Zoologger: Horror fly returns from the dead
This week: a mythical beast, not seen for more than 160 years. A nocturnal animal that feeds on the rotten flesh of large mammals. A species active only during the winter months that reportedly emits a luminous glow from its large, orange head. What new horror is this?
It's a fly, the bone skipper Thyreophora cynophila, and it is back from the dead. Considered globally extinct until now, the first fly to be killed off by humans, the bone skipper was first described by an entomologist who found it on the carcass of a dog in 1798. Last seen in the 1840s, it has now been rediscovered by Daniel Martín-Vega and colleagues of the University of Alcalá in Madrid, Spain. The fly turned up in baited traps in woodland around Madrid and in La Rioja province.
Bones Dug Up
Fifth season headed to both formats.
The complete fifth season of Bones is being excavated on both DVD and Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on October 5, 2010, just a couple of weeks from now. The fifth season will span across four Blu-ray discs and six DVDs, capturing all 22 episodes in what's being dubbed the Beyond the Grave Edition.
Read more: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/112/1122556p1.html#ixzz10HLRQlwW
Portable, rapid DNA analysis tech developed
Mobile fingerprint-checking equipment is already controversial before it has even rolled out widely. An announcement today may presage the next such row, as developers say they will soon roll out a "compact" machine based on "a small, single chip" which will massively reduce the amount of time taken to check a DNA sample.
The RapID™ system was unveiled today at a biometrics conference in Florida by ZyGEM Corp and its partner, US aerospace globocorp Lockheed, nowadays seeking to diverge into homeland-security areas.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/22/portable_dna_checker/
