Way back in 2007, we posted an item about how cell phones might be responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder, which is affecting the world honeybee population. Now, scientists in India have published results of an experiment that corroborates the theory.
In a study at Panjab University in Chandigarh, northern India, researchers fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day.
After three months, they found the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced.
It's not just the honey that will be lost if populations plummet further. Bees are estimated to pollinate 90 commercial crops worldwide. Their economic value in the UK is estimated to be $290 million per year and around $12 billion in the U.S.
The Mobile Operators Association in England, which represents British cell companies, disagrees with the results. Link
The Telegraph has more reactions to this report. Link
In the movie Caddyshack, Bill Murray ruined a golf course trying to get rid of gophers. Landscapers at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania have a better idea. They've brought in bluebirds, swallows, and a border collie to manage the unwanted wildlife! The birds eat pesky insects, and the dog chases away a flock Canadian geese and any animals that would interfere with golf.
The low-tech, wholly organic approaches to pest control are likely to draw little notice from the up to 40,000 golf fans who show up to check out Tiger Woods and other PGA luminaries at the show, though a closer look will reveal the birdhouses sited amid the fescue of the roughs.
Course regulars fondly swap stories about Charlie, the black-and-white canine called "part of the staff" by course superintendent John Gosselin for her help with geese and other critter interlopers - including foxes and, two summers ago, a coyote.
"She's just prepared to chase anything that moves," assistant superintendent Ben Little said. "Never actually caught anything, but she has fun with it."
The birds were attracted by nest boxes that the staff installed. Golfers love seeing the birds at work, and they adore Charlie. Link
An unnamed woman in Colorado backed her car into a canal near the town of Fruita Sunday night. She told police that she saw a vampire in the road and was so scared she put her car into reverse and backed away, ending up in the canal.
She was not injured. Her husband arrived on the scene and took her home. Troopers do not suspect alcohol or drugs to be factors in this accident.
They added that they found no evidence of a vampire.
When laws forbid people from transporting something from one place to another, there will be those who try to do it anyway. Smuggled drugs, guns, cash, stolen goods, and immigrants are seized every day. However, some things that people try to sneak through security make you scratch your head in wonder.
1. Turtles and Snakes
(Image credit: Antara/Ismar Patrizki)
Officials at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia saw shipping containers labeled "fresh fruit" bound for Hong Kong this past February. What they found inside were two tons of live reptiles! They seized 25 bags of Chinese rat snakes and 3,492 pig-nosed turtles. Export of these species from Indonesia is not illegal, but is regulated and the exporter apparently wanted to bypass quarantine laws. The snakes and turtles would most likely have been used to make soup and sex-enhancing drugs at their destination, according to officials.
2. Chihuahua
A man traveling from Bulgaria arrived at the Dublin airport after changing planes in Madrid. He looked nervous, so inspectors in Ireland selected him for a spot check. When they x-rayed his hand luggage, the image of a dog showed up. Screeners thought it must be a toy or statue, as the dog was standing up. But when they opened the bag, they found a live chihuahua! The dog had been in a small cage inside the bag throughout the trip. The traveler had planned to give the chihuahua to a friend in Ireland as a gift, but intended to bypass quarantine laws. The dog was seized and placed in quarantine.
3. Fish
The Asian arowana, commonly called the dragon fish, is considered lucky in many Asian cultures. However, the species is on the endangered list and is illegal to sell or import. Some people will pay a thousand dollars for a small specimen, or up to $20,000 for a large adult, which can grow up to two feet long. A 2005 sting operation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service led to the arrest of Andree Gunawan on charges of smuggling and selling endangered wildlife from Indonesia. Gunawan and six other people were also recently indicted in connection with the case.
4. Songbirds
In April of last year, a man named Sony Dong was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for bringing in live songbirds from Vietnam. Dong had been under investigation for a year after airport official found an abandoned bag containing 18 birds, five of which had died. This time, customs official were waiting for him to arrive on a flight from Vietnam. Observing that Dong had bird droppings on his shoes, they found he had swaddled 14 Vietnamese songbirds in cloth and attached them to his lower legs under his pants. All the birds survived the trip. Dong pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months and ordered to pay $4,000 for the care of the birds.
Soccer fans have invaded South Africa -and they won't go home! Local authorities had no choice but to segregate them and confine them to an area that came to be called District 11.
David and Ashley Marasco of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania were driving away from their wedding reception when a motorist pointed out a photo album that had been left on top of their trunk. An envelope containing $3,600 in cash was missing from it! Meanwhile, a a real estate appraiser named Brennan Breene was driving home from a visit with his mother. He saw an envelope in the middle of Washington Pike with money visible. Breene cautiously retrieved the envelope.
"If nobody claimed it, I guess I would've kept it," he said, a thought he barely entertained after he took the package home and counted it. "I figured, in a couple of days, I'd go to the police with it."
So, he said, he looked for news reports about lost money. Scanning the Internet Monday morning, he found a report on the WPXI-TV website about the lost wedding money.
"I come from a big Irish Catholic family, and my parents kind of instilled in us to do the right thing," said Mr. Breene.
Within minutes of having read the news report, Mr. Breene went to Bridgeville police to turn it in.
The bride's mother was at the police station, and was very thankful to see the money. She couldn't believe such an honest person had found it. Link -Thanks, Tiffany!
The Bakemono Zukushi scroll was painted in Japan sometime in the 18-19th centuries by an unknown artist. There are 24 legendary Japanese monsters depicted on the scroll. Pink Tentacle has scans of them, including the Rokurokubi (a long-necked woman) and the Inugami (dog spirit) shown here. Link
Etsy seller ScavengingWoodrats (a name I love) crochets these cute little brain slugs you've seen in the TV series Futurama! They are mounted on a thin headband to secure them in place. Available in two sizes. Link -via The Daily What
A sweet little cloud tries to do the right thing. This animation was Conor Finnegan's graduate film project at IADT National Film School. -via Swiss Miss
Once again, Neatorama is teaming up with mental_floss to give away prizes from the NeatoShop and a mental_floss t-shirt in the How Did You Know? contest! There's a different competition (with a prize) each day for five days, and each will give you clues to solve the ultimate puzzle on Monday. Get all the details at mental_floss, as well as a link to today's puzzle. Link
Last week's quiz on movie poster fonts was a lot of fun... how about trying it with TV shows? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss does just that. Try to guess the TV show (or network) by the typeface used in the title alone. This time, you have a list of the shows to select from on the blog post -IF you want to use them. I only scored 70%, but I was in a hurry. I got all the old shows correct! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/59326
Has it really been 28 years since the movie Tron played in theaters? That's a long time to wait for a sequel! As Disney prepares for the release of the new film Tron: Legacy, let's look back at the groundbreaking 1982 movie that opened the door to computer-generated special effects at NeatoGeek. Link
Consider this awesome scenario: your science teacher assigns you to imagine a situation in which a fiery spacecraft plummeted to earth, and you had to record it for later analysis. You work on the idea, and then find out that this is not a hypothetical situation at all. You are really going to record a fiery spacecraft re-entering earth's atmosphere! That's what Brookline, Massachusetts high school science teacher Ron Dantowitz did to his three best students, James Breitmeyer, Brigitte Berman, and Yiannis Karavas.
For 6 months, they worked hard on their assignment, never suspecting the surprise Dantowitz had in store.
On March 12th, he stunned them with the news: "The mission is real, and you're going along for the ride."
In early June, Dantowitz and the teenagers traveled halfway around the world to help NASA track Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft as it plunged into Earth's atmosphere at 27,000 mph and shattered over the Australian outback. After boarding the DC-8 and flying to 41,000 feet, their hard work finally paid off when they successfully recorded the fiery re-entry:
See the video, and read all about the mission and the high school science project at NASA. Link -via reddit
