Latest news with #Aberystwyth
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Think you're hilarious but your siblings don't find you funny? Scientists discover that humour doesn't run in the family
They are the groanworthy one-liners and corny puns that make your toes curl, with 'Dad jokes' becoming a byword for the most cringe-making of them all. But if you are worried about following in your Dad's footsteps, don't panic as it's unlikely you'll inherit his humour. Experts have found that, unlike intelligence or eye colour, humour doesn't run in the family. In the first ever study to look at the influence of genes and the environment on comedic abilities, scientists asked a thousand twins to create funny captions for cartoons. By comparing a mix of both identical twins, who share 100 per cent of their DNA, and non-identical twins, who are like any biological siblings and share about 50 per cent of their DNA, their findings revealed there was no evidence that they inherited their humorous talents. If comedic ability was inherited, then the researchers would have expected to see stronger humour similarities between the identical twins compared to the non-identical twins. However, they discovered that across all twin pairs, individuals shared the same level of comedic ability, indicating humour is shaped by the environment rather than genetics. It could also help explain the rarity of comedy duos from the same family - such as the Chuckle Brothers or the Marx Brothers - compared to actors, musicians or writers. Dr Gil Greengross, from the Psychology Department at Aberystwyth University, led the study, published in the journal Twin Research and Human Genetics. He said: 'Despite humour's importance, relatively little is known about how we develop our sense of humour or why one sibling can be funny and another cannot. 'Our study's finding that these talents are not inherited is surprising, as it contradicts most research on the heritability of cognitive abilities such as creativity and mathematical skills. So, it is really fascinating.' He explained that while telling a joke may seem simple, having a good sense of humour is a complex and unique trait that is influenced by a range of psychological attributes and personality characteristics. 'It varies across different social contexts, like when going on a date or entertaining,' he said. 'This may explain why, Chuckle and Marx Brothers aside, there are few successful comedians from the same immediate family. 'What is exciting about this research is it begs the question: if our sense of humour is not handed down from our parents but comes from our environment, what is it precisely that makes us funny?' The findings also have implications for how scientists think about humour's role in evolution and even dating. Dr Greengross added: 'These early findings also challenge the widely accepted evolutionary basis of humour. 'A great sense of humour can help ease tension in dangerous situations, foster cooperation, break down interpersonal barriers, and attract mates—all of which enhance survival and reproduction. 'There are also intriguing dating and mating aspects to this. Previous research has shown that women prioritise comedic talents in a partner more than do men, whereas men value a women's ability to appreciate their humour. 'Men experience stronger selection pressure to be funny to impress women, leading to men having slightly higher humour ability, on average — a finding supported by our study.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
County welcomes elite cyclists for championship
Ten national champion's jerseys are up for grabs across three days of racing [Ceredigion County Council] Businesses and locals believe welcoming some of the biggest names in British road racing to the Welsh coast will boost the area's economy and increase interest in cycling. The Lloyds National Road Championships takes to the streets of Ceredigion over the next three days. Advertisement Ceredigion council hopes it will "inspire young riders who will be able to see their heroes in action". The event starts with a time-trial at 09:00 BST on Thursday in Ffos-y-Ffin and will head to Ciliau Aeron and Llanerchaeron before finishing in Aberaeron. The circuit race will be held on Friday, with the road race on Sunday. Certain roads will be closed around Aberaeron, as well as in and around Aberystwyth for periods during the three days of racing. Kurt Forward, owner of the Castle Hotel said the event was "fantastic for the area". The 52-year-old added: "The weekend looks really good. I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people in town." Advertisement Kerry Vamplew runs the Llys Aeron Guest House near Aberaeron, and was initially worried about the road closures due to the potential impact on guests, but said she had realised it was "quite a good thing that the finish line is literally outside the building". She added: "We're going to make the most of it. We've got our flags out... got our Welsh flags out as well to support our Welsh competitors." Kurt Forward says there's a real buzz around the town [BBC] Among the Welsh riders registered to compete are Owain Doull, sisters Zoe Backstedt and Elynor Backstedt, Elinor Barker and Megan Barker. However, two-time Olympic champion and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is not competing. Michael, Eric and Gareth say they will be taking tips from the elite cyclists [BBC] Members of Tregaron's cycling club will be among the fans, and race marshal Michael Fitch, 75, said: "The economy should benefit from it." Advertisement Eric Jones, 72, agreed it was "a great thing", adding: "I think any event whether it's football, rugby, cycling, anything, when it's local, it inspires people to try and do what their heroes are doing and I think it will have a great impact and increase the numbers of people cycling - which is already quite a number in this area." Gareth Wyn Thomas, 51, believes the routes will "showcase a lot of the brilliant countryside we've got". Rowan (left) and Stuart (right) both work at different bike shops in Aberystwyth [BBC] With spectators welcome to watch on any of the routes, businesses are anticipating a busy weekend, especially bike shops. Rowan Hayward, 21, from Summit Cycles said: "It comes at a great time with the recent developments in cycling infrastructure, so we've had some new cycle paths going in. Advertisement "There's been a lot of interest around cycling in the area recently... I hope the use of the cycle paths go up and more people will be excited and interested about cycling in the area." Stuart Hickman of Beiciau Afan Cycles added: "We've had visitors phone up the shop to see about hiring bikes for the weekend. They're coming from away, they can't get their bikes in the car so it's attracting people from all over." Clive Davies, the council's cabinet member for economy and regeneration, said the championships will be an opportunity to showcase Ceredigion as a great place for cyclists and for tourism, as well as a significant boost for the area's economy. "Ceredigion has a proud history of producing elite riders including Josh Tarling, Stevie Williams and Gruff Lewis and we hope that hosting this event will inspire young riders who will be able to see their heroes in action." Advertisement
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
National Road Cycling Championships arrive in Ceredigion
Businesses and locals believe welcoming some of the biggest names in British road racing to the Welsh coast will boost the area's economy and increase interest in Lloyds National Road Championships takes to the streets of Ceredigion over the next three council hopes it will "inspire young riders who will be able to see their heroes in action". The event starts with a time-trial at 09:00 BST on Thursday in Ffos-y-Ffin and will head to Ciliau Aeron and Llanerchaeron before finishing in circuit race will be held on Friday, with the road race on roads will be closed around Aberaeron, as well as in and around Aberystwyth for periods during the three days of racing. Kurt Forward, owner of the Castle Hotel said the event was "fantastic for the area".The 52-year-old added: "The weekend looks really good. I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people in town."Kerry Vamplew runs the Llys Aeron Guest House near Aberaeron, and was initially worried about the road closures due to the potential impact on guests, but said she had realised it was "quite a good thing that the finish line is literally outside the building".She added: "We're going to make the most of it. We've got our flags out... got our Welsh flags out as well to support our Welsh competitors." Among the Welsh riders registered to compete are Owain Doull, sisters Zoe Backstedt and Elynor Backstedt, Elinor Barker and Megan two-time Olympic champion and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is not competing. Members of Tregaron's cycling club will be among the fans, and race marshal Michael Fitch, 75, said: "The economy should benefit from it."Eric Jones, 72, agreed it was "a great thing", adding: "I think any event whether it's football, rugby, cycling, anything, when it's local, it inspires people to try and do what their heroes are doing and I think it will have a great impact and increase the numbers of people cycling - which is already quite a number in this area."Gareth Wyn Thomas, 51, believes the routes will "showcase a lot of the brilliant countryside we've got". With spectators welcome to watch on any of the routes, businesses are anticipating a busy weekend, especially bike Hayward, 21, from Summit Cycles said: "It comes at a great time with the recent developments in cycling infrastructure, so we've had some new cycle paths going in."There's been a lot of interest around cycling in the area recently... I hope the use of the cycle paths go up and more people will be excited and interested about cycling in the area."Stuart Hickman of Beiciau Afan Cycles added: "We've had visitors phone up the shop to see about hiring bikes for the weekend. They're coming from away, they can't get their bikes in the car so it's attracting people from all over." Clive Davies, the council's cabinet member for economy and regeneration, said the championships will be an opportunity to showcase Ceredigion as a great place for cyclists and for tourism, as well as a significant boost for the area's economy."Ceredigion has a proud history of producing elite riders including Josh Tarling, Stevie Williams and Gruff Lewis and we hope that hosting this event will inspire young riders who will be able to see their heroes in action."
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Welsh universities appeal for no more sudden policy changes
Universities in Wales have appealed for an end to sudden changes of government policies that have cut their incomes and made it difficult for them to before MPs, vice-chancellors said a failure, until recently, to raise student fees for inflation, a rise in employers' National Insurance contributions and visa rule changes reducing the numbers of overseas students had all had an impact. Restructuring plans, including university-wide voluntary redundancies schemes, have been announced by Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan, Swansea, and the University of South limited plans have also been announced by University of Wales: Trinity Saint David. Earlier on Wednesday, a trade union urged the Welsh government to decide what it wanted from higher education and "properly" fund the sector to fulfil those vice-chancellor Prof Jon Timmis told the Welsh Affairs Committee at Westminster that there was now a need for a "stable policy landscape" to make it easier to plan for the said a "fit for purpose mechanism" was needed to put higher education in the UK on a sustainable footing. Prof Edmund Burke said Bangor University had "no choice" but to make savings to "ensure the financial stability of the institution".The university's executive board would meet on Thursday to start making decisions on its restructuring, he told the committee. It would do everything possible to avoid compulsory redundancies, he said, but was unable to completely rule them Burke also warned MPs that universities "couldn't go another decade" without student fees rising in line with inflation and institutions should work with the UK and Welsh governments to "determine a sustainable financial footing" for higher University's vice-chancellor Prof Wendy Larner said the sector was having to "reinvent itself" and would have to find "new revenue streams".She said she recognised that "governments are challenged" financially but that she was optimistic about the future of the university sector. The head of the body which funds and regulates universities in Wales warned last month that they face "massive" financial challenges but said that none were at risk of going bust in the next chief executive Simon Pirotte said the eight institutions reached a total deficit of £77m for 2023-24, compared to a £21m surplus the previous year. Earlier on Wednesday, higher education unions told members of a Senedd committee that some universities had responded to the financial challenges facing the sector better than University and College Union's Gareth Lloyd was critical of Cardiff University when asked about the vice-chancellor's defence of its approach in evidence to a previous committee meeting."I don't accept that Cardiff did the right thing," he told the Welsh Parliament's education committee."The danger is if we're not careful is this could have a really detrimental effect on students who [now] don't want to go there and that really really worries me," he official Dan Beard claimed senior leaders in other universities were "aghast" at the way Cardiff had handled its proposals to cut jobs and Jamie Insole, from the UCU, said Wrexham University was "in a firm situation" and Aberystwyth University has displayed "how a university can weather a financial storm" by working closely with Deio Owen, NUS Cymru president, told the committee: "There has been an impact on students and learners mental wellbeing due to proposed cut and the confirmed cuts that we've heard in the past few months.""That uncertainty does have a knock on effect," he added."You're paying for a service which you're not sure you're going to get." 'Catastrophic' In a paper for the education committee, Unison warned Senedd members that hundreds of expected job losses at universities across Wales would have a "catastrophic effect on staff, institutions, students, communities and the Welsh economy".In the document the union urged the Welsh government to decide what it wanted from higher education and "properly" fund the sector to fulfil those ministers "must produce a detailed industrial strategy which outlines the skills and number of graduates Wales requires for the future across a range of jobs and ensure universities have the capacity to train these young people", Unison said.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Great Bibles reunited at Aberystwyth library for exhibition
Unique copies of the Great Bibles of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell have been reunited for the first time in nearly 500 copies, made in 1538-9, were printed on parchment and carefully hand-coloured by Europe's finest artists and was the first authorised edition in Cromwell was a strong supporter of religious reform and these Bibles were commissioned by him as part of the campaign to convince the have gone on display as part of the Treasures exhibition in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, in what has been called "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". Hidden in Plain Sight is a project that employs a range of technologies, from 3D microscopy to DNA analysis, which show for the first time how ancient books were used and has revealed different layers to illustrations with deliberate modifications that were changed due to the political developments of the time. The project has revealed Cromwell had his portrait painted and pasted into the title page of the St John's copy – a move expertly hidden for opening title page was further manipulated to gain Henry's support by altering an image of a courtly woman to resemble Jane Seymour, Henry's beloved and recently deceased, on the project said these discoveries raises more questions about how the Bibles were made, with Dr Harry Spillane adding that technology was revealing more about the books to this said: "Although these books have been around for 500 years, it's only with new technologies that we have been able to see all of the changes that have been made underneath."We can see that bits of paper have been pasted on, or often multiple layers glued on as a more perfect design is completed."And seeing them side by side helps people understand how, even 500 years ago, changes are being made to images in ways that build on discussions we are having today about deep fakes and AI. People's faces are changing, images are moving around." Although the text is almost identical in both bibles, the illustrations vary much Suzanne Paul from Cambridge University Library said the technology being used enabled specialists to learn more about "the archaeology of the bibles"."We know particular workshops that were doing work for the royals and by analysing the different pigments in the book to other paintings and books from this time we can potentially find out where the bibles were made," she added."The artists might not have left their physical signature, but they might have left their chemical signature in the book for us to find."Henry VIII ordered copies of the Great Bible to be distributed to every parish in England and Wales, which was the catalyst for translating the Bible into Welsh in 1588, known as the William Morgan's Bible. Maredudd ap Huw, curator of manuscripts at library, said the exhibition was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".He added: "These two Bibles are not going to be brought together again for a long time."There is a golden opportunity on a historical level to see two milestones in the history of England and Wales during the Tudor period. Without the English Bible, the Welsh language would not be spoken today."The exhibition is open until 22 November.
