Whale dies after eating 80 plastic bags

Upsetting photographs show the shocking result of pollution on a whale that starved to death because it had swallowed 80 plastic bags. The pilot whale was barely alive when it was found by rescuers in a canal near Thailand’s border with Malaysia.

The whale was described as ‘emaciated’ and had struggled to eat because its stomach was so full of plastic. It vomited up five bags during rescue attempts, which proved fruitless, as the animal died a short time later. An autopsy revealed 80 plastic bags weighing up to 8kg (18lb) in the creature’s stomach, the veterinary team said. People used buoys to keep the whale afloat after it was first spotted. An umbrella was used to protect the animal from the blazing sun. Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist and lecturer at Kasetsart University, said the bags had made it impossible for the whale to eat any nutritional food.

Thailand is one of the world’s largest users of plastic bags. Thon said at least 300 marine animals, including pilot whales, sea turtles and dolphins, perished each year in Thai waters after ingesting plastic.

World’s longest deep-fried pizza

A team of 100 pizza makers teamed up in Italy to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest Neapolitan fried pizza.

The pizza makers constructed the fried pizza— which is composed of a circular closed dough with the cheese, sauce and toppings inside — and dipped it into boiling oil in Naples to create the 23.5-foot-long pizza.

The ‘pizzaioli’ contained 183 pounds of flour, 110 pounds of mozzarella cheese, 33 pounds of ricotta cheese and 15 pounds of tomato sauce.

The pizza-makers said the record was a matter of pride, as the previous record was held by pizza makers in Milan.

Scientists transfer memories between two snails

Scientists believe they have successfully transferred a memory from one snail to another. It is thought their study could be a breakthrough in the field of memory, and could even be a step towards reducing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in humans.

In an experiment, researchers inflicted painless electric shocks to sea snails known as Aplysia californica. They noted that the snails that had received the shocks performed a defensive reflex for about 50 seconds when tapped, while other snails contracted for just one second. The eye-opening moment of the test came when researchers extracted RNA, a type of genetic information, from the shocked sea snails into other animals.

Even though they had not received any shocks, the snails injected with the RNA acted as though they were the ones to have been shocked, contracting for about 40 seconds.

Professor David Glanzman from UCLA, an author of the study, said it was “as though we transferred the memory”. He wrote: “What we are talking about are very specific kinds of memories, not the sort that says what happened to me on my fifth birthday.”

The work indicates that memories are stored in RNA, rather than the connections between brain cells, as many believe. Interestingly, sea snails and humans share similar cells and molecular processes — and it is hoped the research could lead to progress in understanding memory in humans. The results of the study were published in the journal eNeuro.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 23rd, 2018