Archive for the ‘science’ category

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Getting Bugged Lately?

July 14, 2010

– – Some people would say that you’re probably not eating enough bugs.  Now a word to the wise is sufficient, and if you’re eating a nice snack or are phobic towards insects, you may want to opt out of this post for now, but please come back for another!   That being said, let’s continue with entomophagy…eating insects as food!   You have been duly warned…

Now the idea of eating insects doesn’t fly well in the U.S.A. (- -heh heh!), but insects are commonly consumed in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.  Insects are not usually eaten in the European nations, the U.S., and Canada, where a psychological barrier exists to their consumption.  Insects are excellent sources of protein, but shouldn’t be eaten raw as some contain viruses, bacteria, or toxins used for defensive purposes.  For that matter, one shouldn’t eat chicken raw!

Western society tends to be removed from its food sources, and is reliant on “center of the animal” foods.  Insects additionally are not raised commercially in most western countries except as pet food or fish bait, and suffer the stigma of being considered “vermin.”

And I, too, will pass on the insect plate, at least while there’s pizza to be had!

Categories: animals, insects, Invertebrates, science
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Doggie Dreams…

June 28, 2010

– – Those of us who share life with dogs and cats commonly observe their paws twitching as they slumber; other clues of pet dreams include whisker movement,  irregular breathing, and yelping in canines.  Just as humans recall experiences while dreaming, pets are thought to do the same things due to structural similarities in the mammalian hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory. Pets also go through multiple sleep stages, from slow wave sleep to rapid eye movement stages, where most dreaming occurs.   Electrodes have documented REM episodes even in sleeping rats.

Growing evidence and documentation that animals dream challenges the notion that animals are reflex machines operating by instinct alone.  Darwin contended that if you can prove that an animal dreams, then you can prove that consciousness exists there as a dream is a conscious image.

All of which is something many of us have known for a long time!

Categories: animals, furry, science
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Chicks and Jaguars Dig It!

June 24, 2010

– – How do you lure a jaguar?–Well, they seem to really like Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men.  It also seems to work well for other big cats like cheetahs.

No kidding!  An experiment by the Bronx Zoo in New York found that Obsession for Men drew jaguars for longer than other scents.  The practice made its way down to Guatemala, where biologists report similar success in observing and tracking jaguars in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.  The use of the cologne in conservation programs will be expanded to other Central and South American countries.


I hear, however, that cougars are lured by younger males…


Categories: animals, science
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Primitive Aliens!

June 7, 2010

– – I, for one, like the thought of primitive aliens so that we could feel superior to them. We’re all heard that aliens may have seeded earth with life in the long-ago, given the technological know-how to build the pyramids, and other great stuff. But forget about awesome aliens for now, and consider aliens that are below even ourselves on the evolutionary scale.   Such aliens might exist as methane-based life on Saturn’s moon, Titan.

Now Saturn, while it has really cool rings, has no liquid water on its surface.  It does, however, have lakes of liquid methane there.  While you’d hardly care to vacation on Titan, exotic primitive life forms may exist by feeding on organic chemicals such as methane.  Scientists note that lack of hydrogen and acetylene near the surface of Titan suggest that it is being consumed by something there…

..and wouldn’t a methane-eating pet beat a Chia Pet any day?!

Categories: aliens, science, space
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Spaced-Out Spiders…

May 27, 2010

– -What happens when  poor, innocent spiders are given the active ingredient in marijuana, THC?–Well, they create a poorly-constructed minimalist web.  Since garden spiders typically build a new web every day, such impairment isn’t good.  In experiments, spiders have also been given such drugs as speed, LSD, and even caffeine.  On high doses of caffeine, for example, the regular design of the web disappears.  While on acid, the spider can’t complete his web at all…much like stoner humans who aren’t terribly productive, either…

…and nobody wants stoned spiders around their house, anyways!

Categories: animals, insects, Invertebrates, science

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The Caveman in You…

May 11, 2010

– – Neanderthals had for many years been regarded as primitive and ape-like, but like modern humans, they had developed a culture, used tools, and probably spoke a rudimentary language.  Although their culture was less rich than that of modern man and they were less able to adapt, a recent study of DNA evidence has suggested that there were also less than 10,000 Neanderthals in existence at any one time, making them more vulnerable to diseases or sudden climatic changes.

An international team of scientists recently decoded the complete Neanderthal genome, and found that roughly 1 to 4 percent of the genomes of non-African people derive from these extinct relatives.  This would suggest that modern man and Neanderthals interbred, so there’s a little caveman in all of us!

Categories: extinct species, medical, science
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We’re the Primitives…

April 30, 2010

– – British scientist Stephen Hawking in a new television series recently entertained the possibility that alien life may exist, but felt that contact with aliens could have devastating consequences.  “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,” said Hawking in the series.

The program imagines a universe in which alien life forms in large spacecraft hunt for resources after draining their own planet of such, conquering and colonizing such planets as the can reach.  Perhaps if we were more fortunate, alien life might be observing a version of Star Trek’s “Prime Directive” in which indigenous life was not interfered with…

Categories: aliens, science, space, television
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Plants Behaving Strangely…

April 25, 2010

– – No, we’re not talking about the carnivorous plant in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, but let’s consider what’s happening to some like…(long pause)…the bloodroot, ahahahahaha!

This little herb, like a number of other plants including dogwoods and lilacs, is showing a life cycle that is sped up,  flowering earlier than usual or normal in many areas.   On average, spring is now coming several days earlier than it did a few decades ago, possibly as a result of global warming.   It’s easy to consider an early spring a good thing, but such may confuse plants and insects, making them shift their schedule.  If snow melts earlier, vegetation may suck up the water more quickly, leading to drier conditions for the ecosystem later on into the summer, and increasing the chances of wildfire.

Most climate scientists say that a warming climate would in turn be expected to affect the weather, but where, when, and the extent of such is hard to predict.  The fact that the oceans are warmer than they were about thirty years ago means that there’s on average about 4 per cent more water vapor lurking around over the oceans.  Since what goes up must come down, this could translate to more snowfall in winter and more extreme weather patterns generally…

Categories: environmental, science, trends

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Tasering Animals…

April 17, 2010

– – It may come as a shock to hear that animals have been used as test subjects for Tasers to determine if being subjected to the stun guns can lead to ventricular fibrillation, a highly abnormal heart rhythm that can become fatal.  In a bizarre experiment, sixteen sheep were anesthetized, administered methamphetamine, and then given repeated shocks with Tasers to simulate what might happen when drug-addled humans were hit with the stun guns!   Some of the smaller sheep suffered elevated heart rates, but none experienced a potentially lethal heart condition.   “It’s not so baaad,” commented one sheep of his Taser experience.

Taser experiments have also been conducted on anesthetized dogs as well on on conscious pigs, surgically modified pigs, and pigs under the influence of cocaine! Neither the knocked-out dogs nor the conscious pigs suffered ventricular fibrillation, whereas the pigs surgically modified to remove the thick skin around their hearts did suffer near heart failure when the Taser’s barb was placed less than an inch away from their hearts. The coked-up pigs actually had their safety margin increased by 50 to 100 percent!  (“Hit me again, dude,  far out!”)

A Taser was also successfully used in the field on a cow moose in Alaska who refused to leave a construction site where her calves were trapped.   Research has gone on for five years studying the effects of Tasers on captive moose and bears, and Taser International is seeking to develop a wildlife-specific stun gun;  just don’t tase me, bro!   Wildly unauthorized field tests have also been conducted on bears and bulls as well as on more dogs and sheep…whole lotta shockin’ goin’ on…

…and by the way, the name “Taser” was originally an acronym for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle…”

Categories: animals, furry, medical, science
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Cockroach of the Sea!

April 3, 2010

– – They’ll never call a tuna that…but they’ve found an enormous crustacean scouring the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, a giant isopod called Bathynomus giganteus related to shrimp and crabs that measured 2-1/2 feet long and was found hooked onto the bottom of a remotely-operated vehicle at a depth of 8,500 feet!

Now most giant isopods are less than a foot long, making the recent discovery a supersized version.  This could be because of a condition called gigantism, which is thought to be common among crustaceans inhabiting especially cold water regions.   In addition to larger size, colder temperatures tend to be conducive to longer life spans, and the deeper the water, the bigger the critter.

Giant isopods are predators that feed on carcasses of dead whales and fish, and have also been known to attack sea dwellers that are alive and swimming.   Such creatures  have existed for more than 160 million years.- -Nature is scary, which is just how I like it!

Categories: animal oddities, anomalies, furry, Invertebrates, science
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