Yearly Archives: 2018

Millions of birds die in collisions each year, but lights could change that

Millions of birds die each year in collisions with planes, and airports have used everything from fireworks to herding dogs to scare them away. Some methods have been relatively successful, but they're useless after the plane takes off. Researchers at Purdue University may have just found a solution.

Red and blue LED lights lead some birds...

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Giddy up: Help for plump ponies is fast on its way

QUT Professor Martin Sillence, from QUT's School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, said a new veterinary drug related to one used to treat human metabolic syndrome has been found to prevent laminitis in ponies with the equine version of metabolic syndrome.

"This is great news for horse and pony owners because until now we have...

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African swine fever: No known risk to consumers

The ASF pathogen is a virus which infects domestic pigs and wild boar and which leads to a severe, often lethal, disease in these animals. It is transferred via direct contact or with excretions from infected animals, or through ticks. The ASF virus is endemic to infected wild animals in Africa, but there have also...

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Tiger mosquitoes are capable of transmitting yellow fever

Since December 2016, Brazil has been grappling with its worst yellow fever outbreak for several decades. To date, there have been 2,043 human cases including 676 fatalities, mainly occurring in ten Brazilian states including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. These two states, the most heavily populated in Brazil, had been free of yellow fever...

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Invasive snakes 'hitchhiking' on planes

A team of international scientists has discovered why brown tree snakes have become one of the most successful invasive species.

The research team, led by University of Queensland scientists, has been studying why a type of cat-eyed snake has been so effective at devastating native bird populations on the island of Guam.

Associate Professor Bryan Fry from...

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Sunflower pollen has medicinal, protective effects on bees

With bee populations in decline, a new study offers hope for a relatively simple mechanism to promote bee health and well-being: providing bees access to sunflowers.

The study, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, showed that two different species of bees fed a diet of sunflower pollen had...

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