Polar Bears have symptoms of mystery Disease

This myserious disease outbreak was first noticed last summer. When about 60 seals were found dead and another 75 diseased, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most of the affected seals are ringed seals, but diseased ribbon, bearded and spotted seals were also found. The nine polar bears from Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with some hair loss (patchy hair loss) and oozing sores on their skin. This is similar to how the disease affected the seals and walruses. But unlike those seals and walruses, the nine polar bears did not die, they were healthy says Tony DeGange the chief of the biology office for the USGS's Alaska Science Center. These nine polar bears were among the 33 that biologists have captured and sampled while doing routine studies on the Arctic coastline.

It is good to know that the polar bears that are one of the many animals that are going extinct are not dying from this mysterious disease, but that still brings the question of what is the cause and is it affecting other animal in the Arctic. For example, say some fisherman catch fish from the Arctic, and those fish are affected with the disease. What will the affects happen to a human that eats the animal. I know that is why we have science to go and do that kind of research so we don't kill people by what they eat. But in this article they are not giving much though on what is the disease, and any leads to where it could be coming from like a source.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/06/us-polarbears-idUSBRE8350MX20120406

James Cameron Dives to the Floor of Marian

I knew that once I heard about James Cameron going into the ocean, I just had to report about it. This is a man that shows a lot of heart into the environment and is trying to show the world what he sees.


James Cameron traveled in a submersible called Deepsea Challenger, descending to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The Trench is seven miles beneath the western Pacific Ocean, other explorers have tried to reach the bottom but some have lost their lives. Cameron made it to the bottom and back, and he plans to go back down again. What I find interesting about this type of submarine is that it shrinks as you  go down. I never knew that they can make a submarines can do that. Also I was amazed to see the map of how deep this trench goes. If you take Mt. Everest and flip it upside down, that is how deep this trench goes. I can't even swim to the bottom of the deep end of the pool with my ears hurting me. If I went that far down, I will lose my hearing, I am too young to lose my hearing.

What Cameron saw when he reached the  bottom was no life at all. He was sent down their to video record life and any other information of the bottom of the Mariana Trench for 6 hours. But only stayed their for three because of an oil spill (I think it was from his submarine), and made it back to the surface in 70 min.  It is no wonder why he is planning to go back, once they fix the problem he will go back and try to discover something new to bring to the world to see. He always does, it is in his nature as an explored. And I bet that in a few years he will make a movie based on this experience, or a IMAX documentary as he has done with his trip to the Titanic.

All I can say is that I wish I could see what he see, to have a job like he does and explore the world. I do hope that in his next trip down to this trench, that he does discover's something and for his safe return. There are lots of video links to this article, and all of them were very informative. I recommend watching them to see the stuff Cameron did record.  




http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/james-cameron-dives-floor-mariana-trench-deeper-everest/story?id=16003655#.T3pz53NuHrU

Junk Removal Service

This news article is in the theme of recycling. Found on the Sarasota Suncoast news at http://www.mysuncoast.com/content/living-green/story/Living-Green-Junk-removal-service/_0DMlifqdkyeDQL4BCrIZg.cspx

This red truck is on a mission to take whatever junk you don't want and find it new homes, and out of landfills. Junk King GM Michele Postell says "Then we bring it back to the warehouse, we sort through it and see what can be re-purosed, recycled or reused to keep it out of the landfill." To me this sounds a lot like what companies like the Goodwill does, only instead of you bringing your unwanted items to them, they can come to you and take it off your hands. I really like this story, because it is nice to see things being recycled, especially things that we have bought in the past, and no longer need. Giving it to those who need it most. We have a tendency to buy more than we need, we fill the need to buy more thing. And be surrounded them, but do we really need so many things, does that make us happy. Just like the saying goes (or phrase) "money can't buy you happiness" and that goes well with this story.

If we can recycle more stuff like this and give it to other people, then that might be the start of having companies make less of the stuff, and there by less pollution that goes with it.


 "Then we bring it back to warehouse, we sort through it and see what can be re-purposed, recycled or reused to keep it out of the landfill," says Junk King GM Michele Postell.

 

Save the Animals

I think this is a very important topic to talk about. Next to talking about our environment and helping to clean the earth and save it, we must not forget the animals.

I found this video on NBC.com Nightly News titles New View on endangered species.
Joe Satori is a photographer and in a way he is also playing the similar role of Noah. Being the more modern day Noah of taking photograph's of every animals (two of the same species, boy and girl) instead of building an ark. Satori feels that it is important to get pictures and document their information before it becomes too late for them and for the future. A quote from Satori "These things have value and we shouldn't be throwing them away-- we are throwing away the ark" This project of his is called the Biodiversity Project, documenting animals and even plants.

This is a short video (about 2 minutes) but it is a powerful one and to me, it shows that there are people that are speaking for the animals and trying to help save them from going extinction. I would like it to see Ringling's Photography majors do something like this, even the other majors like Illustration can do something to get other people to look at these animals in a new way.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#46674706

Living Green Save Water

This weeks news that I found on the mysuncoast.com is about water and more importantly how much we should use it, especially for garden lovers out there.


The irrigation systems is used at many homes on the Suncoast to water their yards and plants. There is a problem with the system, which is that sometimes that don't always do the job. Debbie Shapiro of Sarasota discovered the extension service's irrigation Evaluation Program and used their expertise. Shapiro said that before her yard and garden did not get enough water from her sprinklers. Sometimes she said that "many of the heads were broken or spraying incorrectly." After going through her yard with these experts, her yard is now better and looks healthier (greener). The reason why it is even healthier is because she has a better understanding of how the irrigation system works. By capping some of the sprinkler heads that she did not use, expanding the use of more efficient micro-irrigation heads and repairing some of the broken heads. This is helping in a big way by saving a lot of water.

This is something that I think everyone should do. They should take a look at their yard, if you have a garden or not. If you have something to give water to your yard, it is best to check out everything. See if there are any broken sprinklers and maybe see if you limit how many you have. Basically notice how much water you are using, even too much water is bad for your yard. I know that some people might have their sprinklers on a setting and it would go on a timer. But I have seen some people that just leave their sprinklers running and wasting water. By doing that, not only is it a big waste of using water. But your are over water the yard and it is not going to make your yard greener than your neighbor.

the extension service is recommending people to keep the irrigation systems off and only use them when there has not been enough rain water. I agree with this 100%. Before we take more water from someplace else, lets us first let nature take care of watering the earth. Let us use more natural resorces than the sources by some company.  A quote from the extension service about the system "An irrigation system is not meant to replace rain water, it's meant to supplement rain water...and we forget that sometimes."



http://www.mysuncoast.com/content/living-green/story/Living-Green-Irrigation-evaluation-can-help-save/AXfG47TgQ0GJKf5giBCadQ.cspx

Bat Flu

Next to Bird Flu and Pig Flu, we now have Bat Flu.

So far scientist have found this new never-before-seen virus in bats, but it is still uncertain as to it being harmful to humans. This news is recent (2/28/12) and even though their is not any information on this flu and how it effects us. But just like any other flu, go and protect your body and get a flu shot right away. It never hurts to be extra save, than be sick and sorry.

It is almost common now a days to find animal caring a flu virus. There have been reports of a flu in not only birds and pigs (the more common animals we cook and eat). But are sometimes seen in dogs, seals, whales and horses as well as other animals. A flu virus is know for spreading around everywhere so it would not surprise me to see that an animal like a bat, which most people would not think about as much. Would end up caring some virus in them. Scientists hypothesis that some bats might have caught the flu centuries ago and then the virus mutated within the bat. As the bat population grew, so did the virus.

There are some guesses as to how this new virus could end up effecting us. Bats are known to eat only fruit and insects not people. So we would not have to sorry about going into a cave and getting bite by a bat and getting the virus. But if the bat takes a bite of a fruit, and a human has contact (takes the fruit or eat the fruit without noticing the bite marks) with the fruit. Then there is the possibility of the bat flu spreading to humans.

In Guatemala, the CDC has an international outpost where they do reasearch and collect information. It is there that they have collected 300 bats from 2009 to 2010. The main focus was on rabies, but also looked into other germs and that is how they came across this new virus found in a little yellow-shoulder bats (found by Donis, a veterinarian by training). The next step in learning about this new virus is the scientist are going to draw the blood from the bat and examine it more. And I think they are going to inject it into other animals and document the results. And from their research, then they will see if it will harm us next.

My only question about this article is are there any more bats that they have collected that are caring this new virus. There are many bats in the world and my question is are all bats affected by this virus, has it spread so much that it is seen in other species of bats. Again this story is new, so it is too early to say anything more. But I do hope that this news will be address more on the nightly news and answer these questions.





http://health.newsplurk.com/2012/02/bird-flu-pig-flu-now-bat-flu-human-risk.html
http://www.ajc.com/news/scientists-discover-flu-in-1365748.html
http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/news/bat-flu-human-risk-unclear-1.1244563

New College's Seawall restoration project

The New College is in the works of restoring the Seawall that was commissioned by John Ringling back in the 1920's. Over the years, time has made an effect on the wall, it is rundown and in disrepair. This project of restoring the wall is a $2 million project, and this serve as focal point for learning and to bring the look of the area back. Morris a New College official says "We're reconstructing the seawall, we will have an esplanade along the Bayfront, we going to reconstruct the historic balustrade that was at the top of the seawall." Basically the goal of this project is to recreate the aesthetic feel of the Ringling era. The seawall is not the only project that is going on, there is also going to be in that section, they are going to degrade and breach the seawall and create a new inter-tidal lagoon. This lagoon will help improve the health of the bay. Morris says that "to remove a vertical seawall and create a soft, sandy sloping, inter-tidal habitat, it's really a positive benefit for the bay."

I think that this is a very good thing that Florida (Sarasota) is doing. Unlike some places that would not think hard of restoring an area and end up leaving it alone for years. Florida is really taking it part in helping it's environment and trying to save it. If this seawall was not getting its restoring, then it will continue to rundown till there is nothing left, and some of it might end up in the water affecting the fish and their habitat. I hope that we hear more of these kinds of projects on the news, help rebuild and save buildings and areas and not spend more money on rebuilding and damaging the area. When this project is finished, it will give a new place for New College biology students and anyone else who wants to study the Suncoast waters.

I also like it how this is a project from a college, showing that students are concerned with the area they live in (living in Florida) and want to help in what ever way they can. I am sure Ringling has done projects like this in the past. But I think this is a great example to share is other schools and not just colleges. Like by raise money for these projects and or volunteering to save money.







http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local/story/Seawall-restoration-the-centerpiece-of-New/kzWLnXLuYUqvUHRFxzuGiQ.cspx