Adventure Ausrama Blog

"I'm really sick Doc.   Look."   ✿   ✴  Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan   ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An endangered animal, Antechinus, has two new members. Well, they have been there all along. A team from Queensland University of Technology discovered the Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus vandycki) in south east Tasmania, and nominated the Mainland Dusky Antechinus   (Antechinus mimetes) . The latter was known to be in New South Wales and Victoria but it is now a species in its own right. The Tasman Antechinus is about 13 cm long with a short tail weighing roughly 90g. It is located in Port Arther, Tasmania. Under threat from clearing of trees it resides in state forest in fragmented groups.  Survival is precarious in the isolated stands. While uncovering new species is rare in developed countries, new ones are being found in Australia all the time. This is due to the low population density of people in inland Australia. Unfortunately, new species when found are usually in small numbers and under threat. Antechinus are not helping themselves, though.

"Damn clever these horses!"   ✿   ✴  Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan   ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There is a new drug for malaria called artemisinin. It will be synthesized in a chemical process and the procedure is "green". The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi   produces a third of the world's demand annually. Unfortunately, the synthetic drug is expensive. Click to enlarge. Most of artemisinin is extracted from sweet wormwood. This is simple but the synthetic version involves the conversion of glucose into artemisinic acid: then three oxygen atoms are bonded on to produce artimsinin. It is complex. The use of toxic dichloromethane is not used in the new process. It was discovered, ironically, that water greatly assists the synthesis. It packs molecules together. Water-soluble photocatalyst is indeed clean and green. The result is a product that is purer than artemisinin taken directly from wormwood. ✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--austr

"Come on.  Fight like a man!"   ✴  Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan   ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Men and women in hunter gatherer societies had very defined roles. Men hunted for protein, namely meat. Women sought tubers and berries for long term family sustenance. Some scientists are saying that male and females were more equal in prehistory. This not really the case. Women, for example, could not go on the hunt with men. Males would not remain home with the women unless sickness prevented the hardships of seeking wild game. A women who did not find a mate had to remain home, unwanted, with her birth family. Indeed close breeding was frowned upon. Mates were invariably found in an unrelated group. Scientists have mistakenly confused female independence in decision making,  which supposedly pushes them to choose an outside mate, with women knowing that it is the wise thing to do, while males are dumb and stupid about this. The attraction between cousins is well known - thus the term "kissing cousins". Why would women have superior ideals than men.

"Come on out to play.  I'm ready!"   ✿   ✴  Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan   ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .