Fungal frog killer hops into crayfish








































Crayfish are vulnerable to the same fungus that is killing frogs all over the world. The discovery helps explain how the disease spreads even after all the amphibians in an area have been wiped out. Worryingly, chemicals released by the fungus may alone be enough to kill.












Taegan McMahon of the University of South Florida, Tampa, and colleagues discovered infected crayfish in field surveys in Louisiana and Colorado. They found that up to 29 per cent of the animals carried the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Lab studies proved that crayfish can become infected and die, the first time this has been shown in non-amphibians.













Infected crayfish can pass the disease to tadpoles, and crayfish exposed to water from which the fungus had been filtered still died. McMahon says the distribution of crayfish around the world may explain why the fungus is so widespread.












She adds that it is "is certainly possible" that other invertebrates might carry the fungus. Her team are currently investigating this and are working on possible ways to stop the spread of the toxin.












"It's very compelling, their evidence for crayfish as a disease vector and for a toxic effect secreted in the water," says Trenton Garner at London's Institute of Zoology.












PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200592110


















































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Australia under fire for diverting foreign aid






SYDNEY: Aid groups Tuesday attacked Australia's plans to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to help pay for asylum-seekers already in the country, saying it was a blow for the world's poor.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr said up to A$375 million ($395 million) would be spent on basic subsistence for refugees waiting to have their claims heard in Australia. It will cover food, shelter and other essential items.

"It's absolutely fair," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The fact is the OECD guidelines provide that if you're spending money on refugees and potential refugees on your own soil, it's to be counted as if you were spending money on refugees or potential refugees in refugee camps around the world," Carr said.

But aid agencies criticised the decision which comes as Canberra battles to stem a rising flow of asylum-seekers, with more than 16,770 boatpeople arriving in Australia so far in 2012.

The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) called the diversion "an appalling breach of trust between the government and the Australian public", saying it would strip money from the world's poorest people.

Executive director Marc Purcell said it was also out of step with undertakings Canberra made to the world as it sought support for significant positions in global leadership.

"On the eve of Australia taking its seat on the United Nations Security Council, now is the time to show leadership," he said.

World Vision Australia also condemned the move as "more than just an accounting trick".

"We know aid saves lives -- the number of children dying each year has nearly halved over the past two decades," said chief executive Tim Costello.

"If these funds are siphoned away from health programmes, it could literally mean the difference between life and death for some of the world's most vulnerable people, including those in our own region."

Carr said Australia's aid expenditure for fiscal 2012/13 would be a record A$5.2 billion.

But he would not say from which programmes the A$375 million would be drawn during the fiscal year ending June 30.

- AFP/fa



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Nick Kristof live-tweets his Bahrain visa crisis



A tweet by NYT columnist Nick Kristof about being denied an entry visa to Bahrain.



This might be the world's first high-profile live-tweets of an entry-visa denial.

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof (@NickKristof), who knows how to use social media in smarter ways than most journalists (see my April 2012 post about his fans using social media to mark his birthday), found himself denied an entry visa into Bahrain earlier today. He took to Twitter to complain and bring attention to the situation there.



Kristof has written a lot about human rights abuses by Bahrain, an ally of the U.S., so that's why he was denied a visa at the airport. This happened despite the fact that U.S. citizens can transit through the kingdom without a visa.

As I write this, it's been about three hours since he first started tweeting about his adventure (see the first tweet above and in this link) and has so far sent more than 30 tweets, many of them retweeted hundreds of times. As he said, "If I'm going to stay up all night detained in #Bahrain airport, I may as well spend the time tweeting indignantly!." But he also made it clear he has it better than many Baharainis who are tortured for speaking up against the government: "People are feeling way too sorry for me. I'm sitting in a nice Bahrain airport, denied entry, but sitting by Starbucks."

Here are some of the highlights, including some lighter moments (in mostly chronological order, though I've grouped some together):
  • #Bahrain officials acknowledge that US citizens can transit for 72 hours without a visa, but they say I'm on a blacklist

  • So #Bahrain fetes Kim Kardashian and boots me out--I wish I were an int'l affairs expert like Kardashian.

  • Testing alternative ways to slip into Bahrain. My real name is Nick Kardashian? I'm a race
    car driver? Tear gas salesman?

  • Do you think if I made a Kardashian style sex video, #Bahrain would let me in?

  • Thanks, Twitter friends, for denouncing my sex video idea. My feelings are hurt. Any hackers who can remove me from Bahrain blacklist?

  • Seems as a US taxpayer I shld get access to a country that we support--even if #Bahrain is now a bastion of repression.

  • On the bright side, police aren't beating me up as they might if I were Bahraini. And its a nice airport to spend the night

  • Denying me entry is a reminder that our ally #Bahrain doesn't want witnesses to its nightly repression in Shia villages.

  • The sad thing about #Bahrain is that it is so modern, so educated, historically so tolerant--and now so repressive.

  • This is why Bahrain doesn't want reporters in RT @jihankazerooni: police ordering to spray pepper on women's faces http://fb.me/1qR5LCrGC

  • I really do want to report on repression here in #Bahrain. Maybe I can overfly it and jump out with a parachute?

  • By barring most journalists, Bahrain gets away with brutally crushing protests--using US military equipment. US pretends not to notice.

  • I've got it! I'll put on a Santa Claus costume and slip past immigration! Ho Ho! St. Nick with presents for Bahrain kids!

  • My worst airport detention was Iran, accused of spying. Congo & Sudan also unpleasant detentions. Bahrain piece of cake!

  • I'm on a morning flight out. They say they'll give my my passport back at gate. They're very pleasant as autocrats go

  • Lots of Bahrainis tweeting me about human rights horrors they want me to cover.Sorry I'm kicked out and letting you down

  • Why I want to report in Bahrain RT @TubliOnline: @NickKristof This happened in my village 2 days ago pic.twitter.com/K4BmM2TM

  • Obama admin is pretending not to notice repression in Bahrain RT @Firegal_01: @NickKristof What's the State Dep have to say?

What do you make of this live-tweeting effort? Strikes me as one of the more unusual live-tweeting sessions I've seen (and I had a student who once live-tweeted a Passover seder for a class assignment). What's the most unusual one you've seen? And what about the most effective?


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Crayfish Harbor Fungus That’s Wiping Out Amphibians


Scientists have found a new culprit in spreading the disease that's been driving the world's frogs to the brink of extinction: crayfish.

In the last few decades, the disease caused by the chytrid fungus has been a disaster for frogs and other amphibians. More than 300 species are nearly extinct because of it. Many probably have gone extinct, but it can be difficult to know for sure when a tiny, rare species disappears from the face of the Earth. (Related photos: "Ten Most Wanted 'Extinct' Amphibians.")

"This pathogen is bad news. It's worse news than any other pathogen in the history of life on Earth as far as we know it," says Vance Vredenburg, a conservation biologist at San Francisco State University who studies frogs but did not work on the new study.

The chytrid fungus was only discovered in the late 1990s. Since then, scientists have been scrambling to figure out how it spreads and how it works.

One of the biggest mysteries is how chytrid can persist in a frogless pond. Researchers saw it happen many times and were perplexed: If all of a pond's amphibians were wiped out, and a few frogs or salamanders came back and recolonized the pond, they would also die—even though there were no amphibians in the pond to harbor the disease. (Learn about vanishing amphibians.)

One possible reason is that chytrid infects other animals. For a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Taegan McMahon, a graduate student in ecology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, looked at some possible suspects and focused on crayfish, those lobsterlike crustaceans living in freshwater. They seemed like a good possibility because they're widespread and because their bodies have a lot of keratin, a protein the fungus attacks.

In the lab, McMahon exposed crayfish to the disease and they got sick. More than a third died within seven weeks, and most of the survivors were carrying the fungus. She also put infected crayfish in the water with tadpoles—separated by mesh, so the crustaceans wouldn't eat the baby frogs—and the tadpoles got infected. When McMahon and her colleagues checked out wetlands in Louisiana and Colorado, they also found infected crayfish.

That means crayfish can probably act as a reservoir for the disease. The fungus seems to be able to dine on crayfish then leap back to amphibians when it gets a chance. No one knows for sure where the fungus originally came from or why it's been such a problem in recent decades, but this research suggests one way that it could have been spread. Crayfish are sometimes moved from pond to pond as fish bait and are sold around the world as food and aquarium pets. (Related photos: "New Giant 'Bearded' Crayfish Species.")

The study doesn't answer every last question about the disease. For one thing, crayfish are common, but they aren't everywhere; there are no crayfish in some of the places where frogs have been hardest hit, Vredenburg says. But, he says, the new research shows that "we need to start looking a little more broadly at other potential hosts."


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Gunman's Computer Damaged, Drive Possibly Ruined













A computer at the Connecticut home where Newtown, Conn., school shooter Adam Lanza lived with his mother was badly damaged, perhaps smashed with a hammer, said police who hope the machine might still yield clues to the gunman's motive.


The computer's hard drive appeared to have been badly damaged with a hammer or screw driver, law enforcement authorities told ABC News, complicating efforts to exploit it for evidence.


Officials have "seized significant evidence at [Lanza's] residence," said Connecticut State Police spokesman Paul Vance, adding that the process of sifting through that much forensic evidence would be a lengthy and "painstaking process."


Authorities also told ABC News that the weapons used in Friday's rampage at Sandyhook Elementary School, which left dead 20 children and seven adults including Lanza's mother Nancy, were purchased by his mother between 2010 and 2012.


According to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Lanza visited shooting ranges several times in recent years, and went at least one time with his mother.


The first funeral for a child killed in the massacre was held today in Fairfield, Conn., where mourners gathered to remember the too-short life of first-grader Noah Pozner.


Authorities also revealed this morning that two adult women shot during the rampage survived and their accounts will likely be integral to the investigation.


"Investigators will, in fact, speak with them when it's medically appropriate and they will shed a great deal of light on the facts and circumstances of this tragic investigation," Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said at a news conference today.


Both survivors are women and are now home from the hospital after being shot, police said. Officials had previously mentioned just one adult survivor. The women have not been identified and police did not give details on their injuries.


READ MORE: School nurse hid from gunman.


Both adults, Vance said, were wounded in the "lower extremities," but did not indicate where in the building they were when they were injured.


Moving trucks were seen outside Sandy Hook Elementary School this morning, as school officials prepare to move furniture and supplies to a vacant school in neighboring Monroe.


Sandy Hook itself will remain a secure crime scene "indefinitely," said Vance.






Emily Friedman/ABC News, Handout











Calls for Gun Control Surge Following Newtown Shootings Watch Video









Newtown School Shooting: Social Media Reaction Watch Video









Newtown School Shooting: Talking to Kids About Tragedy Watch Video





CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the tragedy at Sandy Hook.


Police say Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, spraying bullets on students and faculty. Lanza killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself.


Lanza also killed his mother Nancy Lanza at the home they shared before going to school.


"There are many, many witnesses that need to be interviewed," Vance said. "We will not stop until we have interviewed every last one of them."


Vance said the investigation could take weeks or months to complete. "It's not something done in 60 minutes like you see on T.V."


Some of the other key witnesses will be children who survived the shooting spree by playing dead, hiding in closets and bathrooms and being rescued by dedicated teachers.


"Any interviews with any children will be done with professionals...as appropriate," Vance said. "We'll handle that extremely delicately when the time arises."


CLICK HERE for a tribute to the shooting victims.


The first funerals for victims of the shooting are today, beginning with 6-year-olds Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto.


Officials said today that the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shooting took place, will be closed "indefinitely."


Both the school and the home where shootings took place are being held by police as crime scenes and Vance predicted authorities would spend "months" investigating the elementary school.


All Newtown schools are closed today to give residents more time to cope. Every school except for Sandy Hook is expected to re-open Tuesday.


The town of Monroe has offered to open to Sandy Hook students the Chalk Hill School, a former middle school that currently houses the town's EMS and recreational departments.


Officials in Monroe, less than 10 miles from Newtown, say the building could be ready for students by the end of the week, but have not yet set a date to resume classes.


Nearly 100 volunteers are working to ensure the building complies with fire and security regulations and are working to retorfit the school with bathroom facilities for young children.


"We're working to make the school safe and secure for students," said Monroe Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian H. McCauley.


The neighboring community's school is expected to be ready to accommodate students in the next few days, though an exact schedule has not yet been published.


While the families grieve, federal and state authorities are working around the clock to answer the question on so many minds: "Why?"


ABC News has learned that investigators have seized computers belonging to Adam Lanza from the home he shared with his mother. Three weapons were found at the school scene and a fourth was recovered from Lanza's car. Lanza had hundreds of rounds and used multiple high-capacity magazines when he went on the rampage, according to Connecticut State Police.


Vance said that every single electronic device, weapon and round will be thoroughly examined and investigated as well as every aspect of Lanza's life going "back to the date of birth."


ABC News has learned that both the shooter and his mother spent time at an area gun range; however it was not yet known whether they had shot there.






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Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins








































PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab.













Fernando Casares of the Spanish National Research Council and his colleagues injected zebrafish with the hoxd13 gene from a mouse. The protein that the gene codes for controls the development of autopods, a precursor to hands, feet and paws.












Zebrafish naturally carry hoxd13 but produce less of the protein than tetrapods - all four-limbed vertebrates and birds - do. Casares and his colleagues hoped that by injecting extra copies of the gene into the zebrafish embryos, some of their cells would make more of the protein.












One full day later, all of those fish whose cells had taken up the gene began to develop autopods instead of fins. They carried on growing for four days but then died (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.10.015).












"Of course, we haven't been able to grow hands," says Casares. He speculates that hundreds of millions of years ago, the ancestors of tetrapods began expressing more hoxd13 for some reason and that this could have allowed them to evolve autopods.


















































If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.




































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Tokyo stocks up 1.62% after LDP win in Japan polls






TOKYO: Tokyo stocks soared 1.62 per cent at the open on Monday after Japan's conservative opposition swept to victory in national polls, with promises from its leader to press for more central bank easing.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 158.12 points to 9,895.68 at the start of trade, as the yen plunged in the wake of the Liberal Democratic Party's landslide win over the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.

- AFP/fa



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SkyTender puts automation in airplane aisles




Don't you hate waiting for the drinks cart to slowly make its way through economy class to your seat? This gadget might speed things up a bit.


SkyTender isn't quite the robot bartender that some are making it out to be, but as an automated drinks dispenser it could make flying slightly less hellish than it nearly always is.


This beverage trolley can whip up more than 30 different drinks, including soft drinks, coffee, wine, and cocktails, at the touch of a button or two.


Regular trolleys can be upgraded to SkyTenders with the installation of modular drinks cartridges that use an RFID system and a CO2 cylinder for the dispenser mechanism.



As seen in the educational vid below, SkyTender has a touch screen that rises out of the trolley. Put a cup in the dispenser, push a button on the screen, and there's your drink. A stocked trolley, which has about 8 gallons of hot and cold water on board, can prepare up to 290 drink servings.


Yes, you still need a flight attendant in the loop. Changing the drinks cartridges, keeping the batteries charged, and other maintenance tasks mean there's room for breakdowns, but perhaps no more than when conventional trolleys run out of your choice of wine.




When I told my flight attendant friend Leanne about SkyTender, she was impressed by the fact that it could save her many trips to the galley to reheat or make new pots of coffee and tea.


It also seems safer during turbulence because there are fewer things that could fly off it, she added, and fewer discarded drinks cans present an environmental benefit.


SkyTender recently took its inaugural flight on a German airline, WDL Aviation, going from Cologne to Palma, Majorca.


"Our first ever test flight was a complete success, the system operated as expected and we have generated even more interest in our innovative product, the passengers were extremely pleased with the beverage options and most importantly the quality and speed of service," SkyMax's Oliver Kloth said in a release.


What do you think? Would you be more willing to fly with a given carrier if it had automation in the aisles?



(Via Live Science)


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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National Geographic

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.

A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles in Earth's atmosphere.

After one particularly amazing show, he wrote on YouTube, "The lights were dancing, rolling, and twisting, and at times looked like they were close enough to touch!" (Watch his time-lapse video of the northern lights.)

Published December 14, 2012

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Photos: Conn. Community in Sorrow After School Shooting





















Like It. Tweet It. Digg It.









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