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A female beaver in Devon. Credit: Michael Symes/Devon Wildlife Trust ___________________________________________________________________________ Beavers could help clean up polluted rivers and stem the loss of valuable soils from farms, new research shows. The study, undertaken by scientists at the University of Exeter using a captive beaver trial run by the Devon Wildlife Trust, has demonstrated the significant impact the animals have had on reducing the flow of tonnes of soil and nutrients from nearby fields into a local river system. The research, led by hydrologist Professor Richard Brazier, found that the work of a single family of beavers had removed high...

Calling all farmers, land owners, and gardeners... yours truly recently took ownership of 4 acres of property in central Florida and has some questions. I'm far from a greenhorn, but I'm learning new things and don't know what I don't know. Please bear with me and correct any misuse of terms herein. Approximately 3 acres of my land is heavily wooded and was poorly maintained. My last 2 weekends were spent with a rented brush hog clearing the front acre of my property of undergrowth. Vines were everywhere, some as thick as 2 inches (diameter), and it made for very...

FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) — A 29-year-old Fairfield woman was severely mauled in her backyard by her own dog early Thursday before police shot it dead, authorities said. Fairfield police said the attack took place in the woman’s backyard in the 1600 block of Kentucky St. A next-door neighbor called 911 to report they had heard the woman screaming and looked over the fence and saw a large dog attacking her. Arriving officers could see the woman lying face down and bleeding profusely from both arms with a large dog standing over her. The woman’s house has an unusually large yard,...

If the strapping chestnut colt Justify wins the Belmont Stakes on Saturday to become just the 13th horse in history to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown, two of the three groups that have an ownership stake in the horse’s breeding rights will be front and center during the celebration.

Scientists and chefs in Italy say they have made a pizza which prevents cancer and heart disease. The Pizza Pascalina, designed by scientists in Naples, has been called 'the pizza that extends life' and an 'anti-tumour' pizza. The Pascalina is packed with ingredients from the Mediterranean diet which are known to have health benefits. Neither cheese nor meat feature on the dish; its toppings include tomatoes, olives and rapini – a type of broccoli. It will be on sale at the Napoli Pizza Village, a pizza festival in Naples this week. Scientists from the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Naples –...

Agricultural-equipment makers gear up driverless tractors, combines in quest to produce more food, more sustainably The bright red, driverless tractor drags the tiller in a perfect line in a south Indian field, makes a turn at the edge of the property, encounters a test dummy and then stalls, not knowing what to do. India’s Mahindra & Mahindra , one of the biggest suppliers of smaller tractors to the U.S., and other manufacturers are racing to develop what they see as the future of farming: robo-tractors and other farming equipment to help produce more food, more sustainably at a lower cost....

Travis County is partnering with the University of Texas at Austin to evaluate a pathogen as a biological control agent for tawny crazy ants. The invasive ants can threaten your yards and get into your home. They also threaten songbirds and some endangered species. Researchers at UT will introduce the microsporidian pathogen by inoculating tawny crazy ant colonies. In prior research, experts found the pathogen may significantly reduce TCA populations.

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...

A TEAM of stem cell researchers have done the seemingly impossible and successfully combined artificial human cells with the embryo of a chicken in a shock new experiment aimed at trying to better understand developing life. ================================================================================== Until now, scientists have been unable to answer how certain cells in a developing embryo decide to become muscles or limbs, while others become bones and nerves. But now researchers led by Dr Ali Brivanlou, from Rockefeller University in New York, have achieved the unimaginable in a shock experiment. By grafting petri dish-grown human cells onto the embryo of a chicken the scientists...

U.S. officials have ordered a San Francisco brewery to stop producing beer containing cannabidiol, the hemp-derived extract known as CBD. The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is allowing Black Hammer Brewing to sell the rest of the CBD beer it already brewed, including one called Toke Back Mountain... The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the order to stop brewing cannabis beer was not issued because the federal government says marijuana is illegal, but because the trade bureau requires special approval for non-standard beer ingredients. The brewery plans to apply for the approval.

Add this to the ongoing list of fun facts about the Trump family: Melania Trump has an orchid named after her. The flower is a hybrid orchid known as Rhyncholaeliocattleya Melania Trump, or "Rlc Melania Trump," and it even won an award this weekend. When you know the context, the fact that this flower exists isn't so bizarre. It was created by Chadwick & Son Orchids Inc., a company that breeds orchids and has a longstanding tradition of naming flowers after the spouses of the two leading presidential candidates during election years. The company gave both Melania Trump and Bill...

NORTH RIDGEVILLE – Police in northeast Ohio said they received a call from a man walking home early Saturday morning claiming he was being followed by a pig. That's right. A pig. Police didn't believe it, either. The North Ridgeville Police Department said it responded to the “obviously drunk guy walking home from the bar at 5:26 in the morning” in Elyria. When police arrived, they found a man who was not drunk at all. And apparently, he was telling the truth. Police confessed the man was not walking from the bar named "Train Station" but rather from the actual...

“Pit bull roulette” cost the lives of 38 humans, plus nearly 13,000 dogs, 5,000 cats, and more than 20,000 farmed animals in 2017––and, only two weeks into 2018, has already killed Happy Hound Hotel boarding kennel worker Laura Williams Ray, of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and three-year-old Rylee Marie Dodge, of Duncan, Oklahoma, along with many dozens of animals. Overall, pit bulls accounted for 68% of the human dog attack deaths in 2017, 88% of the human disfigurements, 92% of the dogs killed by other dogs, 94% of the dogs seriously injured by other dogs, 96% of the cats killed by...

CARTER COUNTY, Okla. -- Officials said a woman was attacked and killed by a neighbor's dogs on Thursday night. Carter County Sheriff Chris Bryant said the victim -- whose name has not yet been released -- was attacked by seven dogs and later died from her injuries. Bryant said the incident happened before 10 p.m. at a residence just east of Ardmore on Banyon Road. He said one of the dogs was a pit bull; the others were medium-sized dogs of other breeds, all with the same owner. "Once we were notified that this female had succumbed to her injuries,...

Sweet potatoes were domesticated thousands of years ago in the Americas. So 18th century European explorers were surprised to find Polynesians had been growing the crop for centuries. New genetic evidence instead suggests that wild precursors to sweet potatoes reached Polynesia at least 100,000 years ago — long before humans inhabited the South Pacific islands, researchers report April 12 in Current Biology. If true, it could also challenge the idea that Polynesian seafarers reached the Americas around the 12th century. For the new study, the researchers analyzed the DNA of 199 specimens taken from sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) and...

“Tu n’abandonnes jamais les tiens, ni au combat, ni dans la vie.” These words grace the back label of Esprit de Corps Grand Cuvée, a Vermentino from Côtes de Provence Sainte–Victoire. It means, “You never abandon your own, not in combat, nor in life.” The phrase references Article VII of the French Foreign Legion’s Code of Honor, which is a hint at the bottle’s unlikely provenance: a retirement home for former legionnaires. Nestled in postcard-perfect vineyards in Provence, the Domaine du Capitaine Danjou winery is the antithesis of abandonment. It provides lodging, purpose, and, most importantly, brotherhood. Leave it to...

The OSBI has found new evidence linking a wind energy group to the political consultant who had a state legislator tracked, The Oklahoman has learned. "It's pretty obvious," Rep. Mark McBride said of the evidence from the subpoenaed phone records of Texas political consultant George C. Shipley. McBride, R-Moore, has blamed the wind industry ever since finding a GPS tracker on his pickup the evening of Dec. 4. He was told about the new evidence Thursday when a special agent from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reinterviewed him. After going through the phone records, they have matched phone calls...

ONE of Britain’s oldest people has turned 110, saying her long life is thanks to friends...and onions. Daisy Bastin puts her longevity down to the combination, saying: “I am very lucky in my life to have had such loyal friends and to still be in good health.” She added home cooking with fresh onions had helped too. She said: “They keep me going. They’re good for the skin too.” Mrs Bastin, of Glastonbury, Somerset, was born on May 3, 1908, in Devon as one of seven children. She met her husband Alf in 1933 and they were happily married for...

Listen. It's surprisingly good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV1-AjwDJwM

Amy Schumer is recovering after being hospitalized for five days with a “horrible” kidney infection. The “I Feel Pretty” star was supposed to fly to London for the opening of her new movie, but announced in the post that her doctors wouldn’t let her travel.