Amphioxus embryonic development from fertilization to mid-neurula. The movie was done at the Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls sur Mer, France, by Alain Camasses and Hector Escriva.
Fluorescent proteins found in nature have been employed in a variety of scientific research purposes, from markers for tracing molecules in biomedicine to probes for testing environmental quality. Until now, such proteins have been identified mostly in jellyfish and corals, leading to the belief that the capacity for fluorescence in animals is exclusive to such primitive creatures.
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have discovered fluorescent-light emitting features in an evolutionarily important marine organism and say such a capacity may be much more prevalent across the animal kingdom than previously believed.
In the cover story of the October issue of Biological Bulletin, Dimitri Deheyn and his colleagues in La Jolla, Calif. and Japan describe finding green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) in amphioxus, a fish-like animal closely studied by scientists due to its evolutionarily important position at the base of a large phylum of animals called chordates. The researchers say amphioxus’ GFPs are very similar to those of corals, an interesting fact since the two animal groups are separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
The finding emphasizes the idea that evolutionary preservation of fluorescence must play an important ecological function, Deheyn said. Many animals haven’t been tested for fluorescence and its prevalence in the animal kingdom remains unknown.
Dakar, Senegal – A WWF survey has discovered several marine turtle nesting sites on the beaches of Senegal, prompting calls from conservationists to improve protection of the endangered species.
The survey — conducted by WWF staff, Senegalese wildlife officials and the local community between July and September — discovered nine new green turtle nests on the beaches of Joal-Fadiouth in the Saloum Delta south of the capital, Dakar. …
In addition to green turtles, the waters of Senegal, and the greater West African Marine Ecoregion, are also home to other marine turtle species, including the loggerhead [see also here], hawksbill, olive ridley, Kemp’s ridley and leatherback [see also here].
A leatherback turtle was tracked by satellite traveling 12,774 miles (20,558 kilometers) from Indonesia to Oregon, one of the longest recorded migrations of any vertebrate animal, scientists announced in a new report on sea turtle conservation: here.
Leatherback Turtle Nesting Threatened By Logging Practices in Gabon: here.
The French president Sarkozy gets [that is, gives himself; paid by the tax payers] a salary incease of 140%. Now, he gets 7700 euro a month; that will become 19,000 euro.
Prince Harry and a close friend have been interviewed by police after two rare and legally protected birds of prey were killed on the royal family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk last week.
The prince is understood to have been out shooting on the estate last Wednesday evening, with a friend believed to be from the Van Cutsem family, when witnesses saw two hen harriers in flight being shot, an offence under wildlife protection legislation which carries a prison sentence of up to six months or a £5,000 fine.
Sources have told the Guardian that the prince and his friend were the only people known to be out shooting on the estate last Wednesday evening, and were quickly identified to Norfolk police by the Prince of Wales’s staff. It is understood both men were interviewed in person, but have denied any involvement in the incident. …
The deaths have alarmed conservationists. Although widespread in other parts of the UK, hen harriers are rare in England, where there are estimated to be about 20 breeding pairs, compared with 500 pairs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The RSPB says the species is the most persecuted bird of prey; it is one of only two - the other is the sea eagle [see also here] - birds of prey on the UK’s “red list” of most endangered species.
The deaths, close to Dersingham Bog nature reserve on the edge of Sandringham estate, were witnessed by a staff member of Natural England, the government’s conservation agency which runs the nature reserve, and two members of the public.
A spokesman for Natural England said last night: “We were shocked that two of the rarest birds of prey that we have in England had been shot.” The eyewitnesses on the reserve “were watching the birds, saw them in the air, heard a shot and saw one of them fall and heard another shot and saw that one fall”. An RSPB spokesman said last night that gamekeepers on country estates, particularly in areas known for grouse or pheasant shooting, were the most likely to see hen harriers as an “enemy” because they feed on game birds. “We take any allegations of killing of hen harriers very seriously, particularly because it is one of only two birds of prey on the ‘red list’.
The case against the Erinys security firm, which reportedly has close ties to the former Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, is believed to be the first brought against a private security contractor operating in Iraq by a member of the US military.
The suit against Erinys, filed last week in Houston, was brought by the father of Specialist Christopher Monroe, who was struck by an Erinys convoy on October 25 2005. He was on guard duty in southern Iraq when he was struck and killed by a speeding Erinys vehicle, the suit alleges.
“The family just didn’t have the answers that they were seeking,” said Tobias Cole, a lawyer for the family. “For example, why did their son die on a non-combat mission? There was no reason to have extreme driving, no reason to drive without headlights, no reason to drive at speed through a parked convoy.”
Monroe, 19, was the third generation of his family to serve in the US military and was an eager recruit. He enlisted before finishing secondary school at the age of 17. The lawsuit alleges the four vehicles in the Erinys convoy were driving at an estimated speed of up to 80mph on a dark road using only their parking lights. The Erinys vehicles were not under fire, and they were not carrying high-profile passengers.
Monroe’s right leg was sheared off by the force of the collision, and he was thrown 40ft into the air.
US State Dept Granted Blackwater Immunity in Killing of 17 Civilians: here. And here.
Jeremy Scahill: State to Blackwater: Nothing You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You in a Court of Law: here.
Blackwater Worldwide, its reputation in tatters and its lucrative government contracts in jeopardy, is mounting an aggressive legal, political and public relations counterstrike: here.
Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play “Magic.” In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from “Magic.” But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA.”
Republican owned corporate media once again is attempting to silence progressive positions. I’m trying to contact Springsteen’s camp for a comment.
Clear Channel is a big-time and very consciously right-wing power player with a goal of changing American pop culture. They have done all they could to stifle progressive voices and to dumb down and trivialize the culture…
I found these Fossils in a stream bed in TN, the largest is 3 ft across, smallest is 1 ft across. Anyone know what they are? I was told they were a type of jellyfish called a CENTATHORE.
The fossils are an unusual discovery because soft-bodied creatures, such as jellyfish, rarely survive in the fossil record, unlike animals with hard shells or bones.
“The fossil record is biased against soft-bodied life forms such as jellyfish, because they leave little behind when they die,” said study member Bruce Lieberman of the University of Kansas. …
The complexity of these early jellyfish seems to suggest that either the complexity of modern jellyfish developed rapidly about 500 million years ago, or that jellyfish are even older and developed long before that time.
UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak said yesterday that the standing and importance of the United States meant it was a model to other countries. He said those countries queried why they were scrutinised when the US resorted to measures witnessed at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.
“All that is really undermining the international rule of law in general and human rights, but also the prohibition of torture.
“(Other countries) say ‘why are you criticising us if the US, the most democratic country with the oldest history of human rights, if they are torturing, you should first go there’.
“It has a negative effect because the US is a very powerful and important country and many other countries take the US as a model.”
Pamuk: ‘one of the major disasters in the last three or four decades’
Nobel Prize author: Iraq war ‘major disaster’ for West
Turkish author Orhan Pamuk says prestige of Western civilisation ruined by ‘horrors and injustice’ of war.
TURIN, Italy - The Iraqi war was a disaster for the US and its allies and had undermined support for democracy and secularism in the Islamic world, Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk told Adnkronos International (AKI).
On a visit to Italy, Pamuk said the prestige of Western civilisation had been ruined by the ‘horrors and injustice‘ of the war and it had poisoned relations between the Arab world and the US and its European allies.
“I think it is one of the major disasters in the last three or four decades, this war in Iraq. It’s destroyed a peaceful approach in the Middle East towards democracy, towards human rights, western values and women’s liberation,” Pamuk told AKI.
He was visiting the northern city of Turin for a lecture organised by the Premio Grinzane Cavour, a prestigious Italian literary prize that he won in 2002.
Pamuk said Muslim countries were also suffering from simplistic perceptions in the West that associated Islam with terrorism, suicide killings and bombings.
