban was installed in Britain whereby pregnant sows were not allowed to be kept in cramped conditions, but this ban is not due to be in place in the rest of the European Union until 2013.

When the ban was put out, pig farmers all over the country were forced to spend thousands of pounds to make new homes for the pigs, and many farmers were unable to afford the changes. The number of pig farmers in the UK has drastically decreased, and the importing of pork has thus increased. So, although good living conditions are required for British pigs, more than half of the pork eaten in the country has been brought in from abroad, from pigs living under horrible conditions. Farmers in the UK have struggled to keep similar prices going, as they spend more to keep the animals in good conditions.

The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee are demanding that supermarket products be labelled to inform people on the conditions in which the pigs were brought up. Although many people will still buy the cheapest product; others will opt to go for the pork from pigs who led a good life. Britons all over the country will be shocked at the conditions that the little piglets and their parents were forced to endure, and will hopefully take part in helping to make a change.

The beautiful narwhal is expected to become on the endangered list in less than five years if their needless killing continues. The international ivory ban that came into effect in 1989 is limited to the tusks of elephants, and does not include the single tusk that extends from the narwhal’s jaw. Last week, stunned conservationists discovered that several narwhal tusks were being auctioned in London and were expected to fetch in the area of ВЈ10,000 each.

Environmentalists managed to get the tusks off of the auction block after speaking to the people in charge. They are however concerned at the high amounts of money that people will pay to have the ivory from the beautiful narwhal. The high prices are enticing people to go out and hunt these creatures, and their numbers are starting to dwindle. The narwhals are being monitored, but how long will it take to stop the needless killing of these peaceful creatures?

The Conficker Virus is proving to be an ‘unusually clever’ worm, and experts are trying hard to disable the virus before it spreads further. The virus has so far attacked over nine million computers, including those of the Ministry of Defence, and is proving to be a very worthy opponent. Once the computer is infected with the virus, the worm masquerades as a normal-looking folder that needs to be opened, and when the user clicks on it they unwittingly install the worm.

The Conficker Virus is very clever, and once installed attempts to contact various servers where it could get a download to take control of the entire computer.В  Also known as Downadup, the virus disables automatic updates so that computer users are unable to get the virus definitions updated.В  The worm is staying one step ahead of researchers, and uses different algorithms every day to contact its needed servers. These are based on time stamps from normal search engines, making it very difficult for researchers to get ahead. The virus developers only need to set up a new website to be used the following day to get a complete list of all the infected computers.

The Great White Shark has long instilled fear in people, and for many symbolises the ultimate predator. The film Jaws did nothing to alleviate the fears of people, but made them more fearful of this giant creature. These beautiful creatures were hunted and killed to near extinction by people for many years, but have thankfully now become protected in several areas of the world. This week the Auckland Museum will perform a public dissection of a female Great White Shark found dead in a net, in order to show the public that these vulnerable fish have been unfairly labelled and deserve our protection.

The public dissection will be the first of its kind, and scientists are hoping to cast off the myths revolving around the Great White Sharks. They intend to show the public that the shark’s diet consists primarily of fish and seal meat. Great Whites can grow up to twenty feet in length and little is known about these amazing creatures. They are now protected in several parts of the world, including New Zealand and Australia, and scientists are hoping to educate people about the sharks and distil any remaining fears.

2.В  You can save money by using the correct light bulb wattage in your home for lamps and other fixtures.

3.В  Buy appliances that have the Energy Star label.

4.В  When using the air conditioning, set the AC on Power Saver to conserve energy.В  Ensure the air filters are cleaned regularly.

5.В  Purchase low profile fans.В  They are affordable and run on DC power.

6.В  Purchase a halogen lamp as your main source of light in your den or work area.

7.В  When using your washing machine, use the cold cycle. This will save money on heating bills.

8.В  Only use dishwashers when you have a full load.

9. Use a microwave oven instead of a traditional oven.В  It uses less than 80% of energy than your regular oven.

10.В  The refrigerator is one of the appliances that uses the most energy in the home.В  Set the temperature to 37 degrees for optimum efficiency.

A Summer Check:

* Check to ensure there is enough ventilation in the attic.

* Weatherstrip the windows to retain cool air indoors and leave the windows closed during the summer months to allow the house to remain cooler.

* It is also suggested to keep the thermostat at 78 degrees.

Recycling:

* Make sure that you have enough garbage cans to separate papers, plastic, and bottles from regular garbage.В  The Department of Sanitation usually gives every household an instruction sheet delineating what is recyclable, how to pack up garbage properly, and how to separate items according to State standards.

General Saving Tips:

* If you are a work-at-home mom and print out daily tasks to be done, use both sides of the printer paper.

* Ink cartridges purchases at your local office supply can be returned when empty for credit.

* Save on gas by finding a station that offers the cheapest price.В  It may even be cheaper to walk or use a bicycle.

* Buy groceries in bulk.

* Clip coupons from the Sunday paper as well as online and use them to reduce your grocery bill.

* Always check for sales online and in your local newspaper.

* Plant a vegetable and herb garden.В  With the prices of food soaring, you can save quite a bit on these items.

* Contact your phone company to determine if there is any way to lower your bill by deleting some services.

Heathrow’s expansion plans; including a third runway and a new terminal have been met with heavy opposition from several environmental groups. Campaigners claim that if the government were serious about fighting global warming, then adding more air traffic should not even be considered. The Government is expected to approve the plans this week, but environmentalists refuse to go down without a fight. Greenpeace campaigners have commenced their fight by buying a large plot of land which was allotted for the new runway.

The land is the size of a football pitch, and Greenpeace has plans to sell several blocks of the land off to individual buyers in order to delay the expansion of the airport. Heathrow would then have to buy each small section from different owners which could take a long time. The environmentalists hope that with a long delay the plans for growth may be cancelled and ensure that the fight against global warming continues.

The popular auction site eBay has finally put a complete stop to the sale of virtually all ivory products on their site. Conservationists have long been criticising the website for what they referred to as being the black market for selling ivory across the world. EBay retaliated by putting a limited ban on ivory items in 2007, but the environmentalists were still not happy.

Conservationists estimate that up to 20,000 elephants are still killed every year for their tusks regardless of the international trade ban on ivory products that was established in 1989. Conservationists say that eBay needs to take responsibility for the part that they have been playing in the sale of ivory as their site has been revealed to sell more than 63% of ivory products worldwide in a study over a seven week period.

The internet auction site has banned the sale of ivory as of the first of January, and covers all antique jewellery made before the worldwide trade ban was established. Only wood furniture with tiny inlays of ivory made before 1900 and old pianos with ivory keys will be allowed to be sold through eBay.