Coffee and Provocation

FDA Slams Marijuana-soaked Canine Products
Manufacturers of cannabis-infused products promoted as having health benefits for pets have received warning letters from the FDA saying these claims were untested and must be modified. In addition, it turns out that many of the products making the claim had little or no marijuana in them.

People are Hand Sniffers

You may think it's weird that dogs sniff butts, but apparently human sniff hands all the time, especially after shaking someone else's hands, and especially if the person is of the opposite sex.

Snake Farm Raises Concerns about Mice and Rat Welfare
The start of a snake farm in Thailand has raised welfare concerns, now about the snakes, but for the mice and rats to be raised to feed the snakes

Citizen Science Meets Dragon Fly Migration
Dragon flies use the jet stream to seasonally migrate vast distances, and now the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership is inviting "citizen scientists" to help increase scientific knowledge about the five main migratory dragonfly species in North America.

Irish Slaves Were Once Popular and Common
From the Scientific American blog comes this little gem about the depopulation of Ulster by the British in 1625: "The Irish were desirable “slave stock” because they could be obtained for free and sold for a profit, whereas traders needed to pay to have Africans “caught,” minimizing their profit margins. And because they were cheaper in this sense, the Irish often suffered harsher punishments from their plantation masters. It is estimated that between 30,000 and 80,000 Irish were sold as laborers, contributing to a massive population reduction in Ireland. In 1652, Ireland’s population was 616,000, down from 1,466,000 in 1641. Of course, this change was not solely due to to the slave trade — famine, wars, and disease certainly played a role."

Ugly is Beautifully Priced
Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocery chain, has just announced it will sell ugly, imperfect-looking produce at prices that are 30 percent lower than their prettier counterpart.

Bacon and Eggs
Kevin Bacon has been tapped to be the new spokesperson for the egg industry,  Americans consume about 260 eggs per person per year.

Carbon Dating Shows Much Jungle Occupation 
It was once thought that dense, tropical forests were so hard to navigate and find food in that humans probably only invaded that landscape in the last 10,000 years or so. Carbon dating of human burials in Sri Lanka, however, show we have been living in jungles for at least 20,000 years.