San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Migratory birds could spread avian flu
DIARY OF A CHANGING WORLD Week ending Friday, May 3, 2024
Bird Flu in Cows
The outbreak of avian influenza now infecting cows in the United States could spread to other countries through migratory birds, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Program.
Bird flu has been detected in at least 34 dairy cattle herds in nine states this spring.
Evidence of the virus has also been found in milk sold in stores, but health officials say that the country’s dairy and beef food supplies are still safe because pasteurization and cooking inactivate the virus.
So far, H5N1 has not acquired the ability to easily spread to humans, but it has sickened or killed numerous species around the world since it began infecting migratory birds in 2021.
Earthquakes
Several people were injured and hundreds of buildings damaged by a magnitude 6.1 temblor that struck Indonesia’s West Java province. • Tremors were also felt in central New Zealand, eastern Taiwan, far southern Japan, the Virgin Islands and greater Los Angeles.
Rodent Research
Researchers say they believe lab mice might sometimes be doing their own experiments while humans try to experiment on them.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, senior researcher Kishore Kuchibhotla, of Johns Hopkins University, says that when lab rodents suddenly deviate from the expected behavior required to receive rewards, they may actually have just become bored or are curious to see what will happen if they do.
“These mice have a richer internal life than we probably give them credit for. They are not just stimulus response machines. They may have things like strategies,” said Kuchibhotla.
He added that while it may look like a mouse is making lots of errors during experiments, it is really getting smarter by making them.
Antarctic Sunburn
Wildlife on and around Antarctica has been exposed to increased ultraviolet radiation in recent years due to a larger, more stubborn ozone hole that will still take decades to completely heal, scientists say.
Writing in the journal Global Change Biology, biologist Sharon Robinson and colleagues say the ozone hole has been larger and has lasted longer during the past four years, extending past the Antarctic winter and into a time when land and marine animals are more active.
This is when they can suffer more damage to their eyes and body from the radiation.
Hippo Drought
Botswana officials and conservationists have begun pumping water into drought-depleted ponds where about
500 endangered hippopotamuses have become mired in mud.
Botswana is home to one of the world’s largest hippo populations, and the animals need water to protect their delicate skin from southern Africa’s blazing sun and heat.
Since the drought has also withered much of the food the animals eat, bales of alfalfa are being provided to keep the hippos from starving.
Climate Vintage
Extreme weather last year in some of the world’s most productive wine-growing regions brought the worst harvest worldwide in 62 years.
Vines in Australia and Italy were hard-hit, with around 25% drops in production. Spain lost about one-fifth of its usual harvest, and output in Chile and South Africa dropped by more than 10%.
The France-based International Organization of Vine and Wine’s Director John Barker pointed to “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major Northern and Southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”
France escaped the losses with a 4% rise, keeping it the world’s largest producer by a wide margin.
Eruption
Indonesia’s Mount Ruang erupted several times, forcing more evacuations on an island of the same name, as well on as others nearby.
In addition to flows of lava and superheated vapors cascading down Ruang’s slopes, ash disrupted air traffic as far away as Borneo.