Gympie Gympie: The World's Most Venomous Plant

Recently I came across an interesting question on Quora, asking what kind of pain makes death look like a blessing? Most of the answers that followed talked about animal bites and terminal ailments. One answer, however, detailed the sting of a rather obscure and unknown plant: the Dendrocnide moroides, otherwise known as gympie-gympie, or suicide plant.

Awwwww, look at that heart-shaped leaf. Let me get one for you, darling. Image: ratmaja.com

When I browsed the online science library for literature, I found only three papers on the subject; one of which was unfortunately locked behind the paywall. Further investigation revealed more, but the number is still considered relatively small, which explains why when typed into google search, you don't get to see a lot of useful articles on the plant.

The Annual Haze in South East Asia: Whose Fault Is It?

Even breathing can be difficult nowadays. 

A lot of us are well-informed about the haze that hit South East Asia (SEA) every year. In fact, it's happening right out the window next to me as I type, and if you don't know about it already, you should really go hang yourself outdoor once in while and stop keeping yourself indoor all the time.

Plants Get Cancer, Too. But They Don't Care.

Cancers are horrible shit.
It knows no boundaries, age, color, gender, and it can hit at anyone at anytime on any part of the body--nose; throat; lungs--regardless of one's lifestyle or daily habits, though smokers and obese people do have higher chances of contracting cancer.
And it has no cure.

And animals get cancer, too. The Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) has been decimating Tasmanian Devils population since 1996, and we've seen facial tumours in dogs, cats and horses as well.

A devil with a face tumour. Image: wikipedia.org

And then there's plant. Yes. Plants get cancer, too.
You may wonder why do plants get cancer, right? It's so unfair for them to contract the life-threatening disease. After all they're just standing there doing their harmless business of turning sunlight into energy. They rarely ever hurt anyone and they don't annoy other trees people by exhaling second-hand smoke and they don't consume fatty food. Why oh why?

But wait. Yes, plants do get cancer, but it's not like the cancer you see in animals.

In animals, a tumour develops when a cell (or group of cells) loses the built-in controls that regulate its growth, often as a result of mutations. Plants can experience the same phenomenon, along with cancerous masses, but it tends to be brought on via infection. Fungi, bacteria, viruses, and insect infestation have all been tied to plant cancers. Oak trees, for example, often grow tumours that double as homes for larvae. —www.popsci.com

Well, despite harbouring cancerous tumour plants are less vulnerable to its deadly effect. For instance a plant tumour wont metastasize (layman's term: spread) because the cells are locked in place by a matrix of rigid cell walls. And even when the cells begins dividing relentlessly the tumour will remain in the same place. It can't migrate like human tumours and hence not as fatal as cancer in animals.

And for humans it's unimaginable to know you have a tumour embedded in your throat; lungs; or brain, we just can't survive without those organs. But plants lack such organs. And trees don't die when you break one of their branches.
So plants don't really care when they get cancer.

Malcolm

How Does Cloud Seeding Work?

Hot weather is horrible. Prolonged drought is even worse. 

Last month was the driest February in Malaysia for the past ten years. Water level at the Klang Gates Dam has dropped to a 10-year low, forcing the authority to begin rationing water supply.

Why Do Bees Build Hexagonal Cells?

Have you ever wondered why bees build hexagon-shaped cells?

Isn't it fascinating? Why hexagon? Why not other shapes? And these apparently simple, instinct-driven creatures could build the perfect-six-sided-hexagon which, when you stack them up together, form a perfect array of honeycomb.

Image: www.bee-hexagon.net

More than 2000 years ago, Marcus Terentius Varro proposed an answer to this question. He thought maybe honeycomb built of hexagons can hold more honey and require less building wax, and this answer has since been called "The Honeybee Conjecture".

China, Stop Raping the Planet's Seas

Apart from being a voracious burglar, China is also a big liar. China has been under-reporting what it’s taking from the world’s seas.

The number it presented to the UN Food and Agriculuture Organization over the last decade was 368,000 tonnes annually. A recent European Parliament report puts the number at 4.6 million tonnes—around 12.5 times more than what China reported.

And Africa is the main harvesting field for chinese fishermen. Africa loses 3.1 million tonnes of aquatic products annually—and up to 2.5 million tonnes of that is likely to be illegal.

China, stop raping the planet's seas.

Malcolm

Research Is A Dangerous Business

When people talk about risk at work, they normally mean the risk of getting fired, losing a business deal, and probably encountering some minor accidents like electrocution while charging their electronics. 

Unlike these risks, the risks you encounter during research are far more unpredictable because you work with unpredictable subjects; the weather (climate scientists), wild animals (zoologists), chemicals (chemists), and sometimes, the product of your own research (physicists). Even in social sciences, the research is often far more dangerous than your average nine-to-five job.

Image: www.specialtyexecutives.com

One particular technique in psychology, called participant observation, involves taking part in the activities of those you want to study. For example, if you wish to study the drug cartel, you would need to actually get your hands dirty. Sociologist Mick Bloor, a professor at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences once ended up in a bar fight while studying male prostitution in Glasgow. Lorraine Dowler from the Pennsylvania State University was forced to flee when her interviewee became the target of a street-level assassination attempt. Social scientist Frank Burton woke up one morning to find a submachine gun pointed at him. The body of Ken Pryce was found washed up on a Caribbean beach after investigating criminology in Jamaica.

The Most Endangered Animal On Earth -- The Red River Giant Softshell Turtle

Last year, experts at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) produced a list of the world's 100 most endangered animals and plants, and one particular animal caught my attention.

It's the Red River giant softshell turtle, or Yangtze giant softshell turtle.

Image: www.turtlesurvival.org

It is perhaps the most endangered species of all animals because there are only four individuals left--all of them in zoos-- in the world.

North Korea II

Kim Jong Il was still alive when I first blogged about this hermit kingdom several years ago. Today, Kim Jr. has taken over the throne and his people's lives are getting worst.

First off, we all know that North Koreans live miserable lives. Personal wealth, nonexistent. Internet, very strictly regulated. Freedom of speech, f**k that sh*t. Media freedom, f**k that sh*t too. Human rights, election, starbucks, Big Mac, etc, forget it. And most importantly, thou shalt not talk foul of the regime, lest thou be sent to the gulag.

When Sir David Attenborough Talks, You Listen

He is a giant in science, period. 60 years in the wild, chasing animals and delivering breath-taking spectacles to all of us at home, spat at by cobras, groomed by gorillas, and sadly, not all of us recognize his name.

Guardian UK recently published a profile of Sir David Attenborough, and I was really upbeat reading the piece. I have been watching him for as long as I can remember. His voice is hoarse at time, full of grandpa-ish kindness and yet never lacking in authority and power.

Underwater Mysterious Circles Made by, ahem, An Animal

Modern crop circles are a popular thing among UFO enthusiasts. These man-made marvels (yes, man-made) began with the original 1970's hoaxes by Bower and Chorley, and they are surprisingly easy to make. Forget all those messages-from-aliens theories, crop circles are just, well, pranks.

There are mysterious circles in the sea too, though they are made from sand and not crops. And the prankster here is not human--underwater circles are the work of the male puffer fish.

Sea Turtle Rescue Unit Volunteer Program (SEATRU)

I ain't even sure how to start with this.

7 days on the remote side of Redang, an area off limit to tourists, sipping river water, using candlelight at night, sleeping on the beach, hunting and fending off monitor lizards, tagging turtles, releasing babies, watching shooting stars, snorkeling, I can go on forever.

Kuala Terengganu
It was the 29th day of Ramadhan when I arrived at Kuala Terengganu. That night I discovered something special about Kuala Terengganu-- the people of Kuala Terengganu do not wait for laungan azan at 7:30pm to end their fasting. Neither do they watch the TV nor stare blankly at their watch. Instead they wait for a cannon fired from Bukit Pak Apil, which signifies the end of fasting. It is a much efficient way because the sound of the cannon can be heard up to 10 km away, and the laungan azan from different mosques can be incoherent and confusing at times.

Look at the size of that fish!

Flying fish
The journey to Redang island was a rough one and everyone was sleeping during the 45-minutes trip. Except me. As the boat broke one wave after another I saw something shot out of the water and glided for at least 5 meters in a straight horizontal path before landing back into the water.

Nuclear Tuna Coming to Town

Remember Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011?

It was the most serious disaster since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The crippled reactors released an estimated 22 x 10E 15 Becquerel of Cesium-137 into the ocean, which was then picked up by the Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis and carried all the way across the northern Pacific.

Dung Beetles Love Human Poops

Why would anyone want to check out whose manure taste the best, I don't know. But it's exhilarating to know that we've won the interspecies dung contest (or rather, the first runner up).

The judges for the contest would happily chomp on any manure, and yes, they're a group of nine thousand dung beetles.

Image: scientificamerican.com

Two entomologists, Sean Whipple and W. Wyatt Hoback set out to an organic cattle ranch where there were plenty of dung beetles crawling around. They took dungs from several animals native to North America (bison, cougar, moose), and also from animals from other parts of the world (tiger, lion, zebra), and presented them to the panel of dung experts.

How Would You Sound Like On Venus?

In conjunction with the Transit of Venus this week, I think I should write something about Venus.

Image: sites.wff.nasa.gov

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and it's the hottest planet in our solar system. The surface temperature on Venus can reach 482 degree Celsius, high enough to melt lead and even zinc.

Water on Earth

How much water is there on Earth?

We often hear people say 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Oceans and seas constitute the largest amount of water, roughly 96.5%. The rest exists in lakes, rivers, underground water sources, in our body, and in your pet.

Isopods FOUND!

Yes you read that right.
I was dissecting the Indian Meckerel I bought from a local mart this morning to get rid of its innards when I discovered that I actually bought home, together with those meckerels, a pair of alien-looking lifeforms.

Plastic-Eating Fungi Pestalotiopsis microspora

Plastics are non-biodegradable-- or so we thought.

A group of scientists from Yale University recently discovered a species of fungi in Ecuadorian Amazon that feeds on synthetic polymer polyester polyurethane in anaerobic environment. They're like the Chuck Norris of the fungi world.

Sea Cucumber Excrement Could Save Coral Reefs

Oceans around the world have been acting like carbon sponges for billions of years.

They suck in huge amount of carbon dioxide and thus maintaining the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. But the continuous rise of carbon dioxide level due to anthropogenic activities causes the oceans to become acidic. Low water pH is detrimental to coral reefs and aquatic lives, annihilating delicate reefs and fish eggs.

The Best Way To Save A Species: Bring 'Em To Australia!

Australia is a broken continent, ravaged by the European rabbit, red fox, cane toad, and other invasive species. Any hope of preserving a pristine Australian ecology is long gone.