Adventure Ausrama Blog

     ▶ A race is not real. Those in a particular pool genetically are alike. stories and news anthropology wrong races array machinery baggage sets devices outfit tools taking vestiges anthropology gadget Attachments listen fixtures contrivances facilities material anthropology at appurtenances kit words kaboodle belongings furnishings apparatus anthropology as in trappings habiliments rig display article shebang attachment anthropology as wrong to races ornaments utensils fittings stock pad setup stuff accompaniments anthropology an wrong to races gadgets contraptions happening things tackle accessories teams furniture writing provisions fashion and appliances collections read equipage ear impediments things traps provisioning paragraph | news stories |◀ | Anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenback promulated a concept that changed the way members of societies thought about the structure of Mankind for generations. Unfortunately, the belief was absolutely wrong. ...

Insects and animals are moving to different regions. As climate changes with Queensland and Western Australia becoming tropical far down the coast insects are leaving their native areas. Mosquitoes are in epidemic proportions in Brisbane and they are even reaching Sydney. More than a million people a year die from malaria. Many recover but become very sick. The illness does return to sufferers in future years. It is not just the warmth that attracts mosquitoes thus spreading the disease. A hotter climate means more rain that the insects thrive in. They breed in pools of water trapped in all kinds of crevices. Certain kinds of mosquitoes transmit different disease. Dengue fever,  Yellow fever virus,  chikungunya, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria are all spread by mosquitoes. They get to new regions in people's belongings due to increasing world travel. The dangerous insect is taking over virgin ground rapidly. A few years ago the chikungunya virus ...

There is always conflict between industry and the natural ecosystem. With the arrival of extraction and even mass agriculture comes pollution detrimental to the flora and fauna. This is no different in Aboriginal regions as in urbanized cities. Dean Mathews is a Yawuru Aboriginal and Project Officer for the Nyamba Buru Yawuru Aboriginal Corporation. He monitors the impact on groundwater by agriculture and mining. He has made a video. It is significant that the location he tested did not have any visible industry there, so it would be expected that the water was still pure. Test the water adjacent to mining activity and the results would be quite different. Much has been made of Aboriginal cooperation with industry - too much for my liking. One has the feeling that local Aboriginal have been duped. The mining industry employs people whose sole motivation is to change public opinion to accept the "job-creating" mining companies. The problem is of course that f...

It seems that with climate change we will lose some species but gain new ones - or have new "changed" species. Some species living at high altitudes have been changing as mountain tops become warmer with climate change. It was believed that accelerated evolution only occurs in cold regions, but it has been discovered that it also happens in the tropics. While it has been accepted for a long time that plants and marine protists evolve faster, the process has only recently been recognized in mammals. What is unusual is that mammals are not directly affected by a warming climate because they naturally maintain a steady body heat. It is now believed that evolution in the tropics is even faster that in temperate regions. There is a greater diversity of species in the tropics. This faster evolution and more species means that adaptation to changing conditions is rapid. The faster evolution actually makes for many more types of animals. There must be something else, however, t...

Australians will embrace streaming Internet TV when they get the service promised by the National Broadband Network (NBN). For most Australians this will be many years away, particularly for those living in the outback. Work has not yet begun on many suburbs of major cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Though streaming movies and TV is increasing, it is only in areas with a fast broadband service. Companies such as Quickflix are launching subscription offerings, but only in metropolitan regions. No matter how cheap these services are they will meet the "no-broadband" barrier. If the NBN continues at its present slow pace, the majority of Australians will be frustrated with their inability to enjoy the latest movies in their homes. Optus MeTV is going to charge $9.95 a month for TV that uses digital audio broadcasts. Many already know that outer suburbs of large cites cannot receive a decent DAB signal and there are no plans to further extend DAB. The only opt...

The ubiquitous house sparrow found in just about every country is being examined by scientists. They successfully populate new regions by discarding their "companion" parasites. Though they force their way into new niches, they don't kill off native birds and animals with their resident parasites. Sparrow parasites spread avian malaria. It seems that this disease is not spread to new areas because parasites that carry it are discarded. Without this deadly malady sparrows thrive. House sparrows originally came from Western Europe. They successfully live alongside humans. The cheeky little birds get much closer than other birds to people. This enables them to get food easily. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biology

Yet another plant is suggested as a savior for our fuel hungry future. Agave is a succulent, normally used to produce the alcoholic drink tequila. Its use to make this drink is no coincidence - agave is rich in sugar. It is ideal for making ethanol. Australia is looking for a plant that will grow in arid areas. Sugarcane will grow on marginal land but not in semi-desert regions. Agave will grow where it hardly ever rains, so it will not take fertile land away from food growers. A pilot test farm has been established at Ayr in Queensland. Agave is a winner. It gives back five times more energy than is used to produce it. And it makes less greenhouse gas than the manufacture of sugar cane ethanol. Corn is widely used at present to make ethanol. The quality, however, is variable. Ethanol from agave is superior. Another benefit is that the woody by-product from the plant can be used in making the motor vehicle fuel. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysau...

Eye Size is not accidental. It is determined by evolutionary factors. This is not so obvious today because in the twentieth century people moved to new countries in regions quite different from their place of origin. Eye sockets were measured from 55 skulls of native people throughout the world. The skulls were in museum collections from the 1800s. Large eyes were synonymous with large craniums. The native population of Micronesia had the smallest eyes. Scandinavians had the largest. This is contrary to the belief that Africans have the largest eyes. Eyes size is affected by the length of day and sun brightness. Bigger craniums were due to more brain allocation to sight. It did not make people smarter. This finding must mean that being able to get about in low light was important for survival. Features important for survival until the age of reproduction are carried on to later generations. Some things, however, can remain in a population if they affect life after puberty, ...

It looks like Labor will lose the election. One thing is of great concern to me. That is the loss of the new national broadband network. Tony Abbot believes that private enterprise will fill the gap and make the leap. Without new technology this will not happen, particularly as Telecom still controls the copper wire network. The recent American CEO of Telecom did have one thing right about the Australian communication market - one company is shackled to the government but it still controls the whole market. Literally, when Telstra sneezes all the minor telcos don't just get a cold: they get the flu. Ironically, a public company holds the one and only key to Australia's hope of catching up to the rest of the developed world. CSIRO has developed a way of high-speed computer data transmission in the 6 gigabite range. It is not only superior to existing Wifi , developed in Australia, it is 99.9 per cent loss free, that is, it doesn't lose anything to a cable connection....