Free Republic

Scientists from all around the world have discovered a transmissible ancient type of cancer in Spain. A study has been posted which shows a strain of an ancient type of leukaemia-like cancer has indeed been spreading quietly, but rapidly amongst shellfish for centuries without people ever knowing. This transmissible tumour is able to scarily float freely in the water just like microscopic bacteria before then being taken up by clams throughout the ocean, which then allows it to multiply and move onto a new host and continue its attack. According to scientists, contagious cancer has not been widely feared or...

The Bottom Line Kids eat bugs all the time. Few if any symptoms are likely to occur. In fact, insects form a regular part of the diet for many human cultures. Though most ingestions of edible insects tend to be harmless, people who have shellfish allergies should avoid eating insects due to the potential for cross-reactivity My child just ate a beetle." "I think I swallowed a stinkbug." "My kids were eating ants." Poison Control answers LOTS of calls about people who swallow insects of all kinds. Callers don't know whether to be worried, disgusted, or (sometimes) amused. If you're...

On October 12th, the menu spotlights National Gumbo Day for food holidays. This heavily seasoned, stew-like dish fills us up on chilly fall days. #NationalGumboDay Originating in southern Louisiana during the 18th century, Gumbo typically consists of strongly-flavored stock with meat or shellfish, a thickener, and seasoned vegetables. The seasoned vegetables may include celery, bell peppers, and onions. In Cajun cuisine, the trio is known as the “holy trinity.” Most people serve Gumbo over rice. Gumbo also falls into different categories based on the following types of thickener used: African vegetable okra Choctaw spice filé powder (dried and ground sassafras...

Two Oahu residents were cited by DLNR conservation officers after they were allegedly caught picking hundreds of opihi from rocks in a marine life conservation area. The DLNR said 53-year-old Raymond Agsalda of Waialua and 53-year-old Ronsin Rosa of Haleiwa were caught Tuesday. In their possession were 784 opihi which were allegedly taken from the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District on Oahu’s North Shore. Hawaii law prohibits taking any kind of sea life from the area, with the exception of in-season fishing at Waimea Bay. Even then, the DLNR says species restrictions and bag limits are in place. The two...

Northern and Southern California seafood fans say they’re buying giant lobster claws sold at Costco stores, and photos on Instagram and Reddit suggest each claw is much larger than a human hand. Screenshot from Instagram ================================================================= Seafood lovers on Instagram and Reddit are freaking out over photos showing gigantic lobster claws, and those posting the pictures say they bought them at Costco stores. “This thing is unreal!” one Instagram user wrote this week, sharing a couple of photos of a massive claw in Southern California’s Newport Beach. “I mean, come on. I’ve seen a few big claws at Costco...

19 percent of the nationally representative group reported having a food allergy. But only 10.8 percent said they had symptoms consistent with an allergic reaction to food, such as hives, swelling of the lips or throat, and chest pain. The main culprits behind these allergies were shellfish, milk, and tree nuts. Those who didn’t have a convincing food allergy instead reported symptoms like stomach cramps, a stuffy nose, or nausea. The findings, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, roughly match up to estimates from other studies, including those that confirmed a person’s food allergy with testing or medical records. In...

WESTBORO (CBS) – Workers at a Roche Bros. supermarket got quite the surprise last week – an extremely rare orange lobster. The pumpkin-like male lobster was easy to spot in a shipment of lobsters from Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia to the Westboro store. According to the New England Aquarium, the 1 2/3 pound orange lobster is “considerably more rare than a blue lobster.” The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine said the likelihood of a lobster being orange is 1 in 30 million. The lobster is believed to be about 7 to 9 years old, and aquarium...

Scientists at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife have found that mussels in Seattle's waters are testing positive for opioids. The finding suggests "a lot of people" are taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound, researchers say. Scientists used mussels as a way to test pollution in Seattle's waters and discovered high enough oxycodone levels for the shellfish to test positive. Mussels do not metabolise opioids, but some fish can become addicted. Mussels are filter-feeders, which means they filter water for nutrients to nourish themselves. In the process, they end up storing pollutants in their tissues, which makes them...

Giraffe was on the menu in Pompeii's standard restaurants, says a new research into a non-elite section of the ancient Roman city buried by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 A.D. The study, which will be presented on Jan. 4 at the Archaeological Institute of America and American Philological Association Joint Annual Meeting in Chicago, draws on a multi-year excavation in a forgotten area inside one of the busiest gates of Pompeii, the Porta Stabia. Steven Ellis, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of classics, said his team has spent more than a decade researching the life of the middle and...

University of Cincinnati archaeologists are turning up discoveries in the famed Roman city of Pompeii that are wiping out the historic perceptions of how the Romans dined, with the rich enjoying delicacies such as flamingos and the poor scrounging for soup or gruel. Steven Ellis, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of classics, will present these discoveries on Jan. 4, at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and American Philological Association (APA) in Chicago. UC teams of archaeologists have spent more than a decade at two city blocks within a non-elite district in the Roman...

SUMMARY The world's oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide at an unprecedented rate and the resulting acidification is transforming marine ecosystems. Hari Sreenivasan reports on how ocean acidification is already affecting oysters and other shellfish in the U.S. Transcript HARI SREENIVASAN: Pacific oysters like the ones grown on Shina Wysocki's family farm near Olympia, Wash., are served in restaurants around the country. SHINA WYSOCKI, Chelsea Farms: We think our water tastes great here, and that makes our oysters taste great. ARTICLE TOOLS Print Email Share HARI SREENIVASAN: But there's trouble in the water. The ocean's pH, which measures the level of...

Spray stops bananas breathing through their skin and kills the bacteria that make them rot It is derived from shrimp and crab shells Growers, supermarkets, even consumers could one day buy the experimental spray A spray that stops bananas from rapidly turning to mush is being developed by scientists. When used to coat green bananas, it slowed their ripening and so kept them fresh for almost a fortnight. By contrast, supermarket-bought bananas often go brown and soggy within two or three days.It is believed that the spray could help save some of the 1.6million bananas thrown away in Britain every...

The burglary happened sometime between Monday at Tuesday at the temple located at 202 Wyandotte. The glass display cases had historical items and police said they're still trying to determine if anything was stolen.

NEW ORLEANS – Federal officials plan to ban sales of raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico unless the shellfish are treated to destroy potentially deadly bacteria — a requirement that opponents say could deprive diners of a delicacy cherished for generations. The plan has also raised concern among oystermen that they could be pushed out of business. The Gulf region supplies about two-thirds of U.S. oysters, and some people in the $500 million industry argue that the anti-bacterial procedures are too costly. They insist adequate measures are already being taken to battle germs, including increased refrigeration on oyster...

California Marine Species Threatened by Overharvesting, Disease, Global Warming, and Ocean Acidification SAN FRANCISCO— The federal government today designated the black abalone as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. The action comes in response to a formal administrative petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in December 2006, which sought protection of the species. The black abalone — an intertidal mollusk historically ranging from near the California/Oregon border to Cape San Lucas, Baja California — has declined by as much as 99 percent in most of its range. Once occurring at densities of up to 120 per square meter,...

This is a total personal (vanity?) thread, but I have searched Google, and can't find the exact answer I'm looking for. For many years I have learned to never eat dairy and shellfish within a certain timeframe, because it will make me very sick (nausea and all the other unpleasant things that go with it). I ate shrimp for lunch yesterday, and after many hours (4-5 is my usual minimum) I ate ice cream. I still got ill, although not as severely as I would have, had I not heeded my usual rule. I now know I will have to...

Excerpts: "What we captured in 2001 was the loss of those mussels and implications for an entire ecosystem," said Brown University ecologist Andrew Altieri, who with biology professor Jon Witman wrote the study published in the March issue of Ecology. "That's instructive for what historic and future losses might be for the Chesapeake." Altieri calculated that the [mussel] reefs were processing the [Narragansett] bay's entire water volume once every 20 days, even though they covered less than 1 percent of the bay floor. Within days, a hypoxic episode triggered by warm weather, low wind and the usual nutrients contributed to...

BOSTON (AP) - An outbreak of toxic red tide algae that has shut down most shellfishing from Maine to Massachusetts also forced state officials to close federal waters, extending the affected area by thousands of square miles. On Friday, the state Division of Marine Fisheries ordered Massachusetts crews to stop using federal shellfishing areas and asked federal officials to extend that ban to out-of state shellfishermen. The move extends the ban for state shellfishing crews from three miles from shore to 100 miles from shore. Toxins produced by the algae contaminate shellfish like clams and mussels, making them unsafe for...

Shellfish diet found to benefit dogs with arthritis By Steve Connor 09 September 2002 Dogs fed on a shellfish diet have fewer problems with arthritis, according to a study showing that the New Zealand green-lipped mussel can alleviate canine aches and pains. Scientists have found that powdered extracts of the mussels, when added to a dog's normal food, allow those suffering from osteoarthritis to live more normal lives after six weeks of treatment. The results, to be presented at the festival this week, show that painful swelling and inflammation improved in four out of five dogs fed on the diet....