AFTER SIX DECADES,A NEW BIRD

An astronomer on vacation has discovered a strikingly colored singing bird,till now unknown bird,in western part of arunachal pradesh.It is the first new bird species from our country in six decades.The bird has been spotted in eaglenest sanctuary in arunachal pradesh,described as having olive plumage with golden yellow & crimson wings with a bright yellow patch in front of the eyes.It is named as Bugun liocichla,after bugun tribe living in the periphery of eaglenest sanctuary.

                                   SHE has become HE                                                      

Extreme changes in temperatures,toxicity in food & pollution has resulted in conversion of a female pheasant in lucknow zoo in a male bird.According to vets,one of the ovaries in female birds might have  stopped functioning thus disbalancing the hormonal content in their body.In a normal female bird only the left ovary is seen functional but due to infection or any other  reasons if it deceases then right ovary becomes active & produces more testosterone resulting in male plumage.

                                           THE TREE MAN-------DEDE                                                                     

An Indonesian man,dede,whose whole body is covered with extrordinary tree like warty growth have spoken of his survival growth on being treated by an american doctor.Dede now 35,baffled many medical expertswhen warty root like structuresbegan to grow out of his arms & feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident .Sacked from his job & deserted by his wife he was left alone with his two teenage children.According to dermatologists it is a rare case of vitamin A deficiency followed by tremendous infection by human papilloma virus(HPV virus).The virus has hijacked the cellular machinery of his skin cells taking advantage of his weak immune system & formed numerous tree like outgrowths called "cutaneous horns".

EARLIEST ANCESTORS COULD WALK & CLIMB TREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scientists exploring a hillside in Ethiopia have announced the discovery of a 3.3 million year old girl incomplete skeleton claimed to be one of the earliest direct ancestors of human beings.Features of the skeleton clearly indicates the evidence of bipedal locomotion & arboreal ability.The skeleton have been classified as Australopithcus afarensis ,a species that used to live between 3 to 3.3 million years ago.Scientists  had unearthed the first australopithecus fossil,a female named as LUCY in the same region of Ethiopia in 1974.This fossil used to live 150,000 years before LUCY.

 LIFE OF DANGER,DEATH BY STING--IT'S STEVE IRWIN

Renowned field biologist STEVE IRWIN,who was more commonly known as 'THE CROCODILE HUNTER',cheated death so many times when he tangled with man eating crocodiles or most easily handled full grown pythons but fell prey to a harmless sting ray on the fateful day of 3rd september 2006 when he was shooting for a documentary on Australia's great barrier reef.He came over the top of a sting ray & the barb went up in to his chest putting a hole in to his heart.Sting rays are normally placid & harmless,they posess barbs & poison on their tail as an organ of predation but not organ of attack.It's poison can cause extreme pain but quite unlikely that it killed steve. Irwin's daredivelry in his nearly 50 documentaries,shown on tv channel animal planet under the title The crocodile hunter,won him world wide accolades & audience.Irwin's parents use to run a small reptile park in queensland thus he learned to handle wild animals at the tender age of 6,by 9 he was catching crocodiles.He went on his honeymoon with wife terri irwin ironically trapping crocs,which eventually became the first episode of "THE CROCODILE HUNTER".

                                                UNRAVELLING ALZHEIMER'S

Alzheimer's--which is considered as the most common form of dementia that makes people forget names,place & things--still remains a mystery.The disease is named after the famous german physician DR ALOIS ALZHEIMER.In this disease  the  region of the brain called CORTEX (responsible for  memory,thinking,judgement,speech etc)shrunks considerably.To worsen the situation sticky protein plaques called BETA AMYLOID  & TAU PROTEIN is formed inside the dying nerve cells.The beta amyloid plaques acts directly in the synapses of the HIPPOCAMPUS(region responsible for memory)thus seriously affecting the ability to remember.

                                   NEELA KURINJI:ONCE IN A BLUE MOON FLOWER

neela kurinjee

NEELA KURINJI-A flower that blooms once in 12 years,bathing the Munnar hills in violet,is a protected species. It plays a vital role in maintaining the mountain ecosystem bringing rainfall for upto 9 months a year to the shola forests of the western ghats.Kereala is the first state to declare a separate sanctuary for this species.

                                            NEW SHARK FOUND

                                A mexican marine biologist has discovered a new shark species in the murky depths of mexico's sea of cortez,the first in the wildlife rich inlet in 34 years.Post grduate student juan carlos perez was on a fishing boat studying sharks from the Mustelus family netted at depth of 200 meters when he noticed some of them had darker skin & white markings.The sharks slender dark grey brown & around 1.5 meter long which is named as Mustelus hacat (hacat in indian dialect means SHARK)

Mustelus hacat

                                                       NEW CURE FOR BRAIN CANCER

A new molecule extracted from frogs could be a potential remedy for brain cancer.Frog's egg contain a type of molecule called RIBONUCLEASE with special cancer cure properties.It has special property of recognising  & attacking only cancer cells,suggesting that it could be non toxic.The drug has been found to be very promising in pre-clinical trials. 

                                     A DEADLY NEW SPECIES: HUGE SPITTING COBRA(Naja ashei)

It is the world's largest spitting cobra found in kenya with enough venom in a single bite to kill 20 people.It grows to around 2.7 metres & lives along the coast of east africa.It is named after the famous serpentologist James ashe,founder of bio-ken snake firm in watamu,kenya.

                                                    THE FARTHEST FLYER

A diminutive bird that weigh less than 500 gm has completed the longest migration on record.THE SOOTY SHEARWATER(Puffinus griseus) travels the pacific ocean in a figure of 8 times per year,flying upto 46000 miles on its migration route as reported by a team of international researchers of 'The national academy of sciences',london.This puts them ahead of arctic tern who travels up to 22000 miles between polar icecaps.From their breeding ground in new zealand they head towards northern hemisphere feeding grounds of japan,alaska or california.

                            WHY DO MOSQUITOES BITE SOME PEOPLE????????/

              specific cells in the nasal part of mosquitoes are tuned to identify the different chemicals 

               that make up human bodies.To mosquitoes some people's sweat appears better than 

              others because of the proportions of carbondioxide,octenol & other compounds that make 

               up body odour

         

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE: DO YOU KNOW?...

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE:                                       DO YOU KNOW?...:                                       DO YOU KNOW?????????/ There is a peculiar  genetic disorder called ' PRADER WILI SYNDROME'...