December thus far has been a fairly mild affair, so we've been spared the annual tradition of certain football fans stripping off whilst watching their team over the Christmas period, seemingly oblivious to the freezing weather that's biting the rest of us hard.

In much the same way rarely a year goes by when our TV's and newspapers aren't adorned with young (and not so young) ladies hitting the town on a winters evening with precious little to shield them from the freezing conditions.

As a card carrying southern softie such behaviour is equal parts laughable and respectable.  Alas some new research is hoping to find out whether northern folk really are harder than us southerners.  They want to find out whether we are more disposed to cold weather than our northern friends.

It's a fascinating topic.  Are people that experience colder weather more often therefore more aclimatised to it or is cold weather discomforting wherever you're from?  To help the researchers find out all you need to do is print off the report card from the link below and spend 15 minutes or so outside in the cold and then report back on how you felt.

The initial findings suggest that there are indeed differences in how particular regions respond to changes in the weather, be that a north/south divide or even a rural/urban shift.  To take part in the experiment visit the url below

http://www.opalexplorenature.org/?q=thermal-activity-news