Posted by admin on Dec 7, 2011 in
Foolery,
SCIENCE Apparently, the world is not ending in 2012.
Archeologist Richard Hansen explains the detail on a Mayan panel in the northern Guatemalan Peten jungle. Image Reuters
Mayan prediction of 2012 apocalypse ‘a marketing fallacy’
By Pepe Cortes | Reuters | Dec 2, 2011 – 12:13 PM ET
If you are worried the world will end next year based on the Mayan calendar, relax: the end of time is still far off.
So say Mayan experts who want to dispel any belief that the ancient Mayans predicted a world apocalypse next year.
The Mayan calendar marks the end of a 5,126 year old cycle around December 12, 2012 which should bring the return of Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god associated with war and creation.
Author Jose Arguelles called the date “the ending of time as we know it” in a 1987 book that spawned an army of Mayan theorists, whose speculations on a cataclysmic end abound online. But specialists meeting at this ancient Mayan city in southern Mexico say it merely marks the termination of one period of creation and the beginning of another.
Read more…
Posted by admin on Dec 2, 2011 in
SCIENCE Eeek! This huge insect has a wonderful name and Ms Tasman-Jones came up with a dilly of a headline.
The nocturnal creature, known as wetapunga or “god of ugly things”
- Entomologist Mark Moffett found this carrot-eating giant weta in a tree on New Zealand’s Little Barrier Island. The cricketlike critter weighs 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and has a length of 7 inches (17.8 centimeters) Image Mark Moffett / Minden / Solent
Whopping weta wows the world
JESSICA TASMAN-JONES | www.stuff.co.nz | 02/12/2011
An American tourist has claimed he’s found the world’s biggest insect during a two-day hunt on Auckland’s Little Barrier Island – but the experts aren’t buying his tall tale.
Mark Moffett, a former park ranger from Colorado, found the Little Barrier giant weta up a tree and snapped it nibbling a carrot.
Moffett’s photos have been published on Britain’s Daily Mail and Sun news websites where he claims to have found the largest ever specimen.
“The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found, she weighs the equivalent to three mice,” he told the Daily Mail.
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Posted by admin on Nov 28, 2011 in
SCIENCE The autumn of 2011 is a tough time to encounter America’s police, pepper spraying cops, Frosty face down and arrested next to a holiday parade. What the hell do you do if you encounter tear gas? Turns out Maalox is a good addition to one’s holiday shopping tool chest. I believe the following info is also helpful with pepper spray, too.
Posted by admin on Nov 18, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE Hmm, perhaps “fracking” has something to do with these earthquakes?
Chad Devereaux works to clear up bricks that fell from three sides of his in-laws' home in Sparks, Okla., Sunday, after two earthquakes hit the area in less than 24 hours. The weekend earthquakes were among the strongest yet in a state that has seen a dramatic, unexplained increase in seismic activity. Image Sue Ogrocki/AP
Want weird weather? Come to Oklahoma!
By Steve Olafson, OKLAHOMA CITY | Nov 10, 2011 | Reuters
After one of the strangest local weather days in memory, an Oklahoma woman with a sense of humor asked on Twitter earlier this week:
“Wanna experience the apocalypse before it happens? Visit Oklahoma!”
She posted that on Monday night shortly after a 4.7-magnitude aftershock earthquake shook the state. The temblor occurred not long after six tornadoes ripped through southwest Oklahoma, which was preceded by flash-flooding in an area that’s been plagued by a historic drought.
“Seriously, WHAT’S GOING ON?” someone else tweeted that night.
The answers vary. Global warning? Coincidence? Bad luck? Bad timing? End of time?
There’s agreement on only one thing: It’s been weird all year.
“Even for Oklahoma, this is crazy,” said Rick Smith, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman. “Since January, we’ve been setting records. People are just kind of amazed and shocked.”
Read more…
Posted by admin on Nov 17, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE Hmmm. Aren’t you curious about who these men who have SWA are?
The subjects recruited from the study all grew up in rural areas of Brazil. The researchers wrote that they chose this population to investigate because sex with animals is common in rural areas with high rates of penile cancer, and a connection seemed plausible. In fact, Zequi said he was not surprised that 35 percent of participants had had sex with animals…. Men who have sex with animals in developing countries are usually poor and illiterate, with little or no access to hygiene, health care or the Internet, Zequi said. The opposite is true in developed countries such as the U.S., where SWA seems to occur in the educated population.
Sex with animals linked to penis cancer
By Jennifer Abbasi | www.msnbc.msn.com | 11/8/2011
For many people, bestiality is a bad joke, but for some it could be a matter of life or death, according to a new study finding that men who had sex with animals in their lifetimes were twice as likely to develop cancer of the penis as others.
The study of 492 men from rural Brazil found that 35 percent of study participants, who ranged from 18 to 80 years old and included both penile cancer patients and healthy men, reported having sex with animals (SWA) in their lifetimes. A team of urologists from centers around Brazil co-authored the paper, which looked at risk factors for penile cancer in men who had visited 16 urology and oncology centers in 12 Brazilian cities. In addition to SWA, three other risk factors for penile cancer were found: smoking, the presence of premalignant lesions on the penis and phimosis, a condition where the foreskin cannot be retracted over the penis.
Men who had sex with animals also reported a higher incidence of sexually transmitted diseases.
Of the 118 penile cancer patients, 45 percent reported having sex with animals, compared with 32 percent of healthy men, who visited the medical centers for benign conditions, check-ups or cancer prevention. Fifty-nine percent of men who had sex with animals did so for one to five years, while 21 percent continued the behavior, also known as zoophilia, for more than five years. The subjects reported a variety of frequencies for their sex acts, ranging from monthly to daily.
Read more…
Posted by admin on Nov 15, 2011 in
fatu·ous·ness,
SCIENCE Is species conservation solely a concern of Western nations? Sometimes it sure seems to be.
Bornean orangutan in Central Kalimantan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Crop raiding intensity in different villages across Kalimantan. High = reported conflict frequency every week; Medium = every month; Low = once a year or less frequently. Courtesy of PLoS One.
Crop raiding intensity in different villages across Kalimantan. High = reported conflict frequency every week; Medium = every month; Low = once a year or less frequently. Courtesy of PLoS One.
Bornean orangutan with baby in Central Kalimantan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Orangutans in Indonesian Borneo doomed to extinction?
mongabay.com | November 14, 2011
A new study finds orangutans in Indonesian Borneo in unprotected areas are being killed at a rate faster than what population viability analysis considers sustainable. Conflict between orangutans and humans is worst in areas that have been fragmented and converted for timber, wood-pulp, and palm oil production, but hunting is occurring in relatively intact forest zones away from industrial development.
comprehensive new study finds that orangutan populations in Indonesian Borneo are being diminished at unsustainable rates due to conflict with humans. The results suggest orangutans outside protected areas may be headed toward extinction
The study, published Friday in PLoS One, is based on 18 months of interviews with nearly 7,000 people across 687 villages in areas where orangutans persist in East, Central, and West Kalimantan. The research involved 18 NGOs, including local and international organizations.
The study, which sought to address a dearth of quantitative data on human-orangutan conflict, asked villagers about their knowledge of wildlife laws and orangutan conflict and killing. The researchers tracked responses across age, ethnicity, religion, and livelihoods as well as geography and the villages’ proximity to industrial operations, including oil palm and pulp and paper plantations, mining areas, and logging concessions. Two-thirds of respondents were Dyaks, about a third were Malays and migrants, while less than one percent were punans, who until recently were nomadic forest people.
The assessment, which included responses only from people who were able to reliably differentiate orangutans from other primate species, found that only a small number of people have personally killed an orangutan, but that nearly a sixth of villages reported agricultural conflicts with orangutans and a quarter had killed at least one orangutan. At 18 percent, East Kalimantan had the highest rate of conflict, while West Kalimantan had the lowest at 12 percent.
Crop-raiding by orangutans was commonly cited as a reason for conflict in agricultural areas, while hunting for food was the prime motivation in relatively intact forest zones away from industrial development. Conflict and killing for crop-raiding was most frequent in village areas where palm oil, rice, and industrial pulp and paper was being produced. Those most likely to kill an orangutan were involved with logging, hunting or mining, rather than collection of non-wood forest products.
“Our data suggest that conversion of forests to other land uses can result in orangutans entering villagers’ gardens and raiding crops,” write the authors, led by Erik Meijaard, an ecologist formerly with The Nature Conservancy who now works for People and Nature Consulting International in Jakarta. “This form of direct conflict can result in killing.”
The study found marked differences in the level knowledge between different ethnic groups. 17 percent of respondents were unable to identify an orangutan, but that number was lower for traditional forest people: only 13 percent of Dyaks and less than 0.1 percent of Dyaks failed to distinguish orangutans from other primates. However migrants were considerably more likely than forest people to know that killing an orangutan was against the law. Overall 73 percent of villagers said they knew orangutan-killing was illegal under Indonesian law. 15 percent reported orangutans were protected under customary law known as adat.
The most troubling finding is the scale of orangutan killing, which the study estimated at 750-1790 in past year and 1970-3100 per year on average during respondents’ lifetimes — higher than previously thought.
“These killing rates… are high enough to pose a serious threat to the continued existence of orangutans in Kalimantan.”
Of particular concern is the implied impact of killing female orangutans, which have low reproductive rates due to the extended amount of time they spend rearing their young.
“Population viability studies of orangutans suggest that if annual mortality of females is higher than 1% then populations will go extinct,” write the authors, who go on to estimate the current kill rates of females at 0.9 percent and 3.6 percent, suggesting a dire future for orangutans in Indonesian Borneo.
“These mortality rates caused by hunting alone are higher than the theoretical maximum mortality for population viability, suggesting that unless they can be reduced most Kalimantan populations will go extinct,” they write.
“The data suggest no orangutans outside Kalimantan’s protected areas are safe. They are either threatened by habitat degradation and deforestation, or they are threatened by ongoing hunting within their forest habitats.”
The authors conclude with a call to better target anti-killing measures to specific groups within Kalimantan. They note that because the vast majority of villagers don’t themselves kill orangutans there may be an opportunity to convince those who killing orangutans opportunistically that it is no longer socially acceptable to do so.
Posted by admin on Nov 7, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE Yoiks, that is a big python. There is not much difference between an adult deer and an adult human, careful out there folks, especially since the python is an “ambush predator.”
Image www.sun-sentinel.com
Adult deer found inside python in Everglades
Python that swallowed deer/South Florida Water Management District
By David Fleshler | October 28, 2011 | www.sun-sentinel.com
An adult deer was found intact inside a huge Burmese python Thursday, after the snake was captured and killed in the Everglades.
Contractors for the South Florida Water Management District encountered the python on a tree island in western Miami-Dade County, according to the district. It was killed with a shotgun blast.
The 15.7-foot snake had a massive bulge from a recently consumed 76-pound female deer, the largest intact prey ever found in a Burmese python in Florida, said Skip Snow, a biologist and python specialist at Everglades National Park, who conducted the necropsy.
The python, an ambush predator, had staked out a known deer trail, he said. When the deer walked by, the snake presumably seized the animal in its sharp, backward-pointing teeth, crushed the deer under its weight and coiled around it, killing the deer before consuming it, he said.
Read more…
Tags: Animal
Posted by admin on Nov 5, 2011 in
SCIENCE How wonderful and beautiful.
Canoers Film a Murmuration of Starlings from the Science News Blog
Sophie Windsor Clive captured a murmuration of starlings on video as they were canoeing across the River Shannon in Ireland. The Telegraph explains that sightings of this beautiful natural phenomenon were much more common in the past. The Guardian writes so many starlings roosted on the hands of Big Ben in 1947 that the clock stopped. Take a look:
Posted by admin on Nov 3, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE What this titillatingly titled article leaves out is the woman died. No word if she infected anyone with rabies before she died. However, if rabies were aware and wanted to spread to more hosts, causing a human woman to be hyper sexual is a pretty effective mechanism. Read about the amazing Precious Reynolds, who survived rabies without a vaccine.
Curious about rabies’ prevalence throughout the world? Here’s what wikipedia says:
There are an estimated 55,000 human deaths annually from rabies worldwide, with about 31,000 in Asia, and 24,000 in Africa.[36] One of the sources of recent flourishing of rabies in East Asia is the pet boom. China introduced the “one-dog policy” in the city of Beijing in November 2006 to control the problem.[57] India has been reported as having the highest rate of human rabies in the world, primarily because of stray dogs.[58] As of 2007[update], Vietnam had the second-highest rate, followed by Thailand; in these countries the virus is primarily transmitted through canines (feral dogs and other wild canine species).[59]
Woman’s uncontrollable sex drive after she was bitten by puppy was caused by rabies
By Daily Mail Reporter | 22nd October 2011
A woman who told her doctor she had a sudden, unbelievable increase in her sex drive died four days later of rabies. The 28-year-old, who lived in India, complained that she felt constantly aroused, sometimes with no stimulation at all. Her confounded physician referred her to the Sri Gokulam Hospital and Research Institute in Salem, Tamil Nadu. They discovered that a small bite from a puppy two months earlier caused the disease.
The fear of water caused by paralysis of the swallowing muscles is widely known as a symptom of rabies. But it can also cause hypersexuality, a result of inflammation of the brain. Peter Costa, the communications director for the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, said that by the time the disease reaches that stage it is incurable. He said: ‘If you’ve been bitten or suspect you’ve been licked or scratched by an infected animal, you should seek treatment within 24 hours.’
Read more…
Posted by admin on Oct 26, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE This is truly amazing. Imagine hiking in the bush and hearing birds “speak” to each other.
Wild parrots, like cockatoos have been learning words from ex-pet birds. (Credit: Getty Images)
Birds of a feather talk together
By Hannah Price | www.australiangeographic.com.au | September-15-2011
Pet parrots, such as cockatoos, that are let loose in the wild are teaching native birds to talk.
NO NEED TO THINK you’re going bird-brained if you hear mysterious voices from the trees – it’s likely just a curious cockatoo wanting a chat. Native parrots, especially cockatoos, seem to be learning the art of conversation from their previously domesticated friends.
The Australian Museum’s Search and Discover desk, which offers a free service to identify species, has received numerous reports of encounters with talkative birds in the wild from mystified citizens who thought they were hearing voices.
Martyn Robinson, a naturalist who works at the desk, explains that occasionally a pet cockatoo escapes or is let loose, and “if it manages to survive long enough to join a wild flock, [other birds] will learn from it.”
Read more…
Posted by admin on Oct 25, 2011 in
SCIENCE Optimism or denial?
“in some people, anything negative is practically ignored – with them retaining a positive world view”
Random optimistic image.
Brain ‘rejects negative thoughts’
By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News | 9 October 2011
One reason optimists retain a positive outlook even in the face of evidence to the contrary has been discovered, say researchers.
A study, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggests the brain is very good at processing good news about the future.
However, in some people, anything negative is practically ignored – with them retaining a positive world view.
The authors said optimism did have important health benefits.
Scientists at University College London said about 80% of people were optimists, even if they would not label themselves as such.
Read more…
Posted by admin on Oct 15, 2011 in
Forteana,
SCIENCE Crime writers take note some people have an amazing genetic mutation that means they are born without fingerprints.
The rare condition adermatoglyphia causes people to be born without fingerprints (file picture). Photograph courtesy Eli Sprecher, American Journal of Human Genetics
Mutated DNA Causes No-Fingerprint Disease
Genetic difference found in people with immigration-delay disease.
nationalgeographic.com | Rachel Kaufman for National Geographic News | August 9, 2011
A genetic mutation causes people to be born without fingerprints, a new study says.
Almost every person is born with fingerprints, and everyone’s are unique. But people with a rare disease known as adermatoglyphia do not have fingerprints from birth. Affecting only four known extended families worldwide, the condition is also called immigration-delay disease, since a lack of fingerprints makes it difficult for people to cross international borders.
In an effort to find the cause of the disease, dermatologist Eli Sprecher sequenced the DNA of 16 members of one family with adermatoglyphia in Switzerland. Seven had normal fingerprints, and the other nine did not. After investigating a number of genes to find evidence of mutation, the researchers came up empty-handed—until a grad student finally found the culprit, a smaller version of a gene called SMARCAD1. (Get a genetics overview.)
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