Send a rat?
Charitable giving to developing countries has shown a new trend in recent years with ‘send a cow’, and ‘send a goat’- schemes supporting the supply of said livestock to farmers in Africa. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the latest is- ‘send a rat’. A rat? However for reducing food insecurity farming-rats and…
Chikungunya virus – hard to pronounce but becoming easier to catch.
Hundreds of tourists from South and South East Asia have been going home to the US, and Europe with Chikungunya virus. Quiescent for many years this mosquito-borne virus has reemerged in the last 2 years in India, South East Asia and Indian Ocean Islands. In the island of Réunion, the main industry, tourism has been…
Can ecotourism help save ‘Planet Earth?’
For the last few Sunday nights, a significant proportion of the British population has been glued to the mesmerising BBC wildlife series ‘Planet Earth’. An accompanying series on the digital channel BBC4, on the challenges faced by wildlife and habitats from increasing human population, will have been seen by far fewer people, but it may…
Musical Interlude
Discerning common carp find music, Morzart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik”, to be precise, stress relieving or inducing depending on how it is played to them. The authors of this study discuss the possible use of music as a growth promoter or an enrichment tool to improve fish welfare in intensive fish farming. This fascinating application…
Alzheimer’s disease in cats
Listening to the news on the BBC radio 4 this morning (6 December) I heard an item about a condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease being found in cats. This story would probably not surprise anyone who has lived with an aging pet, even though the range of cognitive tasks required of the domestic cat does…
What do trees wear when it gets cold? Fir coats!
What’s going on here then? Is it the arrival of a sentient machine from another planet, interfacing with the local plant-life for purposes unknown? I’m afraid not, contact with ET will have to wait. What we have here is a new technique, pioneered by the USDA Forest Service, for measuring the below-ground sequestration of carbon…
Climate Change Catastrophy for Californian Crops?
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say that increasing temperatures in California will damage yields of almonds, walnuts, oranges, avacados and table grapes. These crops are long-lived and are only planted once every 25-40 years. This could expose them to a projected temperature change of two to four degrees celsius over the next 45 years.…
Heavy Metal
The case of the alleged poisoning of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko is certainly gathering its share of UK media attention. Mr Litvinenko’s doctors are now reporting that the heavy metal thallium may not be the cause of his condition as was initially suspected. Still, if this news item has piqued your interest in the…
Farming to Protect the Free?
"This tiger fur is OK, it’s farmed", is this a phrase that we will soon be hearing? The Liberty Institute, a free-market think tank based in New Delhi, India, has suggested that farming tigers could prevent wild tigers being hunted to extinction. The Institute estimates that approximately 4000 tigers are already being reared in farms…