The world’s first commercial octopus farm is closer to becoming reality – and the news has been met with dismay by scientists and conservationists....
NEWSFLASH
The world’s first commercial octopus farm is closer to becoming reality – and the news has been met with dismay by scientists and conservationists.
They argue such intelligent ‘sentient’ creatures – considered able to feel pain and emotions – should never be commercially reared for food.
The Spanish company behind the venture, Nueva Pescanova, is refusing to provide details of the conditions the octopuses will be kept in.
Alexa ‘challenges’ young girl to touch live plug with penny
Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it “challenged” a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug.
The suggestion came after the girl asked Alexa for a “challenge to do”.
“Plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs,” the smart speaker said.
Amazon said it fixed the error as soon as the company became aware of it.
Metals conduct electricity and inserting them into live electrical sockets can cause electric shocks, fires and other damage.
New Zealand bans cigarettes for future generations
There are 4.5 trillion cigarette butts polluting our global environment. Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in their lifetime under a law expected to be enforced next year.
The legislation is part of a sweeping crackdown on smoking announced by New Zealand’s health ministry.
Not only will this law boost the health of New Zealanders, but it will also tackle plastic pollution!
The filters in the cigarettes are made of a plastic called cellulose acetate and when tossed into the environment, they dump not only that plastic, but also the nicotine, heavy metals and many other chemicals they’ve absorbed into the surrounding environment.
Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China
Scientists recently announced the discovery of a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that was preparing to hatch from its egg, just like a chicken.
The embryo was discovered in Ganzhou in southern China and researchers estimate it is at least 66 million years old. It is believed to be a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur, and has been named Baby Yingliang.
The discovery has also given researchers a greater understanding of the link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The fossil shows the embryo was in a curled position known as “tucking”, which is a behaviour seen in birds shortly before they hatch.
Oviraptorosaurs, which means “egg thief lizards,” were feathered dinosaurs that lived in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period – between 100 million to 66 million years ago.
Baby Yingliang measures 10.6in (27cm) long from head to tail, and rests inside a 6.7 inch-long egg at the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in China.
The egg was first uncovered in 2000, but put into storage for 10 years.
Barreleye fish shows a transparent head
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) shared a rare video of a barreleye fish, or Macropinna microstoma last month. This unusual fish has a transparent head and tubular eyes. It lives in the deep sea, in a region scientists call the twilight zone, a mid-level ocean region just beyond the reach of sunlight. MBARI has remotely operated vehicles Ventana and Doc Ricketts. They have logged more than 5,600 successful dives and recorded more than 27,600 hours of video. But they have encountered this bizarre fish only nine times!
According to the MBARI, the barreleye lives in the ocean’s twilight zone, at depths of 2,000 to 2,600 feet (600 to 800 meters). It can grow up to six inches (15 cm) in size. Their habitat ranges from the Bering Sea to Baja California to Japan. The fish hovers below the tentacles of other sea creatures to steal their food, such as zooplankton and crustaceans.
The two dark spots at the front of the barreleye fish’s face that resemble eyes are actually its olfactory organs. The green glowing orbs that one can see through the transparent head are the eyes; the fish can rotate them upward to look for prey above it. When the fish wants to see the food it’s eating, it rotates the eyes forward.
Compiled by SZ
