Adventure Ausrama Blog

science Interesting things abound about Australia. It is a unique continent being isolated from the other land masses for millions of years. Animals have evolved with unusual behaviors. The cute, tiny Antichenus gets so high on testosterone that the little fellow doesn't eat or drink. He mates until he dies. The ugliest fish live in the deep sea off Australia's coast. They have large eyes, a necessity where light is almost total nonexistent.  Land creatures have evolved where some beauty is required to facilitate mating.  living in the darkest depths means seeing your mate is not so important, but large eyes, huge jaws and venomous spines are. Tourists and locals know about the deadly creatures living here. Oddly, Funnelweb spiders are not dangerous to dogs, cats, mice, lizards or snakes. An unlucky human can die if bitten by this spider.  Muscles in our bodies fibrillate.  Unsynchronized contraction of heart muscles can kill us. Bundaberg is the home of t...

Rice came from Asia, more specifically China, right? You would be wrong. Genetic tests on rice grown today show it come from northern Australia. It was clean, uncontaminated and has been pinned down to Cape York in Queensland. Originally, it was growing wild in the tropics, an unusal place for rice as we associate it with wet conditions all year round. The real question is how did it get to Asia? Obviously, people from Asia came to Australia and took it home. The Middle East is the cradle of Mankind. For rice it is Australia. Wild rice growing there today is more genetically diverse than anywhere else in the world. Asian domestic and wild rice is inbred. Australian rice is wild. It grows there today unchanged by human intervention. This took place 7,000 years ago. Australian rice will be the basis of research to improve world food production. It holds the genetic keys to open the door very wide indeed. Modern rice varieties are just little sparks from the fire...