Anthrax in Siberia

hey there.
it's been a while.
we've been busy.  really busy.  with everything but working on this site.

but eign co-founder pete wanted me to bring this to everyone's attention:



Via NPR, an outbreak of Anthrax in the Russian Tundra has led to a number of infections and deaths, but this may only be the beginning...

"Officials don't know exactly how the outbreak started, but the current hypothesis is almost unbelievable: A heat wave has thawed the frozen soil there and with it, a reindeer carcass infected with anthrax decades ago. ...

"So we really don't know what's buried up there," she says. "This is Pandora's box."

For example, researchers have found pieces of the 1918 Spanish flu virus in corpses buried in mass graves in Alaska's tundra. There's also likely smallpox and the bubonic plague buried in Siberia.

So the question for researchers is: Could these pathogens — like anthrax — ever be reactivated?"

Good times.  Happy 2016.  Hmm, and 2015, for that matter.

SHARK!

Bad news for our friends on the East Coast… The great white shark population is (rapidly?) increasing along the Eastern United States and Canada.

“The number of great white sharks off the U.S. Atlantic Coast appears to have increased since the early 1990s after conservation measures were introduced to halt their decline, a U.S. government scientist said on Saturday.” (scientific american)

This is just perfect news that comes only 3 days before I visit the east coast and its beaches. Loyal EIGN readers, if I get eaten please avenge my death. We must stop these man-eating abominations.

New Zealand Crows Master Archimedes Principal

According to stuff.co.nz, which cited the legit online science journal PLoS:

"A scientific test showing how a crow uses stones to raise the water level enough to get the treat floating on top.

Auckland University psychology researchers Dr Gavin Hunt, Professor Russell Gray and Dr Alex Taylor presented wild New Caledonian crows with a tall half-filled tube of water, which had a small piece of meat floating on the surface.

When given a collection of stones, each of the four birds – Pepe, Caesar, Mimic and Laura – quickly learned to drop them into the tube to raise the water level, allowing them to fish out the food."

I will never be "eating crow" again, that's for sure. They were always scary, but now they're just terrifying.

[image via google images. who knows where they got it from]

Birds and Fish Dying Unexpectedly Arkansas

Thousands of birds have fallen out of the sky, inexplicably dead. The red-winged blackbirds fell near a tiny town of Beebe. Can you imagine seeing thousands of birds falling from the sky?

And thousands of dead fish have washed up on shore in a 20 mile stretch of shore on the Arkansas River.

And guess what. Scientists, once again, cannot explain either mass species death. Shocking.

The end really may be near.

Happy new year.

[links via a lot of places. image via dailymail.co.uk]

Flying Snakes and the Department of Defense

According to this washington post report, the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (you know, those guys that created the internet) has been funding research for FLYING FUCKING SNAKES. No one here at EIGN has ever heard of these terrifying creatures abominations that are native to China and Southeast Asia before.

...and here we have yet another reason I am glad I don't live in China:


video via washingtonpost.com

Butterflies (and everything else) Are In Trouble

Butterflies are apparently screwed thanks to global climate change. (global warming. nah. that's fake.)

"Diversity among high-elevation butterflies is beginning to fall as temperatures become uncomfortably warm for them and, [UC Davis butterfly expert Arthur] Shapiro says, 'There is nowhere to go except heaven.'"(science daily)

That has to be the most depressing quote we've ever (re)published. When this blog reaches the end of its life that quote will be in the last post.

[eign stock photo]

Transgendered Bass (WTF?)

Turns out male fish are becoming female.

"Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become." (AP via wapo)

What this means for humans has yet to be determined but I'm sure it can't be good.

[photo]

No More Bird Shit On Your Car - Good News Wednesday XXXVII

Great news for car owners out there who hate the bird shit that consistently piles up on roofs, windows, hoods, heads, etc.... One-third of American birds are endangered, threatened or seriously losing habitat. (discover mag)

Now I won't have to go to the car wash as much.


[Thanks go to eign co-founder pete for finally doing something and sending in this story while he's on the road.]

HIV In Monkeys

File this under SCIENTISTS ARE FUCKING CRAZY.

Scientists have made an HIV strain that can infect monkeys. First of all, I thought HIV/AIDS came from monkeys originally. But this sounds a bit cruel. They say it's to try and find a human vaccine, but... really?

"Scientists have created a strain of the human AIDS virus able to infect and multiply in monkeys in a step toward testing future vaccines in monkeys before trying them in people, according to a new study." (reuters)

This just doesn't sound like a great idea. Does anyone think this is actually a good thing?

Squirrel Cop`

Back in December we wrote about disappearing acorns in the NE part of the USA. Less acorns = less food for squirrels. Less food for squirrels = more squirrels starving to death...

So the New York Times, of all places, is offering up a slightly more humane way of ending their lives. Forget letting them starve. EAT THEM!

Plus, if you've recently lost your job (and a lot of people have) they have the added benefit of being cheap and plentiful--at least this year. Now that the liberal, elite, yuppie, hipster New York City trendsters know about this demand will go through the roof.

[thanks to eign reader/guest contributor jg3 for the link]

Nearly 1/5th of Coral ... Just Gone

"The world has lost nearly one-fifth of its coral reefs, and much of the rest could be destroyed by increasingly acidic seas if climate change continues unchecked," according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). (National Geographic News)

In only 20 years 19 percent of coral reefs have been destroyed. And in only 20 to 40 years most of the rest of the world's species of coral could be destoryed. "Because such reefs are home to more than a quarter of all marine species, their loss could be devastating for biodiversity in the world's oceans, experts say." (NGN)

[photo courtesy me]

Acorns Missing

Around the greater north eastern part of the country, and parts of canada, acorns have disappeared this year. What does this mean for squirrels and other small mammals around the area? Nobody really knows. Acorn watchers (yes there are such people) can't seem to find any, in some cases. And here's what's happening, "calls started coming in about crazy squirrels. Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. And a lot more calls about squirrel roadkill." (wapo)
As for ideas, "many skeptics say oaks in other regions are producing plenty of acorns, and the acorn bust here is nothing more than the extreme of a natural boom-and-bust cycle. But the bottom line is that no one really knows. 'It's sort of a mystery,' Zell said." (wapo)

Who cares about a squirrel that can't eat this year? Not me, but I don't need to tell anyone what happens if the trees stop reproducing.

...The new black death with reactors aglow. Do you think your security can keep you in purity?

I was really hoping we'd here from EIGN co-founder, and rare commentator, Pete on this one, but he's been sitting on his lazy ass not doing anything for the last three months and I guess he isn't ready to start doing anything yet.

This headline last week in the UK telegraph is nothing short of terrifying: "21st century plague discovered by scientists" which is followed by the by-line: "A new disease that is passed from rats to humans via fleas, much like the Black Death, has been discovered by scientists." (telegraph.co.uk)
AWESOME.

Lets try and keep this new Black Death in Europe please.

Forget Mass-Suicide, Global Warming Is Killing The Lemmings

"Once famous for their numbers, Norwegian lemmings are disappearing, say scientists, who point an accusing finger at global warming." (discovery.com) Another species down the drain.

Good News Wednesday XXVI: The Salmon Will Be Alright

More human interference with nature, but this time maybe things aren't as bad as one would think...

"The heavily dammed Columbia and its largest tributary the Snake River in the northwestern United States serve as a breeding ground to millions of salmon, including endangered chinook and steelhead species, which have been dwindling steadily for years." (discovery news)

However, the damning appears to have no negative effect on any of the millions of salmon that reside in it's waters.

"Whether or not the eight dams along the rivers contribute to the decline has been a source of bitter controversy for decades. Conservation groups, the commercial and sport fishing industries and local Native American tribes have long blamed the fishes' plight on the dams."

Virgin Shark Gives Birth to Baby in Virginia

"In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male." (AP via sfgate.com)

"'This first case was no fluke,' Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. 'It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion.'"

I wanted to suggest that maybe the poor shark was really ugly [like certain EIGN "reporters" -ed.] or had horrible social skills [like certain EIGN "reporters" -ed.] and that's why she couldn't land a boyfriend, but it turns out there were no male sharks at the aquarium she was staying in the entire 8 years she was there. Freaky! So we've got fish, sharks, some other animals, reproducing asexually. How long until women don't need men anymore. When that happens the earth will go nova for at least 49 percent of the world's population.

One-Fourth of World’s Mammals Face Imminent Extinction

According to a new report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently, nearly one in four species of mammals are facing immediate extinction. And nearly half of the 5,487 known species of mammal (that number is not thought to include Big Foot or that monster in Loch Ness) have negative population growth. (Read: more of them are dying than are being born. Sort of like the population of Japan.) I wonder what category homo-sapiens fall into.

“The new study to assess the world’s mammals shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction. At least 76 mammals have become extinct since 1500.” (iucn.org) But apparently scientists suck at statistics, because “’The reality is that the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 percent,’ says Jan Schipper, of Conservation International and lead author in a forthcoming article in Science.” (iucn.org) Either way, I don’t like those numbers.

The report reads like a who’s who in species that are E (endangered), CE (critically endangered, EIW (extinct in wild) or HNBSINFY (has not been seen in nearly forty years). However there is some good news, animals like the black footed ferret and golden lion tamarin (seen here) have been brought back from the brink. “The results also show conservation can bring species back from the brink of extinction, with five percent of currently threatened mammals showing signs of recovery in the wild.” (iucn.org) Well that’s a bit of good news.

Ah crap, looks like I spoke too soon… “But [biologist Jan Schipper] cautions that any conservation success is likely temporary unless the root problems of, for example, deforestation are addressed.” (sciam.com) Oh well. Good try everyone.

[images courtesy of me]

mmmmm.... Modified DNA... Great Taste! Less Filling! GREAT TASTE!! LESS FILLING!!!

"The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday opened the way for a bevy of genetically engineered salmon, cows and other animals to leap from the laboratory to the marketplace, unveiling an approval process that would treat the modified creatures like drugs." (latimes) Which is supposed to make food safer and healthier. Which sounds great until you realize that you're eating some mutant DNA that someone cooked up in some laboratory off of some freaky technology corridor in some freaky state.

Of course, there has to be an EIGN side:

"Many experts, however, say the proposed regulations may not go far enough to protect the public. In particular, they argue that the approval process would be highly secretive to guard the commercial interests of the companies involved, and that the new rules do not place sufficient weight on the potential environmental effect of what many consider to be Frankenstein animals." (latimes)

Frankenstein animals... I couldn't have said it better myself. Now when I am eating fish at a restaurant I will have to ask if this fish was genetically modified in addition to consulting this.

Also, did you know: "Only one genetically engineered animal is now being sold in the United States, the glow-in-the-dark zebra fish for aquariums. The FDA approved it because it is not eaten and its need for warm water effectively precludes its escape into the wild." This whole genetic engineer of animals (and soon humans, presumably) is wild.


Thanks to EIGN reader heather for the link.

God It Pays To Be Short Sighted: a few monday morning updates

* "A computer worm that ferrets out passwords managed to stow away on laptops aboard the International Space Station, NASA has confirmed. It is not the first time a NASA computer has become infected." (theregister.co.uk) I think the best part of that story is the implied browsing of internet porn by astronauts.

* "Unthinkable Happens: Manhattan Apartment Prices Fall" (nysun)

* The government is taking over the US economy. What happened to capitalism in this country? Anyone remember that if you fuck up you fail. Now, if you fuck up (and are a big enough company) you get bailed out by the government. (nytimes)

* We now have to share the woolly mammoth with Russia. Freaking communists are now trying to steal our extinct, pre-historic animals? Bastards. (nytimes)

Learning to Fly

Okay, so I do not believe this story at all. But if it's true we may be the first to break it in the US... two separate but equal papers in England are reporting of cats that have grown wings in some freaky Chinese provence. (dailymail.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk)

Can anyone debunk or confirm these reports? Is it natural selection or some freaky Chinese government genetic experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. I have wanted a cat for a long time now, but there is no way I'm getting one of these freaks of nature. Warning, do not start using the expression "when cat's fly" in place of pigs because it looks like that may soon be happening. Someone really needs to put one of these pictures up on kittenwar.

(image from dailymail.co.uk)