Teenagers Behaving like Vampires? – Light Aversion Makes Sense
Teenagers Behaving like Vampires? –
Light Aversion Makes Sense
Do you have a teenager, or do you remember having one? If so you’ll know all about light aversion. They rise late, at the crack of 2 o’clock, or later, bleary eyed and grumpy. It is biological in many ways and not just slovenly teenagedom. It seems that you can’t grow except while you sleep so teens are sleepy by nature. And it seems that excess light adversely affects lots of wildlife, not just your kids. Now a bunch of Scottish-based scientists have been involved in a study of how light adversely affects the behaviour of deep sea animals. Working out of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban two teams from the nation and Norway carried out the research in the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean. The ship they were working went ’dark’ and a "super sensitive light sensor" developed at SAMS and echo sounders to detect the presence of organisms, including tiny zooplankton and fish. The little beasties reacted to even the smallest amount of light, often veering away from the source. They don’t like it.
The Darkest Places on Earth
Light and its absence is very important in the sea as it dictates how marine organisms behave. Light makes it easier for predators to find their victim. SAMS said it hoped the research would allow scientists to better predict how an increase in light penetrating the Arctic Ocean as sea ice cover is depleted will impact on marine life. In the winter light is in very short supply in those regions and this is one of the darkest surface areas of the ocean, so any change in that will have big ramifications on sea life down to depths of 200 metres. And the sea is incredibly important to our planet.
The Ancient Beauty of Glass
And light is in a way is the theme of all glassware. The lovely translucence of fine glass is one of the wonders of human technology, even though the first man-made glass was developed as early as the Ancient Egyptians. And to give a nod to this ancient beauty of glass we have developed the beautiful Royal Scot Crystal - Jacobean Air Twist - 2 Flower of Scotland Thistle Port or Sherry Glass in a gift box. This is a glass inspired by the great makers of the 17th and 18th century and is hand cut intaglio and half price at the moment. I think it is a delightful work.
