Polar bears might be endangered because global warming is melting their homes on arctic ice shelves, but one species is thriving: poison ivy.
A growing body of research shows that in controlled experiments, poison ivy goes crazy in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. Many plants grow better when they get extra carbon dioxide, but researchers were surprised to learn how well poison ivy did.
"It isn't that other plants can't grow as well, it's just that poison ivy grows so much more," said Lewis H. Ziska, a plant physiologist who specializes in crop systems and global change for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville. One theory is that poison ivy, and vines in general, don't have to invest as much of their carbon (obtained from carbon dioxide) in trunks and branches as trees do. More research, of course, is required.
And that just scratches the surface. Isn't it just our luck that among its leafy green counterparts, poison ivy would be the class overachiever?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/23/2008 12:19 ||
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#3
Poison ivy berries are a high-calorie, high-nutrition food source upon which many birds and animals depend to survive cold winters. The vines provide shelter for ground- and tree-nesting critters. It's only humans who are irritated by the oil on the leaves and vines, and only 75% of us at that. It sounds like we have an evolutionary opportunity here, folks!
Sen. Barack Obama's wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don't have private insurance -- primarily poor, black people -- to other health care facilities.
Michelle Obama -- currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital -- helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.
Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program -- called the Urban Health Initiative -- to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama's wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center's board, backed the Axelrod firm's hiring, hospital officials said.
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#2
In reality this might not be such a bad idea. Go to any emergency room and you will find people with no insurance going there for a cold, the flu, and any number of minor problems. This does clog the Emergency rooms and hinders their ability to treat true emergencies. It's called the Emergency Room for a reason.
The hiring of Obama's top political adviser's firm, however, is a whole different kettle of fish.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/23/2008 21:30 Comments ||
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#3
So that's what the VP of "Outreach" does.
Posted by: ed ||
08/23/2008 22:11 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
