Some interesting links…
Common human viruses are killing endangered great apes. A new study reveals a dark side to research and ecotourism, both of which ironically are aimed to help the apes and which may still do more good than harm.
Poor Haitians resort to eating dirt
With food prices rising, Haiti’s poorest can’t afford even a daily plate of rice, and some must take desperate measures to fill their bellies… by eating mud.
[PIC] The vast majority of the world’s communications are not carried by satellites, but an altogether older technology: cables under the earth’s oceans.
Sperm cells created from female embryo [via]
Sperm cells have been created from a female human embryo in a remarkable breakthrough that suggests it may be possible for lesbian couples to have their own biological children.
World’s top 25 trains revealed by The Society of International Railway Travelers.
French city of Nantes recently became host to extremely strange and fascinating sculptural display: “Les Machines de l’Ile Nantes”, designed by François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice.
Star fort is a type of fortification design adopted in the early 16th century as people realised that simpler, often circular forts were pretty crap when it came to the job in hand: defense.
Kevin Rudd eating ear wax during Question Time [via]
[VIDEO] Kevin Michael Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, is seen eating his ear wax. The video was posted before Kevin’s Australian Labor Party won the federal election in Nov 2007.
A new study finds that the chemicals from sunscreen that we use to protect our skin are also killing coral reefs worldwide.
Four commonly found sunscreen ingredients can awaken dormant viruses in the symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside reef-building coral species.
The chemicals cause the viruses to replicate until their algae hosts explode, spilling viruses into the surrounding seawater, where they can infect neighboring coral communities.
Zooxanthellae provide coral with food energy through photosynthesis and contribute to the organisms’ vibrant color. Without them, the coral “bleaches”… turns white… and dies.
Think twice before applying sunscreen on the next beach visit? [Nationalgeographic]