Fruit flies at boiling point

IN A world first, researchers have shown that many species of fruit fly won't survive even a modest increase in temperature. Many are close to or beyond their temperature safety margin - and very few have the genetic ability to adapt to climate change.
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The research - published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Monash University, the University of Melbourne and Danish collaborators - is part of an ongoing project to identify signatures of extinction risk, at the genetic level. This will indicate what life forms will be the first-stage losers in a climate of greater extremes - heat, cold and dryness.
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Vanessa Kellerman, of Monash University's Molecular Ecology Research Group, said the scientists looked at the heat resistance of 100 different species of fruit flies. ''This involved putting them in a water bath and slowly ramping up the water temperature over a three- or four-hour period until they started literally falling over.''

7 Things You Can’t Say in Canada | Reader's Digest

From global warming to farmed salmon and genetically modified crops, David Suzuki has just one message: The End is Nigh.

He is our homegrown prophet of doom who preaches the essential wickedness of the human race. Like a modern Savonarola, he warns that unless we cast our material possessions into the bonfire, we’re all going to hell.

The trouble with this apocalyptic vision is that people are starting to tune out. [Via Hilary Ostrov]

Twitter / JoanneNova: Big Sigh. Site hacked again? ...

Big Sigh. Site hacked again? No details, so I cannot confirm. But on the plus side, we are moving. I will update as news comes. Sorry. Jo

- Bishop Hill blog - Lean over the top

Geoffrey Lean's latest article has an air of panic about it as it becomes increasingly clear that his battle to prevent the shale gas revolution is being lost. Accusing the Conservatives of insanity, he goes on to launch a barrage of disinformation on the new energy source