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not limited to, the following: Our individual ethics shape who we are and what we will do...when no one is watching us. It forms our character and defines us as a group of individuals called safe and ethical hunters. Our |
individual and cultural ethics involving hunting define us - positively or negatively - to other hunters and to the general public who are non-hunters. Others judge your ethics through your attitude and behavior. |
Eighteen years ago, the eminent conservation biologist Gary Meffe warned of what he considered to be the greatest problem in human history – humanity’s inexorable and exponential increase in numbers. Meffe’s paper, entitled ‘Human Population Control: The Missing Agenda’ published in the journal Conservation Biology, ou... |
an ever-increasing human population to biodiversity in terms of species extinctions, and to the ecosystem services necessary for our survival. These include water and air purification, hydrologic cycling and food production. Not only is humanity’s deluge drowning the creatures we share the Earth with, but it also runs ... |
of submerging itself too. But was this ‘missing agenda’ acknowledged? Was a dam constructed to stem our exponential flow? Nearly two decades later and we see the publication of the UN’s State of World Population report 2011. It announced that on October 31st we reached the population milestone of seven |
billion people inhabiting our world. Instead of warning of future population growth and the associated negative impact, it had a more positive tone that encouraged us to ask “What can I do to make our world better?” rather than “Are we too many?” This is the United Nations after all, |
and understandably it has to take a progressive and reassuring stance rather than one of doom and gloom. But the angle taken is perhaps revealing of the prevailing attitude of the global collective consciousness – population growth is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Of course there’s no such thing as |
a global collective consciousness, explaining in part why Meffe’s view has been largely ignored, because humanity lacks a collective impetus and so anything that requires mass cohesion, for instance only having one child or reducing carbon emissions, is doomed to fail. Seven billion people – it’s enough to make you |
feel insignificant. Except it’s not, it’s just a number. A very big number too large to visualise, grasp or comprehend. Incidentally, if you’re ever having trouble feeling insignificant, then listen to what the ‘Woody Allen’ of science, Lawrence Krauss has to say. In his recent lecture on cosmic connections for |
from the remnants of an exploded star. It turns out Moby was right (see video below). This digression aside, the ineffably large human population will continue to increase and even if we wanted to implement population control, doing so would be unethical and practically speaking impossible. Very few people, not |
even many devout conservationists, would be willing to sacrifice the right to have children. I for one wouldn’t, it is in our evolutionary spirit. Instead of tackling the so called ‘root cause’ of the population problem by implementing unrealistic, unfavourable, and unwanted population control, efforts have been direct... |
offshoot issues such as those relating to overconsumption and overexploitation of natural resources. If we can adopt new cleaner technologies and practices to ensure our impact on the environment is neutral or at least negligible, it will be a step in the right direction. Just this week the production of |
a ‘microbial fuel cell’ has been announced which can purportedly produce electricity from human urine! Researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE) have found that by utilising anaerobic bacteria as they metabolise organic waste waters, electrons can be harnessed and useful electricity generated. By ‘usef... |
meant that enough electricity would be generated to charge a battery say, but presumably not enough to heat a home for instance, yet. For now, no one is suggesting this is the answer to the world’s problems, but switching to technologies that rely less on finite Earth resources and more |
on recycling waste products will help ameliorate the effects our species has on the planet. Unfortunately though, those who sing the praises of such advances are often branded with the stigma of being too ‘preachy’. Increasing public apathy to important issues such as clean technology, climate change and biodiversity d... |
Idaho State University researchers study newly discovered earthquake fault in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains Posted September 28, 2010 While looking at a highly detailed new topographic image of Idaho’s Sawtooth Range, Idaho State University geosciences professor Glenn Thackray had an "eureka |
moment" when he discovered a previously unknown active earthquake fault about 65 miles, as the crow flies, from Boise. The researchers examined a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) image. LIDAR is a remote sensing system used to collect topographic data |
with aircraft-mounted lasers capable of recording elevation measurements at a rate of 25,000 pulses per second and can have a vertical precision of about six inches. The images can be displayed so they don't show an area's vegetation. Four years |
ago while doing some research on glaciers in the Sawtooth Range, Thackray was examining a high-resolution, "bare-earth" LIDAR image of the mountains: this is when he noticed a line running through the image in the vicinity of Redfish Lake. "The |
black line stood out and I thought that it had to be an earthquake fault," Thackray said. "It was long suspected that there was an active fault in the Sawtooths, but without the LIDAR technology it would have been exceptionally |
hard to find." Since that time, ISU researchers have been on the ground documenting the fault that is at least 25 miles long and could be as long as 40 miles. It is located on the eastern edge of the |
range and comes within about five miles from the town of Stanley. A portion of it runs through the upper end of Redfish Lake. It runs along the range approximately from near Stanley Lake to at least as far south |
as Petitt Lake. “The reason this discovery is so important is that it is within the heavily visited areas of the Sawtooth National Recreation area, very close to the town of Stanley, and within 65 miles of Idaho’s largest city, |
Boise, and the most populated area in the state,” Thackray said. “We would like to know how big the earthquakes are along this fault and how active it is.” Thackray emphasized that the fault is cause for concern, but not |
alarm, for visitors to and residents of the Stanley-Sawtooth area, and to the residents of the Wood River or Boise valleys. The discovery may have implications for land-use and emergency planning, and perhaps building codes. Depending on the magnitude of |
a potential earthquake, it could do damage to surrounding areas. There are few major, active faults in Idaho. Idaho’s three other major faults run along the base of the Lost River Range (where the famous Borah Peak magnitude 7.3 earthquake, |
the largest ever recorded in Idaho, occurred in 1983), the Lemhi Range and the Beaverhead Range. Faults are break in the earth’s crust, along which rocks and the earth move. Typically, the earth is moving up on one side of |
the fault, and moving down on the other. "It's the movement of the rocks that are important. That is what creates an earthquake hazard," Thackray said. After discovering the fault on the LIDAR image and then confirming its existence on |
the ground, ISU researchers had to determine whether it was an active fault, defined as a fault that has featured an earthquake within the last 10,000 years. Determining whether the fault was active was a challenge for the researchers because |
most of the fault is located within the Sawtooth Wilderness and Recreation Area. "Normally, to test a fault you could take in a Cat or backhoe and dig up sediment and rock and use carbon dating to date the occurrence |
of previous activity," Thackray said. "But we couldn’t do that because the fault is in a wilderness area." This is where a little luck and scientific serendipity came into play. Other ISU researchers, biological sciences professor Bruce Finney, postdoctoral researcher |
Mark Shapley, and ISU geosciences graduate student Eric Johnson, were doing lake sediment core sampling of lakes in the Sawtooths, including Redfish Lake, to study the historical record of sockeye salmon returning to the area. While drilling through the sediment |
in the upper portion of Redfish Lake the researchers hit levels where there were landslide deposits interrupted the regular accumulation of sediment deposits. "We were able to date the occurrence of the most recent fault activity by using those drilling |
samples from the large landslides in Redfish Lake," Thackray said. "There is a lot that we still don’t know about this fault, but our studies have revealed the outline of its history," he added. |
When you create an input form in Microsoft Excel, understanding how to make the application work for you can save hours of manual input. If you want to narrow question responses to specific options, you can use a drop-down response menu. These instructions are written for Excel 2010, so the steps may vary slightly if y... |
items that you want to appear in the pull-down list on a new worksheet in your Excel workbook. Place one item per cell with each one listed in an adjacent cell. For example, list the items in columns with one option each in cells A1, A2, A3 and so on. You could also list them in a row with one in each cell, such |
as A1, B1 and C1, until all your data is listed. The drop-down will be ordered based on the entries, so organize the items accordingly. Highlight all of the cells in the list. Right-click your mouse and choose "Define Name" from the menu. Create a name for the list and enter it in the "Name" field. Do not use spaces in... |
"OK." This name is only used to select the list for the drop-down; it does not appear for users. Click the cell where you want to create the drop-down menu. Select the "Data Tools" section by clicking "Data." Choose "Data Validation" and click "Settings." Select "List" in the Allow field. Click the "Source Name" input ... |
name you assigned to the list on the previous worksheet. For example, if your list was named "options," type "=options" in the source name field. Click the check box beside "in-cell dropdown" so that the drop menu appears in the cell. If you want to require that responders choose an option, clear the "Ignore blank" che... |
to users when the cell is clicked. This is a good place to explain what selection you want the user to make or other specifics. Leave it blank if you do not want to use this feature. Navigate to the "Error Alert" tab. Click the check box beside the option to show an error notice if invalid data is entered. Use the prov... |
As Christo Pantev prowled the halls of Toronto's Baycrest Center for Geriatric Care he was struck, over and over, by the vitality of many of the elderly patients who played a musical instrument. "I saw much more activity in these |
people than in the others," says Pantev, a neuroscientist at the center's Rotman Research Institute. He saw a difference even among those who were slipping over the edge into dementia. Memory begins to fade as the patients slide toward that |
dark abyss, but the last thing that goes — the last bit of memory — he says, is their ability to remember music. And he thinks he may know why. Musician and Scientist He has developed evidence over the years |
that the study of music may change the way the human brain is wired. And that has kept him on a course that has guided nearly his entire professional career. He has a few questions he would like to answer, |
including: Does learning a skill, like playing the violin, physically change the brain and improve cognitive and perceptive skills among children, and maybe even stave off mental illness among the elderly? Maybe, he reasons, the intense concentration and the long |
hours of practice that make someone a skilled musician have benefits that far outweigh the rewards of playing a musical instrument. Those are tall questions, but Pantev has spent the last few years laying the groundwork for research that is |
just getting underway at the institute. As a child, Pantev spent years studying the violin, and it became his passion. Even today, he says, "If I work, I have to hear music." In time, the violin gave way to neuroscience, |
but it was to return later as a key player in his research. While working at the University of Muenster's Institute for Experimental Audiology in Germany, Panlev and a colleague began studying people who had lost a limb to see |
how their brains adapted to their new environment. It was known that persons who had lost a hand sometimes felt pain, or other sensations, in their fingers, even though the hand was no longer there. The researchers used sensitive equipment |
that could measure electric activity and magnetic fields in the brain to see which areas were active when the person reported feeling "phantom pain" in the missing limb. The results, published in a 1995 issue of the journal Nature, showed |
that other parts of the body commandeered the neurons formerly used by the missing limb. If the lip took over those neurons, for example, simply biting the lip caused the person to feel pain in the phantom limb. The research |
showed that the brain adapted to its new environment by rewiring itself, and that led Pantev to his next question. "Can we modify the functional brain organization by training?" he asks. Playing Violin, Wearing a Helmet To answer that, the |
researchers needed a model, something they could test to see if training had a measurable impact on the brain. Pantev knew from his own experience that playing the violin required far more dexterity in the left hand than the right. |
"The right hand is much less involved," he says. Pantev, the violinist, thus supplied Pantev, the neuroscientist, with "the perfect model." Like the research into phantom pain, the difference between the use of the left hand as opposed to the |
(graph 2.40); and energy star ratings were the main household consideration when replacing refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers and clothes dryers. Counteracting this, graph 2.39 shows more households now own coolers (66% in 2008 up from 35% in 1999) and dishwashers (45% in 2008 up from 30% in 1999) and other appliance... |
three times the amount of energy compared to a standard television (End note 6). Types of energy Electricity is the main energy source used in people's homes. In 2007-08, about half (49%) of the energy used by households was sourced from electricity. Household electricity consumption rose to 210 petajoules (PJ) in 2007... |
2008, electricity was the primary source throughout Australia for household cooking (three-quarters of ovens used electricity and more than half (56%) of cooktops) and for hot water systems (46%). There has been a fall in the use of electricity for hot water systems between 2002 and 2008 from 61% to 46%. Of those homes... |
source of energy for space heating (45%), followed by gas (41% for mains gas and LPG/bottled together) and wood (13%). Natural gas is the second most common source of energy used in the home, used by more than six in ten households (61%) in 2008. In total, households used 137 PJ of natural gas in 2007-08, equivalent to... |
third (32%) of total household energy use (ABARE, 2009). For almost one in three Australian households (31%), gas (mains or LPG/bottled) was the main source of energy for space heating and 37% used gas for hot water systems. In the main gas-producing states of Victoria and Western Australia, gas was used as an energy s... |
households (90% and 87% respectively, compared with six out of ten households nationally). Used primarily as a source of heating, wood use by households has declined 26% in the last 10 years, from 82 PJ in 1997-98 to 60 PJ in 2007-08 (ABARE, 2009). In 2008, 13% of Australian households used wood as a source of energy i... |
More than one-third (35%) of households in Tasmania used wood as an energy source, a decrease from more than half (52%) in 2002 (graph 2.41). Due to air pollution concerns, households have been encouraged to stop using wood for heating or to convert open fires to slow combustion fires, which are more energy efficient a... |
open fires. Firewood collection can have a detrimental effect on Australia's native wildlife, as dead trees and fallen timber provide habitat for a diverse range of fauna including a number of threatened species (End note 7). A range of government grants and rebates have been made available to households in recent year... |
the home. In 2008, 7% of households used solar energy to heat water, up from 4% of households in 2005. More than half of all households in the Northern Territory used solar energy to heat water (54%) - a much larger proportion than in Western Australia (21%) and no other state or territory exceeded 10% (graph 2.42). Gr... |
option for people to pay a premium for electricity generated from renewable sources that is fed into the national power grid. GreenPower was first established in New South Wales in 1997 and since then has spread to other states and territories. By March 2009, just over 984,000 households were paying for GreenPower, up ... |
note 8). There has also been an increase in the awareness of GreenPower products in the past decade. In 1999, less than one-fifth (19%) of households were aware of GreenPower. Nearly a decade later, this had risen to more than half (52%) of all households in 2008, including 5% who reported that they were already paying... |
the Australian Capital Territory had the highest rate of GreenPower awareness (71%, including 5% who were paying for GreenPower) while Western Australian households had the lowest awareness (39%) (graph 2.43). Biomass is plant material, vegetation or agricultural waste used as a fuel or energy source. Biomass can also ... |
Hydro-electric power is electricity produced from the energy of falling water using dams, turbines and generators. Solar/solar photovoltaic: Photovoltaics (PV) convert sunlight directly into electricity. Photovoltaic systems differ from solar hot water systems that absorb sunlight directly into the water-carrying tubes... |
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal of 937,943 children finds that boys born in December were 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than classmates born in January of the same calendar year. December-born girls were 70 percent more likely to have an ADHD diagnosis. Similar |
patterns existed for rates of ADHD prescriptions. The cut-off date of birth for school entry in British Columbia is December 31, so children born in December are almost a year younger than classmates born in January. The researchers were concerned that these younger children were simply acting younger compared with |
their older classmates and may have been wrongly diagnosed. “These findings raise concerns about the potential harms of overdiagnosis and overprescribing,” they wrote. For more on the diagnosis of ADHD in Psychiatric News, click here. (Image: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com) |
Australian National Botanic Gardens A weekly news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer. Numbers in square brackets refer to garden bed Sections. Plants in flower are in bold type. 11 February 2005 Rhododendron lochiae - click for larger image This |
is a short walk abounding with colourful flowers to suit those with little time. On entering the gardens throught the main gates, the expanse of grasses with tall graceful nodding ochre flower heads is mostly of the kangaroo grass, Themeda |
australis [Section 175]. In the pots at the entrance to the Visitors Centre, plants include Rhododendron lochiae with bright red trumpet flowers on a low spreading shrub and a ground cover Goodenia sp. with bright yellow flowers. These are seen |
below the large arching fronds of the Birds Nest Fern, Asplenium australasicum. Against the wall a wattle, Acacia mollifolia [Section 221] is a tall, slender shrub reaching towards the path, with fine divided velvety leaves and sprays of golden fluffy |
flower balls. The background to the statue of Sir Joseph Banks is Banksia serrata [Section 172], tall with dark foliage and large cylindrical green-grey flower spikes seen mostly at the tops of these shrubs. Banks Walk is edged with numerous, |
and brilliant, Scaevola New Blue [Section 210, 174] have vivid blue flowers along the dense trailing stems. Below the notice Add colour to your garden with Australian Plants is another prostrate plant, Pelargonium rodneyanum [Section 174] with attractive magenta coloured |
flowers over the suckering plant. Anigozanthos 'Bush Glow' - click for larger image At the corner the attractive small shrubs, Crowea Festival [Section 174] are clad with pink star flowers. In the crescent garden, a suckering herb, Brachyscome formosa [Section |
174] bears mauve daisies and Goodenia humilis [Section 174] is small and mounded with its yellow flowers to complement. Dampiera sylvestris [Section 174] is close by with its blue flowers on upright stems. Opposite and in the centre of the |
garden the glorious orange-red flowers crowning the Eucalyptus ficifolia [Section 174] could not be missed. Cross over the car park to the Tasmanian Section where probably many Gippsland Water Dragons, Physignathus lesueurii howittii [Section 149] can be seen basking in |
the sun. Entering this section, the NSW Christmas Bush, Ceratopetalum gummiferum [Section 142] displays its renowned reddened swollen calyces which followed the tiny white flowers, mostly at the top of the tall shrub. This next section is in front of |
the Café building in the Ellis Rowan Garden where the Grevillea Deua Flame [Section 131] is a rather dense shrub which dangles its lovely red terminal flower clusters from pendulous branches. Opposite, a grouping of Crowea Coopers Hybrid [Section 240] |
is floriferous with its shade of pink star flowers. On the opposite side of this garden is a colourful patch containing Goodenia macmillanii [Section 240] with small upright stems of pink flowers, surrounded by Scaevola New Blue [Section 240], with |
This is the time of year Gulf Coast residents begin watching the weather reports to see if there is a storm and if it is heading their way. It would |
be wise if we watched, as well. And prepared accordingly. Think back to October 1995, when Hurricane Opal hit the Florida Panhandle. It remained a hurricane for the next 12 |
hours as it roared deep into Alabama. Fifty mph winds were felt as far north as Montgomery. Anniston got more than six inches of rain in a few hours. Power |
outages erupted throughout the state. The system spun off tornadoes and caused extensive damage all the way to Tennessee. More recently, Hurricane Ivan, which made landfall near Gulf Shores in |
September 2004, sent the wind gusting at more than 60 mph in central Alabama and caused more power outages, more tornados and more rain. Now Ernesto is taking aim at |
the Gulf Coast. Although Alabama is not currently in the cone of uncertainty, anyone who follows the weather knows hurricanes can change course. Our ability to predict where and when |
a storm will strike improves every year, but it is still an imperfect science. However, this much we do know: It is better to be prepared, just in case. When |
serious weather looms, make sure you have working flashlights and a weather radio with plenty of batteries. Keep your cell phones charged, keep gas in your car, and if you |
have a freezer, and there is room in it, pack in a couple of bags of ice, the most valuable commodity when the power goes out. Some bottled water and |
non-perishable food would be wise — and an old fashioned can-opener, the kind that does not need electricity. You can figure out the rest. Little things become big things when |
Genetic model organisms have revolutionized science, and today, with the rapid advances in technology, there is significant potential to launch many more plant species towards model status. However, these new model organisms have to be carefully selected. Hemerocallis (the daylily) |
satisfies multiple criteria for selection and deserves serious consideration as a subject of intensive biological investigation. Several attributes of the genus are of great biological interest. These include the strict control of flower opening and, within a short period, the |
precisely regulated floral death by a programmed cell death system. The self-incompatibility system in Hemerocallis is also noteworthy and deserves more attention. Importantly, the genus is widely cultivated for food, medicinal value and ornamental interest. Hemerocallis has considerable potential as |
a ‘nutraceutical’ food plant and the source of new compounds with biomedical activity. The genus has also been embraced by ornamental plant breeders and the extraordinary morphological diversity of hybrid cultivars, produced within a relatively short time by amateur enthusiasts, |
is an exceptional resource for botanical and genetic studies. This paper in AoB PLANTS explores these points in detail, explaining the reasons why this genus has considerable value – both academic and socio-economic – and deserves new resources devoted to |
its exploration as a model. Its impact as a future model will be enhanced by its amenability to cultivation in laboratory and field conditions. In addition, established methods for various tissue and cell culture systems as well as transformation will |
permit maximum exploitation of this genus by science. Rodriguez-Enriquez, M.J., and Grant-Downton, R.T. (2012) A new day dawning: Hemerocallis (daylily) as a future model organism. AoB Plants 5: pls055 doi: 10.1093/aobpla/pls055 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2001 July 22 Explanation: The Orion Nebula is visible to the unaided eye as a fuzzy patch near the famous belt of three stars in the Orion. The abov... |
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