There are a lot of unusual things happening in the world and I thought today might be a good time to talk about them. An announcement was made by French scientists which stated they have grown human sperm in a lab. In 2011 the Japanese had announced they had grown rat sperm. Not all scientists accept the French statement. While it is thought by the French scientists this could be a big help to some human males incapable of producing healthy sperm, there are those scientists who claim there is just not enough proof since the way it was proved was by matching lab grown sperm and natural sperm. One scientist says this technique is not good enough and does not show the sperm are fully developed healthy sperm and believes there should have been comparisons of DNA and other markers, before an announcement like this was made.

The government of the United States was always said to be against monopolies, but lately this seems to be in talk only. While Teddy Roosevelt carried a big stick, we don’t even carry a feather. You can see the proof of this at your local gas station, where its prices and those of its competitors are all very close if not the same. You never see buy one and get one free at these stations or 30% off. Recently two huge military contractors merged and experts are now saying there are five huge military contractors that control all of the private intelligence functions in this country. We tend to think our military or spy agencies are keeping track of intelligence, but let me give you an example of how the private sector is really doing a lot of these jobs. Leidos Holdings is a major contractor for the Pentagon and NSA. It just merged with Information Systems & Global Solutions a division of Lockheed Martin. They are now using 800 employees to analyze signals for the NSA and doing many other things including tracking down suspected enemy fighters for US Special Forces in the Middle East and Africa. Can we afford to trust a private company to do this type of work when even the NSA found it had people willing to give out its secrets?

Scientists have just found out that certain types of pollution can get inside our brains. They wanted to test the theory which stated this could happen, so they decided to test people who were from Mexico City, because it was notorious for its pollution. They tested 29 people from there. They also tested eight people from Manchester in England and those people were suffering from some kind of neurodegenerative disease. What they found upset them. They found millions of particles in a single gram of brain tissue and one of the scientists said that is a million opportunities to do damage. The particles were magnetite and these type of particles are usually jagged around the edges, but surprisingly the ones which were pulled out of the brain tissue were well-rounded and crystal like. Magnetite is something we find in all our brains, but those who were subject to heavy pollution had 100 more particles for everyone which was natural. This certainly is not a good sign.

Most of us have heard that fracking is causing a lot of problems. It seems to have caused earthquakes in many places and it stands to reason when you force things out of the earth under pressure, eventually something is going to happen. This has also been proven when geothermal energy is extracted from the earth. You would think this would be enough of a reason to stop the process, but now we have found fracking has an even darker side. It has produced a new bacteria that has only been found in areas where fracking is taking place. Scientists are calling this bacteria “Frackibacter.” These bacterial communities are thriving. The scientists examined two different fracking wells which were hundreds of miles apart, yet both had produced identical bacteria. A scientist said, “We thought we might get some of the same types of bacteria, but the level of similarity was so high it was striking.” Some of the bacteria was recognized, but there was also the new bacteria I mentioned which has been named Candidatus Frackibacter. It seems the fracking fluid has a lot to do with creating these bacterial communities. Are we going to release some deadly new bacteria on the world if we continue the fracking practice? I certainly hope not.

Recently scientists have been conducting tests with cuttlefish and have come to an incredible conclusion. They think cuttlefish can count. Where did they ever get this idea? They put a cuttlefish in a tank and let it choose between two boxes. One box had one shrimp in it and another box had two. When the cuttlefish made its choice it had been hungry. The boxes were removed from the water, but the cuttlefish were fed at the end of the tests. The tests were repeated, but the amount of tasty shrimp was increased. Two might be put into one box and three into another. The cuttlefish would constantly pick the box which had the most amount of shrimp. Scientists decided to use a small box for the lesser amount of shrimp to make it look like more, but the cuttlefish didn’t go for that. The test kept getting repeated until one box had five shrimp in it. The cuttlefish always went for the most amount. This convinced scientists cuttlefish can at least count up to five, but I am not so sure. Perhaps cuttlefish can distinguish by smell and the more shrimp the stronger the smell, who knows?

Kanzi is a bonobo, but not just any ordinary bonobo. Somehow this one has not only lost his fear of fire but also learned how to start fires and cook meals. Kanzi is a 35-year-old bonobo, which is an animal closely related to a chimpanzee. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa at the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative. They have been working with Kanzi on different cognition projects. The ape has been videoed roasting marshmallows over a fire and making hamburgers in a frying pan over a fire. One of the scientists at the initiative said when Kanzi was young he was fascinated by the film Quest For Fire and looked at it over 100 times. After Kanzi uses a fire he then pours water over it to put it out. Besides his cooking skills he understands over 3000 English words and 500 symbols. I have often wondered if it was ethical to teach these kind of skills to an animal. Perhaps they were never meant to have them.