Saving the forty-spotted pardalote

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Credit: Tasmanian times

With only 1500 forty-spotted pardalote in the world, extinction threatens. Assumed causes were loss of habitat, drought & possums, until Amanda Edworthy, PhD student from the Australian National University in Canberra, suspected that parasitic fly larvae were causing the 15% fledge rate in chicks. To test her hypothesis, she spent the last three summers climbing trees to nests to spray with a plant-based insecticide which does not affect the chicks.

Result: 15% fledge rate leapt to 90%.

Next problem: how to protect the chicks without so much tree climbing.

Possible solution: in the Galapagos Islands, Darwin's Finches¹ are threatened in a similar way. Solution is to spray the insecticide onto small balls of cotton-wool, & attach them to bushes with wire. Small nesting birds collect soft, fibrous material to line their nests. When they line their nests with fibres of cotton-wool laced with insecticide, the parasite problem is reduced or eliminated.

Over the next two summers, the cotton-wool method will be trialled with the forty-spotted pardalote.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4302953.htm

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?id=5207
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¹ "Darwin's finches", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_finches / cotton-wool fight to save one of Australia's most endangered animals species new study tiny fly larvae killing forty-spotted pardalote cotton wool prevent the small bird disappearing completely small bird big problem species endangered 1500 left in the world southern Tasmania Amanda Edworthy PhD student candidate Australian National University ANU Canberra last three summers climbing trees studying study bird driven the population down biggest threat that we found parasitic fly adults lay maggot larvae nest eggs larvae burrow underneath skin nestling feed on blood 75 per cent mortality researcher loss of habitat drought possums reaching into nest boxes larvae larva discovery Amanda Edworthy's high-up nests spraying mild plant-based insecticide 15 per cent of nestlings survive fly spray kill off almost all the parasites fledge rate 90 per cent aurvival surviving effective practical search more manageable solution Galapagos Islands fly larvae problem endangered Darwin's Finches Scientists access bird's nests cotton-wool method Sonia Kliendorfer professor animal behaviour Flinders University Adelaide cotton wool method spraying little balls of cotton plant-based insecticide kills lava parasitic fly does not harm birds researches cotton wool intertwined with wire bush tears off small pieces weave into its nest birds naturally search soft warm insulating material conservation behaviour using insights animal behaviour inform conservation cotton-wool method trialled forty-spotted pardalote next two years buy the small bird some time birds hang on in the short-term long-term important to figure out why parasite loads have increased increased manage forests reduce fly populations in general researcher Amanda Edworthy /

Formula E season two — technical developments (update)

Credit: The Roar

Formula E, season 1, was effectively a single make formula. All parts, including drive trains, were fixed. This season, inverter, electric motor & gearbox can be designed by the individual teams, but the battery is still controlled.

Perhaps most interesting in season 2, is the number of gearbox ratios used. In the fixed specification season 1, all cars had 5 forward gears. This year, everything from 1 to 5 forward gears is being used by different teams.



Andretti, in their season 2 car, has had problems with software, plus coolant leaks from the gearbox have been shorting out the motors. As a result, they will be reverting to the season 1 drive train.

http://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/andretti-ditches-season-two-powertrain

http://current-e.com/features/analysis/gambling-on-deadline-day/ / Andretti ditches season two powertrain Andretti Formula E team revert season one powertrain disastrous testing campaign team completed only a handful of laps new ATEC-01 technical package develop new package season three 2016/17 2016 2017 Andretti ATEC-01 season two package newly designed carbon gearbox series of coolant leaks shorted out the motors software glitches team first two Donington tests Andretti team running two cars Donington Park season-one specification Robin Frijns Simona de Silvestro first effective laps team Andretti TE Connectivity Houston Mechatronics building developing season two powertrain homologated season two McLaren Hewland motor gearbox respectively loss of face reverting season one technical package prepares first race revert back to the season one powertrain package new software updates change motor maps optimise internal communication between motor battery introduced this season software available to all teams original season one tech package learn the new software software models McLaren Hewland package Beijing test software season one package /

Three things everybody agrees about nutrition

Credit: www.eatforhealth.gov.au

What should you eat?

The answer is confused by any number of factors, including:

● people who regard their food preferences as nutritional imperitives

● people who (often unconsciously) regard food as entertainment, a cure for boredom or stress, or a solution to any number of psychological symptoms, & ignore nutrition

● propaganda from marketing organisations for food industries — beef, sugar, salt etc.

● charlatans who want to part you from your money with large volumes of cheap fat, sugar & salt, fad diets, or devices such as blenders

http://lifehacker.com/why-theres-so-much-confusion-over-nutrition-and-fitness-1572870867

However, there are three things almost all authorities agree on:
1. Minimise sugar
2. Avoid artificial trans fats
3. Eat more vegetables

If you read the comments in the article below, keep in mind:

● Ignore most of the fruit vs vegetables debate. A botanist will tell you that a fruit is the part of a flower in which the seeds develop¹. Thus, a wheat grain & a tomato are fruits & an apple is a false (or accessory) fruit² (to a botanist, the fruit of an apple is the fibrous part around the seeds that you probably throw away — the core). For a discussion of nutrition, the botanist’s definition is irrelevant. This is much more useful: “From a culinary standpoint, vegetables are less sweet — or more savory — & served as part of the main dish. Fruits are more sweet & tart & are most often served as a dessert or snack.”³ So vegetables include what the botanist will call a fruit (tomato), stem (celery), leaf (lettuce), flower (broccoli), root (carrot) & tuber (potato), but exclude grains, nuts & seeds.

● If a “diet” differs from the advice given above & in the article linked below, it is generally the “diet” which is wrong. Keep in mind that many popular diets were originally designed to treat specific medical conditions & may even be dangerous if used for other purposes.

http://vitals.lifehacker.com/the-only-three-things-everybody-agrees-on-when-it-comes-1709039566
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¹ “What's the Difference Between a Fruit & a Vegetable?” http://www.livescience.com/33991-difference-fruits-vegetables.html
² “Accessory fruit”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessory_fruit
³ “Fruit or vegetable — Do you know the difference?”, http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/fruit-vegetable-difference/bgp-20056141 / not much agreement about nutrition fat salt carbs government guidelines paleo vegan fad diets eggs white bread low-fat salad dressing three basic things sugar trans fat vegetables government guidelines controversial Paleo non-scientific disagree minimize sugar bad for you really bad for you World Health Organization evidence linking sugar to obesity tooth decay strict limit no more than 10% of your calories should come from added sugar Five percent even better food pyramid discouraged fats sweets calorie limit SoFAS solid fats added sugars added sugar calories can of Coke Starbucks smoothie allowed sugars for the day added sugars include table sugarsucrose corn syrup natural sweeteners honey maple syrup empty calories calories glass of milk side salad handful of nuts burger calories vitamins protein useful nutrients increases triglycerides bad cholesterol linked to diabetes endocrinologist Robert Lustig sugar fructose causes fatty liver chronic metabolic disease Paleo gurus The Sugar Association part of a healthy diet calorie content empty calories artificial trans fats partially hydrogenated oils trans fats aren’t found in nature oil donuts pie crusts frying oil margarine unhealthy saturated fats saturated fats trans fats nature dairy products conjugated linoleic acid harmless beneficial labeling partially hydrogenated oils heart disease diabetes obesity diet junk food fried foods mass-produced cupcakes USDA trans fat on their naughty listsolid fats SoFAS saturated fat World Health Organization paleo vegan processed foods eat more vegetables vegetarians vegetables paleo natural food vegetables USDA detox diet solid food veggies eat more vegetables potatoes starch starchy beans leafy greens vegetables health benefits vitamins fiber lowered lower risk of heart disease eat those veggies fruits too much sugar whole fruits sugar in fruit fiber purveyors of crap science gateway claims sales pitches too much sugar in our diet healthy diet lots of vegetables principles /

do NOT link

Credit: 417Marketing

If you publish a link to a web page, web crawlers will crawl the page, raising the link’s rank in search engines. This will happen, even if your link is contained in a post criticising a scam, cult, or other questionable material. So, your critical article will increase the popularity of the site, unless … doNOTlink

http://www.donotlink.com/dnl/faq

How web crawlers work:

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/crawling-indexing.html / donotlink linking to dubious websites no such thing as bad publicity Internet link to a website strengthens its position in search engines bad review of a website makes it more popular alerting others website promotes fraud scam cult questionable business link to that site search engines improve offending site's rank more people will find these shady websites exposed to their content proper context donotlink donotlink.com Google juice seaarch engine donotlink block search engines crawling link post link forums message boards Facebook Twitter Reddit shady websites undue credibility linking questionable websites prevent your links improving these websites' position search engines url shorteners donotlink creates hortened url website url linking directly to the website visit donotlink.com website's url shady stuff prevent search engines crawling website routes links questionable sites unique intermediate url forwards visitor destination javascript url is blocked robots.txt file search engine robots discouraged from crawling it nofollow attribute link intermediate page robots reminder not crawl link known robot crawl the link code identify serve it a blank page 403 Forbidden instead of redirecting to the url continually improving our algorithms combination blacklists bayesian inference identify crawlers bots search engines scrapers caught out /

7 years of iPhone ads (2007-2014)

Interesting to look back at how mobile phones, not just the iPhone, have changed in 7 years. When the iPhone was announced, my phone had a VGA resolution camera, which overwhelmed the 320 x 320 screen resolution, a browser unworthy of the name ...

/ iPhone smartphone Android Apple Google Siri Google N ow hardware software development Skype Voip video audio music iTunes malware security Touch ID fingerprint scanner Applecare /

Cooper promises a complete tire from a desert shrub in 2017

Parthenium argentatum Gray, commonly known as guayule, native to the south western United States & northern Mexico⁴
Credit: US Department of Agriculture/Flickr/Green Car Reports

A substantial part of the cost & environmental impact of many products is the energy used in transporting raw materials to the site of manufacture.

Rubber is produced commercially from petroleum (synthetic rubber) & sap of the Hevea brasiliensis¹ tree (natural rubber). 94% of natural rubber is sourced from Asia².

As a strategically important material, rubber supply has security implications for many nations.

A number of plants, apart from Hevea have been used as a source of natural rubber in the past^2,3. One such, is Parthenium argentatum Gray⁴, commonly known as guayule, native to the south western United States & northern Mexico.

As a desert plant, one of its advantages is that it can be grown on land which is good for little else.

A number of prominent companies, including Bridgestone, Ford & Cooper, together with Ohio State University, have recently been researching guayule rubber for automotive use. Cooper has already made some tire components from guayule rubber & has promised a complete tire in 2017.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099704_cooper-tire-we-will-make-complete-tire-from-desert-shrub-in-2017
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¹ "Hevea", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevea

² "Natural rubber", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber#Current_sources

³ "History of attempts to commercialize Guayule in South Australia as a source of natural rubber", http://pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory/minor_crops/guayule

⁴ "Parthenium argentatum", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenium_argentatum / lowering environmental impact car changing materials components U.S. tire industry substitutes imported natural rubber petroleum synthetic rubber Cooper Tire demonstrate tires components made from the guayule plant a desert shrub Southwestern United States Mexico make a complete tire guayule-sourced rubber 2017 PanAridus plants manufactures rubber Cornell University Clemson University guayule substitute costly imported rubber environmentally questionable petroleum Bridgestone bio-rubber research manufacturing center Ford partnership Ohio State University find automotive uses startup Yulex Cooper tire project PanAridus working use guayule rubber consumer products wet suits Patagonia Cooper's project $6.9 million Biomass Research and Development Initiative grant administered jointly U.S. Department of Energy US Department of Agriculture yielding latex processed into rubber produces resin used in adhesives flavors fragrances biofuel fibrous material plant made into biofuel construction materials cultivating guayule alternative hevea source of natural rubber early 1900s World War II advancing Japanese forces cut off U.S. access to hevea Guayule grows much faster than hevea advantages Hevea less prone to cracking less heat buildup rubber guayule some tire components from 100-percent guayule rubber replacing domestically-sourced material tyres
tires 70 percent of global rubber use demand is expected to grow countries fully industrialize industrial /

How much does air conditioning impact electric vehicle range?

Credit: Volkswagen/Plug In Cars

For the time being, range of electric vehicles will continue to be limited, unless you have Tesla money to spend, or buy something with a fossil fueled range extender (GM Volt, BMW i3). Use of ancillaries reduces range further.

Green Car Reports has measured the impact of air conditioner use on range of an electric powered Volkswagen Golf.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099693_volkswagen-e-golf-climate-control-how-much-does-a-c-impact-range / Volkswagen e-Golf test hottest summers on record summer of 2015 more than 25 days 90 degrees 100-degree days serious heatwaves e-Golf’s climate control gasoline-engine versions start pushing out cold air electrically driven A/C compressor maintain a constant comfortable temperature cost of A/C in efficiency and range about 15 percent charge energy use 4.5 miles per kilowatt-hour 3.9 mi/kWh 3.7 mi/kWh particularly hot afternoon max A/C button 15-percent reduction in efficiency max mode full charge estimated range number climate control off 100 miles turn on the A/C real-world numbers 84 miles after a full charge air conditioning A/C low-charge warnings modes Normal driving mode three efficiency modes Eco mode reduced reduces air-conditioning output motor output top speed Eco+ mode limiting power 56-mph limit on top speed pre-cooling heat pump e-Golf SEL Premium model heat-pump heating recover heat from the ambient air waste heat battery pack drivetrain components improves efficiency heater system cold season compromising hot-weather comfort range LiIon lithium ion charge recharge range battery charge recharge quick charge /