So sad...grad student shot in Mexico for being in the wrong place at the wrong time

When I first entered college in 1984, my plans were to study social impacts on the environment and was majoring in biology heading towards a specialisation in oecology, as well as sociology as a second major. I never would have dreamed it was dangerous at all. My heart goes out to the family of this graduate student, Gabriel Trujillo. He sought to make the world better by finding a way to bring back the buttonbush to its native environment. Such an innocuous but important endeavour, and he died being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

U.S. Grad Student Brutally Killed on Mexican Field Trip: Gabriel Trujillo’s father says his 31-year-old son was shot seven times.

[PS While I kept the sociology major and paired it with history instead of biology, the change was because during Animal Biology my teacher chloroformed a lab rat in front of me...and dissected it right then. I was sick and dizzy. I love animals. This seemed so cruel. I got out of biology the next semester, although I loved it otherwise. I cannot abide that sort of indifference to animals.]

In science news...

Stunning 3D animation reveals how the Sahara fertilises the rainforests of the AMAZON with 182 million tones of dust

Buddha statue reveals remains of mummified monk inside

Rats May Be Exonerated in European Plague, Say Scientists With a Gerbil Theory

More Siberian Craters Prompt Call for Urgent Investigation

'Early peanut intake could prevent allergy'

Blind man sees wife for the first time in a decade - here's how

Did you see this?

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory: Eating more omega-3 fatty acids can offset damage, researchers say

"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.

Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid sweetener. The syrup is widely added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes roughly 47 pounds of cane sugar and 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rats of Unusual Size discovered in Papua New Guinea

Giant rat found in 'lost volcano'

We're talking almost three feet long--32 inches long--from nose to tail. In the accompanying video with the story, they show the explorers petting the rat, which had no fear of humans. No word on whether the area has gouts of flame spurting up like in the swamp in Princess Bride, but the area is volcanic. :)

Cute

'Rat Loves Cat' by chibudgielvr



The rat really loves his cat. The cat seems to be tolerant, though, although a little freaked. I guess I would be, too, if I were a cat. It reminds me of my cat Darius, who glued himself to Cerys, my poor long-suffering dog. He'd sit on her back when she was laying down and nuzzle up to her face and was generally velcro kitty when it came to her, which she learnt to deal with but never really liked. I think she was sort of relieved when I had Darius put down, even though they were together for about fourteen or fifteen years. Thanks to YKWIA for a head's up on this one.

Ewwwwwww

Dead rat found in senior's mouth

A lawsuit alleges that care was so bad at a facility that a rat was able to crawl into an Alzheimer's patient's mouth and then died there. The resident, who survived, is now being cared for at another facility.

Muskrat Love

I forgot to mention the muskrats. The other day I was driving along and had stopped at a stop sign when this greyish-brownish creature with a gopher head and a flat tail came walking across the road. I scared the person I was with to death since I said it rather looked like a large rat, only with a different head (to the point he went all girly on me and started wringing his hands and even yelped. If he could have jumped out of the car, he would have. Of course, then he'd be outside with the giant killer rat. You should see what he did when a giant praying mantis was on the windshield.) :) Once we got to our destination, someone brought out a natural history encyclopaedia and we determined that yes, it was a muskrat, no doubt leaving the nearby water in search of a mate. We're also reasonably certain that the 'beavers' who cavorted in the swamp near my apartment complex were really muskrats.

Incidentally, I always hated 'Muskrat Love' by Captain & Tennille--and for that matter, didn't really care for 'The Wedding Song (There is Love)' even though it played at my wedding (I always found their music way too saccharine.) :).