The Daily: December 4
'Mamil' one of 1,000 new words added to the free Oxford online dictionary
In its largest ever quarterly update, www.OxfordDictionaries.com has added a host of new words to its website, the free online dictionary. The words include 'mamil', which stands for middle-aged man in Lycra, 'silvertail', meaning a person who is socially prominent or who displays social aspirations, and 'al desko', a humorous adjective referring to eating while at one's desk in the office. Yesterday Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: "One of the benefits of our unique language monitoring programme is that it enables us to track in detail how English language evolves over relatively short periods of time." However, some of the new entries, such as 'fone' and 'tomoz' (informal versions of 'phone' and 'tomorrow' respectively) have been criticised because they risk encouraging children to spell common words incorrectly.
How old do you think Santa is?
Revealing children's perceptions of age, the survey by older people's charity, Anchor, asked over 1,450 children aged five to 11 how old they think Santa is. It turned out that one in ten (10%) kids think Father Christmas is under the age of 50. Four per cent of those surveyed guessed that Santa is in his twenties – making the Christmas figure only slightly older than pop star Harry Styles, 20. Youngsters seem to have a better grip of pop culture as when asked the age of this famous One Direction star, the majority (53%) correctly stated that he is in his twenties. When asked to guess Santa's age, nearly a third (32%) revealed they believe Saint Nick is over 200 years old. And over half (54%) think that he is at least 100 years old. Mario Ambrosi, Head of Corporate Affairs at Anchor said: "Maybe Harry Styles can take some direction from Santa to maintain his global success!"
Sophie the Stegosaurus has a new home at London's Natural History Museum
Sophie the Stegosaurus, the world's most complete example of the recognisable dinosaur, has been relocated to the Earth Hall at the Natural History Museum. Sophie (so named after the daughter of the hedge fund manager whose donation made the acquisition possible) has 85 percent of her skeleton intact, which means the features for which the dinosaur is famous, the large plates on its back and the four spear-like horns on the edge of its tail, are clearly visible. The bones have been scanned and a computer model created, which will help scientists to learn about the creature's weight, eating habits and walk. They also hope to uncover information concerning the animal's spinal plates.
Meanwhile, the oldest known shell to have been engraved by an early human has been uncovered in a Dutch museum collection, where it has remained unnoticed since the 1930s. The shell is considerably older than the oldest geometric engravings described so far. Its discovery suggests that engraving abstract patterns was in the realm of Asian Homo erectus' cognition and neuromotor control- making our ancestors more intelligent than previously thought.
Goats have emotions too
It is normally difficult to tell whether an animal is content in its surroundings, but scientists at Queen Mary University of London think they have now discovered how goats express their emotions. These findings could give farmers further insight into the well-being of their stock and also boost welfare. The researchers believe the animals express contentment with a stable bleat and small ear movements. Goats were more likely to point their ears forward and keep their tails up when in a positive state. These subtle indicators can tell us whether goats are experiencing an environment in a positive or negative way, and the environment can be adapted accordingly.
On a sadder note, other research has found that it's possible to hear the sound of coral reefs perishing. Researchers from the universities of Essex and Exeter recorded noise levels in healthy and declining reefs in the Philippines. They found that noise levels dropped by two thirds as creatures died. As well as being an indicator to how much the environment is declining, the weaker noise levels themselves have an effect on surrounding species. Fish larvae use sound to find their way to reefs, but because the volume is dropping they can only detect them from short distances. Hopefully these findings will help put the pressure on in the fight to save the reefs.
A world auction record for Turner painting
One of the last great Turner masterpieces remaining in private hands set a world auction record for the artist last night, Sotheby's said. Rome, From Mount Aventine sold for £30.3m including buyer's premium, easily beating its estimate of £15-20m. The result also represents the highest price for any pre-20th century British artist ever sold at auction. Four buyers competed for the work, driving the price ever higher, before it was bought by one of them on the phone to the central London saleroom. The auction coincided with a wider moment of interest in JMW Turner, with a groundbreaking exhibition at Tate Britain and Mike Leigh's film Mr Turner starring Timothy Spall. Painted in 1835 and exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year, when Turner was 61, the painting is seen as one of the artist's supreme achievements and arguably the most important view of Rome ever painted.
In its largest ever quarterly update, www.OxfordDictionaries.com has added a host of new words to its website, the free online dictionary. The words include 'mamil', which stands for middle-aged man in Lycra, 'silvertail', meaning a person who is socially prominent or who displays social aspirations, and 'al desko', a humorous adjective referring to eating while at one's desk in the office. Yesterday Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: "One of the benefits of our unique language monitoring programme is that it enables us to track in detail how English language evolves over relatively short periods of time." However, some of the new entries, such as 'fone' and 'tomoz' (informal versions of 'phone' and 'tomorrow' respectively) have been criticised because they risk encouraging children to spell common words incorrectly.
How old do you think Santa is?
Revealing children's perceptions of age, the survey by older people's charity, Anchor, asked over 1,450 children aged five to 11 how old they think Santa is. It turned out that one in ten (10%) kids think Father Christmas is under the age of 50. Four per cent of those surveyed guessed that Santa is in his twenties – making the Christmas figure only slightly older than pop star Harry Styles, 20. Youngsters seem to have a better grip of pop culture as when asked the age of this famous One Direction star, the majority (53%) correctly stated that he is in his twenties. When asked to guess Santa's age, nearly a third (32%) revealed they believe Saint Nick is over 200 years old. And over half (54%) think that he is at least 100 years old. Mario Ambrosi, Head of Corporate Affairs at Anchor said: "Maybe Harry Styles can take some direction from Santa to maintain his global success!"
Sophie the Stegosaurus has a new home at London's Natural History Museum
Sophie the Stegosaurus, the world's most complete example of the recognisable dinosaur, has been relocated to the Earth Hall at the Natural History Museum. Sophie (so named after the daughter of the hedge fund manager whose donation made the acquisition possible) has 85 percent of her skeleton intact, which means the features for which the dinosaur is famous, the large plates on its back and the four spear-like horns on the edge of its tail, are clearly visible. The bones have been scanned and a computer model created, which will help scientists to learn about the creature's weight, eating habits and walk. They also hope to uncover information concerning the animal's spinal plates.
Meanwhile, the oldest known shell to have been engraved by an early human has been uncovered in a Dutch museum collection, where it has remained unnoticed since the 1930s. The shell is considerably older than the oldest geometric engravings described so far. Its discovery suggests that engraving abstract patterns was in the realm of Asian Homo erectus' cognition and neuromotor control- making our ancestors more intelligent than previously thought.
Goats have emotions too
It is normally difficult to tell whether an animal is content in its surroundings, but scientists at Queen Mary University of London think they have now discovered how goats express their emotions. These findings could give farmers further insight into the well-being of their stock and also boost welfare. The researchers believe the animals express contentment with a stable bleat and small ear movements. Goats were more likely to point their ears forward and keep their tails up when in a positive state. These subtle indicators can tell us whether goats are experiencing an environment in a positive or negative way, and the environment can be adapted accordingly.
On a sadder note, other research has found that it's possible to hear the sound of coral reefs perishing. Researchers from the universities of Essex and Exeter recorded noise levels in healthy and declining reefs in the Philippines. They found that noise levels dropped by two thirds as creatures died. As well as being an indicator to how much the environment is declining, the weaker noise levels themselves have an effect on surrounding species. Fish larvae use sound to find their way to reefs, but because the volume is dropping they can only detect them from short distances. Hopefully these findings will help put the pressure on in the fight to save the reefs.
A world auction record for Turner painting
One of the last great Turner masterpieces remaining in private hands set a world auction record for the artist last night, Sotheby's said. Rome, From Mount Aventine sold for £30.3m including buyer's premium, easily beating its estimate of £15-20m. The result also represents the highest price for any pre-20th century British artist ever sold at auction. Four buyers competed for the work, driving the price ever higher, before it was bought by one of them on the phone to the central London saleroom. The auction coincided with a wider moment of interest in JMW Turner, with a groundbreaking exhibition at Tate Britain and Mike Leigh's film Mr Turner starring Timothy Spall. Painted in 1835 and exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year, when Turner was 61, the painting is seen as one of the artist's supreme achievements and arguably the most important view of Rome ever painted.