Bees Also Have A Paralyzing Bite To Deal With Intruders

Though they’re one of the world’s most infamously well-armed insects, it turns out bees have only been turning half of their armory on us all these years. In addition to their famously venomous stingers, bees have a bite that delivers a paralyzing toxin to their victims, and researchers in Greece think the poison could one day be repurposed as a local anesthetic for humans.

The poison the bees use, 2-heptanone (2-H) is no mystery to science — it occurs naturally in some foods, such as beer and white bread, and is known to be secreted by some insects. Until this research, though, it was though that 2-H was a signaling molecule of some sort, though. A paper published in the online journal PLoS ONE , though, shows that 2-H acts as a paralytic poison when secreted though bees mandibles, though.

Researchers at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki made the discovery mostly by accident while studying wax moths, an invading insect that can damage bee colonies and honeycombs. Bees appear to use their poisonous bite as a weapon of first resort when dealing with wax moths and other small hive invaders, such as mites, which are not dangerous enough to be eliminated by the the bee’s stinger, but have to be dealt with before they can harm the hive.

Bees bite these invaders, releasing 2-H through their mandibles, which paralyzes the moths and mites. The non-fatal bites can keep the bugs out of commission for up to nine minutes, during which the bees act as bouncers, ejecting the troublesome pests from their hives. The next step in research is taking a look at the safety and clinical properties of the 2-H molecule in animals, which could eventually set the stage for it to be used to numb pain in humans.

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The whale can mimic human speech

It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets' Swedish Chef.

 
Surprisingly, scientists said the audio they captured was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially thought it was a human voice.
 
Handlers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego heard mumbling in 1984 coming from a tank containing whales and dolphins that sounded like two people chatting far away.
 

It wasn't until one day, after a diver surfaced from the tank and asked, "Who told me to get out?" did researchers realize the garble came from a captive male Beluga whale. For several years, they recorded its spontaneous sounds while it was underwater and when it surfaced.

An acoustic analysis revealed the human-like sounds were several octaves lower than typical whale calls. The research was published online Monday in Current Biology.

Scientists think the whale's close proximity to people allowed it to listen to and mimic human conversation. It did so by changing the pressure in its nasal cavities. After four years of copying people, it went back to sounding like a whale, emitting high-pitched noises. It died five years ago.

Dolphins and parrots have been taught to mimic the patterns of human speech, but it's rare for an animal to do it spontaneously.

The study is not the first time a whale has sounded human. Scientists who have studied sounds of white whales in the wild sometimes heard what sounded like shouting children. Caretakers at the Vancouver Aquarium in Canada previously said they heard one of the white whales say its name.


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Raw Food Not Enough to Feed Big Brains

Eating a raw food diet is a recipe for disaster if you’re trying to boost your species’ brainpower. That’s because humans would have to spend more than 9 hours a day eating to get enough energy from unprocessed raw food alone to support our large brains, according to a new study that calculates the energetic costs of growing a bigger brain or body in primates. But our ancestors managed to get enough energy to grow brains that have three times as many neurons as those in apes such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. How did they do it? They got cooking, according to a study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“If you eat only raw food, there are not enough hours in the day to get enough calories to build such a large brain,” says Suzana Herculano-Houzel, a neuroscientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil who is co-author of the report. “We can afford more neurons, thanks to cooking.”

Humans have more brain neurons than any other primate — about 86 billion, on average, compared with about 33 billion neurons in gorillas and 28 billion in chimpanzees. While these extra neurons endow us with many benefits, they come at a price — our brains consume 20 percent of our body’s energy when resting, compared with 9 percent in other primates. So a long-standing riddle has been where did our ancestors get that extra energy to expand their minds as they evolved from animals with brains and bodies the size of chimpanzees?

One answer came in the late 1990s when Harvard University primatologist Richard Wrangham proposed that the brain began to expand rapidly 1.6 million to 1.8 million years ago in our ancestor, Homo erectus, because this early human learned how to roast meat and tuberous root vegetables over a fire. Cooking, Wrangham argued, effectively predigested the food, making it easier and more efficient for our guts to absorb calories more rapidly. Since then, he and his colleagues have shown in lab studies of rodents and pythons that these animals grow up bigger and faster when they eat cooked meat instead of raw meat — and that it takes less energy to digest cooked meat than raw meat.

In a new test of this cooking hypothesis, Herculano-Houzel and her graduate student, Karina Fonseca-Azevedo, now a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Translational Neuroscience in São Paulo, Brazil, decided to see if a diet of raw food inherently put limits on how large a primate’s brain or body could grow. First, they counted the number of neurons in the brains of 13 species of primates (and more than 30 species of mammals). The researchers found two things: one, that brain size is directly linked to the number of neurons in a brain; and two, that that the number of neurons is directly correlated to the amount of energy (or calories) needed to feed a brain.

After adjusting for body mass, they calculated how many hours per day it would take for various primates to eat enough calories of raw food to fuel their brains. They found that it would take 8.8 hours for gorillas; 7.8 hours for orangutans; 7.3 hours for chimps; and 9.3 hours for our species, H. sapiens.

These numbers show that there is an upper limit on how much energy primates can get from an unprocessed raw diet, Herculano-Houzel says. An ape’s diet in the wild differs from a modern “raw food diet,” in which humans get sufficient calories from processing raw food in blenders and adding protein and other nutrients. In the wild, other apes can’t evolve bigger brains unless they reduce their body sizes because they can’t get past the limit of how many calories they can consume in 7 hours to 8 hours of feeding per day. But humans, she says, got around that limit by cooking. “The reason we have more neurons than any other animal alive is that cooking allowed this qualitative change — this step increase in brain size,” she says. “By cooking, we managed to circumvent the limitation of how much we can eat in a day.”

This study shows “that an ape could not achieve a brain as big as in recent humans while maintaining a typical ape diet,” Wrangham says.

Paleoanthropologist Robert Martin of The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, agrees that the new paper does “provide the first evidence that metabolic limitations” from a raw food diet impose a limit on how big a primate’s brain — or body — can grow. “This could account for small brain sizes of great apes despite their large body sizes.” But “the jury is still out” on whether cooking was responsible for the first dramatic burst of brain growth in our lineage, in H. erectus, Martin says, or whether our ancestors began cooking over a fire later, when the brain went through a second major growth spurt about 600,000 years ago.Hearths show up in the archaeological record 800,000 years ago and the regular use of fire for cooking doesn’t become widespread until more recently.

But to Herculano-Houzel’s mind, our brains would still be the size of an ape’s if H. erectus hadn’t played with fire: “Gorillas are stuck with this limitation of how much they can eat in a day; orangutans are stuck there; H. erectus would be stuck there if they had not invented cooking,” she says. “The more I think about it, the more I bow to my kitchen. It’s the reason we are here.”

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Google to unveil Android 4.2, Nexus 4 phone, Nexus 10 tablet

Google is betting even bigger on Nexus.

The search giant is set to debut the latest version of its Android operating system, known as Android 4.2, at an event scheduled for October 29 in New York. Rather than the rumored Key Lime Pie, it will be known as Android 4.2+, or an updated version of Jelly Bean, according to a person familiar with the announcement.

Google will also be showing off the first devices to run on Android 4.2, including a high-endtablet, the Nexus 10, from Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics's first Nexus phone, the Nexus 4, CNET has confirmed. Also shown off will be an updated version of the Nexus 7 tablet which debuted in July.

The Next Web first reported on the planned product.

The event marks Google's biggest Nexus showing, with three devices scheduled for debut at the same time. The Nexus program has long been Google's way of showcasing the latest version of its Android operating system. It has also come with a measure of buzz for the manufacturing partner.

After the Nexus One, which was built by HTC, Google mainly partnered with Samsung, including the Galaxy Nexus. But this year, Google worked with Asus to produce the low-cost Nexus 7, which sold at $199.

Alongside the low-end Nexus 7, Google will now offer a high-end Nexus 10 tablet built by Samsung, which was initially reported by CNET. The device is expected to boast a higher resolution than the third-generation iPad.

The tablet will be more in line with the pricing of its other products, including the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1.

LG, meanwhile, will get its chance to shine with the Nexus 4, which is an altered version of theOptimus G. The smartphone will have a quad-core SnapDragon processor from Qualcomm, 2 megabytes of RAM, a 1,280x768 display, 16GB of internal storage, and an 8-megapixel camera. Unlike the Optimus G, the Nexus 4 won't be an LTE device, according to a person familiar with the announcement.

LG will get its shot to build a little buzz for its products, something it has struggled to do, particularly in the U.S. market.

The upgraded version of the Nexus 7 will include a 32GB option. A second version will include a 3G cellular connection, according to The Next Web.

Check back with CNET for all the details when Google holds its event next week.

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a tangle with resort fees and hotel taxes

Maybe I should take my tax preparer to Palm Springs for the weekend. Not because my tax preparer needs the rest, but because the way things are going, consumers like me will soon need an expert just to understand who’s really charging us what.

I’m talking about resort fees and hotel taxes. Those are issues in plenty of lodgings beyond Palm Springs, especially in Arizona. But Palm Springs is where I happened to be a week ago.

I’d booked a room at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs, a colorful revival of a former Holiday Inn on East Palm Canyon Drive. The hotel, managed by San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre, opened in February. With an auto club discount, I managed to get a rate of $116.10. Pretty good, right?

Then when the reservation-confirming email came, I saw the hotel’s line-by-line breakdown of a bill exceeding $150, including an added $37.24 in “local taxes.”

What? More than 30%? Most major U.S. cities charge between 9% and 19%. This sounded like the highest room tax I’d ever seen in North America. I was ready to complain to any Palm Springs city official who would listen.

Good thing I didn’t. As I soon found on the city’s website, the city of Palm Springs assesses hotel taxes (officially, “transit occupancy taxes”) of 13.5% for larger “group meeting” hotels and 11.5% for all other hotels. County and state taxes add about 2%. There are plenty of places with higher hotel taxes than that.

So where was my money going? The undisclosed key ingredient in the Saguaro’s “local taxes” total was actually the hotel’s mandatory $18 daily “resort fee,” which has nothing to do with the government.

Resort fees are a way for hoteliers to boost revenue while still advertising lower rates. The practice goes back many years in Arizona, and now many hotels in and near Palm Springs charge these mandatory fees too.

When I rechecked the hotel’s original confirmation email, I saw that the Saguaro’s resort fee was mentioned -- not alongside my nightly rate but down below, near the pet policy.

Now, before I tell you about my conversation with the general manager, let me say I drove out to the desert, stayed at the Saguaro and had a fine time. When I checked out, the Saguaro’s “folio” paperwork mentioned the resort fee more prominently.

But again it combined the fee with taxes, this time alongside the line item “resort fee & tax.”

So I called David Curell, the Saguaro’s general manager. He looked into the details and apologized. The hotel’s reservations paperwork template was flawed, he said, and “we’ll definitely get that resolved and corrected” so that reservations will properly list resort fees.

As for the folios guests receive on check-out, Curell acknowledged that those aren’t ideal, either. He said staffers are “still in development” working on a way to list taxes separately that will also allow Saguaro’s software to mesh with various booking channels such as Expedia. Until then, he said, some taxes will be lumped together with the resort fee, and labeled as such. “In an ideal world, everything would be broken down” Curell said.

Next time you’re comparing hotels before making a booking, be sure to include the resort fee, if there is one. And when you get a billing statement, have a close look at how taxes and resort fees (if any) are listed.  

The night after my Saguaro stay, I moved to the Riviera Hotel, at the other end of Palm Springs, for the sake of variety. The Riviera’s resort fee is a $28, but its bill was straightforward: “Resort charge $28,” it said, followed by separate lines for city, county and state tourism taxes. I can’t say I was happy about that, but at least it was clear.

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Johnny Depp starting publishing imprint, releasing Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie books

NEW YORK — How cool is this: Johnny Depp is going to help run a publishing imprint.

Already on the list of books is one by Bob Dylan, “The Unraveled Tales of Bob Dylan,” which aims to set the record straight on the songwriter’s enigmatic life and career and will be based in part on interviews with Dylan by best-selling historian Douglas Brinkley.

Depp’s imprint will share its name with his production company, Infinitum Nihil, meaning “Nothing is forever.” The imprint will be part of HarperCollins Publishers, which announced Monday that Depp will seek “authentic, outspoken and visionary ideas and voices.”

“I pledge, on behalf of Infinitum Nihil, that we will do our best to deliver publications worthy of peoples’ time, of peoples’ concern, publications that might ordinarily never have breached the parapet,” Depp said in a statement released by HarperCollins. “For this dream realized, we would like to salute HarperCollins for their faith in us and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship together.”

Brinkley, who recently wrote a cover story on Dylan for Rolling Stone, said he and Depp thought the Dylan book was “the ideal way” to inaugurate the Infinitum Nihil series.

“Bob has been very warm and forthcoming with us,” Brinkley said in a statement. “His music has inspired us both deeply since we were teenagers.”

The Dylan book is scheduled for 2015. Dylan and Brinkley also will collaborate on the editing and publication of a previously announced novel by one of Dylan’s heroes, folk musician Woody Guthrie, who died in 1967. The novel, “House of Earth,” was completed by Guthrie in 1947 but was only recently discovered. It’s scheduled for January.

Depp, whose movies include “Edward Scissorhands” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, already has ties to the book world. He was a close friend of Hunter Thompson and starred in film adaptations of Thompson’s “Rum Diary” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” He also narrated parts of the audio edition of Keith Richards’ memoir “Life.”

Other celebrities with their own imprints include Chelsea Handler and Rachael Ray.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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6 Ridiculously Clever Pet Costumes

Just when you thought your store-bought hot-dog pet costume was once again going to ensure victory at this year's Halloween costume contest...you might want to re-think your strategy. Check out these uber- clever pet halloween costumes that are sure to put your pet to shame!

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Prehistoric People Used To Consume Panda Bears

A Chinese scientist recently made a pretty bold claim. According to evidence found by the Three Gorges Paleoanthropology group at the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, ancient men and women used to eat pandas. The scientist, Wei Guangbiao, says a study of excavated panda fossils first produced the evidence.


Guangbiao, a writer and paleoanthropologist, also says the excavation produced evidence that pandas used to be routinely killed with man-made weapons. 
While slashing seems more cruel than necessary, the Hindustan Times is reporting early humans would not kill unless necessary for food or survival, prompting Guangbio’s claim that the animals were cut up and parts of them were eaten.

As weird and stringy as panda meat sounds, those cute black and white critters of prehistoric times were not quite the same as the gentle, giant bears we know today. Instead pandas were miniaturized, more numerous, and found living in areas spread across a much larger region. For between 10,000 and 1 million years, the pandas wandered across a space in Chongqing before branching out into other habitats after a large bamboo die off. In other words, they were cute as kittens, but they weren’t endangered species, and prehistoric men and women quite enjoyed them. I just wonder if they were a delicacy, or an everyday sort of meal. 


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Swamped, Allegheny County animal shelters trigger adoption deals

In the offices of the Animal Rescue League in Homewood, best friends Nina (left,) and Cody play, while Joe Tedesco and Jordana O'Malley discuss work, Thursday, October 11th, 2012. The ARL is out of space for dogs as it has accepted pets transferred from Triangle Pet Control and a high number of walk-ins. Triangle Pet had its license revoked and the business was ordered to no longer provide animal control or kenneling services for dogs. As a result, Animal Friends, the Animal Rescue League, and the Western PA Humane Society have teamed up to provide shelter and veterinary care. Also, all three places are offering a $30@3 adoption special, meaning any dog over the age of 2 years is available for just a $30 adoption donation. Tedesco is the adoption manager at the ARL, and O'Malley is an adoption counselor. Nina is an adult Staffordshire mix, while Cody is a pit/lab mix. Keith Hodan | tribune-Review

Pittsburgh-area animal shelters filled with dogs after taking animals from shuttered Triangle Pet Control Services in McKees Rocks and will lower adoption fees for certain animals to make room.

Animal Friends in Ohio Township, the Animal Rescue League in Larimer and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society in Manchester are running a “$30 @ 3” promotion, lowering adoption fees to $30 for all dogs older than 2. The usual adoption screening process for shelters applies.

“People always want puppies,” said Humane Society spokeswoman Gretchen Fieser. “Some of these (older dogs) are great dogs but a lot of people pass these dogs over.”

The shelters are housing more than 20 animals from Triangle Pet, which closed Oct. 1 after failing two inspections. They expect an increase in animals that people surrender or animal wardens bring in, said Animal Friends spokeswoman Jolene Miklas.

“I’ve been here almost three years and we’ve had full times before, but this is really bad,” said Dan Rossi, Animal Rescue League’s executive director.

He said the number of people dropping off unwanted animals increased 25 percent since Triangle closed.

The shelter on Hamilton Avenue is housing animals in offices because the 85 spaces in its kennels are full. It placed 30 to 40 animals with foster families, Rossi said.

“When we have this many animals, we’re at higher risk of bad behavior, or sickness spreading among the kennels,” Rossi said.

Adoption fees run $50 to $300, depending on the type of dog, its age, how long the shelter kept it and whether it needs medical care before leaving.

Several dogs from Triangle were quarantined, evaluated and treated for parvovirus at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center in Ohio Township or AVETS in Monroeville. Others are quarantined at the shelters for health and behavioral evaluations. All the animals should be ready for adoption soon.

Fieser emphasized that people should put identification tags on pets and have veterinarians implant microchips to prevent them from going to shelters if they are lost.

The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society filed citations Wednesday against Triangle Pet owner Bernard Dudash, 73, of Kennedy and kennel manager Paul McIntyre. They are accused of failing to provide veterinary care for a dog that died in a cage. Fieser said the charges can carry a $750 fine or 90 days imprisonment. The investigation continues.

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