A major pitfall of mini-shifting is the lack of oeclear edges between work and personal time
#Aphids Genome Reflects Its Reproductive, Symbiotic Lifestyle Colony of young aphids. Aphids could be considered the oemosquitoes of the plant world,
depending on the oeblood of plants to survive. They live in symbiosis with bacteria that pass from one generation to the next,
Aphids with the same genotype can be winged wingless or. In different seasons, they develop as asexual females who produce offspring with identical genes through parthenogenesis.
The genome of the pea aphid sequenced by the International Aphid Genomics Consortium, reflects these unusual characteristics
and more, said Dr. Stephen Richards, assistant professor in the Baylor College of Medicine Human genome Sequencing Center
The consortium released the 464 megabyte draft genome of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) in the current issue of PLOS Biology. oebecause this is a different kind of insect not a fruit fly, not a beetle,
not a hymenoptera (butterfly and moth) we are seeing things that people have not seen in other projects,
said that even though he pushed hard to get the aphid genome sequenced, oeit turned out to be far more interesting than
He agreed with Richards that the aphid presents a special case. oelook at this little insect,
000 in other insects and 25,000 in humans, said Richards, a corresponding author of the paper. oethus it seems that pea aphids (one among the 4,
500 other aphid species on the planet) have duplicated some of their genes, said Dr. Denis Tagu,
senior scientist with The french National Institute for Agricultural Research. oewhat does this mean? It means that the pea aphid probably did a kind of backup of its genetic material.
One hypothesis is that one copy of this backup is kept unchanged and used for the functioning of the cells and the organism,
the pea aphid adapt to its environment. oeanother possibility is that maybe aphids require extra copies of genes
Stern said. oemaybe the aphids need all these to regulate all parts of their life cycles.
and described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the Suns rays.
Heres hoping the ongoing global bee die off comes to an end soon it seems were losing some of the smartest insects on the planet.
#Sundaland Clouded Leopard Newly Identified Species Filmed for First time A newly identified Sundaland clouded leopard,
caught on camera for the first time ever, stalking through the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Borneo The Sundaland clouded leopard,
a newly identified and little understood species of big cat in Borneo, has been filmed for the first time. The leopard, a healthy-looking animal a metre long (3 feet) and weighing about 40 kilograms (90 pounds) was caught on video at night at the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysian Borneos Sabah
state. oewhat surprised us was clouded that while leopards are very elusive cats, this one was scared not at all,
said Azlan Mohamed, a field scientist with University Sabah Malaysia. oedespite our powerful spot lights and the roar of our vehicles engine,
he told AFP. oeit is rare to see the big cat in the wild. These cats are usually shy of humans,
it was caught by chance we it on video. The Sundaland clouded leopard was classified as a new species through genetic studies several years ago
and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature designated it as endangered in 2008.
Previously all clouded leopards living across the Southeast Asian mainland were thought to be the same species. Azlan said the Sundaland species is the biggest predator on Borneo,
However, Azlan said the researchers found the remains of a samba deer which had been killed by one of the big cats.
Azlan is a member of a research team focusing on carnivores in Sabah, led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibnez Institute for Zoo
and Wildlife Research based in Berlin, Germany. Article continues below This big cat can be found in lowland rainforest on Borneo
and in small numbers in areas of logged forest. But environmentalists say that the clouded leopard faces the threat of poaching
while rapid deforestation and the creation of rubber and oil-palm plantations in Borneo is destroying its natural habitat.
is also home to four other threatened wild cats. Sixty cameras traps placed in Dermakot also captured images of the marbled cat
flat-headed cat, leopard cat and Borneo bay cat, all smaller in size than the Sundaland clouded leopard. oethese small cats feed on rats and mice,
he said. Azlan said the research team was oesurprised to find all five cat species in Dermakot and four of them in the neighbouring Tangkulap Forest Reserve.
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#Bees Prefer Nectar with Caffeine and Nicotine Bees are attracted to nectar which are laced with caffeine
The honey-making insects prefer nectar with small amounts of nicotine and caffeine over plain nectar, researchers revealed.
which provides energy for the potential pollinators. But the floral nectar of some plant species also includes small quantities of substances known to be toxic, such as caffeine and nicotine.
#Surprising New Branches on Arthropod family Tree Centipede. Any way you look at it by sheer weight, species diversity or population the hard-shelled,
joint-legged creepy crawlies called arthropods dominate planet Earth. Because of their success and importance, scientists have been trying for decades to out the family relationships that link lobsters to millipedes
and cockroaches to tarantulas and find which might have come first. In a scientific and technological tour de force that was nearly a decade in the making, a team of scientists from Duke university,
the University of Maryland and the Natural history Museum of Los angeles County have compared genetic sequences from 75 different species to draw a new family tree that includes every major arthropod lineage.
Some of the relationships are so surprising that new names had to be coined for five newly-discovered groupings.
A big surprise to tumble out of the new tree is that the closest living relatives of insects include a small and obscure group of creatures called remipedes that were discovered only in the late 1970s living in a watery cave in the Bahamas.
With linear bodies like centipedes, simple legs and no eyes, it was thought that this small group now placed with cephalocarids in the newly-named Xenocarida
after analyzing 62 shared genetic sequences across all the arthropods, the researchers are putting the strange shrimp together with the six-legged insects, Hexapoda,
to form a new group they dubbed Miracrustacea, or oesurprising crustaceans. As a oesister clade to hexapods, the Xenocarida likely represent the sort of creature that came onto land to start the spectacular flowering of the insect lineage,
said Cliff Cunningham, a professor of biology at Duke who led the study. Triops, a 2-inch crustacean that looks like a cross between a horseshoe crab
and a mayfly, had also been thought of as an early crustacean, but it too was shown to have a relatively modern origin in the new analysis,
Cunningham said. oetaxonomists have been arguing about these things for decades, and people kept coming at this with one data set after another,
This latest study has created a fuller picture of the arthropod family tree by using more species and more genes,
The study included nematodes scorpions, dragonflies, barnacles, copepods and centipedes. Remipedes, one of the two species of Xenocarida in the study, had to be fetched from partially submerged limestone caves in the Yucatan peninsula and preserved just so.
Bitty creatures called mystacocarids that live between grains of sand were captured by the Natural history Museums Regina Wetzer,
Once assembled, the 75 species were stripped then down to their DNA for a painstaking search to find genetic sequences that would appear across all arthropods, enabling statistical comparisons.
500 different combinations of PCR primers to find 62 protein-coding gene sequences that could be compared across all 75 species. Regier was an early proponent of using protein coding genes to sort out the arthropod tree,
The grass, Brachypodium distachyon, can be used by plant scientists the way other researchers use lab mice to study human disease as a model organism that is similar to
life forms from bacteria to whales is wrong. Apparently, the mysterious oe3/4 law of metabolism proposed by Max Kleiber in 1932,
explained theoretically in Science in 1997 and described in a 2000 essay in Nature as oeextended to all life forms from bacteria to whales is just plain wrong. oeactually,
His paper in the January 29 edition of Physical Review Letters helps overturn almost 80 years of near-mystical belief in a 3/4 exponent used to describe the relationship between the size of animals
assume a spherical mouse. OK, now compare the resting metabolic rates of these sorry animals. Since the point of resting metabolism is to keep a warm-blooded animal warm (and alive!
with the lowest necessary energy use, both geometry and common sense suggest that the cow would have a lower rate of metabolism per cell than the mouse:
the mouse, with more surface area relative to its volume, would lose heat faster than our cartoon cow.
And what about in real animals? In 1883, a German physiologist named Max Rubner measured the heat output of some dogs ranging from a few pounds to nearly seventy.
He plotted these numbers to show that the dogs metabolic rates were proportional to their mass with an exponent of 2/3 just like the geometry of an imaginary spherical beast would suggest.
But, in 1932, Swiss agricultural chemist Max Kleiber presented a paper with a now-famous graph.
It plotted, on a logarithmic scale, the body weight of 13 mammals, ranging from rats to cows,
against their resting metabolism. Strangely, the line traced through the data points did not conform to Rubners observation nor common sense.
Instead it hewed to a line with a somewhat steeper slope of about. 73. To make it easier for slide rule use,
Over the next decades, hundreds of animals resting metabolisms were measured or estimated, from microbes to whales.
The results in various groups of animals ranged from slopes of less than 2/3 to greater than 1
and concluded that oethe 3/4 slope is representative for all animals. oesome data seems to fit this 3/4 line
since 1989, said human DNA was added to the engineered animals to control blood clotting and rejection in humans.
The possibility of animal-to-human transplants xenotransplantation has divided the medical ethics community. Medical ethicist Associate professor Nicholas Tonti-Filippini said such transplants had the potential to bring animal diseases into the human population.
whether the community is prepared to accept a part human, part animal. Via Times of India Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati S
According to the research, animals fed on three strains of genetically modified maize created by the U s. biotech firm Monsanto suffered signs of organ damage after just three months.
Two of the varieties contained genes for the Bt protein which protects the plant against the corn borer pest,
Dr Seralini concluded that rats which ate the GM maize had statistically significant signs of liver and kidney damage.
and urine of rats fed the maize for three months, compared to rats given a non-GM diet.
The higher hormone levels suggest that animals livers and kidneys are not working properly. Female rats fed one of the strains also had higher blood sugar levels
and raised levels of fatty substances caused triglycerides, Dr Seralini reported in the International Journal of Microbiology.
The analysis concluded: These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them,
It might look like one of those cheap extendable gorilla-head grippers but dig deeper and youll find that the boys from TT have done their homework.
#Hotlix Insect Candy in Pictures Hotlix insect candy Even the sweetest tooth might find these confections easy to resist.
From worm lollipops to chocolate-dipped scorpions these bizarre concoctions could be from the dark mind of a twisted Willy Wonka.
Pics) Californian based candy creators HOTLIX have been making people cringe with delight with their outrageous confections for over 25 years. oeour first insect candy was flavoured a tequila lollipop with a worm in it back in 1982,
and our insect candy has taken off worldwide. The brainchild of Larry Peterman, 70, HOTLIX have expanded their line to include devilish delights from apple,
lemon and orange flavoured Cricket Suckers to Amber Insectnside and spice-flavoured Larvets. oelarry has
what he calls the worm ranch where he grows all of the insects for food products,
revealed Katy. oeour latest insect candy has been flavoured the chocolate scorpion which have proved to be very popular.
but yes everything is edible even the scorpions, she said. oemany people think the scorpions are poisonous
but when a scorpion dies it is not longer venomous. It is cooked before it is put into the candy so a lot of it is actually protein.
It actually could be quite good for you, but we do cut off the stinger just to make sure there is no hint of poison. oewe feed the worms things like oatmeal,
apple peel and banana peel so they are filled clean bugs with nutrients. And like the chocolatier from Roald Dahls hit childrens book, Larry is very protective of the secret process behind making insect candy. oethe owner does not divulge exactly what the process is before they are cooked
because over the years we have had a lot of people who have tried to copy the process. So far though our secrets have stayed safe and sound.
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#Scientists Identify Ecuadors Yasuni National park as One of Most Biodiverse Places On earth Crowned like a king, the spike-headed katydid,
Panacanthus cuspidatus, is projected one of 100,000 insect species in Yasuni. A team of scientists has documented that Yasunã National park,
in the core of the Ecuadorian Amazon, shatters world records for a wide array of plant and animal groups, from amphibians to trees to insects.
The authors also conclude that proposed oil development projects represent the greatest threat to Yasunã
and possibly the world, said Dr. Peter English of The University of Texas at Austin. oeamphibians, birds,
mammals and vascular plants all reach maximum diversity in Yasunã. The study is published in the open-access scientific journal PLOS ONE. oewe have documented so far 596 bird species occurring in Yasuni,
said English, a bird specialist. oethats incredible diversity to find in just one corner of the Amazon rainforest and rivals any other spot on the planet.
Other specialists joined in to give the first complete picture of the extraordinary diversity found in Yasunã National park. oethe 150 amphibian species documented to date throughout Yasunã is a world record for an area of this size
said Shawn Mccracken of Texas State university. oethere are more species of frogs and toads within Yasunã than are native to the United states and Canada combined.
The scientists also confirmed that an average upland hectare (2. 47 acres) in Yasunã contains more tree species, 655,
an Ecuadorian botanist working with both the Smithsonian Institution and Finding Species. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all is that a single hectare of forest in Yasunã is projected to contain 100,000 insect species. According to eminent entomologist Dr
Article continues below oeone of our most important findings about Yasunã is that small areas of forest harbor extremely high numbers of animals
600-acre Tiputini Biodiversity Station on the northern edge of the park. oethe Tiputini Biodiversity Station is home to 247 amphibian and reptile species,
550 bird species and around 200 mammal species, said Dr. Kelly Swing of the University of San francisco in Quito,
That, or the subjects confused the study with a casting call for another sequel to Cocoon.
like our amoeba ancestors, have a kind of subconscious desire to return to the primordial ooze to mate.
and mellow. 5. Poached Rhinoceros Horns In Eastern asia, ground rhino horns have long been considered a widespread cure for many ailments,
including erectile dysfunction. Aside from the obvious allusions to potency, the source of the rhino horns power is its scarcity.
Humans love to attribute special powers to rare objects, and aphrodisiacs are no exception. But, unfortunately for the rhinos, their horns are becoming an increasingly rare commodity,
making them seem all the more powerful. Naturally, the rhinos vigorously dispute this claim and are seen often campaigning for people to eat more white tiger penises,
which are credited with similar erotic qualities and are equally rare. After surviving 50 million years
the rhinoceros is on the verge of extinction fact that can certainly be blamed in part on poachers seeking the high-value horns.
But, as of yet, the only scientific reason to consume a rhino horn for any purpose,
sexual or otherwise, is the nutritional benefit. Rhino horns are an excellent source of calcium,
but then again, so are Tums. While a daily supplement is not wildly exotic or erotic, think of the many African birds that will have nowhere to perch
if the rhino is gone. Besides, sneaking endangered animal parts through customs is no way to live.
Article continues below 6. Pig in a Blanket Sometimes edible aphrodisiacs are meant never to be consumed,
Similar procedures are recommended in the Kama sutra. Ingredients for such practices include honey, camels milk and lavender.
An especially memorable recommended concoction for this instructs the man to catch a vulture by himself (very important)
Apparently, rubbing your body with dead vulture paste has the ability to bewitch the opposite sex,
its surely worth a try. 8. Red Hot Chili pepper Salsa Before Anthony and Flea, there were habeã eros to get everyone hot and sweaty.
Spanish fly Empanadas The longstanding legend that oespanish Fly can drive the ladies wild is a dangerous myth.
The Spanish fly is actually a green blister beetle found in southern parts of Europe. For centuries, a preparation made from the insects dried and crushed bodies (a substance known as cantharides) was used medically as an irritant and diuretic.
If the chemical is given to a woman, it will severely irritate the urinary tract, causing extreme burning and itching in the vaginal area.
Today, Spanish fly is considered actually a poison, as an overload of cantharides can cause kidney malfunction, gastrointestinal hemorrhages or even death.
although youd never know that based on the number of Spanish fly-related porn sites on the Web. via Mental Flos t
#Punishment Important in Plant-Pollinator Relationship Charlotte Jander placed either a wasp carrying pollen or a pollen-free wasp in a bag around a fig fruit.
Figs and the wasps that pollinate them present one of biologists favorite examples of a beneficial relationship between two different species. In exchange for the pollination service provided by the wasp,
and board for the wasps developing young. However, wasps do not always pollinate the fig.
Fig trees oepunish these oecheaters by dropping unpollinated fruit, killing the wasps offspring inside, report researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Their results published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, show that sanctions against cheaters may be critical to maintain the relationship. oerelationships require give and take.
and their wasp pollinators. said lead author, Charlotte Jandr, graduate student in Cornell Universitys Department of Neurobiology and Behavior,
who conducted the study as a Smithsonian pre-doctoral fellow. oewhat prevents the wasps from reaping the benefits of the relationship without paying the costs?
Some wasp species passively carry pollen that sticks to their bodies. Others actively collect pollen in special pouches.
Jandr evaluated the ability of six different fig tree-fig wasp species pairs to regulate cheating.
She introduced either a single pollen-free wasp, or a wasp carrying pollen, into a mesh bag containing an unpollinated The wasps entered the figs to lay their eggs.
Jandr found that trees often dropped unpollinated figs before young wasps could mature. oethis is really about the all too-human theme of crime and punishment.
We found that in actively pollinated fig species when wasps expend time and energy to collect
and deposit pollenwasps that did not provide the basic service of pollination were sanctioned. However in passively pollinated species
when the wasps do need not to make an effort to pollinateanctions were said absent Allen Herre,
STRI staff scientist. oealthough we still need to clearly understand the costs associated with applying sanctions,
Similar results have been found among human societies and in social insects. It is very appealing to think that the same general principles could help maintain cooperation both within and among species. more via science news Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati d
which will improve the ability of animals and humans to digest soybeans. In another effort, by comparing the genomes of soybean and corn,
Because phytate is absorbed not by the animals that eat the feed, the unabsorbed phytate passes through the gastrointestinal tract,
Erhan Elibol, a vet, performed a caesarean on the animal to take the lamb out,
but was horrified to see that the features of the lambs snout bore a striking resemblance to a human face. oeive seen mutations with cows and sheep before.
I had to help the animal, the 29-year-old veterinary said. The lambs head had human features on the eyes,
Local residents said that even dogs were afraid to approach the bizarre animal. The locals burned the body of the little goat
a longtime employee Webb assigned to work on the Flamingo and who later became president of Del Webb Corp,
a longtime employee Webb assigned to work on the Flamingo and who later became president of Del Webb Corp,
what youd call a high roller, but Ive taken my share of lickings up there up to $9, 000 or $10, 000 on a few nights.
That hobby made him the acquaintance of Alfred Winter, who ran gambling operations illegally in Portland,
The Webb hotels sponsored trap shoots, realizing that men and women who could afford to burn 100 shotgun shells every outing also might throw dollars at a hardway eight.
The Webb hotels sponsored trap shoots, realizing that men and women who could afford to burn 100 shotgun shells every outing also might throw dollars at a hardway eight.
The team tested their theory by releasing small hive beetles at the mouth of a beehive,
Mr. Kobayashi built an oval birds nest of a house, 12 feet high and 9 feet in diameter, reached by a circular staircase,
#said Kimberly Jaeger, a Publix spokeswoman. We are working with our suppliers to secure as much organic milk as we can.#
The wolf s knocking at the door.##Mr. Azevedo also said that retailers should do their part by lowering their markup on organic milk
Farmers must keep their animals on pasture or feed them expensive organically grown grain and hay.
It also plans to sell a line of yogurt mixed with vegetables for dogs. For us to provide ourselves with enough security and enough milk
#In a plutonomy there is no such animal as the U s. consumer#or the UK consumer,
Fat cats who owe it to their grandfathers are not getting all of the gains, #Peter Lindert told me.
and Financial times columnist Martin Wolf, and leading them in discussion of matters ranging from global financial imbalances to the war in Afghanistan.
arguably the most coveted status symbol isn t a yacht, a racehorse, or a knighthood;
Some animals that are afflicted sometimes include cows, snakes, lizards, turtles, dogs, cats and chickens. This past week, a two-headed pig with one eye, was born on Xiao Jintu s pig farm,
His rarity has saved him from becoming someone s ham dinner, a dubious honor in the case of this unfortunate animal.
#Birds in cities sing at higher pitch: study Because sounds bounce and travel in different ways,
birds have to use songs that can cope with this#.#Birds living in urban areas sing at a higher pitch to reduce the impact of echoes from surrounding buildings, a study claims.
Higher-pitched songs travel further in built-up areas because their echoes fade more quickly, meaning the following notes are clearer and easier to pick out.
It had suggested previously that great tits and other common birds raised their pitch in urban areas to distinguish their song from the low-pitch drone of traffic and machinery,
but now scientists believe it could be a combination of the two. Emily Mockford, a researcher from Aberystwyth University
birds have to use songs that can cope with this#.#The study, published in the PLOS One journal, also found that urban birds songs were heard more clearly in woodland than those of forest-dwelling birds,
possibly because rural birds use clues like how muffled songs are to determine their distance from one another.
Dr Rupert Marshall, another of the researchers, added: In woodland where trees and leaves obscure the view,
many species of songbird can tell how far away a rival is degraded by how its song is.
and song doesn t degrade as quickly, so city birds may just concentrate on being heard.##Via Telegraph Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati T
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