Parsitic Wasps Transfer DNA to Lepidoptera Caterpillars

Wasps enslave caterpillars. It could be seen as a genetics accident, though it appears to be a conscious decision by Someone out there. The wasps could not survive without caterpillars. If caterpillars all died out so would wasps.
predator wasps laying eggs in lepidoptera caterpillar
Parsitic wasps lay their eggs in all types of lepidoptera caterpillars. Both insects are so close in evolutionary terms that some wasp genes are actually in caterpillars. The reason for this is that 300 million years ago there was a common ancestor of Hymenopter, the insect order to which wasps belong, and Lepidoptera caterpillars.

When eggs are laid inside the caterpillars, a large bracovirus is injected which supresses the immune response of Lipidoptera, so grubs are not killed off. They hatch and eat caterpillars alive! Sometimes caterpillars survive and develop into buterflies and moths with bracovirus DNA because it was picked up from wasps before injection into caterpillars.
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The Kimberley Throws Out Another New Species

Acanthophis cryptoamudros kimberley death adder
You would think that all the snakes in Australia are known.  However a new species has been found.  It is a death adder in the Acanthopis family.  Official named Acanthophis cryptoamudros the Kimberley death adder is two thirds of a meter long.  Like many snakes its head is diamond shaped.

Adders hide and blend in with the underbrush then ambush prey.  Four legged reptiles and small mammals are the main food.  Oddly, the new adder does not look like other adders.  It is similar to snakes of other species.

Australia has been a happy hunting ground for scientists recently.  Many new animals have been identified.  The search goes on in this sparsely populated region of the dry continent.    New species include: shark, dolphin, antechinus, seadragon, lizard, fish and spider, ,     A new water flower has also been discovered.
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THE KIMBERLEY IS THE CENTER OF DISCOVERY FOR NEW SPECIES
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Fox Night Out

"I enjoyed the night out.  How about you?"
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FOXES NIGHT ON THE TILES DRINKING
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New Finding for Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever

Catching dengue fever is a constant fear in Australia. Like malaria it is spread by mosquitoes. Its full name Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever. You can become very sick indeed if you develop the hemorrhagic form, though it seldom causes death.
A patient with Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever showing red spots of hemorrhage
Drugs made for sepsis infection are being used to treat dengue in mice. They has yet to be used on humans. Hopefully new methods for early detection and treatment with drugs will stop progression to the severe dengue.

A new finding could move treatment along a bit. The dengue virus NS1 protein causes immune cells to "leak" blood vessels. TLR4 is the pathway that triggers the response. Some existing drugs do block this pathway. Ironically, many of them did not stop sepsis. They were failures!

Other diseases also use the NS1 method of infection. Work has to be done to explore the battery of drugs already available to hopefully find successful treatments for these related illnesses.
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SIGNIFICANT FINDING ABOUT DENGUE FEVER
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Tickle Tortoise

Stop tortoise being tickled by a toothbrush
"Stop!  Stop!  It tickles."
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TICKLING A TORTOISE
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Volcanic Chain Found in Australia

Scientists have always said that Australia is the safest country on earth in regard to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.  Now we find that this is totally wrong.  A massive volcanic chain has been discovered stretching from Hillsborough in central Queensland in a straight line down to Cosgrove in Victoria, then into the sea.
Cosgrove hot spot volcanic chain north to south in the east of australia
The Australian continent has moved right over the top of the chain leaving volcanoes under the sea in Bass Strait.  Yellowstone in North America is only a third as long as the new Australian hot spot.  It is unusual because it is not located on a tectonic plate boundary.  This type of volcanic chain was not thought to exist.

A weakness above a mantle plume has allowed volcanoes to break through to the surface.  The mantle is 3,000 kilometers below.  The Cosgrove hot spot could become active especially in the south where it is younger.  This could happen as the Australian tectonic plate is the fastest moving on the planet.

Active volcanoes normally exist where the mantle is less than 100 kilometers thick on average.  Cosgrove is 150 kilometers thick at its greatest.  This is not a law for activity.  Eruptions are still possible.  Seismic activity is occurring off the north coast of Tasmania.
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WORLD'S LONGEST CONTINENTAL VOLCANIC CHAIN DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA
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Cat Wants In

Cat outside trying to get inside through window
"What Door?"
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Difficult for the Young to Buy a Home

Housing is just too expensive in Australia for the young.  To get a home at the lower end of the market one needs to stay away from auctions and be ready to go to the potential purchase as soon as it goes up for sale.
Young couple buying a home looking buy purchase
People panic at auctions.  They put a whole day into it usually bring the family in tow.  Once they have made the time and opportunity investment they really want the home and keep bidding against each other finally paying over the odds.

Already the young are making purchasing choices that are not what they originally planned.  Buying further out of town and going into flats instead of separate houses is not what they had intended.  However, they feel that they have to buy something, before or soon after marriage.

Only those with significant deposits are in the market now.  In 1981, more than 60 per cent of people under 35 "owned" a home.  Now it is under 50 per cent.  In the 1980s the young could buy their ideal home.  Today, they are buying something that they are not happy with: they are not content.  Moreover, they are borrowing double the amount of the 1980s.

It is not easy to go to parents and beg for help with a deposit when you left home two years before on bad terms - such is the culture today.  It is likely that young people buying homes now will enter retirement with many more years of mortgage repayments to go.
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Dog Gets Special Food

Cat and dog pets get special food
"You are giving him special food again Mum!"
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Australia's Blueberry Industry Increasing Output

Blueberries aren't that popular in Australia. They are certainly not loved, as in the USA. However, Australian farmers are growing more of them as Australians look for something different. There is also a thriving international market.
Blueberries
The Clarence Valley in Grafton, NSW is the main growing region for the product. At present Australian growers supply only a tiny amount of berries to the world. Yet, Australia uses the latest genetic technology to grow good blueberries.

Hard quarantine laws stop Australia getting into the China market.  Maybe this is quid pro quo for Australia's brick wall against New Zealand growers of fruit and vegetables in general. Four years ago Japan blocked imports into that country. It was only an increase in local demand that saved the industry.

Australian blueberry farmers are raising output despite there being no real overseas target market in sight. The recent summit at Coffs harbour did not change the existing state of affairs. Delegates from 25 countries attended. This was not a good investment for the Australian blueberry industry nor government.
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Dog Reads Cartoon Pages

Dog reads the funny pages in newspaper first
"I always go to the funny pages first.  Ah ah ah!"
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Blue Bastard Caught!

A mystery fish is caught time-to-time in northern Australia. It was enthused about then thrown back to be forgotten until another recreational fisherman snagged an example. The fish was nicknamed the blue bastard in the usual Aussie way. Serious scientists who wanted to catch it couldn't, no matter how hard they tried.
Blue Bastard fish Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus
Jeff Johnson, an ichthyologist, decided to take the case into his own hands. He hired Ben Bight a Weipa fishing guide to go out and catch the freaker. Specimens were caught and sent to Brisbane where Johnson and geneticist Jessica Worthington got to work on them. The fish already had a name: Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus. Little was known about it, however.

The Blue Bastard grows to a meter in length. Juveniles have black and white stripes with a yellow tinge. Adults change to a pleasant gray-blue. They are territorial, showing aggression by rushing at each other then locking jaws in a struggle.

Living in the shallows it would be thought that they are easy to catch. This is not the case. They are picky and seldom bite a baited hook or spinner. A new tourist industry could develop: apparently, they are successfully caught by presenting a "fly" to them. As they are not endangered this is a serious proposition.
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Furniture Lions

Female lion sits on male lion need new furniture
"Furniture George!  We need furniture."
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Sea Simulator Shows Ocean Heat Does Not Increase Coral Acidification

Though heat itself may damage the Great Barrier Reef, higher levels of acidity due to raised temperatures will not increase coral bleaching. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ends up absorbed in the surface of sea water. This raises acidity.
Australian National Sea Simulator
There is not a direct relationship between acidification and coral bleaching . However, the kinds of animal life present in an area will be changed by more acid conditions. The whole ecosystem of the reef will be altered forever. Both heat and more acidity will cause this.

Tests have been done with the national sea simulator which gives quite specific results. The Sea Sim is new technology. It is being given test runs at present. Acidification and heat together do not raise coral bleaching. This is a major finding. Scientists are now going down a new path.

The new premise came from a combined research program using the Sea Sim and hands on tests off the coast of Papua New Guinea; so coral itself is relatively safe, but the animal community that lives arounds them is under threat.  Our grandchildren will not see the wonder of the world as we know it  
today.
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