Q Fever in Netherlands, Sandhill Crane Migration, Mystery Humans
This week: I’m back from India and podcasting from The World newsroom again. You’ll hear a story about a rare disease that’s affecting hundreds of people in the Netherlands, and about migrating sandhill cranes that stop in Nebraska on their way to their nesting grounds in the North. Elsa’s back with her mix of science news. And in our music-in-science segment you’ll hear from an evolutionary biologist from Duke University. (images courtesy of VJ Movement).
Q Fever Outbreak in the Netherlands: The Netherlands is grappling with an outbreak of a rare disease. It normally strikes farm animals, but it’s now sickening hundreds of people who have no contact with farms. While most people get something like the flu or pneumonia for a few weeks, some are sick for months, and a handful have died. From the Netherlands, Emily Kopp reports.
Report by: Emily Kopp.
Photos, Videos and Transcript of the story.
More on Q Fever from the CDC
Migration of the Sandhill Cranes: For millions of years, sandhill cranes have been migrating from parts of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia to their wintering grounds in Mexico, Florida, and Cuba. On the way back to their nesting grounds in the spring, they stop for a few weeks along the Platte River in Nebraska. You’ll hear what the birds sound like and learn about this natural spectacle.
Guest: Alicia Hardin of Nebraska’s Game and Parks Commission.
Watch videos of the cranes in Nebraska.
Elsa’s Favorite Stories:
- Fragments from a Mystery Human Species: Scientists have found the remains of a finger from a mystery human species. The specimen, discovered in a cave in Siberia, is about 40,000 years old, and a DNA analysis reveals that it’s genetically different from the two other human species alive at the time – modern humans and Neanderthals.
The Study.
More on the BBC.
More on human origins from the Smithsonian. - Bt-Resistant Cotton Bollworm in India: A few weeks ago you heard about a moratorium on the transgenic (Bt) eggplant in India. Now, Monsanto says that its Bt cotton crop in the country may be in trouble. One of the cotton pests – the pink bollworm – is now resistant to the Bt toxin. This news is a fresh reminder that resistance to transgenic crops can be a serious problem and that farmers need to take precautions with this technology.
Monsanto’s statement.
More about Bt toxin and how it works. - Strange New Hawaiian Caterpillar Species: Researchers have stumbled upon an array of new and fascinating species of caterpillars in Hawaii. Some are amphibious – the only amphibious caterpillars known to science – and others eat snails.
The study on amphibious caterpillars.
The snail-eating caterpillar study.
More on the snail-eaters from the BBC.
Check out pictures of these caterpillars here!
Music-in-Science Segment: As promised, this segment is back after a brief hiatus. In today’s show you’ll hear from evolutionary biologist Anne Yoder of Duke University. She uses fossil and DNA evidence to study the evolution of lemurs and other vertebrates in Madagascar. This means frequent trips to the island nation. But when she’s back in the lab at Duke, Yoder’s often cranking it up.
Produced by: Elsa Youngsteadt.
Anne Yoder’s Home Page.
The Band – Asian Dub Foundation.
The album: Facts and Fictions.
The song: Witness.
OK, I just found a TED video of Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and he starts out talking about lemurs in Madagascar. So check it out!
The commentary on the 40,000 year old human finger is quite interesting!
I wonder if there have there been any further discoveries about it?
Regards,
Neil
New discoveries are always exciting, whether it’s a strange new Hawaiian caterpillar species or a 40,000 year old human finger. That last discovery opened my eyes, let me tell you!
Genetically different than us but still classed under the category of “human”, this is really interesting stuff. Is there any follow up information about this? I would love to know more about my “ancestors”
Really loved this podcast, especially since you find the juiciest pieces of news that make me go “WOW”
Keep up the good work!
Eric Harrison
Webmaster @ ETF Trend Trading
These highly contagious, Q fever is caused by bacteria (Coxiella burnetii) issue when the goats or sheep pregnant have abortions. The disease is prevalent in areas south of the Netherlands with goat farms on a large scale and a relatively dense population.
Good Podcast, Thanks for this!.
Eric, I couldn’t agree more with your comment ‘new discoveries are always exciting’. I cannot see how anybody could fail to be intrigued by an interesting find such as this. It really highlights how little we know about the history of our species (or sub-species) and the wealth of information that remains to be discovered. What’s more, the value of these discoveries shouldn’t be overlooked- surely an increased understanding of our biology will prove beneficial in terms of treatment of disease etc.