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Efforts to supply arid regions with water have been undertaken ever since humanity began spreading into the world’s deserts, with ingenious methods being invented throughout history to hydrate populations and their agriculture in deserts and mountains. This problem is becoming more acute as the Earth’s climate shifts: while there are regions that are experiencing increased flooding, there are corresponding locations that suffer more frequent droughts, meaning we need to find new ways of providing the people there with a ready source of water. One engineering team with Ohio State University are now studying new water collection methods, inspired by desert plants and animals, to develop a new generation of simple devices that can literally pull water out of thin air.
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The US Food and Drug Administration has granted a group of researchers approval to proceed with the use of the controversial drug psilocybin, a psychedelic compound naturally produced in about 200 species of mushrooms, to treat patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression. This comes as welcome news for researchers that study psychedelic drugs, as current drug laws inhibit the study into the potential medical effects that the forbidden fungus may have to offer.
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Clouds of aggressive nickel-sized mosquitoes called gallinippers have descended on 27 counties in North Carolina, the result of untold numbers of the insect’s eggs being activated by the catastrophic flooding caused by hurricane Florence. Unlike most mosquitoes, Gallinippers can lay their eggs in dry conditions, of which can lay dormant for months or years, and hatch when wet conditions develop. The females can be particularly aggressive, mobbing large mammals such as humans or even cattle in order to feed.
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Adding to the list of animals that make use of tools, it turns out that Australian raptors deliberately set fires to flush out prey, picking up burning sticks from an existing fire and dropping them onto dry grass to start a new conflagration. Although this is news to modern science, stories of this behavior are interwoven into Aboriginal culture, from knowledge that spans back through the millennia.
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