lilacs for Pinkbunny43

apples for needsum12luv

chrysanthemum for eric22t

dogwood for panchovanilla

hibiscus for dreamerana

carnivorous plants for giantowl

white tulips for NorCalSwe

gerberas for MelMaxx

this must be from your own yard. thanks

the lotus is the only flower that teaches us where we reach is important not where we come from...

thank you

good choice Sitka

flowers that smell like chocolate...mmmm...are they edible?

...


Virgin births are no longer rare. They happen everywhere, in ways we still don't fully understand
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141219-spectacular-real-virgin-births

Thelma the snake confused then astounded her keepers.
This 6m long (20 ft) python had spent four years alone in Louisville zoo in the US, without ever having met a male of her species. But, somehow, she laid over 61 eggs, producing six healthy babies.
Perhaps she’d managed to secretively mate with a male many years before, and store his sperm all this time?
Genetic tests soon revealed the answer.
Thelma had become the first reticulated python in the world known to have had a real-life virgin birth.
She’d made eggs that contained all the genetic information required to make a daughter; without the need for a father, his sperm or DNA. She’d done it fusing her eggs with a by-product of her dividing cells, called a polar body. This object played the same role as sperm would normally, triggering the egg to develop into an embryo. Each of her offspring contained two copies of half her chromosomes. They were half-clones of Thelma.
Extreme reproduction?
Though special, we now know that Thelma and her daughters are far from unique.

Scientists are discovering that virgin births occur in many different species; amphibians, reptiles, cartilaginous and bony fish and birds and it happens for reasons we don't quite understand.

Initially, a virgin birth, also known as parthenogenesis, was thought to be triggered by extreme situations; it was only documented among captive animals, for example, perhaps by the stress, or isolation. A way to continue the bloodline when all other options had gone, when there was no other choice.
Not necessarily. It now appears that some virgin females produce offspring even in the presence of males.
What’s more, they do so in the wild, and may have been doing it for hundreds of millions of years. It may carry advantages, even more so in a modern world where populations of many species are rapidly dwindling, but it raises fundamental questions about the importance of sex.
And other uncertainties remain. Why among vertebrates, can fish, reptiles and birds have virgin births, but mammals, including humans, seemingly cannot? Even here, things aren’t straightforward…


Virgin turkeys
Perhaps the best understood 'virgin' vertebrate is the common domesticated turkey. In the 1800s, reports started appearing of virgin births among chickens. Then researchers started studying similar events among turkeys, finding that these large fowl could lay unfertilised eggs that produced live young.

The baby turkeys were always male, however, which was put down to a quirk of bird genetics in which male sex chromosomes are dominant. Soon a parthenogenetic strain of the domestic turkey was developed in which most males appeared normal and reproduced successfully.

The turkeys were considered nothing more than a curiosity; an artificial creation kept in artificial conditions.
But then, in the past 15 years, reports started coming in of a series of weird and wonderful virgin births occurring in captive fish, snakes and lizards.


It seems to be something a wide variety of sharks can do
On the 14 December 2001, for example, one of three captive adult female bonnethead sharks gave birth to a healthy female pup. Each of the prospective mothers had been caught as immature fish from the wild waters of the Florida Keys, US.
None had met a male shark, and all were virgins.
Yet one of them had clearly given birth, reported a team led by Demian Chapman of Stony Brook University, in New York state, US.
Later genetic tests confirmed that no males had been involved, and since then the same has been discovered in four other shark species. "It seems to be something a wide variety of sharks can do," Chapman told BBC Earth.


Giant lizards
In 2006, scientists reported that two different Komodo dragons, the world’s largest type of lizard, had also had virgin births. Both were captive, kept at separate institutions, one at Chester Zoo and one at London Zoo, in the UK.
At the time, researchers speculated that the giant lizard was capable of switching between sexual and asexual reproduction, essentially finding ways to clone itself in extreme circumstances when no males are around.

Then in recent years, scientists have also documented different snake species, including boas and pythons such as Thelma, giving birth in the absence of males.


The question is why would they bother?
A life without males
One possible answer may lie with a wild counterpart, the whiptail lizard. In fact, there are numerous species of whiptail lizard, with many being specially conceived, a result of two species hybridising to form a third.
These unique hybrid species are all female; males have been completely cut out of the reproductive process. Each female produces asexually, creating new generations of females, and so on.
Creating such an exclusive club has its evolutionary benefits; if any of these lizards were left stranded, they could continue to reproduce. Other whiptails that rely on males would see their lineage die out. This is a particular type of parthenogenesis that only occurs in the absence of males, and this may have been the trigger for these lizards. Female whiptails that become stranded on islands may have somehow switched their biology to reproduce alone.


Thelma the snake was thought to have had a virgin birth for similar reasons; without any males around she had no choice but to go it alone. And being well fed, and housed in a large enclosure at an optimal temperature, she had the optimal conditions to make the biological leap into solo parenthood, says Bill McMahon, a scientist who helped care for her.
Perhaps the same was true of the sharks, komodo dragons and snakes?
It's amazing that we do all of this work on reproductive biology and we're still learning something new about the reproductive modes about the animals around us

There is a problem with that idea. Generally, asexual reproduction is thought to come with costs. Essentially it’s the ultimate form of inbreeding – there is no way to create genetic diversity. So animals that clone themselves leave their lineages vulnerable to disease and other threats, which they lack the genetic variety to counter.

For that reason, after the virgin birth of the Komodo dragons, scientists recommended that the species, which is endangered, not be kept in isolation. They feared the genetic diversity of the species might diminish if it started cloning itself.
But in extremis, when there are no males to mate with, it makes some sense.


Wild virgins
Then came another shock: wild vertebrates, as well as captive ones, are capable of virgin births.
In 2012, scientists discovered that another type of snake, the pit-viper, commonly has virgin births in the wild.

Warren Booth from the University of Tulsa and colleagues captured 59 litters from two species of pit viper snake and analysed their "DNA fingerprint", a sort of paternity test. He found that two litters had come about through virgin births, via a process called facultative parthenogenesis.

So the stress of captivity may not be what triggers such an extreme mode of reproduction. What’s more, wild male pit-viper snakes are plentiful. So the females don’t have virgin births simply because they have no other choice.
"We used to call facultative parthenogenesis an evolutionary novelty but it's not as novel as people think,” Booth told BBC Earth. “I've got a box of shed skin from snakes that's overflowing with examples.”

"It's amazing that we do all of this work on reproductive biology and we're still learning something new about the reproductive modes about the animals around us," he says.


Ancient reproduction
Booth suspects that virgin births may actually be an ancient mode of vertebrate reproduction.
Those species that do it best, the boas and pythons among snakes for example, are also some of the oldest. More recently evolved species, such as cobras, fare less well, producing only one or two babies via a virgin birth, which then often die.

Perhaps when these ancient snakes lived, millions of millions of years ago, either so few existed, or it was so hard to find a sexual partner, that they didn’t bother, and cloned themselves instead. The fossil record can’t tell us.
It may also be extremely difficult to discover how many wild species actually reproduce this way. It would be almost impossible to know whether wild fish have had virgin births or not. The only way to prove it would be to harvest DNA from a female shark and her babies, to determine their parentage. So many species are endangered that approach isn’t ethical, says Booth.

So the conundrum remains; why reproduce alone, when asexual reproduction has so many down sides. Especially in the wild, where males are plentiful? And even if virgin births are an ancient, evolutionary hangover, why still do it in the modern age?


Healthy babies
One answer may actually lie within those questions.
If asexual reproduction is so disadvantageous, as thought, then it wouldn’t have survived for so long, points out James Hanken, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, Massachusetts, US. So while genetic diversity is important, it can't be the be-all. That’s supported by evidence from the ‘miracle’ babies, or parthenogenetic offspring, themselves.

Baby sharks born to virgin mothers are less genetically diverse than those born to two parents. But they appear just as healthy, having been "purged of all the deleterious recessive genes", says Chapman.
Females may also decide to reproduce alone because the act of sexual reproduction can be costly, according to one of Booth's close collaborators, Gordon Schuett of Georgia State University in the US, the first scientist to document facultative parthenogenesis in snakes. Females have to put up with males competing and fighting over them, and it can be hard to find the ideal male partner.

It's fascinating that nature has evolved a way of making this possible
One other idea is that something other than evolution is at work. Perhaps virgin births are triggered by some outside factor; a hormone, or hormonal imbalance? Or even a pathogen, such as a virus, or parasite. There is a species of wasp, for example, that starts reproducing asexually when infected with a certain bacteria.

Booth suspects so. "What we find is that across birds, snakes and sharks, they do the same thing. It appears they evolved it independently, and therefore there's something else driving it."

Schuett is less sure, finding it difficult to accept that a single cause could trigger the same outcome is so many diverse species. But Booth is keen to investigate, testing the genetics of the various tissue samples taken from Komodo dragons, boas, pythons and many more he has stored in his lab. He’ll be looking for a tell-tale genetic signature that reveals the presence of a common virus or some other stimulus.

If no such trigger is found, it could be that the ability to have virgin births is retained in species as some kind of back-up mechanism, to beutilised when sexual reproduction is too unlikely or costly.
One of the big downsides of sexual reproduction is it requires two individuals to be in the same place at the same time

If true, that suggests we may see more if it, as populations of many wild species dwindle, according to Peter Baumann of the University of Kansas Medical Center in the US.
Already scientists are waiting to discover if the anaconda, the world’s heaviest snake species, will join the list of those vertebrates capable of virgin births.
"It's fascinating that nature has evolved a way of making this possible. From an adaptation point of view it does enhance a species' ability to survive long term if it can use this back-up pathway.

"One of the big downsides of sexual reproduction is it requires two individuals to be in the same place at the same time, that becomes an issue when population density is low," says Bauman.
From an evolutionary point of view, sexual reproduction remains the more dominant and successful method at this point of time, but he added that "there's clear advantages to both mechanisms".


And mammals?
But one final enigma remains. If parthenogenesis is more widespread than scientists first thought, then why can’t mammals do it, including primates, the group that includes humans?
Perhaps they can.

There is no known example of a mammal having a natural virgin birth, either in captivity or the wild.
But in the 1930’s at Harvard University, Massachusetts, US, a scientist called Gregory Pincus started investigating the reproductive systems of mammals. His work later led to him co-inventing the human contraceptive pill.

At the time he controversially claimed to have triggered parthenogenesis in rabbits, a feat that other scientists failed to replicate.
Decades later, in 2004, scientists reported they had genetically engineered a mouse to have a virgin birth. The offspring not only survived, they were capable of having offspring of their own.

Researchers today say that it remains highly unlikely, and perhaps even impossible, for a virgin mammal to naturally produce viable offspring, due to some fundamental aspects of their biology.
But perhaps, someday, somewhere, somehow, a mammal will surprise us all.
Just as Thelma the snake, and all the chickens, turkeys and sharks have done, she will lay down and have a 'miracle' birth, one that will challenge our fundamental ideas about reproduction.

Cow gets head stuck in chair in Northamptonshire

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-34084116

Wait'll i post the article on which astronauts recycle pee as drinking water.. :p

I handled a mental patient once, old guy who thought he was a dog. Because his "family" treated him like one when he was young. Caged him with the other canines, fed him using the dog dish, sprayed him with water from the hose to "bathe" him...people can be real cruel...

Maybe tax breaks..?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34092932
Image caption
Tributes have been left close to where 71 migrants' bodies were discovered in a lorry in Austria
Migrant tragedy


The UN has said "much more is required" to prevent the deaths of migrants fleeing to Europe after hundreds were reported dead in recent days.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "collective political response" to avert "a crisis of solidarity".
He called on states involved to "expand safe and legal channels of migration".

On Thursday 71 people, thought to be Syrians, were found dead in a lorry in Austria. Some 200 others are feared dead after two boats sank off Libya.
Mr Ban said he was "horrified and heartbroken" at the latest loss of life.
"A large majority of people undertaking these arduous and dangerous journeys are refugees fleeing from places such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
"The international community must also show greater determination in resolving conflicts and other problems that leave people little choice but to flee," he added.


Mr Ban called on nations to observe international law on asylum requests, and not to "force people to return to places from which they have fled if there is a well-founded fear of persecution... This is not only a matter of international law; it is also our duty as human beings."

He said: "This is a human tragedy that requires a determined collective political response. It is a crisis of solidarity, not a crisis of numbers."
Mr Ban also urged more action against people smugglers, a call echoed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"The violence and instability in North Africa and the Middle East isn't just destabilising the immediate region but is starting to have a destabilising impact on other regions of the world too, including in Europe," Mr Earnest said.
Some 200 people are feared to have drowned after two boats capsized on Thursday as they tried to cross from Zuwara, west of Tripoli in Libya, to Italy.

About 100 bodies have already been found and Libyan workers are continuing to search for 100 other people who are still unaccounted for.
Some survivors were rescued having spent the night in the water, clinging to life jackets.

While most of the victims of Thursday's capsizes are thought to be from Syria and African countries, a Bangladeshi diplomat told the BBC that at least five Bangladeshi nationals, including a six-month-old baby, were among the dead.

Police in Italy detained 10 suspected traffickers after a separate incident in which 52 people were found dead in the hold of a ship off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Hungarian police said they had arrested four people over the discovery of the bodies of 71 migrants, thought to be Syrians, in an abandoned lorry in Austria, near the Hungarian border.

The victims were 59 men, eight women and four children who are thought to have been dead for about two days.
Officials said the victims probably died after suffocating in the vehicle, before it crossed into Austria from Hungary. Among the victims was a girl aged between one and two years old.

Analysis: BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna
The headline in Austria's Kurier newspaper is stark: "Who will stop this madness? Refugee tragedy on the eastern motorway."

This double-edged response to the lorry deaths reflects the feelings of many here in Austria, a country of 8.5 million which has seen a big increase in people requesting asylum, with 80,000 claims expected this year.
Its main asylum centre, at Traiskirchen, is so overcrowded that hundreds have been forced to sleep outside there for weeks. Amnesty International recently said conditions there were "shameful".

Many people are volunteering to help refugees. But others say the flow of migrants must be stopped. Far-right parties say there are too many foreigners in Austria already and are calling for the reintroduction of border controls.
The government says it doesn't want that - but it says this problem can't be solved individually. It says Europe has to share the burden of looking after the refugees and migrants who arrive here every day.

Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe in recent months.
A record number of 107,500 migrants crossed the EU's borders last month.
Some of them pay large sums of money to people smugglers to get them through borders illegally.
The UNHCR says more than 2,500 people have died trying to reach Europe so far in 2015, not including Thursday's deaths.
----------
What we know about Austria lorry find
'Migrants', 'refugees' or 'aliens'?
The Turkish city where migrants buy supplies
Migrants' perilous route to Germany

Sounds like an interesting reality show concept....



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34092770

A team of Nasa recruits has begun living in a dome near a barren volcano in Hawaii to simulate what life would be like on Mars.

The isolation experience, which will last a year starting on Friday, will be the longest of its type attempted.
Experts estimate that a human mission to the Red Planet could take between one and three years.

The six-strong team will live in close quarters under the dome, without fresh air, fresh food or privacy.
They closed themselves away at 15:00 local time on Friday (01:00 GMT Saturday).

A journey outside the dome - which measures only 36ft (11m) in diameter and is 20ft (6m) tall - will require a spacesuit.

A French astrobiologist, a German physicist and four Americans - a pilot, an architect, a journalist and a soil scientist - make up the Nasa team.

The men and women will each have a small sleeping cot and a desk inside their rooms. Provisions include powdered cheese and canned tuna.

Missions to the International Space Station last six months. The US space agency has recently conducted four-month and eight-month-long isolation experiments.

While others focus on the technical and scientific challenges of the journey, the isolation experiments address the human element of exploration and problems that arise living in tight quarters.

"I think one of the lessons is that you really can't prevent interpersonal conflicts. It is going to happen over these long-duration missions, even with the very best people," said Kim Binsted, a Nasa investigator.

Terrible....no excuse, none whatsoever...

Fostered girl faced years of abuse, family court judge rules

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-34074987

A girl who soiled herself was made to kneel in scalding water by her foster mother during years of "emotional abuse and neglect", a judge has concluded.
The family court judge said the girl had been treated with "cold contempt" and was also bitten by her foster parents' dogs.
The black child was placed by her mother, a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker, with a white British couple.
The girl, now 12, has been taken into care by Lancashire County Council.
Judge Sarah Singleton said the girl had been left physically scarred and "deeply traumatised".
She said the youngster had been born in Luton, and had also lived in Yorkshire.
The foster parents had lived near Scarborough before moving to a new home near Blackpool.
The girl, who cannot be identified, had been seen picking up faeces in the garden, she said.
Racist words
When she soiled herself the girl had been forced to strip naked and peg her dress on the washing line. She then was either "shut outside or made to sleep on the landing".
The judge said the foster mother had demonstrated more warmth for her animals than the girl.
The foster mother repeated the "highly-offensive 'N' word" with "alarming facility" in court, she added.
The foster father also described the little girl as "strange and disturbed" adding: "Maybe it was because she was African".
"They dealt with her racial identity insensitively - or, frankly, they did not deal with her racial identity at all," Judge Singleton concluded.
Police and social workers became involved after neighbours and school staff raised concerns but "opportunities to protect had been missed", said the judge.
The girl was removed following her complaints about the foster mother's "cruelty and abuse" during sessions with a counsellor organised through a school.
The detail has emerged in a judge ruling published following a private hearing at a Blackpool family court.
Judge Singleton said both foster parents "indignantly" denied allegations.
They were not named and the ruling gave no indication as to whether they had been charged with criminal offences.