Evil hackers are eyeing the endangered animals

Hackers are selling the location of animals monitored by GPS for hunters, who profit from the sale of animals on the black market

Bengal Tiger: species was attacked by hackers in India last year

São Paulo - Endangered animals monitored by collars with GPS are becoming the target of cyber attacks. Hackers are selling the location of animals for hunters who profit from the illegal animal trade market.

An action of the type was registered on July 24 last year in Panna, bengal tiger reserve located in India. At the time, hackers attempted to gain access to the location of one of the tigers - provided by email only three researchers. However, the attack was unsuccessful, reports the website of the magazine Popular Science .

According to data from the Global Fund for Wildlife, a Bengal tiger gets to be sold for $ 50,000 in the pet trade, which sum would move next year to $ 10 billion market, after the recent push enabled for online sales.

Monitored worth much 

Among other problems, the monitoring of endangered animals by GPS implies heavy investment in electronic devices. Currently, implement technology that indicates the exact position of an animal does not leave for less than $ 5,000.

The high cost of operation makes researchers choose to monitor only the most endangered species - that, in general, reached this condition to be more valuable in the poaching market.
So, know where an animal of this kind can be worth a lot of money - which encourages further attacks from hackers.

Among the solutions to the problem pointed out by experts, are investing in a tracking system with enhanced security (as is already happening in Namibia) or even by reserves surveillance drones - that should be implemented soon in Kenya.

Until then, endangered wildlife will continue targeted by hackers and hunters.

Original Portuguese  Source
News on Popular Science

Video : Temporal study of Chrysalis Development

I came across this  3-D scans of a butterfly chrysalis video on Google+ and was amazed by the work done using Micro X-ray technology  The research opportunities are limitless with these new techniques.

Development throughout the metamorphosis process is seen so nicely. Enjoy.




Thanks to Ed Young for sharing this.

The complete article explaining this is on National Geographics

Poor missing out on moringa seeds' water-purifying powers

Carol Campbell

24 March 2010 | EN

Moringa oleifera seeds can purify water

EcoPort Picture Databank

[OUDTSHOORN] Seeds from a tree that grows widely across the developing world could play a key role in water purification — but there is lack of awareness about this application despite a long indigenous history, say researchers.

The Moringa tree — Moringa oleifera — is native to North India but is also found in Indonesia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, and is used in many communities mostly for food and folk medicine.

But adding crushed Moringa seeds to water can cut the time taken for bacteria and solids to settle from a full day to just one hour, and has potential for preventing diarrhoea, according to Michael Lea of Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation that investigates low-cost water purification technologies.

Lea has published a step-by-step procedure online that shows how the seeds can be crushed to produce a natural flocculant — a substance that aggregates suspended particles.

He hopes that making the technique freely available in this way will facilitate dissemination to those who need it the most — the role of the seeds in purification has been known for centuries but use has been limited.

Writing in Current Protocols in Microbiology, he said that the seeds can provide a low-cost, accessible purification method for poor communities where diarrhoea caused by water-borne bacteria is the biggest killer of children aged five and under.

Lea noted that the seeds "should not be regarded as a panacea for reducing the high incidence of waterborne diseases" — an additional disinfection process is recommended — but can make a valuable contribution to disease reduction.

"Parts of the world have mobile phone and Internet services but no food and potable water," Lea told SciDev.Net. "These trees are indigenous so the solution is in people's backyards. What is required now is knowledge dissemination.

"M. oleifera is the only indigenous treatment technology that addresses poverty and nutrition while also providing potable water."

Lea said that superstition has sometimes limited its use. For instance, in one area of Africa, more than three Moringa trees in a backyard is seen as a source of misfortune that brings poverty and death.

Vallantino Emongor, a M. oleifera expert at the University of Botswana, said: "What is exciting is that this tree is drought resistant and is accessible throughout Africa and India. Communities need to learn what the seeds can do."

Some countries, including Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, have formed associations to facilitate this.

The Clearinghouse research was published last month (18 February).

Link to full paper in Current Protocols in Microbiology

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