Animals

Insects May Be The Taste Of The Next Generation, Report Says

11:23am May 17, 2013

A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says insects offer a huge potential for improving the world's food security. Peter Menzel, co-author of Man Eating Bugs, describes some insect-based cuisine and the western aversion to creepy-crawly snacks.

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Crew members unload a catch of sockeye salmon at Craig, Alaska, in 2005. Researchers say fish are being found in new areas because of changing ocean temperatures.

Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering Catches

7:39pm May 15, 2013

by Richard Harris

Fish are moving away from the equator and toward the poles to maintain their preferred water temperature. That means, for example, that fishermen are seeing swordfish normally found in the Mediterranean swimming near Denmark. But in the tropics, there are no fish to replace the ones that are leaving.

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Mike Watson (left), CEO of Kenya's Lewa Conservancy, and conservationist Ian Craig identify the carcass of a 4-year-old black rhino named Arthur, whom poachers had killed the night before. The well-armed, well-informed poachers very likely used night visi

The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid Poachers

8:19pm May 14, 2013

by Gregory Warner

The defenders of Africa's rhinos are battling a well-financed and well-informed enemy. Poachers clear $40,000 or more for a single rhino horn. They have cash for the latest weaponry and to pay for inside information from some of the very people whose job it is to protect the rhinos.

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A Vietnamese rhino horn user displays her horn, which was a gift from her well-to-do sister. Last year, rhino horn sold for up to $1,400 an ounce in Vietnam, about the price of gold these days.

Vietnam's Appetite For Rhino Horn Drives Poaching In Africa

5:42pm May 14, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.

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The Plymouth County Beekeepers Association distributed more than 500 crates of honeybees this spring.

For Year-Round Buzz, Beekeepers 'Fast-Forward Darwinism'

6:51pm May 12, 2013

by Katherine Perry

Honeybees are in trouble across the U.S., but one association in Massachusetts is hoping to boost the population in its own area. The bees it currently uses have a hard time surviving the winter and battling other foes that have been killing bees nationwide. So beekeepers in Plympton decided to breed their own.

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A bee inspector checks on a frame of bees to assess the colony strength near Turlock, Calif., in February. More than 30 percent of America's bee colonies died off over the winter.

Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops

10:56pm May 07, 2013

by Dan Charles

The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.

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Science

This Bat Knows How To Drink

3:15pm May 07, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The Pallas' long-tongued bat has a neat trick at the tip of its tongue — tiny hairlike structures that fill with blood and stand straight out. This turns the tongue into a nectar-slurping mop at just the right time.

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Help Wanted: Polar Bear Spotters

12:14pm May 03, 2013

The Norwegian government is looking for the spotters to warn researchers in the Arctic Circle when bears get too close. A successful candidate should enjoy the outdoors and be competent with firearms.

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These robotic flies, which were built in a Harvard lab, can flap their wings independently of each other and fly around while tethered to a power and control wire.

Science

Of Flybots And Bug Eyes: Insects Inspire Inventors

5:49pm May 02, 2013

by Geoff Brumfiel

Miniaturizing technology is really hard — gears, rotors, belts and pistons that work perfectly at human size just don't work very well at the small scale. So researchers are turning to insects for ideas about how to make tiny flying robots and cameras — and driving a new generation of gadgets.

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The Miami-based Cat Network operates a program that traps, neuters and releases feral cats back to their colonies. A bill before the Florida Legislature would offer legal protection to those programs.

National

As Florida Bill Looks To Aid Feral Cats, Opponents Claw Back

6:59pm April 26, 2013

by Greg Allen

Lawmakers are considering a measure that would offer legal protection to groups that trap, sterilize and return feral cats to their colonies. But wildlife groups and some homeowners say the cats are a threat to public health — and to other animals.

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