January 4, 2012

Deadly parasite turns Bay Area honeybees into zombie slaves

By Lisa M. Krieger


San Francisco biologists have made a macabre discovery that might help explain the mysterious crash of honeybee populations: parasites that turn bees into zombies.

Infected bees go mad, abandoning their hive in a suicidal rush toward bright lights, according to a new study by San Francisco State researchers.

"It's the flight of the living dead," said lead investigator and biology professor John Hafernik, also president of the California Academy of Sciences.

The parasite, a tiny fly, has been found in bees from three-quarters of the 31 surveyed hives in the Bay Area -- essentially, everywhere except Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

In a plotline similar to a George Romero horror film, the fly deposits its eggs into the bee's abdomen, then takes over. The hapless bees walk around in circles, with no apparent sense of direction. Some are unable to even stand on their legs.

more
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_19666381

January 4, 2012

Toon: What Larry 'wide stance' Craig is up to these days

January 4, 2012

Couple of Toons on Congress

I am formally requesting that the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R the thread linked below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124021736

Thanks-N2doc

January 4, 2012

Wednesday Toon Roundup 4- The Rest

Football






Rights




Iran






N. Korea




Economy





Religion



I am formally requesting that the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R the thread linked below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124021736

Thanks-N2doc

January 4, 2012

Wednesday Toon Roundup 3- 2012

I am formally requesting that the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R the thread linked below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124021736

Thanks-N2doc

January 4, 2012

Wednesday Toon Roundup 2- Republican Losers

I am formally requesting that the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R the thread linked below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124021736

Thanks-N2doc

January 4, 2012

Wednesday Toon Roundup 1- Bye Bye Iowa

I am formally requesting that the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R the thread linked below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124021736

Thanks-N2doc

January 4, 2012

Petition to add a "Political Cartoons" subtopic category to the Offbeat Topic

I would like to formally request the Admins to add a Political cartoons category, presumably under the Offbeat topic. If you agree with this and would like to see this happen, please K and R below.

Sincerely, N2doc

(one to start with)

January 4, 2012

Is your all-you-can-eat shrimp killing the mangroves?

BY TWILIGHT GREENAWAY


For his new book Let Them Eat Shrimp: The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea, Kennedy Warne traveled the world -- from Bangladesh to Brazil to the Gulf Coast -- documenting the complex relationship between the growing shrimp farming industry and the world's mangroves. (Up to 70 percent of the these aquatic forests have disappeared in the last 40 years.) The former editor of New Zealand Geographic spoke to Grist recently about what he found.

Q. Can you start by describing the relationship between mangroves and shrimp?

A. Mangrove forests are nurseries for a vast array of marine species, including many species of shrimp. However, this nurturing relationship between a protective habitat and vulnerable sea creatures has been sundered in the past half century as mangroves around the world have been destroyed to create ponds for aquaculture. And guess what's being grown in those ponds? Shrimp. Think about it: The natural nurseries for wild shrimp have been eliminated to create space for the production of farmed shrimp. A bitter irony, is it not?

Q. Outside of the Deep South, mangroves are not so common in the U.S. Can you give our audience a primer on these "rainforests of the sea?"

A. I call mangroves "ecological Swiss army knives" because they have so many ecosystem benefits. I already touched on one: nurseries for marine life. In Florida alone, more than half the species of commercially caught seafood start their lives in mangrove forests, amongst their labyrinths of interweaving trunks and roots that enable them to hide from predators. That same labyrinth acts as a natural buffer against storm surges, making mangroves the coastal shields of tropical coastlines.

more
http://www.grist.org/food/2012-01-03-is-your-all-you-can-eat-shrimp-killing-the-mangroves

January 4, 2012

California high-speed rail funding could be in jeopardy

The Legislature should not authorize the issuance of $2.7 billion in bonds to start building California's $98.5-billion bullet train project, a state-appointed review panel says in a key report to be released later Tuesday.

The conclusion by the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group is a serious blow to the project as it is currently designed because state law specifically empowered the group to make recommendation before any serious money on the train could be spent.

Gov. Jerry Brown has said he intends to ask the Legislature this month to appropriate and sell bonds to raise billions of dollars to start construction of the project.

But that plan is facing an increasingly skeptical Legislature and general public. And now, lawmakers would have to disregard the recommendation of the very group it directed to guide it on the project if they decide to approve the bond issue.

Voters authorized $9 billion in bonds for the bullet train project in 2008, but the measure required that the Peer Review Group sign off on the feasibility and reasonableness of the plan to build the rail system before the state issues the bonds.

more

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/state-bonds.html