The European Union (EU), through its executive arm, the European Commission, has clamped down on bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. The ban came in the wake of overfishing activities that threaten “stock collapse” of the prized bluefin tuna.

Craved for by sushi lovers all over the world, the bluefin tuna has fallen prey to heavy exploitation by countries belonging to the EU. These countries’ fleets recklessly do their fish hunting to the extent of marking excesses in the EU’s international catch quota. If left unrestricted, bluefin tuna may soon go extinct.
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Poaching in Assam state, remote northeast of India, has become rampant since early this year, specifically at the Kaziranga National Park where at least 8 rhinoceroses belonging to the endangered one-horned breed have reportedly been killed.

These illegal hunters supply animal horns to the international black market where there is high demand for these animal body parts because of their medicinal value. According to wildlife experts, horn price tags of up to $10,000 are not uncommon in China and other Southeast Asian countries.
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A new species of extremophiles (living creatures that have their growing environment in mediums hostile to other forms of life) has been discovered in Newfoundland, Canada, and they are deepest-dwelling organisms known so far. (more…)

Researchers from Spain and Croatia studied more than 100 spider species and discovered that many of them travel upside down to save energy. For them, walking is the same as swinging, so their legs are more like claws fixed on their exoskeleton.

Spiders don’t need strong legs to stay and move upside down, so they act as a pendulum, using their body weight and gravity to their advantage. The longer their legs are, the greater the pendulum effect is. Long legs are not so useful when crossing floors or pullulating with the legs under their bodies.

The informations are important for the better understanding of spider morphology and evolution, but the scientists believe that these principles could also be applied in robotics design.

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The diseases possible in factory farms has alarmed many immunologists, who believe that a vaccine-resistant virus is not far from evolving in these areas. In factory farms, animals live in very close quarters, which encourages virus and bacteria transmission from one creature to another.

From this reason, the owners fed them with antibiotics and drugs to prevent infestations that never took place. This can only lead to the appearance of highly drug-resistant bacterias, as reports of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser show.

Michigan State University immunologist Ian York has written a story about chicken infected with Marek’s Disease Virus (MDV). The virus posed only a very small threat before industrial farming brought thousands of chickens together. A vaccine was developed, but it turned out to be ineffective, as the virus was very resistant to drugs.

These news are bad for the genetic and cloning homogeneity aiming at creating more uniform fillets or steaks, as a virus developing in a homogeneous population will most certainly lead to disaster.

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