Do Cows Really Lie Down When It's About to Rain?

How can you accurately predict if it’s going to rain? Just check a cow pasture. If all the cows are lying down, a rainstorm is coming — or so this old wives’ tale claims.

Believers have schemed up several different explanations for why our bovine friends would hit the ground in anticipation of a storm, and many of them sound equally plausible. The simplest is that cows can sense increasing air moisture and will plop down to preserve a dry patch of grass. Another theory states that cows lie down to ease their stomachs, which are supposedly sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure brought on by rainfall.

The most complicated explanation suggests that cow legs are micro-porous structures that rapidly absorb moisture. As the relative humidity builds from an oncoming downpour, the cow’s legs will absorb more and more moisture from the air, softening until they can no longer support the weight of the cow.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/22445-do-cows-really-lie-down-when-it-s-about-to-rain.html

Rain 'almost apocalyptic' for wildlife, says National Trust

The UK's recent rainy weather has been "almost apocalyptic" for some wildlife in 2012, the National Trust has said.

Cold, wet conditions have left many bees, bats, birds, butterflies and wildflowers struggling - with next year looking bleak too, it said.

But the National Trust pointed to some of wildlife's winners, including slugs and snails, which have managed to thrive in the inclement weather.

The news comes after the wettest April-June on record, and heavy rain in July.

The rain has been good for the UK's greenery, with gardeners tackling fast-growing lawns and the countryside booming with nettles, bracken and brambles, the National Trust said.

Mosses and plants such as early gentian and bee orchids, and twayblade, pyramidal and common spotted orchids have been thriving along the trackways of Whipsnade Downs in Bedfordshire.

But Matthew Oates, the trust's conservation adviser warned that the list of wet weather losers was far longer, and could lead to local extinctions of rare or isolated species, including butterflies.

Puffins drowned

The breeding season has been particularly catastrophic, with sea birds being blown off cliffs by gales and garden birds unable to find food for their young.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18849327

How tiny insects survive the rain

A mosquito's tiny, low-weight body is the key to its ability to survive flying in the rain, according to scientists.

A team from the Georgia Institute of Technology filmed the insects as they collided with raindrops.

This showed that their bodies put up so little resistance that, rather than the drop of water stopping in a sudden, catastrophic splash, the mosquito simply combined with the drop and the two continued to fall together.

The team report their findings in PNAS.

As well as helping explain how the insects thrive in damp, humid environments, the research could ultimately help researchers to design tiny, flying robots that are just as impervious to the elements.

"I hope this will make people think a little bit differently about rain," said lead researcher David Hu.

"If you're small, it can be very dangerous. But it seems that these mosquitoes are so small that they're safe."

Dr Hu is interested in understanding completely the "tricks" that insects use to survive being so small.

After repeated attempts at what he described as the most difficult game of darts ever, he and his colleagues managed to hit flying mosquitoes with drops of water and capture footage of the result.

Each droplet was between two and 50 times the weight of a mosquito, so what they saw surprised them.

Describing the the results, Dr Hu cited the Chinese martial art of Tai chi.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18294324