There are healthy and safe ways to take care of the pests in your garden without resorting to poison. Let good bugs take over and get rid of the ones that are killing your plants. It is better for the environment and better for you — and they are easily available for order to be shipped right to you.
An effective anti-malaria vaccine has been developed by a team of researchers at the Osaka University Research Institute for Microbial Diseases in Japan. The results of clinical trials conducted over a two-year period on location in Uganda, Africa, and published in the U.S. journal PLOS One confirm the BK-SE36 dry powder vaccine lowered the risk of acquiring malaria by a whopping 72 percent.
Here’s some news that’ll have exotic food fans hopping: The Kyoto Aquarium will be serving three types of “Frog’s Egg Soup” in their on-site restaurant cafe from June 1st through July 12th of 2013. The soup might look and taste a little weird but at least it won’t make you croak.
Summer is upon many of us, and with it comes mosquitoes. Such tiny creatures are more than a nuisance, serving as disease transmitters of things like malaria. In light of this, researchers undertook a project that could, in part, mitigate such an issue using gene manipulation. Via altering a gene related to the mosquito’s ability to smell, the scientists effectively made the insects “blind” to the scent of humans, leaving them to seek out other warm-blooded prey instead.
Although mosquitoes seek out all sorts of warm-blooded prey, they prefer humans, something that is unfortunate for us. The researchers’ work demonstrated that the insect’s ability to seek out humans is largely based on its sense of smell, although it does use carbon dioxide and body heat as means of detection as well. Its ability to tell when such two factors come from humans rather than animals, however, is based on its ability to smell.
A senior researcher from New York City’s Rockefeller University Leslie Vosshall said that as such, smell is the most important factor for mosquitoes. This led to the discovery of an important gene that facilitates a mosquito’s ability to smell. Eliminating the gene made it so the insects used in the experiment could no longer seek out humans over other warm-bodied creatures.
Vosshall said the team doing the science does not plan to release “mutant mosquitoes” into the public space, but rather is performing the research in part to help create repellents that work better than what is already available. Such work inspires bigger questions, however, primarily whether altering the mosquito populations in areas with, for example, high instances of malaria could reduce the number of disease transmissions.
The biggest question is whether impairing a mosquito’s ability to smell will make it harder for it to survive in the wild – genetically modifying the insects to their detriment would be a negative effect, after all. Another question is whether such a plan would even be effective in reducing disease transmission, because although the mosquitoes wouldn’t be able to sniff out humans, they would still be able to identify them as a food source based on carbon dioxide and body heat. Therefore, mosquitoes in a highly populated area will still have significant access to humans, and the inability to smell may not have any notable effect.
SOURCE: Philly
Image via Svilen Milev
Scientists alter mosquito genes with “people” blindness is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
We’re used to Apple’s CEO teasing product strategies at D Conferences, but not staffing changes. And yet, here we are: Tim Cook has revealed at D11 that former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson is joining Apple to coordinate the firm’s drive toward eco-friendliness. While there are few specifics at this stage, including Jackson’s title, we know that she’ll report directly to Cook. There’s certainly no shortage of tasks for her to handle: along with Apple’s shift toward renewable energy sources, she also has to worry about the environmental impact of the products themselves.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple
Using the internet to develop and market an innovative idea doesn’t need
to be a hairy experience, but this green landscaping company is the
exception to that rule! Let’s take a closer look at RentAGoat.com’s
innovative business:
Does Art Reflect Life? Or does Life reflect Art? The unbelievable body art of Craig Tracy will not bring that timeless paradox anywhere close to closure, because his mixture of the human form and artistic expression is nothing short of (r)Evolutionary.
There’s are a variety of alternative sources of energy out there that break away from the traditional, environment-dampening methods used, some of them better tailored to certain locations than others. Solar power is one such source, and Australia is a prime location for such technology, offering many bright and sunny days. One of the biggest
Electronics are environmentally unfriendly. They usually are made up of non-renewable resources that will take thousands of years to degrade. There is one small way that you can take a step toward sustainability — go bamboo. One of the latest twists is that outer components made of plastic and metal are now being crafted out of bamboo.
We’ve heard about 3D-printed guns and a 3D-printed implant, but a new project is taking the use of these printing machines to a whole new level: 3D-printed food. Such is the goal of Anjan Contractor, who received a $125,000 6-month NASA grant to build a prototype. If successful, the resulting system would not only provide
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
