Adventure Ausrama Blog

GENETICS I've been everywhere man - I mean mouse! João   Gonçalves  Zarco, the Portuguese explorer, thought he had discovered a pristine island untouched by man. However, Madeira had been reached earlier by other people . Mouse move with man and their genetic fingerprint showed that Vikings had got there first. Mice began "travelling" with humans when people stated storing grain. There is nothing like a free feed to hitch a ride. As grain was moved aboard ship, mice got on too. When a ship reached its destination the mice alighted and started a new colony of their own. The mice who populated Madeira do not have DNA traces of Portuguese mice. They are related to north eastern European mice. Apparently, viking did not construct any lasting structure on the island. This is also the case in North America where very little evidence has been found of Viking exploration. Carbon dating of mice skeletons on Madeira show the earliest to be 1,000 years old. T...

It is not only humans that are becoming resistant to drugs developed to fight disease, chemicals used by farmers to combat crop destroyers are also not working so well. The world's supply of grain is at risk. The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in Australia is signing a deal with Bayer CropScience. This Herbicide Innovation Partnership aims to find more effective weed-fighting chemicals. More than 40 Australian researchers will be taken on board at the Bayer’s global centre of excellence in Germany. Australian is a major grain producer and Bayer will target agriculture in this country.  Benefits will spread to other countries. Australian farmers spend $3.25 billion on weed control every year. This is the largest input cost, greater than fertilizer. Resistance to herbicides is pushing the cost higher as growers spray more to defeat weeds. ✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.bl...

Much has been said about cattle that increase carbon and methane levels in the atmosphere. Test were done on cattle in the European Union. Options were considered on how the emissions could be reduced. It was found that dairy and beef cattle contributed 60 per cent of pollution for the whole livestock industry. Because little can be done about body waste emissions, efficiency factors were at the center of the study. Poor land use was the second highest factor in global greenhouse gas emissions after direct production. Pollution for wasted food followed inefficient use of land. As usual the investigators did their calculations on how much pollution could be lessened if their advice was adopted by the livestock industry. It was estimated that the lowest impact would be a reduction of 12 per cent. Optimists in the group said 60 per cent. Somehow consumption of meat was to be reduced. Just how this was to be done was not made clear. With people in developing countrie...