Bet she's never lost for words! Ten-year-old schoolgirl can speak TEN languages including Kazak and Ugandan

Bet she's never lost for words! Ten-year-old schoolgirl can speak TEN languages including Kazak and Ugandan - She might only be 10-years-old, but little Sonia Yang can already speak an incredible 10 languages.

And the schoolgirl has been crowned the north west of England's best young linguist after stunning teachers with her detailed knowledge.

The youngster, from Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, was born in Taiwan but moved to England with her family to begin primary school.

Young linguist: Sonia Yang has been crowned the north west of England's best young linguist after stunning teachers with her detailed knowledge

When she arrived here, Sonia was already fluent in Japanese, Chinese and English, as well as her native Taiwanese.

But she can also now speak German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and has recently picked up Kazakh and the Ugandan language of Luganda.

More than 5,000 students from across the region entered the language contest.

They were tested on their knowledge of other tongues - as well as their ability to pick up entirely new ones.

For the regional heat of the contest, Sonia, a student at private Greenbank Preparatory School in Stockport, was challenged to learn the Ugandan language known as Lugandan in just a few weeks.

Sonia had previously picked up both Kazak and Portuguese for the qualifying rounds of the contest.

Star pupil: Sonia Yang, 10, from Cheadle Hulme and pupil at Greenbank Prep school, can speak ten languages

And her German, French and Spanish is spoken with varying degrees of fluency.

Describing her achievement, she said: "Lugandan was easier for me to learn than it might have been for an English person, because some of the words are very similar to Taiwanese and it does get a little easier to learn a new language with each one you try.

"English is definitely my favourite language, everyone can understand you."

She will now go on to represent the region in the national finals in London later this year.

Heather Burnett, the school's deputy head, said: "Sonia is a very bright and hard-working girl - definitely a star.

"Her family moved to England specifically to give her the best education possible and we are delighted they chose Greenbank." ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Bet she's never lost for words! Ten-year-old schoolgirl can speak TEN languages including Kazak and Ugandan

Safe Sex Ads to be Reinstated

Safe Sex Ads to be Reinstated - An outdoor advertising company has reversed its controversial decision to pull down safe-sex awareness signs featuring a hugging, gay couple.

Adshel, which copped widespread criticism over the removal of the signs from Brisbane bus shelters, announced this afternoon the signs would be reinstated after accepting complaints had been “orchestrated” by the Australian Christian Lobby.

'Why the fuss?' asks poster star

“Adshel earlier responded to a series of complaints by removing the campaign from its media panels yesterday,” the company said in a statement on its website this afternoon.

“None of the complaints indicated any liaison with the ACL, so Adshel was made to believe that they originated from individual members of the public.”

Adshel chief executive Steve McCarthy said it was now clear that Adshel had been the target of a co-ordinated ACL campaign against the “Rip and Roll” advertisements designed by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities.

“This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect,” he said.

This safe sex advertisement has been pulled from Brisbane bus shelters after the Australian Christian Lobby complained it was offensive.

ACL Queensland director Wendy Francis, who earlier said there had been a co-ordinated attempt to have the ads removed, condemned the decision to reinstate the ads.

Ms Francis denied she led an orchestrated ACL campaign against the billboards, saying she had personally raised concern about the ads on her Facebook page promoting G-rated outdoor advertising and contacted her friends about the issue. She blasted the decision to reinstate the ads as a “loss for our children” but said it reflected people power.

“I really think people power is what is winning in this particular case and it’s who’s got the most people complaining about it,” she told this website.

“I think people would be supportive of the message it [the advertisement] is promoting but I don’t think ... people want safe-sex messaging placed on bus shelters where schoolchildren wait for the bus.

“The message is OK, the placement of the message is not OK.”

Ms Francis was last year forced to apologise publicly after a Tweet likening gay marriage to legalising child abuse. Then a Family First candidate for the Senate, she claimed the tweet was sent from her office, but not by her.

Earlier today, about 30 people attended a protest, organised on Twitter and Facebook in a matter of hours, to condemn the company’s decision to pull down posters from the Rip and Roll anti-HIV campaign.

Led by Queensland Association for Healthy Communities general manager Paul Martin, the group appealed to executives inside the Adshel office to come forward and apologise, replace the posters and offer some compensation.

Mr Martin said the total spend for the campaign, which included billboards on Goa sites as well as the contested AdShel bus shelter locations, was about $60,000.

About $45,000 of that budget went to the Adshel campaign, which was due to end in a matter of days.

“We actually only booked the campaign for two weeks, that’s all the time we had money for,” Mr Martin said.

The adverts feature a black and white image of a gay couple embracing, holding an unopened red condom packet. It includes the website address and hotline for Healthy Communities, which has been receiving state government funding for sexual health promotion since 1988.

Earlier, an Adshel spokeswoman defended its decision to remove the posters and denied it had been lobbied by the Australian Christian Lobby, saying it responded to a “series of individual complaints”.

“The decision to remove the posters was made on the basis of the large number of complaints received,” she said in a statement.

“Adshel does not take a position regarding the views or position of various community groups.”

Treasurer Andrew Fraser said ACL needed to get with the times.

‘‘Check the calendar, it’s 2011,’’ he said. ‘‘I think we should call it for what it is and this is basic homophobia.

‘‘These ads have been a part of public programs for a long time, they serve a public interest.

‘‘Anyone who suggests that these are explicit I think is not telling the truth.’’

Earlier, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh leant her support to the Rip and Roll campaign on Twitter by retweeting a comment from a Gold Coast resident who stated: “Dear #adshel, thousands of united Australians are stronger than a handful of homophobes. RT [retweet] if you agree #ripnroll.”

Advertising Standards Bureau chief executive Fiona Jolly said the organisation had no part in the removal of the advertisements, saying it had so far acted only as “conduit” for complaints.

Ms Jolly said complaints received by the bureau were passed on to the advertiser, but not the owner of the advertising space, in this case Adshel.

“We made the advertiser aware of complaints as they come in, but the advertiser isn’t obliged to remove an ad unless the board decides that the ad breaches community standards,” she said.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said he personally had no issue with the campaign, which took place on Brisbane City Council-owned infrastructure.

"It is my job to represent the whole of this city. It’s a broad city, and I think the message of health is an important message," Cr Quirk said.

“Was the advertising provocative? Well some might suggest that it was but the message is the important thing and I think that the message is very important.”

Queensland Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman was reluctant to weigh into the ad controversy, saying he had not yet seen the signs. However, Mr Newman reminded reporters that he supported legalising gay marriage and called on the community to show tolerance.

“I have a very open mind about these things and I urge other people to be tolerant and open-minded as well,” he said.

Australian Sex Party Queensland Coordinator Rory Killen said homophobia, rather than concern for children, had driven the removal of the advertisements. Healthy Communities said 2010 saw a higher number of people diagnosed with HIV than at any time since testing began in the mid-1980s.

With 65 per cent of those diagnoses among gay men, it was more important than ever to talk openly about safe sex, it said. Brisbane City Council, which owns the bus stop panels, declined to comment on the removal of the advertisements, saying “the council had no involvement in this matter”. ( Sydney Morning Herald )

READ MORE - Safe Sex Ads to be Reinstated

How to Find ET: Look for Signs of Asteroid Mining

How to Find ET: Look for Signs of Asteroid Mining - The preferred method to locate extra terrestrial civilizations is to attempt to pick up the signatures of their radio and/or television signals with radio telescope arrays. But that search has been fruitless since Project Ozma in 1960.

An article in Technology Review points to a paper presented by Duncan Forgan at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Martin Elvis at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., that suggests a different approach to finding ET. Forgan and Elvis suggest looking for evidence of asteroid mining in other solar systems.

The idea is that as a civilization begins to run out of resources necessary to maintain its technology, it will inevitable look off world for those resources. Futurists on our planet have suggested mining the moon and/or the asteroid belt. Thus if signs of such mining can be detected remotely, there is where ET can be found.

"First, moving certain substances from one part of a system to another should produce a chemical signature in the debris ring around a star. We know that debris discs should have certain ratios of elements, which we can measure using spectroscopy. Mining activities would distort these ratios.

"Second, mining ought to change the size distribution of objects in the debris disc. There are various advantages to mining large bodies rather than smaller ones, so the numbers of these should drop artificially in a mined system. At the same time, mining activity can produce large amounts of dust, so this ought to increase.

"What's more, mining is likely to be done close to the home planet so this dust is likely to form in rings nearby. (Imagine our night sky, if this ever happens near Earth.)

"Finally, Forgan and Elvis say there should be a significant thermal signature from mining activities, since dust is likely to absorb and emit thermal energy from the star. So these dust rings should be easily visible."

Of course, both scientists point out that such signatures can also occur naturally. But the detection of such signs would point to the solar system where it is occurring as a candidate for closer study.

Obviously this method would not detect extraterrestrial civilizations that are still bound to its planet, like ours by and large is. Nor would it detect such a civilization that has a readily available Moon, as ours does, to exploit for resources. But it does suggest that there are other ways to detect ET than by the television he watches or the radio he listens to. ( news.yahoo.com )

READ MORE - How to Find ET: Look for Signs of Asteroid Mining

Lost for 2,000 years... Could this be the first portrait of Jesus?

Lost for 2,000 years... Could this be the first portrait of Jesus? - After 2,000 years buried within a cave in the Holy Land, the features are barely distinct as that of a human face.

But Bible historians are trying to determine whether this is the first ever portrait of Jesus Christ.

They are investigating whether the picture, which can still just about be seen to depict a man wearing a crown of thorns, was created in Jesus’s lifetime by those who knew him.

Discovery: The impression on this booklet cover shows what could be the earliest image of Christ

The portrait was found on a lead booklet, slightly smaller than a credit card, which lay undiscovered in a cave in a remote village in Jordan overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

It was part of an astonishing hoard of 70 books found there, each with between five and 15 cast lead pages bound by lead rings.

Historians believe the collection was made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately after his crucifixion. The most convincing evidence that the books are Christian is that one plate appears to show a map of the holy city of Jerusalem featuring crosses outside the city walls.

Precious: This booklet shows what scholars believe to be the map of Christian Jerusalem

And one phrase in the booklets appears to read ‘Saviour of Israel’ in ancient Hebrew.

The discoveries were supposedly made between 2005 and 2007, when a flash flood exposed two nooks inside the cave, containing the booklets, metal plates and scrolls.

The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, believes the booklets were made by Jesus’s followers shortly after his death.

He said: ‘They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls.

‘The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.’

The booklets are currently in the hands of a Bedouin trucker called Hassan Saida who lives in the Arab village of Shibli-Umm Al-Ghanam in Israel. He has refused to sell them but two samples were sent to England and Switzerland for testing.

Mr Saida claims the books, containing cryptic messages in Hebrew and Ancient Greek, have been in his family since they were found by his greatgrandfather. He denies smuggling them out of Jordan.

But there are claims that his Bedouin business partner bought the books from a villager in Jordan five years ago.

The business partner is said to have taken the books over the border to Israel, where Mr Saida believed they had magical properties and that it was his fate to collect as many as he could.

The Jordanian government said it would ‘exert all efforts at every level’ to return the artefacts to Jordan.

David Elkington, a scholar of ancient religious archaeology who is leading a British team trying to get the books to a Jordanian museum, said they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.

One lucky owner: Hassan Saida with some of the artefacts that he says he inherited

Discovery: The cave in Jordan where the metal books where found

Masterpiece: Later versions of Christ, including Leonardo Da Vinci's interpretation in his fresco The Last Supper, give Jesus similar characteristics ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Lost for 2,000 years... Could this be the first portrait of Jesus?

Could lead codices prove ‘the major discovery of Christian history’?

Could lead codices prove ‘the major discovery of Christian history’? - British archaeologists are seeking to authenticate what could be a landmark discovery in the documentation of early Christianity: a trove of 70 lead codices that appear to date from the 1st century CE, which may include key clues to the last days of Jesus' life. As UK Daily Mail reporter Fiona Macrae writes, some researchers are suggesting this could be the most significant find in Christian archeology since the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947.

The codices turned up five years ago in a remote cave in eastern Jordan—a region where early Christian believers may have fled after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The codices are made up of wirebound individual pages, each roughly the size of a credit card. They contain a number of images and textual allusions to the Messiah, as well as some possible references to the crucifixion and resurrection. Some of the codices were sealed, prompting yet more breathless speculation that they could include the sealed book, shown only to the Messiah, mentioned in the Book of Revelation. One of the few sentences translated thus far from the texts, according to the BBC, reads, "I shall walk uprightly"--a phrase that also appears in Revelation. "While it could be simply a sentiment common in Judaism," BBC writer Robert Pigott notes, "it could here be designed to refer to the resurrection."

But the field of biblical archaeology is also prey to plenty of hoaxes and enterprising fraudsters, so investigators are proceeding with due empirical caution. Initial metallurgical research indicates that the codices are about 2,000 years old--based on the manner of corrosion they have undergone, which, as Macrae writes, "experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially."

Beyond the initial dating tests, however, little is confirmed about the codices or what they contain. And the saga of their discovery has already touched off a battle over ownership rights between Israel and Jordan. As the BBC's Pigott recounts, the cache surfaced when a Jordanian Bedouin saw a menorah—the Jewish religious candleabra—exposed in the wake of a flash flood. But the codices somehow passed into the ownership of an Israeli Bedouin named Hassam Saeda, who claims that they have been in his family's possession for the past 100 years. The Jordanian government has pledged to "exert all efforts at every level" to get the potentially priceless relics returned, Pigott reports.

Meanwhile, biblical scholars who have examined the codices point to significant textual evidence suggesting their early Christian origin. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of Old Testament Studies at Sheffield University, told Pigott he was "dumbstruck" at the sight of plates representing a picture map of ancient Jerusalem. "There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city," Davies explained. "There are walls depicted on other pages of these books, too, and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem."

David Elkington, an ancient religion scholar who heads the British research team investigating the find, has likewise pronounced this nothing less than "the major discovery of Christian history." Elkington told the Daily Mail that "it is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church."

Still, other students of early Christian history are urging caution, citing precedents such as the debunked discovery of an ossuary said to contain Jesus' bones. New Testament scholar Larry Hurtado observes that since these codices are miniature, they were likely intended for private, rather than liturgical, use. This would likely place their date of origin closer to the 3rd century CE. But only further research and full translation of the codices can fully confirm the nature of the find. The larger lesson here is likely that of Eccliastes 3:1—be patient, since "to everything there is a season." ( news.yahoo.com )

READ MORE - Could lead codices prove ‘the major discovery of Christian history’?

What About Prince William's Wedding Outfit?

What About Prince William's Wedding Outfit? - There's been a lot of talk about what Kate Middleton will wear to her wedding to Prince William. The topic is starting to get tired as no week goes by that a newspaper, magazine or blog devotes considerable column inches to what the royalty-in-waiting would wear for her walk down the aisle. I understand the general fascination because there hasn't been a royal union of this magnitude since the groom's parent's wedding.

But what about some attention on the prince? Save for the ring he chose for the engagement and the piece in The New York Times on Prince William's crowning glory, or shall I say his quickly diminishing crowning glory, there hasn't been much news about the groom.

Why isn't there any speculation as to what he would wear when he says "I do"? Is men's fashion really so boring that no one's taking bets on the prince's wedding wardrobe?

Prince Charles wore his officer's uniform to Diana's wedding and given Prince William's rank in the Royal Air Force, he might just don his uniform. But that sounds rather dull and stiff. Maybe Burberry, the banner designer label of the United Kingdom, can make a fashion version of the Royal Air Force regalia since the house's designer Christopher Bailey is clearly inspired by the military trend.

Kate and William are young and to members of my generation who will be witnessing their first royal wedding (we were too young to really appreciate the Diana-Charles nuptials), they represent the new face monarchy. One that is respectful to tradition but is not afraid to shake things up and create their own traditions. Kind of like the Obamas at the White House but younger and hopefully, more irreverent.

With this premise in mind, I'd like for Prince William to surprise us with his wedding suit. He could borrow from Edward VIII's sartorial playbook. The style of the Duke of Windsor remains a minefield of inspirations for many designers to this day and it'll be great to see Prince William's interpretation. Will he wear tails as the abdicated King did when he married Wallis Simpson or would he pick a shawl-collared lounge suit? Or maybe some light tweeds in that Old English fashion if the couple are to really break tradition and Kate Middleton decides to wear a sleek wraparound dress from Issa or a tailored sheath from Victoria Beckham instead of a princess ball gown.

Or should Prince William wear mainstream British designers? Dunhill would be a good choice since it has reinvented itself into producing more contemporary fashion with nods to classic British style. And what about something from Paul Smith? Surely the designer can make a bespoke suit with his signature flourish of prints and colors for the prince in keeping with spring trends. Ozwald Boateng and Richard James on Savile Row would also be able to outfit the Prince in a modern and sleek suit perhaps even in a shade that is not the usual black, gray or navy to make him look current and off-the-runway. Except for the balding head, Prince William has the frame and looks of a male model.

Burberry Prorsum would be a sensible choice as it is the banner. Bailey has been known to custom-make tuxedos for Hollywood celebrities for red carpet events. Prince William and his wedding trumps even the most A-list of actors and awards ceremonies. Burberry should start knocking on the royal door, if they haven't already.

But given the UK's budget problems and its adoption of austerity measures, perhaps the prince should become a model of frugality and pick something that is less lofty and more democratic like Marks & Spencer, Topshop or even Ted Baker, the poor man's Paul Smith. Or he can mix high fashion with the high street as most Brits are wont to do. I know the royal family is supposed to represent aspiration and fantasy, but won't Prince William become more relevant to a younger generation, who no longer pays much attention to blue bloods and the ruling class, if he adopted the fashion statement of mixing designer pieces with mass-market products? This is a movement started by the young Brits after all.

But whatever Prince William -- and his bride -- elects to wear on April 29, we should all try not to project so much hidden meaning and symbolism into their clothes as many have been doing with Michelle Obama's wardrobe choices. Most of the time, it is really all just about what looks good on the wearer. It's fashion. Let's not take it too seriously. ( .huffingtonpost.com )

READ MORE - What About Prince William's Wedding Outfit?

'Hollywood sex' reason for rise in Viagra prescriptions

'Hollywood sex' reason for rise in Viagra prescriptions. Couples aiming for 'Hollywood sex' are believed to be behind a 20 per cent rise in the number of Viagra prescriptions.

Shows such as Entourage are altering people's attitudes to sex Photo: Getty

Experts believe that scenes from films and TV have meant more men contact their GP when it comes to sexual intercourse.

The rise in Viagra costs the NHS £70 million for the two million doses of the little blue pills that are dispensed, a rise of £40 million in six years.

It means around 30,000 tablets are popped every night to help create a chemical enhanced stir beneath the sheets.

Frank Furedi, a sociologist at Kent University, said: "We live in a world where there is no longer naïve fumbling behind the bushes or that sense or learning from experience. Sex has been fundamentally changed.

"There was a time when people got sex advice from their friends but now the attitudes and images of sex come straight from Hollywood – such as Sex In The City and Entourage – and they make people expect the best.

"There is quite a lot of research now that Viagra is used as a recreational drug to enhance performance. Men use it to overcome performance anxiety and also women use it, although the jury is still out on whether they get extra pleasure from using it."

According to guidelines, Viagra should only be prescribed to men who have other underlying health problems or who are suffering "severe stress" from being impotent.

Despite the Government restrictions on who should get the drug some of the recent increase has been put down to a more liberal approach to the prescribing guidelines to stop men being poisoned by fake Viagra, which is normally sold online.

In the last 12 months the number of Viagra prescriptions has gone from 1.85 million to two million meaning the cost to the NHS has risen from £59m to £70m.

The figures were released from the Prescription Pricing Authority which bills all 150 Primary Care Trusts in England for the drugs their GPs prescribe.

A study of the individual health areas shows the biggest users of Viagra are patients in Hastings and Rother, in Sussex, as well as Halton and St Helens, in Merseyside. These two health areas spend more than £2 for every patient on their roll on Viagra.

At the bottom of the league table comes three London health areas that all spend less than 90p per patient on Viagra. These are Barking & Dagenham (87p), Richmond & Twickenham (81p) and Kingston (78p). ( telegraph.co.uk )

READ MORE - 'Hollywood sex' reason for rise in Viagra prescriptions

Nasa discovers 'significant amount' of water on the moon

Nasa discovers 'significant amount' of water on the moon. Nasa has found 'a significant amount' of water inside a crater on the Moon in a discovery that could pave the way for the first manned lunar base.

The agency announced that last month's audacious attempt to smash two spacecraft into the Moon's rocky surface to find ice was a major success.

The £49million bombing raid threw up a mile-high plume of dust - which included chunks of ice locked away in a deep crater at the lunar south pole. The bottom of the crater had not seen sunlight for billions of years.

Impact: This Nasa image shows the flash of light as the rocket struck the lunar surface last month. Scientists today revealed they found a 'significant' amount of water in the debris

The revelation may bring closer the day when mankind creates a permanent lunar base, using the water buried in the rocks to drink and generate hydrogen fuel.

A spokesman for Nasa said last night: 'The discovery-opens a new chapter in our understanding of the Moon.'

There were fears that last month's experiment had failed when the collision of the two spacecraft failed to produce the expected six-mile-high cloud of dust. Live pictures relayed from the Moon showed no sign of an impact, even though the crafts crashed as planned.

But yesterday, Nasa experts who studied the data said instruments trained on the impact saw a significant amount of water vapour.

Dr Anthony Colaprete, from NASA's Ames Research Centre, said: 'Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount. We are ecstatic.'

Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at Nasa headquarters in Washington, added: 'We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbour and by extension the solar system.

'It turns out the moon harbours many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding.'

Space enthusiasts in California watched the mission live last month

The LCROSS mission, which took place on October 9, was watched by millions across the globe live on the internet.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the moon's southern pole, at around 5,600mph, and was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact.

Over the last decade, scientists have found some hints of underground ice on the moon's poles, but this is the best evidence yet.

The discovery is expected to have major implications for the future of lunar exploration, and a ready supply of water could facilitate lunar bases.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who in 1969 made his historic Apollo 11 moonwalk with Neil Armstrong, was pleased to hear the latest discovery, but still believes the U.S. should focus on colonizing Mars.

'People will overreact to this news and say, 'Let's have a water rush to the moon,"' Aldrin said. 'It doesn't justify that.'

Mission scientists said it would take more time to tease out what else was kicked up in the moon dust.

This is the first image of the moon taken from the satellite on its approach last month. Two Nasa spacecraft then barrelled towards the moon at twice the speed of a bullet

( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Nasa discovers 'significant amount' of water on the moon

The spectacular clouds

The spectacular clouds that look as if they were sculpted out of the sky. They drift through the atmosphere, looking as if they have been elaborately sculpted by an artist from above.

The fleecy white clouds that usually litter the sky like cotton wool have been carved into waves and volcanoes and shapes of extraordinary beauty.

Cumulus Clouds blanket the skies

From swirling Lenticular clouds to pouch shaped Mammatus clouds these are some of the rarest formations known to meteorologists.

Clouds are visible mass of droplets, suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body.

Roll clouds loom over Sydney, Australia

A Shiveluch Volcano cloud erupts in the atmosphere

Generally they consist of water droplets, ice crystals or a mixture of both, and the shapes of the various cloud forms are caused by a number of factors such as temperature, the ratio of water and ice, the altitude of the cloud and the windspeeds within it.

The exact forms are also governed by a complex interplay of wind, rising and falling air, and changes in humidity and density.

Classified into four categories (High Level, Mid-Level, Low-level and Vertically developed), meteorologists use clouds to predict climate and weather patterns and even studying the impact of global warming.

A Sarchev Volcano eruption cloud bursts out of the sky with brown fumes

A Kelvin Helmholz Wave cloud drifts across the sky at sunset

The Mammatus clouds, the strange globular clouds pictured below, which resemble drops of oil poured into a murky pond, appear to herald the appearance of an alien spacecraft, here to cause havoc.

In fact, it is a rare but perfectly natural (and perfectly harmless, provided you do not try to fly through it in light aircraft) meteorological phenomenon.

Mammatus clouds are a sign of the massive quantities of water vapour that are held in the languid summer air

Strange clouds such as these are probably behind one of the most perplexing phenomena of modern times - the UFO sighting.

Earlier this year, the Cloud Appreciation Club, launched 'The Cloud Collector's Handbook' to enable cloud-spotters to identify rare and unusual formations. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - The spectacular clouds

Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive

Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive. It took just six months for a warm and sunny Europe to be engulfed in ice, according to new research.

Previous studies have suggested the arrival of the last Ice Age nearly 13,000 years ago took about a decade - but now scientists believe the process was up to 20 times as fast.

In scenes reminiscent of the Hollywood blockbuster The day After Tomorrow, the Northern Hemisphere was frozen by a sudden slowdown of the Gulf Stream, which allowed ice to spread hundreds of miles southwards from the Arctic.

Climate catastrophe: Rapid climate change was the subject of the Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow

Geological sciences professor William Patterson, who led the research, said: 'It would have been very sudden for those alive at the time. It would be the equivalent of taking Britain and moving it to the Arctic over the space of a few months.'

Professor Patterson's findings emerged from one of the most painstaking studies of climate changes ever attempted and reinforce the theory that the earth's climate is unstable and can switch between warm and cold incredibly quickly.

His conclusions, published in New Scientist, are based on a study of mud deposits extracted from a lake in Western Ireland, Lough Monreagh - a region he describes as having the 'best mud in the world in scientific terms'.

Professor Patterson used a precision robotic scalpel to scrape off layers of mud just 0.5mm thick. Each layer represented three months of sediment deposition, so variations between them could be used to measure changes in temperature over very short periods.

He found that temperatures had plummeted, with the lake's plants and animals rapidly dying over just a few months.

Stark warming: An iceberg melts off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. Some scientists believe that if the Greenland ice caps melt, an Ice Age could hit within months

The subsequent mini Ice Age lasted for 1,300 years and was probably caused by the sudden emptying of Lake Agassiz in Canada, which burst its banks and poured freezing freshwater into the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

That would have disrupted the Gulf Stream - the flows of which depend on variations in saline levels and temperature - and allowed the ice to take hold.

Some scientists believe that if the Greenland ice cap melts it could disrupt the world's ocean currents and have a similarly dramatic effect. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive

It's all in the stars!

It's all in the stars! Forest park in Scotland named one of the world's best for stargazing. By day, it is a huge area of dense woodland and rolling hills. But by night, the Galloway Forest Park in Scotland is alight with a plethora of stars.

The park, in southern Scotland, has been recognised for its spectacular views and now named one of the best places in the world to stargaze.

It is the first park in the UK - and indeed Europe - to be awarded the title of Dark Sky Park and one of just four around the globe.

It's in the stars: This image of the night sky above Galloway Forest Park appears circular as it was created with a special 'fisheye' lens. The park has been voted one of the best places for stargazing in the world

The award, presented by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), recognises the quality of the night sky in the area, where light pollution is minimal.

The pitch-black sky makes it easy to see distant galaxies such as the Milky Way and Andromeda.

Until now, there have been only three other Dark Sky Parks in the world - the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah, the Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania and the Geauga Park in Ohio.

The IDA said the new addition was a 'fantastic asset' for the network of such parks.

Martin Morgan-Taylor, UK board member for the IDA, said: 'A core aim in creating such a park is to identify and honour protected public lands with exceptional commitment to, and success in implementing, the ideals of dark sky restoration and preservation.

'Its location is ideally situated for access from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and northern England, meaning that many people, including children, may have access to a quality night sky, both now and in generations to come.

'Such skies are rapidly disappearing and less than 10% of people in the UK can now see the Milky Way from where they live.'

As part of the selection process, the quality of sky above the park was measured using a sky quality meter.

The darkest reading, such as that in a photographer's darkroom, would be 24, while a likely reading in a major city would be 15 or 16. Galloway Forest Park was rated 23 on the scale.

The sky at night: The views from Galloway Forest Park are stunning

While in a city such as Glasgow one would see 500 stars at the most on a good night, above Galloway Forest Park one could expect to see as many as 7,000.

The park, established in 1947, covers 300 square miles (185,329 acres) and is the largest of its kind in the UK, Forestry Commission Scotland said.

Light pollution is kept to a minimum because of the limited number of buildings within the park's boundary.

Forestry Commission Scotland submitted an application for dark sky status six weeks ago, and the IDA decided it merited the award at its AGM in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend

Forestry bosses said they were delighted with the result. Keith Muir, Forestry Commission Scotland's head of tourism and recreation in Galloway, said: 'We have boldly gone where no-one in the UK has gone before.

'I'm so pleased that everyone's support and hard work has paid off. The award is a massive feather in Galloway's cap.'

Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham said: 'Understandably all those involved in this innovative project are over the moon and I'm thrilled for them and for Scotland.

'The award is great news for putting Galloway Forest Park firmly in the spotlight and for attracting more tourists to the area.' ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - It's all in the stars!