Life’s Weirder Than Fiction

I’ve been doing research on parasites for a new story I’m planning and some of it is pretty gruesome. In some cases, parasites change their host’s behaviour, either by affecting its hormones or its brain, to make them more attractive to their natural predator, in which they will burrow as well. Sometimes that predator is their final destination, sometimes they will also affect that prey’s behaviour to lead them to the final host, by affecting that prey’s behaviour.

In a study on European starlings, researchers found that pollutants caused the birds to change their songs. World Science reports that the scientists found the birds developed more complex songs that were very appealing to females. Birdsong is one way for females to decide which of the males are prime and worth reproducing with. Problem is, it turns out those charming birds had a weakened immune system.

Although the article does not mention the consequences of this, it stands to reason that a weaker bird would also produce weaker babies, or babies genetically changed.

What is interesting in this story is that pollutants are acting in a similar way as parasites, weakening the host to make it more attractive, but that it serves no purpose. Pollutants do not have a lifecycle, they are not using a host to jump from one species to the other in order to grow and develop. Pollutants, in insidious but somehow dramatic ways (such as raising suicide and child abuse levels), change behaviours and the body’s chemical composition for the worst.

Another strong argument for the green movement.

Tags: birds, birdsong, green, parasites, pollutants

For all of you Irish or would-be Irish people out there, this is your day. Think green, but this time, think about it planet-wise, and make some resolutions for doing your bit about saving our beleaguered world.

Tags: Earth, ecology, green, St Patrick

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information:
Rita Toews

(204) 661-2734
r.toews@shaw.ca

website: http://www.domokos.com/readebookweek.html

How “Green” is Your Reading Material?

“Carbon Footprint”, “Environmentally Friendly” and “Green”. Have you considered these words when it comes to your reading material?

We’re encouraged to buy, use and dispose with the environment in mind. While it’s easy to recognize the negative impact of excess packaging and chemical content in many of the products we purchase, it’s not so easy when it comes to books, magazines and newspapers.

We do have alternatives other than paper for our reading material. Many books, newspapers and magazines are created electronically. No trees are cut to produce them. No ink is used to put the words on the page. No fossil fuel is used to run presses or trucks to move them around the country. Heated storage facilities are not required to warehouse e-books until they are shipped to bookstores.

March 2nd-8th, 2008 is Read An E-Book Week.

It takes 24 trees to produce a ton of printing paper, the type normally used for books, 12 trees are harvested for a ton of newsprint. Up to 35% of books printed for consumers (down from nearly 60% several years ago) are never read. They are used for window dressing in book stores, and eventually returned to the publisher for disposal in landfills. Given that a mature tree can produce as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year, a serious alternative to paper books, magazines and newspapers needs to be considered. That alternative is e-books.

Before purchasing your next paper book, magazine or newspaper, consider your carbon footprint commitment. Read electronically.

Read An E-Book Week, March 9-15, 2008

Tags: carbon footprint, ebook, environmentally friendly, green, paperless