Saturday, 22 February 2014
EARTHQUAKE HITS SOUTH WEST
FURTHER INFOA earthquake that measured 4.1 magnitude hit parts of the SOUTH WEST on THURSDAY 20/2/2014.It is believed to have started in the BRISTOL CHANNEL at 1.21pm and was felt in DARTMOOR,SOUTH MOLTON,BARNSTAPLE,GLOUCESTER,SWANSEA,LLANELLI.
Master monkey's brain controls sedated 'avatar'
The brain of one monkey has been used to control the movements of another, "avatar", monkey, US scientists report.
Brain scans read the master monkey's mind and were used to
electrically stimulate the avatar's spinal cord, resulting in controlled
movement. The team hope the method can be refined to allow paralysed people to regain control of their own body.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, have been described as "a key step forward".
Damage to the spinal cord can stop the flow of information from the brain to the body, leaving people unable to walk or feed themselves.
The researchers are aiming to bridge the damage with machinery.
Match electrical activity The scientists at Harvard Medical School said they could not justify paralysing a monkey. Instead, two were used - a master monkey and a sedated avatar.
The master had a brain chip implanted that could monitor the activity of up to 100 neurons.
During training, the physical actions of the monkey were matched up with the patterns of electrical activity in the neurons.
The avatar had 36 electrodes implanted in the spinal cord and tests were performed to see how stimulating different combinations of electrodes affected movement.READ MORE
Tourism best hope for critically endangered lemurs
Madagascar's lemurs - the world's most threatened primate - could be saved from extinction by eco-tourism, conservationists say.
The big-eyed fluffy creatures are unique to the island but their numbers have declined dramatically in recent years. Now researchers have unveiled a survival plan that combines tourism with increased conservation efforts.
Writing in Science, the team says the project will cost £4.6m ($7.6m),
There are over 100 species of lemur known to science, the majority of which are at dangerously low levels, largely due to habitat loss from illegal logging.
Madagascar is the only known home of these species as its unique location, split off from the African mainland, has allowed the primates to evolve in near isolation. READ MORE
VIKINGS-10 FACTS
Never wore helmets with horns on.Excavations of viking sites uncovered tweezers,combs,razors,ear cleaners and thier bathed at least once a week.Viking woman could inherit property,request divorce,reclaim dowry payments thier parents give thier husbands.Used primitive ski,s and skied for fun.Used soap containing lye which bleached hair,beards for fashion and killed lice.Applied dark eyeliner to make eyes look whitier.Filed horizonal lines in thier teeth and coloured the marks with red resin to look fiecier .Wore baggy trousers down to knee,fastened shut with small clasps.The viking woman loved bling- brooches,dragon-headed pin.Boiled fungus in human uraine which created a substance which smouldered so they could carry a spark to light fires when on the move.
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Ancient American's genome mapped
Present-day Native Americans are descended from some of the continent's earliest settlers, a genetic study suggests.
Scientists sequenced the genome of a one-year-old boy who died in what is now Montana about 12,500 years ago.
Some researchers have raised questions about the origins of early Americans, with one theory even proposing a link to Ice Age Europeans.
But the Nature study places the origins of these ancient people in Asia.
The infant was a member of the Clovis people, a widespread, sophisticated Ice Age culture in North America. They appeared in America about 13,000 years ago and hunted mammoth, mastodon and bison.
The boy's remains, uncovered at the Anzick Site in Montana in 1968, were associated with distinctive Clovis stone tools. In fact, it is the only known skeleton directly linked to artefacts from this culture.
But the origins of the Clovis people, and who they are related to today, has been the subject of intense discussion.
Eske Willerslev, from the University of Copenhagen, and his colleagues were able to extract DNA from the bones of the Anzick boy and map his genome (the genetic information contained in the nucleus of his cells).
The researchers found that around 80% of today's Native Americans are related to the "clan" from which the boy came.READ MORE
Nazis 'researched use of mosquitoes for war' at Dachau
German scientists at Dachau concentration camp researched the possible use of malaria-infected mosquitoes as weapons during World War Two, a researcher has claimed.
Dr Klaus Reinhardt of Tuebingen University examined the archives of the Entomological Institute at Dachau.
He found that biologists had looked at which mosquitoes might best be able to survive outside their natural habitat.
He speculates that such insects could have been dropped over enemy territory.
Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS, set up the institute at Dachau in 1942.
Disease
The organisation's work was believed to have focused on insect-borne diseases such as typhus, which afflicted the camp inmates.
Dr Reinhardt, writing in the journal Endeavour, has found evidence that the unit's researchers investigated a particular type of mosquito which could live without food and water for four daysREAD MORE
Tuna hearts 'affected by oil spill'
Scientists say that tuna swimming in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have experienced heart damage.
Lab research has demonstrated how crude oil chemicals can disrupt heart function in the fish.
The study, published in Science magazine, is part of the ongoing work to try to understand the impacts of the disaster.
The gulf is an important spawning ground for bluefin and yellowfin tuna.
Tracking studies have indicated that many of these fish would have been in the area during the 2010 disaster.
Scientists have long known that certain chemicals in crude oil – such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – can be harmful to the hearts of embryonic and developing fish.
These molecules, which have distinct ring-like structures, cause a slowing of the heart, irregularities in rhythm and even cardiac arrest at high exposures.READ MORE
Cat parasite found in Arctic Beluga
The cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can cause blindness in people, has been identified in Beluga in the western Arctic.
The discovery by University of British Columbia scientists has prompted a health advisory to Inuit people in the region who eat the whale's meat.
Researchers say it is an example of how the warming of the Arctic is allowing the freer movement of pathogens.
Icier conditions in the past acted as an obstruction to infectious agents.
“Ice is a significant ecological barrier and it influences the way in which pathogens can be transmitted in nature and your risk of exposure,” said molecular parasitologist Michael Grigg.
“What we’re finding with the changes ongoing in the Arctic is that we’re getting new pathogens emerging to cause diseases in the region that haven’t been there before,” he told BBC News.
The UBC Marine Mammal Research Unit scientist was speaking here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)READ MORE
BADGERS TO GET BIRTH CONTROL?
The newest idea from the government is to give badgers birth control injections and hopefully an vaccine against tuberculosis,laughed at by the backbenches.As you known the government tried to murder -badger cull -but did not work as lower number than required dead-1,800-still too many.
BERMUDA TRIANGLE A MYTH?
America, s national oceanic and atmospheric administration scientists have ruled that the BERMUDA TRIANGLE is a myth,nothing to indicate casualties were nothing other than physical causes.despite 135 people have disappeared-aliens,bad weather,poor navigation given as reasons,BERMUDA TRIANGLE is region BEMUDA,MIAMI TO PUERTO RICO.
Saturday, 8 February 2014
No target' in UK animal tests plan
The UK government has launched its delivery plan to replace, refine and reduce the use of animals in research - known as "the 3Rs".
It pledges to encourage scientists to use alternatives wherever possible.
But there is no commitment in the strategy released on Friday to reduce the total number of animal experiments, which has been on the rise.
This is despite a post-election pledge by the Coalition to cut the use of animals in scientific research.
Instead, the government will promote new, more ethical research techniques which can help boost UK science.
"This isn't about a numerical target," said David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.
"The commitment is to 'work to reduce use of animals'. Ultimately the final figure will depend on patterns of scientific advance.
"Britain is a world leader in science but also in concern for the welfare of animals. What we are doing is bringing these two great British traditions together.
"We are absolutely committed to the 3Rs."READ MORE
WHAT A LOAD OF CROC
AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE were informed by a local bus driver claiming to have seen a crocodile 6ft long,BRISTOL ZOO had no missing replies ZOOLOGIST DR.ADA BRITON believes it could be an illegal pet released after growing too big or an misindentified ie monitior lizard ,iguana which to the untrained eye look a bit crocodile like or just a log floating down the RIVER AVON,but you never know
SAVE THE WOMANS REFUGE IN BARNSTAPLE ,DEVON-PERSONNAL VIEW
Yes i know i its strange for a man to ask you to support this charity ,years ago my now wife had to go to stay thier to keep away from her then husband for her own protrection with one of her children her son.Whilst there she heard and saw things which i can not write about as unfair to the woman whom where there at the time,it is wrong for any man to abuse a woman and is cowardly
STOP MONKEY ,S BEING TESTED ;ANTI ANIMAL TESTING REPORT
Baby monkeys are being exported from MAURITIUS to laboratories in U.K -1,000-Three quarters used for toxicology tests in new drugs the rest to study parkinson disease,alzhiemers,aids.Some say this is vital but thier are alternatives,the home office recently dropped is rule of inspecting and approving overseas breeding facilities,more self governed leading to possilbe gross inadequate protecting of animal.If you wish more info contract www.navs.org.uk
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Animal lover Paul O’Grady travels to South Africa and Zambia to meet animals that have been orphaned in the wild in this new factual series.
He encounters lions, cheetahs, hippos, elephants, baboons and rhinos, amongst others, who are being hand-reared by humans. Most of the animals he meets have ended up as orphans because of humans, either their parents have been killed by poachers or their natural habitat has been destroyed or encroached upon. Paul gets hands-on helping to care for and rehabilitate the animals and of course makes some new friends along the way.
In episode two, Paul meets cheetah cubs, a rhino calf, baby baboons and spends more time at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery. First, Paul visits Cheetah Outreach, a sanctuary near Cape Town where he learns more about their work to protect Africa’s most endangered wildcats. He is able to get very close to an adult cheetah called Joseph who is being used to breed in captivity to prevent the species becoming extinct. He also meets a litter of six cubs who have been bred in captivity. They are just three months old and are being hand-reared. Paul spends time with the cubs feeding them and playing with them and strikes up such a bond they all fall asleep on him. Paul says: “This is heaven, happiness is sitting on a scrap of blanket in the drizzle with six cheetah cubs on your lap it doesn’t get any better, it really doesn’t.”
Next Paul is back at Moholoholo, an animal rehab centre near Kruger National Park. Here he meets a black rhino calf called Ollie who was orphaned at five months old when his mother was shot and killed. He is now sixteen months old and is looked after by keeper Jamie who has become his surrogate mum. Paul joins Jamie taking Ollie for a mud bath but unfortunately he is not in the mood for a bath. Black rhinos are in critical danger in Africa because of poaching and will be extinct in 10 years if poaching continues. Paul says: “They will join the dodo and countless other animals and birds that are now extinct that we have wiped out. It’s disgusting.”
Next Paul travels to C.A.R.E, a rehabilitation centre for baboons run by Samantha Dewhirst. Adult baboons are often killed in South Africa as they are treated as vermin and the babies are orphaned. The volunteers at C.A.R.E have to become surrogate mothers to the babies, spending 24 hours a day with them, eating and sleeping together. Paul meets baby baboon Tiny Tim who has been hand-reared but is being prepared to be released into the wild. He is invited to watch as Tim is introduced to a group of baboons that will hopefully become his new troop and family. Paul waits anxiously to see if the troop accept or reject Tim.
Then it’s back to the Lilayi Elephant Nursery where Paul gets to spend more time with his favorite elephant Nkala. Paul also meets a very sick baby elephant who has been found alone in Kafue National Park. The calf is believed to have been alone for months after its mother was killed for her ivory and has been slowly starving to death. Paul is distraught to discover there is nothing more the keepers can do to help. Paul says: “You just feel so stupid, so helpless. This is because of poachers. This is so someone can wear ivory bangles and have an ivory chess set, ivory earrings, it’s just wrong.”
Saturday, 1 February 2014
BLAINVILLE WHALE FOUND ON CORNISH BEACH
A rare BEAKED WHALE-BLAINVILLE WHALE was discovered on KENNEGGY BEACH NEAR PRAA SANDS-normally found in tropical waters-experts believe the BLAINVILLE WHALE will strand more fequently in BRITAIN due to climate change.The BLAINVILLE WHALE was found on NOVEMBER 30 2013,IT A SHAME THIS AMAZING WHALE WAS FOUND DECOMPOSING.
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