Nature Hub

  From - Smithsonian Magazine, By -  Margaret Osborne ,   Edited by - Vinuri Randhula Silva, Donkeys are important pack animals that helped shape human civilizations.  Andrew Holt via Getty Images For thousands of years, donkeys have been critical for propelling human civilizations forward. They’ve helped pull wheeled vehicles, carry travelers and move goods across the world.  But where and when these animals first became intertwined with humans has been a mystery. Now, researchers have used the genomes of over 200 donkeys to trace their domestication back to a single event around 7,000 years ago in East Africa—about 3,000 years before humans tamed horses. The team published their findings, which detail the donkey’s history, in the journal  Science  this month.  “Through their DNA, the animals are telling their history themselves,” co-author  Samantha Brooks , an equine researcher at the University of Florida, says in a  statement . “We usually only get the human’s side of history thro

 From -Mongabay Magazine,  By - Malaka Rodrigo, A jellyfish study initiated by the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka has shed light on this ignored marine species that’s rarely been studied since 1905 and contributed to increasing the possible number of jellyfish species found in Sri Lanka to about 150. Researchers also described a new box jellyfish species named Carybdea wayamba, also the first species of this genus described from this part of the Indian Ocean, and are working on a number of other species that are potentially new. Jellyfish fishery has potential in Sri Lanka and the department of fisheries has made various attempts to popularize it before, but conservationists highlight the need for proper population and distribution study before introducing the new form of fishery. Even though the species found in Sri Lankan waters are not lethal, the jellyfish is a medically important species as Sri Lanka records several hospitalizations each year due to stings. Colombo, SRI LANKA — L

From BBC News Edited by - Amal Udawatta,  IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, A ban on multi-buy deals for junk food has already been delayed The government is reviewing its anti-obesity strategy for England, including plans for a ban on TV advertising of junk food before 9pm. It is understood ministers believe it should be looked at in light of the cost-of-living crisis. But health campaigners said they were "deeply concerned" about reports the measures could be scrapped. A ban on multi-buy deals and pre-watershed advertising of junk food  had already been delayed earlier this year . The government said the plans would be deferred for a year while officials assessed the impact on household finances and to give the industry more time to prepare. However, restrictions on the placement of less healthy products at checkouts and store entrances are currently still due to go ahead in October. In April, new rules  requiring larger restaurants and takeaways to print calories o

Knowable Magazine,   By  Ula Chrobak   and  Katarina Zimmer , Edited by Amal Udawatta, Soon after the devastating Glass Fire sparked in California’s Napa Valley in September 2020, wine chemist Anita Oberholster’s inbox was brimming with hundreds of emails from panicked viticulturists. They wanted to know if they could harvest their grapes without a dreaded effect on their wine: the odious ashtray flavor known as smoke taint.   Oberholster, of the University of California, Davis, could only tell them, “Maybe.” Industry laboratories were slammed with grape samples to test, with wait times of up to six weeks. Growers didn’t know whether it was worth harvesting their crops. Eight percent of California wine grapes in 2020 were left to rot.   Winemakers are no strangers to the vicissitudes wrought by  climate change . Warmer temperatures have been a boon to some in cooler regions who are rejoicing over riper berries — but devastating to others. Scorching heat waves,  wildfires  and other cli