Corals Devouring Jellyfish?

That is what the picture (above) is showing.  While not Earth-shattering, it does give us a better understanding of the world we live in.

Photographs taken by Israeli researchers have shaken up long-held beliefs regarding the diet of corals. Scientists have long thought that corals subsist solely from single cell algae (Zooxanthella) and tiny plankton sized 0.2 to 0.4 mm. However, photographs taken in Eilat in March 2009 show that corals are capable of devouring much larger food.

Omri Bronstein of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences in Tel Aviv University explained that the discovery was made in the course of a thorough survey of Fungia corals in the Gulf of Eilat, as part of a long term study of the corals' sexual plasticity, several corals of the type Fungia scruposa were seen and documented as they feasted on medusae of the type Aurelia aurita.

While it is known that many species eat medusae, including fish, sea turtles and birds, corals have never been documented consuming prey if this size.

Fungia, or plate corals, are usually found at depths from one meter to 100 meters. Some can measure dozens of centimeters in diameter as adults. The corals have been found to exhibit sexual plasticity: a coral that began its life as a female can change into a male in another season and back into a female in following seasons.

"These corals' amazing plasticity, both in the ability to change their gender and in their ability to feed off of food which they chance upon like the medusae, give them an advantage in dealing with the changing environment they live in,” Bronstein said.

The photographs have aroused great scientific interest and have been featured, among other places, in National Geographic and Scientific American magazines, as well as the BBC, Discovery channel and hundreds of news websites. The pictures were taken opposite the Inter-University Institute and the Underwater Observatory in Eilat.

Read the full story here.

Just look at them.  They look so peaceful, so lovely, so angelic.  Who would have known they are just cold-blooded jellyfish killers.  Who would have guessed?  Not me?

Just look at the poor Jellyfish.  Defenseless, homeless (Their homes were stolen from them by the agressive Zionist Corals.), without hope.  They have been made refugees for generations by the apartheid policies of the Corals.

Who will save the Jellyfish?

Now That's Thinking With Your Dipstick Jimmy!

A dipstick is a device used to measure the amount of a liquid in a container or to dipped into a liquid to perform a chemical test on that liquid.

The device is usually inexpensive and quite accurate.

Now imagine a dipstick for the planet. Would give a new meaning to 2 quarts low.

But thanks to Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography Professor Eyal Ben-Dor, the Earth now has a dipstick.

Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography has invented a “soil dipstick” that takes the temperature of Planet Earth and forecasts the health of forests and farms, according to department Prof. Eyal Ben-Dor. “Through a small hole in the surface of the earth, we can assess what lies beneath it" by using the Optical Soil Dipstick, he explained.

Prof. Ben-Dor said the diagnostic device measures the health of the soil. The new instrument, already in use in California, can tell geographers which parts of the world are best for farming and can also be used to catch polluters of the environment.

Current soil testing procedures require bulldozers and cost millions of dollars, but an Israeli-designed dipstick will cost only about $10,000 for each application. The dipstick currently is in a prototype stage and might be available for commercial use within a year.

The thin catheter-like device gives real-time, immediately accurate and reliable information on pollution and the all-round health of the soil. Analyzing chemical and physical properties, the dipstick outputs its data to a hand-held device or computer.

Prof. Ben-Dor said the device can help farmers pursue “precision agriculture” by allowing them to know if their crops are getting the right blend of minerals. The dipstick also can be remotely and wirelessly networked to airplanes and satellites.

"Soil mapping is a national undertaking," Prof. Ben-Dor observes. "It takes years and millions of dollars' worth of manual labor and laboratory analysis, not to mention exhausting headaches with government authorities and ministries. For a fraction of that energy and money, and with a staff that has minimal training, the Optical Soil Dipstick could do the same job, and could continue doing it on a yearly, monthly, and possibly even a daily basis. The headaches would be gone, and we would finally get an accurate picture of the earth's crust in these environmentally critical years."

Can you picture the commercials now. Instead of an annoying Scotsman hitting you with a dipstick, you get an annoying New Age Gaia hitting you with the dipstick (although a few men I know would enjoy that.). Or some guy placing the dipstick in the ground, then screaming out: "She's 2 quarts low, Bob!". They could be endless.

But the benefits will be great for humanity.

And it is another invention to benefit humanity from the nation the world hates: Israel.

Faking DNA

DNA,Deoxyribonucleic acid, is the building blocks of all life. A person's DNA is unique to him or her, with no 2 people having the same genetic signature (the exception is genetically identical twins). With that understanding, DNA is widely accepted as evidence in the courts world-wide. Many an innocent person has been set free after DNA testing has proven their innocence.

But now there is trouble in the field of genetic studies. DNA can be faked.

So, you thought that DNA evidence was foolproof? Think again.

Israeli scientists have discovered a way to prove that DNA evidence can be faked.

Long considered the most solid proof in any criminal court case, the biological goods can easily be planted at a crime scene, according to Dan Frumkin, lead author of a paper published in the online journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. "You can just engineer a crime scene," Frumkin contends. "Any biology undergraduate could perform this."

"This" is fabricating blood and saliva DNA samples. Frumkin's team was able to construct a DNA sample to match any profile in a database without having to take tissue from the person involved – if they had access to the database.

DNA is typically collected from things as simple as a strand of hair, a discarded drinking cup or cigarette butt or even a used toothbrush. The team used two methods to fabricate the DNA samples, one involving a real DNA sample, albeit small, which was then enlarged into a greater quantity by using whole genome amplification. This could then be planted in either blood or saliva.

In blood, red cells do not contain DNA, so the team removed white cells from a sample and planted their fabricated DNA in the blood instead.

In the second experiment, the team used a pooled sample of many people's DNA profiles that were stored in law enforcement databases. The scientists cloned tiny snippets of the DNA, created a library from the data, and simply mixed the elements together to match any profile required. According to Frumkin's team, such a "library" of 425 different DNA snippets could cover any possible profile.

Frumkin followed up the experiments by creating a test that could differentiate between a true DNA sample and a fake, using the fact that the amplified DNA used in either fabrication is not methylated -- it lacks specific molecules, and can thus be identified.

In order to market the test, Frumkin founded Nucleix, a Tel Aviv-based company that hopes to interest forensics laboratories in the product.

It's a good bet he will find a niche market.

Invasion of privacy is only one of the implications of his team's research. Planting of fabricated evidence at a crime scene is another, one that has the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) concerned.

"DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints," Tania Simoncelli, ACLU science adviser told the San Francisco Sentinel. "We're creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology."

I am sure some defense attorney is reading this report by Dan Frumkin, and wondering how to get some slimeball out of a rape or murder rap. I think Nucleix will be very busy in the next few years proving or disproving the innocence of many slimeballs trying to bs their way out of prison.