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As Haunted As I Am By The Death Of Harambe The Gorilla, I Believe The Zoo Made The Best Decision At The Time  
In my opinion, in regard to the death of Harambe a month after his untimely death, the Cincinnati Zoo made the best decision possible under horrible circumstances.

In the wake of the unfortunate and terribly tragic event at the Zoo, I was invited to participate in a radio interview with The Takeaway, a radio program affiliated with WNYC and Public Radio International.

Jack D'Isidoro, an award-winning freelance multimedia journalist and producer who contributes regularly to The New York Times, reached out to me on May 31st. Unfortunately, I was unable to share my thoughts with his intended audience. I was busy training dogs at my new boarding and enrichment facility in Los Angeles and had missed his email and phone call.

This week, a month after Harambe's death, I discovered that I also missed an email alert regarding a post I published in National Geographic's online editorial news publication on the future of zoos. The piece was cited in a Washington Post article concerning Harambe's fate, which reminded me that nearly a month has passed since we lost this great ape.

Although I did post an article about the tragedy on my public Facebook page hours after it was reported, I never got a chance to share my sentiment publicly. When I heard the news, I was immediately struck by the thought of a zoo having to make such a terrible sacrifice and was grieving for Harambe who I have never even met or knew of. I wanted to let colleagues and FB followers, zoo professionals and activists alike, know of this unfortunate news.

The Washington Post article included commentary from a notable zoo historian who I once participated in a radio interview with and Dr. Michael Hutchins, my esteemed colleague and friend, and a prominent zoo and wildlife biologist.

These zoo experts addressed the big picture -- the conservation relevance of losing a valuable zoo gorilla. They discussed the impact of the loss of this one animal's potential contribution to the reserve gene pool, which is essentially what a captive population of this critically endangered species represents.

Frankly, the fact that the gorilla is an endangered species still hasn't crossed my mind in regard to this loss of life. This was a beautiful and sentient creature who died at his prime, whether he was in a zoo or free-ranging or contributing to the captive gene pool or not.

I will never have a chance to read and process all the rumor and rhetoric surrounding Harambe that has been generated by the public and the responses from professional experts. However, I keep thinking about him and what a loss this must be for the zoo keepers and staff who cared for him. The staff had to make a horrible life and death decision on his behalf in less than a second. You can't wait for a tranquilizer to take effect when you have to respond in a moment's notice.

To put it in perspective, I once darted an orphaned, 300 lb. subadult grizzly bear that I raised from a 9-month-old cub with a syringe pole (similar to a jab stick) while I was standing a few feet away from her at a wildlife sanctuary in Alaska. There was no barrier between us. As she looked the other way, I quickly injected her. I had time on my hands to prepare, no public distraction or interference, and my colleagues from Alaska Department of Fish & Game were on hand to monitor and assist if needed. An unusual and unique circumstance dictated that the animal be tranquilized on exhibit.

However, in a zoo setting far more resources and preparation would go in to such a scheduled chemical immobilization planned for a potentially injurious large animal and any chemical restraint would be conducted behind-the-scenes or before or after visiting hours. Nonetheless, I remember that it felt like a long time had passed before this bear was adequately sedated. In reality, it was at least several minutes.

In Harambe's case, this was an unscheduled and obvious emergency and darting the animal was really not a viable option. Waiting for a tranquillizer to take effect would add substantially more time to an already precarious situation for the boy even if Harambe was indeed protecting him. When an animal recieves a remote dart injection, it is typically a surprise to them and they usually don't like it at all. They react as you might react if you were darted with a flying syringe from a great distance. What if he was holding the child and then collapsed on top of him due to the effects of a potent sedative? Anything could have happened. Regardless, I was touched by the public outcry and very much understand the emotions elicited and the public response.

Again, the Zoo made a very difficult choice, but I believe it was the right one. I very much like the Cincinnati Zoo, but I am in no way obligated to defend their actions. I do sit on a board of a zoo advocacy organization, but I'm not financially compensated by the non-profit organization. I just believe in the mission of zoos and I love charismatic creatures that receive exemplary human care in these conservation centers. I have been very fortunate to have interacted with many wonderful zoo animals over the years and the experiences have been tremendously gratifying and rewarding for me. I can only hope I enriched the lives of these animals in return.

I was moved after watching some of the footage as Harambe seemed to embrace the boy as he reached out to hold him. I can only speculate that he was not acting aggressively toward the child and had no such intention to do so. The scene is imprinted in my brain and it is unforgettable. I have a lot of thoughts on the tragedy as a former zoo keeper and curator and as a conservationist. But first and foremost, I'm an animal lover like so many of my friends and zoo colleagues and the readership communities who follow Huffington Post. So this decision was hard to process even for someone like me who appreciates the challenges this precarious human-captive animal interaction created for the Zoo.

There are clearly mixed reviews on how the Cincinnati Zoo handled the situation even among some of my colleagues. Some just hope the story dies down. But I'm haunted by what transpired and I felt compelled to offer my perspective as a zoo patron and former zoo employee.

I think zoos do their very best to contain zoo animals and in recent years they have spent extra resources on making sure people can't breach perimeter barriers and get into zoo enclosures, but it is the public's responsibility to keep our children safe and that responsibility falls largely on parents.

In fact, I think that some exhibits should have age limitation restrictions for access. Children who are too young often can't even appreciate the magic of an intimate encounter with a majestic animal icon in a zoo setting like a silverback gorilla. More often than not they seem to incite animals unintentionally by pounding on glass or by running around screaming and crying.

Those are not ways of respecting or dignifying a zoo animal ambassador and their parents should know better. Hopefully teachers and other attendants will also learn from this.

Rather then enriching the experience for the animal, I'm pretty confident some of the behavior of young children leaves sentient zoo animals frustrated, if not demoralized. Anyone can see it is occasionally stimulating for the animals and from a gorilla's perspective, for example, it can be perceived as play when they get to interact with rambunctious kids through glass barriers. However, we should expect some ettiquette from zoo visitors. They are guests at a public venue and these animal ambassadors deserve some respect from patrons.

In my opinion, the zoo was left with no choice but to dispatch a beautiful, healthy and robust adult male gorilla. And again, what a terrible predicament for the animal care team to find themselves in.

I recall an incident where a male gorilla broke his neck from a shallow fall in a freak accident in an indoor enclosure at another Ohio zoo. This was twenty years ago. I was in the building doing relief work as a zoo keeper in another animal unit. Unfortunately, no primate care staff member witnessed the incident and there were few helpful reports from patrons. Like the event with Harambe, the other gorilla death was quite unprecedented and has not happened before or since to my knowledge.

In the case of the fallen gorilla, one of our veterinary clinicians responded immediately and tried to resuscitate the animal after the public was ushered out of the building. His three other adult male companions were quickly lured off exhibit into their bedrooms with issued recall commands by a trained and responsive keeper staff. Relocating the other apes was neccessary so the vet could access the unconscious animal. The veterinarian, who is board certified in zoo and wildlife medicine, was on the scene just minutes after the emergency was announced through our radio communication system, but sadly he was not able to revive the gorilla after several attempts to administer CPR.

In Harambe's case (based on what I saw in video footage), there was no time to recall him or perhaps other apes in close proximity because the child was already in the exhibit, having breached barriers.

Although Harambe may indeed have been protecting this little boy, the surface features of that gorilla enclosure are to some degree slightly unforgiving to even a much sturdier and more agile young gorilla of comparable age and size to the child. The boy is really lucky to have left the situation relatively unscathed. These enclosures are definitely designed for great apes and not little boys.

The child could have easily broken his neck or otherwise been seriously or fatally injured in all the commotion and all by mere accident. These are big, fast moving primates. Hence, the name "great ape" is an appropriate label for these, the largest of the non-human primates.

By just working around wild animals in captivity, including three species of great apes, provides me with enough insight into the potential hazards in a zoo enclosure. Even the exhibit void of animals can be dangerous for humans to navigate. Keepers are careful when they clean enclosures. It is easy to slip or fall or trip on enrichment items or artificial rock work.

Oddly enough, the barriers in high rise shopping centers and other public attractions from Niagara Falls to walkway and automobile bypass structures around the country remain in conditions where barriers can be easily breached by unsupervised children. And we hear about tragedies when young children fall to their death or are left severely injured. Who can forget the devastating loss Eric Clapton faced when his young son fell to his death from a high rise apartment building? And his son was at home with his mom and a maid.

I may be an exceptionally over-educated "retired" zoo keeper and curator, but those are the thoughts that I would have shared had I not been training animals during the scheduled radio interview that I was invited to participate in. Rest in peace Harambe. You are missed.

We invite you to join Dr. Schaul's verified public facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jordan.schaul

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To Connect with Nature, Live in the City  


"We need density but we also need connections to nature," said University of Virginia professor Timothy Beatley, at an event at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) to celebrate D.C.'s successful inclusion in the Biophilic Cities Network, a group of leading cities pushing for rich, nature-filled experiences in daily urban life.

Beatley launched the network only a few years ago, but it already seems to have taken off. Building on the impact of his important books, Green Urbanism, Biophilic Cities, and Blue Urbanism, the network is designed to improve knowledge-sharing among cities who seek to merge the built and natural environments. Leading environmental cities -- such as Singapore; Portland; San Francisco; Wellington, New Zealand; and now, Washington, D.C. -- have joined, and another 20-30 cities are now exploring signing on.

Beatley explained how biophilic cities forge deeper, more meaningful connections to nature, which in turn increases social connections and community resilience. He then highlighted some biophilic urban innovations:

Singapore (see video at top) is now putting "nature at the heart of its planning and design process." Singapore's official tagline used to be "garden city," but now it's "the city in a garden." The idea, Beatley explained, is "not to visit a garden but to live in it; not to visit a park, but to live in it." To realize this concept, Singapore has issued a landscape replacement policy that ensures any greenery removed through the process of developing a lot be replaced on the building eventually found there. In reality, though, developers, architects, and landscape architects have doubled or tripled the amount of original green footprint in buildings' structures through the use of sky gardens. "There is now a competition among developers to see who can add more green." The city has also built nearly 300 kilometers of park connectors to create deeper connections between parks and neighborhoods.



Parkroyal on Pickering by WOHA and Tierra Design / Dezeen

Melbourne, Australia, has pledged to double its tree canopy by 2040. "They are re-imagining the idea of the city in a forest. It's a multi-scale investment in nature -- from the rooftop to the bio-region and everywhere in between." Individual trees are now being registered and made accessible via GIS maps. To further boost engagement, locals can also email love notes to a tree and the trees will write a note back.



The City of Melbourne's Urban Forest Strategy. Image by Anton Malishev / ArchitectureAU

A number of cities are forging deeper connections to urban wildlife, too. In Bangalore, there's the Slender Loris project that engages citizen scientists in noctural journeys through the city to meet these shy creatures. Austin, Texas has gone completely batty, in a good way. Underneath Congress Bridge, millions of bat fly out at dusk during the warmer months to feed. Above and below the bridge, people gather to watch the amazing exoduses and sometime-murmurations. "There are now bat-watching dinner cruises."



In St. Louis, there's Milkweeds for Monarchs, which has resulted in 250 new butterfly gardens. San Francisco will soon mandate the use of bird-friendly building facades. And in Wellington, city officials are investing in predator-proof fencing in many areas with the goal of "bringing birdsong back."

"Biophilic experiences are multi-sensory. Animal sounds can re-animate our cities. People want more nature; they want to hear birdsong in their neigborhoods," said Beatley.

Stella Tarnay, co-founder of Biophilic DC, wants D.C. to become even more nature-filled. Her group will monitor new city projects to ensure they actually integrate greenery and boost biodiversity. For example, in Adams Morgan, plans are underway to remake the Marie Reed Learning Center with a set of green roofs and gardens, but it will be important to guarantee none of those great landscape plans get cut at the last minute for budgetary reasons.

Also in the works: building more support for the city's wildlife action plan through expanded environmental education programs. As Maribeth DeLorenzo, deputy director of D.C.'s urban sustainability administration, explained, "there are now 270 species of birds in the district, 70 species of fish, 32 species of mammals, and hundreds of species of invertebrates." But greater awareness is needed of these species -- along with the biodiversity benefits of a clean and ecologically-healthy Anacostia River and the district goal of achieving a 40 percent tree canopy by 2032.

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Parrot Thought To Be Extinct In The Wild Spotted Soaring Free  
It's a bolt from the blue.
A Spix's macaw, a critically endangered blue parrot that's thought to be extinct in the wild, has been spotted for the fi...

Read more: Brazil, Endangered Species, Wildlife Conservation, Birds, Parrot, Critically Endangered Species, Spix's Macaw, Good News News

 
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Yes, Benzos Are Bad For You  
WARNING: I will be saying very negative things about benzodiazepines in an effort to force doctors to think twice before prescribing them and to discourage patients from ever using them. However, because withdrawal symptoms can be severe and dangerous, individuals already taking benzos in significant doses on a regular basis should not try to stop or reduce their dose without careful medical supervision. More on this later. 

Most new wonder drugs turn out to be not so wonderful once we get to know them better. The family of drugs known as benzodiazepines (commonly called "benzos" for short) were wonder drugs of the 1960s. I and many others welcomed their introduction and began prescribing Valium or Librium not just for anxiety, but also for all sorts of other clinical problems beyond this primary indication -- for instance, to soothe psychotic patients' symptoms, to help people with alcohol use disorders quit drinking, to take the edge off agitation in depression and dementia, and to aid sleep. Benzos were reputed to be safe, and initially we were pretty oblivious to the risk of addiction. Before long, benzos became among the most frequently prescribed medications in America. 

A second benzo craze began in the1980s when Xanax became the new wonder drug. Its maker, Upjohn (then run by a former head of the NIH), fashioned a brilliant marketing strategy -- hiding the company's wolfish greed for profit under the sheep's clothing of research sponsorship. Upjohn was able to co-opt the top academic psychiatrists from all around the world by organizing the first large-scale international clinical trial of any psychiatric drug. The results were disturbing to me as an outside observer. By then I had wised up to the great risk of benzos and was not surprised to discover that the dose of Xanax needed to treat panic disorder was dangerously close to the dose needed to result in addiction. This should have scared off everyone from using Xanax, but it didn't. Xanax quickly became, and remains, a best seller. 

The real wonder of the benzos is that sales continue to boom, despite their having so little utility and no push from pharma marketeering (because patents have run out - thereby decreasing costs and profits.) Between 1996 and 2013, the percentage of people in the U.S. using benzos jumped more than one-third from an already remarkable 4.1 to 5.6 percent. Especially troubling is that benzo use is ridiculously high (nearly one out of ten) in the elderly, the group most likely to be harmed by them. (See below.) And women are twice as likely as men to be given a prescription. 

You would expect such a ubiquitous drug to have many clinical uses but you would be wrong -- the psychiatric indications for benzos can be counted on the fingers of one hand. While benzos do wonders for patients with catatonia, this disorder is rarely encountered. Benzos are also useful short-term for severe agitation in psychosis, mania, and depression. And they are sometimes helpful for patients with severe panic disorder who need instant relief in the several weeks before SSRI's kick in. Benzos would be fine for occasional "as needed" use in times of special stress or insomnia. But since you can't predict who will get hooked, it is wise not to try them at all for this purpose. In my opinion, all of the legitimate indications for benzos are very short term. However, in real life most people take them long term, in doses high enough to be addicting, and for the wrong reasons. 

Benzo popularity derives from their ability to quickly relieve anxiety, reduce worry, help people relax, and lubricate social anxiety -- kind of like drinking alcohol but in a convenient pill form. Doctors love prescribing benzos because it's the most efficient way to get a complaining patient out of the office in the shortest possible time. The patient is very satisfied at the moment, but may go on to develop a devastating addiction. People love taking them but once hooked can't stop. In short, benzos are very easy to get on, almost impossible to get off. 
              
Benzos harm in three ways -- most dramatic dangers are deadly overdoses. Between 1996 and 2013, the death rate from benzo overdoses exploded by more than 500 percent, from 0.58 per 100,000 people  to 3 per 100,000. Benzos are now involved in more than 30 per cent of all overdose deaths, usually in combination with opioids or alcohol. 

Second on the list of harms come the painful and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that foster addiction. Benzo withdrawal is a beast- often terrifying, sometimes dangerous, and almost always drawn out over a very long period of time. The anxiety and panic experienced by people stopping benzos is usually much worse than the anxiety and panic that initially led to their use. Other common symptoms are irritability, insomnia, tremors, distractibility, sweating, and confusion. At the extreme, if doses were high and discontinuation is quick, the symptoms resemble alcoholic delirium tremens with hallucinations, psychosis, seizures, and the risk of death. Withdrawal is made even more difficult if, as is common, benzo dependence is complicated by concomitant abuse of alcohol and/or opioids or other drugs. Most people fail in their first attempts at withdrawal. Success rates increase if the withdrawal is done very gradually over a period of many months. Careful medical supervision is always a must. 

Third and most insidious, but still very damaging, are the day-to-day impacts on brain functioning. On-going benzo use can be devastating, especially in the elderly, who (bizarrely) are the group most likely to receive a benzo prescription. If you meet an elderly patient who seems dopey, confused, has memory loss, slurred speech, and poor balance, your first thought should be benzo side effects -- not Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Many elders begin their downward spiral to disability and death after a benzo-induced fall that results in broken hips, concussions, or subdural hematomas (a collection of blood outside the brain.) Benzos are also a major risk factor for car and machine accidents. 

Easier said than done. Along with opioids and methamphetamine, benzos are the most seductive of drugs. The combination of benzos and opioids is especially seductive and especially deadly.  In my book, no one with any history of substance abuse should ever be prescribed a benzo. It will most likely just get added to the mix. 

Benzos should never be used as they are most typically used. While safe and effective in low doses for just a few days, they are ineffective and unsafe when taken, as they usually are, in increasing doses over a long period of time. If prescribed at all in someone who has never used them before, it should be cautiously and with warnings. The time period should be short, the dose low, and quantity very limited at any one time. Real world practice flagrantly violates all these concerns - 90 percent of benzo prescriptions are written, often carelessly, by primary care doctors, who can spend only seven minutes with the patient without giving serious thought to the considerable risk of addiction. 

The bottom line is that there is only one way to confidently avoid addiction to benzodiazepines: never start taking them. Since we can't predict who will eventually get hooked, the short term gains are rarely worth the long term risks. 

It has been more than 30 years since I last prescribed a benzo for anxiety. In my view, the only legitimate uses in psychiatry now are very short-term relief of catatonia, for severe agitation, and for detox from benzos. For everyone else, risk of addiction outweighs the potential benefit of use. 

The tough question is what to recommend for those many unfortunates already suffering the tyranny of benzo addiction. Should they stay the course to avoid the rigors and risks of withdrawal or should they make the great effort to detox? This is an individual decision that can't be forced on someone. But the longer you are on them, the harder it gets to stop, and the cognitive side effects of benzos create more and more dysfunction as your brain ages. The best bet is to stick with a determined effort to detox, however long and difficult, under close medical supervision. On a hopeful note, some of the happiest people I have known are those who have overcome their dependence on benzos.

This article was originally published on Recovery Brands' Pro Talk/Pro Corner
http://www.rehabs.com/pro-talk-articles/yes-benzos-are-bad-for-you/

Allen Frances is a professor emeritus at Duke University and was the chairman of the DSM-IV task force.

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Declare Independence From Food Waste  

The July 4 weekend marks our nation's birthday and the time when Americans celebrate -- not only with fireworks, but with picnics, backyard BBQs, pool parties. Sadly, one byproduct of these celebrations are the many tons of food that we will inevitably waste after these family gatherings. Today, 40 percent of food produced in the United States is thrown away each year (over two-thirds of that by consumers).

Ketchup with a date label that says it has expired." Salad dressings that are past their "use by" dates, chips and cheese with passed expiration dates. As a result of confusing date labeling policies, consumers regularly toss out foods that are perfectly safe, wholesome, and still taste good.

Our three organizations are actively involved in the national campaign to reduce food waste in America. High on our list of priorities is standardizing date labels on food; indeed it might be the most cost effective intervention to achieving the U.S. government's stated goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030. Solutions are on the horizon.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have introduced the Food Date Labeling Act, (HR 5298) to address the confusion surrounding date labeling and tackle our nation's mounting food waste problem.

Our three organizations -- the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, the National Consumers League, and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future -- performed a survey in April 2016 to learn more about what American consumers actually know about date labels. The findings? Consumers are confused and misled. Thirty-seven percent said they always throw away food close to or past the date on the package, and 84 percent reported at least occasionally doing so.

What many consumers don't know is that most food is still safe to eat after its expiration date. Date labels are placed on foods by manufacturers and retailers. Wording like "best by" or "freshest by," are simply estimates of when a food item will be at its peak quality, and not an indicator of how safe the food is. Consumers, however, fear that eating food past the date on the label puts them at risk of foodborne illness. In fact, only a few foods -- deli meat and unpasteurized cheeses, for example -- actually pose an increased safety risk if eaten after the expiration date. No one wants to throw out good food or waste the money spent on it. But, relying on today's date labels leads consumers to do just that.

A misunderstanding of who regulates date labels is contributing to the problem. One third of respondents in our survey thought that date labels are federally regulated, and 26 percent said they were unsure who put those labels on. In actuality, except for infant formula, there are no federally mandated date labeling rules. Each state has its own regulations for what the labels mean and what stores can do with food after the date passes. Research from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows that 20 states currently restrict sales, and in certain cases, even donations of past-date foods, even if the label is an arbitrary quality estimate.

The Food Date Labeling Act aims to clear up this confusion by requiring manufacturers and retailers to stick with just two date labels: an optional "best if used by" to indicate the estimated date a product will no longer be at its peak quality (such as top flavor or texture); and a required "expires on" label for the few high-risk foods that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) find are actually less safe to eat after a certain date. Retailers would also be able to donate or sell foods after the "best if used by" date passes, which would encourage the distribution of otherwise discarded, but perfectly safe and still tasty food. The bill would have an educational mandate for the FDA and USDA aimed at raising awareness among consumers about what the new labels mean.

Research from the Center for a Livable Future suggests that many consumers are aware of the problem of wasted food and want to be part of the solution -- unfortunately, our nation's current date labeling system is getting in their way. Clearer date labels and more education about what they mean will inevitably help Americans save money, eat safely, and conserve natural resources. That's something worth celebrating.

Emily Broad Leib is the Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, the nation's first food law school clinic, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

Sally Greenberg is Executive Director of the National Consumers League, the nation's pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, founded in 1899.

Roni Neff, PhD, directs the Food System Sustainability and Public Health Program at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Jalama Beach by Brad Romano  

Jalama Beach by Brad Romano

Brad Romano: Photos

 
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Check out this incredible overview from the top of the Eiffel...  

Check out this incredible overview from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. This shot captures the Euro 2016 Fan Zone at Champ de Mars and was taken by our friend @kaylabernardino. The quarterfinals of the tournament are currently underway with a match today between Wales and Belgium. If you are ever in Paris, the Eiffel Tower offers the highest vantage point in the city, rising 1,063 feet (324 meters). (at Eiffel Tower)

 
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Interview with Geert Wilders: 'The Netherlands Would Profit from Leaving the EU'  
Could Brexit lead other countries to seek to leave the European Union? SPIEGEL spoke with far-right Dutch populist Geert Wilders about how he wants to use a "Nexit" to prevent the "Islamization" of the Netherlands.  
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Brexit Aftershocks: An Inside Look at the EU's Raging Power Struggle  
In response to Brexit, European Commission President Juncker wants deeper EU integration. German Chancellor Merkel does not. SPIEGEL takes you inside the vast EU power struggle triggered by the UK referendum. By SPIEGEL Staff  
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Nichlas Emmons: Critical Thinking In Environmental Education: A Quick Lesson In Application  
Many educators agree that teaching critical thinking skills is necessary because it better prepares students to be more productive members of society....

Read more: Critical Thinking, Education, Learning, Teaching, Teachers, Environment, Environmental Education, Climate Change, Land, Natural Resources, Education News

 
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Does Your Dog Dig? Exactly What You Should Do About It  



Dogs love to dig a lot like toddlers love to throw things. It's a great release. It's an accomplishment. And, for dogs anyway, it creates a wondrously cool resting spot.

But as you probably know, there are few drawbacks to digging, too. The torn-up yard and muddy footprints might come to mind.

If digging's got you down, remember: all is not lost. While you can't eliminate the thrill of digging altogether, there are many things you can do about it.

First, meet George - the Got Mud dog. He's my client's dog, and he wants for nothing. His family dotes on him morning and night. He gets the best food, a storage bin of toys, and his own pool.

Ask George what he lives for though and he'd show you the cavernous holes in his backyard. The one that burst the sprinkler system. The other one that unearthed a vole. The hole so large it toppled a boxwood bush and left a mud pit in its wake.

George is not a bad dog; he's a good dog and mighty pretty even when he's covered in mud. But George is an adolescent, and he gets bored easily when there's no one to play with.

Maybe your dog is a lot like George. Or perhaps your dog digs for different reasons. Digging is like chewing, jumping, barking, and any other activity -- there are many reasons why dogs do what they do.

Consider the choices below, then fill in the blank: My dog digs because...
a) He likes to create cool, shallow pits to rest in.
b) He has something he likes to bury.
c) He's after a mole, insect, or other creature.
d) He's left alone for long hours with nothing else to do
e) His dog-pal is digging, and hey--why not?
f) He's nervous or stressed, and digging is a great release
g) Digging is super fun

Most dogs dig as pups and adolescents - it's a fun, stimulating activity. For perspective, think back on what wild things you did as an adolescent: drive fast, take risks, do drugs... At least your dog won't do any of that.

Whatever the reason, asking your dog not to dig is like asking a kid to never pick up a ball or play with an iPhone. If you love your dog and your dog loves digging, find a way to guide his passion.



Here's a fresh approach to dealing with a digging dog:

1. Never shout, hit, or use an electronic collar.

Human anger doesn't make sense to dogs. Yes, we look scary and intimating, but dogs aren't human. While they may run away, they won't link your craziness to the fun they just had and might even mistake your screaming (aka barking) as entertainment.

As far as vibrating/shock collars, I'm going to come right out and say it: remote trainers ruin dogs. I see it way too often. Getting shocked or vibrated in the midst of fun leads to insanity. Digging is dog play like balls, mud, and water are kids' play. Play, anger, and electricity don't mix.

2. Discover another passion.

My dogs love to dig (as depicted in the 3-in-1 photo), but they also love to chew, tug, and race around. As costly as bones can be, I've found a few that last long and are quite satisfying. My dogs love puzzle toys, too. Spend a bit of time discovering your dog's other interests and capitalize on those by spending 10 minutes playing together or rewarding him with a fun new game.

3. Create a dig-fun zone.

If your dog's drawn to dirt, set your sites on redirecting the fun instead of thinking you can eliminate his passion altogether. If you've got a yard, designate your dig zone as all-out-activity area by tying down favorite chews (so they can't get carried off), placing a tunnel or water tub nearby, as well as create a digging feature. Your digging attraction might encircle a tree, be a pit filled with dirt, sand and mulch, or an actual sandbox. Whatever you do to satisfy your dog's digging dreams, help him form the habit: Say "Go Dig" as you head to your new spot, bury bones, and dig together.

4. Creative discouragements can help. My favorite being the Oregano oil trick:

Preparation Since dogs detest the smell of Oregano oil, prepare a 1x1"square of bread with 20 drops of full-on oregano oil. Discretely place the pre-soaked bread somewhere your dog will find it, preferably indoors and away from other distractions.
Dilute and Pour Once the smell is mapped in your dog's mind, add 10 drops (or more) to a gallon of water. Fill in one of his holes with dirt, then pour your concoction on top of it.

** While you can find inexpensive vials of oregano oil online, you may also try this method with dog spray deterrents, wasabi, or hot sauce.

5. Keep him inside.

Your home is your dog's den -- a safe place to rest and reconnect. If you notice that your dog is digging each time you leave him outside unattended, the message he may be sending is that he doesn't like being outside alone. That's understandable. Think how you'd feel if you got locked out of your home -- you'd probably be frantic, too. Fresh air is only good for dogs if you're out there, too.

Bonus Tip: If your dog seems obsessed with digging in one location, fill the holes with his own stool or large rocks, or place a screen 3" under the top layer of dirt or grass.

So --now that you better understand his reasoning-- there you have it! A new go-to plan for your delightful digger. Digging, chewing, nipping, jumping--young dogs are like young kids. It's always something!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Humanity Is Killing Off Thousands of Species. But It's Creating Them, Too  
While there's plenty of evidence that humans are the cause of an upcoming sixth mass extinct ion, science hasn't really examined the new species rising in the wake of humanity.  
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Seaweeds get sick too when they're stressed  
Normally harmless bacteria can cause bleaching disease in seaweeds when the "trees of the ocean" become stressed by high water temperatures, researchers have discovered. Understanding these disease processes is not only important for maintaining a healthy marine environment; it also has economic significance, given that seaweeds are increasingly being cultivated as sources of food and feed-stock for biofuels.  
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Benign bacteria block mosquitoes from transmitting Zika, chikungunya viruses  
Researchers have confirmed that a benign bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis can completely block transmission of Zika virus in Aedes aegypti. Scientists say the bacteria could present a 'novel biological control mechanism,' aiding efforts to stop the spread of Zika virus.  
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Gut bacteria spotted eating brain chemicals for the first time  
The discovery of gut bacteria that need the calming chemical GABA to survive could explain why bacteria seem to influence our mood  
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BAM! Astroboffins now have a second way of picking up black holes' collision super kicks  

Doppler detections will help test Einstein's key theory

Gravitational waves released from black hole “super kicks” may soon be detectable, according to new research published in Physical Review Letters.…

 
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Tiny 3D-printed lens can pass through a syringe needle  
High-quality compound lenses could be used on insect-sized drone aircraft  
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Robert Stawell Ball Scientist of the Day Robert Stawell Ball,...  

http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/9775


http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/9988


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http://imageweb-cdn.magnoliasoft.net/royalsociety/supersize/rs-7754.jpg

Robert Stawell Ball Scientist of the Day

Robert Stawell Ball, an Irish astronomer and popular writer, was born July 1, 1840.

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Photos of the Day: July 1, 2016  

Explore the news of the day with these images from around the world.  
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Bow Lake by Jennifer Kapala  

Bow Lake by Jennifer Kapala

www.jenniferkapalaphotography.com

Jennifer Kapala: Photos

 
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Untitled by Braden Doucette  

Untitled by Braden Doucette

Braden Doucette: Photos

 
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http://twitter.com/joyoftrivia/status/748920892600705024 
On this day in 1975 CITES Convention of trade of endangered species flora and fauna agreement to protect wildlife from extinction 
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This Is a Generic Presidential Campaign Ad  

Inspired by the presidential campaign, the stock-footage company Dissolve created a satirical version of the traditionally cheesy campaign advertisement. It's predictable, and also hilarious. If you'd like to watch more videos by Dissolve, you may enjoy this satire of generic branding and this whimsical mockumentary about emoji.

 
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Lindsay Lohan ‘happy' to turn on Kettering  

Hollobone offer draws response from flame-haired acress turned pundit

Troubled wildchild turned Brexit commenter Lindsay Lohan has accepted the challenge of turning on Kettering for Christmas, in order to “redeem her political reputation”.…

 
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Isis crisis: Facebook makes Bristol lass an unperson  

What's my name, fool

Not so long ago you could barely move on Facebook for all the exquisitely crafted beheading videos. Now you can't even watch a cute cat video if your first name is Isis, anyway.…

 
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Are Venezuela's food shortages a sign that food security is still a risk?  
From technological advancements in food production to our increasingly interconnected globe, many factors have reduced the risk of wide-scale famines. However, the current food shortages in Venezuela, which have plunged the nation into chaos, highlight that the threat of world hunger is not over for good. To discuss the future of food security, we talked to Stephen Devereux, a development economist from the University of Sussex.

ResearchGate: In this article, researcher Dr. de Waal argues that the time of famines may be over. What's your view on this?

Stephen Devereux: I think Alex de Waal is probably right that the time of catastrophic famines is over, meaning those famines that used to kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. But that doesn't mean that we won't have more minor and moderate scale famines in the future. It is important to remember that we have had quite a few famines since the last 'great famine' in Ethiopia in 1984 that Alex mentions in his article. Already in the 21st century there have been four famines - in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger and Somalia - the last famine was in 2011 in Somalia. Right now we have serious food crises in other countries, including in Ethiopia again, so I think it is a bit premature to say we won't have any famines ever again.

RG: As climate change leads to more extreme weather, it is likely we will see more droughts in the future. What impact could this have on the risk of famines and food insecurity?

Devereux: Climate change has to be divided into two aspects. There's the extreme weather events like droughts, floods and tsunamis, and those obviously create emergencies and require short-term humanitarian relief, which I think we will be able to deal with. Then there's the long-term processes, like the gradual rise of sea levels or the gradual warming of temperatures, which have slower impacts on food security. In the long-term, in areas that are already marginalized, crop yields are going to decline, livestock will suffer because there will be less water, and people's livelihoods will be affected. But there is time to prepare for that.

RG: What are the most important factors in preventing famines?

Devereux: A good way to look at this issue is to see what has changed over time. Look at the countries that used to be famine-prone and examine how they overcame famine, why they don't have famine anymore. One important factor is the spread of democracy. There's no doubt that democratic governments that allow freedom of trade, movement, and information are more likely to prevent famines than countries with repressive or controlling governments that interfere too much in the market or stop people from moving, prevent trade, and suppress information.

Another factor is how well-developed the markets and infrastructure are. It is still the case that some of the areas worst affected by food crisis and famine are those that are very remote and isolated, so it is difficult to get food in - there is no transport infrastructure and people are living in small communities far away from markets. Where you have well developed markets and people can access food through shops and trade and imports, like in cities, you're much less likely to have famine.




"If famines happen, it is because the government or international community failed to respond because they didn't know about the problem, or they were in denial about the problem, or they were playing political games."





RG: Today, politics tend to play a leading factor in the cause of mass starvation. Do you believe that this is less of a threat today than in the past? If so, why?

Devereux: On the contrary, that is the main problem that is remaining. If you look at how famines happen, normally they start off with a disruption in food availability or production, so for example there is a drought and people no longer have enough food. They then turn to the market and try to buy food and if they are too poor to buy food, or if there is no food in the market to buy, they have a problem of access. At this point, you have to have some kind of response. Either the government has to step in and help people buy food, or subsidize the price of food, or, if the government can't do that, the international community has to step in.

That is where politics come in. In the past, when communities were completely isolated and they depended on their own production and local markets, a famine happened because there was no government or international community. Now that we have those institutions in place they should respond and there shouldn't be famines anymore. If famines happen, it is because the government or international community failed to respond because they didn't know about the problem, or they were in denial about the problem, or they were playing political games.


Image credit: Zialater


RG: Could you comment on the food shortages that are currently happening in Venezuela? What is causing this, and do you see a solution to the crisis?

Devereux: I am not an expert on Venezuela, but I think what is happening there is strikingly similar to what happened to countries like North Korea, which had a severe famine in the 90s, because the government intervened too much in the economy. Venezuela seems to have moved from being a free market economy to more like a controlled economy. There is a serious food crisis in Venezuela, because the government interfered in agricultural production and trade, and they are rationing electricity and water. All of these interventions in the economy made it difficult for people to access food. There was not enough being produced and people couldn't buy food as it is being imported at exorbitant black market prices that they can't afford, so people are now rioting to get access.

The obvious solution is to reverse some of the bad policy decisions they've made. For example, if you are forcing businesses to charge very low prices that are below cost for their product, then there is no incentive for producers or traders, so production and markets collapse. In the short term, the situation looks quite bad. The government has to admit that they need help. Venezuela may need to go through an emergency relief and recovery process until the economy can stabilize and the necessary policy changes can be made.

RG: Does globalization play a role in preventing the outbreak of famines?

Devereux: There are different aspects to globalization. The integration of trade is probably positive as it allows food to be moved from surplus areas to deficit areas, either through aid or trade. But another part of globalization that is more complicated is the relationship between donor agencies and organizations on the one hand, and governments and their people on the other. What often happens during a famine is that the relationship between governments and international donors is not good at the critical time, and donors don't respond to government requests for food aid, or governments prevent donors from bringing in food aid.

This happened in Somalia, for example, where Al Shabaab was really instrumental in stopping food aid moving around when there was a food crisis in 2011. It was also a problem in Malawi in 2002 as the donors accused the government of selling the grain reserve and didn't bring food aid in time. In Ethiopia in 1999-2000 the government was fighting a food war against Eritrea and donors didn't send food aid because they thought the government would use it to feed their army.




"We used to think that the global population would grow faster than food production and that this would eventually cause famine. No one talks like that anymore"




RG: What effect has modern technology and farming techniques had on food security?

Devereux: It is quite striking if you look back at the 1970s or 80s, a time when we had this fear that the world would run out of food. This has completely disappeared. We used to think that the global population would grow faster than food production and that this would eventually cause famine. No one talks like that anymore, as we have realized that is not the case. The famines in China and India last century did cause millions of people to die, but today their populations are far larger and yet nobody talks about the risk of famine anymore. This is partly because of massive investments in agricultural production and farming, which means that food production has increased greatly. They are able to feed far larger populations than they even have now. If the world population stabilizes at around 9-10 billion people, which is expected, the technology that we now have will feed these people.

In terms of other technology, one of the most significant improvements has been in telecommunications. You can be in a remote village in Sudan or Somalia and send a text message to the world saying "we are starving here", and that will likely mobilize an international response.

This article originally appeared on ResearchGate News.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Shark Week, Baby: What We Learn Caring For Pregnant Sharks  
It's amazing how much an animal can teach you.

That fact is very evident in my care for the eleven species of sharks at Shedd Aquarium, all of them fascinating, diverse and full of incredible biological traits that continue to give us the privilege of learning from. What's more amazing is caring for these animals as they carry out their natural reproductive cycle. With Shark Week in full swing, I want to shift the focus for a moment from the misunderstanding and sensationalized stories that sharks are dangerous, marauding predators laying wait just offshore to attack a human, and instead take a deeper dive into a subject I find infinitely more interesting- their capacity to be mothers.

Grasping the close relationship between sharks and the water in which they swim, whether at Shedd or in the wild, is important in understanding the type of pre-natal care we provide for them. Even as unborn babies, sharks are at one with the sea. When we think about shark babies, we have to respect how much diversity there is among shark species, as they all reproduce differently.


Whitespotted bamboo shark eggs. ©Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez

Some sharks are oviparous, or egg laying, like our bamboo sharks. These sharks typically deposit eggs containing a developing embryo in a case or shell. You might find these on a beach, which are commonly called a "mermaid purse." At Shedd, to monitor the health of these eggs before they hatch, we can shine a strong light through the case and actually see the developing embryo inside. The case or shell of the egg (which is quite tough) is actually not watertight, allowing the embryo to be bathed in the water around it. However, the resilient casing does help keep hungry or curious prey at bay in the wild, until the sharklette wriggles out.

Blacktip reef sharks. ©Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez

Different sharks, like the blacktip reef shark that recently gave birth to pups at the aquarium, are viviparous; meaning, like humans they give birth to live babies. When we monitor the health of these babies before birth we sometimes use an ultrasound - a portable machine we have on site in the A. Watson III Armor Center for Aquatic Health and Welfare -- to look at them much the same way an obstetrician does for a human mom. To monitor the health of these babies before they hatch, in addition to ultrasound, we can shine a strong light through the case and actually see the baby inside. Visitors to the aquarium can often see this in the Wild Reef exhibit where our aquarists have a really cool egg exhibit that includes the same sort of light behind the egg.

Seeing this type of development helps us learn about how many pups they have, how big they are and how they develop throughout their critical growth protected by mom.

So, as tempting as it is to make sharks out to be blood-thirsty predators keen on threatening humans during Shark Week, let's take some time to appreciate what they really are - important marine species that play a vital role in the top-down maintenance of ocean ecosystems around the world. Globally, sharks are threatened with extinction largely due to overfishing (targeted and by-catch) and other unsustainable practices. If you want to learn more about Sharks at Shedd Aquarium, we have a wealth of resources on our website. We also invite you to visit the aquarium - we would love to change your mind about these amazing animals.

Bill Van Bonn, DVM, is Shedd Aquarium's vice president of animal health. With more than 25 years of clinical veterinary experience, Dr. Van Bonn strengthens the aquarium's established animal care and health expertise, overseeing its diverse aquatic medicine initiatives as well as furthering innovative veterinary science at Shedd. Dr. Van Bonn specializes in preventive medicine and enhanced clinical veterinary services for aquatic animals, with a focus on marine mammals. At Shedd, he focuses on providing top-quality care and applying his knowledge of animal health to conservation of their counterparts in the wild. He also oversees the aquarium's Microbiome Project.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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How to See the Future  

The debate over the merits of renewable energy is over. For the overwhelming majority of Americans, the advantages of replacing coal, oil, and gas with clean, renewable energy sources come under the heading of glaringly obvious.

Our challenge then, is not to convince people that renewable energy makes sense, but to help them see for themselves that the wave of the future is already breaking all around them. And although that seems like it should be easy, people have spent their entire lives in a fossil-fuel economy that has an illusion of permanence that can be hard to shake off. But The Grid is not The Matrix. People don't need a mysterious red pill to have their eyes opened to a world that's powered by renewable energy. It can be as simple as looking out the window.

Fact: Once someone sees solar panels appear on their neighbor's roof, they are far more likely to go solar themselves. This viral solar effect has been documented by researchers. One house gets solar and then it spreads outward from there. Despite the fact that most people agree that renewable energy is a good idea, seeing it happen in their own neighborhood somehow makes it more real.

This viral effect is helping to drive dramatic double-digit growth for rooftop solar installations year after year after year. Last year the U.S. set a record for rooftop solar installations, and this year is expected to have about twice as many. It took 40 years for solar to be installed on 1 million rooftops in the United States. We should hit the next million within two years.

And there are ways to make this growth happen even faster. One is through public awareness campaigns like the Sierra Club's Ready for 100, which just launched a national tour of nine cities across the U.S. to showcase the demand for clean, renewable energy. Last week, I attended the first one, in Aspen, Colorado (a town that has already achieved 100 percent renewable electricity), and it was fantastic.

But here's an idea: What if we could supercharge that rooftop solar viral effect by making it easy to see the solar potential of every home? To that end, the Sierra Club is collaborating with Google to help map the solar possibilities of residential rooftops across the U.S. Google's solar mapping tool is called Project Sunroof, and it's both powerful and incredibly easy to use. Enter your address into the mapping tool and -- bam! -- you'll see your home's solar potential based on your roof's position, shading, and usable hours of sunlight each year. At the same time, you'll get an estimate of your potential energy bill savings, details about different financing options, and next steps to explore making solar work for you.

Project Sunroof is currently available in 43 states (not yet included are Texas, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Idaho, South Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alaska, and the District of Columbia). If you haven't already gone solar and are curious about how much you could save, you should check it out. Fighting climate change isn't just an obligation; it's an opportunity to create the future we want. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Doubling Down on Clean Energy in California  

Last week, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced that it wants to retire California's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant by 2025. If the California Public Utilities Commission accepts the utility's proposal, it will mean the end of the nuclear era in California. Beyond that milestone, though, it marks what is now an undeniable trend. Clean, renewable energy like wind and solar -- combined with energy efficiency and storage -- can compete with any dirty fuel, be it coal, gas, or nuclear power.

The Sierra Club has unequivocally opposed nuclear energy for more than three decades, and Diablo Canyon is a good illustration of why we do. From the beginning it was a reckless enterprise. Nuclear power plants are not just accidents waiting to happen -- they are mega-disasters waiting to happen. Diablo Canyon was especially risky owing to the discovery of nearby earthquake faults, but no nuclear plant can be guaranteed to be safe. The potential consequences of a nuclear disaster are so horrific by themselves that they overwhelm any risk analysis.

In spite of all that, PG&E would likely have attempted to keep Diablo Canyon open if it could have done so profitably. What's driving the closure of this and other nuclear plants is not the obvious risks they pose, but their inability to compete economically. In Nebraska, the Omaha Public Power District decided to decommission its Fort Calhoun nuclear plant this year not because it had to be shut down owing to flooding of the Missouri River in 2011 but because clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency have helped drive the cost of electricity to levels that the plant couldn't match.

In fact, renewable energy has gotten so cheap so quickly that PG&E says it intends to replace all of the power from Diablo Canyon with carbon-free clean energy. That's a big deal, because Diablo currently generates around 18,000 gigawatt hours per year or 8.5 percent of the state's power mix. It's important to hold PG&E to that commitment. Diablo needs to be replaced with additional clean energy -- above and beyond what it would otherwise have developed -- by the time the plant shuts down less than 10 years from now. How PG&E actually does that (solar, wind, energy efficiency, and storage could all play a role) is less important -- as long as greenhouse gas emissions do not increase as a result of Diablo Canyon's retirement.

The good news is that last year, clean and renewable sources accounted for almost two-thirds of new electrical generation in the U.S. Even so, replacing Diablo Canyon with 100 percent clean, renewable energy is an ambitious goal for both PG&E and the state of California. But the fact that PG&E believes it's possible to do that in less than a decade speaks volumes about how far renewables have come and how quickly it is expected to dominate the energy industry.

It also sets a new, higher bar nationally. If indeed it is possible to do this for the largest power plant in California, then there's no excuse not to attempt to do the same thing on a rapid and responsible timeline for every polluting plant in the United States. From now on, the burden of proof is on polluters to show that clean, renewable energy can't do the job. In our work on retiring coal plants, we've seen utilities repeatedly fail at making that case, and it's only going to get harder to do so going forward.

The Diablo Canyon announcement is more than just another setback for polluting power plants. It reaffirms in a big way that renewable energy will be first and foremost in our future. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/1/12067336/panorama-interactive-pinball-machine-digital-art-display  
An analog pinball cabinet is being transformed into a digital art machine  

Inside of The Lab at Panorama, the music festival and accompanying art show debuting in New York City next month, there'll be light projections, a trippy tunnel of mirrors, and other interactive artworks. There will also be people playing pinball.

That'll be the doing of Red Paper Heart, a small studio in Brooklyn that's transforming a 1970s pinball machine into a tool for creating digital art. "Things like pinball get people over the seriousness of artwork," says Zander Brimijoin, the company's creative director. "People love pinball, so they instantly have an emotional attachment to it, and we can use that to create this amazing experience."

Amelia Krales/The Verge

"They're gonna be sort of like a concert...

Continue reading…

 
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Blighty's EU science funding will remain unchanged until new PM triggers Article 50  

Brit boffins are worried about ... well, everything

Science research funding from the European Union to the UK is set to continue until Britain officially terminates its membership of the bloc by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.…

 
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http://twitter.com/W3187/status/748889796924157952 
CITES: list the WHITE RHINO, AFRICAN ELEPHANT and LION as ENDANGERED SPECIES UNDER APPENDIX I in 2016 https://t.co/3OOm4FHP8a 
https://t.co/3OOm4FHP8a 

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Little boxes.  
Little boxes.  

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Photos of the Week 6/25-7/1 (35 photos)  

A West Point cadet's freshly shaved head, Ramadan prayers, Chinese children floating home from school, a Mongolian voter's stare, Olympic trials across the world, a fire ravaged home in California, an especially awkward political handshake, and much more.

 
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Little boxes.  


Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

 

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Leopard in a well.  


A leopard looks up after being stranded in a well in the residential area of Guwahati, India, before being tranquilised and taken to Guwahati Zoo  

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Hampstead.  


Close to the Heath.
A snip at £4 million.  

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Further responses to news of Brexit.  


Chacha, a chimpanzee who escaped from nearby Yagiyama Zoological Park, screams at a rescuer as he clings to power lines Thursday in Sendai, northern Japan. The chimp was eventually caught after being shot with a tranquilizer gun and falling from the power lines, Kyodo news reported.  

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Villarrica Volcano  


Villarrica Volcano is seen at night from Villarrica national park in Pucon, Chile, May 4, 2016.  

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Glazza!  


A full moon rises behind Glastonbury Tor as people gather to celebrate the summer solstice on June 20, 2016 in Somerset, England. Monday night's strawberry moon, a name given to the full moon in June by Native Americans because it marks the beginning of strawberry picking season, last occurred on the solstice on June 22, 1967 and it will not happen again on the summer solstice for another 46 years until June 21, 2062  

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Collecting coins  


An Indian boy holds the coins he has collected in his mouth after diving for them in the polluted river Adi Ganga next to Kalighat temple in Calcutta, eastern India, June 28, 2016. At least a hundred boys earn their income by collecting coins which were thrown in to the river as an offering by devotees to the the holy river.They collect coins worth between one US dollar and 10 US dollars per day, which often is their and or their family's only source of income  

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'Blue Swirl' fractal  

Full Text:

Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot introduced a set of equations in 1975 that impressed artists more than scientists. That's because his equations -- called fractals -- become amazing geometrical pictures. The Mandelbrot set is a fractal. Pictured here is the "Blue Swirl" fractal, part of the Mandelbrot set. As the image is enlarged -- the picture going deeper and deeper into the region near the boundary of the Mandelbrot set itself (black bits) -- we see infinitely many fabulous patterns including miniature copies of the whole set, spidery filaments, pools and lagoons of color, devilish pitchforks and complicated spirals.

Image credit: Courtesy Frances Griffin

 
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We'll smash probe into comet 300 million miles away for kicks, er, sorry, ... for science  

What a long, crazy ride it has been for ESA's Rosetta

The European Space Agency (ESA) has set the date for the Rosetta probe's deathday and says that on September 30 the spacecraft will crash into the comet it has been orbiting for nearly two years.…

 
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Boffins boggle, baffled by blobs deep inside the Earth  

Ancient structures could help unlock secrets of volcanoes, earthquakes

Scientists have revealed new data about two giant blobs at the edge of the Earth's core, larger than continents and possibly older than any rock on the planet.…

 
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Staircase - SeattleTimes  
 

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'Future Shock' Author Alvin Toffler Dies at 87  

Toffler's warnings about 'information overload' and the accelerating pace of change in modern society made his seminal 1970 book a best-seller in the U.S. and around the world.

 
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A New Apple Patent Could Block Fans From Taping At Shows  

The technology giant now has a patent for a system that could prevent you from taking photos or recording videos in specific places, like concert venues or movie theaters.

 
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To Be The Very Best: Pokémon Enters Into Augmented Reality  

A new Pokémon mobile app will bring the virtual monsters into the real world. But the challenge for developers is to see if people are ready for AR in their daily lives.

 
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Researchers Uncover Long-Lost Tunnel Used By Jews To Escape Extermination Pits  

They have provided physical evidence to a famous story of heroism during the Holocaust — known before only through the testimony of the 11 Jews who escaped a Lithuanian massacre site.

 
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Wireless, wearable toxic-gas detector  

Full Text:

MIT researchers have developed low-cost chemical sensors, made from chemically altered carbon nanotubes, that enable smartphones or other wireless devices to detect trace amounts of toxic gases. Using the sensors, the researchers hope to design lightweight, inexpensive radio-frequency identification badges to be used for personal safety and security. Such badges could be worn by soldiers on the battlefield to rapidly detect the presence of chemical weapons -- such as nerve gas or choking agents -- and by people who work around hazardous chemicals prone to leakage.

Image credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT

 
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How Was Your Day … Palestinian-American Muslim Jew?  
"The Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi advocated a one-state solution in Palestine-Israel, did you know that?"  
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The Leading Lady Behind China's Airbnb  
She's building a better Airbnb - for China.  
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Man sues YET AGAIN for chance to marry his computer  

You may now kiss the C:\ drive

A Tennessee man is suing Utah because, like the rest of America, it won't let him marry his computer.…

 
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Empty Seats as Zoologists Hog Royal Society Stage  



Six months after announcing the November 2016 Royal Society evolution meeting on this page and a half dozen or so stories later, over one-third of the seats for the event still remain vacant -- and the tickets are free! But that's easily explained, because the zoologists ultimately decided to "hog" the show.

It didn't have to be so. A lineup of speakers who truly represent the paradigm shift underway in evolution science would have quickly filled up the house. Instead, organizers went with essentially an evo-devo reunion on plasticity and niche construction -- rehashed themes of Altenberg! from eight years ago minus most of the stars of that conference. And they made sure to exclude, for instance, experts on viruses -- the largest part of the biosphere -- at a time when Zika continues to prove it can downsize the human brain in a flash and could have done the reverse at some point in evolutionary time. So how can the November proceedings possibly be considered a credible meeting on the latest "trends" in evolutionary science?

Aside from some of the organizers and Jim Shapiro and Doug Futuyma -- there's no big-name recognition. A number of prominent scientists I've spoken with who have not been asked to present but hope to get a word in edgewise have told me they nevertheless still plan to attend.

Other irritations are that the meeting is largely another Anglo-Amercian affair and there's an absence of women who are stars in science, aside from Eva Jablonka and she's considered somewhat at the conservative end of the discussion.

I expected Evelyn Fox Keller to be the key dissector of gene jargon, however organizers have chosen to showcase lesser known female academics. There are altogether six women presenting.

Also, the hand of Templeton is all over the November event with many of the participants part of the $11M Extended Synthesis grant.

It's interesting that Massimo Pigliucci, one of the organizers of the Altenberg 16 conference -- who is not speaking at the Royal Society event -- recently gave a talk on science and fantasy at the UK philosophy & music festival at Hay. I'm beginning to wonder whether Pigliucci may finally be on to something.

Here is the lineup for the November Royal Society event, at the moment still over 100 seats left. . .

Denis Noble -- Oxford University

Nancy Cartwright -- University of Durham, UK and University of California, San Diego

Patrick Bateson -- University of Cambridge

John Dupré -- University of Exeter

Kevin Laland -- University of St. Andrews

Gerd Müller -- University of Vienna

Douglas Futuyma -- Stony Brook University

Sonia Sultan -- Wesleyan University

Russell Lande -- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, NTNU

Tobias Uller -- Lund University

Paul Brakefield -- University of Cambridge

James Shapiro -- University of Chicago

Paul Griffiths -- University of Sydney

Eva Jablonka -- Tel-Aviv University

Greg Hurst -- University of Liverpool

Andy Gardner -- University of St. Andrews

Karola Stotz -- Macquarie University

Tim Lewens -- University of Cambridge

Agustin Fuentes -- University of Notre Dame

Andrew Whiten -- University of St. Andrews

Suzan Anton -- New York University

Melinda Zeder -- Smithsonian Institution

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Monsanto Fingerprints Found All Over Attack On Organic Food  
When a reputable-sounding nonprofit organization released a report attacking the organic food industry in April 2014, the group went to great lengths to tout its independence.

The 30-page report by Academics Review, described as "a non-profit led by independent academic experts in agriculture and food sciences," found that consumers were being duped into spending more money for organic food because of deceptive marketing practices by the organic industry.

Trade press headlines blared: "Organics exposed!" (Brownfield News) and "Organic Industry Booming by Deceiving Consumers" (Food Safety Tech News), touting the findings by supposedly independent experts.

The findings were "endorsed by an international panel of independent agricultural science, food science, economic and legal experts from respected international institutions," according to the group's press release.

In case the point about independence wasn't clear, the press release ends on this note: "Academics Review has no conflicts-of-interest associated with this publication, and all associated costs for which were paid for using our general funds without any specific donor' influence or direction."

What was not mentioned in the report, the news release or on the website: Executives for Monsanto Co., the world's leading purveyor of agrichemicals and genetically engineered seeds, along with key Monsanto allies, engaged in fund raising for Academics Review, collaborated on strategy and even discussed plans to hide industry funding, according to emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know via state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Monsanto's motives in attacking the organic industry are obvious: Monsanto's seeds and chemicals are banned from use in organic farming, and a large part of Monsanto's messaging is that its products are superior to organics as tools to boost global food production.



Academics Carry Monsanto's Message

Academics Review was co-founded by "two independent professors ... on opposite ends of the planet," Bruce Chassy, Ph.D., professor emeritus at University of Illinois, and David Tribe, Ph.D., senior lecturer at University of Melbourne. They claim the group "only accepts unrestricted donations from non-corporate sources."

Yet two email exchanges in 2010 reveal plans to find corporate funding for Academics Review while keeping corporate fingerprints hidden.

In a March 11, 2010 email exchange with Chassy, Jay Byrne, former head of communications at Monsanto who now runs a PR and market research firm, offered to act as a "commercial vehicle" to help find corporate funding for Academics Review.

Chassy discussed his interest in attacking the organic industry in the emails. "I would love to have a prime name in the middle of the organic aura from which to launch ballistic missiles..." he wrote, "I sure don't have the money."

Byrne replied,

"Well, I suggest we work on the money (for all of us) first and quickly! I've proposed to Val [Giddings, former vice president of BIO, the biotech industry trade association] that he and I meet while I'm in DC next week so we can (not via e-mail) get a clear picture of options for taking the Academic Review project and other opportunities forward. The "Center for Consumer Freedom" (ActivistCash.com) has cashed in on this to the extreme."

The Center for Consumer Freedom is directed by Rick Berman, a lobbyist who has been called "Dr. Evil" and the "king of corporate front groups and propaganda" for his work to promote the tobacco industry and other corporate interests under the cover of neutral-sounding groups.

"I think we have a much better concept," Byrne told Chassy.

Byrne shared an "opportunities" list of targets comprised of people, groups and content critical of GMOs and Monsanto: Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell, Ronnie Cummins, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food," the movies "Food, Inc" and "The World According to Monsanto," and "topic cross-over on all the risk areas of ag-biotech (out crossing/ contamination, bees, butterflies, human safety, etc...)."

"All of these individuals, organizations, content items and topic areas mean money for a range of well heeled corporations, Byrne wrote, adding:

"I believe Val and I can identify and serve as the appropriate (non-academic) commercial vehicles by which we can connect these entities with the project in a manner which helps to ensure the credibility and independence (and thus value) of the primary contributors/owners... I believe our kitchen cabinet here can serve as gatekeepers (in some cases toll takers) for effective, credible responses, inoculation and proactive activities using this project platform..."

"Sounds good to me," Chassy replied. "I'm sure that you will let me know what you discuss."

In an email exchange with Chassy dated November 30, 2010, Eric Sachs, a senior public relations operative for Monsanto, discussed finding corporate support for Academics Review while "keeping Monsanto in the background."

Sachs wrote to Chassy:

"You and I need to talk more about the "academics review" site and concept. I believe that there is a path to a process that would better respond to scientific concerns and allegations. I shared with Val yesterday. From my perspective the problem is one of expert engagement and that could be solved by paying experts to provide responses. You and I have discussed this in the past. Val explained that step one is establishing 501(c)3 not-for-profit status to facilitate fund raising. That makes sense but there is more. I discussed with Jerry Steiner today (Monsanto Executive Team) and can help motivate CLI/BIO/CBI and other organizations to support. The key will be keeping Monsanto in the background so as not to harm the credibility of the information."

CLI/BIO/CBI refers to three industry trade groups -- Crop Life International, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and the Council for Biotechnology Information -- that represent agrichemical corporations.

Chassy responded to Sachs, "Yes we should talk about Academics Review. I think we are on the same page."

When asked directly about funding, Chassy replied via email: "Academics Review does not solicit or accept funds from any source for specific research or any other activities associated with any products, services or industry. Academics Review only accepts unrestricted donations from non-corporate sources to support our work."

He said that Academics Review incorporated and reported no income in 2012 and he provided the IRS form 990s for 2013 and 2014 (now also posted on the website). Those documents report $419,830 in revenues but include no information about contributors. Chassy did not respond to requests to provide that information.

Press Covers "Independent" Attack on Organic


Academics Review released its organic marketing study in April 2014 to a robust round of trade press coverage describing the findings of "independent researchers":

• "The Organic Food Industry Has Been Engaged in 'Multi-Decade Public Disinformation Campaign' claims report" (Food Navigator)

• "Report: Organic Industry Achieved 25 Years of Fast Growth Through Fear and Deception" (Food Safety News)

• "A Scathing Indictment of Organic Food Marketing" (Hoard's Dairyman)

• "Using Fear as a Sales Tactic" (Food Business News)

In the New York Post, Naomi Schaffer Riley built a case against "tyranny of the organic mommy mafia" who are duped by disingenuous marketing tactics of the organic industry. Her sources included the Academics Review report and Julie Gunlock, author of a book about the "culture of alarmism."

Riley didn't mention that Gunlock, and also Riley herself, are both senior fellows at the Independent Women's Forum, a group heavily funded by Donors Trust, which has bankrolled corporate attacks on unions, public schools and climate scientists.

In the Des Moines Register, John R. Block, a former U.S. secretary of agriculture who now works for a law firm that lobbies for agribusiness interests, reported on the "blockbuster report" by Academics Review and its findings that the organic industry's secret to success is "black marketing."

The corporate front group American Council on Science and Health, which receives funding from the agrichemical industry and where Chassy serves as a scientific advisor, pushed the "black marketing" theme in articles by ACSH president Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller, MD, a Hoover Institute fellow who served as the spokesmodel in commercials for the effort to kill GMO labeling in California, for which Monsanto was the lead funder.

Miller, who has a long history of making inaccurate scientific claims in support of corporate interests, also used the Academics Review report as a source for organic attacks in Newsweek and the National Review, and claimed in the Wall Street Journal that organic farming is not sustainable.

Similar anti-organic themes run through other agrichemical industry PR channels.

GMO Answers, a marketing website funded by the Big Six agrichemical companies (and where Chassy and Tribe serve as "independent experts"), promotes the ideas that organics are no healthier, no better for the environment and just a marketing program -- although, ironically, the PR firm that runs GMO Answers has launched a specialty group in San Francisco to try to cash in on the organic market.

Monsanto's top spokesperson, Robb Fraley, also repeatedly trashes the organic industry on his Twitter feed.

Money Flow Goes Public; Academics Review Goes Silent

In March 2016, Monica Eng reported for WBEZ on documents showing that Monsanto paid Professor Bruce Chassy more than $57,000 over a 23-month period to travel, write and speak about GMOs -- money that was not disclosed to the public.

According to Eng's investigation, the money was part of at least $5.1 million in undisclosed money Monsanto sent through the University of Illinois Foundation to university employees and programs between 2005 and 2015.

"Chassy did not disclose his financial relationship with Monsanto on state or university forms aimed at detecting potential conflicts of interest," Eng reported.

"Documents further show that Chassy and the university directed Monsanto to deposit the payments through the University of Illinois Foundation, a body whose records are shielded from public scrutiny. The foundation also has the ability to take in private money and disburse it to an individual as a 'university payment' -- exempt from disclosure."

In January 2016, Carey Gillam, research director of U.S. Right to Know, reported on emails showing that hundreds of thousands of dollars had flowed from Monsanto to the University of Illinois "as Chassy collaborated on multiple projects with Monsanto to counter public concerns about genetically modified crops (GMOs) - all while representing himself as an independent academic for a public institution."

"What you find when reading through the email chains is an arrangement that allowed industry players to cloak pro-GMO messaging within a veil of independent expertise, and little, if any, public disclosure of the behind-the-scenes connections," Gillam wrote.

The last post on the Academics Review site, dated Sept. 2, 2015, is a blog by Chassy explaining that some of his emails would be made public due to the FOIA requests of U.S. Right to Know, which he characterized as an assault on his 40 years of public science, research and teaching.

Financial support from the private sector for public sector research and outreach is "appropriate, commonplace and needed to further the public interest," Chassy wrote. "Such support should be, and in all my experiences has been, transparent and done under the strict ethical guidelines of the public institutions that are benefiting from private sector or individual financial contributions."

Three days later, some of Chassy's emails were first made public in a front-page New York Times article by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eric Lipton. Lipton reported that Monsanto gave Chassy a grant for an undisclosed sum in 2011 for "biotechnology outreach and education activities."

Chassy told Lipton that the money he received from Monsanto "helped to elevate his voice through travel, a website he created and other means."

Still Getting Press as an Independent Source

Despite the revelations in the emails and the disclosure of Chassy's financial ties to Monsanto, the Academics Review website and its report attacking the organic industry are still posted online with all the descriptions claiming independence.

And Chassy still enjoys press coverage as an "independent" expert on GMOs. In May 2016, two separate Associated Press stories quoted Chassy on that topic. Neither story mentioned Chassy's now-public financial ties to Monsanto.

Follow Stacy Malkan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/StacyMalkan

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/aurora-south-of-australia  
Aurora South of Australia  
On June 24, 2016, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA photographed the brilliant lights of an aurora from the International Space Station. Sharing the image on social media, Williams wrote, "We were treated to some spectacular aurora south of Australia today."  
astronomy  

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Tracey Emin exhibiti  
Tracey Emin exhibition at White Cube, London 11/10/2014  
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I Lik It Nice And Ma  
I Lik It Nice And Magical...Always From Micro To Macro Cosmos !... samissomarspace.w...  
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Derbid planthopper (  

Derbid planthopper (Anotia uhleri) collected in Puslinch, Ontario, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: BIOUG00856-B08; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=TTHFW359-11; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:ACB2705)

 
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Being a sensational  
Being a sensational butterfly is a dangerous business: delve into the dark world of parasitic wasps.  
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Wildlife conservatio  
Wildlife conservationist and photographer Sam Trull offers an intimate (and downright adorable) look at what it's like to hang out with sloths all day.  
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Spineless: Susan Mid  
Spineless: Susan Middleton's Mesmerizing Photographs of Marine Invertebrates Brain Pickings  
pin-gaia  

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Mission Specialist S  
Mission Specialist Stephen K. Robinson attached to a foot restraint on the International Space Station. Photo: NASA  
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Endeavour docked to  
Endeavour docked to the ISS.  
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Digital art selected  
Digital art selected for the Daily Inspiration #2427  
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Digital art selected  
Digital art selected for the Daily Inspiration #2427  
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Digital art selected  
Digital art selected for the Daily Inspiration #2427  
pin-images  

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Digital art selected  
Digital art selected for the Daily Inspiration #2427  
pin-images  

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Japanese dwarf flyin  
Japanese dwarf flying squirrel in Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park, Japan (© HTB/NHK Video Bank Creative/Getty Images) 2016-06-30 [www.bing.com/search]  
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