Air Pollution Impedes Bees’ Ability to Find Flowers
Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests.
via Washington Post
Bats In Hell? Deadly Bat Illness Baffles Researchers
Researchers race against time to solve deadly bat illness – The Boston Globe
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185143625/bctid1534625573
DORSET, Vt. – The little brown bat careened out of Aeolus Cave into the bright March afternoon. Crashing into a snow bank, it clawed up the icy mound, wings flailing wildly. Spent and starving, it fell still.
Dozens of furry bats, many shivering uncontrollably, littered the snow around the cave’s mossy entrance. Others in various stages of dying were tucked into rock crevices nearby – deeply bizarre behavior for animals that avoid light and so despise winter they can hibernate until early May.
A wildlife biologist breathing through a respirator gingerly picked up the still creature – one more critical clue to a mysterious illness that is killing the bats of the Northeast.
Congressmen Want National MS Registry
Congressmen Want National MS Registry // Current
Congressmen Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) and Russ Carnahan (D-Missouri) introduced bi-partisan legislation to create a national registry to store information about Americans living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS.) The goal is to support future planning of health care needs, detect changes in health practices, assess disease burden, promote advocacy, and support a wide range of research initiatives.
The registry will also serve as a source of epidemiological information for researchers, healthcare providers, patients, and the broader MS community. Surprisingly, the last national study of incidence and prevalence of MS was conducted over 30 years ago in 1975.