Damien1972 - Slashdot User

Submission + - New species of tapir discovered in Brazil (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by Damien1972 on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @01:16PM

Damien1972 writes: In what will likely be considered one of the biggest zoological finds of the 21st century, scientists today announced the discovery a new species of tapir in Brazil and Colombia. The new mammal, hidden from science but known to local indigenous tribes, is actually one of the biggest animals on the continent. Described in the Journal of Mammology, the scientists have named the new tapir Tapirus kabomani after the name for "tapir" in the local Paumari language: "Arabo kabomani."

Submission + - Bat's tongue could inspire miniature surgical robot design (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Monday May 06, 2013 @06:46PM

Damien1972 writes: Nectar-feeding bats shift the shape of their tongue to slurp up sugar from flowers upon which they feed, finds a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using histological techniques, high-speed videography, and anatomical studies, biologist Cally Harper found that the bat Glossophaga soricina relies on hair-like structures known as papillae on its tongue to extract nectar from flowers. The structures, which become erect when muscle contraction fills them with blood, increase the surface area and width of its tongue tip to create a hydraulic process that causes nectar to flow along the tongue into the bat's mouth. The mechanism is "surprisingly clever" and could inspire medical device design, according to the researchers.

Submission + - Civet poop coffee may be threatening wildlife (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Thursday April 18, 2013 @01:08AM

Damien1972 writes: Popularization of the world's strangest coffee may be imperiling a a suite of small mammals in Indonesia, according to a new study in Small Carnivore Conservation. The coffee, known as kopi luwak (kopi for coffee and luwak for the civet), is made from whole coffee beans that have passed through the gut of the animal. The coffee is apparently noted for its distinct taste, though some have argued it is little more than novelty. Now, this burgeoning kopi luwak industry is creating "civet farms," whereby civets are captured from the wild and kept in cages to eat and crap out coffee beans.

Submission + - "Badger bat" discovered in South Sudan

Submitted by Damien1972 on Wednesday April 10, 2013 @10:59PM

Damien1972 writes: Scientists have uncovered a rare, brilliantly-striped bat in South Sudan that has yielded new secrets after close study. Working in Bangangai Game Reserve during July of last year, biologist DeeAnn Redeer and conservationist Adrian Garsdie with Fauna & Flora International (FFI) came across an unusual bat, which has been dubbed by various media outlets as the "badger bat" and the "panda bat." The species is so distinct, it has been placed in its own genus.

Submission + - 62% of Africa's forest elephants killed in 10 years (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Tuesday March 05, 2013 @01:49AM

Damien1972 writes: More than 60 percent of Africa's forest elephants have been killed in the past decade due to the ivory trade, reports a new study published in the online journal PLOS ONE. The study warns that the diminutive elephant species — genetically distinct from the better-known savanna elephant — is rapidly heading toward extinction. The study is based on the largest-ever set of survey data across five forest elephant range countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. The study involved more than 60 scientists who spent 91,600 person-days surveying for elephants, walking over 13,000 kilometers.

Submission + - Trees to call for help if illegally felled (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Saturday January 26, 2013 @03:23AM

Damien1972 writes: The Brazilian government has begun fixing trees in the Amazon rainforest with a wireless device, known as Invisible Tracck, which will allow trees to contact authorities once they are felled and moved. Here's how it works: Brazilian authorities fix the Invisible Tracck onto a tree. An illegal logger cuts down the tree and puts it onto a truck for removal, unaware that they are carrying a tracking device. Once Invisible Tracck comes within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of a cellular network it will 'wake up' and alert authorities.

Submission + - Lawmaker Asks Reddit for Ideas on Website Seizures (itworld.com)

Submitted by

itwbennett

on Monday November 19, 2012 @06:09PM

itwbennett writes: "U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren has turned to Reddit's 'Internet policy experts and free speech warriors' for help 'crowdsourcing a legislative proposal' to address the U.S. government's practice of seizing websites for alleged copyright infringement. As of 5 p.m. Monday there were 40 responses to Lofgren's Reddit post."

Submission + - Apes suffer mid-life crisis too (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Monday November 19, 2012 @05:47PM

Damien1972 writes: Humans are not alone in experiencing a mid-life crisis — great apes suffer the same, according to new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A new study of over 500 great apes found that well-being patterns in primates are similar to those experience by humans. This doesn't mean that middle age apes seek out the sportiest trees or hit-on younger apes inappropriately, but rather that their well-being starts high in youth, dips in middle age, and rises again in old age.

Submission + - In time for Halloween: 9 new tarantula species discovered (mongabay.com)

Submitted by Damien1972 on Wednesday October 31, 2012 @06:28PM

Damien1972 writes: If you suffer from acute arachnophobia, this is the perfect Halloween discovery for you: a spider expert has discovered nine new species of arboreal tarantulas in the Brazil. Although tarantula diversity is highest in the Amazon rainforest, the new species are all found in lesser-known Brazilian ecosystems like the Atlantic Forest and the cerrado.

Submission + - Unusual discovery of new African monkey species (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by rhettb on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @08:55PM

rhettb writes: In a remote and largely unexplored rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), researchers have made an astounding discovery: a new monkey species. The new primate, which is name the lesula and described in a paper in the journal PLoS ONE, was first noticed by scientist and explorer, John Hart, in 2007. The discovery of a new primate species is rare nowadays. In fact, the lesula is only the second newly discovered monkey in Africa in the past 28 years.

Submission + - Venezuelan poodle moth becomes Internet sensation (mongabay.com)

Submitted by rhettb on Wednesday August 29, 2012 @08:07PM

rhettb writes: A white moth from Venezuela that bears a striking resemblance to a poodle has become an Internet sensation, after cryptozoologist Karl Shuker posted about the bizarre-looking species on his blog. Photographed in 2009 in Venezulea's Canaima National Park in the Gran Sabana region by zoologist Arthur Anker from Kyrgyzstan, the white, cuddly-looking moth with massive black eyes has yet to be identified and could be a species still unknown to science.

Comment Insects (Score 1) 1

by Damien1972 on Friday August 24, 2012 @06:39PM (#41116393) Attached to: Bird uses hurricane winds to accelerate flight speed to 100 MPH

Makes me wonder how insects navigate through hurricanes -- whether they have any control or are just go wherever the hurricane blows them. Seems like it would be possible to track them, since dragonflies have been tracked before.

Submission + - Bird uses hurricane winds to accelerate flight speed to 100 MPH (mongabay.com) 1

Submitted by terrancem on Friday August 24, 2012 @03:46PM

terrancem writes: Migrating Whimbrels — a type of shorebird — may struggle for hours against winds when trying to cross the Caribbean during hurricane season but get a huge boost as they fly out of storms, report researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg, Virginia. Ahead of a large tropical storm last year scientists attached satellite transmitters to one female Whimbrel. The American Bird Conservancy explains what they found: "She took 27 hours averaging just 9 mph to fly non-stop through the storm to get to the center; then she flew at an average of almost 100 mph for 1.5 hours out the back end, using the power of the storm to 'slingshot' her towards land."

Submission + - Lance Armstrong and the Science of Drug Testing 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens writes

on Friday August 24, 2012 @02:14PM

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "As the media reports that that seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong says he will no longer fight doping charges by the US Anti-Doping Agency which will strip him of his titles and ban him from competitive cycling for life, Tracee Hamilton writes that the Lance Armstrong vs. U.S. Anti-Doping Agency fight is a tough one in which to take a side, because to believe USADA means suspending belief in the science of drug testing. "If you take personalities out of the equation, you’re left with pee in a cup and blood in a syringe," writes Hamilton. "Armstrong never failed a drug test. He was tested in competition, out of competition. He was tested at the Olympics, at the Tour de France, at dozens if not hundreds of other events. And he never failed a test." Instead Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the USADA, gathered a group of people who swear they saw Armstrong doping. "If the results can be discarded in favor of testimony, then let’s go right to the testimony phase and quit horsing around with blood and urine." There has been no trial, no due process, but in the minds of many, that testimony outweighs the results of hundreds of drug tests. "I don’t know if Armstrong did the things he’s accused of doing, and neither do you," concludes Hamilton adding that it can't work both ways. "Either a drug test is the standard, or it isn’t.""

Submission + - Iran to Ban Women from Science and Engineering Classes (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by jasper160 on Friday August 24, 2012 @12:03PM

jasper160 writes: An August 20th, 2012 announcement from Iran places restrictions on female university students. Iran will be cutting 77 fields of study from the female curriculum, making them male-only fields. Science and engineering are among those affected by the decree. The announcement came soon after the release of statistics showing that women were graduating in far higher numbers than men from Iranian universities and were scoring overall better than men, especially in the sciences.

Senior clerics in Iran's theocratic regime have become concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women.

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