Britons find home is where the honey is

The ancient art of beekeeping is enjoying a renaissance in Britain, fuelled by concerns about the provenance of food and the desire to do something for the environment.

In tiny urban gardens, Britons are doing their bit to counter the mysterious worldwide decline of bees -- they are starting to keep their own.

The ancient art of beekeeping is enjoying a renaissance in Britain, fuelled by concerns about the provenance of food and the desire to do something for the environment.

Jon Harris, 43, was a bee novice just seven months ago.

Now, with hundreds of bees buzzing around him in his white protective suit, he lifts the frames out of the hive in his compact back garden in Brixton, south London, and gives a satisfied smile at what he finds.

"That honeycomb is just amazing," he said, brushing off the remaining bees to reveal the white-crusted product of the busy insects' magic.

Harris has enjoyed a bumper first summer with his hive, harvesting 20 kilogrammes (45 pounds) of honey -- "which goes to prove there is something around here they love."

Bees don't need pastures of wild flowers to find nectar -- the hedgerows and bushes alongside the railway line behind his house are a perfect substitute. But they will happily fly up to four miles (6.5 kilometres) looking for food.

Hot bee in the city

When Harris was made redundant from his job as a retail buying manager in March, he found he had time on his hands. He had always wanted to keep bees but he thought his garden was too small for a hive.

A one-day course on urban beekeeping set him on the right path.

"As long as you have enough room for a hive, you've got enough room to keep bees," he said. "It is one of those hobbies that gets you outdoors and it actually gets you involved with something natural as opposed to doing a pottery course or a photography course."

While bees are thriving in this one London garden, globally they are in trouble.

In September, experts gathered in the southern French city of Montpellier for the 41st world apiculture conference, Apimondia, to ponder why parts of North America and Europe, and now also Asia, have been struck by Colony Collapse Disorder, which can wipe out up to 90 percent of a bee community.

Chris Deaves, chair of education at the British Beekeepers' Association, said a combination of factors was probably to blame.

"The decline is real," he said. "In the UK last winter we lost about 21 percent (of the population). The winter before it was about 25 to 30 percent. It is probable that the cause is multi-layered."

Some experts say the blood-sucking varroa mite could be to blame but pesticides, viruses and industrialised farming are also suspected to be attacking and weakening bee communities.

"It is rather like a human being,” Deaves said, “when you are rundown you may start to exhibit the effects of the flu."

Bee-licious

But his smile returns when he reflects on the newfound public enthusiasm for his passion in Britain.

"The interest in beekeeping is growing very, very rapidly," he said. "Perhaps it is because of the feeling that everybody has to do something to make the planet a better place to live," especially in polluted cities. "You can't keep cows or sheep (in a city) but you can keep bees.”

He added that people are also concerned about having the capability to create food in the UK. People are increasingly worried about where their food comes from and how many air miles were involved in getting it to the dinner table.

Back in Brixton, Jon Harris' honey has travelled just a few steps from the garden to his kitchen.

He slices the honeycomb, takes a taste and licks his lips.

"It has got a very minty, eucalyptus-y taste to it when it comes out,” he said. “That dies back a bit. But it is probably the best honey I have tasted."

Robert Leslie/AFP/Expatica

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Santa Cruz County schools get $332,000 boost from fundraiser that offered a Toyota

By ADAM HARJU

SANTA CRUZ -- The principal of the school that sold the grand prize raffle ticket in this year's Drive For Schools fundraiser is ecstatic, she said, because the win may help them raise more funds next year.

And the winner, Deborah Berkson of Santa Cruz, is happy to take the $25,000.

"Maybe we'll sell more tickets next year because one of our students sold the winning one this year," said Pamela Randall, principal of Del Mar Elementary School in Live Oak. The school earned $5,510 from ticket sales.

"Our level of participation has increased every year," she said of the 400-student school with 19 classrooms.

Randall said fundraisers such as Drive For Schools are important in today's funding environment because of state and federal cuts.

"We are using the funds raised during this one for classroom supplies," she said.

The organizer of the fundraiser, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, said $332,000 was raised for area schools during the last four weeks, with all of it going straight into participating schools' coffers.

"The great part about this one is all of the money stays with the schools," Boardwalk spokesman Kris Reyes said.

Some 62 schools participated in the fifth annual event, which has raised over $1 million since its inception in 2005.

Valencia Elementary in Aptos raised the most with $24,000. Main Street School raised $18,000 and Tierra Pacifica charter school netted $16,000.

The Drive For Schools fundraiser concluded Sunday with Berkson choosing to take the $25,000 in cash instead of the 2010 Toyota Prius offered as the prize.

Berkson, a computer software developer in Scotts Valley, said she took the money instead of the hybrid car because she already has a reliable vehicle.

The raffle winner has a son, Malachi Allen, 12, at Shoreline Middle School who also attended Del Mar. She said she took part in the fundraiser for philanthropic reasons.

"When I bought the ticket, it wasn't about winning prizes," she said. "It was about helping the schools because things are so tight for them right now."

Reyes said the Boardwalk hopes to hold the fundraiser again next year.

"This is a special fundraiser for us as schools need as much help as they can get, especially now because so many extracurricular activities are being cut," Reyes said.

Berkson said she will use the money to take friends out, to go on a vacation with her family and to start a college fund for her son.

All of the costs associated with putting on the fundraiser were paid by the Boardwalk, while Toyota of Santa Cruz donated the Prius. A complete list of winners can be found at www.beachboardwalk.com/driveforschools.

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Common Weed Could Provide Clues On Aging And Cancer

ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2009)

A common weed and human cancer cells could provide some very uncommon details about DNA structure and its relationship with telomeres and how they affect cellular aging and cancer, according to a team led by scientists from Texas A&M University and the University of Cincinnati (UC).

For the study, the multi-institutional team examined the telomeres of Arabidopsis, a plant found throughout the world, and discovered a new set of essential telomere proteins. The team then identified the human counterpart, a discovery that could be beneficial in understanding human cancers and cellular aging. Their work is published in the current issue of the journal "Molecular Cell" and was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Dorothy Shippen, professor of biophysics and biochemistry at Texas A&M, and Carolyn Price, professor of cancer and cell biology at the UC College of Medicine, served as co-corresponding authors of the study.

Telomeres are located at each end of a chromosome and are composed of DNA and protein. Their main function is to protect the ends of the chromosome, but they also play a key role in cell division. Researchers also believe they play a key role in cellular lifespan.

"We found that removal of the plant telomere proteins caused rampant end-to-end joining of chromosomes and dramatic defects in plant development," explains Shippen.

"The Cincinnati team then showed that removal of one of the human proteins from human cancer cells caused wide-spread DNA damage and complete loss of some telomeres."

Price adds, "We know that telomeres act as a protective cap for chromosomes and these caps are needed to stop chromosome fusions. We also know that telomere length determines how many times a cell can divide.

"However, we still don't fully understand how the cap structure prevents chromosome joining or regulates telomere length. This is important because problems in telomere maintenance lead to diseases such as cancer, premature aging syndromes, aplastic anemia and pulmonary fibrosis. The discovery of a new protein complex that is required to maintain the protective telomere cap is very exciting and should open up new research avenues related to human disease."

The Arabidopsis plant is found worldwide and is related to the cabbage, radish and mustard plant family. Because of its genetic makeup, it has been used for decades as a model organism for studies in the cellular and molecular biology of flowering plants.

The multi-institutional research team says these findings open up new doors on several fronts, leading to an "evolutionary bridge" in current work on telomeres.

"At the very least, it will give us a better understanding of the fundamental composition of telomeres and how they function," Shippen notes.

"This could give us a new window in defining the role or roles telomeres play in safeguarding our DNA."

"It could also give us new insight into how damaged telomeres block cell division," Price adds. "These new proteins seem to function in replication of DNA at the chromosome end, so further study may also give clues into how the protective caps work when a cell divides.

"These are all questions that we need to be answered if we are to fully understand the role of telomeres in human health."

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The world's smallest working train set... it's the size of a fingernail

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE

Measuring a tiny eighth of an inch by quarter of an inch, this carefully crafted piece of engineering is the world's smallest working train model.

The five-carriage train, which is 35,200 times smaller than a real train, nips around an oval route even taking in a ride through a tunnel on its three-quarter inch track.

Created by New Jersey train enthusiast David Smith, the miniscule model was built using nothing more fancy than a craft knife and a steady hand.

Powered by a standard two-inch-long rotating motor head and carved out of moldable plastic, the model train cost David just over £6 to make.

'The motor can be bought from K-Mart or any hobby store in America,' says David.

'There is a slight optical illusion with this train model though.

'There are no tracks and the train and carriages are carved out of plastic stuck atop the motor.

'This gives the impression of a train following the oval track.

'But, still, it is impressively small.'

With James River Branch still under construction, David has yet to install the tiny model train inside the model shop in his model village.

'To get a sense of scale you have to remember that the River Branch project is being built to the scale of 1-220,' says David.

'It has taken up two-and-a half-years of my life and is going to be very impressive once it is finished.'

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Joshua Bell Raises Funds in Warsaw

Virtuoso violinist performs at charity concert

Joshua Bell, the American-born violin prodigy who has performed with some of the best orchestras in the world, appeared in Warsaw yesterday evening at a charity concert. The packed performance at the Warsaw Opera House was staged to raise funds for the planned Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Bell performed Johannes Brahms' music during the concert, which raised several hundred thousand dollars for the museum. He was accompanied by the Opera House orchestra, which was directed by Israeli conductor Gabriel Chmura. The steep ticket prices (the most expensive tickets ever sold in Poland - 350 euro within Poland, 500 euro for other European nationalities, $1,500 in the U.S.) did not deter attendance, and the orchestra performed in front of a full house.

The museum had sought funding for years, but construction began on the Jewish Museum just three months ago. Construction of the museum is due for completion in March 2012, and the ambitious project will guide visitors through the thousand-year heritage of the country's once sizeable Jewish population, most of whom perished or fled Poland during the Second World War.

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