Launch for amphibian 'life raft'
Conservationists have launched a new initiative aimed at safeguarding the world's amphibians from extinction.The Amphibian Survival Alliance will bring together existing projects and organisations, improving co-ordination, scientific research and fund-raising.
About a third of amphibian species are threatened with extinctions.
A two-day summit held last week in London identified the two main threats as destruction of habitat and the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.
"The world's amphibians are facing an uphill battle for survival," said James Collins, co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) co-ordinated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
 |  If we want to stop the amphibian extinction crisis, we have to protect the areas where amphibians are threatened by habitat destruction  Claude Gascon, ASG  |
"By far the worst threats are infectious disease and habitat destruction, so the Alliance will focus on these issues first."
Last week's meeting, held at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), declared that research into possible treatments for the chytrid fungus should be a top priority.
Identified only a decade ago, the fungus now infects amphibians in the Americas, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa.
How it originated and how it kills are matters of ongoing research.
But in practical terms, finding something that can stop it in open country rather than the laboratory is the big challenge.
Researchers have found that some amphibian species carry chemicals on their skin that provide a natural defence.
Axolotl verges on wild extinction
New survey work suggests that fewer than 1,200 Mexican axolotls remain in its last stronghold, the Xochimilco area of central Mexico.
The axolotl is a type of salamander that uniquely spends its whole life in its larval form.
Its odd lifestyle, features and ability to regenerate body parts make it a popular animal kept in labs, schools and as pets.
But in the wild, the future is bleak for this "Peter Pan" of animals.
|  Reintroduction is not a good idea because it reduces the genetic variability and increases the chances of disease  Biologist Dr Luis Zambrano |
Recent surveys suggest that between 700 and 1,200 axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) survive in six reduced and scattered areas within the Xochimilco area of the Mexican Central Valley.
One of these surveys found just a single axolotl in the whole study region.
The long-term survival of the axolotl in the wild has now become critical, and demands urgent action to restore the animal's number and habitat, say scientists monitoring the population.
Argentina rules on marijuana usehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8221599.stm
The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption.
The decision follows a case of five young men who were arrested with a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets.
But the court said use must not harm others and made it clear it did not advocate a complete decriminalisation.
Correspondents say there is a growing momentum in Latin America towards decriminalising drugs for personal use.
The Argentine court ruled that: "Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state."
Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti said private behaviour was legal, "as long as it doesn't constitute clear danger".
"The state cannot establish morality,"Secrets of warfare... - let it blow!
http://my.opera.com/meier-mattern/blog/2009/08/25/secrets-of-warfare-let-it-blowWalking through beautiful Venice I was reminded these days of the balloon attack on that city in 1849.......How many Americans, I wondered, realised the panic in its government and the deep secrecy surrounding the Japanese balloon bomb attacks during the Second World War on their soil?
YouTube
In 1848 the people of Venice wanted to restore their famous Venetian Republic and throw out the Austrian rulers. They failed due to an experimental weapon: bomb balloons. Those were the years that technology, electricity and the miracles of remote control were born, of course for military purposes and power-play first. You wouldn't think of it, when you walk through the historic inner-city of Venice with its precious old cultural monuments. But culture and monuments don't count in warfare, do they? Like Babylon, the very root of our western civilisation, that had to be destroyed in the Iraq war-game. It also reminded me of the role Ernest Wilson and later Nikola Tesla played, who designed radio-controlled devices like torpedoes for the Americans in their war against Spain. One quickly forgets.
Artificial Personalities - a new Trend?
http://my.opera.com/nepmak2000/blog/2009/08/24/artificial-personalities-a-new-trend
Get your own at Gizmoz.com
| Artifical personalities with realistic eyes and a super facial animation can become a trend soon. It has all to do with power-computers and a synergy of ingenious principles by the University of South California (USC-ICT) and Image Metrics. To simulate a person isn't too difficult, except for the face. Expression, eyes and facial geometry are extremely difficult to capture. The famous "Emily Project" however shows in which direction the development goes. Simulated TV and movie entertainment made per computer may some day fill in the chronic lack on good productions. The artists and actors may stay home... | My I-friend Ellinidata payed attention to "Emily" which reminded me of the development that artificial intelligence (AI) and facial animation went through the last 25 years. I then visited the Turing Institute in Glasgow (UK), where AI was researched, to find a way for a university to more efficiently homologate new students. Numerous software packages I tested to see if verbal schemes applied with AI could be attached to a nice artificial lady. That is still impossible, but impressive results have been achieved. Perhaps in 10 years we'll pass the final frontier: a truly simulated human being... |
What you must know...
- Taliban denies Kandahar bombing
At least 43 people killed as blast devastates residential district of southern city.
- Iraqi Shia party leader Hakim dies
Head of one of Iraq's most powerful Shia groups dies after fight against lung cancer.
- Karzai widens early poll lead
Complaints of election fraud continue to rise as more partial results are released.
- Sri Lanka rejects 'execution' video
Row flares after footage apparently showing killing of naked Tamils is aired in UK.
- US and Israel spar over settlements
Binyamin Netanyahu and George Mitchell meet for talks in London amid tension.
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/08/weight_affects_our_p.html
We often use weight as a metaphor for importance, describing something as a 'weighty issue' or dismissing an argument as 'not holding much weight' but a new study suggests that this is not just a figure of speech.
A research team found that they could alter people's judgement of importance just by getting them to answer questions using a heavier clipboard.
Recent Entries
- The sexual tranformation delusion
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- Learning reality in the first few months of life
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- 2009-08-21 Spike activity
- The dark matter of the brain
- Empty glass, empty promise
Hat Tip Lilian Nattel
Separatist Caucasus regions go separate ways
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4600509,00.html?maca=en-nv-en-news-2446-xml-mrss
"More than 90 percent of South Ossetia's budget comes directly from Moscow," Lawrence Sheet, Caucasus Project Director of the International Crisis Group, told Deutsche Welle. But he said the issue of Russian dominance does not seem to trouble the area's some 40,000 inhabitants.
Abkhazia is not wrapped quite so tightly in Russia's arms as South Ossetia, it still relies on Moscow for 50 percent of its budget and 99 percent of its trade.
Consequently, the elation felt this time last year has morphed into an increasing sense of discontent among the Abkhaz people, and the political elite is now in the difficult position of trying to achieve sovereignty without biting the hand which feeds it.
Latam exports 'worst in 70 years'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8222389.stm
Exports from Latin American and Caribbean nations are set to show their steepest fall in more than 70 years, the United Nations has predicted.
The region's exports are expected to shrink in volume by 11% in 2009, says the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac).
If the prediction proves accurate, it will be the worst drop since 1937.
"Policies to reactivate trade are urgently needed," said Eclac executive secretary Alicia Barcena.
Imports are also expected to fall sharply, says Eclac. The commission predicts a decline of 14%, which would be the biggest reduction since 1982.
Feeling down Japan grows but there are few signs of optimism
Timeline: Credit crunch two years on How the global crisis unfolded
Smugglers thrive as row hits tradehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8219839.stm
Many of the products that Colombia exports to Venezuela are perishable, including milk, eggs, meat, rice and coffee.
After Venezuela moved to close the border, much of that produce went bad and had to be destroyed.
Local sugar cane producer Eliodoro Viveros took us down dirt roads in the small town of El Zulia to see one such damaged crop.
"The cane was cut and we got the export licence, but at that moment there was the dispute between the two presidents. Chavez shut the border and we lost all this," he said, motioning to the piles of blackened and useless sugar cane in the field behind him.
 |
"This has happened at least three times to members of our co-operative in the past few weeks."
Mr Vivieros says that the crops represented thousands of dollars' worth of profit for the farmers involved.
His co-operative is pinning its hopes on plans to build an ethanol plant in the region so that sugar cane producers are not so reliant on the Venezuelan market.
On the Venezuelan side of the frontier they are feeling the pinch too, but in different ways.
"Both countries are losing out," said Alexis Balsa, border affairs commissioner for Tachira state in Venezuela.
"Colombia may be losing out a little more economically, but in Venezuela we're experiencing food shortages because of all of this. President Chavez has decided to replace Colombia with Brazil or Argentina. That's going to be very damaging for this frontier region because international trade here could be reduced to zero."
There would be more job losses in the region too, he predicted.
Siphoned off
But while the legal trade of food, textiles, electrical goods and cars may be held up, illegal trade - especially in fuel - is thriving.
Smugglers fill up their tanks with cheap petrol in Venezuela, then drive over the border and siphon it off in Cucuta at huge profit.
Having paid a few cents a litre, they can sell it on for several dollars. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people make their living from the practice and there is a constant flow of vehicles, many of them taxi drivers, taking contraband fuel in one direction and contraband goods in the other.
Much of the trade is run by paramilitary and criminal gangs, but many are ordinary Venezuelans and Colombians making a quick dollar on the side.
One in six homes 'have no work'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8222145.stm
More than one in six UK homes which house at least one person of working age does not have anyone in employment, official statistics show.
This is the highest rate since 1999, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The number of workless households hit 3.3 million in April to June, a 240,000 rise compared with a year earlier.
The issue was most acute in the north-east of England, and the lowest rate was in the eastern region of England.
A workless household is defined by the ONS as a home which includes at least one person of working age, where nobody aged 16 or over is in employment.
As a result, the workless household figure is higher than the number of people who are counted unemployed - 2.35 million - as it includes people such as early retirees, full-time students or those receiving disability benefit who are not included in the official unemployment statistics.
'Thousands flee Burma violence'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8223430.stm
Thousands of people have fled across the Burmese border into China in recent weeks amid violence between ethnic groups and the government, reports say.
Some 10,000 people have entered China from Burma's north-eastern Shan state this month, according to Chinese media.
Hundreds of government troops are reported to have moved into the area.
The ruling junta is said to be putting pressure on the ethnic rebel groups to put their fighters under government control ahead of polls due next year.
In a statement released through the US Campaign for Burma (USCB), the rebels in Kokang said tensions in the region were "extremely high".
"With anticipation of resurgence of war, tens of thousands of ethnic people have fled," they said.
USCB said the problem had begun when government troops were deployed in the largely ethnic Chinese Kokang region of the state.
China admits death row organ use
China is trying to move away from the use of executed prisoners as the major source of organs for transplants.
According to the China Daily newspaper, executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs.
The government is now launching a voluntary donation scheme, which it hopes will also curb the illegal trafficking in organs.
But analysts say cultural bias against removing organs after death will make a voluntary scheme hard to implement.
Thriving black market
About 1.5 million people in China need transplants, but only about 10,000 operations are performed annually, according to the health ministry.
The scarcity of available organs has led to a thriving black market in trafficked organs, and in an effort to stop this the government passed a law in 2007 banning trafficking as well as the donation of organs to unrelated recipients.
But in practice, illegal transplants - some from living donors - are still frequently reported by the media and the Ministry of Health.
Human rights groups have often criticised China for its lack of transparency over organ donation, but critics have focused particular concern on the use of body parts from executed prisoners.
In a rare admission of the extent to which this takes place, China Daily - citing unnamed experts - said on Wednesday that more than 65% of organ donations come from death row prisoners.
( But when Swedish press asks for an investigation of reports in Palestine, it's billed as anti-Semitism by Israel! This in a world where slavery is breaking records and civil rights are a dim memory. )
Genetic advance raises IVF hopes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8220553.stm
BBC News, science correspondent
 The twin monkeys - Mito and Tracker - born using the new technique |
Researchers have found a potential way to correct an inherited disorder affecting thousands of women.
Working on monkeys, they transferred genetic material needed to create a baby from a defective egg to a healthy one, resulting in healthy births.
The US work, featured in the journal Nature, raises hopes of a treatment enabling women with defective eggs to have a child without using donor eggs.
However, the child would have a small number of genes from a "third parent".
| It is estimated that every 30 minutes a child is born with this devastating disease and I believe we could prevent that Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov Oregon Health and Science University |
The treatment would involve so-called "germ line" genetic changes which would be passed down through generations.
The genetic fault is contained in structures in the egg called the mitochondria, which are involved in maintaining the egg's internal processes.
If an egg with faulty mitochondria is fertilised the resulting child could have any of hundreds of different diseases including anaemia, dementia, hypertension and a range of neurological disorders.
Previous failures
US researchers have previously tried and failed to correct this defect by adding healthy donated mitochondria into the eggs of patients wishing to have children.
| The fact that treatment effects would persist for generations means ethical debate is needed, as well as more safety tests Dr Helen Wallace GeneWatch |
But these attempts resulted in birth defects - probably because mitochondria are so delicate that they are damaged when they are transplanted from one egg to another.
As a result, the treatment was banned by the US until it could be demonstrated that it was safe in animal experiments.
A group at the Oregon Health and Science University has now done just that.
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