Seafood Could Collapse By 2048

The world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, resulting in less food for humans, researchers said on Thursday.

In an analysis of scientific data going back to the 1960s and historical records over a thousand years, the researchers found that marine biodiversity -- the variety of ocean fish, shellfish, birds, plants and micro-organisms -- has declined dramatically, with 29 percent of species already in collapse. Extending this pattern into the future, the scientists calculated that by 2048 all species would be in collapse, which the researchers defined as having catches decline 90 percent from the maximum catch. This applies to all species, from mussels and clams to tuna and swordfish, said Boris Worm, lead author of the study, which was published in the current edition of the journal Science. Ocean mammals, including seals, killer whales and dolphins, are also affected. "Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging," Worm said in a statement. "In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems. I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are -- beyond anything we suspected." When ocean species collapse, it makes the ocean itself weaker and less able to recover from shocks like global climate change, Worm said. The decline in marine biodiversity is largely due to over-fishing and destruction of habitat, Worm said in a telephone interview from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. OVER-EXPLOITATION The loss of biodiversity makes ocean ecosystems less able to recover from the effects of global climate change, pollution and over-exploitation, Worm said. He likened a diverse ocean environment to a diversified investment portfolio. With lots of different species in the oceans, just as with lots of different kinds of investments, "You spread the risk around," Worm said. "In the ocean ecosystem, we're losing a lot of the species in our stock portfolio, and by that we're losing productivity and stability. by losing stability, we're losing the ability of the system to self-repair." "This research shows we'll have few viable fisheries by 2050," Andrew Sugden, international managing editor of Science, told reporters at a telephone news briefing. "This work also shows that it's not too late to act." To help depleted areas rebuild, marine-life reserves and no-fishing zones need to be set up, Worm and other authors of the study said. This has proven effective in places including the Georges Bank off the US Atlantic coast, he said. With marine reserves in place, fishing near the reserves can improve as much as four-fold, Worm said. Beyond the economic benefits to coastal communities where fishing is a critical industry, there are environmental benefits to rebuilding marine biodiversity, the scientists said. Depleted coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to invasive species, disease outbreaks, coastal flooding and noxious algae blooms, they reported. Certain kinds of aquaculture -- like the traditional Chinese cultivation of carp using vegetable waste -- can also be beneficial, according to the scientists. However, farms that aim to raise carnivorous fish are less effective.

Nun gets 30 years for genocide

Kigali - A local Rwandan traditional court sentenced a Catholic nun to 30 years in prison for helping militiamen kill hundreds of Tutsis hiding in a hospital during the country's 1994 genocide, said an official on Friday.

Theophister Mukakibibi was sentenced by the traditional gacaca courts on Thursday for working closely with Hutu militiamen to kill Tutsis hiding in Butare Hospital, where she worked. She was also accused of dumping a baby in a latrine.

Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, president of the local gacaca court in Butare town, said: "She would select Tutsis and throw them out of the hospital for the militia to kill. She did not even spare pregnant mothers."

Focusing on confession and apology, the traditional gacaca courts had been used in Rwanda to ease the backlog of genocide cases. They were also intended to ease the way to national reconciliation.

Mukakibibi 'first nun to be sentenced'

Under gacaca, those who confessed and plead guilty before a set date would have their sentences reduced. Those sentenced to prison would serve their time in a Rwandan jail.

Mukakibibi was the first nun to be sentenced by a Rwandan court for her role in the genocide. A Belgian court convicted two Roman Catholic nuns in 2001 for aiding in the mass murder.

More than 20 witnesses testified against Mukakibibi during the trial, which lasted for one year. Ndahumba said: "She used to hold meetings with militiamen and had an army officer as her escort during the killings."

As the official in charge of stock in the hospital, she was also accused of denying food to Tutsis hiding at the hospital.

The Rwandan Roman Catholic Church was accused of playing a significant role in the 100-day genocide, in which an estimated 800 000 people were killed.

A Roman Catholic priest was on trial before a Tanzania-based United Nations tribunal, accused of ordering the slaughter of 2 000 people who sought refuge in his church.

In July 2005, the head of the Roman Catholic Church appeared before a similar court to give information on what he knew about the genocide.

Archbishop Thaddee Ntihinyurwa, a Hutu, was summoned to the local gacaca courts after dozens of survivors accused him of taking part in several meetings that were allegedly planning the slaughter of ethnic Tutsi in the southern Cyagungu province.

Fertile Women Dress to Impress

And as long as I'm writing about aspects of gender and sexuality, this is interesting:

Fertile women dress to impress, U.S. study finds

Women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday in a study they say shows that signs of human ovulation may not be as mysterious as some scientists believe.

A study of young college women showed they frequently wore more fashionable or flashier clothing and jewelery when they were ovulating, as assessed by a panel of men and women looking at their photographs.

Some will say, "Nothing surprising about that." Others will say, "It's just a stereotype."

We report. You decide.

The point is that, even though human females have an estrous cycle like most other placental mammals do, it has been believed that they do not exhibit outward signs during the most receptive part of the cycle. According to the Wikipedia article,

Humans, unlike some other species, do not have any external signs to signal receptivity at ovulation. Research has shown however, that women tend to have more sexual thoughts and are most prone to sexual activity right before ovulation.

The new research is saying that lack of external signs is another gender myth, although the signs are subtle:

"They tend to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably," said Martie Haselton, a communication studies and psychology expert at the University of California Los Angeles who led the study.

Writing in the journal Hormones and Behavior, Haselton and colleagues said their findings disproved the conventional wisdom that women are unique among animals in concealing, even from themselves, when they are most fertile.

It's interesting that, apparently, this is only a behavioral change, and that there are still no outward physiological signs of peak fertility.

Hormones are still at work. It's just that in humans their effect is on the brain only, rather than on the epidermis.

More detailed report: Forget Basal Body Temperature -- Check Out Her Clothes; Signs Of Ovulation May Be More Obvious Than Supposed

Man Accused of Having Relations With Dog

A man accused of having sex with the family dog has been charged under the state's new animal cruelty law, which makes bestiality a felony, a prosecutor said.

Michael Patrick McPhail, 26, of nearby Spanaway, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of first-degree animal cruelty in Pierce County Superior Court.

Assistant Pierce County Prosecutor Karen Watson said McPhail was the first person in Pierce County to be charged with the new bestiality offense.

She said the dog was taken by animal control.

McPhail posted $20,000 bail on Friday.

Judge Katherine Stolz has set a trial date of Dec. 11.

McPhail's wife told investigators that she found her husband on their back porch Wednesday night having intercourse with their 4-year-old female pit bull terrier, the Pierce County sheriff's office report said. The dog was squealing and crying, according to charging papers.

The woman took photos with her cell phone and called the sheriff's office.

Calls to McPhail's public defender, David Katayama, were not immediately returned Friday.

The bestiality law, which took effect in June, was prompted by a case near Enumclaw in which a Seattle man died after having sex with a horse. Before the law was enacted, Washington was one of 14 states where bestiality had not been explicitly prohibited.

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Information from: The News Tribune,

www.thenewstribune.com