from xkcd.com
From Geeks are Sexy Technology News: An Up Close and Wonderful View at Insects
Macrovideo of insects made with Canon 7D and 65mm MP-E and Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS.
From Ars Technica: More evidence links a family of insecticides to bee colony collapse
For nearly six years, a mysterious condition called colony collapse disorder (CCD) has been wreaking havoc with the honey bee population in the US and Europe. The cause of CCD remains elusive, with various fingers being pointed at mites, fungi, viruses, pesticides, and even cell phone emissions. Today, a pair of studies were published in Science that suggest that sublethal exposure to a family of common pesticides called neonicotinoids might play a contributing role in the great bee die-off.
from Ars Technica
From Business and financial news – CNNMoney.com: Water bills to triple in some parts of the U.S.
Many consumers could see their water bills double or even triple, as the country attempts to overhaul its aging water system over the next 25 years.
From Engadget: Google dives deep to bring underwater photos of the Great Barrier Reef this September
Your next trip to the Great Barrier Reef could be from the comfort of your home now that Google’s partnered with Caitlin SeaView Survey, the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute and the Underwater Earth organization to document this amazing ecosystem. Equipped with a special underwater camera capable of withstanding depths of 328 feet, the survey aims to photograph 50,000 shots in 360-degree panoramic view and incorporate them into Google Earth and Google Maps. Dubbed “Google SeaView,” it seeks to open opportunities for increased conservation as well as a free look for wanna-be world travelers who can’t afford a plane ticket down under. As an added perk, the collected data may also be used to help future ship captains navigate through the treachery of the intricate coral highways. Check past the break for more info on the survey and plenty of footage teeming with aquatic wildlife.
from Engadget
From New Scientist – Online News: Fish hybridise themselves extinct in Alpine lakes
Pollution in Swiss lakes caused fish species to interbreed, wiping out much of the lakes’ diversity. The same could happen elsewhere
From Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now: World’s Tiniest Chameleons Found in Madagascar
This little chameleon is one of four miniature lizards identified in Madagascar, adding to our growing list of amazingly teeny animals. The one on the match in this picture is a juvenile, but even the adults max out at 30 millimeters. They’re the smallest lizards in the world, and some of the smallest vertebrates found to date.
The Lilliputian lizard is near the lower limits of size in vertebrate animals. Learning about how these creatures live can put some constraints on animal morphology – if your species has eyes, a backbone and a brain, there’s likely a limit to how little you can get. A different group of field biologists just announced the world’s smallest frog, and they claim it is the smallest vertebrate in the world, knocking a tiny Indonesian fish off the pedestal of puniness.
The chameleons are related to other Madagascan lizards, but DNA analysis showed they have enough genetic differences to count as distinct species, according to the researchers who found them, led by Frank Glaw of the Zoological State Collection of Munich. The animals live in leafy undergrowth in Madagascan forests.
Tiny and camouflaged – how did they find these guys? Most of the lizards were collected at night, when they typically climb up into the underbrush to roost. The field biologists used torches and headlamps to spot the sleeping lizards, according to their paper.
The paper appears in the open-access journal PLoS One.
Teeniest Lizards: Although the four new species are similar in appearance, a genetic analysis showed they are distinct species. Â Glaw et al/PLoS One
from Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now