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Is Cloning of Extinct Animals Possible?
It seems researchers are close to cloning the woolly mammoth and perhaps a species of frog that gives birth to offspring with its mouth - swallowing fertile eggs then incubating them in its mouth. The frog died out in 1983. We have heard claims like this before. Personally, I believe we are a long way from being able to do this.
Repairing the damage that pushed them to extinction is not sufficient to bring them back. Finding specimens with suitable preserved material is near impossible. Even the few frozen southern gastric-brooding frogs were not initially preserved with the intention of "cloning". Special techniques were not applied.
It is thought improved systems like somatic cell nuclear transfer will enable creation of a living frog. Some presume this can be used on viable mammoth cells. The issue will be producing a healthy living creature. Previous research has resulted in incomplete clones: many do not live long. Most scientists are pessimistic about the possibility of "perfect" cloning.
Conservation
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Australian Government Accesses Data From Internet Companies
The NSA has said that it targeted non-US citizens in its information grab from large Internet companies. Australian and American government agencies have secured detailed data about Australian citizens. This fact came out in a new report.
In the first half of 2013 546 requests were made on Australians. Facebook provided details on 349 of these. The US demanded information on 20,000 users assumed to be Americans. Access was granted on nearly 16,000 US accounts.
Which government agencies made the demands was not announced by Facebook. Internet companies seem to have been given some sort of filtering power to decide what is released. This is strange considering such companies are not elected non-government agencies. Are they entitled to be above the law?
Requests to Twitter by Australia have risen 600 percent since the second half of 2012. All members of the international data oligopoly were approached. About two thirds of all requests were successful. There is a fine balance here. What happens if police want information that Internet companies will not grant? Are in-camera court cases about to become the norm, where information is deemed to be too sensitive for the public?
Conservation
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Lose Weight by Drinking Milk from Grass-Fed Cows?
Drink milk from grass-fed cows and have a healthier heart. This is because this milk has five times more unsaturated fat than that from grain-fed cows. You can even lose weight by drinking the milk. This is a call back to the past. Today most cows in the West are grain fed.
People having high levels of unsaturated fat had a third less risk of getting a heart attack. Studies have found that a diet consisting of unsaturated fats reduced cancer cells and tumours. Though meat from grain fed cows seems to have less fat, looks can be deceiving.
There is a problem with the proposition from this research. In Australia and New Zealand milking cows are fed mainly on pasture. However, people in these countries are almost as fat as US citizens and high blood pressure is just as bad. As a person ages milk consumption decreases. Australians do eat a lot of take away food. And these food establishments foister coke on you. When you order tea or coffee you can almost hear a sigh from those serving you. You see pained expressions on their faces as they search around for milk and cups hidden away under the counter. Some even opt out of the "chore" by asking older staff members to make it.
A campaign to make consumers buy grass-fed milk would be a waste of money. This type of milk would be more expensive anyway with separate processing and packaging requirements. It would be like the call for free-range eggs. Producers and sellers can be dishonest. Battery eggs are sold as free-range and buyers don't know the difference. The same thing would happen with "healthier" milk.
People having high levels of unsaturated fat had a third less risk of getting a heart attack. Studies have found that a diet consisting of unsaturated fats reduced cancer cells and tumours. Though meat from grain fed cows seems to have less fat, looks can be deceiving.
There is a problem with the proposition from this research. In Australia and New Zealand milking cows are fed mainly on pasture. However, people in these countries are almost as fat as US citizens and high blood pressure is just as bad. As a person ages milk consumption decreases. Australians do eat a lot of take away food. And these food establishments foister coke on you. When you order tea or coffee you can almost hear a sigh from those serving you. You see pained expressions on their faces as they search around for milk and cups hidden away under the counter. Some even opt out of the "chore" by asking older staff members to make it.
A campaign to make consumers buy grass-fed milk would be a waste of money. This type of milk would be more expensive anyway with separate processing and packaging requirements. It would be like the call for free-range eggs. Producers and sellers can be dishonest. Battery eggs are sold as free-range and buyers don't know the difference. The same thing would happen with "healthier" milk.
Conservation
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Psychedelics Should Be Used to Treat Depression
Perhaps the drive to ban drugs is misplaced. The war is being lost anyway. Since the 1960s research on psychedelic drugs has been frowned upon. However, recent findings show benefits from imbibing these chemicals which come mainly from mushrooms.
Psychedelics alter perception so that an individuals sees strange things that are not there. A side benefit is an improvement in mood. Anxiety and depression tend to disappear. Research in the US and Europe is really taking off. Oddly, although the drugs have been banned they are not addictive.
Australia is not following the lead. It is still stuck in the past with talk about psychedelics being hushed up. A further problem is that chemicals derived from mushrooms and cacti are not patentable. There is no big money in it.
The harm done by regular intake of psychedelics is near zero. Quite different from the common belief. Many of the elderly suffer from psychological problems. If these can be solved by putting the aged into a better state of mind a lot of good will be done.
Conservation
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Asian Tiger Mosquitoes Moving To the Australian Mainland
With climate change insects move geographically. New regions open up to be populated. Warming of the Australian mainland has taken place. The Asian tiger mosquito has been found on Thursday and Horn islands in the Torres strait close to Australia itself.
Dengue and chicungunya are the greatest dangers. These diseases can be fatal. There is no way the mosquitoes can be stopped. They will move into Australia proper. Spraying insecticides will only slow them down. They won't fly to Australia. They will be brought here on small boats moving all over the Torres Strait.
The threat is serious. Once established in Australia Asian tiger mosquitoes will be spread by humans as far south as Tasmania. They prefer a cooler climate than the main dengue host, Aedes aegypti. Tigers will carry dengue, however.
The outside-life of Australians is under threat. Having a barbecue will be a dangerous pastime. Recently it has been established that mosquitoes are not native to Papua New Guinea. They came from Indonesia, so migration is normal for the insect.
Environment
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US Jet Pilot Pursues UFO - Government Admits the Incident Happened
A pilot is ordered to fire on a UFO. It is official. The British Government has announced that an American pilot operating in the North Sea was ordered to fire on a UFO. It happened a long time ago, May 1957. However, the fact that it was announced is a step forward, because so many people believe governments are covering up the truth.
The UFO was moving erratically and the pilot fired all of his rockets. In response, the UFO Just travelled faster than the rockets, away into the distance. British radar operators had first seen the object on their screens and the pilot was sent to find out what it was. When the pilot was ordered to fire every weapon he had at the UFO he was concerned and questioned the order. A confirmation was sent.
Milton Torres was the member of the United States Air Force involved. Now retired, he has spent over 50 years trying to get the true story released. A believer in UFOs to this day, he says: "It was some kind of alien space craft. It was so fast. It was so incredible". Apparently, the craft was extremely large - as big as an aircraft carrier.
When he returned to base a man in civilian clothes told him not to discuss this with anyone, particularly his commanding officer. So the government was covering up, not the air force.
But this is not the end of the story. It has been said that the US military was experimenting with phantom radar signals and this was an example of such a test. Radar is not solid, however. The UFO was. It seems the public will get no more information from the government.
The UFO was moving erratically and the pilot fired all of his rockets. In response, the UFO Just travelled faster than the rockets, away into the distance. British radar operators had first seen the object on their screens and the pilot was sent to find out what it was. When the pilot was ordered to fire every weapon he had at the UFO he was concerned and questioned the order. A confirmation was sent.
Milton Torres was the member of the United States Air Force involved. Now retired, he has spent over 50 years trying to get the true story released. A believer in UFOs to this day, he says: "It was some kind of alien space craft. It was so fast. It was so incredible". Apparently, the craft was extremely large - as big as an aircraft carrier.
When he returned to base a man in civilian clothes told him not to discuss this with anyone, particularly his commanding officer. So the government was covering up, not the air force.
But this is not the end of the story. It has been said that the US military was experimenting with phantom radar signals and this was an example of such a test. Radar is not solid, however. The UFO was. It seems the public will get no more information from the government.
Conservation
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