Corpse Flower Blooms At Cornell University, Causing Stink And Spectacle By: OurAmazingPlanet Staff Published: 03/19/2012 12:25 PM EDT on OurAmazingPlanet A rare — and stinky — corpse flower is blooming now at Cornell University, and those who are curious can watch, though sadly (or maybe happily) not smell, the spectacle on a live Web stream. The Cornell corpse flower began blooming on Sunday (March 18) after weeks of watching. Native to the equatorial rain forests of central Sumatra in western Indonesia, the corpse flower is technically known as an Indonesian titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum). They grow only in the rain forests of Sumatra and rarely bloom in cultivation. "It's quite an exciting experience here," Cornell horticulturist Karl Niklas told OurAmazingPlanet last week before the plant bloomed. The university has set up a live Web stream of the corpse flower so that remote fans can take a gander. Story continues below slideshow.PHOTOS: THE FLOWER IN BLOOM Launch Slideshow Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company.
Harmful bacteria invade the groundwater The bacteria which contaminated the drinking water in the Danish town of Køge a couple of years ago appeared to come from the same herd of animals. It is likely that the contamination stemmed from the slurry that was spread on the fields. (Photo: Colourbox) In summer 2010, the water supply in a Danish town was contaminated with the coliform bacterium Campylobacter. These bacteria are typically present in the dung of pigs and cattle, and the town authorities theorised that the bacteria came from slurry that some days previously had been spread on fields in the area. Now a new study from the PATHOS research centre, involving the Danish Geological Survey GEUS, the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University, indicates a possible explanation. "Our study shows that problematic bacteria from slurry can rapidly sink through the subsoil to the uppermost layer of groundwater , if it rains soon after the slurry has been spread," says Professor Carsten Suhr Jacobsen, who directed the study.
Rachel Graham - The Aquatic Jane Goodall, Speaking Up for Sharks But Dr. Graham’s subjects lack the all-but-human charms of Dr. Goodall’s chimps. As the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Gulf and Caribbean Sharks and Rays Program, Dr. Graham must overcome deeply held fears and prejudices in her efforts to outlaw fishing of various shark species, including the whale shark, a playful and friendly creature that migrates to the western Caribbean every spring. That species of shark is now protected off the coasts of Belize and Mexico, and last May Dr. We spoke for three hours at a hotel here, then later by telephone. You are a citizen of Belize. No. Wherever we lived, I was always bringing home creatures — lizards, snakes, scorpions. What appeals to you about sharks? They are beautiful and graceful. The other thing is that once you get to know them, you can see that there’s great intelligence there. Give us a summary of the state of the world’s sharks. About 17 percent of 1,200 species of sharks and rays are threatened with extinction.
Feral Pigs Plaguing Upstate New York New York State Department of Environmental Conservation The feral pigs plaguing parts of upstate New York are almost never seen in daylight, but a pack was caught on camera while foraging on a farm in Peru, N.Y., after dark. The New York Times Peru, N.Y., is on Lake Champlain, south of Plattsburgh. Nancie Battaglia for The New York Times Feral pigs have been ransacking Bob Rulf's farm in Peru, N.Y., on the banks of Lake Champlain, eating apples and other crops. Peter Glushko, supervisor of the town of Peru, N.Y., stood outside Rulfs Orchard, which includes a farm market and has been hard-hit by an influx of feral pigs. They are feral pigs, and while they have long plagued parts of the Southern and Western United States, now they have become a problem in the peaceful Champlain Valley of New York, an agricultural heartland on the edge of the Adirondacks. Actually, they are rarely spotted. Mr. Hunting the animals is tricky, given their nocturnal nature. Rumor has it that Mr.
The Black Queen Hypothesis: Basis of a new evolutionary theory Microorganisms can sometimes lose the ability to perform a function that appears to be necessary for their survival, and yet they still somehow manage to endure and multiply. How can this be? The authors of an opinion piece appearing in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on March 27 explain their ideas about the matter. They say microbes that shed necessary functions are getting others to do the hard work for them, an adaptation that can encourage microorganisms to live in cooperative communities. The Black Queen Hypothesis, as they call it, puts forth the idea that some of the needs of microorganisms can be met by other organisms, enabling microbes that rely on one another to live more efficiently by paring down the genes they have to carry around. In these cases, it would make evolutionary sense for a microbe to lose a burdensome gene for a function it doesn't have to perform for itself.
Forage Fish Catches Should be Reduced, Report Says “The message is, if you cut back on harvesting of forage fish, there will be benefits,” said Ellen K. Pikitch, director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University and chairwoman of the task force that produced a report on the issue that was released Sunday. The report, “Little Fish, Big Impact,” financed by the Lenfest Foundation through the Pew Charitable Trusts, details how fishing has increased for these fish, which now account for 37 percent, by weight, of all fish harvested worldwide, up from about 8 percent half a century ago. The consumer market for forage fish is relatively small; most of the fish are ground and processed for use as animal feed and nutritional supplements and, increasingly, as feed for the aquaculture industry, which now produces about half of all the fish and shellfish that people eat. “Sometimes the value of leaving fish in the water can be greater than taking it out,” Ms. But Mr. Mr.
Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years : Krulwich Wonders... No, this isn't a make-believe place. It's real. They call it "Ball's Pyramid." What's more, for years this place had a secret. A satellite view of Ball's Pyramid in the Tasman Sea off the eastern coast of Australia. toggle caption Google Maps Here's the story: About 13 miles from this spindle of rock, there's a bigger island, called Lord Howe Island. On Lord Howe, there used to be an insect, famous for being big. Then one day in 1918, a supply ship, the S.S. Totally gone. There was a rumor, though. Some climbers scaling Ball's Pyramid in the 1960s said they'd seen a few stick insect corpses lying on the rocks that looked "recently dead." Climbing The Pyramid Fast forward to 2001, when two Australian scientists, David Priddel and Nicholas Carlile, with two assistants, decided to take a closer look. Where, they wondered, did that poop come from? The only thing to do was to go back up after dark, with flashlights and cameras, to see if the pooper would be out taking a nighttime walk.
The curious seeds of an invasive tree - Imprint This article originally appeared on Imprint. The world is filled with wattles ― 1,350 species, more or less. Of the Acacia genus, in the Mimosa family, wattle trees often have little puffy flowers and long seed pods. Six hundred are native to Australia, but many, such as Australian Blackwood, have been introduced throughout the world. A hardy tree with strong timber and a shady canopy, the Australian Blackwood is cultivated in habitats from Chile to California. The seeds are curious things, each wrapped in an unmistakable coral-colored ribbon, and so many. The bright accent distinguishes our tree from other wattles (which might have yellow, or cream arils), and it is a bright billboard for birds, a seed dispersing agent―at least in Australia, where birds have evolved to forage on the red aril and disperse the seed. See more of Anna’s posts in the Botany Blueprint series here. Copyright F+W Media Inc. 2012.
Cheers! Fruit Flies Drink To Their Health, Literally hide captionFruit flies will drink alcohol from fermenting fruit to kill off wasp parasites that can grow inside of them. Jan Polabinski/iStockphoto.com As humans, we sometimes pay a price for drinking alcohol — in hangovers, or worse. But if you happen to be a young fruit fly, it turns out that alcohol can be just what the doctor ordered. The pesky little fruit flies often show up when apples or bananas are left sitting around for too long on the kitchen counter. "I've been collecting flies in my backyard for a long time, sort of as a hobby," says Schlenke, an evolutionary geneticist at Emory University. "These little wasps lay their eggs in the fly, and if the fly isn't able to kill them, the wasps hatch out and eat the flies from the inside out," Schlenke says. And that, Schlenke says, got him thinking: "I wonder if the alcohol can be used by the flies to protect them from being killed by the wasps." Self-Medicating Fruit Flies "They basically get drunk. Hotez says no.
'Fountain of youth' enzyme lengthens mouse life - life - 22 February 2012 FINALLY, a contender for the elusive fountain of youth: an enzyme found in humans appears to lengthen the life of mice. Researchers hoping to slow the march of age were dealt a blow in 2010, when signs that an enzyme called sirtuin 2 extended the life of worms were shown to be false due to flawed experimental design. Mammals have seven types of sirtuin, so Haim Cohen and Yariv Kanfi at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, turned to sirtuin 6 instead. Male mice from both strains lived 15 per cent longer than normal mice or females. Why SIRT6 didn't affect females is a puzzle, but may be related to differences in genes that regulate ageing in males and females (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature10815). New Scientist Not just a website! More From New Scientist Anybody out there? Lego competition winners (New Scientist) Computer sleuths try to crack Pioneer anomaly (New Scientist) Crystal printing promises flexible electronics (New Scientist) More from the web Recommended by
Lack of oxygen led to first mass extinction A fall in oxygen concentration is not only a result of warmer weather – it can also occur when the temperature falls. This was what happened during the first mass extinction of animal life on the Earth, 440 million years ago. (Photo: Colourbox). With its warm climate and plenty of food, the Earth was a good place to live for the many animals with shells, legs and teeth. Animal life had just conquered the oceans 440 million years ago. But suddenly something happened that over the following half a million years wiped out almost 86 percent of all species of animals that lived in the oceans. Researchers have speculated for decades about the cause of this catastrophe, which occurred towards the end of the Ordovician geological period. To date, the prevalent theory has been that the disappearance of the many species was due to a cooler climate that led to a more effective mixing of atmospheric air in the sea water and thus in an increase in the oxygen concentration in the oceans (See Factbox).
Amid Rural Decay, Trees Take Root in Silos Steve Hebert for The New York Times A tree rises inside an empty silo near Lawrence, Kan. Ken Wolf, an amateur photographer, has been photographing old silos near Lawrence, Kan., for years. Abandoned rural silos catch seeds and then protect fragile saplings from the prairie winds as they grow tall inside. A tree grows from within an old silo in Cleveland, Mo. This is the landscape of rural abandonment that defines a region that has struggled with generations of exodus. But increasingly there are unexpected signs of rebirth. The empty structures catch seeds, then protect fragile saplings from the prairie winds and reserve a window of sunlight overhead like a target. Across a region laden with leaning, crumbling reminders of more vibrant days, some residents have found comfort in their unlikely profiles. This was never easy country for trees. The human footprint, however, continues to erode. “Our farm is a vibrant operation,” he said. Mr.
DATA GARDEN QUARTET – LIVE AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART Listen + Purchase 01 Intro (02:15) 02 4/14 (56:41) 03 4/15 (55:48) 04 Credits (00:53) The musical compositions on Quartet were generated by four living tropical plants. We all think we know what nature sounds like. The course of human history has been moving towards advanced technology which enhances our ability to observe the world beyond these senses. Digital technology has become a natural extension of our human senses. The musical compositions on Quartet were generated by the electronic impulses produced by four tropical plants. We invite you to explore Data Garden: Quartet while examining your own views on the source of its creation. Recorded live on April 13, 14 and 15 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Artists & Plants ░ Alex Tyson, production & graphics ░ Joe Patitucci, sound design ░ Jessica Hans, ceramics ░ Sam Cusumano, electronics ░ Philodendron, lead synthesizer ░ Schefflera 1, rhythm tone generator ░ Schefflera 2, bass synthesizer ░ Snake plant, effects More