A species of gardening ants found by Texan and Brazilian researchers apparently got rid of their entire male population some time ago. Probably by nagging them to death, amiriteguyz?!lol!!

Queens of the ant Mycocepurus smithii reproduce without fertilization and males appear to be completely absent, report Christian Rabeling, Ulrich Mueller and their Brazilian colleagues in PLoS ONE this week.

“Animals that are completely asexual are relatively rare, which makes this is a very interesting ant,” says Rabeling, an ecology, evolution and behavior graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin. “Asexual species don’t mix their genes through recombination, so you expect harmful mutations to accumulate over time and for the species to go extinct more quickly than others. They don’t generally persist for very long over evolutionary time.”

Hopefully the straight edge ants don’t start making terrible music like human straight edge people.

original article found on science daily

written by leroyjames

They’re cute and cuddly–but we all know that’s just a mask for what lies beneath. This behemoth  has terrorized England’s woodland birds for years, snatching and devouring their unborn young. A crime, you say? Perhaps not.

“Researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology and Natural England examined the impact of grey squirrels on 38 bird species across the country. They found some evidence that grey squirrels may locally suppress the populations of some species. But they do not appear to cause the birds any widespread or lasting harm.”

This is obviously just a cover the squirrels have put in place, cleverly infiltrating the staff in Britain to skew the numbers. Don’t be fooled. These beasts will strike fear into your heart.

(original article on BBC news)

written by staff

In a game of “Who’s to Blame,” the Ady Gil, a speedboat owned by the media whores ecoterrorists of Sea Shepherd, sunk after it crashed into the Japanese whaling ship, the Shonan Maru, which they were harassing.

By defying physics (and possibly Poseidon), the 491 ton whaling vessel suddenly turned and aimed for the 13 ton speedboat. Since these ecoterrorists have rich parents, the activists abandoned the salvageable Ady Gil, leaving potentially hazardous materials to pollute the ocean—and insuring a replacement that will be faster (and more expensive) for which to ram into more ships.

We suggest sending a “Sorry for Your Loss” card to Batman or whomever donated the $2.4 million dollars to build the carbon fiber Batboat Ady Gil.

(original article on Discovery)

The aftermath of this incident could look something like this:

South Park had it right. It’s all about the ratings.

written by evilsofaleg

When it comes to the subject of dolphins, I’m with The Oatmeal that they deserve a punch in the mouth. Sure, they’re smart, their brains are nearly as large as ours, they’re mammals, but are they smart enough to be given a human status?

Dolphins aren’t just the cute and friendly creatures of the sea. They do have a darker side equal to the oddities of human behavior. For instance, dolphins have been known to kill porpoises for unknown reasons (they don’t share the same food so they aren’t a threat), and the males will occasionally gang-rape a weaker dolphin when it strays into their turf. Sounds a lot like state prison to me.

Maybe they should be granted human status, if that’s what it means to have heightened intelligence.

(original article on human/dolphins)

written by staff

Yet another awesome reason to pick up smoking (other than looking cool of course). Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have discovered a way to increase the amount of oils made in tobacco plants for use in biofuels.

“Tobacco is very attractive as a biofuel because the idea is to use plants that aren’t used in food production,” Dr. Andrianov said. “We have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves.”

No word yet on how they’re progressing with Kools.

(original article on the Jefferson Hospital site)

written by leroyjames