>Alarming riddle of the seas as thousands more dead fish wash up on U.S. beach in latest mass death mystery

>

First it was birds falling out of the sky in Louisiana and Texas. Then scores of devil crabs were found dead on a beach in England.

Now, in the latest unexplained mass animal death to hit the headlines this year alone, thousands of fish have again washed up dead in Florida.

This follows similar incidents where large schools of fish were found lifeless on beaches in Arkansas, Maryland and New Zealand in January.

What caused the fish in this latest incident to die is not yet known, but biologists believe they may have been killed due to a lack of oxygen in the water.

Fishermen at Sebastian Inlet State Park first made the grim discovery on Friday.

‘I saw the fish jumping out there and I thought it was going to be a really good day for fishing, and then I noticed over here in the surf that they’re all dead,’ fisherman Jeff Johnson told WPBF 25 News.

‘It’s a little shocking, yes. I don’t know if there’s chemicals in the water or the temperatures that caused this.’

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are in the midst of carrying out tests on water samples but they do not suspect that chemicals or cold temperatures are to blame.

Instead they are checking for signs algae in the water which can lead to a lack of oxygen.

FWC biologist, Kelli O’Donnell, said: ‘Just because there’s such a large school of them, they use up the oxygen really quickly, and because they are coming closer to shore, there’s not as high of a water turnover rate sometimes when you’re in an area with not as much tidal flow.’

The majority of the dead fish were Menhaden, which are widely used in the U.S. for oil, fish meal, and fertiliser. Biologists also recorded Spot fish, Spade, Snook and Spot Tail Pin fish among the bodies.

Only last month thousands of dead fish were found floating in a warm creek in Port Orange, Florida.

Two million fish were found dead on shores in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and days before an estimated 100,000 drum fish were found dead along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River.

This was blamed on disease while the deaths in Maryland were due to the stress caused by unusually cold water and over breeding among spot fish, according to the Maryland department of environment.

Preliminary tests of the water in Chesapeake Bay showed the quality was acceptable, officials said at the time.

via Alarming riddle of the seas as thousands more dead fish wash up on U.S. beach in latest mass death mystery | Mail Online.

Is it only a matter of time before these random pockets of no oxygen start wiping out humans in large numbers? Is it reasonable to carry enough Oxygen to be able to escape to a better location?

Low oxygen levels will kill you slowly, OR can kill you instantly. For years I worked in a very large hospital in Tacoma, Washington. I can not count the times that I have been part of a CPR effort on someone who had taken their oxygen off to get out of bed, and then experienced a cardiac arrest in the bathroom. Very low oxygen levels can cause stimulation of your vagus nerve, which can stop your heart. Bearing down can also stimulate the vagus nerve. You do NOT want to have low oxygen levels when you are sitting on the toilet!  … treat every occurrence of low blood oxygen level (anything below 92% oxygen saturation) … Use supplemental oxygen with every activity that causes low blood oxygen levels.  Supplemental oxygen should be used 24 hours a day if there is any sign of low blood oxygen level at rest. Practice relaxing everyday! Tension is the biggest obstacle to fully utilizing your lungs. Do deep breathing exercises everyday following relaxation.  Get WELL OXYGENATED activity every day.
Avoid sugar and sweeteners.  … Sip pure water all day every day.  … Get 30 minutes of direct sunlight everyday. – bblw

If you are O2 deprived, get some:

The air one breathes usually is 21 percent oxygen; supplemental oxygen as prescribed by a doctor is 100-percent pure oxygen. Many people intake supplemental oxygen on a regular basis from the comfort of their home. This can aid them in living more independently in addition to making it easier and safer for them to enjoy day-to-day activities. Other benefits include lower instances of sleep disturbance owing to low oxygen levels since the respiratory and arousal abnormalities are reduced. This improves the quality of sleep … People who are oxygen-starved feel very weak. Supplemental oxygen can bring back their energy levels, allowing them to feel active and healthy. Supplemental oxygen also increases their ability to endure physical exercise. Other effects include relief from headaches and nausea, prevention of heart failure for people with severe lung diseases and an improved immune system. .

Don’t use extra Oxygen if you can help it, however:

… A clinical study conducted by the Division of Cardiology at Pennsylvania State University’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center reveals that in patients with congestive heart failure, supplemental oxygen has a damaging effect on cardiac output, stroke volume and systemic vascular resistance

–  eHow.com

A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuitbreathing set for the same duration in environments where humans cannot safely breathe from the atmosphere. In the armed forces it is sometimes called “CCUBA” (Closed Circuit Underwater Breathing Apparatus). …

As a person breathes, the body consumes oxygen and makes carbon dioxide. A person with an open-circuit breathing set typically only uses about a quarter of the oxygen in the air that is breathed in. The rest is exhaled along with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

The rebreather recirculates the exhaled gas for re-use and does not discharge it to the atmosphere or water.^[1][3] It absorbs the carbon dioxide, which otherwise would accumulate and cause carbon dioxide poisoning. It removes the carbon dioxide by a process called scrubbing.^[1] The rebreather adds oxygen to replace the oxygen that was consumed.^[1] Thus, the gas in the rebreather’s circuit remains breathable and supports life.

Dave Sutton built his own really small rebreather which lead me to the Spare Air device (right below):

SPARE AIR is the smallest redundant SCUBA system available with enough air to get you to the surface in an out-of-air emergency.  The patented SPARE AIR should be a standard piece of SCUBA diving equipment for the safety minded diver.  Explore the wealth of information about our product and diving in general.  Our goal is to convince you to save your own life in an out-of-air emergency.

Over 250,000 sold –over 30 years in service.

Smallest, most compact redundant emergency air system available.

…

A complete SCUBA system (regulator, tank and pressure indicator) that’s the size of a can of cola.

• 1.7 cubic feet of air
• Tank finish in Neon Yellow for safety
• Easily refills from your own SCUBA tank with included refill adapter (patent pending)
• Easily attaches to your BC with included holster and safety leash
• Small, hands-free, nearly neutrally buoyant
• Breathe on demand regulator -No complicated instructions
• Completely redundant back-up miniature SCUBA system
• Faster than buddy breathing and easier than an octopus
• Compact size allows for more versatile mounting options.
• Size preferred by military agencies worldwide.
• Original 1.7 cu ft is the “old faithful” of the SPARE AIR product line. In production since 1979- over 100,000 units in use.

30 breaths for $300 sounds like a lot now, but it will seem like the best money you ever spent if it saves your life. 😉 Here’s a toy I’d like to have:

The QRAE II is a full-featured, compact, one- to four-sensor gas detector for detection of combustibles, oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon monoxide.

Key features include easy-to-change, externally accessed battery packs (available in rechargeable and alkaline versions), sensors and filter, a water-resistant case and a new state-of-the-art O2 sensor technology with extended life.

The rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack provides up to 14 hours of continuous operation. The QRAE II includes storage capacity for 64,000 datalogging points, which can be downloaded to any PC compatible with Windows 98, NT, 2000 or XP. – link

 

 

>Alarming riddle of the seas as thousands more dead fish wash up on U.S. beach in latest mass death mystery

>

First it was birds falling out of the sky in Louisiana and Texas. Then scores of devil crabs were found dead on a beach in England.

Now, in the latest unexplained mass animal death to hit the headlines this year alone, thousands of fish have again washed up dead in Florida.

This follows similar incidents where large schools of fish were found lifeless on beaches in Arkansas, Maryland and New Zealand in January.

What caused the fish in this latest incident to die is not yet known, but biologists believe they may have been killed due to a lack of oxygen in the water.

Fishermen at Sebastian Inlet State Park first made the grim discovery on Friday.

‘I saw the fish jumping out there and I thought it was going to be a really good day for fishing, and then I noticed over here in the surf that they’re all dead,’ fisherman Jeff Johnson told WPBF 25 News.

‘It’s a little shocking, yes. I don’t know if there’s chemicals in the water or the temperatures that caused this.’

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are in the midst of carrying out tests on water samples but they do not suspect that chemicals or cold temperatures are to blame.

Instead they are checking for signs algae in the water which can lead to a lack of oxygen.

FWC biologist, Kelli O’Donnell, said: ‘Just because there’s such a large school of them, they use up the oxygen really quickly, and because they are coming closer to shore, there’s not as high of a water turnover rate sometimes when you’re in an area with not as much tidal flow.’

The majority of the dead fish were Menhaden, which are widely used in the U.S. for oil, fish meal, and fertiliser. Biologists also recorded Spot fish, Spade, Snook and Spot Tail Pin fish among the bodies.

Only last month thousands of dead fish were found floating in a warm creek in Port Orange, Florida.

Two million fish were found dead on shores in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and days before an estimated 100,000 drum fish were found dead along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River.

This was blamed on disease while the deaths in Maryland were due to the stress caused by unusually cold water and over breeding among spot fish, according to the Maryland department of environment.

Preliminary tests of the water in Chesapeake Bay showed the quality was acceptable, officials said at the time.

via Alarming riddle of the seas as thousands more dead fish wash up on U.S. beach in latest mass death mystery | Mail Online.

Is it only a matter of time before these random pockets of no oxygen start wiping out humans in large numbers? Is it reasonable to carry enough Oxygen to be able to escape to a better location?

Low oxygen levels will kill you slowly, OR can kill you instantly. For years I worked in a very large hospital in Tacoma, Washington. I can not count the times that I have been part of a CPR effort on someone who had taken their oxygen off to get out of bed, and then experienced a cardiac arrest in the bathroom. Very low oxygen levels can cause stimulation of your vagus nerve, which can stop your heart. Bearing down can also stimulate the vagus nerve. You do NOT want to have low oxygen levels when you are sitting on the toilet!  … treat every occurrence of low blood oxygen level (anything below 92% oxygen saturation) … Use supplemental oxygen with every activity that causes low blood oxygen levels.  Supplemental oxygen should be used 24 hours a day if there is any sign of low blood oxygen level at rest. Practice relaxing everyday! Tension is the biggest obstacle to fully utilizing your lungs. Do deep breathing exercises everyday following relaxation.  Get WELL OXYGENATED activity every day.
Avoid sugar and sweeteners.  … Sip pure water all day every day.  … Get 30 minutes of direct sunlight everyday. – bblw

If you are O2 deprived, get some:

The air one breathes usually is 21 percent oxygen; supplemental oxygen as prescribed by a doctor is 100-percent pure oxygen. Many people intake supplemental oxygen on a regular basis from the comfort of their home. This can aid them in living more independently in addition to making it easier and safer for them to enjoy day-to-day activities. Other benefits include lower instances of sleep disturbance owing to low oxygen levels since the respiratory and arousal abnormalities are reduced. This improves the quality of sleep … People who are oxygen-starved feel very weak. Supplemental oxygen can bring back their energy levels, allowing them to feel active and healthy. Supplemental oxygen also increases their ability to endure physical exercise. Other effects include relief from headaches and nausea, prevention of heart failure for people with severe lung diseases and an improved immune system. .

Don’t use extra Oxygen if you can help it, however:

… A clinical study conducted by the Division of Cardiology at Pennsylvania State University’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center reveals that in patients with congestive heart failure, supplemental oxygen has a damaging effect on cardiac output, stroke volume and systemic vascular resistance

–  eHow.com

A rebreather is a type of breathing set that provides a breathing gas containing oxygen and recycled exhaled gas. This recycling reduces the volume of breathing gas used, making a rebreather lighter and more compact than an open-circuitbreathing set for the same duration in environments where humans cannot safely breathe from the atmosphere. In the armed forces it is sometimes called “CCUBA” (Closed Circuit Underwater Breathing Apparatus). …

As a person breathes, the body consumes oxygen and makes carbon dioxide. A person with an open-circuit breathing set typically only uses about a quarter of the oxygen in the air that is breathed in. The rest is exhaled along with nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

The rebreather recirculates the exhaled gas for re-use and does not discharge it to the atmosphere or water.^[1][3] It absorbs the carbon dioxide, which otherwise would accumulate and cause carbon dioxide poisoning. It removes the carbon dioxide by a process called scrubbing.^[1] The rebreather adds oxygen to replace the oxygen that was consumed.^[1] Thus, the gas in the rebreather’s circuit remains breathable and supports life.

Dave Sutton built his own really small rebreather which lead me to the Spare Air device (right below):

SPARE AIR is the smallest redundant SCUBA system available with enough air to get you to the surface in an out-of-air emergency.  The patented SPARE AIR should be a standard piece of SCUBA diving equipment for the safety minded diver.  Explore the wealth of information about our product and diving in general.  Our goal is to convince you to save your own life in an out-of-air emergency.

Over 250,000 sold –over 30 years in service.

Smallest, most compact redundant emergency air system available.

…

A complete SCUBA system (regulator, tank and pressure indicator) that’s the size of a can of cola.

• 1.7 cubic feet of air
• Tank finish in Neon Yellow for safety
• Easily refills from your own SCUBA tank with included refill adapter (patent pending)
• Easily attaches to your BC with included holster and safety leash
• Small, hands-free, nearly neutrally buoyant
• Breathe on demand regulator -No complicated instructions
• Completely redundant back-up miniature SCUBA system
• Faster than buddy breathing and easier than an octopus
• Compact size allows for more versatile mounting options.
• Size preferred by military agencies worldwide.
• Original 1.7 cu ft is the “old faithful” of the SPARE AIR product line. In production since 1979- over 100,000 units in use.

30 breaths for $300 sounds like a lot now, but it will seem like the best money you ever spent if it saves your life. 😉 Here’s a toy I’d like to have:

The QRAE II is a full-featured, compact, one- to four-sensor gas detector for detection of combustibles, oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon monoxide.

Key features include easy-to-change, externally accessed battery packs (available in rechargeable and alkaline versions), sensors and filter, a water-resistant case and a new state-of-the-art O2 sensor technology with extended life.

The rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack provides up to 14 hours of continuous operation. The QRAE II includes storage capacity for 64,000 datalogging points, which can be downloaded to any PC compatible with Windows 98, NT, 2000 or XP. – link

 

 

>Croat reports seeing a fireball

>

A man in Croatia felt as if he was in the middle of a science fiction movie when he saw what he has described as a fire ball falling from the sky and landing in the woods close to northern town of Bjelovar.

Darko Hresic alarmed the fire brigade and the fire got soon stopped.

“I noticed flames in the sky. The ball was falling to the ground. It was within a walking distance of two to three kilometres from me. Thoughts about science fiction movies kept going through my mind and I could not believe what I was seeing”, Darko Hresic commented to daily newspaper Jutarnji List.

The paper reports the fireball was most probably a comet, but it is still being investigated. Traces of a comet have not yet been found at the site.

via Croat reports seeing a fireball – General News – Croatian Times Online News – English Newspaper.

>Croat reports seeing a fireball

>

A man in Croatia felt as if he was in the middle of a science fiction movie when he saw what he has described as a fire ball falling from the sky and landing in the woods close to northern town of Bjelovar.

Darko Hresic alarmed the fire brigade and the fire got soon stopped.

“I noticed flames in the sky. The ball was falling to the ground. It was within a walking distance of two to three kilometres from me. Thoughts about science fiction movies kept going through my mind and I could not believe what I was seeing”, Darko Hresic commented to daily newspaper Jutarnji List.

The paper reports the fireball was most probably a comet, but it is still being investigated. Traces of a comet have not yet been found at the site.

via Croat reports seeing a fireball – General News – Croatian Times Online News – English Newspaper.

>Poor diets may lower children’s IQ

>

Diets high in fat, sugar and processed foods are lowering children’s IQ, a new study suggests. The report says that eating habits among three year olds shapes brain performance as they get older.

A predominantly processed-food diet at the age of three is directly associated with a lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, according to a Bristol-based study of thousands of British children.

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children is tracking the long-term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children.

Food packed with vitamins and nutrients notably helped boost mental performance as youngsters got older, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports.

Researchers said toddlers’ diets could change IQ levels later in childhood, even if eating habits improve with age.

“This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes to dietary intake,” the authors wrote.

During the study, parents completed questionnaires detailing the types and frequency of the food and drink their children consumed when they were three, four, seven and eight-and-a-half years old.

Every one-point increase in the study’s dietary pattern score – a record of processed fat intake – was associated with a 1.67-point fall in IQ.

The brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life.

“It is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth,” the report added.

The School Food Trust’s director of research, Michael Nelson, said: “Given that around 23% of children start school either overweight or obese, it’s absolutely clear that healthy choices as part of their early development will stand children in good stead – not only for keeping a healthy weight as they grow up, but as this evidence suggests, improving their ability to do well at school.

“These findings also demonstrate the importance of helping everyone involved with children’s early development to get the information and advice they need on good nutrition.”

via Poor diets may lower children’s IQ | Science | The Guardian.

>NJ Woman Questioned in Alleged Butt Implant Death

>

Police say they’ve questioned one of two people in the case of a British woman who died after receiving cosmetic injections in her buttocks at a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport.

Lt. Ray Evers said police issued a search warrant Tuesday night at the Bergen County, N.J., home of a woman they think set up the appointment online. The woman has been questioned but is not under arrest.

A 20-year-old British student died early Tuesday after she apparently flew to Philadelphia to get silicone injections into her buttocks at a Hampton Inn in southwest Philly.

Police executed a search warrant at the Hampton Inn on Bartram Avenue Tuesday afternoon with suspicions that two women had performed butt implant procedures inside rooms, sources say.

Suspicions of these hotel-room medical procedures came about after Claudia Seye Aderotimi died around 1:30 a.m. after being taken to a Delaware County hospital, according to court documents.

Aderotimi had a butt enhancement procedure around noon Monday and started to complain of chest pain around midnight, police say.

This was the second time Adusei turned to these women for buttocks enhancement, sources say. Aderotimi and her friend — who had her hips done this time around — had gotten butt-enhancement procedures last November, sources say.

It wasn’t clear if the women who administered the injections were licensed to do so. They left after the procedures and weren’t there when Aderotimi began feeling chest pain, sources said.

The women also did a good job covering their tracks, police sources say.

The preliminary cause of death is attributed to silicone injected into the woman’s vascular system, ultimately stopping her heart, according to the Delaware County medical examiner, but it is “pending further studies.” The autopsy is not yet complete. …

via NJ Woman Questioned in Alleged Butt Implant Death – Local News – Philadelphia, PA – msnbc.com.

>Finns to revive beer from 19th century shipwreck

>

Finnish scientists are analysing a golden, cloudy beverage found in a 19th century shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, hoping new beers can be modelled on an ancient brew.

The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said on Tuesday that through chemical analysis it aims to determine the ingredients and possibly the recipe used in brewing what it called “one of the world’s oldest preserved beers.”

VTT scientist Arvi Vilpola said he had “the honourable task” of being the one on the research team to sample the brew.

“It was a little sour and you could taste the saltiness of it slightly,” Vilpola said.

Divers stumbled across the five beer bottles while salvaging champagne from the wreck near Finland’s Aland Islands last July. The schooner is believed to be from the early 19th century.

Researchers are keen to find out what kind of yeast was used because “the role of yeast in beer brewing was not yet fully understood in the early 1800s,” said VTT spokeswoman Annika Wilhelmson.

via Finns to revive beer from 19th century shipwreck – Telegraph.

>X-rays reveal hidden leg of ancient snake & hints at how snakes got legless

>

A novel X-ray imaging technology is helping scientists better understand how in the course of evolution snakes have lost their legs. The researchers hope the new data will help resolve a heated debate about the origin of snakes: whether they evolved from a terrestrial lizard or from one that lived in the oceans. New, detailed 3-D images reveal that the internal architecture of an ancient snake’s leg bones strongly resembles that of modern terrestrial lizard legs.

The results are published in the Feb. 8, 2011 issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The team of researchers was led by Alexandra Houssaye from the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France, and included scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, where the X-ray imaging was performed, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, where a sophisticated technique and a dedicated instrument to take the images were developed.

Only three specimens exist of fossilised snakes with preserved leg bones. Eupodophis descouensi, the ancient snake studied in this experiment, was discovered ten years ago in 95-million-year-old rocks in Lebanon. About 50 cm long overall, it exhibits a small leg, about 2 cm long, attached to the animal’s pelvis. This fossil is key to understanding the evolution of snakes, as it represents an intermediate evolutionary stage when ancient snakes had not yet completely lost the legs they inherited from earlier lizards. Although the fossil exhibits just one leg on its surface, a second leg was thought to be concealed in the stone, and indeed this leg was revealed in full detail thanks to synchrotron X-rays. …

via X-rays reveal hidden leg of an ancient snake: New hints on how snakes were getting legless.

>X-rays reveal hidden leg of ancient snake & hints at how snakes got legless

>

A novel X-ray imaging technology is helping scientists better understand how in the course of evolution snakes have lost their legs. The researchers hope the new data will help resolve a heated debate about the origin of snakes: whether they evolved from a terrestrial lizard or from one that lived in the oceans. New, detailed 3-D images reveal that the internal architecture of an ancient snake’s leg bones strongly resembles that of modern terrestrial lizard legs.

The results are published in the Feb. 8, 2011 issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The team of researchers was led by Alexandra Houssaye from the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France, and included scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, where the X-ray imaging was performed, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, where a sophisticated technique and a dedicated instrument to take the images were developed.

Only three specimens exist of fossilised snakes with preserved leg bones. Eupodophis descouensi, the ancient snake studied in this experiment, was discovered ten years ago in 95-million-year-old rocks in Lebanon. About 50 cm long overall, it exhibits a small leg, about 2 cm long, attached to the animal’s pelvis. This fossil is key to understanding the evolution of snakes, as it represents an intermediate evolutionary stage when ancient snakes had not yet completely lost the legs they inherited from earlier lizards. Although the fossil exhibits just one leg on its surface, a second leg was thought to be concealed in the stone, and indeed this leg was revealed in full detail thanks to synchrotron X-rays. …

via X-rays reveal hidden leg of an ancient snake: New hints on how snakes were getting legless.

>Two suspected burglars caught hiding inside jail

>

Two suspected burglars on the run from police in Colombia have been detained while trying to hide inside a jail.

The two were being chased by police after a burglary in a house in the capital, Bogota.

They jumped from rooftop to rooftop and over walls, only to land inside La Picota, one of Colombia’s biggest jails.

Their involuntary break-in immediately set off the prison alarm, leading to their capture.

They have been handed over to the judicial authorities, who will determine whether to press charges.

If their case goes to court and they are found guilty, they could be sent back to La Picota. …

via BBC News – Two suspected burglars caught hiding inside jail.