the/diseased/republik

Just 50 wild wolves remain in Arizona and New Mexico. But Senator Orin Hatch has introduced legislation that would eliminate life-saving protections for these rare and beautiful animals and other wolves. Without these protections, these wolves may be doomed. Please help me save them by taking action online at: http://dfnd.us/hO4m1Y Thanks!

All they wanted was some food. Now some of the last true, wild bison in America face slaughter outside of Yellowstone National Park. These majestic animals – some of the largest land mammals in North America – were driven from the park by harsh winter conditions that have made food more difficult to find in the park. Now it’s up to federal officials to determine whether they will live or die. Join me in speaking out for Yellowstone bison. Urge U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to find an alternative to killing these amazing animals. Take action online at: http://dfnd.us/i7k8ZV Thanks for helping me make a difference!

Since 2006, U.S. honey bee populations have been in precipitous decline, with some estimates suggesting losses as high as 30% per year. While that's terrible, the problem is far greater than just the loss of a species. Without bees, our food supply is in serious danger. Pollination by honey bees is key in cultivating the crops that produce a full one-third of our food. A recently leaked memo suggests the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ignored the science linking the pesticide clothianidin to the bee die-off. Sign the petition to E.P.A. Administrator Lisa Jackson today demanding an immediate ban and full scientific review of this pesticide: Click Here to Sign the Petition.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Paris airports close for storms Paris airports close for storms A cleaner working at Roissy airport north of Paris, 9 February 2009 Travellers were warned not to go to either of Paris' main airports France has been put on storm alert with the three Paris airports closed and ferry services suspended. Air France said it had cancelled 210 flights, with the Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Bourget airports not due to reopen until 1000 (0900GMT) on Tuesday. The storm was expected to hit France's Atlantic coast hardest, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph). Services between Brittany and nearby islands have been suspended, operators Oceane and Penn Ar Bedd said. Brittany Ferries also postponed the inaugural sailing on Tuesday of its service from Roscoff to Plymouth, in southern England. The French navy has put three rescue vessels on stand-by to help any shipping in difficulty. Sand bags have been deployed on sea-fronts exposed to possible flooding.

Media reports put the number of those rescued - thought to be mostly fishermen - at between 100 and 145. Fishermen say ice on Lake Erie has been particularly thick this winter, luring more people on than usual. The ice started to crack when temperatures rose above freezing this weekend and strong gusts of wind pushed on the ice, he told AP. The slab of ice that broke off and floated away was about eight miles (13 km) wide, the Coast Guard said. It is thought the anglers had used wooden pallets to make a temporary bridge across a crack to get further out on the lake, leaving them stranded when the ice shifted and the planks fell in the water. i used to live in Ohio (albeit, shortly) and i imagine a scene more like lemmings than people...

Horses taken from carriage operation neglected, officials say A horse carriage operator that was already on shaky ground with city officials saw six of its horses removed by authorities Friday. Last year, the city denied JC Cutters' application for a 2009 license to conduct carriage rides. -- source --

"NASA astrophysicists have discovered what they claim is something outside the observable universe exerting an effect on the observable. The material is pulling clusters of galaxies towards a region of space known not to contain sufficient matter to create the effect. They can only speculate on what the material is and how space might differ there: 'In these regions, space-time might be very different, and likely doesn't contain stars and galaxies (which only formed because of the particular density pattern of mass in our bubble). It could include giant, massive structures much larger than anything in our own observable universe. These structures are what researchers suspect are tugging on the galaxy clusters, causing the dark flow.'"

Goats Had Agricultural Tags, But Unknown Where They Came From First it was coyotes . Then there was a cougar . Now it's goats. Two goats were found wandering near Montrose Harbor Sunday night, police said. The goats, which both had agricultural tags on them, were found wandering near Lake Shore Drive at Montrose Harbor, according to a Town Hall District police lieutenant. Responding Town Hall District police officers placed the goats into the care of Animal Care & Control and it was not immediately known where the goats came, though the lieutenant said it was possible they had come from the Lincoln Park Zoo or from a farm.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute are potentially one step closer to creating life . In an experiment they recently created enzymes that can replicate and evolve. 'It kind of blew me away,' said team member Tracey Lincoln of the Scripps Research Institute, who is working on her Ph.D. 'What we have is non-living, but we've been able to show that it has some life-like properties, and that was extremely interesting.'" - full story link at the title.

thanksgiving morning 2008

Set in the year 2022, Soylent Green depicts a dystopia , a Malthusian catastrophe that occurs because humanity has failed to pursue sustainable development and has not halted uncontrolled population growth ; New York City 's population is 40,000,000, with more than half of it unemployed. Global warming , air and water pollution have produced a year-round heatwave and a thin, yellow, daytime smog . Food and fuel are scarce resources, because of animal and plant decimation, housing is dilapidated and overcrowded, and widespread government-sponsored euthanasia is encouraged to control and reduce overpopulation. Meat, bread, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and even alcoholic beverages are scarce and extremely expensive; for example, a six- ounce jar of strawberry jam is 150 "Ds" ( US Dollars ). Like the soylent food factories, the farms producing foodstuffs are heavily guarded and off-limits to civilians. For most of the populace, natural foods are a rarely, if ever, enjoy...

Fantastic Lad sends us to Wired for a story on the upside of nicotine. Researchers are developing drugs based on nicotine that may prove beneficial for [ 0 ]brains, bowels, blood vessels and immune systems. "Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety." A separate story talks about [ 1 ]nicotine warding off Parkinson's disease. source -- slashdot

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday July 09, @04:07PM Researchers in Madrid are claiming that they have discovered that a type of wax found in olive skin can help to slow the spread of HIV . "Their work shows that maslinic acid - a natural product extracted from dry olive-pomace oil in oil mills - inhibits serin-protease, an enzyme used by HIV to release itself from the infected cell into the extracellular environment and, consequently, to spread the infection into the whole body. These scientists from Granada determined that the use of olive-pomace oil can produce an 80% slowing down in AIDS spreading in the body."

chinmay7 writes "There is an excellent selection of articles (and quite a few related scientific papers) in [1]a special edition of Nature magazine on interpretations of the multiverse theory. 'Fifty years ago this month Hugh Everett III published his paper proposing a "relative-state formulation of quantum mechanics" — the idea subsequently described as the 'many worlds' or 'multiverse' interpretation. Its impact on science and culture continues. In celebration, a science fiction special edition of Nature on 5 July 2007 explores the symbiosis of science and sf, as exemplified by Everett's hypothesis, its birth, evolution, champions and opponents, in biology, physics, literature and beyond.' Discuss this story at: http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/07/06/2323214 Links: 0. http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~chinmay.soman/ 1. http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/arts/sciencefiction/index.html

"A unique creature that's been dubbed an ' octosquid ' with eight arms and a squid-like mantle, was discovered off Hawaii. The creature, of a previously unknown species, was trapped in the net covering a 3,000 foot-deep intake tube for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. From the article: 'The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days. According to War, the lab usually checks its filters once a month, but this time, it put a plankton net in one of the filters and checked it two weeks later. The pitch-black conditions at 3,000 feet below sea level are unfamiliar to most but riveting to scientists who have had the opportunity to submerge. The sea floor is full of loose sediment, big boulders and rocks, and a lot of mucuslike things floating in the water, which are usually specimens that died at the surface and drifted to the bottom.'"

according to a recent study, Biologists have found that plants are able to recognize their own relatives. "Researchers at McMaster University have found that plants get fiercely competitive when forced to share their pot with strangers of the same species, but they're accommodating when potted with their siblings. [...] Though they lack cognition and memory, the study shows plants are capable of complex social behaviours such as altruism towards relatives, says Dudley. Like humans, the most interesting behaviours occur beneath the surface."

A gigantic bird-like dinosaur weighing as much as a car towered over its relatives about 70 million years ago, a new finding suggests. The unearthed beaked dinosaur was not full-grown, yet it tipped the scales at more than 3,000 pounds. Paleontologists who discovered its remains estimate the behemoth was just 11 years old when it perished. Chinese scientists unearthed the skeletal remains of the dinosaur, now named Gigantoraptor erlianensis, in the Erlian Basin of Inner Mongolia, China. Gigantoraptor was also much ganglier than other dinosaurs. Typically, larger dinosaurs had proportionally stouter limbs and shorter lower legs than their smaller relatives. Relative to its size, Gigantoraptor had unusually slender limbs and lengthy legs.

The Articles of Confederation Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781. Preamble To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Article I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America." Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and gene...

Brain uses both neural 'teacher' and 'tinkerer' networks in learning. While most people need peace and quiet to cram for a test, the brain itself may need noise to learn, a recent MIT study suggests. In experiments with monkeys, the researchers found that neural activities in the brain gradually change, even when nothing new is being learned. "In the same way, learning in the brain has two components--error-correction and noise--so that even though the neural representation keeps changing, the behavior remains fixed. We think the tinkerer, that is the noise, is not merely a nuisance to the teacher but is actually helping the teacher explore new possibilities it wouldn't have considered otherwise."