#7 Resolutions for a Better Planet 2013 is here and everyone is busy making (or already breaking) their New year's resolutions.
Mother Nature took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to share a few thoughts on how to improve the situation here on our planet with some New year's resolutions that should be taken up by mankind.
Here are the top seven resolutions for the Earth in the New Year. Take it away Mother Nature:
1. Prevent species from going extinct Earth is in the midst of an enormous extinction crisis the biggest spate of die offs since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago according to several studies.
The world's level ofâ biodiversity is also down by 30 percentâ since the 1970s according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund a conservation group.
The United nations Environment Program estimates that 150 to 200 species go extinct every day which is about 10 to 100 times the background or natural rate of extinction.
One problem facing endangered species particularly in developing countries is poaching. Driven in part by the demand for animal parts in traditional medicine cures in parts of Asia poaching
(and capture of animals for the pet trade) has increased only dramatically in the past decade. A total of 633 rhinos were killed in South africa in 2012 for exampleâ according to Reuters. Compare that with 448 killed in 2011 and 13 killed in 2007.
Poaching is largely to blame for the extinction of many creatures including aâ subspecies of Javan rhinoâ in Vietnam in 2010.
It's hard to focus on other animals and plants all the time. But humans are animals who come from a world replete with other creatures and forms of life.
Even now surrounded as many of you are by urban centers devoid of forests and most wildlife people depend on plants and animals for survival.
Ultimately the loss of biodiversity will hurt you as you dear humans are part of the web of life.
Each species serves a specific function that can't be replaced wholly if one goes extinct leading to a less productive ecosystem
which ultimately provides fewer benefits for humans. 2. Preserve the rainforests Rainforests are vital reservoirs of plants animals and microbes.
Most terrestrial animals aren't the big charismatic species like elephants and tigers often associated with the jungles butâ rainforest-dwelling arthropodsâ (a group that includes insects arachnids and crustaceans all of
which have hard exoskeletons). Arthropods are the most diverse group of animals in the world
and perform all kinds of vital roles in their environments from eating fecal matter to pollinating flowers.
which is like no other place in the world it is the only spot where lemurs
and droughts sea level rise and even more extinction of animals that can't quickly adapt to climate change.
The poles are also home to magnificent animals like polar bears and penguinswhich are sensitive to environmental changes.
and curb shark finning Commercial-fishing techniques are leading to the deaths of too many fish sea turtles
and marine mammals often when these creatures aren't targeted by fishermen. The worst of these techniques is the use of large nets (including dragnets seines and driftnets
which catch just about everything in their path) and longline fishing wherein hundreds or thousands of hooks are suspended up to many miles behind boats.
Ocean ecosystems depend upon these predators to keep the web of life balanced. 7. Consume less This one is pretty simple:
#7 Science Careers You Never Knew Existed Snake venom handler? Sex scholar? A career in science doesn't have to mean a job in a dank lab or cubicle.
Snake milkers are animal care specialists who extract the venom of poisonous snakes. Snake venom while not exactly milk is nevertheless a life-giving substance (when used correctly.
Snake milkers have the job of extracting or milking the toxic substance from a snake's fangs.
The venom can be made into a freeze-dried powder that research laboratories use to produce drugs for blood clots heart attacks and high blood pressure.
but scatology the scientific study of excrement can tell scientists a lot about an animal including its habits overall health and presence of disease.
The contents of an animal's poop can reveal its diet which tells scientists where the animal has been.
The bacteria in feces provide a sampling of an animal's gut flora and fauna which determine its health.
The study of feces has led also to advances in human medicine. For example poop transplants can be an effective means of treating intractable gut infections by reestablishing a healthy bacterial equilibrium.
Laughter therapist Laughter is the best medicine or at least the best therapy. Laughter has been found to reduce stress
#72,000 Ladybugs Released in Mall of America Ladybug ladybug fly away home the nursery rhyme advises.
And some 72000 ladybugs have found a home within the Mall of America where mall managers have released the insects inside the fully enclosed shopping and entertainment complex.
But aphids the pesky insects that feed on plants thrive inside the Mall of America's many landscaped areas.
Aphids however have a natural enemy: Ladybugs members of the coccinellid family of beetles which are valued by gardeners for their habit of eating pests like aphids.
Ladybugs are what I like to call sort of a biological defense system Lydell Newby the Mall of America's senior manager of environmental services told local news station KARE 11.
The mall has released ladybugs in the past as an alternative to commercial pesticides the International Business times reports. Though some shoppers have complained that the ladybugs might fly onto food a mall spokesperson noted that the insects tend to spend their lives on plants not human food.
Ladybugs (sometimes called ladybirds) make ideal pest control agents inside an enclosed area like a mall or a greenhouse Treehugger notes.
In an outdoor garden however they're likely to disperse. Ladybug populations throughout North america have been changing rapidly for reasons that may include climate change and land-use patterns.
The Lost Ladybug Project is an effort (partly funded by the National Science Foundation) to track the insects'population across the continent.
The Mall of America has other green initiatives: It converts its restaurants'fryer fat into biodiesel fuel for the mall's security vehicles according to the site's MOABLOG.
And though it's located in the Twin cities area (known for brutal winter weather) the complex has no central heating system.
and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or magic mushrooms according to one theory.
and his reindeer. 1. Arctic shamans gave out mushrooms on the winter solstice. According to the theory the legend of Santa derives from shamans in the Siberian
3. Reindeer were shaman spirit animals. Reindeer are common in Siberia and Northern europe and seek out these hallucinogenic fungi as the area's human inhabitants have also been known to do.
Donald Pfister a Harvard university biologist who studies fungi suggests that Siberian tribesmen who ingested fly agaric may have hallucinated that the grazing reindeer were flying.
At first glance one thinks it's ridiculous but it's not said Carl Ruck a professor of classics at Boston University.
Whoever heard of reindeer flying? I think it's becoming general knowledge that Santa is taking a'trip'with his reindeer. 6 Surprising Facts About Reindeer Amongst the Siberian shamans you have an animal spirit you can journey with in your vision quest Ruck continued.
And reindeer are common and familiar to people in eastern Siberia. 4. Shamans dressed like Santa claus. These shamans also have a tradition of dressing up like the mushroom they dress up in red suits with white spots Ruck
said. 5. Mushrooms abound in Christmas iconography. Tree ornaments shaped like Amanita mushrooms and other depictions of the fungi are also prevalent in Christmas decorations throughout the world particularly in Scandinavia
It's amazing that a reindeer with a red-mushroom nose is at the head leading the others he said.
and reindeer are probably references to various related northern European mythology. For example the Norse god Thor (known in German as Donner) flew in a chariot drawn by two goats
which have been replaced in the modern retelling by Santa's reindeer Arthur wrote. Other historians were unaware of a connection between Santa
If you look at the evidence of Siberian shamanism which I've done Hutton said you find that shamans didn't travel by sleigh didn't usually deal with reindeer spirits very rarely took the mushrooms to get trances didn't have red-and-white clothes.
But Rush and Ruck disagree saying shamans did deal with reindeer spirits and the ingestion of mushrooms is documented well.
Siberian shamans did wear red deer pelts but the coloring of Santa's garb is meant mainly to mirror the coloring of Amanita mushrooms Rush added.
or the reindeer as the hallucinogenic compounds are excreted this way without some of the harmful chemicals present in the fungi
or the reindeer) Rush said. Â People who know about shamanism accept this story Ruck said.
><p>Credited with feats of strength including slaying a lion and moving the gates of Gaza Samson also exhibited almost all of the symptoms of Antisocial Personality disorder.
his repeated involvement in physical fights bullying and cruelty to animals;..and his lack of remorse as evidenced by his gloating after the killing of 1000 men. "</
or a bug is going around.</</p><p>If drinking water seems boring then put a little pizzazz into your glass
but studies have shown that the kitchen sponge tops the list. It beats out other germ-laden locations such as the kitchen sink pet bowl
and sanitize your sponge make sure it' s wet then zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds every evening
Be careful when removing the sponge because it will still be hot. </</p><p>To cool off a hot head count to 10
Barnacle plates sitting on top of the lava are about 13000 years old Baichtal said. The whole package now sits about 260 feet (80 meters) above sea level hinting at how much Earth's crust has bobbed up since the last ice age.
or hcg that's found only in pregnant women marking the first time a single compound was discovered that could indicate pregnancy status. To determine the presence of hcg a sample of the woman's urine was injected into an immature female mouse frog or rabbit.
If hcg was present in the urine sample the animal would go into heat indicating the woman was pregnant.
Testing involving frogs took a bizarre turn in the 1940s when thousands of African clawed frogs were imported for pregnancy testing.
A few escaped carrying with them a fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis that's blamed for a massive die off of native North american frogs and other amphibians.
The rabbit test and other tests like it weren't foolproof: Not only were they expensive
Insects Come to the Table Mealworms wax worms and crickets may not be obvious choices for Turkey Day
but at a special event this week bug aficionados can taste new insect-y twists on Thanksgiving staples such as pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce.
The Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in New orleans is cooking up insect-filled Thanksgiving treats at their cafe called Bug Appã tit this Tuesday (Nov 26) and Wednesday (Nov 27.
The Thanksgiving snacks will include a mealworm-filled cornbread stuffing wax worm cranberry sauce and a dessert of cricket pumpkin pie said Jayme Necaise director of animal
and visitor programs at the museum. Patrons will be offered samples of treats along with a small cube of turkey.
Those who like what they tried can ask for seconds. See Images of the Buggy Treats Healthy option Insects are chock-full of protein
and nutrients such as iron and magnesium and unlike beef or pork most bugs require little energy water or space to raise.
Harvesting bugs such as grasshoppers from crops can be an easy way to reduce pesticide use.
As a result many experts believe that raising insects for food will be a key environmentally friendly way to feed the 11 billion people on the planet by 2100.
The insectarium routinely serves bugs to its patrons in dishes such as mealworm-filled six-legged salsa and chocolate chirp cookies
which are made with crickets. But for Thanksgiving we wanted to kick it up a notch
and do something a little special for our guests Necaise told Livescience. Â The mealworms tend to have an earthy taste similar to pumpernickel or other earthy breads.
Wax worms which are the larva of moths live in beehives and eat exclusively beeswax so they have a slightly sweet taste.
Like all insects which have an exoskeleton the first bite is crunchy but the inside is soft akin to the inside of a corn kernel the overall taste is a bit like almond paste Necaise said.
The crickets are typically pan-roasted. They get very crispy and crunchy and they taste like a dry roasted nut with some likening their flavor to walnuts
or pecans Necaise said. Each of the dishes are usually about 25 percent insect and 75 percent traditional ingredients because higher percentages of bug parts could be a bit of a shock to an unaccustomed palate Necaise said.
If you take a mouthful of crickets it takes a while to chew it because of the exoskeleton Necaise said.
Hardcore bug eaters however can always ask for extra cricket on the side. Humane and sanitary The insects are purchased from commercial suppliers who raise them predominantly for the pet food industry (reptiles
and birds are particular fans). The bugs are raised in sanitary conditions and eat an organic diet.
They're fed only the finest fruits and vegetables and meal bran Necaise said. To prepare the insects the best option is to put them into bags in the freezer where their metabolism slows down they go to sleep
and then eventually die painlessly Necaise said. Those who are interested in making their own buggy treats at home can take a look at the museum's brochures which list suppliers for the insects
and include recipes for some of their most popular dishes Necaise said. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterâ and Google+.
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#A few Tree Species Dominate Amazon Rain forest The Amazon is the largest and most diverse rain forest in the world about 10 percent of all known species On earth dwell there
but only a few dozen of the Amazon's thousands of tree species rule the jungle researchers recently found.
This new analysis can help reveal which Amazon tree species face the most severe threats of extinction
and which areas there are most in need of protection scientists added. Until now researchers'knowledge of the types of trees in the Amazon and where they were located was based on analyses of regions the rain forest's vast expanse made it challenging to survey in its entirety.
One possibility is that hyperdominant species are unusually resistant to disease and herbivores. There's a really interesting debate shaping up between people who think that hyperdominant trees are common
#'Alien'Argentine Ants May have met Their Match Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) are among the most aggressive invasive insects in the United states
. But after pushing out native ant species in local ecosystems across the country the little conquerers may have met finally their match.
Researchers found evidence that another alien species the Asian needle ant (Pachycondyla chinensis) is chipping away at The argentine ants'stronghold.
Asian needle ants have already been found from Alabama to New york city to Oregon and their venomous stings can cause allergic reactions in some humans.
While studying a supercolony of Argentine ants in North carolina researcher Eleanor Spicer Rice then a doctoral student at North carolina State university spotted some Asian needle ants a strange sight as Argentine ants usually attack other
ants in their territory. To investigate further Spicer Rice and Jules Silverman a professor of entomology at NC State studied how the two species were spread across a 116-acre (47-hectare) office park in Morrisville N c. Gallery:
Stunning Photos of the World's Ants In 2008 they found Argentine ants in 99 percent of the sample sites within the study area
while Asian needle ants were found in just 9 percent of the sites. By 2011 The argentine ants'reach dropped to 67 percent of the sample sites
while the Asian needle ants had expanded their territory to 32 percent of the sites. The two species shared 15 percent of the sample points the researcher said.
This is the first time we've seen another ant species take territory from Argentine ants Spicer Rice said in a statement.
She explained that Asian needle ants might have an edge because they start reproducing earlier in the spring
while Argentine ants remain quite dormant until late April or May. The Asian needle ant is moving into forests and urban environments at the same time.
And because it is active at cooler temperatures it could move into a very broad range of territory Spicer Rice said.
The researchers say it's not known how Asian needle ants displace other ant species
but their spread could have negative consequences for local ecosystems especially if they push out native ant populations that play a crucial role in dispersing plant seeds.
The team is now studying why Argentine ants are not fighting back against Asian needle ants according to a statement from NC State.
Argentine ants have invaded only to retreat in other parts of the world. They once posed a multi-million dollar pest-control problem in New zealand
but researchers in 2011 found that huge colonies of the ants had disappeared possibly because inbreeding may have left them vulnerable to disease.
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#Altered Amazon: Dramatic Changes Threaten Brazilian Tribes: Op-Ed Steve Schwartzman director of tropical forests policy for the Environmental Defense Fundâ contributed this article to Livescience's Expert Voices:
what the myriad plants and animals of the forest are doing at different times of the year and to the weather.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter@denisechow. Follow Livescience@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article onâ Livescience. com S
The animals trotted or walked down a dirt track as attention -and thrill-starved runners tried to dash in front of them to incite them.
or incite the animals in order to fabricate more drama. The HSUS wants to anticipate that kind of escalation
and that's why we wrote to U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack who in his official capacity enforces the standards of the Animal Welfare Act about the concerns.
since they do not appear to be following the Animal Welfare Act regulations concerning public safety.
Pacelle's most recent Op-Ed was Butter-Cow Prank Does Nothing to Help the Cause of Animals.
and coral are animals.)Because the algae go dormant in the winter when sea ice blocks incoming sunlight the calcite layers develop visible bands that are similar to tree rings Halfar said.
During the Little Ice age when volcanoes and sun cycle variations caused a global cooling from the 1300s to the 1800s the coral's underwater tree rings narrowed suggesting extensive sea ice cover and short summers.
and a different protective layer called eitihallium that keeps grazing animals from chomping too much of the algal surface Halfar said.
(which is held by trees such as 5000-year-old bristlecone pines) the discovery does add to the list of long-lived cold-loving species. Sponges in Antarctica may live for up to 10000 years
They had access to good horses giving them a military advantage. They appear to have made an effort to win over the people of Babylon oethey brought back the statue of the major deity Marduk
It included a throne room with a glazed brick panel showing palmettes floral reliefs and lions.
and yellow bricks with alternating images of dragons and bulls carved in relief. Â A reconstruction of it that incorporates surviving materials is currently in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Vorderasiatisches Museum in Germany.
and the main gate in the larger inner wall of the city with a 48 meter-long (158 feet) passage was decorated with no fewer than 575 depictions of animals (according to calculations made by excavators) noting that these oepictures of bulls
and dragons representing the holy animals of the weather god Adad and the imperial god Marduk were placed in alternating rows.
and for about 590 feet (180 m) had images of lions carved in relief. The mouths of the lions are open baring their teeth
and the manes of the creatures are finely detailed. Â Â The Tower of babel? Although largely destroyed today in ancient times the ziggurat of Etemenanki
while concertina wire left behind by the military is used to prevent visitors from climbing over a 2500-year-old lion statue an ancient symbol of the city the report reads.
#Ancient Bees May have Been Wiped out with the Dinosaurs The ancestors of modern carpenter bees may have vanished from Earth roughly 65 million years ago around the same time the dinosaurs were wiped out a new study finds.
Researchers examined the DNA of four types of carpenter bees belonging to the group Xylocopinae from every continent except Antarctica to search for clues about their evolutionary relationships.
The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries The end of the Cretaceous period corresponding to the beginning of the Paleogene Period was known already to be a dynamic time in history.
Since there are no reliable fossil records for carpenter bees the researchers used a technique called molecular phylogenetics.
and learn how pollinators and plants respond to natural disturbances. If we can understand what happened in the past it can help us understand the current perturbations and loss of diversification.
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#Ancient Elephants Grazed Before They Had Teeth for It Ancient elephants switched from eating primarily leaves
The findings indicate that as the ancestors to modern elephants evolved anatomical changes significantly lagged behind habitat
Mammals Through Time What we find with a lot of mammal groups is that some species switched their diets Lister said.
During this time the earliest true elephants went from what we describe as'browsers'which eat mostly leaves from trees and shrubs to
Lister used data that looked for specific chemical signatures in the fossilized teeth of ancient elephants in east Africa.
As animals'teeth grow and form chemical traces of food and water become locked into the enamel
which enable paleontologists to determine the diets of extinct animals. By studying these fossilized teeth Lister noticed that the change in feeding behavior occurred about 7 million years ago
Since grass is tougher to eat than leafy greens grazing animals tend to have crowned higher teeth with more enamel ridges Lister said.
Even with the wrong teeth for it by starting to eat grass as food these animals were imposing a lot of selective pressure.
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Isotope analysis also revealed the latter group subsisted on a diet of mainly freshwater fish while the farmers ate more domesticated animals.
That s where similar environmental factors lead to traits that are unrelated similar in species. Think rheas (South america) ostriches (Africa) and emus (Australia.
All are unrelated large flightless birds that evolved on different continents. I m not sure what drives trees to grow taller
or New Stone age farmers who migrated to Europe from the south between 5500 B c. and 4200 B c. owned domestic plants and animals such as sheep goats cattle and swine.
Until now there was only circumstantial evidence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer ownership of domestic animals other than dogs in continental Europe.
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers definitely had dogs but they did not practice agriculture and did not have pigs sheep goats or cows all of
or by capturing escaped animals. Still given the close proximity of these two groups and how they occasionally exchanged artifacts the researchers suspect trade for pigs was a more likely scenario than hunting of escaped domestic pigs Krause-Kyora told Livescience.
#Ancient Rodentlike Creature Once Dominated Earth A fossil of a chipmunklike animal discovered in China is now helping reveal how this group of mammals reigned
A group of mammals known as the multituberculates flourished across the planet from about 170 million to 35 million years ago a span of 135 million years.
Much like today's rodents multituberculates occupied an extremely diverse range of habitats such as below the ground on the ground and in trees.
& Other Ancient Mammals Some could jump some could burrow others could climb trees and many more lived on the ground said researcher Zhe-Xi Luo a paleontologist at the University of Chicago.
Both of these adaptations helped the animals to become dominant among their contemporaries. Paleontologists are interested always in how certain superabundant superdiverse groups of animals got started Luo told Livescience.
Now Luo and his colleagues have revealed a new 160-million-year-old chipmunklike fossil that represents the earliest known multituberculate skeleton.
If you look at squirrels you see similar adaptations Luo said. In addition R. eurasiaticus had wrinkled teeth ornamented with ridges pits
and grooves that would have enabled it to eat many different types of food including both animals and plants.
These teeth would have allowed later multituberculates to diversify from an animal-dominated diet to a plant-dominated one.
A modern rodent species that had very similar ornaments on its teeth the African dormouse are seedeaters that also eat some fruit as well as worms arthropods creatures such as insects
The animals could have fed on the seeds and leaves of ferns and cycads or perhaps fished out clamlike creatures known as conchostracans from the water for food Luo said.
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