Axolotl salamanders, genome research

This 2016 video says about itself:

Named for an Aztec God, This Species Is Critically Endangered | National Geographic

This unique salamander in Mexico is now fighting against extinction.

From Yale University in the USA:

Tiny salamander’s huge genome may harbor the secrets of regeneration

January 28, 2020

The type of salamander called axolotl, with its frilly gills and widely spaced eyes, looks like an alien and has other-worldly powers of regeneration. Lose a limb, part of the heart or even a large portion of its brain? No problem: They grow back.

“It regenerates almost anything after almost any injury that doesn’t kill it,” said Parker Flowers, postdoctoral associate in the lab of Craig Crews, the John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and professor of chemistry and pharmacology.

If scientists can find the genetic basis for the axolotl‘s ability to regenerate, they might be able to find ways to restore damaged tissue in humans. But they have been thwarted in the attempt by another peculiarity of the axolotl — it has the largest genome of any animal yet sequenced, 10 times larger than that of humans.

Now Flowers and colleagues have found an ingenious way to circumvent the animal’s complex genome to identify at least two genes involved in regeneration, they report Jan. 28 in the journal eLife.

The advent of new sequencing technologies and gene-editing technology has allowed researchers to craft a list of hundreds of gene candidates that could responsible for regeneration of limbs. However, the huge size of the axolotl genome populated by vast areas of repeated stretches of DNA has made it difficult to investigate the function of those genes.

Lucas Sanor, a former graduate student in the lab, and fellow co-first author Flowers used gene editing techniques in a multi-step process to essentially create markers that could track 25 genes suspected of being involved in limb regeneration. The method allowed them to identify two genes in the blastema — a mass of dividing cells that form at the site of a severed limb — that were also responsible for partial regeneration of the axolotl tail.

Flowers stressed that many more such genes probably exist. Since humans possess similar genes, the researchers say, scientists may one day discover how to activate them to help speed wound repair or regenerate tissue.

Turkey’s Erdogan Libyan anti-refugee scandal

This 3 January 2020 video says about itself:

Turkey’s recent maritime deal with Libya’s Government of National Accord [one of several governments] has caused tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. The agreement, which mapped out a sea area between Turkey and Libya, would allow Ankara access to oil shale deposits in the region.

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and the European Union have expressed opposition. Athens said it clearly ignored the presence of the Greek island of Crete while Egypt dismissed the deal as “illegal”. Despite opposition, Ankara still sent the agreement to the United Nations a week after it was signed. And Turkey’s energy minister later said the country will begin “exploration of oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean.”

By Ben Cowles:

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Turkish naval ship aids pushback of refugees to Libya

Meanwhile, NGOs remain the only ships in the Mediterranean to rescue people fleeing the war zone

A TURKISH naval ship aided the return of refugees to war-torn Libya today after pulling around 30 people from a dinghy in the central Mediterranean Sea in the morning.

Turkey’s National Defence Department tweeted a video today of one of its ships, the Gaziantep, coming across a refugee dinghy, its crew boarding the visibly-dazed survivors onto their vessel before returning them to a smaller military ship that it said was the Libyan Coastguard.

German refugee-rescue charity Sea Watch said that its plane, Moonbird, documented the capture.

“Turkey, a signatory to the [European Convention on Human Rights] and a member of Nato, has thus become complicit in yet another serious violation of human rights,” Sea Watch tweeted.

The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) special envoy for the central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, said that the rescue was appreciated, but “all returns to Libya from international waters are contrary to international maritime and human rights law.

“It applies to all countries and all military forces present in the Mediterranean. Returns to Libya [equal] risks of torture, arbitrary detention, slavery [and] risks to life.”

The Gaziantep was taking part in a Nato operation called Sea Guardian at the time of the rescue.

One of the many tasks of the Mediterranean-based Nato mission, its website states, is “providing support … to [the European Union’s anti-human-trafficking military mission] Operation Sophia.”

In April last year, the EU pulled all of Operation Sophia’s ships from the Mediterranean under pressure from Italy’s then far-right coalition government, leaving a small collection of NGO ships as the only actors carrying out refugee rescues off the Libyan coast.

“Turkey shows that it does not believe in human rights,” Axel Steier, co-founder of the German refugee rescue charity Mission Lifeline, told the Star today.

“We are seeing people with Turkey’s consent being kidnapped to Libya.

“The truth is that Nato members can do what they want. All other states are watching and there are no consequences.

“The system is simply completely degenerate and refugees, especially, suffer extremely.”

Meanwhile, the Open Arms, a ship run by the Spanish NGO of the same name and the only rescue ship off the Libyan coast, found another group stranded in the Mediterranean this afternoon.

The ship was alerted by the activist network Alarm Phone of the boat in distress this morning.

“[We] rescued a small vessel in danger with 45 people, in poor physical condition,” Open Arms wrote above a tweeted video of the rescue.

“A five-year-old boy, injured. We now have 282 people on board and medical cases that may require evacuation.”

Alarm Phone later praised the actions of the civil refugee-rescue fleet.

“Moments ago, Open Arms carried out a successful rescue operation! 45 people are now safely on board.

“Moonbird was once more crucial to monitor the distress situation from above! Civil fleet to the rescue once again, with phones, aircraft and ships!”

This morning, the NGO ship operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Ocean Viking, disembarked over 400 refugees in Taranto, Italy.

SOS Mediterranee’s Director of Operations Frederic Penard told the Star: “The Ocean Viking conducted five rescues in less than 72 hours.

“We had to cover hundreds of nautical miles to search for multiple boats in distress while crews were already taking care of hundreds of people on deck.

“All these rescues occurred at night, in very challenging conditions.

“While Europe was sleeping, the boats we found were overcrowded, near capsizing or breaking after having spent hours at sea with no assistance.

“Without civil rescue ships, the area of the Mediterranean Sea would mostly be left unattended.

“On Sunday, the Libyan coastguards themselves admitted that they were not in a capacity to conduct operations that day.

“The situation in the central Mediterranean this past weekend has shown again a dire need of search-and-rescue capacity and co-ordination to save lives.”

Journalists jailed in Turkey after revealing name of intelligence official killed in Libya: here.

THE SYRIAN Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says Turkey has so far sent more than 4,500 allied Takfiri terrorists from Syria to Libya, after the Turkish parliament passed a bill earlier this year to allow the government to deploy forces to the North African country to intervene in the ongoing war: here.

Great Barrief Reef-Australian continent lives interdependent

This 2017 video is called The Global Coral Microbiome Project, Part 1 – Australia.

From Yale-NUS College in the USA:

Airborne microbes link Great Barrier Reef and Australian continent

January 29, 2020

A team of researchers led by Yale-NUS College Professor of Science (Environmental Studies) Stephen Pointing has discovered a link between two different ecosystems, continental Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, due to airborne microbes that travel from the former to the latter. The finding showed that the health of these two ecosystems is more interconnected than previously believed, hence holistic conservation efforts need to span different ecosystems.

Microbes are fundamental to the health of ecosystems, playing roles such as providing energy, oxygen and carbon to other organisms and recycling nutrients from other organisms’ waste products. Prof Pointing’s team recently published two papers in established scientific journals Nature Microbiology and The ISME Journal (a Nature partner journal) on the role of microbes in connecting ecosystems, specifically how microbes from one ecosystem can have significant effects on the well-being of a completely different ecosystem.

The team’s success has grown from development of a new apparatus and methodology to accurately study microbes in air — something that has never been previously done due to the low abundance of airborne microbes and how quickly they degrade once captured for sampling. The team’s first paper, published in the June 2019 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nature Microbiology, revealed this method and highlighted how some microbes survive better than others during transport in the air over the Southern Ocean.

Their second paper, published in The ISME Journal in November 2019, focused on the interconnectedness between earth, sea, and sky. Prof Pointing and his team observed that vital microbes essential for the flourishing of the Great Barrier Reef are present in the air, and are in fact transported through the air from other ecosystems like the Australian continental landmass.

While there has long been speculation that airborne microbes are absorbed into the Reef, this was the first study that confirmed the existence of such a link. Genetic testing highlighted that the most abundant shared species in the air and coral played important functional roles in both coral and soil ecosystems, suggesting that the atmosphere acts to connect these ecosystems by transporting microbes essential to the health of each between them.

Prof Pointing, who is also Director of the Division of Science at Yale-NUS, said, “In order to make effective policy decisions to protect our natural environment, it is vital to have reliable data on the level of connectivity between different ecosystems. The role that the air plays in ecosystem connectivity has not been appreciated until now. Our research provides empirical evidence that distant ecosystems on land and at sea are connected by the multitude of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi that are transported in air currents between these ecosystems. Because microorganisms are so important to ecosystem health, any change to their transport patterns can have potentially catastrophic environmental impacts.”

The team’s third paper, specially commissioned by Nature Microbiology and published on 28 January 2020, is a position paper setting the direction of research in the field for the next five to 10 years. It explores ways in which human activity affects how microbes are transported in air, such as how pollution particles in the atmosphere can kill microbes, or disrupt or alter their transport patterns. It also explores the potential of some microbes to detoxify toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) compounds in the air, which are known to cause cancer in humans, although further research is required to determine the feasibility of such an endeavour.

Dutch teachers strike, pupils to Artis zoo?

This 6 November 2019 Dutch video was about a big national teachers’ strike in the Netherlands, against the austerity policies on education of the right-wing Dutch government, with demonstrations in various cities.

On 30-31 January 2020, there will again be a big national teachers’ strike in the Netherlands, against the austerity policies on education of the right-wing Dutch government.

Eg, on 30 January, there will be big demonstrations in The Hague, in Groningen and other cities.

The strike has much support among teachers, other school workers, students and parents.

Also, eg, from Ms Sarina Wiegman, the coach of the Dutch women’s football team, European champions and silver medal winners at the World Cup in France.

And also, support from Artis zoo in Amsterdam.

Normally, children of under 10 pay € 20,50 admission for the zoo. On the days of the strike, 30-31 January, that will be 4 € for pupils and students. Adults accompanying them usually pay 24 €. On the days of the strike, 18 €. All day, zookeepers will tell the visitors about the animals.

This 2015 video says about itself:

Micropia in Amsterdam is the first museum dedicated to the science of microscopic organisms. With high-tech and interactive exhibits, Micropia brings this world to life and makes this invisible world visible. In this video, Shoshannah from Awesome Amsterdam discovers that we all have trillions of microbes on our bodies and more that live in our homes and in our surroundings. And that they are necessary to our health, environment & the food we eat. Micropia is a fascinating visit that’s both entertaining and educational. Travel to Micropia and meet your microbes!

On the days of the teachers’ strike, pupils and students can visit Micropia for 5 €; usually 14 €. Adults accompanying them usually pay 16 €. On the strike days, 12 €.

Colourful new leafhopper species discovery in Brazil

From ScienceDaily:

Second of its kind ‘sharpshooter’ leafhopper from Brazil ‘strikes’ with its coloration

January 28, 2020

When, in 2014, Brazilian researchers stumbled across a never-before-seen red-eyed leafhopper feeding inside the rosettes of bromeliads, growing in the restingas of southeastern Brazil, they were certain it was a one-of-a-kind discovery. Described as new-to-science species, as well as genus (Cavichiana bromelicola) and added to the sharpshooter tribe Cicadellini, it became the first known case of a leafhopper feeding on otherwise nutrition-poor bromeliads in their natural habitat.

Several years later, however, a team of entomologists from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro carried out fieldwork in a mountainous area of southeastern Brazil and, as a result, another bromelicolous leafhopper species of the genus was discovered: Cavichiana alpina. Only, the new one appeared even more spectacular.

The new species, described and illustrated in the open-access journal Zoologia, is known from Itatiaia National Park (state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil), where it can be found at altitudes above 1,800 m a.s.l. In fact, its characteristic mountainous habitat came to determine its species name (alpina). In contrast, its relative was originally described exclusively from sea level regions, even though the latest field trips have recorded it from a site located at 1,250 m a.s.l.

Slightly larger than the previously known C. bromelicola and similarly red-eyed, what most remarkably sets apart the newly-described species is its colouration. Rather than a single large yellow blotch contrasting against the dark-brown to black back of the insect, this sharpshooter sports a motley amalgam of red and blue covering most of its upper side.

In conclusion, the researchers explain that the peculiarity of the two known Cavichiana species is best attributed to a putative common ancestor that had likely once been widely distributed in southeastern and southern Brazil. Later, they speculate, a vicariant event, such as the uplift of the southeastern Brazilian mountain ranges during the latest Eocene and Oligocene, might have caused its diversification into two separate species.

London Grenfell disaster inquiry insufficient, firefighters say

From daily News Line in England:

FBU criticises ‘serious shortcomings’ of Grenfell Tower Inquiry

29th January 2020

BELOW is the introduction to the Fire Brigades Union’s 64-page ‘Response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report’, containing scathing criticism of its ‘significant shortcomings’.

‘The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is the democratic, professional voice of firefighters and other workers within fire and rescue services across the UK.

‘We represent the vast majority of whole-time (full-time) and retained (part-time, on-call) operational firefighters and operational fire control staff across the UK.

‘The FBU welcomes the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (GTI) Phase 1 report. The bereaved, survivors and residents (BSRs) – as well as firefighters – have waited too long for an official report into the fire.

‘The union commends the GTI for the dignified treatment of those who died or who lost loved ones.

‘The FBU welcomes the recommendations and will work together with other interested parties to ensure they are implemented swiftly.

‘There are many practical matters to be resolved, which the union is committed to assist with.

‘The GTI has published a great deal of written evidence from those who lived in and around Grenfell Tower, which sheds light on
the events of 14 June 2017.

‘It has also heard oral testimony from those directly affected.

‘Similarly, firefighters attending on the night have given their written statements and some also gave testimony to the inquiry.

‘A range of expert reports have been produced, which also provide much insight into the fire at Grenfell Tower.

‘Despite the merits of the GTI’s investigation so far, the FBU cannot ignore significant shortcomings in the Phase 1 report.

‘The GTI has produced a forensic examination of the events of 14 June 2017 at Grenfell Tower and made a number of scathing criticisms of the actions of firefighters on the night of the fire.

‘The report comes to a very harsh verdict on the London Fire Brigade (LFB), particularly its principal management.

‘The Phase 1 Report states that the public inquiry is intended to be “an investigative, rather than an adversarial, process” (1.25).

‘Yet firefighters feel aggrieved when they are subjected to harsh criticism, while those responsible for the failures that led to a disaster on this scale have so far not faced serious cross-examination.

Firefighters demand Grenfell inquiry probe ‘decades of deregulation’ by ministers and officials: here.

THE Fire Brigades Union has criticised the “endless delays” to the inquiry and said that it “must finally learn what led to Grenfell becoming such a death trap”: here.

Ancient orchid bee nests in Panamanian cathedral

This 2015 video in Spanish is about the Basilica Cathedral in Casco Viejo (Panamá).

This 2008 video says about itself:

The relationship between Orchid Bees (genus Euglossa) and Orchids is remarkable.

This video shows male Orchid Bees collecting fragrance from a Mexican Orchid, Mormodes badia.

Filmed at Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

From ScienceDaily:

19th-century bee cells in a Panamanian cathedral shed light on human impact on ecosystems

January 27, 2020

Summary: About 120 clusters of 19th-century orchid bee nests were found during restoration work on the altarpiece of Basilica Cathedral in Casco Viejo (Panamá). Having conducted the first pollen analysis for these extremely secretive insects, the researchers identified the presence of 48 plant species, representing 23 families. The findings give a precious insight into the role of natural ecosystems, their component species and the human impact on them.

Despite being “neotropical-forest-loving creatures”, some orchid bees are known to tolerate habitats disturbed by human activity. However, little did the research team of Paola Galgani-Barraza (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) expect to find as many as 120 clusters of nearly two-centuries-old orchid bee nests built on the altarpiece of the Basilica Cathedral in Casco Viejo (Panamá).

This happened after restoration work, completed in 2018 in preparation for the consecration of a new altar by Pope Francis, revealed the nests. Interestingly, many cells were covered with gold leaf and other golden material applied during an earlier restoration following an 1870 fire, thus aiding the reliable determination of the age of the clusters. The cells were dated to the years prior to 1871-1876.

The bee species that had once constructed the nests, was identified as the extremely secretive Eufriesea surinamensis. Females are known to build their nests distant from each other, making them very difficult to locate in the field. As a result, there is not much known about them: neither about the floral resources they collect for food, nor about the materials they use to build their nests, nor about the plants they pollinate.

However, by analysing the preserved pollen for the first time for this species, the researchers successfully detected the presence of 48 plant species, representing 43 genera and 23 families. Hence, they concluded that late-nineteenth century Panama City was surrounded by a patchwork of tropical forests, sufficient to sustain nesting populations of what today is a forest-dwelling species of bee.

Not only did the scientists unveil important knowledge about the biology of orchid bees and the local floral diversity in the 19th century, but they also began to uncover key information about the functions of natural ecosystems and their component species, where bees play a crucial role as primary pollinators. Thus, the researchers hope to reveal how these environments are being modified by collective human behaviour, which is especially crucial with the rapidly changing environment that we witness today.

Climate change and capitalist corporations

This 23 January 2020 video says about itself:

Corporate Control and the Climate Meltdown

Folks, please share our videos! This is not a spectator sport. We need you to get active (and clever) in sharing the truth about climate change. The denialist side has huge funding. We just have the truth and intention of our viewers to work with. Use the embed code or share the link (to video or channel).

Dr. Luiz Marques, Professor of Environmental History at the State University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil shares an in-depth exploration and explanation of how our current ‘neoclassical’ economic system is responsible for the climate crisis and ecological deterioration, leading to a probable collapse of local ecosystems, and the general inability to grow food for human consumption.

Dr. Marques, who is a proponent of Ecological Economics discusses capitalism as the precursor and root cause of the current environmental collapse tightening its grip on the Earth’s biosphere. He argues that an economy based on continual exponential economic growth, which is entirely the program of our current ‘neoclassical economics’ taught universally in business schools around the world, where nature and the environment are considered mere externalities, is unsustainable. A philosophy professor specializing in logic, Dr. Marques provides the logical connections between current economic systems and ecological devastation.

Visit our website at: https://scientistswarning.org and endorse the Scientists’ Warnings to Humanity.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of marine heat waves — warm water anomalies that disrupt marine ecosystems — and this is creating new challenges for fisheries management and ocean conservation. A new study shows how the record-breaking marine heat wave of 2014 to 2016 caused changes along the U.S. West Coast that led to an unprecedented spike in the numbers of whales that became entangled in fishing gear: here.

This 27 January 2020 video says about itself:

Again this year Greta Thunberg was invited to address the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the annual event where the world’s wealthy and powerful assemble to discuss society’s problems (and cut deals to make more money). Again she spoke in clear, simple terms of the disastrous climate emergency and the continuing failure of the world’s leaders, corporations, bankers, and the wealthy to take meaningful action to save their children. …

Trump also spoke (at a different session) and spouted the usual corrupt, self-serving lies and platitudes, not worth repeating or giving any more attention. He is an embarrassment to all Americans.