Sunday, 10 August 2008
8-8-08 8:08 Olympics in China
The Opening Olympic Ceromony was wonderful. The Chinese should be very proud of the introduction to the greatest international sporting event. I was very impressed and wished I could have been there. I will have to make the effort and go with my fiance. The first time I went was during the '84 L.A. Olympics as a kid. Everyone should go at least once.
Friday, 8 August 2008
Tiger Shark Caught off Challenger Banks
Published: August 7. 2008 09:21AM
The Royal Gazette
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Robyn Skinner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bathers and boaters have nothing to fear from this fourteen and half foot, almost 900pound tiger shark and not just because it's dead on the dock.
This shark was caught more than 12 miles from Bermuda's shores at Challenger Bank by Michael Barnes and his son Scott.
Not just off Spanish Point in Pembroke as e-mails shooting around the Island would have the public believe.
Mr. Barnes, a professional fisherman, said yesterday he had been inundated by phone calls and emails, but wanted to assure the public the only reason it is photographed at Spanish Point Boat Club was because that was where he brought it in.
He said: "They (tiger sharks) come up this time of year and in July and August there's quite a lot of them out there (on Challenger Banks).It took me almost two to three hours to bring him in to the boat club, cause I am a member of the Spanish Point Boat Club.
"I go get them (sharks) when I need them. People want the shark for shark hash. I might catch four or five a year and every piece got sold. "We don't throw anything away. I got him at four o'clock and didn't get into Spanish Point Boat Club till 6.30 or 7 p.m." Caught almost two and a half weeks ago the tiger shark was so heavy at 847 pounds, in fact, the professional fisherman could not hoist it into his boat Vitamin Sea and instead dragged it next to his boat into the dock.A crane on shore helped lift it out of the water where it was photographed and is how Mr. Barnes suspects, the photos began circulating the Island.Once on shore, Mr. Barnes carted the shark away in his truck and after opening the shark found a whole turtle weighing about 80 pounds, another 60 pound shark, a turbot and a mackerel.It was one of the largest tiger sharks, Mr. Barnes said, he had ever caught before.The tiger shark, which is the second largest predatory shark other than the great white, has a voracious appetite and will frequently feed on turtles, squids, seals among other sea animals. They are common in tropical and sub-tropical waters throughout the world.Large specimens can grow to as much as 20 to 25 feet in length and weigh more than 1,900 pounds.Almost the same time last year, there was an 800 pound tiger shark also caught in the same area by fisherman Darrell Steynor.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Boozing Mammals Drinks "Beer" Every Night, Study Finds
Brian Handwerkfor National Geographic News
July 29, 2008
A taste for naturally fermented palm "beer" has turned a tiny Malaysian mammal into a chronic boozer, a new study shows. The pen-tailed tree shrew is the first non-human mammal known to display alcoholic behavior.What's more, the rat-size animal never gets drunk during its nonstop jungle jamborees. (Read: "Elephants Drunk in the Wild? Scientists Put the Myth to Rest" [December 19, 2005].)Because the species is considered similar to the ancient ancestors of all primates, its 55-million-year bender suggests that our own taste for alcohol might predate the known advent of brewing some 9,000 years ago. "The circumstances in which these tree shrews consume alcohol could be similar to past scenarios of human evolution in pre-primate or early primate stages [and] could somehow be a link to human alcohol consumption," said study lead author Frank Wiens, a biologist at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Wiens and colleagues' findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.High ToleranceThe flowers of the bertam palm produce nectar which naturally ferments—with the aid of several yeast species—to a 3.8 percent alcohol strength, similar to that of many beers. Because the plant flowers nearly year-round, its rain forest bar is always open, and the pen-tailed tree shrew—along with several other local mammal species—are regulars. The animals spend an average of two hours per night sipping the nectar, which appears to be their primary food source. To test the animals' alcohol consumption, Wiens and colleagues tested the animals' hair samples for ethyl glucuronide and found that the tree shrews consume alcohol at rates that would be dangerous to most mammals. The tree shrews appear to have more efficient ways of metabolizing alcohol than humans, so they avoid getting drunk. Inebriation would be dangerous for small, potentially tasty mammals, Wiens said. "This is a stable ecological relationship for millions of years, and it doesn't make sense to have inebriation in this system. Inebriation would increase the risk for these small animals to be killed by a predator." But Wiens notes that just because the animals are not drunk doesn't mean that their boozing has no consequences. "If [they] avoid inebriation, I still suspect that alcohol has some very specific effects on their brain and behavior," he said. To Your Health?Wiens also suggests that the 55-million-year binge probably confers some advantages to both the tree shrew and plant. Alcohol production appears critical to the palms' reproduction because it entices tree shrews to pollinate their flowers. "If alcohol is crucial for an ecological relationship [like the pollinator relationship], then it should also exert some sort of beneficial effect to the animals and we can only speculate on those effects," Wiens said. Robert Dudley, a physiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, also suggested several hypotheses. "We know that alcoholism is very detrimental," Dudley said."But there are some positive features of low-level alcohol consumption, like protection against cardiovascular risk," he said."Another [possibility] is the aperitif effect that has been well described in humans. It may stimulate feeding and increase overall caloric intake." Evolutionary HangoverThe tree shrew's drinking habits could cast human alcohol use in an entirely new light. Despite their name, tree shrews are thought to be similar to the ancient ancestors of all primates, including humans, which existed some 55 million years ago. It's often assumed that humans did not drink alcohol—or had only a bit of low-dose naturally fermented brew—before the believed advent of brewing about 9,000 years ago. (Read: "9,000-Year-Old Beer Re-Created From Chinese Recipe" [July 18, 2005].)But it's possible that our ancient ancestors were chronic drinkers, like the tree shrew, very early in primate evolution, experts say."There [may be] some evolutionary background to human drinking that goes much farther back than the invention of brewing," Wiens said. Dudley of UC-Berkeley agreed."If we look at human ancestors [and recent relatives] like chimps and gibbons, they are all eating fruit [and nectar] much of the time," Dudley said."So we may have inherited an ancestral association of ethanol intake with caloric gain that would predispose us to drink alcohol."
July 29, 2008
A taste for naturally fermented palm "beer" has turned a tiny Malaysian mammal into a chronic boozer, a new study shows. The pen-tailed tree shrew is the first non-human mammal known to display alcoholic behavior.What's more, the rat-size animal never gets drunk during its nonstop jungle jamborees. (Read: "Elephants Drunk in the Wild? Scientists Put the Myth to Rest" [December 19, 2005].)Because the species is considered similar to the ancient ancestors of all primates, its 55-million-year bender suggests that our own taste for alcohol might predate the known advent of brewing some 9,000 years ago. "The circumstances in which these tree shrews consume alcohol could be similar to past scenarios of human evolution in pre-primate or early primate stages [and] could somehow be a link to human alcohol consumption," said study lead author Frank Wiens, a biologist at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Wiens and colleagues' findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.High ToleranceThe flowers of the bertam palm produce nectar which naturally ferments—with the aid of several yeast species—to a 3.8 percent alcohol strength, similar to that of many beers. Because the plant flowers nearly year-round, its rain forest bar is always open, and the pen-tailed tree shrew—along with several other local mammal species—are regulars. The animals spend an average of two hours per night sipping the nectar, which appears to be their primary food source. To test the animals' alcohol consumption, Wiens and colleagues tested the animals' hair samples for ethyl glucuronide and found that the tree shrews consume alcohol at rates that would be dangerous to most mammals. The tree shrews appear to have more efficient ways of metabolizing alcohol than humans, so they avoid getting drunk. Inebriation would be dangerous for small, potentially tasty mammals, Wiens said. "This is a stable ecological relationship for millions of years, and it doesn't make sense to have inebriation in this system. Inebriation would increase the risk for these small animals to be killed by a predator." But Wiens notes that just because the animals are not drunk doesn't mean that their boozing has no consequences. "If [they] avoid inebriation, I still suspect that alcohol has some very specific effects on their brain and behavior," he said. To Your Health?Wiens also suggests that the 55-million-year binge probably confers some advantages to both the tree shrew and plant. Alcohol production appears critical to the palms' reproduction because it entices tree shrews to pollinate their flowers. "If alcohol is crucial for an ecological relationship [like the pollinator relationship], then it should also exert some sort of beneficial effect to the animals and we can only speculate on those effects," Wiens said. Robert Dudley, a physiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, also suggested several hypotheses. "We know that alcoholism is very detrimental," Dudley said."But there are some positive features of low-level alcohol consumption, like protection against cardiovascular risk," he said."Another [possibility] is the aperitif effect that has been well described in humans. It may stimulate feeding and increase overall caloric intake." Evolutionary HangoverThe tree shrew's drinking habits could cast human alcohol use in an entirely new light. Despite their name, tree shrews are thought to be similar to the ancient ancestors of all primates, including humans, which existed some 55 million years ago. It's often assumed that humans did not drink alcohol—or had only a bit of low-dose naturally fermented brew—before the believed advent of brewing about 9,000 years ago. (Read: "9,000-Year-Old Beer Re-Created From Chinese Recipe" [July 18, 2005].)But it's possible that our ancient ancestors were chronic drinkers, like the tree shrew, very early in primate evolution, experts say."There [may be] some evolutionary background to human drinking that goes much farther back than the invention of brewing," Wiens said. Dudley of UC-Berkeley agreed."If we look at human ancestors [and recent relatives] like chimps and gibbons, they are all eating fruit [and nectar] much of the time," Dudley said."So we may have inherited an ancestral association of ethanol intake with caloric gain that would predispose us to drink alcohol."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)