Type E botulism, a neuromuscular disease caused when birds eat fish infected with toxin-producing bacteria, has become a deadly menace that stalks the loons, gulls and other water birds of the Great Lakes region.

Cases of the disease are on the rise, killing approximately 10,000 more waterfowl in 2007 than when it was first reported in 1963. 

To understand die-off origin and distribution, ocean engineers from the Florida Atlantic University Institute for Ocean Systems Engineering in Dania Beach, Florida are using their expertise in experimental hydrodynamics. They have teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey to help develop a novel way of tracking waterfowl carcasses to determine the source of lethal outbreaks that infect fish eaten by waterbirds. 

Researchers have built a small vehicle whose flying motion resembles the movements of those boneless, pulsating, water-dwelling creatures we call jellyfish. 

Their presentation at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Pittsburgh,demonstrates a new method of flight that could transport miniaturized future robots for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and monitoring of the atmosphere and traffic. 

NASA should trademark 'has implications for life on other planets' - every other month there are claims about habitable exoplanets, but they are based on statistical wobbles and it isn't informing the public as well it such claims could because the habitable planet zones are not narrow enough.

Instead, we should be taking a more conservative approach to bold assertions - being conservative is the essence of science. And that means looking at habitable zones where life-sustaining planets might exist: planets that have liquid water and solid or liquid surfaces, as opposed to gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn.

In the modern world of long-distance travel, many people have experienced circadian-rhythm disruption, especially after traveling across time zones.

The physiology that affects modulating our biological "clocks" to combat jet lag or cope with alternating shifts is complex. A new paper in The Journal of General Physiology says BK ("Big Potassium") channels, which are activated during nerve impulses and can reduce neuronal excitability, affect a variety of physiological functions
and that helps explain some of the biophysical processes underlying regulation of circadian rhythms.

Many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings, allowing them to hunt and capture their prey in silence.  And owls are vicious. Imagine the Go Pro footage you would get if you stuck one of those on an owl for the evening.

A research group working to solve the mystery of exactly how owls achieve this acoustic stealth presented their findings at the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting over the weekend in Pittsburgh and hope their work on "silent owl technology" will help the design of aircraft, wind turbines, and submarines. 

It's Black Friday in the US - the day after Thanksgiving and was once the beginning of the Christmas season. That means a lot of shopping and that means a lot of anxiety about local retailers versus online vendors.

It turns out that local stores, especially big box retailers, have known the secret all along; people don't like to wait. If an event is far off or the price is substantially different, people will shop online. If they even have a hint that Amazon or others are taking orders for a third party, and that third party may end up shipping after Christmas, buying local looks a lot better.