VIDEO: What The Cluck? ‘Vulture Bees’ Eat Chicken In Costa Rica

By

-

November 24, 2021

Researchers strung raw chicken from tree branches to act as bait for vulture bees in Costa Rica. These stingless bees feed on carrion, while most bee species are vegetarian. (Quinn McFrederick/UCR)

By Martin M Barillas

Although most bees are not carnivores, a few stingless tropical bee species have evolved a taste for flesh, presumably due to fierce competition for nectar, scientists say.

The so-called “vulture bees” evolved an extra tooth and their gut microbes are more like those found in vultures than in other bees. This allows them to feed on dead animals, or carrion.

“These are the only bees in the world that have evolved to use food sources not produced by plants, which is a pretty remarkable change in dietary habits,” said entomologist Doug Yanega of the University of California-Riverside.

Millions of years ago, bees evolved from wasps, which do eat meat albeit not exclusively. While some modern bees eat both pollen and meat, vulture bees are fully necrophagous, meaning they eat only carrion.

Other species, such as bumblebees, honeybees and other stingless bees typically have the same five core microbes inhabiting their guts.

“Unlike humans, whose guts change with every meal, most bee species have retained these same bacteria over roughly 80 million years of evolution,” said researcher Jessica Maccaro, co-author of the study published in the journal mBio. The researchers found gut bacteria in vulture bees differed greatly from those in other bees, allowing them to feast on carrion.

Turkey vultures, widespread across the Americas, rely on strong gut bacteria to eat dead carcasses. Microbes such as Fusobacteria and the poisonous Clostridia make carcasses toxic for other animals but are merely a sauce for the winged flesh-eaters.

“The vulture bee microbiome is enriched in acid-loving bacteria, which are novel bacteria that their relatives don’t have,” said McFrederick. These bacteria resemble those in actual vultures and other animals that feed on carrion, according to McFrederick, “presumably to help protect them from pathogens that show up on carrion.”

**The turkey vulture’s gut bacteria allows the scavenger to eat carrion without becoming sick. (Rennett Stowe/CC BY 2.0)**

The research team traveled to Costa Rica and used pieces of raw chicken strung from the branches of trees to bait the bees. The bait was smeared with petroleum jelly to fend off ravenous ants.

Vulture bees and related species were drawn to the meat. Stingless bees have structures on their hind legs resembling baskets to collect pollen. But meat-loving bees, the team found, use the same baskets to store meat. “They had little chicken baskets,” said researcher Quinn McFrederick. According to previous research, these meat-lovers are able to reduce a small corpse to bone in just a few days.

Some stingless bees feed on both flowers and meat while others feed only on pollen. The team looked at the gut microbiomes of all three types of stingless bees and found that the carnivorous species showed the most extreme changes.

The team found Lactobacillus bacteria and Carnobacterium in the guts of the vulture bees. Lactobacillus bacteria are found in fermented foods, such as sourdough bread, eaten by humans. Carnobacterium is associated with digesting meat.

**Some members of the Trigona family of stingless bees eat carrion, relying on unique gut flora to protect against dangerous toxins in decaying flesh. (Ricardo Ayala)**

“It’s crazy to me that a bee can eat dead bodies. We could get sick from that because of all the microbes on meat competing with each other and releasing toxins that are very bad for us,” said Maccaro.

Even though the bees have no stinger, they are not defenseless. “Many species are thoroughly unpleasant,” said Yanega. “They range from species that are genuinely innocuous to many that bite, to a few that produce blister-causing secretions in their jaws, causing the skin to erupt in painful sores.”

Though the bees feast on flesh, their honey is sweet. “They store the meat in special chambers that are sealed off for two weeks before they access it, and these chambers are separate from where the honey is stored,” said Maccaro.

The research team will continue to study the genomes of the bacteria, fungi and viruses they found to learn more about the evolution of bees. “The weird things in the world are where a lot of interesting discoveries can be found,” said McFrederick. “There’s a lot of insight [to be had] there into the outcomes of natural selection.”

Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler

The post VIDEO: What The Cluck? ‘Vulture Bees’ Eat Chicken In Costa Rica appeared first on Zenger News.

New Baby Smell Makes Moms Aggressive But Dads More Docile

By

Birmingham Times

-

November 24, 2021

0

The results of a double-blind trial surprised researchers, who’d expected the smell of a new baby to reduce aggression in both genders. (Ana Tablas/Unsplash)

By Abigail Klein Leichman

Catching a whiff of that delightful “baby smell” on a newborn’s head turns out to have a very practical purpose.

A volatile organic compound, hexadecanal (HEX), is the major component of this scent. This “chemosignal” triggers mothers to be more aggressive and fathers less aggressive, according to a study published in Science Advances by researchers from the Azrieli National Center for Brain Imaging and Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

It seems this cute aggression effect is beneficial for all kinds of mammal babies, as the mother is primed to protect the newborn and the father less inclined to act aggressively toward his offspring.

To test this “sex-specific social chemosignaling” phenomenon, the scientists, led by Eva Mishor from professor Noam Sobel’s research group, asked 67 men and 60 women aged 21 to 34 to sniff a mineral oil. Half of them received oil that had HEX added to it.

**Weizmann Institute scientists Dr. Eva Mishor and professor Noam Sobel. (Courtesy of Weizmann Institute)**

The results of the double-blind trial surprised the researchers, who’d expected it to reduce aggression in both genders.

Instead, it had markedly different effects in men and women, quantified in a computerized game that tested their aggressiveness level. Three separate analyses confirmed their findings.

Brain scans further confirmed that while both men and women perceive HEX as odorless, it triggers distinct, gender-related neurological reactions, increasing activity in a brain area implicated in the perception of social cues.

“Babies cannot communicate through language, so chemical communication is very important for them,” said Sobel. “As a baby, it is in your interest to make your mom more aggressive and reduce aggressiveness in your dad.”

He said this study is among the first to provide a direct link between human behavior and a single molecule picked up through the sense of smell.

Produced in association with Israel21C.

The post New Baby Smell Makes Moms Aggressive But Dads More Docile appeared first on Zenger News.

After Losing Teenage Son To Gun Violence, LaRicha Rousell Focuses On Helping Others Cope

By

Birmingham Times

-

November 24, 2021

0

Ja' Mere Alfred's mother, LaRicha Rousell (left), and Crimestoppers Greater New Orleans president, Darlene Cusanza, holding images of Ja' Mere. (Courtesy of LaRicha Rousell)

By Percy Lovell Crawford

NEW ORLEANS — The holidays are supposed to bring families together to share good times. But last year, Christmas changed the dynamic for LaRicha Rousell. Her 14-year-old son, Ja’ Mere Alfred, was gunned down outside a drugstore in New Orleans.

Ja’ Mere is described as a fun-loving kid who loved his family, football and band. His life was cut short on Christmas Day 2020. The gunmen are still at large.

To help cope with her grief and to help others going through similar situations, Rousell founded two nonprofits: the King Ja’ Mere Alfred Foundation, which focuses on kids who have lost siblings to gun violence; and Mothers Empowered For Justice, which helps families seeking justice stay abreast of their loved one’s cases.

Rousell, for her part, refuses to give up on obtaining justice for Ja’ Mere and continues to uplift his memory.

Zenger spoke with Rousell to discuss Ja’ Mere’s legacy, the foundations she has set up, and the gun violence in New Orleans.

Percy Crawford interviewed LaRicha Rousell for Zenger.

Zenger: Tell us about what it was like to receive that call about Ja’ Mere on Christmas Day last year.

Rousell: When I first received the call, I was told that there had been an accident. I was thinking car accident. Mind you, Ja’ Mere went away for 14 years with family for Christmas. He never missed a year. He would always go. I wasn’t told right then and there that it was a shooting or that he was murdered. I didn’t know until his dad got to the hospital and things started going downhill. I was devastated. Ja’ Mere was left with family. He went to Walgreens with cousins, and then this situation happened.

Zenger: Obviously, Ja’ Mere wasn’t the target, but was this a random shooting?

Rousell: It was not a random shooting, and the target was someone else, not Ja ‘Mere.

Percy Crawford interviewed LaRicha Rousell for Zenger. (Heidi Malone/Zenger)

Zenger: Has there been any arrest for his killing or is this ongoing?

Rousell: It’s still an open case. Ja’ Mere was with family, so family has to be accountable and come to the surface to tell the truth. An innocent 14-year-old child was murdered.

Zenger: Can you describe what type of kid Ja ‘Mere was?

Rousell: Ja’ Mere was a fun, witty kid, an old soul. He loved band, football, and loved me, his dad and his siblings, his teammates and his friends. He was just a sweet kid. He never caught a whooping, was very smart, stayed to himself. He loved his family.

Zenger: How imperative was it for you to not only tell his story, but also continue to shed light on the violence that takes place in New Orleans on a daily basis?

Rousell: When I got the phone call and I realized that my shoes as a parent&mldr; and don’t get me wrong, Ja’ Mere has two parents, and he always will. But when I realized the role of parenting changed, I wanted to make a difference. I knew that was something that Ja ‘Mere would want me to do. For me to live his legacy and also be a blessing to other people and other families.

I told God that I didn’t want to get stuck. This kind of stuff is designed to lay a parent out. For myself, Ja’ Mere is my only child; to his dad, he is the baby boy. I can only imagine what he goes through, as well. I wanted to be different and to heal other parents that are going through this kind of stuff. Is it hard? Yes, it is. I can’t have any more kids. But I feel like God is birthing change through me through this process.

Zenger: I’m sure it’s tough for you when you hear gunfire or watch the news and see the continuous violence.

Rousell: It is tough. I really don’t watch the news, but I have a team of people that tell me what’s going on. Like the 11-year-old was murdered the other night. They were shooting at somebody, and she got shot. It is just ridiculous. I just don’t understand it. I think the youth, the ones that are doing this, you’re not even shooting the people that you’re trying to shoot, which means you shouldn’t be shooting anybody.

Innocent people are being affected by this. When it happens, the person [killed] goes on to be with the Lord, but it’s the family that suffers. Sometimes there is no comeback. You have families that are torn and broken, parents separate or divorce and, in some cases, parents just lose their mind.

**Ja’ Mere Alfred doing one of the things he loved most, drumming in a marching band. (Courtesy of LaRicha Rousell)**

Zenger: His birthday was a week ago, and he would have turned 15. Christmas is right around the corner —how did his being killed on Christmas Day change the way you celebrate the holiday season?

Rousell: I just honor him. One thing I always say, Ja’ Mere is not here in physical form, but his spirit is just so real. That will never leave us. As long as I live, I’m going to continue to live his legacy in both foundations, and do what I have to do for him, his legacy and continue to do for other people.

Zenger: You have two foundations set up with the same mission but different meanings. Tell us about the King Ja’ Mere Alfred Foundation, and the Mothers Empowered For Justice Foundation.

Rousell: The King Ja’ Mere Foundation is set up for siblings that have lost other siblings through senseless gun violence, with academics, with band and football. We have scholarships and we donate for that. Mothers Empowered for Justice is more for the families that have been affected by this. The mental health part of it — putting them in direction with their case managers and detectives.

I get a lot of phone calls that the detectives are not calling back, and you go through that. I’ve been blessed that I don’t really have that problem, but other families go through that. And it really makes the families give up. But I told them since day one, I’m not giving up on my child’s case.

**Ja’ Mere Alfred and his mother, LaRicha Rousell. (Courtesy of LaRicha Rousell)**

Zenger: What has been the most difficult part about Ja’ Mere not being here anymore?

Rousell: I miss him so much. I’ve gotten better, a little bit. We would send him off to football practice every year for the summertime. In the beginning, I really just felt that he was gone away to either Atlanta or Houston to practice and that he would come back. That’s what I really had in my mind. And then God just kept saying, “Richa, you know that that’s not right.” So, I have gotten better with it.

Sometimes my mind tends to go to the left, but I get it. He’s in heaven, I don’t believe that Ja’ Mere suffered. He’s with the master, he’s with God, and he’s resting. His case will never go cold. God promised me justice and I believe that. I believe God is going to make the truth come to surface.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff

The post After Losing Teenage Son To Gun Violence, LaRicha Rousell Focuses On Helping Others Cope appeared first on Zenger News.

Small Businesses Squeezed As Inflation Soars, Supply Chains Clog

By

Birmingham Times

-

November 24, 2021

0

By Terry Alan Lane

Small and medium-sized business owners are under pressure as inflation soars and a stalled economy continues, according to a new survey.

More than 20 months after the onset of the pandemic, 73 percent of small business owners are saying they haven’t recovered, according to a survey released earlier this month by Alignable, an online network that includes more than 6 million small business members.

“From what I’m hearing from small business owners, it all comes down to cash,” Eric Groves, CEO-co-founder of Alignable, said in an interview with Zenger. ”Especially with the way the tax code is written, it’s hard for small business owners to set up a nest egg to help ride out a disruption.”

Just when businesses thought the pandemic had subsided and revenues would return, the Delta variant caused things to slow down again. At the same time, difficulty meeting labor needs has raised payroll costs. On top of that, inflation has taken another bite out of business owners’ revenue, which has “crushed margins further,” Groves said.

**Inflation is making Thanksgiving dinner more expensive this year.**

What’s worrying these business owners most? Far and away, their top concern is inflation, as the survey showed almost 35 percent citing rising cost of supplies. Other worries include enticing customers to return, government-mandated business re-closings and increasing revenue. Only one in ten small- and medium-sized business owners said they had no concerns.

On Nov. 10, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the highest growth of a key inflation measurement in 31 years. The Consumer Price Index showed another increase in October, rising 0.9 percent to push prices 6.2 percent higher than the October 2020 data. It was the highest rate of rise for inflation since November 1990, when the United States was bracing for the Gulf War in Iraq.

One item in Alignable’s survey showed that business owners are reporting that the costs of supplies and inventory continue to increase compared with prices before the Covid-19 lockdowns. Now 89 percent report encountering higher prices, with 34 percent putting those cost increases at 25 percent or more.

Alignable’s survey showed that 67 percent of businesses were reopened, as compared with 70 percent reporting last month. Moreover, more small business owners are now saying that they haven’t fully recovered, ticking up 8 percent since July. The small and medium-sized businesses suffering the worst are beauty salons, with 93 percent reporting that they’re not recovered, followed by event planning, nonprofits, massage therapists, transportation and restaurants.

Turkeys are displayed for sale in a grocery store ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on November 11, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. U.S. consumer prices have increased solidly in the past few months on items such as food, rent, cars and other goods as inflation has risen to a level not seen in 30 years. The consumer-price index rose by 6.2 percent in October compared to one year ago. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, other groups are reporting similar supply chain issues. In October, an industry study showed that order volumes across global supply chains are down by as much as 24 percent. The data, compiled by global digital trade platform Tradeshift in its Index of Global Trade Health, showed that order volume was slowing even faster in the U.S., falling 40 percent in the third quarter.

“The delta we see between ordering activity and invoicing is indicative of massive fulfillment issues across global supply chains,” said Christian Lanng, co-founder and CEO of Tradeshift. “Buyers are starting to question the wisdom of putting fresh orders into a system that is buckling under an enormous backlog. The longer this situation continues, the more likely we’ll see a more prolonged reversal heading into 2022.”

In a September interview with Zenger, Lanng said the supply chain was something both governments and industry would have to tackle. He said recent history has shown how the supply chain can be affected by outside events, noting that in addition to Covid-19, supply chains are routinely disrupted by weather, disaster and trade disputes, as well as political events like Brexit.

He cited one example to show how supply chain snags can have a big impact. Between February and July 2020, the U.K.’s National Health Service spent 12.5 billion pounds ($16.7 billion) on PPE that would have cost just 2.5 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) in 2019, before the virus raged and lockdowns put a premium on supplies and workforce availability, according to the U.K.’s National Audit Office.

“It wiped out 20 years of savings from the supply chain,” he said.

**Inflation continues climbing with no end in sight.**

For consumers, recent economic news has been like ping-pong, as negative economic reports of higher inflation and supply chain disruptions are countered with some positive news on jobs reports.

Days before the most recent inflation report, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. held a press conference celebrating the Nov. 5 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed both higher-than-forecasted job growth and a lower unemployment rate. Biden, while acknowledging the pressure of inflation, said job growth is 10 times higher than in the months before taking office.

“In total, the job creation in the first full nine months of my administration is about 5.6 million new jobs — a record for any new President,” Biden said. “We still have to tackle the costs that American families are facing. But this recovery is faster, stronger, and fairer, and wider than almost anyone could have predicted. That’s what the numbers say.”

Edited by Bryan Wilkes and Kristen Butler