Breaking News

Super Milk Baby Japanese Monster Mash-Up

WHEN: Friday, February 1st, 2008 from 6:00-9:00 pm Eastern. WHERE: Sanctuary Tattoo Gallery, 31 Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine (right next to Portland Stage Co.) WHAT: Artwork inspired by Japanese monsters, made by 8 artists in 8 different ways! SUPER MILK BABY JAPANESE MONSTER MASH-UP! The title really says it all! This terrific group show at Sanctuary Tattoo pits eight of the Portland area’s scariest artists against each other in a battle of wits and skill over Tokyo! School girls will scream, bones will crack, the sushi will bite back, and buildings will crumble like old matzah balls… or something like [...]

Underwater Mushroom Discovered

Photo by Robert Coffan – The Psathyrella aquatica mushroom, pictured above, was recently discovered by scientists in the Rogue Valley, Oregon. The Southern Oregon University environmental studies and biology faculty will share their discovery of a new species of mushroom that grows underwater – the first of its kind – in a presentation tomorrow in Ashland, Oregon. The new species is called Psathyrella aquatica. The multimedia presentation will be given by Robert Coffan, adjunct professor of environmental studies; Jonathan Frank, biology research technician; and Darlene Southworth, professor emerita, biology. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. with refreshments, and the presentation [...]

Exotic Cat Woman Dies

With the widespread news that actor Heath Ledger, 28, has been found dead in New York City, all other deaths have a tendency to be overlooked. Therefore, it is important to mention the quiet announcement this week of the passing of a legendary person known within the exotic cat business, Jeannette Giacinto of Tarzana, California. A longtime breeder and salesperson of exotic cats, Mrs. Jeannette Giacinto, known to her family and friends as Jan, died on January 6, 2008, succumbing to injuries sustained in a traffic collision on Halloween, October 31, 2007. Mrs. Giacinto remained hospitalized from the time of [...]

Rat-Eating Plant Discovered

Nepenthes tenax Here is another one for your cryptobotany file! It is not a cow-eating tree from India – (as per here, here, and here) – , but a rat-eating pitcher plant from Australia. A rare new species of plant that eats small rats has been discovered at the tip of Cape York. Pitcher plants, otherwise known as flesh-eating plants, grow throughout Cape York but now a new, larger species that grows like a vine has been discovered. The new species has been called “Tenax”. James Cook University ecologist Charles Clarke and a colleague found the new species at a [...]

Yucatan Raccoons: Not Nazis

Unlike the “Nazi raccoons” of Germany, the raccoons in the Yucatan are suppose to be there. They are not alien invaders. Chad Arment writes: “A quick fyi on this, the raccoon subspecies in the Yucatan is native, not introduced: Procyon lotor shufeldti. See p. 87 of Raccoons: A Natural History by Samuel I. Zeveloff.”