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POPSHerbicide review 'fails' the environment The review recommends changes on labels to reduce the risk of the herbicide contaminating waterways. I'm sure that's physically impossible. Unless we can work out how to grow dry plants. There is also a cop out, saying that it is the responsibility of the States to ensure this happens. The don't mention how, apart from the warning on the label.
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POPSTough grasses may be key to new carbon sink Grasses like this may be part of a solution, where it will be need to be part of a new approach to agriculture, which will involve a combination of measures, that will allow us to be more compatible with the environment. Things like putting back into the soil what is taken out, with fewer chemicals like pesticides, and herbicides, which nature cannot digest, being left behind. If we try and compete with nature, we lose, we need to learn to work with nature, and the resources it has available - how nature and mankind should be on the same team, but we spend too much time banging our heads against the immovable object that is nature. We often seem to be trying to replace what is natural with our own ideas, but the time that we can run a show as well as nature, is a long way off. It's about time we tried to learn.
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POPSThe Great Barrier Reef The individual pictures don't link, but there are larger copies at the site that also show the details of the copyright holder
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POPSAustralia gets access to underwater bounty There seem to be the implication that we can 'own' an environment. While there is constant talk of conservation, it never seems to get in the way of a good profit. The world is a boat. and we are just passengers, not owners. We should feel obliged to leave it in a fit state for travelers on the next leg of the journey. I suppose it was a choice between oil rigs, and bottom trawlers. The black smoker' is the spout from a seabed hydrothermal vent. At the sea floor, due to the pressure, water is still liquid at 400deg C, and is as acidic as vinegar.
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POPSSydney's stressed brains are shrinking There was another conclusion suggested for the reason those subjects from Melbourne had more 'grey matter' than those from Sydney, which was that the brains of Sydneysiders had eliminated unnecessary neural pathways, connections and links, so making their brains more efficient. There was also the possibility considered that another reason for the differences, is that Sydney brains were too mature to spend too much time thinking about sport. They didn't need as large an amount of gray matter to remember football scores.
0
POPSHuntsman spiders fight over family home The mother being the biggest rules the roost, but if she dies, the nest already has what is needed. The biggest sister is the most likely winner. It's not just that good nests are hard to find, but when finding one it's much easier to be caught out in the open and become someone else's dinner
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POPSSolar plant a 'small but important step' The Australian centre gets an incredible amount of sunlight. There's very little that can be done without the first step. Remember computers became a prospect (distant) when they invented the transistor. Every program is a series of small steps. Step left 0 step right 1-(or vice versa) at least until we work out how to go organic (it's not far off). Who knows, with the amount of sunlight Australia gets, in time energy is likely to become an export. We'll just have to look out for real estate agents. "Want to buy a block of land in the desert?- Get it while it's hot."
2
POPSStingray beats burgers any day
I know what they mean. Remember home cook food? No? Anything made at home beats takeaway hands down. For a start you know exactly what goes into it. Second you can choose your own ingredients, and cook what you feel like. People forget how when the Australian Aboriginals lived off the land there was an almost limitless variety of foods, that could be gathered in different seasons, They managed to survive this way for around 80,000 years. of course many of their traditional sources have become limited or endangered, and the advent of 'civilization' has meant much of this traditional knowledge is being lost. There is a man named Major (retired Army)Les Hiddins, also known as the 'Bush Tucker Man' who has written several books about Australian Native foods still in the bush. They are big books, with hundreds of examples and have photographs and locations, but as Australia is becoming more and more mined, fished and cultivated more and more sources are disappearing.
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POPSCane Toads Cane toads were introduced into Australia as a pest control measure and are taking over the country. There were no predators when they arrived, they kill just about anything that eats them (including the tadpoles) and while the gif of their spread goes to 1980, it is estimated they spread at 40k (25M) per year. Snakes have evolved smaller jaws to avoid swallowing them, and populations of goannas (lizards) that swallow them whole are being wiped out. Goannas also ate crocodile eggs, but they're not sure what the long term effect will be. They have contributed significantly with other introduced pests to the breakdown of many Australian ecosystems. They eat whatever they can fit into their mouth and while attempts have been made so far there has been little impact on their spread. Apart from the primary chemical Bufotenin other toxic chemicals are also expressed by the poison glands at the back of the head. They are said to taste like chicken (reminds me of Fugu. Export them to Japan?)
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POPSAustralian Ant Safari Entomologists say Australia has the highest ant biodiversity in the world. In other countries, there may be 30 different species per hectare, in Australia there are more like 100. The text in the clip continues below the pictures. At the site there are details of how ants play an important part in the environment.
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POPSCapturing a Miracle-Nature photography The winners and other entries in a nature photography competition. The article also includes photography tips from professional photographer and competition judge Steve Parish
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POPSBeautiful Beetles. No, not VWs. The beetles listed are generally found in Australia, some native, and some introduced. They are the most abundant of all insects, and play a valuable part in the breakdown of organic matter in the soil, and soil aeration. The varieties extend across the world, being active in the summer, and breeding and dying as the weather cools. The last picture of the Green beetle unlabeled is an example of a Stink beetle, which is a Ground beetle, or carab.
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POPSCultural Protocols The page from which this been clipped, refers to indigenous Australians, but the principles apply wherever there are cultural barriers. If you want to have any hope understanding a people, it is necessary to understand their culture.Remembering the many things about western culture that we take for granted, which can be completely beyond an outsider. There are more sections on the page with links to cultural issues, generally those that have arisen during the history of the interaction, of Western, and Indigenous Australian cultures.
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POPSCricket's honour role gets a shake up The ratings today tend to be on statistical averages, but this doesn't take into account the contribution to the team, and so to winning. Somehow Don Bradman always came out on top. If he had scored 1 run in his final innings he would have had an average of 100. He got out for a duck (0) and his average was 99.97 While it can seem trivial, an example of the way Australians see Don Bradman, is that the abc in Australia , the people running abc.net.au, use his batting average as their post office box number. P.O Box 9997 in your capital city.
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POPSTrachoma programs fail Indigenous Australians Trachoma is spread through poor hygiene and living conditions, and disappeared in non-Indigenous Australians about 100 years ago. Australia is the only developed country to still have the preventable disease. The conditions in which Indigenous Australians live could hardly be described as developed. Perhaps Australia could be described as selectively developed.
2
POPSAcid seas may kill coral reefs in 50 years Coral are sensitive to the acidity of the water, and this is compounded by sensitivity to temperature and light. Coral generally spawn en masse, on one particular moonlit night a year. Another thing that is significant is the number of species that are found only in live coral reefs will likely go the same way as the coral
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POPSMilky Way double haloes spin both ways Perhaps remains of a gas clouds from which the Milky Way formed, it suggests the creation of the Milky way resulted from the turbulence of two primeval galaxies, spinning in opposite directions, which collided and were held together by mutual attraction
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POPSAussie Slang Jilleroo -- apprentice cow girl , station (farm) hand Mozzie - a mosquito She'll be right - it will all work out okay. Tool - a real idiot Yonks - ages ago. Woop woop. - somewhere far away. Root - *Haha, look it up yourselves.* I wonder if any non-Aussie could eat Vegemite? I doubt it. :)
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POPShaha, Howard out... He's a bit of a poster boy for right wingers here in the UK. Anything that causes a thumb in the eye for 'em, is welcome.
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POPSNo Ordinary Love (with no ordinary images) I had never seen this before, and the photographer had no background information. So after reading through the comments on Flickr, someone who lived in the area was able to provide a few more details. And another user found the link to the artist's website.
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POPSRare potoroo cursed by bacteria Australia's rarest marsupial, 80% of the wild population which is fewer than forty. are infected with a form of syphilis similar to the one found in rabbits. Antibiotics are being trialled on it's nearest relative.
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POPSTime to rejoin space race, say scientists Australia is gong to send a rocket to the Sun, and two satellites to monitor climate change. If you're going to join a race, it helps if there is no one else in the race. Everyone else seems to be aiming for the Moon or Mars.l
4
POPSAussie bees cleared of US colony collapse? Bee expert Doug Somerville said viruses only tend to be a problem for bees when they are already sick from malnutrition, pests, diseases, or environmental factors and pesticides. Apparently Australian bees don't like feeding off crops and weeds that have been sprayed with pesticide.
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POPSAboriginal 'dot painting' shows foundation failings Mathematicians, shown where foundations in buildings can fail using representations similar to Australian Aboriginal dot paintings due to the perspective, and the connection between the sand in building and the Australian desert
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POPSThe Price of your Soul !.8 million union members run second to these pressure groups representing bigoted minorities, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned.
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