Their cheery song brightens many a winter's day. But robins are in danger of wearing themselves out by singing too much. Robins are singing all night一as well as during the day, British-based researchers say.

    David Dominoni, of Glasgow University, said that light from street lamps, takeaway signs and homes is affecting the birds' biological clocks, leading to them being wide awake when they should be asleep.

    Dr Dominoni, who is putting cameras inside nesting boxes to track sleeping patterns, said lack of sleep could put the birds' health at risk. His study shows that when robins are exposed to light at night in the lab, it leads to some genes being active at the wrong time of day. And the more birds are exposed to light, the more active they are at night.

    He told people at a conference, "There have been a couple of studies suggesting they are increasing their song output at night and during the day they are still singing. Singing is a costly behaviour and it takes energy. So by increasing their song output, there might be some costs of energy."

    And it is not just robins that are being kept awake by artificial light. Blackbirds and seagulls are also being more nocturnal. Dr Dominoni said, "In Glasgow where I live, gulls are a serious problem. I have people coming to me saying `You are the bird expert. Can you help us kill these gulls?'.During the breeding(繁殖)season, between April and June, they are very active at night and very noisy and people can't sleep."

    Although Dr Dominoni has only studied light pollution, other research concluded that robins living in noisy cities have started to sing at night to make themselves heard over loud noise.

    However, some birds thrive(兴旺)in noisy environments. A study from California Polytechnic University found more hummingbirds in areas with heavy industrial machinery. It is thought that they are capitalising on their predators(天敌)fleeing to quieter areas.

    A great invention by an 18-year-old high school student grew out of a simple problem most teenagers meet with.

    “I'm a teenager and I have a cellphone and my cellphone battery always dies，so I was really looking for a way to improve energy storage，” Eesha Khare said on Tuesday. “That's how I came across the super capacitor.”

    The teenager who came from California, and graduated from high school last week，won a $50，000 prize on May 17，2013 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for creating a device that can store enough energy to charge a cellphone in 20 to 30 seconds.

    “It charges very quickly and can store a lot of energy，” Khare said. “The cool thing is that it's a lot thinner than one strand of hair.”

    Khare hasn't used her invention to recharge a cellphone yet，but she used it to power a light-emitting diode (LED) in order to show its capability(容量). If used on cellphones，the supercharger would slide on to the phone's battery to juice it up in a matter of seconds. The technology isn't available to consumers yet，and it could be years until it is.

    At an Intel event in Phoenix，Khare won the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award，taking second place overall in the world's largest high school science research competition. She beat out more than 1，600 finalists from 70 countries. She said that she has been approached by several companies to continue her research，but she is now focused on attending Harvard University in autumn.

    “Right now，just my education，but hopefully we'll see what happens in the future，” she said about her plans. “I have a lot of interests，so we'll see what I do in the future.”

    Admission & Opening Times

    Museum Opening Times

    The museum is open daily: 10 am—5 pm

    Collections Centre opens daily: 11 am—5 pm

    Last admission to the museum and Collections Centre is 4:30 pm.

    Closed: December 24, 2017—January 1, 2018 inclusive

    Museum Admission

    Your entry fee will be treated as a donation to our charity on which we may also be able to claim Gift Aid. In return you will receive FREE admission to the museum for a year with our Annual Pass (this excludes 5 Special Show Days per year).

    Tickets for today's date are only available to buy at the museum.

Museum Tours

    An optional tour of the museum is included in your entry fee. The tours are available between 11:15 am and 2 :15 pm every day. They do not have to be pre-booked but have time limits.

Collections Centre

    Access to the Collections Centre is included in your entry fee, so you will just need to show your museum admission ticket at the door to gain entry. The Collections Centre is open from 11 am to 5 pm with last entry at 4:30 pm.

Show Days

    On most show days the normal museum entry prices are applied. There are, however, five Special Show Days per year when the admission price varies, including entry both into the show and the museum. On these days, Gift Aid tickets and promotional vouchers(促销券) are not valid. Advance discounted Show Day tickets are available online or via our Ticket Hotline 019-266 45033.

For more information about the British Motor Museum, please click here.

    A total of 34 Chinese cities with a combined population of nearly 300 million took park in a pet adoption day at the weekend, promoting the adoption of rescued stray (流浪的)animals.

    The live broadcast of China Pet Adoption Day events in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjin, Qingdao, Tianjin and Xi'an was watched by 562,000 people.

    From Urumqi in the far northwest to Fuzhou on the southeast coast, people gathered to raise awareness of animal care and to help stray find loving homes.

    Sun Quanhui, manager and senior adviser of World Animal Protection, said, “Planet Earth is not only home to humanity but also a home that we share with other animals. It is mankind's duty and important to treat animals kindly in a civilized society.”

    As China's population becomes richer, pet ownership has increased rapidly, but problems, such as pet abandonment and cruelty, are also growing.

    In recent years, more and more adoption events have taken place all over the country, which indicates an awakening of the Chinese public consciousness to animal protection.

    “Adopting a pet instead of buying one has been gaining a wider acceptance.”

    American Edward Dumpe, who has been working on designs for stray animal shelters in Beijing, said, “It surely sounds super sweet and I have no doubt that it must have been the result of great efforts.”

    “I think it is a good step in the right direction, and should be taken as evidence that Chinese society is becoming more aware of stray animals who should be taken care of and treated with respect.”

    In real life, “Rabbit-eating Carrot” is fashion designer who has created clothes embroidered(刺绣)with slogans(口号)such has “Please adopt a pet” and images of her cats, with all earnings going to the Qiming Small Animal Protection Center in Sichuan Province.

    “I didn't know that there were events like this in China. This is fantastic. Impressive.” Said George Philippe, a french living in Beijing and father of two, at an event in the capital.

    A campaign is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.

    The newly formed Wild Network—a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations—is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screens to fields, woods and parks. Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS. Organizers say it is the UK's biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness and general well-being.

    A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will forecast the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasing link between children and nature.

    Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said, "The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is decreasing, roaming (漫步) ranges have fallen largely, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost."

    Suggestions on how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers (七叶树果), camping, snail racing, and observing autumn colour on trees.

    From January, the network will aim to make suggestions on how the government can do more to get children muddy and bright-eyed.

    This is not the first time the message of less screen time, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were requested to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don't You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to "switch off the TV set and go to do something less boring instead".