http://beta.news.yahoo.com/inflatable-shark-among-300-species-discovered-philippines-135007930.html
A treasure trove of hundreds of new species may have been discovered in the Philippines, including a bizarre sea star that feeds exclusively on sunken driftwood and a deep-sea, shrimp-eating shark that swells up to scare off other predators. Scientists braved leeches and a host of venomous creatures from the mountains to the sea to uncover more than 300 species that are likely new to science. These findings include dozens of new insects and spiders, more than 50 colorful new sea slugs and a number of deep-sea armored corals "which protect themselves against predatory nibbles from fish by growing large, spiky plates," said researcher Terrence Gosliner, dean of science and research collections at the California Academy of Sciences and leader of the 2011 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition.
The video shows a gull snatching the spy-sized camera before flying off and landing on the top of a nearby castle.
All the while, the video camera is rolling and captures every moment, including the gull's squawks as it lands to finish off its purloined prize only to peck away in vain as it discovers the electronic device is inedible.
The footage has already been watched nearly 300,000 times.
But despite being shot at Cannes - home of the world's most well-known film festival - the producer protested he was just in the right place at the right time, and had to climb a castle wall to retrieve his gear.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/weird/seagull-swipes-camera-shoots-film-becomes-youtube-sensation/story-e6frev20-1226082934958
The burger, made with beef mince grown from stem cells, is less than a year away from being produced, Dutch scientists say. And they believe it could pave the way for eating meat without the need for animals being slaughtered.
The scientists predict that over the next few decades the world's population will increase so quickly that there will not be enough livestock to feed everyone.
As a result, they say, laboratory-grown beef, chicken and lamb could become normal. The scientists are currently developing a burger which will be grown from 10,000 stem cells extracted from cattle, which are then left in the lab to multiply more than a billion times to produce muscle tissue similar to beef. The product is called in vitro meat.
Mark Post, professor of physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who is behind the project, said: "I don't see any way you could rely on old-fashioned livestock in the coming decades. In vitro meat will be the only choice left.
"We are trying to prove to the world we can make a product out of this, and we need a courageous person who is willing to be the first to taste it.
"If no one comes forward, then it might be me."
Professor Post told Scientific American magazine that he thought the first test-tube burger could be made within 12 months. In 2009, scientists from the same university grew strips of pork using the same method. They admitted it was not particularly appetising, being grey with a similar texture to calamari.
Fish fillets have been grown in a New York laboratory using cells taken from goldfish muscle tissue.
Even if the initial results do not taste quite the same as proper meat, scientists are convinced the public will soon get used to it.
The world's meat consumption is expected to double by 2050. The scientists believe that the test-tube burger is only the first stage in a food revolution that might solve the problem.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/test-tube-hamburger-a-taste-of-things-to-come/story-e6freuy9-1226083075037
A frog with fangs, a blind snake and a round-headed dolphin are among more than 1000 new species that have been recently found in Papua New Guinea, the environment group WWF said yesterday.
Scientists made the astounding discoveries, which included a river shark and dozens of butterflies, at a rate of two a week from 1998 to 2008, WWF said in a report on the island's natural habitat.
"This report shows that New Guinea's forests and rivers are among the richest and most biodiverse in the world," WWF Western Melanesia program representative Neil Stronach said.
PNG's rainforests are the third-biggest in the world after the Amazon and the Congo, and, while the island covers just 0.5 per cent of Earth's land mass, it contains up to 8 per cent of the world's species, according to WWF.
Scientists look for surviving Eskimo curlew birds
You’d need a big portion of chips to go with this. A gigantic sea beast measuring 55ft has been discovered washed up on a beach in Guangdong, China.
BATTLE GROUND -- William Biscoe and his wife were startled out of bed Monday morning by what they thought was a dog in their house.
The dog turned out to be a coyote that had chased their cat into their home, located in a heavily forested area on Berlin Road.
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Ancient remains uncovered in Ukraine represent some of the oldest evidence of modern people in Europe, experts have claimed. Archaeologists found human bones and teeth, tools, ivory ornaments and animal remains at the Buran-Kaya cave site. The 32,000-year-old fossils bear cut marks suggesting they were defleshed as part of a post-mortem ritual.
Controversial plans for a badger cull in west Wales have been put on hold while a review is carried out. The Labour-run Welsh Government says an independent panel of experts will examine the science involved.
