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POPSBird Flu - Thailand - Illustrates Why It goes On and On It's about money honey - always about money. So if you come a culling chickens, I'll be trying to hide mine! That phenomena goes on and on and on. Other methods must be considered to control the spread of bird flu; which could become the next pandemic spring board.
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POPSLeader of the Pack Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment. When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes." This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this "grant money." I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion. There can be only one.
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POPSHope for rare corals What researchers thought were the most-threatened corals were actually taking care of their species by breeding hybrids. :) This makes me happy, but it doesn't mean that we can go on ruining reefs. Remember, these creatures take ages to grow.
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POPSJohn McCain's Black Relatives Sen. John McCain’s great, great grandfather, William Alexander McCain (1812-1863), fought for the Confederacy and owned a 2,000-acre plantation named Waverly in Teoc. The family dealt in the slave trade, and, according to official records, held at least 52 slaves on the family’s plantation. The enslaved Africans were likely used as servants, for labor, and for breeding more slaves. William McCain’s son, and Sen. John McCain’s great grandfather, John Sidney McCain (1851-1934), eventually assumed the duty of running the family’s plantation. W.A. “Bill” McCain IV, a white McCain cousin, and his wife Edwina, are the current owners of the land. Both told the South Florida Times that they attend the reunions. They also said the McCain campaign had asked them not to speak to the media about the reunions, or about why the senator has never acknowledged the family gatherings.
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POPSNew fungi species unearthed in UK Another report suggests it is a mutation of the "toe jam" breeding on unclean, new age soccer players. These new age soccer players regularly leave their socks outside at night and the spore from the mutated has spread and adapted to local demands.
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POPSJapanese dolphin drive hunts and the dolphin captivity industry
The dolphin captivity industry, by purchasing dolphins from the drive hunts, are maintaining the drive hunts by keeping them economically viable. Both Japanese and Western dolphin trainers can be seen in these videos, so it's not merely a local thing to Japan. Since the early to mid 1990s, SeaWorld has no longer purchased dolphins from the Japanese drive hunts for good PR, and has turned to a breeding program. However, there are now plans to build a new SeaWorld in Dubai, UAE. How do they plan to procure enough animals to open this new park? I very much doubt that the breeding program that SeaWorld maintains would sufficiently produce enough animals to stuff into a whole new park with a whole new Shamu show, and their other animals such as bottlenose dolphins? Especially with the high mortality rate in their parks as it is, with another Orca dying unexpectedly in one of the SeaWorld parks just recently. So how would they do it? Without the restrictions imposed on SeaWorld in the
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POPSSexy? plain? who chooses? "In women, preferences for male faces, voices, body odors and behavior change over the course of the menstrual cycle as estrogen levels rise and fall. Our work with these songbirds shows a possible neural basis for those changes" Put aside the specific hormone, what is pointed here is how much happens in the background of one's perception, that has control of what is perceived as very real.... and the 'changes' that we experience must be doubted.
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POPSA slow, dry death Residents of drought-stricken Merweville, Central Karoo, watch their sheep starve to death and wait for government assistance.
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POPSEvolution in a Bottle Over time the bacteria evolved to better suit their environment, adapting to replicate faster on the all-glucose diet. But one colony suddenly took off, consuming the previously indigestible citrate - a molecule that literally would not fit through the original bacteria's membrane. A new breed of E. Coli had evolved to consume the available resources and, over a multi-generational evolutionary battle, came to outperform the original glucose eaters. Because of the daily samples, there is now a complete genetic paper trail of the changes (although full identification and understanding of the changes will take a little longer). This is an incredible breakthrough in evolutionary research, and a pretty nice argument to break out in the creationism 'debates' ("Prove evolution!" "Okay, I've got it right here IN THIS BOTTLE!")
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POPSAl-Qaeda breeding ground in Pakistan no international relief agency (United Nations, Red Cross, etc) is in sight. Some efforts made by the local government have also run aground by rampant corruption and lack of will to acknowledge the plight of these people at the highest government level. Worst of all, neither the Pakistan or American army, whose bombs have displaced thousands of children, women and old men, fail to acknowledge the consequences of their actions. To them the matter is closed and is not worth discussing. Let us write to our senators, congressmen, our national and provincial assembly members, our presidents and prime ministers and ask them one question. “We can authorize billions of dollars for the bombardment of the region, but can we also authorize a few bucks for the betterment of the local people?” I have said it before, and I will repeat again, “No amount of bombing can win the hearts and minds of the disgruntled populace.”