Prions in Plants

Thanks to Elizabeth for sending me this link.

http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2013/09/27/prions-in-plants-new-concern-for-chronic-wasting-disease/

There is a potential for this to be very bad.

I might have to stop eating tomatoes.

Orcas

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351561/description/News_in_Brief_Killer_whales_are_at_least_two_species

A snapshot of speciation?

T Rex nipped at passing dinosaur

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351628/title/News_in_Brief_T_rex_hunted_live_prey

Not sure any conclusions are justified from such a limited piece of data.

Fascinating fossil, though.

Ancient Siberians versus Mammoths

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/350962/description/Ancient_Siberians_may_have_rarely_hunted_mammoths

Seems like a lot of extrapolation from a limited amount of data.

Urban Coyotes

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-urban-coyote-project-20130521,0,4257638.story

2,000 sounds like a lot of coyotes but it is over a big area.

Cedar Waxwings

We saw a small flock of cedar waxwings at the Mobil gas station on 108th street this morning.

They were eating the fruit off a small crabapple tree on the edge of the property.

I will have to plant another fruit tree in our garden, because we never get cedar waxwings.

A Dead Mouse

Found a mouse killed in a spring trap in the basement this morning.

No activity in the traps on the other levels of the house.

Makes me wish I had a cat, or even better, a rat terrier.

Green Crabs

Special thanks to Elizabeth for sending me this link.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/04/hated-invasive-species-helps-res.html?

It just shows that invasive species can sometimes do good.

Deer

We saw 2 deer this evening on our walk around the neighborhood.