405 Year-Old Clam

A team of British researchers found a 405 year old clam, the longest living animal known. Unfortunately it died before they realized how old it was.

British scientific team discovered the 405-year-old clam, named after the Chinese dynasty and not the former Liberal Democrat leader, at the bottom of the ocean, and hope its longevity will reveal the secrets of ageing.

So significant is the find that Help The Aged have awarded a £40,000 grant to the team to investigate how the molusc, born when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and William Shakespeare was writing The Merry Wives of Windsor, has survived over the centuries.

The record-breaking shellfish, 31 years older than the previous oldest animal, another clam, was caught last year when scientists from the Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences were dredging the seabed north of Iceland.

The "Arctica islandica" was among a haul of 3,000 empty shells and 34 live molluscs taken to the laboratory.

Unfortunately, by the time its true age had been established Ming was already dead. But the scientists aged the 3.4in clam from its shell which like trees has a layer or ring of growth for every year that the animal has been alive.

I think it is doubtful that this clam will lead to anti-ageing breakthroughs for people as our life cycles are quite different, but you never know what little molecular clues it could unlock.

Photo by Flickr user 604 Plonker used under a Creative Commons license.

ht reader Mike D.

Forum Sponsors

If you haven't been over to the Geckophile forums that we have had linked in the right hand bar for sometime, head on over and see all of the changes taking place. For the most part they seem good. EBV is one of the sponsors of this forum.

It's called a Rainforest ...

... not a Greenforest. IDers are claiming that global warming is not occurring because global warming scientists predict drier weather in the Amazon. Drier weather came in the form of a 2006 drought, and scientists found that the rainforest got greener. Less clouds meant more light, and more green little chloroplasts. And if their predictions are wrong about one thing then all their predictions must be wrong.

The long and the short of it is that Global Warming alarmists were wrong again. They correctly predicted that the Amazon rain forest would get drier. What they didn’t predict is that it would get greener as it got drier. It seems rainforest growth is limited by sunlight. As it experienced a drought in 2005 the clouds dissipated a little, more sunlight got through, and productivity increased.

Okay fair enough, but where does this prove that global warming is not occurring? The rainforest may get greener in short periods of more sunlight, but that does not mean it is a healthy rainforest under conditions of long term drought. Eventually more drought tolerant species will survive while many of the humid loving species will die off and the rainforest and many of the animals that require, you know RAIN, will have trouble surviving. Short term results does not equal long term results. Productivity of a few species does not equal productivity of the system as a whole. When it comes to conservation all of the parts matter, not just the sum.

Do they have no concept of what science is? In science many times results can be surprising. That is why we do the studies, instead of just proclaiming that we are correct because God is on our side.

And yes the picture of rainforest is not from the Amazon. It is from The slope of Volcan Madera on Ometempe in Lake Nicaragua.

Blogroll Additions

Added three new blogs to the blogroll in the right hand bar. All deal with Evolution, from cool findings to the most recent ridiculous Intelligent Design arguments. As lovers of animals and science I am sure you will all enjoy reading Tiny Frogs, Panda's Thumb, and Evolution Blog.

Darwin Award Winner

Via Tiny Frog. Is a comment here really needed? Poor, poor child.

Heckuva Job FEMA

People better lose their jobs for this one, but knowing the current administration they will probably all get promotions. Fake news conferences to show how great of a job FEMA is doing in SoCal. Stay classy FEMA.

The White House scolded the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for staging a phony news conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.

The agency — much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago — arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency's deputy director.

The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the "error in judgment," she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it.

"FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters, who were asking for answers to a variety of questions in regard to the wildfires in California," Perino said. "It's not something I would have condoned. And they — I'm sure — will not do it again."

She said the agency was just trying to provide information to the public, through the press, because there were so many questions.

Photo by Flickr user imorgan73 used under a Creative Commons license.

UPDATE: He indeed falls upwards just like all the rest.

Tuesday, while “wildfires raged” in California, FEMA staged a live press conference at which agency staffers posed as journalists and asked softball questions. One of those staffers, Director of External Affairs John “Pat” Philbin, has now resigned. He has instead landed an “amazing opportunity” to head public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Some Good News!

It is rare to get good news on the conservation front recently, but a new unknown population of Iberian Lynx has been found in private estates in Spain. The Iberian Lynx is the rarest species of cat in the world. Previously only two populations were known.

The discovery increases the possibility that the heavily spotted cats can be rescued from the brink of extinction.

The newfound population appears to roam private estates in the Castile la Mancha Province of central Spain, according to the international conservation group WWF.

The two other known populations occupy isolated portions of Andalusia in southern Spain.

WWF announced the discovery on Tuesday after local newspapers corroborated evidence of the cats' existence. The animals have been caught on film.

"We are excited and amazed by this discovery," Luis Suárez, head of the organization's species program in Madrid, said in a statement.

Information on the discovery comes from the local government, Suárez said in a telephone interview. But the cats may have originally been seen by private landowners who wish to remain out of the spotlight.

Only between 100 and 150 Iberian lynx remain, including the new population, Suárez said. The World Conservation Union lists the species as "critically endangered," meaning it faces "an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild."

Photo of non-Iberian lynx by Flickr user Andreas Solberg used under a Creative Commons license.

Watson Retires

What Josh said.

Given his statements sad is not the right word. But bizarre certainly and a weird coda to the career behind one of the great discoveries of the 20th Century: DNA. James Watson, who along with Francis Crick discovered DNA, the core building block and information transmitter of life on earth, has been forced to retire as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. This, of course, comes after last week when Watson told an interviewer that he is not optimistic about the future of Africa since, he believes, Africans have a lower average intelligence than whites.

Adding ... I had reserved comment on this issue as it was personally very disturbing that someone you have idolized in your career can be so wrong about other things. I hoped that it was just him being a crazy old man, but then remembered a talk he gave at Berkeley that was quite misogynistic and contained bizarre slides of scantly clad women. The only consolation is that he does seem very sorry for his remarks, but hopefully not just sorry he got caught.

Photo by Flickr user Gaetan Lee used under a Creative Commons license

One More Reason to End the Iraq War

The California National Guard is only at 50% readiness to respond to natural disasters such as a major earthquake or major wildfires, thanks to the Iraq War. California warned the federal government in May of the shortfall, but apparently it fell on deaf ears.

Now, as 14 major wildfires rage across the state, those earlier warnings are materializing. While California currently has approximately 1,500 Guardsmen serving in Iraq, the strains on the disaster response teams are compounded by the missing personnel and equipment.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said, “Right now we are down 50 percent in terms of our National Guard equipment because they’re all in Iraq. The equipment — half of the equipment, so we really will need help.” California Lieutenant Gov. John Garamendi (D) said on Harball yesterday, “What we really need are those firefighters, we need the equipment, we need, frankly, we need those troops back from Iraq.”

When asked about California’s concerns of depleted equipment caused by the Iraq war, White House spokesman Dana Perino said yesterday, “I haven’t heard that specifically.”

Our thoughts are with our many friends and family that have been hopefully only temporarily displaced

Photo by Flickr user slworking2 used under a Creative Common license

Giant Garbage Pile in Pacific

There is a floating island of plastic garbage larger than Texas floating between the California coast and Hawaii. First I had ever heard of this and it is quite disgusting.

In reality, the rogue bag would float into a sewer, follow the storm drain to the ocean, then make its way to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.
...
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is particularly dangerous for birds and marine life, said Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group.

Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. The petroleum-based plastics take decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they can appear as feeding grounds.

"These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs," Chabot said. "It doesn't pass, and they literally starve to death."

Photo by Flickr user magannie used under a Creative Commons license

Fossil Reptile Footprints

Cool fossil reptile footprints.

An unknown animal created the fossilized prints seen above while strolling along the muddy bottom of a nearly dry riverbed.

The tracks were found in the same region of New Brunswick, Canada, where the oldest-known reptile skeletons were unearthed 150 years ago.

But the ancient footprints are preserved in sediments that lay more than half a mile (nearly a kilometer) deeper than those 315-million-year-old bones—which suggests they were made by an animal that lived one to three million years earlier.

photo by Howard Falcon-Lang National Geographic.

Best Meat Evah!

Fatted Calf of San Francisco, Ca. You can buy their meat at the Berkeley Farmer's Market and at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market in San Francisco. Seriously though Taylor makes the best sausages you will have ever tasted. I recommend the Merguez and the uncased Chorizo for breakfast. The Crepinettes are also to die for. And Mmmmmm Bacon.

Bee Keeping as a Business

An article in the SFgate tells the story of a California Bee Broker who brings his bees throughout the state of California to almond orchards as necessary pollinators. How important is this:

In describing the pollination of California almonds it's hard not to slip into superlatives: 80 percent of world almond production takes place in California, and almonds have become the country's most valuable horticultural export. In 2004, more than a billion dollars worth of California almonds were sent into the global marketplace, double the revenues from the state's wine exports. The California Almond Board has pledged to make almonds "the healthiest specialty crop in the world," pouring research money into studies that bolster enthusiastic nutritional claims about heart health and cancer prevention. But the work of pollinating this vast string of orchards - 600,000 acres between Red Bluff (Tehama County) and Bakersfield, a job that must take place over 22 days - is more than the local bees can handle. It requires importation of more than half of the all the honey bees in the United States.

This article reminded me of a book I read this summer by Douglas Whynott, called "Following the Bloom: Across America with the Migratory Beekeepers." It was a great story told in the manner of part travel memoir part history book (in the informative way not the boring way). I definitely learned a lot from it. One major thing being that I would never want the hard hard life of the migratory bee keeper.

Photo by Flickr user casch52 used under a Creative Commons license.

California Condor Lead Protection

There is a bill on Arnold's desk to ban the use of lead shot while hunting in California. Lead shot has been shown to be detrimental to scavengers including the Bald Eagle and the California Condor. An endangered California Condor died last month at the LA Zoo while undergoing treatment for lead poisoning.

Tests showed the bird had 10 times the safe amount of lead in its bloodstream after it was caught in central California last month. Only about 300 California condors remain in the world.

Meanwhile private areas such as the Tejon Ranch in Kern county have gone ahead and imposed self-regulatory bans.

Efforts to conserve the California condor got a huge boost last week from the Tejon Ranch Company, California's largest private landowner and operator of the state's largest private hunting program.

The Tejon Ranch Company announced that it will discontinue the use of lead ammunition on its 270,000 acre privately-owned ranch which is located in the heart of condor country in southern California's Kern County. The lead-free ammunition requirement will apply to any hunting on Tejon Ranch after January 1, 2008, and apply to the more than 1,800 hunters that come to the ranch each year to hunt deer, elk, antelope, wild pigs, wild turkey and other game.

Take action!

Please call the governor right away today at (916) 445-2841 and urge him to sign A.B. 821 into law and protect the California condor.

Calling the governor's office is easy. If you press (1) for English, you can then press (2) to "voice your opinion on an Assembly bill." Finally, press (0) to speak with a representative staff member. Simply tell the staff member that you want Governor Schwarzenenegger to sign A.B. 821 into law to protect California condors.

Photo by Flickr user ekai used under a Creative Commons license.

UPDATE: Word on the street was that the Govenor was planning on vetoing this bill, but he did in fact sign it yesterday. Congrats to the people powered conservation movement in California that was able to beat the gun lobby and the NRA.

Link Added

Over to the bar on the right we added the "State of the World's Sea Turtles" It has great maps of sea turtle nest sites around the world and ways that you can help save sea turtle species.

SWOT is a coalition of worldwide conservationists offering a solution to the lack of a centralized resource for global sea turtle data. This powerful network of partners, collectively known as the “SWOT Team,” has volunteered to annually assess the status of the world’s seven sea turtle species, the threats they face and the wide range of efforts that endeavor to conserve them.

The SWOT Team is dedicated to its collective vision – that of a permanent global network of specialists working to accelerate the conservation of sea turtles and their habitats, pooling and synthesizing data, and openly sharing the information to audiences who can make a difference. Together we have developed a unique global database to which sea turtle conservationists can contribute and compare their data to conservation practices in other areas of the world and collectively map it using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.

Each year, results of these data and updates on conservation projects across the globe will be published in an international journal, the SWOT Report, that will encapsulate the current status of sea turtle populations worldwide; identify gaps in research and priorities; and provide recommendations for advancing both sea turtle and general marine conservation.

John McCain is a Schmuk and Eats Babies

John McCain on Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize ...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, announced Friday, should have gone to someone else other than former Vice President Al Gore.

"I would have liked to see that prize go to the Buddhist monks who are suffering and dying in Burma," McCain said after a speech this morning in Davenport.

The White House was able to say the right thing.

The president learned about it this morning," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto, who is travelling with Bush in Florida. "Of course he's happy for Vice President Gore and happy for the international panel on climate change scientists who also shared the peace prize."

"Obviously, it's an important recognition and we're sure the vice president is thrilled," added Fratto, who said he did not know of plans for Bush to make a congratulatory call to Gore.

Photo mash-up from photos by Flickr user marcn and kellyandapril used under a derivative Creative Commons license.

Planet in Peril

On October 23 and 24th at 9pm Eastern CNN will be showing a special report of Anderson Cooper 360 titled "Planet in Peril" examining Global Warming, Species Loss, Deforestation/Habitat Loss and Overpopulation. Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Corwin will host. From the website this special looks very interesting and informative, tackling some of Earth's real problems. Plus this might be the sexiest CNN special ever. I mean look at the metrosexuality. In HD!

Full body AC sexiness...


Photos from CNN.com

The Great Bear Debate

Via Matt Yglesias there appears to be a household war over which is the cutest bear in the world, and I have to agree that this slide show of a polar bear playing with a sled dog very well may put Ursa maritimus over the edge. I don't think I would have believed it without photographic evidence.

Above Photo from screen shot of slide show.

Although I will suggest the sloth bear as the cutest bear.


Photo by Flickr user scorius used under a Creative Commons license.

Nobel Peace Prize

Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) share the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. They were awarded for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Gore's response via Daily Kos:

STATEMENT FROM FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE
Friday, October 12, 2007

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

A hearty congratulations to a honorable man who has worked hard to bring to light the realities of global climate change and its consequences on the entire planet.

Some speculate that winning the Nobel Prize may catapult Gore into a presidential race, but with little insight I will speculate the opposite. I imagine that this will reinforce Gore's belief that he can be more effective educating the world and bringing about changes outside of the office of President of the United States and he will still not run. I saw earlier this morning a statement that Gore was considering entering the race if Hillary Clinton had shown any signs of struggling, but since she has run a near perfect campaign he would not want to take on the Clinton juggernaut. I'll post a link as soon as I can re-find it. It is true that Clinton has run a near perfect campaign, one much better than I think anyone expected, but Gore would be the one person who would immediately make a race of it again.

I think the pertinent question is who will Gore endorse in the Democratic Primary; Obama or Edwards or no one. Yglesias seems to think that it does not matter, but I think an Obama endorsement could lead to some real momentum. I do think it can increase Obama's awesome factor and take some of the limelight away from Hilary. There are not many endorsements that will be capable of this but I think that Gore's is one of those.

And let me add "What Atrios said."

Photo by Flickr user ereneta used under a Creative Commons license

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to U.S. citizens Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Sir Martin J. Evans of Britain for their work on gene targeting.

They were honored for a technique called gene targeting, which lets scientists inactivate or modify particular genes in mice. That in turn lets them study how those genes affect health and disease.

To use this technique, researchers introduce a genetic change into mouse embryonic stem cells. These cells are then injected into mouse embryos. The mice born from these embryos are bred with others to produce offspring with altered genes.

Photo by Flickr user ereneta used under a Creative Commons license

Holy Wildebeest

10,000 Wildebeest have drowned during the annual migration in the past week.

In a bizarre mishap that conservationists describe as "heartbreaking," an estimated 10,000 wildebeest have drowned while attempting to cross Kenya's Mara River during an annual migration.

The deaths, which occurred over the course of several days last week, are said to account for about one percent of the total species population.
The drownings created a grotesque wildlife pileup, after part of the migrating herd tried to ford the Mara at "a particularly treacherous crossing point," according to Terilyn Lemaire, a conservation worker with the Mara Conservancy who witnessed the incident. (See a photo gallery of the mass drowning.)

The first animals into the river failed to cross and drowned, while others continued to stampede into the water behind them

Crazy.

Photo by Flickr user Andries3 used under a Creative Commons license

Bear Rescue

Check out a series of photos of a bear rescue on Rainbow Bridge on Highway 40 west near Donner Summit on Sept. 15, 2007, near Truckee, California.

Very cool.

Above photo (not of rescued bear) by Flickr user gander178 used under a Creative Commons license

Central America Pictures Continued

Albino Bat. Cannot remember which species it was, but it was not Diclidurus albus, the ghost bat, but was in fact a true albino. Taken on Bastimentos Island.

California Herping

Found a new (to us) website for California Herpers. Good pictures, range maps and species index. Check it out.
Ensatina eschscholtzii eschscholtzii - Monterey Ensatina taken in Garrapata State Park 2006.