Many dolphins were trained by U.S. Navy to pinpoint the location of the vaquita porpoise, an elusive animal which is critically endangered. The marine biologists aim to capture the remaining specimens and place them in a special enclosure.

Then, they will develop breeding programs to save the species from extinction. This initiative is encouraged by the Navy Marine Mammal Program, which will support the training of dozens of dolphins.

The program will start this spring. According to the officials, the handlers are still planning the dolphins’ involvement. These friendly mammals will use their sonar to find any vaquita porpoise. Then, they will come out to the surface to draw their handlers’ attention.

The vaquita porpoise is the most endangered and smallest porpoise species in the world. This animal lives in the Gulf of California. Also known as totoaba, the vaquitas were devastated by illegal fishing over the past few decades.

The swim bladder of this animal is worth a fortune on the Chinese black market. It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time when dolphins are used in a large-scale project. U.S. Navy has previously trained these intelligent creatures to locate sea mines.

The vaquita porpoise has never been kept in captivity, so it is the first time when scientists try to successfully breed this species in an artificial environment. The specialists will design floating pens in the Gulf of California, which will be the new home for the remaining vaquitas.

According to Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, chair of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, the specimens living in the floating enclosures will be protected from fishing nets.

He says that Mexico banned gill nets, but the problems were not over. Many poachers are willing to take their chances to catch a vaquita porpoise because it is still in high demand on the illegal Chinese market.

Based on the estimates, this species will become extinct by 2022, if the conservation efforts don’t pay off. The vaquita porpoise population has been declining by 40% every year. Worse, only 60 live specimens were recorded last year.

In other words, it means that there might be just around 30 vaquitas left in the Gulf of California. Nevertheless, other specialists believe that this project is risky and potentially dangerous because the marine biologists can accidentally harm the vaquitas in their attempt to capture them.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Reports surfaced on Sunday claim that a new version of the Apple TV is going to be released come October, at a way higher price than the original.

The official reveal is stated to happen in less than a fortnight, when Apple’s big event surrounding its next iPhone is scheduled. However, the same reports also claim that it’s not going to launch alone, but alongside a host of other redesigned gadgets meant to interact with it.

The new set-top box is rumored to cost anywhere between $149 and $199, which is quite the increase considering that the original Apple TV sold for just $99 at launch and quite rapidly dropped to $69. This means that the Silicon Valley giant is certainly going to cater in a host of new improvements and probably some surprises to justify upping the price.

9to5Mac were reportedly the first to break the news, and judging by the good ratio of Apple leaks which turned out to be the real deal shared by the site, you can expect most of the information to be accurate. The site also claims that it knows part of the improvements Apple will add to its new TV system, some of which sound outlandish: a touchpad remote control which support motion controls similar to the Wii-U and an in-built microphone for voice commands, of course controlled by Siri.

Still, coughing up $200 for a new set-top box – no matter how much it resembles 80’s sci-fi movies – will have even the most avid Apple fans questioning its worth. If there isn’t anything truly breathtaking with it, chances are it’s going to be catered more as a niche product for core fans, as the report also brought forth the idea that Apple might keep commercializing its current box as a cheaper alternative.

An important piece of information though is that Apple’s upcoming on-demand TV streaming service will be apparently available for both boxes – so at least we know that’s not going to be major selling point of the future Apple TV. But it will reportedly bring a host of technical improvements, stemming from it running the latest iOS 9 version, and also featuring a processor similar to the iPhone 6’s A8. In any case, the rumors are meant to be confirmed or dispelled in little more than 10 days, when we are going to have an official presentation of the box or a confirmation of misleading information.

Image Source: 9to5mac

Investigation into the massive Chinese stock market decline as apparently unveiled possible influences it would have got from a couple of trading companies which are suspected of having manipulated futures trading.

The state run Xinhua news agency as announced that a governmental investigation team, headed by Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Qingfeng, has found clues of market manipulation after investigating records kept by China’s Securities Regulatory Commission in Shanghai.

The investigation team described what it found as “malicious short-selling of stocks and stock indices”, which is just one of the practices which specialists believe led to 30 percent stock market plummet. The team was constituted one week after the Chinese government threatened to launch a “serious investigation into issues of market manipulation”.

No other information has been offered regarding the identity of the companies suspected or what kind of prosecution they face, but the investigation will continue until a clear image of all shady market movements involved with the crash will be established.

It is unclear how if in any way this is going to affect China’s market liberalization process, started two years ago alongside the presidency of Xi Jinping. If the investigation proves accurate, this would be the first major setback caused by liberalization-related risks, and it might prompt the Chinese government to take a more cautious approach to the issue in the future.

However, despite the rapid liberalization, China still reserves for itself more means of intervention than most other countries in such issues, and its supportive measures – putting a stop to initial public offerings, limiting futures trading with a major small-cap index and even direct investment of government funds – have apparently prompted a rebound, as the market index rose for two days in a row Thursday and Friday.

But the Shanghai Composite Index is still down more than 25 percent since the beginning of June, before the crash. Some analysts are pointing out the fact that, malicious practices aside, the drop represents the market evening itself out after a long period of extended growth, which brought it up 150 percent throughout a single year.

Futures trading manipulation has also done damage to the United States in recent times. In April 2015, a futures trader was arrested to the UK in relation to the May 2010 “Flash Crash”, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummet 600 points in five minutes. The trader used automatic trading software to manipulate prices of Standard & Poor 500 futures contracts, also known as E-minis, whose price drop as result of the manipulation played a big role in the Dow Jones plummet.

Image Source: jhaine6a

According to a new study, a common type of pesticide is harming wild bees.

According to the study, honeybees which pollinate major crops like almonds did not show significant ill effect than wild bees like bumblebees did. The study is published in journal Nature; the finding is a bit surprising to some experts.

According to the second study, the bees prefer pesticide coated crops and they are not repelled by the pesticides making the problem worse.

Over several years bees of all kinds and especially the ones that are crucial to pollinate plants are declining.

Pesticide problem is one of the many problems and colony collapse disorder is a separate problem which devastated honeybee population in recent years but is now narrowing.

Exposure of bees to neonicotinoid insecticides has caused ill effects to bees, it has reduced the population of wild bees and it also resulted in less reproduction, and the colonies of the bees exposed to the pesticide didn’t grow compared to the bees colonies which are not exposed to the pesticide.

Scientists in Sweden conducted a study on the bees. They used 16 patches of landscape; eight where canola seeds were coated with the pesticide and other eight patches weren’t and then they compared the two areas.

Maj Rundlof of Lund University, lead author of the study said, when the results came in, “I was quite, ‘Oh my God,'” and said the reduction in bee health was “much more dramatic than I ever expected.”

In the areas treated with pesticide there were half as many wild bees per square meter then there were in the areas which were not treated.

Rundlof said, the bees in the pesticide patches gained no weight compared to the normal colonies which gained about a pound.

European Union has a ban on the usage of neonocotinoids and some environmentalists in the United States are pushing for the same.

Rundlof conducted her study just before European ban went into effect in 2013

Dennis vanEnglesdor, entomologist from University of Maryland, who wasn’t part of the study said, “This paper has the potential of really shifting the conversation, neonics may have a very dramatic effect on these non-managed pollinators in the environment. This is the most definitive work I’ve seen in the area.”

Rundolf’s study couldn’t measure an effect on honey bees, just wild native bees. She said, there may be an effect but it would be under 20 percent.

Different species of bees respond differently and will only result in confusion because until now, scientists have used domesticated honeybees as the model for all bees.

Scientist believe that honeybees which have colonies in the tens and thousands can absorb more losses than the less sociable native bees, which have smaller colonies and have more difficulty in getting new queens.

Honeybees are more sociable and they are probably much better adapted at taking abuse.

In 2013 a study found that wild bees and other insects are more important and efficient for pollination than honeybees. Wildflowers around the world are mostly pollinated by wild bees.

Environmental groups are using the study to put pressure on the government of US to ban the pesticide class.