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Alaska health officials confirmed the state’s first fatal case of Alaskapox — a recently discovered viral disease. An elderly immunocompromised man from the Kenai peninsula, south of Anchorage, died while undergoing treatment in late January, the Anchorage Daily News reported. He is one of only seven reported Alaskapox infections, the Alaska Department of Public Health said in an announcement on Friday. “People should not necessarily be concerned but more aware,” said Julia Rogers, a state epidemiologist. “So we’re hoping to make clinicians more aware of what Alaskapox virus is, so that they can identify signs and symptoms.” The double-stranded-DNA virus,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is naming Lorraine Voles as her new chief of staff, replacing Tina Flournoy who is leaving the administration, in the latest shakeup in her office, the White House said. Voles was brought into Harris’ office by Flournoy last summer, as the vice president faced a flurry of negative headlines and staff departures. She was Vice President Al Gore’s communications director and an adviser to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2008. Harris’ deputy chief of staff, Michael Fuchs, is also leaving the White House in the coming weeks. Harris’ national security adviser, Nancy McEldowney, stepped...

Finding out that not much works for voles. Trying a product called Volex but not holding my breath. Tracking powders look promising provided they walk through it and groom but powders are hard to come by. Thinking about getting a car battery, putting two rods in the ground and picking them off with a pellet gun. I know they have rodent systems that puts propane and oxygen in the hole, ignites and instantly kills but can't find anyone in my area that does that. Not sure I want to go that route either since it's a neighborhood.

actual LOOOOOOOOOONG title: "Climate change will make us more likely to wet the bed and may trigger a plague of ticks, snakes and VOLES as 'devastating' droughts and flooding send nature haywire by 2100"

Epigenetic changes affect neurotransmitters that lead to pair-bond formation. Love really does change your brain — at least, if you’re a prairie vole. Researchers have shown for the first time that the act of mating induces permanent chemical modifications in the chromosomes, affecting the expression of genes that regulate sexual and monogamous behaviour. The study is published today in Nature Neuroscience1. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) have long been of interest to neuroscientists and endocrinologists who study the social behaviour of animals, in part because this species forms monogamous pair bonds — essentially mating for life. The voles' pair bonding, sharing...

Scotland's recent freezing winters have resulted in a huge population explosion of field voles across the country. Experts believe there are now record levels of the tiny mammals, which have been protected from birds of prey by long-lying snow. Scientists in Dumfries and Galloway have recorded the highest number of field voles in 20 years, and a five-fold increase on average levels. High levels have also been observed in central Scotland and the Highlands. The number of field voles usually peaks every few years - known as a plague or outbreak - but this year has been exceptional in the...

odents get a bad rap as vermin and pests because they seem to thrive everywhere. They have been one of the most common mammals in Africa for the past 50 million years. From deserts to rainforests, rodents flourished in prehistoric Africa, making them a stable and plentiful source of food, says paleontologist Alisa J. Winkler, an expert on rodent and rabbit fossils... Rodents can corroborate evidence from geology and plant and animal fossils about the ancient environments of our human ancestors and other prehistoric mammals, says Winkler, a research professor at Southern Methodist University... Rodents -- rats, mice, squirrels, porcupines,...