Oldest #Viruses #Infected #Insects 300 Million Years Ago

Viruses are packets of DNA in a protein shell. They can't reproduce on their own so take over DNA and protein making machinery of a host to survive. By comparing the genes of bracoviruses that live in parasitic wasps with those of free living insect viruses that haven't inserted their genes into a host genome called nudiviruses, and to their cousins the baculoviruses researchers determined that the two groups split about 310 million years ago. This is as old as insects themselves so insect viruses were already present from the beginning from the...

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#Bees Head For The Hills To #Mate

We know little about bee's mating behaviour but 'hilltopping', when males and females seek mates  on the tops of hills,  has been observed before in butterflies, flies, and wasps. Professor Dave Goulson from the University of Stirling noticed large numbers of bees  in the hills near the university.  He presumed they weren't foraging but looking for mates as the hills are windswept and flowerless. However nobody seems to have told the females. Though male bumblebees from four species were found females didn't seem to be taking...

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Man-Eating #Mushrooms #death

Artist Jae Rhim Lee believes we should think about the way we deal with death in a new way. Instead of embalming our deceased loved ones and doing everything possible “to preserve the body and protect it from the environment, with the idea that decomposition is something to be avoided,” Lee says the Western burial ritual distances us from death and our own mortality. Her suggestion is that we embrace decomposition and so has designed a prototype of a burial suit that can be seeded with mushroom’s spores that have been specifically trained to digest...

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School #Bugs

School BugsAs children across the country settle into the new school year,  hundreds of children in a school, and up to 30 in each class, the risk of disease increases. Most parents will be aware of the more mundane colds,  headlice, chickenpox and conjunctivitis, but there are more frightening sounding diseases that are doing the rounds too. The Guardian has put together a timely guide to help worried parents giving all the facts about scarlet fever, threadworms, slapped cheek syndrome and hand, foot and mouth.Read More at The Guard...

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#Bats Keep Their Friends Close

It has been discovered that although bats change where they sleep within the colony every few days, they keep the same bats around them, forming tight social groups. These long term relationships can last for years. Studying the bats behaviour, researchers are hoping to predict how diseases might spread within the roost as a small proportion of bats carry rabies like viruses, and can also be the source of emerging diseases. Chinese bats are thought to have been responsible for the SARS virus outbreak.Read More at Physorg....

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What The Well Dressed #Mouse Is Wearing This Season #wildlife

Scientists at Stanford University have developed a tiny but powerful microscope that can fit on a mouses head and peer inside their brains without interfering with their actions. Previously studying mouse brains involved the mouse being held down or at least having their head restrained. With this new system the mice are free to behave naturally and freely. The microscope that looks a like a hi tech top hat could also be mass produced cheaply.Read More at Discovery&nb...

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Exploding #Ants! #amazing #wildlife

In order to protect their colony from attack the ants of Borneo are willing to make the supreme sacrifice. They will grab an enemy ant and expel a lethal sticky substance that kills both attacker & defender. While all ants have glands in their jaws to release chemicals in alarm or defence, but these ants have filled most of their bodies with these secretions.  The insects operate on a hair-trigger; their bodies  are so swollen with the liquid that the merest touch will rupture the abdomen walls. Read More at ...

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There's A #Spider On Your Shoulder! #fashion

Couldn't resist linking to this new T shirt design. Not for the arachnophobe in your family but I love it. How about one covered in killer bees or beetles? Oh the endless possibilities!View at boingboi...

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Plankton Under The #Microscope #interesting #wildlife #photos

In his new book Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath out this month, molecular geneticist Richard R. Kirby takes a close look at plankton. Plankton form the foundation of the marine food chain. They also remove carbon dioxide from the sea and provide Earth's atmosphere with oxygen. Rising sea surface temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change could  alter the sea's food web and the ecology of Earth. The book also boasts 150 high-magnification photographs, some of which are diplayed in this stunning slide show.View Slide Show at Scientific...

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How To Avoid The Sting! #wasps

Many may be hoping for an Indian summer this month, many except those who are hypersensitive to wasp and hornet stings that is.  For an estimated 150,000 people in the UK one sting could be fatal.  If September proves to be calm and sunny wasp colonies will reach their peak size and release thousands of queens and males.  So how to avoid being stung? Wear white clothing as wasps seem least attracted to the colour and don't make rapid, sudden movements. If a wasp lands on you or gets into your clothing don't move, but let it leave...

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I Spy with my #insect eye...

I beleaf in miracles...Images show animals' wonderful disguisesFool-iage ... gecko could trick anyone into thinking it is not thereArdea / Caters News AgencyWoolly mammoth may walk againEXTINCT beast in line for comeback thanks to Jurassic Park-style cloning technologyBear necessities for pandas’ arrival   Jackal attacks enormous lion   Diner chews frog in Nando’s...

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Government Declares war On Urban #Seagulls

Ministers plan to launch a research project to find a solution to the growing problems of noise, mess, disease and aggression caused by urban seagulls. The population of herring gulls has fallen  60% in the last 30 years and lesser black-backed gulls have declined 30% in 25 years, but in towns and cities their numbers have increased dramatically as they are drawn to our ever growing landfill sites.  The environment minister, Richard Benyon, has asked  Bristol University  to begin a 3 year research project to find solutions...

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6 Of Nature's Most Diabolical #Predators

Fungus gnat maggots produce dangling strands of mucus that are illuminated by  glowing bacteria to lure moths to a sticky end in the Glow Worm Cave of New Zealand.  Broods of the parasitic blister beetle clump together and release pheromones to imitate a female bee, luring down a male so they can hitch a ride. When the hapless male eventually finds  a real female bee to mate with the grubs transfer to her and she witlessly carries them back to her nursery where they feast on her young. The Portia spider designs a new tactic for...

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The Komodo Dragon – The World's Largest #Venomous #Animal

Fascinating slide show of this fearsome predator. It can kill prey as large as a buffalo and is able to eat 80% of its body weight in one sitting. 90% of the dragon's attacks on prey result in a kill. Their venomous saliva stops blood from clotting so victims bleed to death. Yet even with all this going for it there are only about 4,000 of them left and are therefore deemed 'vulnerable'Read More & See Slide Show at BBC NatureWe can't deal with animals such as these... but for the usual pest control problems such as rodents and UK household...

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Biggest #Insect... #Scary!

Into the record bugsBiggest ever ... Weta bug found in NZMark Moffett / Minden / SolentRIHANNA'S THE NEW BLONDIE Into the record bugs Baby is dumped in a toilet in a plastic bag ... and LIVES The Only Way Is Exit Emily Scott: I chest can’t wait to bed Mark Wright Published: Today a class="com-text" href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3972007/Worlds-biggest-ever-insect-found-called-the-Weta-Bug.html#comment-rig"...

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Unwanted #Cat Takes Up #Pest #Control Duties At Drum Castle

Candy the cat had spent 10 months in SSPCA’s Aberdeenshire Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Drumoak before Dr Alison Burke, property manager at Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire heard of Candy's plight and offered her a home. Not just any home though. Candy now resides in the grand and historic surroundings of the National Trust of Scotland's Drum Castle, near Aberdeen where she has taken up pest control duties protecting the castle from rats and mice.Read More at STV&nb...

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#Hospital Uniforms Carry Dangerous #Bacteria

Over 60% of nurses' and doctors' uniforms tested positive for potentially dangerous bacteria including MRSA in a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.  Samples were taken from the abdominal zone, sleeves' ends and pockets  of the  uniforms of 75 registered nurses and 60 medical doctors at the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem. Half of the cultures obtained contained pathogens. 27 containes multi-drug resistant pathogens including 8 cultures of MRSA.Read More at Science Daily &nbs...

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Typical 'The Sun' News Article!! #Rats

Rodent to ruinPair wreck house lookingfor a rat...but never find itFlaw plan ... boards are up in the lounge but no sign of the ratEmily Scott: I chest can’t wait to bed Mark Wright Fergie: I’m so sorry for this X Factor - Little Mix Perrie Edwards dating 1D Zayn Malik Katy Perry and Russell Brand's body heart Michael Buble in X-rated rant at X Factor's Simon Cowell By GUY...

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