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Plastic-Munching bugs turn waste bottles into cash
Newly discovered bacterial alchemists could help save billions of plastic bottles from landfills. The Pseudomonas strains can convert the low-grade PET plastic used in drinks bottles into a more valuable and biodegradable plastic called PHA.
Although billions of plastic bottles are made each year, few are ultimately recycled because the typical recycling process converts low value PET bottles into more PET.
(AP)PHA is already used in medical applications, from artery-supporting tubes called stents to wound dressings.
The plastic can be processed to have a range of physical properties. However, one of the barriers to PHA reaching wider use is the absence of a way to make it in large quantities.
The new bacteria-driven process – termed upcycling – could address that, and make recycling PET bottles more economically attractive.
PET bugs Although billions of plastic bottles are made each year, few are ultimately recycled. Just 23.5% of US bottles were recycled in 2006.
This is because the recycling process simply converts the low value PET bottles into more PET, says Kevin O'Connor at University College Dublin, Ireland. Newly discovered bacterial alchemists could help save billions of plastic bottles from landfills. The Pseudomonas strains can convert ... more -
Head Lice: The Latest Superbug Becoming Resistant to Pesticides
While drug companies continue to say its not happening, school nurses around the country are saying more and more parents are at a loss for solutions. So why are common medications like Nix, Rid, Ovide and Kwell still prescribed? Simply because they work on some cases, some of the time.
For the children whose head lice are resistant to pesticides, at this time, all they can hope for are stronger medicines, new gels that will coat the head and smother the lice or "hot air treatments that desiccate [the lice]." One gel awaiting FDA approval would kill the bugs in 30 minutes by blocking their air holes -called the "Lice Asphyxiator."
It takes roughly three to five years for head lice to build immunity to the pesticide, says Florida Atlantic University associate professor Shirley Gordon, at which point you have to look for something else. Most headlice can live for a month on your head, but they need to "eat" blood at least two to three times a day. There are estimates that roughly 1.8 percent of US schoolchildren are affected with head lice each year. In Turkey the problem is much worse with roughly 30% of children infected and as high as 60% in Greece.
http://www.buchananschool.co.uk/headlice/life_cycle2.gi... While drug companies continue to say its not happening, school nurses around the country are saying more and more parents are at a los... more -
Metro bedbug complaints double with travel, density
Common bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, are making a North American comeback thanks to increased world travel, urban density, lack of public awareness and pesticide resistance. Common bedbugs, or Cimex lectularius, are making a North American comeback thanks to increased world travel, urban density, lack of pu... more
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a ladybug flying into my living room ceiling lamp.
I always get ladybugs in my apartment. They always do this. I caught this one on tape.
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Zombie Animals and the Parasites that Control Them
It might sound like something out of sci-fi, but plenty of parasites can control the minds of caterpillars, roaches, crabs, and maybe even us. In many cases, scientists don't know exactly how these creatures achieve mind control.
This spider, Plesiometa argyra, is an expert builder of perfectly round webs. But with one sting, a parasitic wasp can take over its mind. It might sound like something out of sci-fi, but plenty of parasites can control the minds of caterpillars, roaches, crabs, and maybe ... more -
Cool Jobs: Forensic Entomologist
Discovery-News.com: Maggots? Flies? Corpses? All in a grisly day’s work for a forensic entomologist. James Williams gets the gritty details. Discovery-News.com: Maggots? Flies? Corpses? All in a grisly day’s work for a forensic entomologist. James Williams gets the gritty de... more
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Tiny bug threatens California citrus industry
FRESNO, Calif. - Border agents have stepped up searches and hundreds of traps have been placed on the California-Mexico line in an aggressive campaign to stop a tiny bug from bringing in a disease farmers say could wipe out the $1.3 billion citrus industry here.
Already, Asian citrus psyllid has hurt citrus production in parts of China and infested millions of dead and dying trees in Florida and Brazil. Growers say the bug has the potential to be more damaging than the Mediterranean fruit fly because entire groves — not just fruit — are at risk.
"This is not one more thing, this might be the last thing," said Al Stehly, who manages 200 acres of oranges near Valley Center in San Diego County.
The tiny psyllids are the only transmitters of the disease, officially known by its Chinese name, huanglongbing, or "yellow dragon disease" for its visual effect on leaves. In the U.S., growers call it "citrus greening" disease because fruit fails to ripen.
Psyllids feed on the liquid inside citrus leaves, and once a psyllid eats from an infected tree, it carries the bacteria for life. Diseased trees wither and die within a few years.
More than 22 years of research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not yet revealed genetic or biological controls for the disease.
"There is no place in the world this disease is under adequate control," said plant pathologist Tim Gottwald of the USDA's agricultural research service in Florida and one of the world's leading authorities on citrus greening. "We don't have an adequate strategy at this moment."
Gottwald likens the potential impact to Dutch elm disease, which has wiped out nearly the entire elm population in England and Europe.
Recent news that the bug was found within four blocks of the San Diego County line sent orange juice futures up and spread panic through the industry. Industry officials worry international trade could be affected, as California supplies 85 percent of the U.S. fresh orange market, and 30 percent of the state's production is shipped overseas. FRESNO, Calif. - Border agents have stepped up searches and hundreds of traps have been placed on the California-Mexico line in an agg... more -
Mystery Bug Found at London Museum
"July 15, 2008—Even with 28 million insect specimens in their collection, experts at London's Natural History Museum haven't found a match for a mysterious bug—pictured above—found in their own backyard.
Since it was discovered last year by entomologist Max Barclay, the tiny, red-and-black, seed-eating ground bug has become the most common insect in the museum's wildlife garden.
It has also been spotted elsewhere in the city.
"Today we've had people ringing us up saying they've known about this thing in [central] London for six or seven years," Barclay said.
"It's only when it gets to somewhere like the Natural History Museum, where there are loads of specialists hanging around, that somebody will pick it up."
While the insect looks similar to a Central European species, Arocatus roeselii, it is a darker red and lives on plane trees—what Americans call sycamores—instead of alders.
It also resembles a mystery insect found in France that likely isn't native to Europe at all, Barclay said.
"It's also very similar to a common North American pest called the boxelder bug, but it isn't that," he added.
Barclay believes the ground bug either represents a variation of a known exotic species or it's a newly discovered species.
Museum scientists hope an analysis of the insect's DNA will finally solve the mystery."
Cool! Mysteries abound! I love stories like this. "July 15, 2008—Even with 28 million insect specimens in their collection, experts at London's Natural History Museum haven&#... more -
Mystery Bug found in a museum..
random mystery bug found in a museum. ...
they don't know what it is... personally I Think it is in the same family as a stink bug http://current.com/clipper.htm
Clipper // Current random mystery bug found in a museum. ... ... more -
Watch out for a killer slugs at large in your garden
A CARNIVOROUS slug that sucks worms in “like spaghetti” and which has never been seen before in Western Europe, has been discovered in Welsh gardens, biologists revealed yesterday. A CARNIVOROUS slug that sucks worms in “like spaghetti” and which has never been seen before in Western Europe, has been discovered in... more
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there are m'fuckn tickts on the plane!
True story! Ticks were found on a plane!
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Why? Tell Me Why! :: Fireflies
Discovery-News.com: This week Kasey-Dee Gardner shines some light on why fireflies brighten up the summer sky.
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bugs that produce crude oil
we are going to need a lot of them
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Fill your car with oil from bugs
To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.Unbelievably, this is not science fiction Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of a giant Lexus SUV . Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world.Mr Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil (£70) from Saudi Arabia obsolete.What is most remarkable about what they are doing is that instead of trying to reengineer the global economy – as is required, for example, for the use of hydrogen fuel – they are trying to make a product that is interchangeable with oil. The company claims that this “Oil 2.0” will not only be renewable but also carbon negative – meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.The main problem is: although LS9 can produce its bug fuel in laboratory beakers, it has no idea whether it will be able produce the same results on a nationwide or even global scale.“Our plan is to have a demonstration-scale plant operational by 2010 and, in parallel, we’ll be working on the design and construction of a commercial-scale facility to open in 2011,” says Mr Pal, adding that if LS9 used Brazilian sugar cane as its feedstock, its fuel would probably cost about $50 a barrel. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as wood... more
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Eat more insects, scientists say
"Eating insects such as wasps and grasshoppers has health benefits and should be encouraged in the Western diet, scientists have said.
Eating insects is good for the environment as insects require forest to be preserved
The bugs are rich in protein and some minerals and are lower in cholesterol than beef or pork.
Research carried out at the National Autonomous University of Mexico found that 1,700 species are eaten in at least 113 countries across the world, usually as a substitute for meat." "Eating insects such as wasps and grasshoppers has health benefits and should be encouraged in the Western diet, scientists have ... more -
Alternative to pesticides: Praying mantis
The praying mantis is an excellent general predator to keep pests to a minimum in your garden or yard. It eats aphids, beetles, flies, mosquitoes, moths, caterpillars; basically any insect it can catch.
But did you know that you could buy praying mantis eggs and put them to work as a pesticide alternative? They might not be available everywhere, but a search on the internet should tell you if there are vendors in your area. One example of an online store that carries praying mantis eggs is Costco. The 'egg case' they advertise contains between 40 and 400 eggs! The praying mantis is an excellent general predator to keep pests to a minimum in your garden or yard. It eats aphids, beetles, flies,... more -
Green Porno is here!
Is now for you to enjoy!
Thanks Sundance channel! (link contains the short films!)
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Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, co-directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini about the sex life of bugs, insects and various creatures. The films are a comical but insightful study of the curious ways certain bugs “make love”. “Green” echoes the ecological movement of today and our interest in nature, and “Porno” alludes to the racy ways bugs, insects and other creatures have sex, if human, these acts would not be allowed to be screened or air on television, considered instead as most filthy and obscene.
(Todd Brown for twitch.com) Is now for you to enjoy! Thanks Sundance channel! (link contains the short films!) - ... more -
Orchid Tricks Wasp Into doing the NASTY!: "HE'S NOT MY DADDY"!
All in the name of SURVIVAL...it turns out being sexually appealling to insects is the best way for a plant species to survive these days.
This puts a new twist on "the birds and the bees"... All in the name of SURVIVAL...it turns out being sexually appealling to insects is the best way for a plant species to survive these d... more -
40,000 bugs eat a whole head of lettuce in one hour video
I got the creepies just watching it. Yuck!
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Microscopic photos of smashed gnats
die, die, die, i don't know maybe the Buddha had his systematic approach to vaseline, un - apologetic .
but otherwise enjoy you coffee.
i don't have my first amendment, how do you feel.
cuba and .................................. die, die, die, i don't know maybe the Buddha had his systematic approach to vaseline, un - apologetic . ... more
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