APES Current Events

The persistent and ongoing spread of Ebola has been a terrifying threat for many people in all different countries around the world. The strides that scientists are now making to treat the virus is hopefully a step in the right direction that will lead to further development of preventative treatments. The new found increase in success with the developing treatments has already decreased the percent chance of dying as well as protects those who have come in contact with the affected patient. I believe that any strides that have been made to cure or even just treat Ebola are incredibly important. We have the technology that grants us the ability to work through theories and test treatments in order to discover solutions that haven't ever been found before. Hopefully, for the sake of future individuals as well as those living now that face Ebola, scientists and doctors continue the pursuit to make the world a better and safer place to live in. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/hea...

Over the past few years, extreme weather conditions have been on the rise including intense droughts, record breaking wildfires, and servere hurricanes. This is due to global warming, which is disrupting the jet stream, a flow of air in the atmosphere. Increased human carbon emissions and other sources of pollution can be to blame for this. A recent study, however, has shown that deadly natural disasters will be on the rise by and average of 50% by 2100, sometimes reaching 300%. I believe that this is an important issue and the world should attempt to work together to do something about global warming, if this continues, our world will soon be inevitable to humans. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/extreme-weather-increases-50-percent-2100-jet-s

Article A study found that chocolate labrador retrievers tend to live slightly shorter lives than other labs. Dogs with yellow or black coats live about 10% longer than dogs with chocolate colored coats. This correlates with the fact that skin and ear diseases tend to affect chocolate colored dogs more often. I feel as if this information can seem to be quite pointless to many people, but it also can be seen as extremely helpful to others. This information could be used by veterinarians in order to identify possible health problems sooner and produce longer-living dogs.

In Hansen Creek, ecologist Thomas Quinn and students from the University of Washington studied and monitored salmon populations. Whenever they found dead salmon, they would throw the carcasses to the riverbank. However, after doing this for 20 years, Quinn and the students discovered that the forest on the side of their fish carcasses was growing faster than the opposite bank. They measured tree trunk diameters and nitrogen isotopes in white pine needles, and counted tree rings. They discovered that the nitrogen in the needles came from marine sources, proving their theory. If we used fish carcasses as growth enhancers, we could probably decrease the time it takes for some plants to grow. Link to article

An island in Hawaii has been wiped completely off of the map.  East island which is a island in Hawaii was washed completely away from a hurricane named Walaka.  This island mostly held wildlife and no human lived on it, most of the wildlife had left the island before the hurricane struck.  I believe that this article can show what a hurricane can do and the effects of the hurricane.  This is cool because it is interesting how a hurricane could do all of this damage.  https://www.livescience.com/63921-hawaiian-island-vanishes.html

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-roaches-fight-wasps-turn-their-victims-zombies In recent research, it has been found that emerald jewel wasps sting and paralyze roaches, turning them into zombies and eventually burying them alive. The wasps sting the roaches twice in approximately 11 seconds, once on the back of the neck and once on their throats, and they are left with zombie roaches that the wasps lead by holding on to their antenna. The wasps then lay eggs on top of the roaches and bury them in the ground, and the roaches are used as live meat for the larva. This is a really interesting article, because most roaches are utterly defenseless and are controlled by the wasps in only 11 seconds. Some roaches have the ability to fight back and attack them with their legs, but full grown roaches are usually the only ones that are able to escape. This is an amazing discovery, and it will be interesting to see if wasps use this tactic on other insects.

Mayflies came back to the Susquehanna River after efforts were made to remove pollution, however, they are becoming a problem. Lights on the bridge over the river attract the mayflies by mimicking moonlight on the rivers surface, and they die on the overpass; sometimes the numbers are enough to result in knee-deep piles. The bridge is planning to be renovated to guide these insects back to the river rather than to the lights. I think this is a great example of how human activity can disrupt the natural cycles of organisms. The bridge not only causes problems for humans, but also for the mayflies who are trying to reproduce, and must be renovated to cater to both.  Confused mayflies wreak havoc on a Pennsylvania bridge