They must not be cooked in ways which destroy their nutritional value. Cooking is important for how nutrition is processed and used in our body. This is called bio-accessibility, Frølich says. She has a lot of good advice for eating with sense. Frølich is project leader for a long-running research project supported by the Research Council of Norway of which the aim is to get young men to improve their eating habits.

Frølich has shown how important it is that the food is prepared and stored in such a way that the nutritional ingredients are present and accessible when the food is to be eaten. A lot disappears during cooking. For vegetables and potatoes the best advice is: Steam boil in little water and over a short time. Serve the vegetables as soon as possible after preparation.

Cooking in a microwave oven seems to be as good as steam boiling, if not better. Frying vegetables in a pan destroys the nutritional value the most. Neither the raw materials nor the cooked food should be stored too long. It is therefore advantageous to have a short way between producer and consumer. Lettuce loses the folat more quickly if it is stored in light and at room temperature. Vegetables should therefore quickly be put into the refrigerator and stored under dark and cool conditions.

Many people, and women in particular, buy readymade vegetarian dishes in order to eat healthily. Unfortunately the tests show that that such dishes get a low folat content, which is a nutrition substance important for women. In rice dishes there is normally little folat while in potatoes and couscous, which comes from wheat, there are larger quantities.

There is a clear connection between eating lots of vegetables, fruit and grain products and the risk of a series of illnesses like some forms of cancer and heart and vascular diseases. These nutrients seem to influence our genes, Wenche Frølich says, and gives us this piece of advice: Eat food, not pills and dietary supplements. Supplements may be downright harmful. And the general rules still apply: Reduce the quantity of food, practice variation, which means as many kinds of food as possible.

For many years the spruce tree has been regarded as a relative newcomer in the Swedish mountain region. ”Our results have shown the complete opposite, that the spruce is one of the oldest known trees in the mountain range,” says Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umeå University in Sweden.

A fascinating discovery was made under the crown of a spruce in Fulu Mountain in Dalarna. Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from the highest grounds. The discovery showed trees of 375, 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years old and everything displayed clear signs that they have the same genetic makeup as the trees above them. Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones. The tree now growing above the finding place and the wood pieces dating 9,550 years have the same genetic material. It has been tested by carbon-14 dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA. Previously, pine trees in North America have been cited as the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

In the Swedish mountains, from Lapland in the North to Dalarna in the South, scientists have found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old. Although summers have been colder over the past 10,000 years, these trees have survived harsh weather conditions due to their ability to push out another trunk as the other one died. “The average increase in temperature during the summers over the past hundred years has risen one degree in the mountain areas,” explains Leif Kullman. Therefore, we can now see that these spruces have begun to straighten themselves out. There is also evidence that spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change.

The ability of spruces to survive harsh conditions also presents other questions for researchers. Have the spruces actually migrated here during the Ice Age as seeds from the east 1,000 kilometres over the inland ice that covered Scandinavia? Do they really originate from the east, as taught in schools? “My research indicates that spruces have spent winters in places west or southwest of Norway where the climate was not as harsh in order to later quickly spread northerly along the ice-free coastal strip,” says Leif Kullman. “In some way they have also successfully found their way to the Swedish mountains.”

On the site you will find one of the country’s top nutritionists, Juliette Kellow, on hand to answer online questions about red meat and its role in a balanced diet.

Juliette says: “People feel bombarded with health information these days. So often they are not sure what information is correct and what is not – especially when it comes to a universally popular food like red meat.”

“There are so many choices to be made during the weekly shop, I hope that my advice will put people’s minds at rest and reassure consumers and health care professionals that they can make the right nutritional choices for both their families and their patients.”

Meatandhealth.com has been at the forefront of information for healthcare professionals and consumers for more than ten years. It produces a range of popular resources to improve health information including Getting the Balance Right, the Good Fat Guide and Nutrition for Nurses.

Juliette also recently edited Meatandhealth.com’s Red Meateorite: blasting away the myths about red meat – which contains a series of quirky and serious facts about red meat, its history and current role in the diet.

Staying in the 1,000 year old town of Bautzen, with excursions to Dresden Christmas Market, Meissen Porcelain factory, visit to the famous Colditz Castle and much more. Organised by ex RAF Linguist,
Visit www.kpholidays.com

Foldit is the first protein-folding project which capitalises
on people’s natural 3-D problem-solving skills. Researchers are trying to use the brain power of people all around the world to advance biomedical research and asking volunteers to participate in this study.

Slice off the crown and remove all the flesh. This is essential as this material will rot in the soil. Leave on a windowsill to dry overnight. Pull away several layers of the smaller bottom leaves. You should see tiny rootlets hidden between the leaves and these are the beginnings of the proper roots.

The exposed core of the pineapple is then planted into a pot of well drained sandy compost. Water moderately and place in a light spot away from direct sunlight and protect from draughts.

For the first few weeks water sparingly. Around 4 to 6 weeks later the plant should have started growing proper roots. Pot on as necessary.

the rest came in from sales of rag rugs made by Mrs Flint over the year.

Attractions included a variety of stalls selling cakes, fondant fillies, hand-crafted cards and plants as well as competitions. The raffle’s lst prize, a watercolour of Mount St Bernard Abbey painted by local artist Janet Worth, was won by Mary Lee from Nuneaton.

The garden party was visited by BBC Radio Leicester’s Bridget Blair, who reported live on the event and interviewed several of the visitors.

This is the fourth year running that Mrs Flint has supported the Rainbows Hospice and over the years has raised £4,000 in support of the charity. She expressed her heartfelt thanks to her family and friends whose help on the day is invaluable.

The giant landslide centred at Köfels in Austria is 500m thick and five kilometres in diameter and has long been a mystery since geologists first looked at it in the 19th century. The conclusion drawn by research in the middle 20th century was that it must be due to a very large meteor impact because of the evidence of crushing pressures and explosions. But this view lost favour as a much better understanding of impact sites developed in the late 20th century. In the case of Köfels there is no crater, so to modern eyes it does not look as an impact site should look. However, the evidence that puzzled the earlier researchers remains unexplained by the view that it is just another landslide.

This new research by Alan Bond, Managing Director of Reaction Engines Ltd and Mark Hempsell, Senior Lecturer in Astronautics at Bristol University, brings the impact theory back into play. It centres on another 19th century mystery, a Cuneiform tablet in the British Museum collection No K8538 (known as “the Planisphere”). It was found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the Royal Place at Nineveh, and was made by an Assyrian scribe around 700 BC. It is an astronomical work as it has drawings of constellations on it and the text has known constellation names. It has attracted a lot of attention but in over a hundred years nobody has come up with a convincing explanation as to what it is.

With modern computer programmes that can simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago the researchers have established what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on the 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar). Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, the same as any other night, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space. The astronomers made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels.

The observation suggests the asteroid is over a kilometre in diameter and the original orbit about the Sun was an Aten type, a class of asteroid that orbits close to the earth, that is resonant with the Earth’s orbit. This trajectory explains why there is no crater at Köfels. The in coming angle was very low (six degrees) and means the asteroid clipped a mountain called Gamskogel above the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometres from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point. As it travelled down the valley it became a fireball, around five kilometres in diameter (the size of the landslide). When it hit Köfels it created enormous pressures that pulverised the rock and caused the landslide but because it was no longer a solid object it did not create a classic impact crater.

Mark Hempsell, discussing the Köfels event, said: “Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt.

“The ground heating though very short would be enough to ignite any flammable material – including human hair and clothes. It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast”.

Following a busy first two weeks of trading Highcross has now attracted more than one million people since its launch on September 4th. The flagship John Lewis Leicester continues to see a high level of footfall since opening and sales are 29% higher than expected for the first full week. Additionally, fashions and beauty continue to perform well. The Place To Eat is also proving popular with customers, with sales 52% higher than expected.

Many customers have travelled to Highcross Leicester on the hundreds of buses that have stopped at the Causeway Lane bus terminus since launch day.

In addition to the new shops, restaurants and Cinema de Lux, the crowds have also enjoyed a series of dance and music performances at Highcross. Street performers entertained visitors on launch day, and Highcross hosted several dance and musical acts as part of the city’s One Leicester, One Rhythm Dance Festival on Saturday 6th September.

Tom Nathan, General Manager of Highcross Leicester, said: “It’s amazing that one million people have now visited Highcross Leicester! Our customers have been able to indulge in retail therapy, relax in our cafes and restaurants and enjoy the latest films at the Cinema de Lux. Many people have travelled from across Leicestershire to discover what Highcross has to offer, and it has been fantastic to see how much they have enjoyed what they have found.”

For more information, please visit www.highcrossleicester.co.uk.

The Rainbows ‘Building for the Future’ appeal aims to raise the £4 million needed to extend the hospice. The extension will provide more professional facilities and extra bedrooms for our life-limited children and young people. Visitors who attend the open day on 20th September will be able to see a scale model of the building plans and talk to staff about what the project will mean to the people that use the services.

A scale model of how Rainbows will look was kindly constructed by students at De Montfort university of Leicester. It shows what each part of the extension will do. Dana Simons, Appeal Manager for Rainbows said “Building for the Future really is a major project for us. We are excited to have the opportunity to show local people our plans during the open day. This project means so much to Rainbows and we can’t wait until everything is completed.”

Apart from seeing the future plans, guests can walk around the beautiful gardens and enjoy stands including: a tombola, Rainbows’ shop, cakes, garden furniture, plants, refreshments and a barbeque. Everyone is welcome to come along on the 20th September. You can turn up at Lark Rise, Loughborough at any time between 10am and 3.30pm. Directions can be found on Rainbows’ website www.rainbows.co.uk or by calling 0800 952 11 33.