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Nick Vujicic hasn't let the fact that he was born without arms or legs slow him down. He plays soccer and golf, swims and surfs. Born in Australia, the 26-year-old was taught by his parents from an early age to be as independent as possible. His dad taught him to swim at 18 months of age; and, when he was older, showed him how to type with the toe that extends from the small foot on his left hip. Vujicic now lives in Los Angeles and makes his living as a motivational speaker. He says he's here to provide hope and encouragement to others.
The agricultural industry is so obsessed with keeping weeds and insects away from its crops (usually through genetic modification and dangerous chemical pesticides), that it might seem counter-intuitive to look for the secret to increased crop yields among the pests themselves.
But a study soon to be published in Ecological Applications found that larvae of one of the most troublesome potato pests in Latin America—the Guatemalan potato moth (Tecia solanivora) were the source of dramatically increased potato yields in Colombia.
In some areas of Columbia, farmers apply pesticides twice a week in an attempt to keep these spud-munchers at bay.
According to a researcher from Georg August University in Germany, the larger, more abundant potatoes were a result of chemical elicitors in the larvae saliva, which are produced in its foregut (EcoTone).
When moth larva infested one of the tubers (potatoes are stem tubers) of a Colombian Andes potato plant (Solanum tuberosum), the rest of the plant, including the remaining tubers, increased in size and abundance. The resulting yield (when infested potatoes were removed) weighed 2.5 times more than the yield from completely undamaged plants.
Researchers are fascinated by the underlying molecular and metabolic mechanisms at work in their study, and hope that the isolation and application of the herbivore-derived elicitors can provide promising tools for managing the impact of herbivores on crops.
No word yet on whether or not drool from other species could have a similar effect.
Via Care2
Geckos are cute little lizards and they have a feature no other type of lizard has - they have a voice. They can make chirping sounds to communicate with their fellow geckos.
Some men grow beards and others like the "12 o'clock shadow" look; but, the average male in the United States spends 2,965 hours shaving his face during his lifetime.
Popcorn is a popular snack in the United States. Americans munch on 1.12 billion pounds of the fluffy white stuff a year; or, about 65 quarts of popcorn per person.
Most people would say that they are able to recognize the smell of natural gas. But; what they think they can smell is actually an artificial scent which is added to this odorless gas, so that when there is a leak, it can be detected.
If you are a North American living in a cold climate, you may complain about the amount of salt used to melt ice on the roads. Of all the salt mined in the world, 10% is used on those roads in the winter.
In Colchester, England, a man dressed like a shrub (with moss draped over his entire body so no knows who he is) has been tending planters around the town, making sure the flowers in them look their best and are weed free. "The Human Shrub", as he's been dubbed, originally appeared to protest the council's decision to reduce the number of flower beds in the scenic town. That plan was dropped and the victorious "Human Shrub" disappeared. He came back later to begin tending the flower beds once again. Martin Hunt, a city councillor, says he has no idea who the "human Shrub" is.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
- John Muir, conservationist
"We are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."
- Buddha
"The golden opportunity you are seeking is within yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone."
- Orison Swett Marden
Photo courtesy: Sulekha
India is currently facing the hottest season ever recorded in the nation -- the hottest since record keeping began in the late 1800s. And the heat has been disastrous: Hundreds of people have died already, and many more are seriously ill. Hospitals in one region in the north have been receiving 300 people a day. And it looks like it's going to get worse.
The Guardian reports:
The death toll is expected to rise with experts forecasting temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in coming weeks. More than 100 people are reported to have died in the state of Gujarat where the mercury topped at 48.5C last week. At least 90 died in Maharashtra, 35 in Rajasthan and 34 in Bihar ... Officials admit the figures are only a fraction of the total as most of the casualties are found in remote rural villages.
This tragedy is especially brutal for India due to those large swaths of Indians who don't have proper access to medical facilities.
Livestock and wildlife have been suffering as well, with deaths of animals being reported all across Northern India.
And 50C, or 122 F, is hot. The highest temps that I've ever endured have been in the 105-110 F range, and that was pretty unbearable. I can't begin to imagine what 122 F feels like -- especially without access to cold running water or A/C.
But the fact remains that this record-breaking hot summer in India is unlikely to be an anomaly going forward. As Matt reported earlier today, the record breaking high temps have continued to outpace record breaking lows by a ratio of around 2:1 -- and that this past April was the hottest on record, globally. And the Guardian reports that according to the Indian Meteorological Department, "Mean temperatures for both March and April were the highest in more than 100 years."
Which means there's more of this devastating weather on the way, as climate change causes temperatures continue to rise over time.
A train passenger quenches his thirst in Allahabad as temperatures in the Indian city soared above 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images. Photo courtesy: Guardian
Record temperatures in northern India have claimed hundreds of lives in what is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s.
The death toll is expected to rise with experts forecasting temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in coming weeks. More than 100 people are reported to have died in the state of Gujarat where the mercury topped at 48.5C last week. At least 90 died in Maharashtra, 35 in Rajasthan and 34 in Bihar.
Hospitals in Gujarat have been receiving around 300 people a day suffering from food poisoning and heat stroke, ministers said. Officials admit the figures are only a fraction of the total as most of the casualties are found in remote rural villages.
Wildlife and livestock has also suffered with voluntary organisations in Gujarat reporting the deaths of bats and crows and dozens of peacocks reported dead at a forest reserve in Uttar Pradesh.
"Because of the heat, lakes and other water bodies have been reduced to parched land, making dehydration common in such birds," said Neeraj Srivastava, a wildlife campaigner.
Even India's northern hill stations – historically a refuge from the heat – have not escaped. Temperatures in Shimla, recorded a peak temperature of 32.4 Celsius, eight degrees hotter than the seasonal average.
After a drought last year, India's farmers are now impatient for the arrival of the monsoon, which irrigates 60% of India's fields. National meteorologists have forecast "normal" rains for this year, a relief in a country where prices of basic foodstuffs have rocketed in recent months due to growing shortages and structural problems with agriculture.
Forecasters have predicted that the south-west monsoon could arrive over the southern state of Kerala as early as today, but it is unlikely to reach the parched north before the end of June.
"It's too long to wait. We'll all go mad before," said Sanjoy Kumar, who sells dumplings from a stall in south Delhi.
The capital has sweltered under intense heat for weeks though, having endured temperatures of around 45C last week, dust storms and scattered rain brought some relief over the weekend. The new air-conditioned metro has seen record numbers of passengers as travellers abandon buses, taxis and auto rickshaws.
Parts of the city have suffered prolonged electricity blackouts and, in outlying suburbs, water shortages. In upmarket Mehrauli village, residents were forced to buy from private suppliers plying door to door with tankers. In the new town of Gurgaon, entire apartment blocks have run short. In the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra, petrol pumps ran dry after railway wagons which normally carry fuel were switched to supply water.
The Indian Meteorological Department attributes the record heat to lack of atmospheric humidity, hot dry winds blowing across the south-western Thar desert and the effects of last year's El Nino cycle.
Mean temperatures for both March and April were the highest in more than 100 years.
Columnists have wondered why, given that scorching temperatures in India are inevitable, the heat has become the centre of every conversation. For Jug Suraiya, a well-known writer, the answer lies in the concept of karma and rebirth.
"That's why we moan and bitch and bellyache," Suraiya explained in The Times of India newspaper. "Because by doing so we hope in our next incarnation, life will, in all senses of the term, be cool."
Via TreeHugger, Guardian and Climate Progress
"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, American author.
DINNER QUEUE: A long-tailed tit and her brood of 11 chicks. Picture: Gary Shilton. Photo courtesy: Wildlife Extra News
Dinner time can be a strenuous affair no matter what size your brood is; but, spare a thought for the long-tailed tit captured on camera feeding her eleven chicks. Normally, a long-tailed tit would expect a brood of between six and eight.
The picture was taken by RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) volunteer Gary Shilton who spends two or three days a week at the RSPB's Fairburn Ings nature reserve near Castleford, West Yorkshire, UK, meeting visitors and talking about the wildlife.
Many birds are busy feeding their young at this time of the year; and, with some species having two or three broods in the coming weeks, the RSPB is urging everyone to continue putting out food and water over the summer. With global warming, this is sound advice for all bird lovers no matter where you live.
Long-tailed tits were among the birds that struggled with the unusually cold weather in the United Kingdom this winter. They, like other small-bodied birds, are particularly susceptible to the cold having to eat almost continuously to stay alive.
Long-tailed tits flew into the Top 10 of the English wildlife charity's Big Garden Birdwatch for the first time last year suggesting they were getting used to feeding on seeds and peanuts in hanging feeders and on bird tables. But this year's survey showed a 27% drop in sightings, pushing them to No 12.
Photo courtesy: Care2
Here is one of the best recycling programs around. Please let everyone you know who uses a cellphone know about Plant My Phone. The article is reprinted from Care2.
Plant My Phone is a new company designed to reduce the very large number of old cell phones that end up in landfills. The idea is both simple and potentially far-reaching. You send them your old, unwanted cell phone for free using their postage-paid self-mailer bags. The free postage-paid plastic bags are available in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Medford, MA, Corvallis, and New Orleans. If you don’t live in these cities, you can print a free shipping label from their website, or request a free self-mailer bag to be sent to you. Then mail in your old phone.
Their site says mailing in an average two-year old phone will result in the planting of fifteen trees. A first generation Apple iPhone in good condition equates to the planting of 79 trees, and a Nokia80 equals about 30, (depending on the condition). You can look at the phone to trees conversion table to see if your phone is there.
The mailed phones are recycled, and their materials are sold to fund tree planting. They say focusing on cell phone recycling is important because, “…of the 140 Million old cellphones each year, only 10% get recycled.” Cell phones contain heavy metals which are toxic to the environment.
The types of trees planted are: Cocoa, Coffee, Banana, Orange, Cedar, Teak, Mahogany, Oak, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Laurel and Leucaena. Their trees are planted in twelve countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, Philippines and Haiti.
PlantMyPhone has a goal of planting seven billion trees. They are an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme’s: Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.
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