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Maremma Dogs to Look After Bandicoots

The Maremma Sheepdog guards sheep in Italy. Dogs are intelligent and are trained for many things. They are now being trained to protect the endangered eastern barred bandicoot. Whoever came up with the idea should be given an award. In hindsight it would be seen as obvious, but it was smart thinking.

Maremma dogs will be selected for the specific job. The bandicoot will be released into the wild with the dogs. Protected release locations will be closely monitored. Their welfare is important: there are no eastern barred bandicoots currently living free.

Landowners will be asked to feed the dogs. This will reduce funding requirements. The bandcoots will be given freedom to live as naturally as they can - living alongside a dog. Ironically, the animals that kill bandicoots are imports from Europe like the wolf and feral cat.

As well as training the dogs to look after the bandicoot, they have to be taught not to hunt natural wildlife themselves. It is easy for dogs to turn wild if left alone. Australia has already had success with teaching dogs to protect penguins on Middle Island, Warnambool. No doubt the enterprise will work.

✴ Environment by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Newly Identified Stem Cell Raises Hopes for Treatment

There seems to be a scientific breakthrough every minute. You go onto the Internet and a new claim appears. Some of course is recycled old news. However, new discoveries are made all the time. Despite spending cutbacks in some countries, science seems to be leaping ahead.

You would think that just about everything is known about the body. Nevertheless, a new stem has been found. A four continent research enterprise called Project Grandiose has identified the new cell which has been put into the "F-class": the cell has a fuzzy body when viewed on a microscope.

It is hoped that the cell can be used in the treatment of injuries and illnesses. The days of using stem cells from afterbirth material are long gone. Adult cells can now be modified for treating various health problems, but this is early research. The only successful treatment to date is for macular degeneration.

Targeting modified stem cells is the main problem. They are like tumours and in the wrong place they can cause damage. The new cell indicates that it could treat diabetes. Producing them on a large scale is the next big issue for the third class of pluripotent cells yet discovered.

✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴

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The Modern Diet is Not Normal for Humans

Some scientists are condemning the "Hunter Gatherer" diet. The academics say that the consumption of carbohydrates that comes mainly from "grass" seeds, namely, wheat is normal for humans. This is absolutely incorrect. People only stopped wandering and took up crop farming ten thousand years ago. We have not had time to genetically adapt. Obesity is definitely caused by a high intake of flour from cereal and abnormal consumption of white sugar, particularly by children.

Look at schoolchildren today. There isn't a skinny one amongst them. The girls have huge thighs and hardly any waist. The mind boggles just thinking about what their body weight will be when they reach their mid thirties. Only the very old today resemble people seen in the old black and white movies. Before the Second World War, people were very skinny. Mind you they did do a lot of manual labor, many working 12 hour days. If you burn a high amount of calories you can eat what you want and not gain weight. However, most today are sedentary.

Remains of early humans show that they did eat a gruel of wild seeds. This evidence only proves that our ancestors ate seeds in the last ten thousand years. There is strong evidence of a meat, berry and tuber diet before this time. There was variation in lifestyle of premodern humans. None of them farmed cereals though. They did keep domesticated animals.

The story of Man has been never ending periods of starvation and misery, with disease being prominent due to ignorance of sanitation. Food has only been plentiful in recent times. It is notable that obesity and malnutrition is spreading through developing countries as they adopt the Western diet. This on its own is a condemnation of the modern diet. We can be sure our ancestors ate a wide range of food, but they did not gorge themselves on white flour.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Chasm Between Universitis and Industry is Still Wide

Scientists at universities (but not in industry) are jumping up and down welcoming the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) saying it will breed market culture in science. The odd thing is this isn't the market in operation. It is managed interference in free scientific operations. Why should scientific research be managed at all?

Another thing is, it will be chaired by the Prime Minister Tony Abbott. What does the PM know about science? The truth is he knows no more than the average person. He is not trained in science. The body will give advice. And you know what they say about advice - it is best ignored.

The CSC will not improve the chasm between universities and industry. Academia has a good bond with industry in the US. Just why we cannot do the same in Australia is a mystery. A new referee in the ring like the CSC will not improve the boxing match. Industry and academia remain at odds. The blame really lies on the university side. They still live in their ivory towers being paid huge sums in separation from reality.

CSIRO does the industry-university joint operation well. It points the way to how things should be done. Universities should just copy what CSIRO does. It is as simple as that. There is nothing difficult to it. First though, universities need to get down from their high horses and be in partnership with business - they always want to run the show.

Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Beached Beaked Whale in Australia

Many animals have not been seen for a long time. Indeed, it is not known whether they have become extinct. Some, of course, live in places not usually visited by humans. Recently a beaked whale was washed up on a beach Australia. It is rare and lives deep in the sea.

The actual species cannot be verified by manual examination of the body, Part of the body will be sent to the Australian Science Museum in Sydney for DNA tests and X-ray scans to determine the correct species.

Not much is known about beaked whales because they live so far down in the sea. Only stranded and beached specimens have been found. They do come to the surface to breath but do not linger there for very long.

Many scientists have never seen a live beaked whale. A beaching of this kind is very rare indeed. Parts of the body will be thoroughly examined to shed more light on how the mammal lives. We will never know everything about fellow animals. The more we know the better.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Laws Lag Behind Technological Change

Culture changes steadily with technological development. Some values have their own inertia which means that they stay around for much longer. Legal adaptation to a new environment is very slow. We are living with laws suited to a pre-internet era.

The Uber app took the world by storm. It spread through many countries and clashed with legal restrictions which were made for the benefit of taxi drivers and the public. Unfortunately, people do not like rapid change to the legal system. It upsets the way they live.

Like the Chinese, Australians embrace new technology, much to the frustration of government. Whether it is legal or not we adopt new things. They "get in" because their is some legal framework that benefits some participants in the market place. New systems get under the barrier, so to speak.

Australians seems to lead the world on illegal movie downloads. This is because the market is distorted. We pay over the odds for the latest films due to overpricing by American companies: they obviously do not understand that they lose money in the long run.

Some market distortions are being dismantled by Companies who have had the market to themselves for years. The pay TV business Foxtel has halved its small packages largely due to the appearance of Netflix Australia. Unfortunately, Teltra partly owns Foxtel and sells the premium Foxtel service with their broadband bundles. The Foxtel subscription remains the same but with two free movies a month given now. Some companies will never learn! This is why consumers move to new products, legal or not.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Replace the International Whaling Commission

The problem with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is that it is too bureaucratic and pussy foots around still toying with the concept of "scientific" whaling. All research on whales should be banned and have done with it. Leave the mammals alone and they will look after themselves. They do not need human intervention.

Of course, finding that Japan was not practicing scientific whaling left the door open for them to change their methods and continue slaughtering the defenseless creatures. Unfortunately, the IWC was never set up to stop the killing. It was meant to manage the widespread industry in the 1940s.

The moratorium and having whale sanctuaries in the Antarctic have failed, as Japan keeps bending the rules. Japan continues to rave and jump up and down about their culture. Since when has culture been part of lawmaking - it never has been.

The IWC is far too soft and it exists because the industry still exists. Set up a completely new body with tough laws that completely bans interference in the life of whales. Even whale watching should be banned. People do not have the right to such a "freedom". Do they have the freedom to shoot elephants? No they don't!

Environment by Ty Buchanan

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New Mushroom-Like Organisms found off Australian Coast

There may be alien creature "out there" - Well many believe that there is - but some weird things live on this planet. In the ocean depths of Australia odd living organisms have recently been discovered.

At first glance they look like floating mushrooms. They are not related to fungi though. The creatures are actually flowering plants and vertebrates. Dendrogramma mostly consist of a stomach surrounded by jelly-like skin.

Scientists believe they are the remnants of early life forms which appeared before the life that went on to dominate the Earth. In other words they were a dead end. They are unique, not related in any way to life that eventually became successful across the globe.

There are a lot of new things still continuing their existence at the bottom of the oceans. Many are very specialized living off toxic substances that would kill other organisms. Don't bother to look for life in the stars. Much still awaits discovery beneath our feet.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Egyptian Mummification Began in Tribal Times

Scientists put all the facts together about a subject then reach a decision on what is truth. This decision is agreed upon by the majority of specialists in the area and becomes fact that is put forward in books and education. Unfortunately, time sometimes proves these "facts" to be wrong.

Australian researchers using the latest findings have changed their view on the age of Egyptian mummies. The artifacts are now believed to be 1,500 years older than was put forward in the scientific literature.

Mummification began as far back as 3,500BC. The original claim of 2,200BC was wrong. Even in prehistoric tribal times Egyptians embalmed their dead. Evidence from objects on show in Bolton Museum, England, proved the thesis. They were analysed and the shock discovery was made. Chemicals from an old embalming process were identified.

This preservation of mainly the hands and heads of deceased people with high status began before written language was developed. Of course, this belief about language could also be proved wrong in the future.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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