Yangtze Dolphin Not Gone Yet!

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.nytimes.com)

A large white mammal, possibly one of the China's rare baiji dolphins, proclaimed extinct just weeks ago, was sighted in the Yangtze River and videotaped. Heartening though this is, the article leaves out one important idea:

Scientists have said, even while they were searching for surviving dolphins, that even if a few individuals remained, they would not be enough to preserve the species.

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Bears build up what fish flush out

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.bioedonline.org)

Efforts to control chemical pollution may overlook thousands of toxins that concentrate as they march up the food chain, say researchers. Compounds that do not accumulate in fish can still build up in marine birds and mammals — and possibly the people that eat them, they have found.

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Parasites' ingenious tricks -- are protozoans making you more daring?

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.nytimes.com)

No depressing political updates this time, my buds, just some spooky stories about parasites, including those found around domestic felines.

(sigh) It doesn't mention, however, that it takes forty-eight hours outside kitty's body for the protozoan to become harmful. All one has to do is train one's chipmunk-munching beastie to use the flushable facilities (hard, but possible).

While infected rats lose their fear of the scent of cat urine, infected human men lose some of their fear of authority, and infected women score higher on warmth and chattiness

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Humble opossum's genetic map sheds light on humans