Sympathy for the devil
Scientists working on trying to control the facial tumour disease which threaten to wipe out the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) have increased their understanding the disease. The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial remaining and is now found only on the island of Tasmania, having been exterminated from the Australian mainland. The disease that…
World tourism leaders tackle climate change
Earlier this week, some 600 representatives from over 100 countries, representing all sectors of the tourism industry (public and private sector, NGOs and governments) met in the idyllic Swiss resort of Davos to debate the global challenge of climate change as it affects and is affected by tourism, at the 2nd International Conference on Climate…
The Blandford Fly is not confined to Blandford (and other interesting facts about blackflies)
Although the weather has become quite autumnal in the last week or so, the mosquitoes which have been flying around my house in the evenings in unusually high numbers in recent weeks (fortunately without biting me much) have not yet disappeared, and have reminded me of an interesting article1 that I came across earlier in…
BSE: Twenty years old
Twenty years ago, a paper appeared in the Veterinary Record recording a new disease in dairy cattle. The syndrome had been seen in cattle in England for a couple of years but with the publication of the paper by Wells and others, the disease was described and named, and the new term bovine spongiform encephalopathy…
Can Bt Maize Beat Down Mycotoxins?
Reducing fumonisin through Bt could have significant benefits in developing countries, especially where unprocessed maize is a key part of the diet
Bruno, Bruce and the Penan
More than 10 years ago I came across a magazine article about Bruno Manser, a Swiss activist, who had gone to live among a nomadic tribe in Borneo called the Penan. I was fascinated by the way he had become part of the tribe to understand how they lived within the forests of Sarawak. At…
The final Steve Irwin croc paper
Published today online, and freely available to all at PLoS ONE is Steve Irwin’s final paper. This paper is a must read for all, especially those interested in animal navigation. The study aims “to record and interpret the movements of translocated large male estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) after their release and to investigate their homing…
Bluetongue virus: knocking at the door.
The big animal health story in the newspapers in the UK this summer has been the return, after 6 years, of foot and mouth disease. The outbreak was almost certainly caused by the escape of the virus from the virology research laboratory in Pirbright, Surrey. It seemed as if the outbreak had been contained quickly…
From NASA to the takeaway – does HACCP overburden small businesses?
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the Sixth National HACCP Conference – The New HACCP Regulation on Catering and Retail: One Year On, in London in June this year. This was a great insight into the people and science involved in caring for my well being when eating out or taking away…
Vote for the winner of the “Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting” icon contest
As mentioned in a previous article, there is growing debate in the blog sphere over the need for a means to identify the sources of science being reviewed or used as evidence by bloggers. Well, the authors of “Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting” or BP3 for short, devised an icon design competition for which CABI,…