(Phys.org) —Scientists have long sought to emulate the fascinatingly structured compound eyes that allow lobsters to see their way along brackish seabeds. So far, it's worked only in huge X-ray devices used for astronomy.
However, a new artificial compound eye developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison harnesses the concept to use the visible light spectrum, and at a much smaller scale. Its potential application areas range from medicine to astronomy to the military.
Hongrui Jiang, the Lynn H. Matthias Professor in Engineering and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW-Madison, announced the advance in a paper published April 24, 2014, in the journal Small. The lobster-inspired system represents a breakthrough in both optical imaging and micro-scale fabrication.
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Saturday, 26 April 2014
China hopes to take rare animals off the menu with tough jail sentences
People who knowing eat products made from 420 species classified as endangered face of up to 10 years or more in prison
Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing
theguardian.com, Friday 25 April 2014 12.30 BST
Chinese diners who enjoy bear bile, tiger bones and pangolin meat now have a new reason to lay down their chopsticks.
China's top legislative body passed a new "interpretation" of the country's criminal law on Thursday that will allow authorities to jail people who knowingly eat products made from rare wild animals. Prison sentences for the offence range from under three years to more than a decade, the state newswire Xinhua reported.
Beijing classifies 420 species as rare or endangered, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, Asian black bears and pangolins – scaly, slow-moving anteaters which curl into balls to avoid their predators. While China already promises harsh fines and jail sentences for people who catch, kill, traffic, buy and sell the animals, it has until now remained unclear on the potential consequences for eating them.
Spain: Endangered hamster-sized deer born in zoo
By News from Elsewhere......media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring
A baby Java mouse-deer - one of the smallest hoofed animals in the world - has been born at a zoo in southern Spain.
The newborn deer is "no bigger than a hamster" and weighs about 100 grams, staff at Bioparc Fuengirola tell the El Pais newspaper. Adult Java mouse-deer are rarely bigger than rabbits or weigh more than 1kg (2.2lb). They are also known to be fiercely intelligent, and the species represents wisdom in many local legends in its native Java, says The Local website.
The baby mouse-deer is the eighth to be born in Fuengirola, which is running a programme to breed the rare species. Its mother was born at the same zoo in 2007, and its father came from Zoo Lille in France last year, the Spanish zoo says. The family lives the zoo's Hidden Forest, which recreates the ruins of a temple lost in the Asian jungle.
Bioparc Fuengirola says there are currently 43 Java mouse-deer in Europe, but warns the future of the species is threatened by massive deforestation in South East Asia and the replacement of jungles with oil palm plantations.
A shocking new report highlights depth of poaching crisis
A new report from Born Free USA accuses the governments of Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Sudan, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of supporting elephant and rhino poaching, and public officials there of overlooking, and sometimes even arming, the criminals.
The report, called Ivory’s Curse: The Militarization and Professionalisation of Poaching in Africa was carried out by Born Free USA and C4ADS (an nonprofit organisation dedicated to data-driven analysis and evidence-based reporting of conflict and security issues worldwide).
Adam Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA explains, “Our findings shine a bright light on Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan, and Kenya, where poachers move across borders with near impunity, slaughter elephants with complete disregard, and use the ivory to fund violent operations across the continent. Global leaders cannot stand by while the human tragedy and poaching crisis continue.”
Squirrel found 'nesting' on sheep in Suffolk
The squirrel was found in the thick fleece on one of Elizabeth Dilworth's sheep at her Suffolk home
A baby squirrel was found "nesting" in the thick woollen fleece of a sheep in Suffolk, its owner said.
The squirrel was in the neck area of a domesticated Herdwick sheep in Capel St Mary, near Ipswich.
The sheep's owner took the squirrel kitten to the Wildlives rescue centre at Thorrington near Colchester.
Centre owner Rosie Catford said: "We've had a lot of young squirrels in, but we've never heard of anything like this."
'Something moved'
Liz Dilworth, a primary school teacher in Stratford St Mary, said she found the squirrel when she was checking the collar of her sheep Max.
"Something moved in the wool on his neck," she said.
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