China creates world’s first genetically modified cow

Chinese scientists have created the world’s first genetically modified cow that can give milk rich in Omega-3 fatty acid, Xinhua reported.

“Two embryo-cloned and genetically-modified dairy cows were born June 23 last year. One of the cows has been found to have Omega-3 fatty acid level 10 times higher than a normal cow,” said Li Guangpeng, head of the Biological Technology Laboratory at Inner Mongolia University.

“We did not announce the birth of the cows until now because it has taken time to check the cows’ effective genetic traces,” Li said.

He said it takes 14-15 months for a cow to become sexually mature, and another nine months to produce milk. The cows have been fed with normal cow feed.

Dubbed a “good fat”, Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid necessary for human health. But it cannot be made by the human body. It is abundant in walnuts and cold water fish like herring, mackerel and sturgeon.

via China creates world’s first genetically modified cow.

Will pesticides destroy one-third of the human diet by killing the bees?

Bees are an important part of our environment and they are in danger. Without bee pollination, food production in the US would suffer greatly. Luckily, we have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA site says this:

The honeybee is essential for crop production, particularly for specialty crops such as nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables.  Honeybees pollinate over 90 commercial crops, so that the plants can reproduce and provide the abundance and variety of foods we enjoy.  According to USDA, honeybees pollinate about one-third of the human diet, and pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value.

The EPA site lists four possible causes, including “pesticide poisoning through exposure to pesticides applied to crops or for in-hive insect or mite control”.  They seem to me to be hiding the fact that pesticides are the main cause by saying that “potential immune-suppressing stress on bees caused by one or a combination of factors” is the most likely explanation. Yeah, pesticides would suppress bee immune systems.

Clothianidin is still used in the US, but it was banned in Germany. Are American bees stronger than German Bees? Why can they survive clothianidin which kills German bees?

In June 2008, the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (Germany) suspended the registration of eight neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatment products used in oilseed rape and sweetcorn, a few weeks after honey bee keepers in the southern state of Baden Württemberg reported a wave of honey bee deaths linked to one of the pesticides, clothianidin.^[33]

EPA response here.

Azinphos-methyl ( toxic to bees for 2.5 days)  is still used in the US but has been banned in the European Union since 2006. Endosulfan ( toxic to bees for 8 hours ), and there are many more pesticides in use.

Are politics to blame?

Lax regulations expose children in the U.S. to toxic chemicals that are “setting the stage for an overwhelming wave of disease and disability…in the coming decades,” testified Pesticide Action Network board member Dr. Ted Schettler to a Senate committee Wednesday. Dr. Schettler is also the science director for the Science and Environmental Health Network and a previous advisor to the National Academy of Sciences and the EPA. According to CNN, Schettler cited evidence of childhood pesticide exposures increasing the risk of Parkinsons Disease, and called for a fundamental overhaul of the national laws governing chemicals. “Compared to adults, developing children are uniquely susceptible to hazardous environmental exposures,” Schettler told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Dr. Gina Solomon, Senior Scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the committee that EPA has failed to adequately consider the effects of pesticide exposure on children. “Current regulation may be leaving potentially dangerous chemical residues on food, where they could harm infants and children,” reports Solomon in her blog on the committee hearings. In testimony before the same Senate committee, an official from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), John Stephenson, told lawmakers that efforts to protect children from environmental threats “waned during the last decade.” USA Today reports GAO’s recent findings that the Bush-era EPA consistently failed in its duty to protect kids’ health, with “top officials routinely ignor[ing] scores of recommendations by the agency’s own children’s health advisory committee.” During the committee hearing, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) was more pointed. He said efforts to protect children from environmental hazards “ground to a halt during the Bush administration” and the EPA office for children’s health “withered on the vine.”

Does the EPA protect the environment, or corporate interests? How much does the EPA answer to the pesticide lobby such as CropLife America (CLA)? If the answer is “both” and you have a case where the two are in conflict, which one wins?  They are still disappearing.

The decline in the US bee population, first observed in 2006, is continuing, a phenomenon that still baffles researchers and beekeepers.

Data from the US Department of Agriculture show a 29 percent drop in beehives in 2009, following a 36 percent decline in 2008 and a 32 percent fall in 2007.

This affects not only honey production but around 15 billion dollars worth of crops that depend on bees for pollination.

Scientists call the phenomenon “colony collapse disorder” that has led to the disappearance of millions of adult bees and beehives and occurred elsewhere in the world including in Europe.

Researchers have looked at viruses, parasites, insecticides, malnutrition and other environmental factors but have been unable to pinpoint a specific cause for the population decline.

The rough winter in many parts of the United States will likely accentuate the problem, says Jeff Pettis, lead researcher at Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

Winter figures will be published in April. But preliminary estimates already indicate losses of 30 to 50 percent, said David Mendes, president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

“There are a lot of beekeepers who are in trouble” he said.

“Under normal condition you have 10 percent winter losses.. this year there are 30, 40 to 50 percent losses.”

He said the phenomenon probably results from a combination of factors but that the increased use of pesticides appears to be a major cause.

“I don’t put my bees in Florida because the last couple of years there has been tremendous increase in pesticide use in the orange crop to fight a disease,” he said.

“It’s a bacterium and the only way to control this disease is to use pesticide… a few years ago they did not use any pesticide at all.”

He said that pesticide use “has changed dramatically” and has made beekeeping “more challenging.” …

via Scientists stumped as bee population declines further.

In August 2008, the National Resources Defense Council, a New York environmental advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency accusing the agency of withholding information about the risks pesticides pose to honeybees. ^[35] – wikipedia

It looks like there may be even more to this story. How can you know if an ingredient is toxic to bees if it is not even disclosed?  It could be that some “non-active” ingredient is actively killing the bees? Things may be changing for the better:

After 11 years of secrecy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to reverse a prior decision that allowed pesticide manufacturers to conceal the inert ingredients from their product labels. Since many of these ingredients are toxic, the agency now believes that consumers should know what ingredients are hiding in pesticide products.

As opposed to active ingredients, inert ingredients in pesticides do not kill or control pests. A typical pesticide product is composed of over 99 percent inerts while the remaining 1 percent or less are the actual active ingredients.

Prior to the EPA’s announcement, manufacturers were not required to disclose any of the inert ingredients contained in their products, even though federal law classifies many of them as hazardous. Some of these include formaldehyde, bisphenol A (BPA), toluene, sulfuric acid, styrene, and benzene, all of which are known carcinogens that are implicated in causing everything from breathing problems to sexual dysfunction. – prisonplanet

Nearly 4,000 inerts – including several hundred that are considered hazardous under other federal rules – are used in agricultural and residential pesticides.  … Some scientists have been concerned about the toxic effects of inert ingredients. A recent study found that one, called polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, used in the popular herbicide Roundup is more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself. – envhealthnews

If pesticides are to blame, this would be good news in one sense, because it should be reversible. Stop using them and the bees would return, right?

CropLife America (CLA), a national trade association which represents virtually all the leading U.S. crop protection companies, has encountered a remarkable mosaic of twists and turns during its 75-year history. The challenges and changes which CLA has managed include a constantly evolving landscape of industry companies and products, coupled with a mind-boggling array of public policy and communications issues attendant to modern crop protection tools.

… CLA officially evolved from the Agricultural Insecticide and Fungicide (AIF) Association which was formed by the Insecticide Committee of the Agricultural Insecticides and Manufacturers Association (AIFMA) in 1933. …

… Although the use of some major products has been severely restricted, and a few products have been withdrawn from the marketplace, the participation of ACPA in the scientific evaluations of FQPA implementation helped save innumerable crop protection products from cancellation.

… Litigation has become an increasingly valuable tool for the association. “During our most challenging days of FQPA implementation, we brought legal action against EPA to challenge certain stages of the agency’s process–we ultimately resolved these issues out of court, but we got the correct end-policy result,” says CLA Exec VP and General Counsel Doug Nelson. “Since then, we’ve turned to the courts to seek proactive solutions on a number of issues, and, of course, take strong defensive positions when our industry and/or the EPA are under attack.” – thefreelibrary

CLA takes their case all the way to the Supreme Court when fighting to use pesticides:

On February 22, 2010: … CropLife America (CLA) expressed its disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review a recent ruling from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. CLA had filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to review and reconsider the three-judge panel’s decision which struck down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation that NPDES permits are not required when applying pesticides to or near water sources. – ptech

I believe this all stems from trying to produce too much food with too little land, along with some good old fashioned corporate greed.

Man takes the plunge and proposes

A Chinese man took his girlfriend to visit an aquarium and then shocked her with a surprise proposal – from inside the tank.

Wang Jian, 28, had been taking diving lessons in secret from girlfriend Xie Wenzhen, 24, for two months, reports Straits News.

He told her they were going to witness a friend propose at the Fuzhou Zuohai Aquarium, in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

“Jian said we should go along to get some tips – then he left me in front of the giant water tank saying he was going to get some drinks,” said Miss Xie.

“Suddenly a boy holding a bunch of flowers appeared in the water, and two other divers behind him opened a scroll, reading: “Please marry me!”.

“I was totally stunned, as I realised that the man in the tank was my boyfriend. I never expected I would be taking such a leading role in the proposal. I’m so happy.”

Miss Xie put her hands to Mr Wang’s and then kissed him through the aquarium glass to signal her acceptance.

via Ananova – Man takes the plunge and proposes.

Volcano tsunami could sink southern Italy ‘at any time’

Europe’s largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy “at any time”, a prominent volcanologist has warned.

The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has “fragile walls” that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“It could even happen tomorrow,” said Mr Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

“Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions,” he said.

“All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time.”

The event would result in “a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily,” Mr Boschi said.

The undersea Marsili, 9,800ft (3,000m) tall and located some 90 miles (150km) southwest of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history.

It is 43 miles (70km) long and 19 miles (30km) wide, and its crater is some 1,476ft (450m) below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

“A rupture of the walls would let loose millions of cubic metres of material capable of generating a very powerful wave,” Mr Boschi said.

“While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions. The risk is real but hard to evaluate.”

via Volcano tsunami could sink southern Italy ‘at any time’ – Telegraph.

‘Ring tone therapy’ sweeping mobile phone-mad Japan

Japan is well ahead of the rest of the world in mobile phone technology: handsets that can pick up TV channels have been standard for years and in many shops payments can be made by swiping a phone over a sensor.

But the latest craze is ring tones said to be therapeutic.

Across Japan the arrival of spring is bringing out the cherry blossom but it is also making people reach for their handkerchiefs as, at this time of year, hay fever is rife.

A company called the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory has developed what it claims is a cure.

For relief, sufferers need only wait for a call on their mobile phone. The sound is supposed to dislodge pollen if the user holds the handset up to their nose.

‘Unproven but popular’

Another of the so-called therapeutic ring tones is for those trying to lose weight.

The Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory is led by Matsumi Suzuki, an expert in voiceprint technology of the kind used to authenticate tapes of Osama Bin Laden.

He was behind a device for dog-owners called Bow-lingual which, it is claimed, can interpret the meaning of barking.

But now ring tones are his speciality.

There is a range specially tailored for the needs of people with different star signs, such as one for Taurus, the bull, complete with mooing.

Index, the mobile phone content provider which markets the therapeutic ring tones, admits the technology behind them is perhaps a little unproven but insists the number of downloads suggests they may be working.

via BBC News – ‘Ring tone therapy’ sweeping mobile phone-mad Japan.

Abductions test management mettle

Thrill-seekers in France unimpressed by skydiving, rock climbing and other extreme sports are turning to designer kidnapping to test their limits.

For a £1000 ($1633) basic abduction package, participants are seized by strangers, bundled into a car, bound and gagged, and kept in a cellar for four hours.

If that sounds too tame, boat chases and helicopter escapes can be added to the tailor-made experience, and clients kept for longer periods. The maximum incarceration is 11 hours.

The website of Ultime Realite, a company in Besancon, eastern France, said: “You will go through the real sensations of violence, terror and fear of a real kidnapping – a psychological shock that you won’t forget in a hurry.”

Participants explain how they want to be kidnapped and, once the scenario is established, they sign a contract and liability waiver, but have no idea when or where their abductors will strike.

“We follow you for a few days. At an opportune moment, in the street or elsewhere, we kidnap you,” the contract says.

Georges Cexus, 28, launched Ultime Realite in January and said it was already receiving two orders a day, mainly from top-level executives seeking an extreme alternative to bungee jumping or skydiving. Mr Cexus said nobody was physically hurt during the kidnappings. …

The service echoes the 1997 film The Game, starring Michael Douglas, in which the protagonist is trapped in a real-life role play. But unlike the film, the client can stop the kidnap by uttering a password.

Some clients have expressed a desire to try to tackle phobias, including, in one case, being buried alive. They can also lead a manhunt, be tracked by a bounty hunter, escape in a high-speed car chase or smuggle “drugs”. Other scenarios include spending a night in a morgue or attending your own funeral. …

via Abductions test management mettle.

Gulf Stream ‘is not slowing down’

The Gulf Stream does not appear to be slowing down, say US scientists who have used satellites to monitor tell-tale changes in the height of the sea.

Confirming work by other scientists using different methodologies, they found dramatic short-term variability but no longer-term trend.

A slow-down – dramatised in the movie The Day After Tomorrow – is projected by some models of climate change.

The research is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The stream is a key process in the climate of western Europe, bringing heat northwards from the tropics and keeping countries such as the UK 4-6C warmer than they would otherwise be.

It forms part of a larger movement of water, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which is itself one component of the global thermohaline system of currents.

Between 2002 and 2009, the team says, there was no trend discernible – just a lot of variability on short timescales.

The satellite record going back to 1993 did suggest a small increase in flow, although the researchers cannot be sure it is significant.

“The changes we’re seeing in overturning strength are probably part of a natural cycle,” said Josh Willis from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

“The slight increase in overturning since 1993 coincides with a decades-long natural pattern of Atlantic heating and cooling.” …

Driven by Hollywood, a popular image of a Gulf Stream slowdown shows a sudden catastrophic event driving snowstorms across the temperate lands of western Europe and eastern North America.

That has always been fantasy – as, said Josh Willis, is the idea that a slow-down would trigger another ice age.

“But the Atlantic overturning circulation is still an important player in today’s climate,” he added.

“Some have suggested cyclic changes in the overturning may be warming and cooling the whole North Atlantic over the course of several decades and affecting rainfall patterns across the US and Africa, and even the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic.”

via BBC News – Gulf Stream ‘is not slowing down’.

Ageing spies unable to use the internet

Having battled Islamic extremists, Irish Republican terrorists and Russian spies, some of the veteran intelligence officers of MI5 are encountering a foe they cannot master: information technology.The Security Service is launching an unprecedented round of redundancies to improve the overall level of computer skills among its staff.Despite an expanding budget, MI5 is laying off employees in order to hire new intelligence officers and support staff with better command of information technology and other “deployable” skills.The redundancy programme has set tongues wagging in Whitehall, with civil servants in other departments joking about a “James Bond generation” of elderly spies being put out to pasture because they can’t use the internet and don’t understand the world of Twitter or Facebook.The plan was disclosed by Jonathan Evans, the director-general of MI5.He told a Parliamentary committee that he is concerned that his agency’s overall IT skills are not up to scratch, leading him to get rid of some employees.“I think some of the staff perhaps aren’t quite the ones that we will want for the future,” Mr Evans told the Intelligence and Security Committee.As a result, a programme of “both voluntary and compulsory redundancies” is being introduced.Whitehall officials said the MI5 redundancy programme was aimed at altering the skills profile of the organisation and increasing the number of its staff that can be deployed on active operations.Only a small proportion of the service’s staff will affected by the lay-offs, it is understood. But redundancies will be made across the organisation and not confined to specialist IT staff. MI5 currently has around 3,500 officers and is on course to have 4,100 by next year, double its size in 2001. Many of the new recruits are in their 20s and 30s attracted by high-profile advertising campaigns and – in part – the BBC drama Spooks.

via Ageing spies unable to use the internet – Telegraph.

Child Prodigy, 13, Claims UConn Age Bias

Even at 13, Colin Carlson believes he’s running out of time. Colin is a sophomore at the University of Connecticut, seeking a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and another in environmental studies. But he’s been knocked off course by the university’s rejection of his request to take a class that includes summer field work in South Africa. He and his mother say university officials told them he is too young for the overseas course. So he’s filed an age discrimination claim with the university and U.S. Department of Education, which is investigating. “I’m losing time in my four-year plan for college,” he said. “They’re upsetting the framework of one of my majors.” Michael Kirk, a spokesman for UConn, would not comment on Colin’s case. But he said that generally, safety is the university’s first concern when travel is involved. The university would not let Colin enroll, even after his mother, Jessica Offir, offered to release UConn from liability and accompany her son as a chaperone at her own expense, she and Colin said. Colin was 2 or 3 when he began reading on his own, Offir said, and was up to “Harry Potter” by the time he was 4. An only child, he has faced trouble before because of his brainpower. His kindergarten teacher would not allow him to take books with him at nap time, and he was ridiculed by other children who fired math questions at him to entertain themselves, she said. “You have no idea what kids like this experience,” Offir said. Colin skipped two grades in public school and began taking psychology, history and other courses at UConn when he was 9. He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn. “I’m actually like any other student,” he said. “The faculty and students have better things to do than worry about a 13-year-old holding his own.” Over the years, Colin, who said he is fascinated by natural ecosystems, has traveled extensively. He has gone sea kayaking off Nova Scotia and Ecuador, hiked in numerous national parks and, with his mother, has traveled across the U.S. by car. “It’s important to have a very wide world view,” he said. “Biology is fundamentally about the diversity of life, with a focus across the planet.” – cbsnews

Xeno and the Freaky Skull of Cascade Falls

Today I was hiking near the town of Tiberon and I found a waterfall. Sitting on a rock, I noticed an indentation in the wall. Thinking it was a great place for a geocache, I climbed up to it. Deep inside a hole I found something so shocking that I nearly lost my grip and fell off the wall. It was dark, but I got a picture … after checking under and behind the skull for hidden treasure or messages.