PINK IS NOT JUST FOR GIRLS!

We are all too familiar with the terrible toll on our seabirds taken by long fishing lines; over 100,000 albatrosses and petrels are killed annually.

Apparently pink strips tied to the fishing lines frighten off the birds, achieving an 85% reduction in deaths. The strips are only needed for the 150 metres of line before it is submerged so it is cheap, reusable and costs about $200 per ship.

If that works all we need now is something to stop the tuna and swordfish from taking the bait and all will be well with the world.

LINES OF PREFERENCE

Apparently in down-under countries such as NZ and Australia, our animals align themselves in a clear east-west preference when grazing.

Satellite pictures apparently show northern cattle prefer north-south lines.

Is this indicative of an awareness of the earth’s magnetic field? Why not, birds knew about it before Adam.

SERATONIN SWARMS

Insects as individuals are generally happy little critters; even being stung by one is forgivable. However when a swarm of them make a beeline for you that’s another matter!

One minute they’re flying along one by one and the next minute there’s trillions.

So what triggers a swarm?

Locusts apparently get a Seratonin fix just prior to swarming (Seratonin is a neurotransmitter synthesied in the neurons of the central nervous system and some cells of the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans). Interestingly it is also found in plants, fruit and vegetables and mushrooms. Have the Locusts been on a fungi feast before the swarm?

PLACODERM PLEASURES

Internal fertilisation is not just a ‘new age’ activity.

An embryo found inside a placoderm fossil evidenced internal fertilisation and live birth around 380 million years ago. Wondering how placoderms ever got close enough to each other (they wore heavy body armour), someone has worked out that mating was similar to the present day shark, using claspers and channelling sperm into the female cloaca. Small skeletons inside some fossils were thought to be the debris from a cannibalistic dinner; now that sexual intercourse has been established as a viable activity by these guys perhaps these ‘cannibal’ dinner remains are actually embryos?

Scientist have again been challenged by what fossils got up to all those years ago with perhaps an answer to how the 10-metre leathery winged pterosaurs actually managed to fly.

These guys preceded the crocodiles and birds and discovered airbags 220 million years before Chrysler. These air sacs linked the dinosaur’s lungs to their hollow bones and connected to a pneumatic system under the skin.

“Come fly with me …..”

LINDANE – A killer of Lice and Life

Lindane is a persistent pesticide that travels on wind and air currents, making its way all the way to the Arctic region. It shows up more than any other pesticide in the food supply, bodies and breast milk of indigenous peoples in the Arctic, putting people's health and cultural traditions — and an entire delicate ecosystem — at risk.

Exposure to Lindane has been linked to seizures, developmental disabilities and hormone disruption, and is known to be particularly hazardous to children. Fifty-two countries have already banned use of the chemical. Yet FDA continues to approve Lindane's use as an ingredient in shampoos and skin lotions marketed to control lice and scabies.

In 2001, California became the first state to ban these pharmaceutical uses of Lindane, and similar legislation is now moving forward in Michigan. California PAN activists have already rallied around Michiganders' efforts by sharing their stories of lindane-free lice control.

National governments will be making a final decision on Lindane's global ban at a Stockholm Convention meeting in early May. At this critical moment, the U.S. continues to lobby for continued use of Lindane shampoos and lotions — exempting these dangerous products from the global ban.

As an alternative to Lindane to control lice and scabies see our Letters to Editor Page.

AFFORDABLE VIAGRA?

Companies spend millions on Viagra’s development for which rich men will pay billions, but no one wants to spend a dollar on a drug for malaria that kills one poverty striking kiddie every 30 seconds.

Patents keep the drug prices sky high but even when drug companies gave big discounts, other companies started to sell their own versions, massively undercutting even the discounted drugs.

Should research and development (R & D) costs form part of the product price?

Could other incentives replace this old but lucrative system?

President Barack Obama has called for humanitarian licensing policies that ensure medications developed with US taxpayer dollars are available for patents in developing countries. The US is showing the way it can be done... offering ‘priority review vouchers’ (fast track licensing in the US) to any company that invents drugs for one of sixteen neglected diseases. This system, once the wrinkles have been ironed out, could encourage research that otherwise may not happen because of financial viability.

I don’t know why anyone bothers when we already have homeopathy and herbal medicine for malaria and a trillion other diseases. The most ancient of all medicines and quantum physics just doesn’t cut it with GlaxoSmithKline, the worlds second biggest pharmaceutical firm. Perhaps they cannot afford to consider them.

PS, I hope NZ is included in drug price cuts; at $1100 for a smear of (special) cream on a melanoma, or the price of a (nice) car for a veterinary operation, we could do with a philanthropic hand out.

SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME

How acid can our seas become before they implode into lifeless oceans?

Rising carbon dioxide emissions have already driven ocean acidity up one third. Clownfish larvae smell their way to a safe home but all of their signal systems went awry when exposed to an ocean acid level such as that predicted in 2100.

Ok, so that’s Nemo, wait until it affects your Inangas!

 Inanga — 'Whitebait'

ANYONE FOR A GAUR?

Are you for or against cloning? The Gaur is an endangered wild cattle species; using a cow’s egg we now have cloned Gaurs. But will this really ensure their survival as a species? Trying to find a compatible Mr and Mrs Gaur may take some doing.

Speaking of survival of the species…

I have been convinced that experiences can be passed on to the offspring during gestation and sure enough, our dear little mouse seems to have proved that; mothers can modulate the intellectual capacity of their young, passing on cognitive benefits prior to birth.

Epigentetics or no, many practitioners in the natural health field will not be surprised at the findings.

That the foetus is capable of replicating learned behaviour will no doubt become a wand to be waved for the anti-abortionists — Ed.

SLIME – A USEFUL ALLY

What is Biofilm and why is it important?

Produced from bacteria, Biofilm is a tightly woven matrix of ‘slime’, which allows bacterial colonies to behave as a single organism; this can mean the difference between a normally harmless lung infection and a raging nasty life-threatening infection.

The signals that trigger biofilm formation may also regulate how a bacterium’s relationship with its host switches from harmless to a potentially disease causing agent.

Biofilm production is attributed to a single gene; can we find it in humans? If so we may have a powerful ally in fighting infections. And guess who already has this useful little bacterial talent — our Japanese Bobtail squid. Although biofilm bacteria have a slightly different function in squid, they house these bacteria in their light organ where the bacteria produce variable patterns of light to confuse prey or predators.

Has anyone noticed that whenever we think we have discovered something new, the animals were using it eons ago? — Ed