#Apple Health App: What It Can and Can't Do Apple's new Health app is now up and running on the latest version of ios 8 but
what exactly can this app do for you? The first thing to know is that the Health app doesn't track information by itself at least not yet.
It's an aggregator meaning it pulls information from your other health apps and displays it all for you in a single dashboard.
So for Apple's Health app to be useful you'll need other health apps.
Experts say that aggregation apps like Apple's Health can offer users a new experience
while allowing them to keep the apps they've become accustomed to using. With the Health app Apple is saying you don't have to abandon your old apps
but here's a new experience that you can digest your old data in said Dan Ledger principal at consulting firm Endeavour Partners
Although this aggregation may not be difficult for people who use just two or three apps separately there may be opportunities for taking that data combining it
and visualizing it in ways that these stand-alone apps can't do said Ledger. Right now there is a limited selection of apps that work with Apple Health.
For example if you track your activity with a fitness tracker such as a Fitbit a Withings Pulse
or a Basis watch you're out of luck because the apps for these devices don't integrate with Apple Health yet.
However when I tested the app there seemed to be a few bugs in communication between Myfitnesspal and Apple Health:
Few insect pests are known to exist in hemp crops and fungal diseases are rare. Since hemp plants shade the ground quickly after sowing they can outgrow weeds a trait interesting especially for organic farmers.
Here it may function as a break crop reducing the occurance of pests particularly in cereal production.
#Bees'Salt-Sensing Feet Explain Swimming pool Mystery The first-ever investigation of the honeybee ability to taste with their front feet may explain a persistent bee mystery:
Apparently they attract honeybees en masse. Now scientists find that bees have taste receptors on their feet that are so sensitive to salt that they even dwarf the bees'capacity to taste sweets.
The results are important for understanding the honeybee sensory system and potentially for figuring out how pesticides might harm these important pollinators and critical lab models for cognitive research.
Sweet foot Thanks to its impressive navigational skills the honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a model organism used by researchers to understand the mechanisms of learning and memory.
Many scientists had investigated the bee's sense of sight and smell Giurfa said but one sense had been left out.
Like other insects bees don't confine their sense of taste to their mouths. They also taste using their antennae and the surfaces of their feet.
whether or not they stuck out their tongues a tasty substance elicits a protrusion of the proboscis
Salt-seeking bees Unsurprisingly given bees'need for nectar the insects'feet are incredibly sensitive to sugar.
and to carry back to their hives to help larvae develop Giurfa said. Thus homeowners'trendy saltwater pools attract bees like flies to honey.
Finally the study researchers found that bees don't seem to sense bitterness. They don't retract their tongues in response to the taste nor do their cells show an electrical reaction to bitter substances Giurfa said.
and researchers have turned their attention to how pesticides might affect the honeybee navigation system memory and brain function.
#Invasive Pests vs. Polar Vortex: Who Will Win? The winter weather that has blasted the Midwest
I really do think it helps with some of the major insect problems that we have Robert Venette a biologist with the U s. Forest Service in Minnesota told NPR. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather The Earth's average temperature warmed 1. 53
and animals that thrive in warmer climates have expanded their ranges. Many of the creatures with expanded ranges are invasive pests like the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) and the hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) both
of which have decimated native tree populations in the Northeast. Given that temps have gotten really cold and not for one night but for an extended period there's a tendency for a lot of people to hope for insect mortality Deborah Mccullough a professor of entomology
and forestry at Michigan State university in East Lansing told the Capital News Service (CNS). But not all bugs succumb easily to icy weather
and subfreezing temperatures. The emerald ash borer which burrows beneath the bark of ash trees to feed on the water
-and nutrient-carrying tissue of the tree has a strategy for over-wintering. It will stay under the bark
Other insects use antifreeze proteins to keep their internal organs functioning in subzero weather. Insects go through a physiologically intense process of acclimatization in the fall
and there're actually changes in their bodies Mccullough told CNS. It's the equivalent of having antifreeze.
But not all pests are adapted so well to winter: Populations of hemlock wooly adelgids which kill evergreens by feeding on the plants'needles year-round are expected to plummet.
The lethal temperature for the woolly adelgid is minus 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit negative 20 or negative 21 degrees C Richard S. Cowles a scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station told The New york times. I was cheering a couple of days ago
because most of the adelgids will be dying from the temperatures we saw. Other vulnerable pests include the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) the brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys) and ticks (Ixodes sp.
which can transmit Lyme disease and other illnesses. However while subzero weather might reduce the populations of invasive pests it's unlikely to completely eradicate them experts caution.
Only extended periods of very cold weather during the winter or subzero weather during the spring will have a real impact on the continued march of invasive species. Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+.
+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science e
#End of the Hemlocks, a Lament (Op-Ed) Randy Edwards is a senior media relations manager for The Nature Conservancy
I spend my days were talking about a metallic green insect called the emerald ash borer
and animals that become a significant threat to native flora and fauna. And so if we notice it at all we see that purple loosestrife is kind of pretty.
Asian Carp Spread to Upper Mississippi In my home state of Ohio people who love natural areas are about to get such a cold wet slap in the face in the form of the hemlock woolly adelgid#a tiny aphid-like insect
Brought to the United states about 40 years ago on imported nursery stock the insect has spread throughout eastern forests.
and are homes to happy salamanders. More prosaically there are (or were) a lot of old hemlock trees in nature preserves
The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree has given my heart A change of mood
Those trees will likely be gone before too long victims of the adelgid #and the guides say rafters will notice the change
Our group was thrilled by the sight of a bald eagle flying over the river passing unnoticed by wading fishermen intent on catching trout.
I didn't tell them that before my grandchildren are grown the adelgid is likely to kill those hemlocks as they have up to 90 percent of the hemlocks in the Great smoky mountains national park in The Nature Conservancy's Greenland Gap Preserve in West virginia
Experiments with a tiny Asian beetle that is a natural predator to the adelgid show some promise in keeping the insects in check.
And scientists are working on an adelgid-resistant strain of hemlock. In the meantime expensive chemical treatments may keep enough hemlocks alive long enough to find a solution. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather Next time
I get the chance I'll be sure to tell people about the threats to our forests from insect pests
because there are steps each of us can take to help prevent their spread: In the meantime large stands of dead hemlock stand in mute testament to the rule of unintended consequences.
what is being called a baby chupacabra the legendary animal said to roam the countryside in search of blood.
so because it is said to drain the blood from animals such as goats chickens and other livestock.
The news and video footage of the small hairless caged animal went viral and left countless people scratching their heads wondering
In Dewitt County Texas most people are convinced this is the elusive chupacabra said a reporter with KAVU News an ABC affiliate based in Victoria Texas though a wildlife biologist suggested it might be a dog or coyote.
Our 10 Favorite Monsters So is this animal the elusive chupacabra? It's clear that it's not
and elsewhere in recent years a simple look at the mouth demonstrates that it is physically impossible for the animals to suck blood.
The mouth and jaw structures of raccoons dogs and coyotes prevent them from creating a seal around their victims
and therefore physically prevents them from sucking the blood out of goats or anything else.
So if the mysterious animal is not a chupacabra then what is it? The most likely answer is that it's a raccoon.
Animals that have lost most or all of their hair can be very difficult to identify correctly for the simple reason that people are used not to seeing the animals without hair.
Wildlife experts often see wild animals suffering from various stages of sarcoptic mange a skin disease that causes animals'hair to fall out
but most people do not. Healthy raccoons are instantly recognizable by their signature dark bandit mask coloring around their eyes.
But when their facial hair falls out due to disease it becomes much more difficult to identify the animal.
Rumor or Reality: The Creatures of Cryptozoology Then you need to look at other features including size behavior and anatomy.
These features suggest that the Ratcliffe chupacabra is indeed a raccoon. And though most chupacabras found in Texas have been identified as canids (the zoological family that includes dogs coyotes
and foxes) this is not the first raccoon misidentified as a chupacabra. In an article in the March/April 2014 issue of Skeptical Inquirer another chupacabra found
and photographed in the 1950s in Texas was identified by Darren Naish a vertebrate paleontologist and science writer from the University of Southampton as a mangy raccoon.
Another clue about the animal's origins can be found in where it was discovered: in a tree.
This is a typical place to find a raccoon but unlikely for a dog or coyote.
Furthermore in a video of the animal the Ratcliffe chupacabra picks up food with its paws to eat.
This behavior is also typical of raccoons. The mysterious critter is currently being fed a diet of corn
and cat food but if the creature truly is a chupacabra that theory can be tested easily:
Put it in a pen with a goat or chicken and see if it attacks them
The reason that the Ratcliffe chupacabra has been called a chupacabra is not that the mysterious animal's characteristics match those of the legendary vampire
That chupacabra has faded into folklore and myth but over the past decade any strange animal
The word has become a sort of catch-all term for weird animals living or dead. It's not surprising that the chupacabra continues to be found
#The route remains in use today though now railroads have replaced camels as the preferred means of travel.
In what started out as a middle school science project scientists discovered that erythritol the main ingredient in the artificial sweetener Truvia is toxic to fruit flies.
and would not act as a pollutant the researchers said. 10 of the Most Polluted Places On earth Not only does the sweetener kill the flies
But on a small scale in places where insects will come to a bait consume it and die this could be huge.
The father-son team first tested the method on fruit flies raised in small vials in their home.
They divided the flies into groups and fed them food mixed with the artificial sweeteners Truvia Splenda Equal Sweet'N Low or Pure Via.
The flies that were raised on food containing Truvia had much shorter life spans than flies raised on the other sweeteners.
Flies that ate food without Truvia lived between 38 and 51 days. But the average life span of flies raised on food with Truvia was only 5. 8 days.
Marenda realized it was time to move the experiment out of the house and into the lab and he brought in O'Donnell for help.
Flies that consumed food with either Truvia or erythritol were dead within a week. The other flies lived for two weeks before the researchers discontinued their observation.
The flies consumed more than twice as much erythritol as sucrose when given the choice between the two suggesting that the files preferred the former.
Because of this scientists think erythritol could successfully be used to bait flies and act as an effective insecticide.
The researchers also wanted to know how much erythritol it would take to kill off the flies. Flies that were given food with low levels of erythritol (about 0. 1 grams in 10 milliliters of water) showed no difference in life span than flies raised on food without any erythritol.
But flies that were given food with high levels of erythritol (2. 4 grams in 10 milliliters of water) were dead within two days.
The researchers don't know exactly how erythritol killed the flies but other studies have shown that it can inhibit an insect's ability to absorb nutrients
and water and their ability to move around. More studies are needed to determine if erythritol is toxic to any other insects.
The study is published today (June 4) in the journal PLOS ONE. Follow Kelly Dickerson on Twitter.
#Platypus Facts The platypus is one of the most unusual creatures in the animal kingdom. Platypuses (which is the correct plural form not platypi) have shaped a paddle tail like a beaver;
a sleek furry body like an otter; and a flat bill and webbed feet like a duck.
In fact the first time a platypus was brought from Australia to Britain people couldn't believe that it was a real animal.
They thought that a trickster had sewn two animals together according to the BBC. Platypuses are among the few venomous mammals.
Males have a spur on the back of their hind feet that is connected to a venom-secreting gland.
More venom is secreted during mating season leading researchers to think that the spurs and venom help males compete for mates according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
The venom is not life threatening to humans but it can cause severe swelling and excruciating pain.
A typical platypus is 15 inches (38 centimeters from its head to the end of its rump.
Its tail adds an additional 5 inches (13 cm) to the animal's length. An individual weighs about 3 lbs.
1. 4 kg) though platypuses that live in colder climates are bigger than those living in warmer areas according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Scientists have found fossils that suggest that ancient platypuses where twice as large as the modern variety at 3. 3 feet (1 meter) long.
Platypuses have dense thick fur that helps them stay warm underwater. Most of the fur is dark brown except for a patch of lighter fur near each eye and lighter-colored fur on the underside.
when the animals are swimming. When platypuses are on land their webbing retracts making the claws more pronounced.
The animals walk awkwardly on their knuckles to protect the webbing. The bill of a platypus sometimes called a duck-billed platypus has a smooth texture that feels like suede.
It is also flexible and rubbery. The skin of the bill holds thousands of receptors that help the platypus navigate underwater
and detect movement of potential food such as shrimp. Platypuses live in only one small area of the world.
These creatures make their homes in the freshwater areas that flow throughout the island of Tasmania and the eastern and southeastern coast of Australia.
While they are in the water a lot they will also waddle onto the riverbanks to dig burrows with their claws.
These burrows are tunnels that have rooms or chambers. Platypuses also live under rock ledges roots
or debris. Though they exist on only one side of one continent platypuses weather many climate extremes.
They have been found in plateaus lowlands tropical rainforests and the cold mountains of Tasmania and the Australian Alps.
Their waterproof thick fur keeps platypuses warm in chilly temperatures and their big tails store extra fat for energy.
Platypuses usually spend their time hunting for food and a hunt can last 10 to 12 hours.
Platypuses are carnivorous which means they eat meat but not plants. They hunt for their food in the water where they live.
When platypuses find something interesting like shellfish insects larvae or worms they scoop it up in their bills store it in their cheek pouches and swim to the surface.
Since they only have grinding plates and no teeth platypuses use any gravel or dirt they scooped up
while on the bottom of the waterbed to mash their food into digestible pieces. Most mammals give birth to live young.
Platypuses however lay eggs. They are a species of primitive mammals called monotremes. Echidnas or spiny anteaters are the only other mammals that lay eggs.
When the female platypus is ready to have her young she will burrow down inside the ground on the riverbank and seal herself into one of her tunnel rooms.
Then she will lay one or two eggs and place them between her rump and her tail to keep them warm.
After about 10 days the eggs hatch and the little bean-sized babies will nurse for three to four months.
Around the time of weaning baby platypuses can swim on their own. The taxonomy of the platypus according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS) is:
Platypuses are endangered not. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the animals as a Least Concern though the organization admits it has no idea how large
or small the platypus population may be. This is due primarily to lack of worldwide research and data on the species. Platypuses swim with their front feet and steer with their tails and back feet.
They have waterproof fur skin that covers their ears and eyes and noses that seal shut to protect the animals
while they are underwater. Though platypuses are made for the water they can't stay completely submerged.
They can only stay underwater for 30 to 140 seconds. Platypus'skeletons resemble those of reptiles.
They both have splayed pectoral girdles and legs. These short creatures are much better at moving through water than across land.
They use 30 percent more energy walking across land than swimming through the water according to the Australian Museum of History. t
#Certain Starch May Reduce Colon-cancer Risk of Meat-Heavy Diet Eating your steak with a side of potatoes
and beans may be one way to reduce the colon cancer risk that comes with eating red meat findings from a new study suggests the resistant starch found in root vegetables grains
and legumes may reverse some of the damaging effects of red meat on cells. Researchers looked at23 healthy study participants who were assigned randomly to eat either about 0. 6 lbs.
#Why Global Food companies Are Dumping Animal Cruelty (Op-Ed) Josh Balk is food policy director at The Humane Society of the United states (HSUS.
Consumers today are increasingly demanding food that does not originate from animals that have experienced cruelty.
but the reality is raised most animals for food today grow up inside crowded factories not farms
But dietary concepts that adhere to higher animal welfare standards like the Three Rs (reducing
Since only female birds lay eggs the industry has no use for male chicks. Their solution?
Customers find abuses to animals to be unacceptable and such practices will no longer be tolerated. Balk's most recent Op-Ed was Why Does Less Meat Mean Less Heat?
With respect to pollinators such as bees it was up to 50%more. However the magnitude of the effect varies between different types of organism and between fields growing different crops.
those crop calories that don t end up in human mouths probably end up in the mouths of other mammals insects and birds.
and many of our treasured and familiar species such as turtledoves and corncrakes can thrive in extensively managed farmland.
there have been spectacular declines in formerly common birds such as skylarks turtledoves and grey partridges as shown in the RSPB State of the UK s Birds Report
which tracks bird numbers since the 1990s. Organic farming has been shown to maintain species diversity on farmland
so it probably does provide one solution to these declines in Europe at least. But in the tropics the situation may be different.
The new work suggests that early cultures were global warming turtles slowly raising temperatures by adding carbon dioxide and methane (both greenhouse gases) to Earth's atmosphere over thousands of years.
#Woolly mammoths and Rhinos Ate Flowers Woolly mammoths rhinos and other ice age beasts may have munched on high-protein wildflowers called forbs new research suggests.
and how those animals thrived on the landscape. The ancient ecosystem was detailed today (Feb 5) in the journal Nature.
Pretty landscape In the past scientists imagined that the now-vast Arctic tundra was once a brown grassland steppe that teemed with wooly mammoths rhinos and bison.
and fossilized poop or coprolites of eight Pleistocene beasts woolly mammoths rhinos bison and horses found in museums throughout the world.
It's also possible that the vanishing of these high-protein plants hastened the extinction of ice age beasts such as the woolly mammoth.
which in turn kept the animals alive. If a big jolt in climate disrupted one part of the chain for instance by depleting the forbs that may have led the whole system to collapse Edwards speculated.
#Bumblebees Can Fly Higher Than Mount everest Alpine bumblebees have the ability to fly at elevations greater than Mt everest scientists have found.
Bumblebees cannot survive the freezing conditions of Mt everest's peak. But researchers based at the University of California Berkley simulated the low oxygen
and low air density conditions of such high elevations to determine the limits of the bumblebee's flight capacity
The team traveled to a mountain range in western China and collected six male bumblebees of the species Bombus impetuosus at about 10660 feet (3250 meters.
Gallery of Colorful Insect Wings The researchers placed the bees in clear sealed boxes and experimentally adjusted the oxygen levels
The findings suggest that bumblebees are limited not by flying capacity when searching for places to settle their colonies
This could bode well for alpine bumblebees in the future Dillon said as climate change may force animals up to higher elevations than they once inhabited due to warming conditions at lower elevations.
It is given important a lot of recent literature suggesting that many insects are moving up mountains in response to changing climates Dillon said.
In the case of the bumblebees they are not going to have much trouble with changes in oxygen.
or if this is an adaptation particular to alpine bumblebees. Follow Laura Poppick on Twitter. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
#7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the future<p>As the human population continues to inch closer to 8 billion people feeding all those hungry mouths will become increasingly difficult.
but to consume insects.</</p><p>As if to underscore that claim a group of students from Mcgill University in Montreal has won the 2013 Hult Prize for producing a protein-rich flour made from insects.
The prize gives the students $1 million in seed money to begin creating what they call Power Flour. "
team captain Mohammed Ashour told<a href=http://abcnews. go. com/Lifestyle/flour-made-insects-feed-underfed-populations/story?
Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security. " The document details the health and environmental benefits derived from a diet supplemented by insects a diet also known as "
entomophagy. " Gleaned from the FAO document and other sources here' s a list of seven<a href=http://www. livescience. com/12922-eating-insects-global-warming-greenhouse-gases. html>edible insects</a>you may soon find on your dinner plate.<
<a href=http://www. livescience. com/11377-7-perfect-survival-foods. html>Eat This! 7 Perfect Survival Foods</a p><p>Mopane caterpillars —
the larval stage of the emperor moth(<em>Imbrasia belina</em>)— are common throughout the southern part of Africa.
Harvesting of mopane caterpillars is a multi-million dollar industry in the region where women
and children generally do the work of gathering the plump little insects.</</p><p>The caterpillars are boiled traditionally in salted water then sun-dried;
the dried form can last for several months without refrigeration making them an important source of nutrition in lean times.
And few bugs are more nutritious: Whereas the iron content of<a href=http://www. livescience. com/3904-free-beef-proposed. html>beef</a is 6 mg per 100 grams of dry weight
mopane caterpillars pack a whopping 31 mg of iron per 100 grams. They' re also a good source of potassium sodium calcium phosphorous magnesium zinc manganese and copper according to the FAO.</
</p><p>Want to get rid of the<a href=http://www. livescience. com/38738-termite-distress-signal-head-banging. html>termites</a>gnawing at your floorboards?
Just do like they do in South america and Africa: Take advantage of the rich nutritional quality of these insects by frying sun-drying smoking or steaming termites in banana leaves.</
</p><p>Termites generally consist of up to 38 percent protein and one particular Venezuelan species<em>Syntermes aculeosus</em>is 64 percent protein.
Termites are also rich in<a href=http://www. livescience. com/29263-iron. html>iron</a>calcium essential fatty acids and amino acids such as tryptophan.</
</p><p>Among the aboriginal people of Australia the witchetty grub is a dietary staple.
</p><p>Though people often refer to the larvae of several different moths as witchetty grubs some sources specify the larval stage of the cossid moth(<em>Endoxyla leucomochla</em>)as the true witchetty grub.
</p><p>Chapulines are grasshoppers of the genus<em>Sphenarium</em >and are eaten widely throughout southern Mexico.
The grasshoppers are known as rich sources of protein; some claim that the insects are more than 70 percent protein.</
</p><p>Researchers have noted that the gathering of<em>Sphenarium</em>grasshoppers is an attractive alternative to spraying pesticides in fields of alfalfa and other crops.
Not only does this eliminate the environmental hazards associated with<a href=http://www. livescience. com/13839-pesticide-babies-intelligence-iq-scores. html>pesticide sprays</a>it also gives the local people an extra source of nutrition
and income from the sale of grasshoppers.<<a href=http://www. livescience. com/15626-gallery-dazzling-photos-dew-covered-insects. html>Gallery:
Dazzling Photos of Dew-Covered Insects</a p><p>A delicacy among many African tribes the palm weevil(<em>Rhychophorus phoenicis</em>)is collected off the trunks of palm trees.
About 4 inches (10 centimeters) long and two inches (5 cm) wide the weevils are fried easily pan
because their bodies are full of fats though they' re also eaten raw.</</p><p>A 2011 report from the Journal of Insect Science found that the African palm weevil is an excellent source of several nutrients such as potassium zinc iron and phosphorous as well as several
amino acids and healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.</</p><p>Their name certainly doesn' t lend itself to culinary appeal
but stink bugs (Hemiptera order) are consumed throughout Asia South america and Africa. The insects are a rich source of important nutrients including protein iron potassium
and phosphorus.</p><p>Because stink bugs release a noxious scent they are eaten not usually raw
can then be used as a pesticide to keep termites away from houses.</</p><p>The larvae of the mealworm beetle(<em>Tenebrio molitor</em>)is one of the only insects consumed in the Western world:
They are raised in The netherlands for human consumption (as well as for animal feed) partly because they thrive in a temperate climate.</
</p><p>The nutritional value of mealworms is hard to beat: They' re rich in<a href=http://www. livescience. com/29377-copper. html>copper</a>sodium potassium iron zinc and selenium.
Mealworms are also comparable to beef in terms of protein content but have a greater number of healthy polyunsaturated fats.</
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