This isn't likely to have much effect on the survival of the Panda species - for one, a peptide is probably fairly easy to synthesize or produce in some other living system via genetic engineering if it is worth doing so.

Most of all, though - this isn't especially new or restricted to Pandas. Peptide cathelicidins are apparently found in every species they've been looked for, including at least some plants. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68054804/ for a summary search on this.

It remains to be seen if this is a particularly potent member of the general class or just another more or less interesting data point.

Bravo - no points to offer, but this is the only intelligent and humane post on this topic I've seen so far. Just had to say it.

Not good history there. The Catholic church did execute concordats with fascist Italy and Germany, but these were definitely arm's-length agreements whose only purpose (from the church's side) was to secure some basic operational rights in hostile political environments.

In Italy, the Lateran treaty with Mussolini established the Vatican city-state and closed the book on issues, such as reparation for the seizure of the papal states, going back to 1848.

In Germany, the church was more or less officially in opposition to the state since the Kulturkampf of Bismark. In the face of the much more aggressive ideology of the Nazis, the Church did waffle a bit in signing the Reichskonkordat of 1933, but it can be argued that the terms were the best available. It should be noted that it was only the Catholic-majority areas of Germany that did not endorse Nazi rule in 1932.

In neither case could it be reasonably argued that the church and fascist states were "allies".

Who is this ingenious "Kung Fu Monkey" that I may subscribe to his newsletter?

Thanks for the cough-inducing guffaw..

I assume you mean something like what happened in South Africa? Of course, nobody was going to miss trading with them so much (quick: name 3 things in your house made in SA. Time's up....). Plus, apartheid was particularly odious to the "great and good" who run things, including especially the media that it was a very popular trade embargo.

The problem with China is not just that they are egregious offenders against the rights of their citizens (including those who'd really rather forgo the privilege, like the Tibetans), but that they have become indispensable to our own financial comfort. This makes any proposal at using trade leverage a non-starter.

So, what makes you think that we aren't (mostly) using monoculture strains now? I don't see this as a compelling argument for that reason - most large agriculture is already monoculture (http://bss.sfsu.edu/fischer/IR%20305/Readings/global.htm). Not that that's a good thing, but it's the way it is because, presumably, it is economically desirable - at least until the next rust fungus or whatever shows up that targets the favored strain(s).