Posted by multippt
1) “My ID? My ID? Do you know who I am?”
2) “You think I look 16? Aw, thank you, that’s so sweet.”
3) Look, I just want to spend 10 minutes. My curfew’s in half an hour.”
4) “My daddy said I could come…”
5) *On your knees* “Please, please, please, please, … ” More »
Posted by signup
Scientists sifting genetic material from thriving and ailing bee colonies say a virus appears to be a prime suspect — but is unlikely to be the only culprit — in the mass die-offs of honeybees reported last fall and winter.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Bees Dying: Is It a Crisis or a Phase? (July 17, 2007)
The die-offs, in which adult bees typically vanished without returning to hives, were reported by about a fourth of the nation’s commercial beekeepers. The losses captured public attention as rumors swirled about causes, like climate change, cellphone signals and genetically-modified crops. Scientists have rejected those theories.
Now, one bee disease, called Israeli acute paralysis virus, seems strongly associated with the beekeeping operations that experienced big losses, a large research group has concluded, although members of the team emphasized that they had not proved the virus caused the die-offs.
“I hope no one goes away with the idea that we’ve actually solved the problem,” said Jeffrey S. Pettis, an entomologist with the Department of Agriculture and co-director of a national group working on the puzzle, which has been given the name colony collapse disorder.
The project involved an unusual partnership between entomologists and scientists working at the leading edge of human genetic research. It employed the same technology being used to decode Neanderthal DNA and the personal genome of James Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.
The research was described yesterday in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science. Details are available at eurekalert.org/bees.
Even with the caveats, the possible identification of a virus involved in large bee die-offs is “exceptionally important,” said May Berenbaum, who heads the entomology department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and was not involved in the study. “Among other things, figuring out where this one came from will help us prevent future problems.”
Dr. Berenbaum, who led a 2006 National Academies study of problems with bees and other pollinators, said that finding ways to swiftly home in on novel diseases is ever more important in a globally linked economy. She noted that the first reports of the latest bee die-offs in the United States came in 2004, the first year the country allowed the import of honeybees — from Australia in this case — since 1922.
The new study found evidence of the virus in some Australian bee samples, although that country has not reported die-offs like those seen in the United States.
Dr. Pettis said that even if the virus was involved, it was likely that more than one factor had to align for a hive to collapse, with another possible influence being poor nutrition. Most of the colonies that had big losses last winter were in areas that experienced drought a few months beforehand, and thus a lack of nectar in flowers, he said.
Another factor, Dr. Pettis said, could be the stress that comes from the increasingly industrial-style beekeeping operations in the United States, in which truckloads of hives crisscross the country to pollinate California almonds or Florida orchards each season.
But the virus stands out as a top suspect. While seven viruses and a host of bacteria and parasites were identified in the genetic screening, only the Israeli bee virus, first identified in 2004, was strongly tied to the samples taken from keepers who reported the collapse disorder.
While the virus was first identified by scientists in Israel, it appears to exist in many parts of the world, said W. Ian Lipkin, an author of the new study and director of the Center for Infection and Immunology of Columbia University. In Israel, the virus also seems to produce bee symptoms not reported in the United States, including a pattern of finding dead bees near hives.
Dr. Lipkin, whose focus is human disease, became involved because the quest for a cause for the beehive collapses employed new genetic sifting techniques that he said might also prove useful in investigating outbreaks of human diseases.
One hint of the involvement of an infectious agent, he said, was the recent finding that abandoned hives sterilized with radiation could be repopulated with healthy bees.
The study initially examined bees from four beekeepers who reported die-offs, as well as healthy bees from Hawaii and Pennsylvania. Genetic material was extracted and analyzed with a machine from 454 Life Sciences, a company immersed in the race to make gene sequencing a fast, cheap technology.
Statistical analysis showed that a colony with the Israeli virus was 65 times more likely to have had the collapse disorder than one without it. To try to clarify cause and effect, the researchers said they were preparing a new suite of tests in which isolated bee colonies would be intentionally infected with the virus, both with and without possible secondary causes like certain parasites.
Posted by multippt
Now, it’s really rare to see anyone offer up their forum for large-scale spamming, but hey, it’s a sport! Welcome to the world of flame war forums, the ultimate place where absolutely no one gets banned for commiting any forsaken forum crimes. What are the rules of this forum? Absolutely none. Actually, the more lower your reputation, the better it is. Let the flame wars begin!
Quote:
“I think the internet doesn’t have enough sanctioned areas for flame wars. Often you see them in forums or blogs and they are either locked or deleted. Sometimes members are even banned. But not here. FTF promises to give you free reign on flaming whoever you want, whenever you want, and however you want. Yeah it’s risky I know.
The rules of the site are simple…we have none. I hope we never have rules. Rules suck.
FTW (Flame the World) is the sites motto.”
*Warning: This site may have profanities beyond your imagination.
*Disclaimer: Do not ever, ever try this on other forums, unless you want to get banned. Oh, the site is not owned by me.
Via Flame wars forum
Posted by multippt
The siren was sounded at 8.35 pm. Residents of Greenwsburg, Kansas, USA then started scurrying to their safe haven - their underground bunkers (though, some had to improvise if there weren’t any of those nearby). An hour later, the residents heard a loud screeching and crushing sound, that lasted for a few minutes. Moments later, the they emerge out of their hiding spots, to find their house, in fact everything, almost flattened. The scene was pretty much like the atomic bomb - everything seemingly destroyed for as far as one can see.
That was one of the tales probably told by a survivor of the late Greensburg tornado. The tornado caused massive destruction to the city. Most buildings were instantaneously demolished by the tornado. The death toll hit over 10.
This tornado, dubbed “the Greensburg tornado”, was rated at 5 using the enhanced Fujita scale, making it the first EF5 tornado since the scale was established in February, 2007. The tornado (or supercell) was measured at 2.2km in diameter. Things didn’t help that several other tornados also sprung up in the aftermath of the EF5 tornado.
It was reported that about 95% of the city was severely damaged by the tornado, while the other 5% suffered some damage [but not as bad compared to the other 95%]. The known structures spared from the tornado was the courthouse and the grain elevator.
The affected area was fully evacuated after the incident, and only residents are allowed to enter the area.
The supercell resulted in the formation of tornados, which resulted in widespread flooding arising from very heavy downpours (and even hails).
*Tornados are fairly common in Tornado alley, USA, during this time of the year. Hence, it is not too surprising that a few strong tornados would erupt.
Posted by multippt
Today is the day where we will look at the skies and become more aware of the surroundings and the environment.
Other than celebrating Earth day by turning off your computer, why not research on it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_day
Posted by multippt
There were a series of shootouts at the Virginia Tech University, USA, that left 33 people dead (including the gunner).
A gunman dressed in a black leather coat and maroon hat managed to kill at least 32 students at the university on his rampage, before turning the gun on himself and committed suicide. Witnesses have described scenes of mass chaos, whereby students leapt out of the campus windows in an attempt to escape, and some crouched on the floor to avoid gunfire.
There were two separate shootings in the campus on the same day - just two hours apart. The first shootout left 2 people dead (includes the death toll of 33 people). It is not fully clear if the first shoot out was directly linked to the second one.
However, even after the first shootout, the university was not closed, and information on the first shootout was only heard of by email after nearly two hours after the shootout (just before the second shootout occurred).
Most of the deaths occurred in the classrooms, whereby the gunner barged into the classroom and started firing. In one class, only 4 students out of the 25 were left unharmed - the rest were either unconscious or badly injured.
The situation was contained when heavily armed police enforcement arrived at the university campus.
The gunner managed to fire up to 100 rounds before turning the gun on himself.
Posted by multippt
Earlier, we came across Google’s very own TiSP. Of course, Google aren’t the only lot that have came out with tricks up it’s own sleeve
Of course, these April fool jokes don’t last forever (it would definately end on the 2nd of April), so it’s a good idea to see them before they disappear.
Notable April Fool Jokes:
Google - Google TiSP
Google - GMail paper
Wikipedia - George Washington, the inventor of instant coffee
Technorati - Scrambled “Technorati” logo (which actually spells out other names)
More can be found here.
