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Science and Environmental News

© Kenneth Friedman

Here is a roundup of some interesting science and environmental news you may have missed.

Several years ago, a commercial fisherman used a fire cracker to blow up a pelican. The fisherman was inventive. He put the fire cracker in the mouth of a bluefish and tossed it overboard where the pelican caught it just before it exploded. The pelican hung on for several days before dying from injuries suffered in the explosion. For his kindness to wildlife, the fisherman was sentenced to three years probation and 300 hours of community service at a marine preservation foundation.

In a recent study, a chemist and a biologist found that about half the dead monarch butterflies collected at winter roosts came from a corridor of the Midwest only a few hundred kilometers wide, from Nebraska to Ohio. This finding is important because development of herbicide-resistant corn will allow farmers to apply herbicides to kill milkweed plants, which are vital as a monarch caterpillar food supply. Use of the new corn could lead to a significant drop in this particular monarch breeding zone.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, have discovered that a herpes virus distantly related to the virus that causes cold sores in humans was responsible for killing at least eight young Asian elephants at zoos. The virus is carried by African elephants, which only get skin and genital warts from it; however, the researchers worry that the virus may cross over to Asian elephants. If crossover turns out to be the cause of infection, zoo keepers will have to keep the Asian and African elephants separate until and if a vaccine can be developed.

Biologists have discovered a hardy soil bacterium that lives on granite in the Antarctic and can withstand doses of radiation that are 1,000 times the lethal level for humans. Because it is so hardy, scientists think the bacterium might have environmental uses if genetically altered. For example, if scientists give the bacterium genes that allow it to detoxify mercury, it can be used to clean up mercury contamination. Other genes let it break down the chemical toluene, which is considered a carcinogen. Because the bacterium can work in a radioactive environment, it could be used in cleanup activities where both chemicals and radiation are present, getting rid of the chemical component and leaving only the radioactive waste to be dealt with.

Botanists at Texas A&M University have posted some 6,000 plant images on the web and the Internet Botany Directory provides an endless list of links to other botanical sources.

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