Japanese researchers have inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest pesticides and industrial chemicals. The gene makes an enzyme, code-named CPY2B6, which is particularly good at breaking down harmful chemicals in the body.
Present GM crops are modified with genes from bacteria to make them tolerate herbicides, so that they are not harmed when fields are sprayed to kill weeds. But most of them are only able to deal with a single herbicide, which means that it has to be used over and over again, allowing weeds to build up resistance to it.
But the researchers at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, have found that adding the human touch gave the rice immunity to 13 different herbicides. This would mean that weeds could be kept down by constantly changing the chemicals used.
Soylent Rice is People
Adobe translation
and the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash.
Where by "complementary" we mean "the two leading technologies that irritate people when they're used in lieu of regular web pages." Note that we're using PDF to serve this very FAQ -- in our synergistic future, perhaps we'll serve our FAQs in a hybrid PDF/Flash format. One can dream.
Adobe has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide.
Please note use of present tense. Please also note that PDF is an excellent format for sending out résumés.
The combined company will be able to offer increased productivity through streamlined workflow and tighter integration.
Once Freehand, Fireworks, and GoLive are killed, customers will have the benefit of not having any competing apps to choose from, and we benefit from not having any competitors.
explodotoad!
BERLIN (AFP) - Hundreds of toads have met a bizarre and sinister end in Germany in recent days, it was reported: they exploded.
According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre (three feet).
It is like "a science fiction film", according to Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg, where the phenomenon of the exploding toad has been observed.
"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding."
He said the bodies of the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size.
"I have never seen such a thing," said veterinarian Otto Horst. So bad has the death toll been that the lake in the Altona district of Hamburg has been dubbed "the pond of death."
Access to it has been sealed off and every night a biologist visits it between 2:00 and 3:00 am, which appears to be peak time for batrachians to go bang.
Explanations include an unknown virus, a fungus that has infected the water, or crows, which in an echo of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds", attack the toads, literally scaring them to death.
Hug the Earth
The eco-tourism show, called "Trippin'," premiered on March 28 and was heavily promoted in the runup to Earth Day. The show encourages environmental awareness and lauds traditional tribal lifestyles, which lack running water, electricity and other basic infrastructure.
Drew Barrymore, apparently enthralled by the lack of a modern sanitary facilities, gleefully bragged, "I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal. It was awesome." When Barrymore bragged about defecating in the forest, Diaz responded she would like to have the same experience.
"I am so jealous right now, I am going -- I am going to the woods tomorrow," Diaz said. A clearly satisfied Barrymore laughed, repeating, "It was awesome."
After her visit to Chile, Barrymore expressed guilt about not always adhering to earth-friendly practices. "Like I leave the light on all the time in my house because I want to feel safe. I am so spoiled, I am -- I am going to start conserving," Barrymore insisted. "It is just overwhelming how important it is to like, love our planet all the time and not take advantage of it," Barrymore concluded.
please stop destroying my childhood memories
"Even the Sleestak are crying."
Will Ferrell will star in a feature-film remake of the 1970s TV show Land of the Lost. Universal acquired the feature rights from Sid and Marty Krofft, executive producers of the original NBC series, who will produce the feature for the studio.
Adam McKay, a former Saturday Night Live writer who directed Ferrell in Anchorman, is attached to direct, with Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas signing on to adapt the screenplay, the trade paper reported.
Sprint PictureMail Post
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Sprint PictureMail Post
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Sprint PictureMail Post
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first successful phone post
Edited: Hey, look at that, phone-posting to LJ from Sprint finally works. Too bad my phone's camera is still basically useless.
hey, I was saving that
Rotting Animal Parts Found in N.J. School Discovery of a bag full of rotting animal parts hidden in the ceiling above the school lunchroom forced the closing of Voorhees High School on Monday.
Officials said the school would remain closed Tuesday to allow workers to sanitize the area and health inspectors to clear the cafeteria to serve food.
"An unusual odor led to the discovery of decomposing animal parts that had been surreptitiously placed in the drop ceiling," Lebanon Township police Patrolman Larry Campbell said.
The bag was found about 7:30 a.m. Monday; students were dismissed at 11:55. Police believe the bag was hidden over the weekend, Campbell said. He would not say what kind of animal the parts were from or how much was hidden.
