Bees help in the battle against tuberculosis

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23 November 2011
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It’s no surprise bees have extraordinary noses, since they can detect pollen from a mile away.

Believe it or not, in some airports they are even being used to sniff out explosives and drugs, and as some Christchurch scientists are discovering soon honey bees might be able to add diagnosing tuberculosis to their CVs.

Hand picked honey bees have no idea they could revolutionise the way Tuberculosis is diagnosed. Believe it or not, humans with the lethal infectious disease have sweet floral smelling breath. People can’t smell it, but bees can — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Candy Sprinkles Art / Joel Brochu

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23 November 2011
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Untitled
Untitled, originally uploaded by Joel Brochu.

Joel Brochu is taking hundreds and thousands to a whole new level in this portrait of a pup getting a bath. The piece includes 221,184 hundreds and thousands that are painstakingly placed using jewellers tweezers. Only six colours of sprinkles were used in the picture, giving your brain a colour blending treat when viewed from a distance — via CRAFT

Studio portrait of big, brainy octopus

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22 November 2011
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This remarkable image comes from Sea, a collection of photographs that is published this month by Abrams. In it the fantastic and unusual marine creatures have been treated as still life objects by American photographer Mark Laita.

Underwater photography often gives animals a blue-green tint, because of absorption in the red part of the light spectrum. To show colours as they actually are, Laita photographed the creatures in tanks using studio strobe lighting — via New Scientist

African Pygmy Hedgehog / Cincinnati Zoo

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22 November 2011
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Shane, the baby African Pygmy Hedgehog, is about one quarter of his adult size in these recent photos. In the wild these hedgehogs are incectivores, dining on worms and grubs, but in Zoos, they typically are fed kibble, closer to what a pet dog or cat may eat. Shane will be part of Cincinnati Zoo’s Outreach Program, which introduces school students and zoo visitors to varied kinds of exotic animals — via ZooBorns

Neptune’s Cup Sponge Rediscovered

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18 November 2011
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More than 100 years after it was last seen, the giant Neptune’s cup sponge (Cliona patera) has been rediscovered off the coast of southern Singapore.

First discovered in 1822, the sponges grew so large — a metre or more in both height and diameter — that their cup-like structures were sometimes used as tubs for babies. But their size made them valuable to collectors around the world and they were overharvested until they disappeared from Singapore in the 1870s. The last time living sponges were seen was 1908, when collectors found some in West Java, Indonesia. The species was then thought to be extinct.

But in the 1990s, a few dead Neptune’s cup sponges turned near Australia, giving researchers hope that they might find these massive Porifera again in the oceans around Singapore.

And now that hope has been met: Two living Neptune’s cup sponges have been found near Singapore’s St John’s Island. The first specimen was found in March by biologists with the environmental engineering firm DHI Water & Environment (S) Pte Ltd. A second sponge was found 50 meters away

Alien rats take on prey’s role

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16 November 2011
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Invasive rats are compensating for the loss of native pollinators in New Zealand, scientists report.

The rats, which are responsible for devastating the native pollinator populations, are attracted to the flowers for their nectar.

The results could mean that the decline of pollinating animals worldwide does not spell the end for all native plants. The results are published in a Royal Society journal — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Carnivorous plant inspires super-slippery material

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16 November 2011
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Water, oil, blood and insects alike slide swiftly off a new super-slippery material inspired by a carnivorous plant.

Scientists searching for clever materials sometimes borrow ideas from nature. Lotus leaves, for example, are famously water repellent, thanks to their textured surfaces which trap a cushion of air for water to slide down.

The leaves have inspired a range of so-called superhydrophobic materials. But these materials have trouble repelling oils and more complex liquids, which have lower surface tensions than water and can seep into the surface at the slightest pressure — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Kraken Octopus Ring / OctopusME + Miyu Decay

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14 November 2011
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Originally commissioned as an engagement ring for the illustrious model and artist, Ulorin Vex, this show stopper is the first collaboration between OctopusMe and Stephanie Inagaki of Miyu Decay.

Stephanie designed the ring out of iconic OctopusMe tentacles and carved the Kraken head out of wax. I cast and did all of the finishing work on the piece — via Etsy

iCow: Kenyans now manage their herds via mobile phone

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12 November 2011
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As an organic farmer outside of Nairobi, Su Kahumbu could see the challenge that her cattle-herding neighbours had in handling the expenses of their most precious assets, the female cow.

If the cattle owner didn’t pay attention, he might miss the very brief window of time when his cow went into heat, missing a chance at expanding his herd. Some cattle men wasted their money on the wrong kind of feed, others were selling their cattle off at below the market rate, and yet all of them had the tool in their hands to get information: a cell phone.

So, Ms Kahumbu came up with iCow, a mobile-phone application that allows herders to register each individual cow, and to receive individualised text messages on their mobile phones, including advice for veterinary care and feeding schedules, a database of experts, and updated market rates on cattle prices. It’s an example of how high technology can help out even in the low-tech business of agriculture, in which 80 percent of Kenyans make a living — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wallaby milk could give premature babies a bounce

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12 November 2011
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New research from scientists in Melbourne has found the tamar wallaby produces special milk proteins that could prevent and aid gut problems in premature human babies.

One of the biggest problems facing premature babies is an underdeveloped gut which prevents them from properly absorbing important nutrients from breastmilk or formula.

Lead researcher Kevin Nicholas from Deakin University’s Institute for Technology, Research and Innovation says while in its early stages, it could have applications for premature babies in developing counties — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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