Bila Lele Sangkuriang Pulang Kolam

by: - 11 September 2010   Filed under: 2community, onmymind Add Comment

Adalah hasil kerja selama empat tahun (2000-2004) yang kemudian diberi nama lele Sangkuriang. Nama yang dihasilkan dari kesepakatan antar tim pemulianya dengan tim penilai pelepasan. Dengan performa pertumbuhan yang unggul, lele Sangkuriang akhirnya menyebar ke seluruh pelosok nusantara. Tentu, hanya barang bagus yang akan dipalsu sehingga banyak juga lele Sangkuriang palsu. Juga, ada yang ikut numpang beken dengan mengklaim bahwa lele Sangkuriang adalah hasil jerih payahnya!
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Alfred Russel Wallace (1869): The Malay Archipelago…

by: - 30 June 2010   Filed under: 2community, onmymind Add Comment

Alfred Russel Wallace (1869): The Malay Archipelago… (tapi yang dibeli edisi Bahasa Indonesia ‘Kepulauan Nusantara…2009) perlu untuk dibaca tuntas setelah Simon Winchester: Krakatoa… (lagi-lagi yang sudah diterjemahkan menjadi ‘Krakatau…). Kepulauan Nusantara diterima kemarin sore dan hingga saat ini merupakan buku termahal yang pernah dibeli. Tentu saja, baru pengantarnya saja yang usai dibaca.

Wallace, telah didengar sejak SMP ketika belajar peta buta kepulauan nusantara pada Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial (dulu nama mata pelajarannya seperti itu). Tersadar lagi tentang Wallace pada Krakatau yang cukup mencengangkan. Karena pada Krakatua, seperti yang juga tertulis pada back-cover dan pengantar editor Kepulauan Nusantara, disebut bahwa teori evolusi Darwin lebih bersandar pada surat Wallace yang dikirim dari Ternate. Sehingga, cukup punya alasan untuk coba menelusuri apa yang Wallace laporkan dari perjalanannya di kepulauan nusantara.

Bila Winchester sukses menyambung dan mendeskripsikan beragam publikasi hingga menjadi bacaan yang sangat menarik dan enak dibaca, maka referensi publikasi terpenting Winchester, yang akan menjadi bacaan beberapa hari ke depan, adalah Kepulauan Nusantara.

juragan@E72

Toads’ earthquake exodus

by: - 7 April 2010   Filed under: 2community Add Comment

Common toads can detect impending seismic activity and alter their behaviour from breeding to evacuation mode, suggests a new study in ZSL’s Journal of Zoology

Researchers from The Open University reported that 96 per cent of male toads (Bufo bufo) in a population abandoned their breeding site five days before the earthquake that struck L’Aquila in Italy in 2009. The breeding site was located 74 km from the earthquake’s epicentre.

The number of paired toads at the breeding site also dropped to zero three days before the earthquake. No fresh spawn was found at the site from the date that the earthquake struck to the date of the last significant aftershock (magnitude >4.5).

Breeding sites are male-dominated and the toads would normally remain in situ from the point that breeding activity begins, to the completion of spawning.

This shift in the toads’ behaviour coincided with disruptions in the ionosphere, the uppermost electromagnetic layer of the earth’s atmosphere, which were detected using very low frequency (VLF) radio sounding.

The release of radon gas, or gravity waves prior to an earthquake have both been attributed to changes in atmospheric electric fields and currents. In this case the cause of the ionosphere disruptions was not determined.

Other environmental changes that affect toad behaviour, including lunar phases and changing weather conditions were accounted for. The number of toads breeding at the study site was known to increase during a full moon. However, following the earthquake the number of toads present during a full moon was 34, in comparison to between 67 and 175 individuals in previous years.

“Our study is one of the first to document animal behaviour before, during and after an earthquake. Our findings suggest that toads are able to detect pre-seismic cues such as the release of gases and charged particles, and use these as a form of earthquake early warning system,” says lead author Dr Rachel Grant.

ref:
http://www.zsl.org/science/news/toads-earthquake-exodus,696,NS.html

juragan@E72.otw