UK authorities are now reporting that a new member of the barkfly family has arrived and currently colonizing the Cornish coast. This certain species is often found in regions with warmer climate.

The migration signifies that UK is being greatly affected by global warming. The new species was found by ecologist Keith Alexander as part of the National Barkfly Recording Scheme. Know more details by clicking the "read more" link below!

This new uber-telescope, called the Great Canary Telescope (Gran Telescopio Canarias or GTC), was built on the peak of a mountain in La Palma in the Canary Islands to take advantage of the unusually clear weather in the area.

The mountain is 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) high which helps setting the telescope's sights to heaven. Unfortunately it didn't help any in constructing the monster telescope. Construction took seven years and more than 1,000 people to build. The mirror used in the telescope is made of 36 hexagonal mirror segments and measures 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) in diameter.

Based at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, the telescope was funded by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida. Lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May, is to grace the opening of the telescope, who studied Astrophysics as part of his doctorate at the Canary Island Institute. He is currently organizing the musical score to be played at the inauguration next summer.

What sets it apart from the other uber-telescopes is the advantage of having the largest optical infrared mirror. With this, scientists will be able to characterize planet atmospheres instead of just speculating, and be able to "reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe."

"We'll actually be able to take a much better look at them. We'll be able to throw back the curtains that shroud the early Universe, revealing many of its mysteries," said project director Pedro Alvarez.

Last year, three much much smaller telescopes have worked together to find a planet 500 light years away. We can be sure to expect a lot from a super telescope on top of a mountain. One of the hopes of the observatory is to find a planet much like ours.

In an effort to promote solar-power to be used as an alternative source of energy for oceanic commercial transport, Marc Wüst,shipbuilder and manager of the MW-Lin of ships thought up the idea to build SUN21. The SUN21 is a 14-meter-long catamaran that runs on nothing but solar energy.

The ship will undertake the first motorized crossing of the Atlantic without using a drop of gasoline. The creators hope that this new world record will demonstrate the great potential of the solar technique for ocean navigation. The boat is equipped with solar modules, batteries and motors allowing a constant speed of 5–6 knots (10–12 km/h) 24 hours a day, equivalent to the average speed of sailing yachts.

SUN21's campaign will start October of this year. After, a promotion tour along the river Rhine to Antwerp, the SUN21 will be shipped to southern Spain the actual voyage will begin in December in Seville. From Seville, the ship will head to the Canary Islands, then to Cape Verde. After a long travel across the Atlantic, it will reach St. Martin and then from there head to the Bahamas then to Miami then to its main destination - New York. When the ship arrives at the big apple in spring 2007 it would have covered about 7000 sea miles.

Below are a few thumbnails of the boat under construction. Take a gander if you wish.

  

Neat boat don't you think? Now that we have this, solar-powered wheelchairs, solar-powered eyes, and even solar-powered usb flash drives, I wonder what they'll hook up to the sun next? Solar powered flash-lights?