Scientists caught eleven fish off the coast of Southern California that have ovary tissue in their testes. Usually, mutant fish like this are only found in freshwater that has been tainted with pollution from industrial facilities — via Boing Boing
Fungi native to East Africa could be used as a new tool in the fight against malaria. An international team of scientists from the Netherlands, Tanzania and the UK say their technique could significantly reduce malaria cases. When fungi infect certain insects, including malaria-carrying mosquitoes, they grow and quickly kill the animal
A South African woman was killed by hundreds of thousands of enraged bees after her vehicle hit an electricity substation in Johannesburg that contained their hive ‚ via Boing Boing
DeLaval, a 122-year-old dairy equipment company, has used embedded Linux in a robotic cow-milking system (the system is robotic, not the cows). The Voluntary Milking System allows cows to decide when to be milked, and gives dairy farmers a more independent lifestyle, free from regular milkings
A new species of marine worm that lives off whale bones on the sea floor has been described by scientists. The creature was found on a minke carcass in relatively shallow water close to Tjarno Marine Laboratory on the Swedish coast. Such zombie worms, as they are often called, are known from the deep waters of the Pacific but their presence in the North Sea is a major surprise. The new species has been named Osedax mucofloris, which literally means bone-eating snot-flower
— via The Register
A cunning rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate, outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighbouring island
Mounir Laroussi, a researcher at Old Dominion University has invented a hand-held device that is dubbed a plasma pencil. The pencil generates a cold plasma
, which can be used to kill germs that contaminate surfaces, infect wounds and rot your teeth. In the future, it might be used to destroy tumours without damaging surrounding tissue. When he turns the pencil on, it blows a high pitched whistle as a glowing, blue-violet beam about 50mm long instantly appears at one end. Stick your finger in its path and you only feel a cool breeze, but the beam is powerful enough to blast apart bacteria that’s crawling on your skin
A German architect has filed an application for a new type of cement made of dog poo. Friedrich Lentze, 57, from Berlin, applied for a patent for his odourless heating and building material
made from the dog poo cleaned from the streets of the German capital every day. Dung has for centuries been used as building material and he had combined it with modern materials to come up with a new type of insulating cement — via Warren Ellis
A one-celled creature found on a sandy beach may be in the process of kidnapping and incorporating an even tinier plant to use as a living energy source. They said the newly discovered organism seems to be in the process of endosymbiosis — in which one creature incorporates another, creating a new form of life
Authorities in Queensland, Australia are investigating a Brisbane pathology lab employee who allegedly stole bits of brains from corpses. Apparently, the hormones found in the pituitary glands that he reportedly nicked can be injected into race horses as a stimulant — via Boingboing
Scientific understanding of what makes a flea jump and what makes a fruit fly tick has led to the creation of a new rubber-like material. Scientists in Queensland have developed a polymer-based on an elastic protein called resilin, which may eventually have medical and industrial applications. It is the first time the substance has been reproduced in a laboratory and it is hoped it could one day be used to replace spinal discs in people
A Chinese man who raised bears to tap them for their bile, prized as a traditional medicine in Asia, has been killed and eaten by his animals
A Melbourne man believes he has proof that a long-standing myth about the existence of big cats in the Victorian countryside is true. Kurt Engel of Noble Park shot dead what is believed to be a black puma near Sale in East Gippsland in June. Experts are conducting tests to confirm the identity of the big cat. Interesting that he kept quiet about it for so long and only has a dogy photograph and a tail as his supposed evidence
A great white shark has astounded scientists by swimming from South Africa to Australia and back in a journey that sheds new light on the murky world of the ocean’s most feared predator
Leon Holliman Jr of Jacksonville, Florida was reported missing from the River Region Human Services facility last month. On Sunday, he was found in North Carolina dressed like a doctor and driving a stolen ambulance with a dead deer in the back. The police had to shoot out the ambulance’s tyres to catch him. He’s now undergoing psychiatric evaluation — via BoingBoing
British palaeontologist, Dr David Penney from the University of Manchester, has revealed he has discovered a prehistoric spider preserved in amber, possibly meaning its DNA could be extracted — just as in the film Jurassic Park. The spider, four centimetres long by two centimetres wide, was trapped in resin 20 million years ago but has been perfectly preserved. It is believed to be the first time spider blood has been discovered in amber and could lead to its DNA being extracted
The minefields in the Falkland Islands are the breeding and nesting ground for thousands of penguins and other animals that fortunately are too light to trigger any explosions — via BoingBoing
Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying toxic dart
guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet‚Äôs smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing. Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea — via Warren Ellis
An hilarious cartoon from Jared Purrington explains how to convert your pet hamster to a mean, lean pit-fighting machine, and stage hamster deathmatches with your pals — via boingboing
The city that never sleeps will darken the lights of the famed Manhattan skyline after midnight to help save migrating birds. New York civic leaders said the lights of buildings above the 40th floor will be turned off after midnight in the fall and spring migration seasons to save birds. Since 1997, more than 4,000 migratory birds have been killed or injured from colliding into skyscrapers
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