"Love me tender- uh, huh, uh!"
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✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴
New Species of Seadragon Found after 150 Years
While new animals are regularly identified, all species of seadragons were thought to be known. Indeed, it has been 150 years since all were classified. A surprise was on hand for Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Western Australia Museum. A new type of seadragon was found off the WA coast.
A sample had been in a lab untested since 2007. The latest DNA testing system enables new kinds of creatures to be singled out. Named Phyllopteryx dewysea, the new seadragon is bright red in color. This is an ideal color for camouflage in deep water.
No one expected a new type, so it remained undetected until the new technique made 5,000 X-ray slices of the sample. The Ruby Seadragon has a distinct skeletal structure. It increases the number of known seadragon species by 50 per cent, because there were only two other kinds of this mysterious animal previously.
✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴
Solution to Bee Die-Off?
It is not widely known just how important bees are to maintain our food output, let alone to increase it as demand strengthens. There are so many mysteries to why bees are dying off across the world. Many theories are put forward. Unfortunately, there are few answers to the problem.
Plants synthesize chemicals that attract select species of pollinators. Other substance also deter potential attackers. Herbivores have been real pests to plants for millions of years. Eating the leaves can kill plants. Insects have evolved to go where plant toxins drive herbivores away.
All nectar is not the same. If toxins can drive away herbivores, beneficial elements could attract bees as and when the insects needs it. A study infected bees with a gut parasite. One group was fed on sucrose while another group was given secondary compounds from plant nectar. The amount of parasite infestation was greatly reduced in the group which consumed secondary compounds.
✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴
Flying Dogs
"We always have such fun together, buzzing here, bouncing there."
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✴ Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan ✴
New Peacock Spider Species in Australia
The discovery of new species in Australia is no longer a surprise. However, it is extremely interesting. Jumping (peacock) spiders, Salticidae, are the largest family of the Araneae. Peacock spiders are so called because of their bright colors.
Two new species have been identified. They are named Skeletorus, Maratus sceletus, and Sparklemuffin, Maratus jactatus. The former is black with white stripes and some blue in the background. It does look like a skeleton. Sparklemuffin is blue with a unique red pattern.
Peacock spiders jump and dance around showing off their colorful abdomens. Due to prevalent predators males need to be seen by females to successfully breed and continue their existence. They have adapted well and have diversified into many types.
✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴
Australia is Heading for Economic Disaster
The Australian economy is heading southward and this does not mean we are moving closer to Antarctica. Our financial health is still in primary products. The price and demand for iron ore and coal still drives the economy. At the moment the foot is really off the accelerator and we are idling downhill. We will eventually reach the bottom. Then the country will have big problems.
The hope that Australia will have a increase in IT start-ups to offset the fall in resource exports is not well founded. Products in the Internet sphere have short lives, a few years at most. IT moves on the initiative of individuals. It never will be a mass employer. We need to forget this pie in the sky and concentrate on something else.
It will cost to improve employment. Government will have to subsidize companies to keep jobs here. Politicians make the same incorrect assumption over and over again - the free market will solve all economic problems. The free market has never done much without human input. International trade exists due to comparative advantage. If a country does not have this in a sector, other sectors that do must pay.
A start would be tax breaks for enterprises who bring home their support services from India and the Philippines. To allow mining employment to fall without stimulation elsewhere is economic suicide. The country will fall into a very deep hole down the track. Opening more shopping centres is not the way go. This is not increasing the capital base. It is dividing up the market between too many sellers.
✴ Economics by Ty Buchanan ✴
Australia is Becoming a Police State
Australia is heading for a police state where the judiciary is taken over by the executive. With the new Internet data law being forced on a public who do not want it, things are moving very fast. If Labor goes along with the changes that is the end for free Australia.
Watch out, he could legislate to force Protestants to become Catholics like himself. He loves his church, wears it on his "shirt front" - the pun is intended! He claims that the police force doesn't do its job properly. Watch out for Abbott's storm troopers goose stepping down the street, entering houses and taking you off never to be seen again.
Some overseas publications are calling him a monster. Obviously, they can see something Australian's are not perceiving. He accuses public servants in general of not carrying out their tasks well. His refugee boat policy is working, but it breaks international law. His criticism of Putin is a case of the Pot calling the kettle black! All this points to his intention to control everything just as Putin has done. Note, he was planning to send Australian troops to fight IS.
Malcolm Turnbull will hopefully take over the reigns eventually. Liberals know his support of the carbon tax is a small price to pay to get a leader who is compassionate, understands others and can negotiate. Tony Abbott has none of these skills. Being stupid and not knowing it could be one of Abbott's attributes.
✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴
Unboiled Eggs
Australian and US Scientists have discovered how to unboil eggs. This is not the whole egg as you would see on your dinner plate: just egg white. Transport of egg white will be revolutionized, no more need to ship fragile whole eggs in their shells (egg white powder is available though not that useful in such a form). Laboratories will be using the protein as a base medium for research.
A protein is added to pre-boiled egg white which untangles proteins thus allowing them to refold. The procedure is quick and cheep, cheap - sorry about the pun! It is a two stage process. First a substance from urea is added, then the remaining lumps are untangled using a special machine.
Reconstituted egg white can be used in cancer treatment, cheese manufacturing and the farming industry. A patent has been applied for. There is always a catch, but that's life I suppose.
✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴
Mars Trip Sign Up is Stupid!
Let's ignore the moral perspective for the moment and think about the ship itself. A secure, life sustaining environment inside a space vehicle for such a long journey is not yet possible. Man reaching the moon was probably just a fluke. Alas, things did go wrong. Apart from the well known ballpoint pen in the circuit-breaker hole trick by Buzz Aldrin, there were dozens of problems that mysteriously were all solved - divine intervention? Well, we will never know.
A trip to Mars will be a chain of continuous problems. For a start we do not know what the real space environment is like out there. Astronauts could die of radiation in a few months of travel. There is no solution to this. Mechanical issues with the ship are almost certain. It may not be possible to go outside to make repairs.
Lastly, how will this end? if they do safely reach Mars they could either be filmed choking to death when the oxygen runs out, or being burned alive as the craft obits inward and falls to the planet itself. The easiest option it to bite down on a pill. Some, however, will not be able to do this.
✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴
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