Yeah, Right, Whatever

The large cat's rapidly plummeting numbers prompted a United Nations conservation body to write Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, urging him to accept help in saving the largest of cats from extinction.

The potential for 26 new pups is a welcome development for those working to preserve the rare wolves at the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in suburban St. Louis. It's not such good news for opponents in a long-running fight against the wolves' reintroduction into the wild.

The invasive quarter-sized frogs subsist on the same diet of insects as native birds and are seen by many in the state - including the Department of Land and Natural Resources - as a threat to local species.

Although the sound of the frogs'"ko-KEE, ko-KEE" song is cherished in their native Puerto Rico, the coquis' loud chirping is unwelcome in the otherwise quiet neighborhoods of the Big Island and Maui, the island most impacted by the frogs.

Utah State University researchers who've been following the evolutionary battle between toxic newts and the garter snakes that prey upon them have discovered the molecular basis of the snake's defense against the poison.

As the garter snakes have raised their chemical defenses, the newts have become more deadly. The USU researchers found one newt carries enough neurotoxins of the same type found in Japanese puffer fish to kill 50,000 mice or 10 people.

Sharks have been spotted around the Ewa Beach farm's four pens, which are each about the size of a small house and anchored in 150 feet of water.

But the sharks have never caused trouble for workers at the facility, are seen only occasionally, and are exclusively of a species not known to be aggressive to humans - the sandbar shark, said Randy Cates, owner of the company that runs the cages, Cates International Inc.

There are about 40 varieties of sharks swimming about the islands, ranging from the inches-long pygmy shark to the resident bad guy - the tiger shark - held responsible for most attacks on humans.

Cates said the presence of sharks around his fish cages shouldn't be surprising. The cages function as an artificial reef and create a reef ecosystem, which naturally includes the predators.

Using the lasers to stimulate specific brain cells, researchers say they were able to make the flies jump, walk, flap their wings and fly.

Even headless flies took flight when researchers stimulated the correct neurons, according to the study, published in the April 7 issue of the journal Cell.

For decades road officials have relied on warning signs and publicity campaigns such as New Hampshire's "Brake for Moose" bumper stickers.

But now some traffic engineers around the country are experimenting with redesigning roads to accommodate wandering wildlife and using high tech laser and infrared devices, developed for space exploration and anti-missile systems, to warn motorists when a moose wanders into the road.

"We're investigating ways to manipulate the drivers and also ways to manipulate the animals," said John Perry, a biologist with the Maine Department of Transportation. "And when moose are involved, it might be easier to manipulate the driver."

At meetings across the state Monday night, residents in 72 counties were asked whether free-roaming cats should be listed as an unprotected species.

A horse saw a carrot she had been carrying to feed the horses sticking out of her back pocket and went to eat it.

But the horse grabbed a chunk of Jana's bum as well as the carrot.