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The Shortest Life Span

The gastrotrichs are a phylum of microscopic animals copious in fresh water and oceanic environments. Most fresh water species are part of the periphyton and benthos. Marine species are found mostly interstitially in between sediment particles. The Gastrotrich has the shortest life span of all animals, living for just 3 days.

They are bilaterally symmetric, with a complete gut. They demonstrate eutely, with development proceeding to a particular number of cells, and further growth coming only from an increase in cell size. The body is covered with cilia, especially about the mouth and on the ventral surface, and has two terminal projections with cement glands that serve in adhesion. This is a double-gland system where one gland secretes the glue and another secretes a de-adhesive to sever the connection. Like many microscopic animals, their locomotion is primarily powered by hydrostatics, and they reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis. Originally they were thought to have a body cavity, but this was an artifact created by preservation methods, and they are now known to be acoelomate.

Their relationship to other phyla is unclear. Morphology suggests that they are close to the Gnathostomulida, the Rotifera, or the Nematoda. On the other hand genetic studies place them as close relatives of the Platyhelminthes, the Ecdysozoa or the Lophotrochozoa. About 700 species have been described.

Squad of Doggys

In an age of technology, none of the various physical devices have yet duplicated the natural instincts and abilities of a dog to track a human being or detect hidden persons or property.

The Dog Squad plays an important role in operational policing in Victoria. Dogs and handlers carry out specific tasks such as tracking offenders, or detecting explosives or narcotics. Dogs can often crawl or jump onto places where it would be impractical or impossible for police members to go.

History

Records show that even in the Middle Ages dogs were maintained by parish constables for the purpose of tracking down wrongdoers, but it is really only over the last 30 years that dogs have been used in substantial numbers by police forces around the world. It was decided that Victoria Police should form a Dog Squad in 1975.

Incident response

Police dog handlers respond to complaints of intruders on premises, break and entering offences, sexual attacks, brawls, prowlers, lost persons and many armed or violent situations. The dogs are trained to specialise in one of three disciplines; general purpose, narcotics and explosives.

General purpose dogs

General purpose dogs are skilled in the areas of tracking, searching and protecting life and property. Handlers and their dogs often work from home within an allocated police district. The dogs used are male German Shepherds and Labradors as they are physically strong, are of a good size and often need to be aggressive. The greatest demand for dogs is at night when a dog's acute sense of smell is most needed. However, there is a 24-hour roster for general-purpose dog teams to ensure there is always at least one team on duty.

Narcotics detection dogs

Narcotics detection dogs search houses, cars or personal belongings. Female German Shepherds and Labradors are preferred for this type of work, as their smaller frame is more suited to work in confined spaces. Handlers and dogs predominantly work on an appointment basis for stations or specialised units requiring the expertise of a dog. Consequently, they can be called upon night or day.

Explosives detection dogs

Explosives detection dogs and handlers search for bombs and other explosive devices in buildings, cars or personal belongings and often work alongside the Special Operations Group (SOG) and bomb technicians. They also regularly visit schools and railway stations at night in the course of routine patrols. Female German Shepherds and Labradors are used.

Operational support

The Dog Squad also provides operational support. It works with the SOG during siege situations or when searching for explosives, and utilises the Air Wing when they require transport in a time critical situation. However, most of their support is given to local operational police.

The polar bear

It is a close call, but the polar bear is generally considered the largest bear on Earth. A close second is the brown bear, specifically the Kodiak bear. The Kodiak is a subspecies of the brown bear native to Alaska.

The consensus among experts is that the polar bear is the largest, but some believe the Kodiak bear to be larger. Part of the dissension comes from the vagueness of the word "largest." The answer really depends on how "largest" is defined - Heaviest? Longest? Largest ever recorded?

The following data, taken from Gary Brown's Great Bear Almanac (New York, 1993), compares the average measurements of the polar and brown bear.

	Polar Bear	Brown Bear
Average Weight of Mature Male	900-1,500 pounds	500-900 pounds
Heaviest Recorded	2,210 pounds	2,500+ pounds
Average Length of Mature Male	8-8.4 feet	>7-10 feet

The Rafflesia arnoldii.

The flower with the world's largest bloom is the Rafflesia arnoldii. This rare flower is found in the rainforests of Indonesia. It can grow to be 3 feet across and weigh up to 15 pounds! It is a parasitic plant, with no visible leaves, roots, or stem. It attaches itself to a host plant to obtain water and nutrients. When in bloom, the Rafflesia emits a repulsive odor, similar to that of rotting meat. This odor attracts insects that pollinate the plant.

Another enormous flower found in Indonesia is the Amorphophallus titanum, or Titan arum. It is also known as the "corpse flower" for its unpleasant odor. Like the Rafflesia, the Titan emits the smell of rotting flesh to attract pollinators. Technically, the Titan arum is not a single flower. It is a cluster of many tiny flowers, called an inflorescence. The Titan arum has the largest unbranched inflorescence of all flowering plants. The plant can reach heights of 7 to 12 feet and weigh as much as 170 pounds!

First Coins in World

The Chinese possibly invented the first metal coins - the earliest known were made before 900BC, discovered in a tomb near Anyang at that time,the coin itself was a replica of more earlier used cowry shells,so it was named as Bronze shell.

Coins originated separately in Ionia-Lydia , China, and India .Excavations carried out at the Anuradhapura Gedige has found Sinhala coins dating back to 400 BC, other excavations have also shown that cowries were used in Sri Lanka prior to 400 BC.

One early coin from Caria, Asia Minor, includes a legend "I am the badge of Phanes," though most of the early Lydian pieces have no writing on them, just symbolic animals. Therefore the dating of these coins relies primarily on archeological evidence, with the most commonly cited evidence coming from excavations at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, also called the Ephesian Artemision .The first Lydian coin was made of electrum, an alloy of silver and gold. Many early Lydian coins were undoubtedly struck (manufactured) under the authority of private individuals and are thus more akin to tokens than true coins, though because of their numbers it's evident that some were official state issues, with King Alyattes of Lydia being the most frequently mentioned originator of coinage.

The first Indian coins were minted around the 6th century BC by the Mahajanapadas of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The coins of this period were punch marked coins called Puranas, Karshapanas or Pana.The Mahajanapadas that minted their own coins included Gandhara, Kuntala, Kuru, Panchala, Shakya, Surasena, and Surashtra. Some argue that Indian coins were developed from Western prototypes, which the Indians came in contact with through Babylonian traders.

Some of the earliest coins to be made purely from silver and gold were the silver shekel and gold Derik in the achaemenid Empire in about 500Bc.The first European coin to use Arabic numerals to date the year minted was the Swiss 1424 St. Gallen silver Plappart.

Calculate and Compare Before You Buy

There are many cost calculators designed to help you decide how much car you can afford. “AWARE”, or Americans Well-informed on Automobile Retail Economics, sponsors an “Auto Finance Calculator” on its website to help consumers make informed car buying decisions. Kelley Blue Book provides tools for comparing car pricing information, and IntelliChoice ranks cars by lowest repair, maintenance and fuel costs.

Consider using the 2/10/60 rule. It assumes a car ownership period of at least five years. Select the top five cars that fit your needs. For each car, double its retail cost, multiply by 10%, and divide that figure by 60. The result should give you the monthly cost to own over a sixty month, or five-year period. Check out the monthly listings of the lowest “True Cost to Own” (TCO) comparisons.

This year EPA is running new road tests that measure gas mileage under a wide variety weather and traffic conditions. The revised numbers should appear on window stickers for 2008 cars. In the meantime, you can use a calculator devised by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. With this Kiplinger tool, you can tap into editors’ estimates of the MPG for hundreds of 2007 models using the new EPA standards.

Trees under Threat

Detailed field surveys show that most of the Delhi roads have limited surface soil for the trees to grow. This bit of bare earth is also being covered with a thick layer of impermeable concrete and tiling to make pavements. Tiling right upto the tree trunk severely hampers air and water absorption. The roots near the surface get destroyed, the trunk cannot expand properly and this ultimately affects its growth and even survival. This is not all. On a typical summer day, the tiles get heated to high temperatures and scorch the root system. The destruction of root systems weakens the tree’s grip on soil, which leads to their uprooting even during mild storms. During tiling, the most fertile topsoil is removed to be replaced by asphalt mixture. This completely ravages the soil, causing soil pollution, which is far more difficult to rectify than air & water pollution. The cemented pavements are frequently dug open to repair wires, etc generating huge amounts of non-degradable ‘debris’. Enormous resources like bricks, cement, labour are utilised for tiling. Instead they can be put to better uses.

Tiling should only be done on roadsides that have heavy pedestrian movement, otherwise it should be avoided. While tiling, if a tree is growing in the way, a minimum soil / kutcha space of 6 x 6 feet around the trees should be left untiled. Using porous tiles or badarpur are other options.

These are not the only threats. The tree guard required to protect young saplings, needs to be removed once the tree is grown. Otherwise the metal tree guard restricts the growth of the trunk, cutting into the tree and damaging it. The advertisements nailed to the trees aggravate the situation. We are treating trees like sign-posts. Let us remember that they are also living things and need good care.

Artificial Rain Created to Fight Latest Blue Algae Outbreak in Changchun

The meteorological department in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, has fired rockets into the air above a reservoir choked by blue-green algae to create artificial rain in an effort to curb the latest algae outbreak.

The city government has set aside ten million yuan to combat an outbreak of blue-green algae in Xinlicheng reservoir that provides water to the city, a government spokesman announced on Wednesday.

Swathes of blue and green algae began to appear last Wednesday in Xinlicheng Reservoir, one of the city's major water sources for100,000 residents.

On Tuesday, the water supply from both Xinlicheng and Shitoukoumen Reservoir was cut off. The supply from Xinlicheng has been shut off indefinitely but the local environmental authorities ruled that Shitoukoumen had not been affected.

Changchun used 770,000 tons of water per day before the outbreak of blue algae but the daily supply has plunged by 50,000 tons since the Xinlicheng reservoir water source was cut.

Changchun mayor Cui Jie said the ten million yuan would be spent on expanding pipes linking the city to the reservoir of Shitoukoumen, and transporting water with fire engines.

"We must do our best to ensure the drinking water supply for our citizens," said Cui, adding that he was considering closing car washes.

Recent outbreaks of blue-green algae in key lakes in eastern and southwestern China are mainly attributed to pollutants from chemical factories, but this time the finger is being pointed at agricultural fertilizers.

The algae may have been caused by fertilizers and pesticides from nearby cropland, local authorities say.

High temperatures and scant rainfall since June also contributed to the algae bloom and recent downpours have nourished the algae.

Changchun is home to a population of more than seven million, with 2.7 million living in the downtown area. The reservoir has a water storage capacity of 592 million cubic meters.

In the last two months, blue-green algae outbreaks have been reported in Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the southwestern Dianchi Lake, endangering water supplies.

On July 4, water supplies to 200,000 people in Shuyang county, Jiangsu Province, were halted for more than 40 hours after ammonia and nitrogen were found in a local river.

The history of zoos

Human interest in keeping animals dates back to at least 1500 BC when Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt built a zoo. Many zoos were created by rulers in Africa, India and China to demonstrate their wealth and power.

The Greeks established the first zoos to study animal behaviour. They charged admission to view the specimens, and set up an education process. One of the most notable teachers at a Greek zoo was Aristotle. One of his best-known students was Alexander the Great, who collected many animals for the zoos.

British and European exploration of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the discovery of many species of animals that they considered to be unusual. This encouraged the keeping of animals as exotica in Europe and Britain. The idea of zoos as places of entertainment also developed.