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Fri, 24 Sep 2021
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Thousands of fish thrown ashore in Russia, ecologist claims it's a sign stocks have recovered


RT
Sun, 04 Apr 2021 10:29 UTC
herring russia
Images have emerged online showing the coast of the Russian Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean covered with fish. With ecologists saying they're safe to eat, excited fishermen hurried to the seafront for the easiest catch.

Videos of Pacific herring covering Sakhalin's south-western coastline were posted online on Sunday. What looks like thousands of fish, both moving and still, can be seen ashore, with excited men walking among them.

Local ecologist Dmitry Lisitsyn, who posted some of the videos, said that, far from being an ecological disaster, this is a positive sign. The fish, also known as California herring, are on their spawning run, and there are so many that some of them are being washed ashore. The phenomenon shows that the herring population is not endangered, according to the expert.

Comment: See also:

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Doberman

Woman in her 80s mauled to death by 2 dogs in Birmingham, UK

Jane Tyler
Birmingham Mail
Sat, 03 Apr 2021 11:40 UTC
dog attack
The pensioner was mauled to death in the back garden of her home in Boundary Avenue, Rowley Regis

Police are continuing to investigate a horrific fatal attack by two dogs on a woman in her 80s in a shocking Good Friday tragedy.

The pensioner was mauled to death in the back garden of her Black Country home yesterday (Friday) afternoon.

A man has been arrested and is continuing to be questioned by police today.

Here is everything we know so far:
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Info

3,000-year-old mural of knife-wielding spider god discovered in Peru

Isaac Schultz
Gizmodo
Wed, 31 Mar 2021 18:33 UTC
Ancient Spider
© Screenshot: Agencia de Noticias Andina/YouTube
A view of the uncovered mural. The spider’s leg and hilt of the knife are visible.
It likely had eight legs, and at least one of them is still brandishing a knife. That's the report from archaeologists in northern Peru, who have announced the discovery of a 50-foot mural that once was the centerpiece of a pre-Columbian shrine.

The find was made in November 2020, when farmers seeking to expand their land partially destroyed a huaca — a Peruvian ceremonial structure — sitting among their avocado and sugar cane crops. The huaca, now cut in half, revealed a striking mural.

"What we have here is a shrine that would have been a ceremonial centre thousands of years ago," Régulo Franco Jordán, one of the archaeologists who went about excavating and preserving the elements of the ancient artwork that hadn't been demolished, told the Peruvian newspaper La República.
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Galaxy

'Wormnado': Herd of hundreds of worms captured moving in spiral baffles scientists


Strange Sounds
Tue, 30 Mar 2021 12:00 UTC
Wormnado
© LiveScience
Wormnado in New Jersey.
Spring rains often bring scores of earthworms to the surface, where they writhe on top of soil and sidewalks. But recently, heavy rainfall in a town near New York City was followed by something a little more unusual: a wormnado.

A resident of Hoboken, New Jersey was out for a morning walk in a park near the Hudson River on March 25, when she spotted hundreds of worms spread along the walkway. The woman, who asked not to be identified, told Live Science that after her initial surprise she noticed something even more bizarre — a number of the worms had formed a cyclone-like shape, creating a spiral where the edge of the grass met the concrete.

The woman took photographs and sent them to Tiffanie Fisher, a member of the Hoboken City Council, who shared the images of the "tornado of worms" on Facebook. "Clearly worms come out after it rains but this is something I've never seen!" Fisher wrote in the post.

Comment: It was recently discovered that numerous marine creatures also exhibit an as yet unexplained circling motion when traveling: Enigmatic circling behavior observed in numerous marine animals

For more unusual vortex action in nature, see:

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills 19 cattle near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe


Bulawayo24 News
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 19:04 UTC
lightning
Five families on the outskirts of Victoria Falls under Chief Mvuthu were left counting their losses after 19 cattle were killed by lightning during a heavy storm in the early hours of Saturday.

The cattle are part of a community project, which was established in 2016 by ten villagers who are into farming who are being assisted by Wild is Life Trust, an organisation that is into wild animal conservation.

The project had 72 cattle before tragedy struck.

The farmers take intervals to keep the cattle and they are meant to assist with manure for their communal farms.

The incident, according to Joseph Ncube who lost four of his cattle is suspected to have happened around 2 AM.
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Blue Planet

Once on the verge of extinction America's bald eagle population continues to soar

Graeme Massie
The Independent
Fri, 26 Mar 2021 02:19 UTC
American bald eagle
© Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
An American bald eagle sits on a branch at Mill Pond on July 21, 2018 in Centerport, New York.

The population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states of the US has quadrupled to more than 316,000 federal wildlife officials say.

The population was once on the verge of extinction but a new survey by the US Fish and Wildlife Service found more than 70,000 breeding pairs of the iconic bird.

Experts say that in the late 1960s there were less than 500.

The success of the raptor, which is the national symbol of the United States, is a "historic conservation success story," said newly confirmed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

"The bald eagle has always been considered a sacred species to American Indian people, and similarly it's sacred to our nation as America's national symbol," said Ms Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary.
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Info

Controllable 'Neutrobots' created that breach the blood-brain barrier

Ross Pomeroy
Real Clear Science
Thu, 25 Mar 2021 17:02 UTC
Neutrobots in Brain
© Kellie Holoski / Science Robotics
Illustration of a future scenario of adopting dual-responsive neutrobots for targeted drug therapy in the treatment of malignant gliomas.
In one microscale step for machine, but a potentially significant leap for the treatment of brain cancer, researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have created controllable microrobots that can breach the blood-brain barrier and deliver cancer drugs to tumors in the brains of mice.

They detailed their efforts in the journal Science Robotics.

The blood-brain barrier is a layer of cells that prevents circulating blood and any potential pathogens in it from entering brain tissues. Though thin, it's nearly impenetrable. Normally, that's a good thing, but when the brain is afflicted with a malignant tumor, it's not. Just as the blood-brain barrier blocks pathogens from passing, so, too it locks out cancer drugs. That leaves surgery and radiation therapy as the two primary treatments for brain cancer.

Early-stage attempts have been made to temporarily disrupt the barrier, allowing treatments to pass, as well as to design nanoparticles so small that they can sneak through. These methods are progressing.
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Attention

Gray whale dies after beaching at Dockweiler, California

Laylan Connelly
Daily Breeze
Wed, 17 Mar 2021 11:45 UTC
dead whale
A beached juvenile gray whale died on the shoreline at Dockweiler State Beach, on Wednesday, March 17, as a rescue team had grappled with how to save the mammal.

The whale had washed up on shore about 4 p.m. Officials believed the whale was sick, also noting how thin it appeared. Two hours later, the animal died.

Since it washed up on shore, likelihood of survival for the whale, which was about 25 feet to 30 feet long, had been slim, Justin Viezbicke, California stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said late Wednesday afternoon prior to its death.

"At this point, there's not much we can do," he said.

The NOAA response team couldn't pull the animal out to sea for fear of hurting the creature or causing even more damage.

"It can be super dangerous," Viezbicke said. "We don't try and pull a live whale."

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Attention

Dead humpback whale washes up on Blyth beach, UK

David Sedgwick
News Post Leader
Fri, 19 Mar 2021 11:37 UTC
The whale on Blyth beach.

The whale on Blyth beach.
The 11-metre (33 feet) mammal, was spotted on the sands at Blyth beach this morning (Friday, March 19).

An HM Coastguard spokesman said: "We received reports of a beached whale at Blyth from numerous members of the public around 7.20am.

"Local coastguard officers are in attendance and a small cordon is in place to keep the public away."

The finding has been reported to Northumberland County Council which will have responsibility for disposing of the whale.

A council spokesperson said: "A deceased juvenile whale has washed up on Blyth beach.

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Attention

Dead 18-foot-long humpback whale washes up on Pea Island, North Carolina

Sam Walker
OBX Today
Wed, 17 Mar 2021 11:26 UTC
The remains of the whale washed up Thursday
© USFWS
The remains of the whale washed up Thursday.
A dead adult humpback whale has washed up in the southern end of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the dead whale was located about a half-mile north of Rodanthe on Thursday.

"It's in a decent state of decay already and displays some evidence of shark activity (not necessarily the cause of death, that likely happened after, according to a post on the USFWS in North Carolina Facebook page.

Refuge and National Park Service biologists were able to complete a field assessment, collect tissue samples, and photograph the carcass on site and will report the event to the marine mammal stranding network.

Given its current size and state, they anticipate it will remain on the beach, and stink, for awhile. And with the forecast of rough surf, and continued decomposition, parts of the whale may end up elsewhere on the beach.

Refuge officials said there is no need to call-in reports about the whale, and that nature will eventually take care of it.
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