Day: February 6, 2024

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

For every 98 men in America there are 100 women.

|

But life is complicated. Male embryos die at a much greater rate then female embryos during the first week of pregnancy. But females don’t develop as well in the uterus and are more likely to naturally abort or be stillborn. For every 105 male live births only 100 females are live birthed in America. But as soon as a baby boy is born they face greater risk of morality then a baby girl.

Through age 28, the gender ratio of 105 men to 100 woman remains true. By as men reach there 30s, the weakness of the male gender – higher average morality at a younger age starts to creep in. By age 40, there are only 102 men for 100 women.

By the time a man and women reach the age of 53 in America there are 100 men for 100 women. At age 55, there are only 99 men for 100 women. By age 65 it drops to 93 men for 100 women. Gets worse for men at Age 70, when only 88 men are left for 100 women.
By age 91, there are only 50 men left for 100 women and for the 100 plus age group only 24 men for every 100 women.

Ultimately it balances out American population wise for 98 men to 100 women. But the story of life is complicated – high male embryo morality, then higher female fetus morality and then ultimately it’s the higher male morality that gives females a slight demographic edge throughout their lives. Demographics and the story of life is fascinating.

Cooksburg

|

A false color image of Cooksburg and Oak Hill in South-Western Albany County.

Shots – Health News : NPR

|

A genetically modified purple tomato can now be raised by home gardeners : Shots – Health News : NPR

As home gardeners in the U.S. page through seed catalogs and pick out their favorite heirlooms, there's a new seed that has never been available to them before: a tomato the color of a concord grape with plum-colored flesh. It looks otherworldly, maybe Photoshopped. But it's not.

This nightshade is purple because its creators at Norfolk Plant Sciences worked for about 20 years to hack color genes from a snapdragon flower into the plant. The genes not only provide pigment, but high levels of anthocyanin, a health-promoting compound.

This dusky fruit, named the Purple Tomato, is the first genetically modified food crop to be directly marketed to home gardeners – the seeds went on sale Saturday. Last year, a handful of small farmers started growing and selling the tomatoes, but until now, genetically modified foods were generally only available to commercial producers in the U.S.

ScienceAlert

|

More And More Hermit Crabs Are Wearing Trash as a Home Instead of Shells : ScienceAlert

Land hermit crabs have been using bottle tops, parts of old light bulbs and broken glass bottles, instead of shells.

New research by Polish researchers studied 386 images of hermit crabs occupying these artificial shells. The photos had been uploaded by users to online platforms, then analyzed by scientists using a research approach known as iEcology.

Of the 386 photos, the vast majority, 326 cases, featured hermit crabs using plastic items as shelters.

At first glance, this is a striking example of how human activities can alter the behavior of wild animals, and potentially the ways that populations and ecosystems function as a result.

Love, musk is in the air for New England furbearers! — Furbearer Conservation

|

Love, musk is in the air for New England furbearers! — Furbearer Conservation

While Valentine’s Day has come and gone for folks in the Northeast, its safe to say romance, and in this case, gland secretions, still linger in the March air for many of the region’s wildlife populations.

Being in the wildlife control industry, mid-February tends to signal a spike in my phone usage and “windshield time” with calls of pungent odors in the crisp night air and depredation issues on livestock with Tasmanian-devil-like pandemonium. It spells an important milestone time of year for two prominent members of the mammalian super-family Musteloidea - specifically the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the American mink (Neovison vison). Why the sudden spike in activity during this time of year? Breeding season of course!