Ian Kenway @iankenway@qoto.org

"Landfills are a top source of methane . . . and when we convert food waste into compost and add it to soils, it's a win-win for the climate because increasing organic matter in soils is now recognized as one of the most important things we can do for stemming climate change in the short term."

#politics #brexit #eu #uk #democracy

The Conservative Party is imploding in real time. The Labour Party is imploding in real time.

Forget Game of Thrones, Brexit (Apocalypse Now) will prove to be the greatest selling box set of all time!

RT
FILE PHOTO © AFP / William West
Aboriginals in Australia have won a ground-breaking case that paves the way for billions of dollars in compensation claims for colonial land loss, as well as loss of spiritual connection.
The High Court of Australia ruled in favor of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali groups from the Northern Territory in the biggest ‘native title’ ruling on indigenous rights to traditional land and water in decades on Wednesday.
It said the Northern Territory government was to pay $2.53mn in damages to the Ngaliwurru and Nungali groups for an earlier federal court ruling which found the NT government “extinguished” their native title rights when they built infrastructure on their land in the 80s and 90s. https://www.rt.com/news/453929-aboriginal-high-court-ruling-compensation-win/?fbclid=IwAR2OxHLitTYuSymLAr7Hg2tXbZn47RzKQjNN1i8SrJ-L_szXhEwYpjZc4kE

Geneticists close in on how mosquitoes sniff out human sweat
A protein in the antennae of Aedes aegypti detects lactic acid wafting off skin
Geneticists have found a scent-sniffer protein molecule in mosquito antennae that — if somehow jammed — might leave a bloodsucker confused about whether we’re human enough to bite.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which can spread Zika and dengue, prefer human blood to the blood of other animals. A string of experiments now shows that a protein called IR8a, found in the insects’ antennae, is one of the molecules necessary for detecting lactic acid, a component of human sweat, wafting by.

Human skin and its microbiome give off a lot of lactic acid compared with other vertebrates’, says geneticist Matthew DeGennaro of Florida International University in Miami. Researchers since the 1960s have mused that lactic acid might be one of the big clues Ae. aegypti mosquitoes use to pick out humans.

IR8a’s role in detecting traces of acids in the air was revealed in part by evidence from how mutant mosquitoes behave. Mutants with nonworking IR8a, but with their other abilities intact, were only about half as likely to settle on a human arm or sweat-stained sock as normal mosquitoes, DeGennaro and colleagues report March 28 in Current Biology.

Insects evolved odor detection separately from vertebrates, and the six-legged version is “very complex,” DeGennaro says. Mosquitoes rely on three families of odor-sniffing proteins that have overlapping abilities to identify groups of airborne chemical compounds. Proteins called ionotropic receptors, which include IR8a, target acids among other compounds. As a mosquito hunts, the floating chemical cues get combined with other information such as atmospheric heat, moisture and the sight of something biteable. DeGennaro calls carbon dioxide “mosquito coffee,” revving the insects up to get to work seeking a meal. READ MORE >>>>>>> https://www.sciencenews.org/article/genetics-how-mosquitoes-sniff-out-human-sweat

"Look up at the #stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the #universe exist. Be curious."

— Stephen Hawking
#quote #science #research #physicist

Retail has become so volatile all around our town. So many closures, fewer openings, many businesses passed from hand to hand. I blame #austerity and economic policy, which #brexit helps distract the public from. #manchester #uk

"With the UK's withdrawal from the EU, about 300,000 domain holders run the risk of losing their .EU domains because they no longer comply with the registry guidelines." #hehehe #brexit

RT @nickreeves9876@twitter.com

It was criminal folly to trigger Article 50 without it being clear that there was a Commons and public majority for a realistic #Brexit plan. MPs allowed themselves to be intimidated by the Brexit billionaire press into perhaps the most foolish action in Parliamentary history.

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/nickreeves9876/status/1112829332404293632

RT @nickreeves9876@twitter.com

Lord Sugar said Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be in prison over Brexit 'lies'. Please RT if you agree with him!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-lord-sugar-boris-johnson-michael-gove-vote-leave-prison-jail-lies-350-million-a7877601.html
#PeoplesVote #RevokeArticle50 #Brexit

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/nickreeves9876/status/1112812371590959115