Tag Archives: america

Asian tiger mosquito, native to warm climate is now gaining ground in Illinois’s harsh winter

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Researchers report that the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has become more abundant across Illinois in the last three decades, spreading diseases such as chikungunya or dengue fever, largely confined to Asian warm climate, especially the forests of southeast Asia.

Ever since it found its way to Texas around 1985, it has quickly spread to Illinois, despite its harsh winters, said researchers. “The global trade in used tires facilitates the spread of the mosquito,” said Chris Stone, a medical  the entomologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey and the lead author of the new study. “The eggs get stuck to the walls of the tires and can survive even in dry conditions. Tires are also great at retaining rainwater, which is perfect for the larvae to develop in.”

Stone and his colleagues studied how the mosquitoes were able to spread across Illinois, given how cold the state’s winters can be. In their paper published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, they said the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito in Illinois also is a result of repeated introductions from neighboring counties.

Genetic info to track spread

Rebecca Smith, a professor of pathobiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who led the research with Stone said, “Winters are fairly warm in cities like Chicago because of all the roads and concrete. There are a lot of places like sewers and subways where these mosquitoes can live in the winter.”

The researchers used genetic information to track the spread of the mosquitoes, focusing on mitochondrial DNA, which is abundant in cells. Comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences is an established method for studying the spread of mosquitoes globally.

“We found that there is a surprising diversity of Aedes albopictus in Illinois,” Stone said. “Some were from the Texas population, but a few had previously been found only in Japan. This observation supports the idea that we see multiple introductions of these mosquitoes from different places.”

Asian tiger mosquitoes are good at outcompeting other mosquitoes, which can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Some studies from Florida and Texas where Aedes albopictus has displaced Aedes aegypti, a closely related mosquito known as the yellow fever mosquito that can transmit dengue and yellow fever, prompted the team to focus on the implications of the establishment of the Asian tiger mosquito in Illinois on other mosquito species.

 

 

 

Japan Behind Amelia Earmart Disappearance in 1937? Not Convincing!

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First woman pilot Amelia Earhart who disappeared in her 1937 flight around the world still remains a mystery. Eighty years after, on July 4, 2017, when the United States was celebrating its Independence Day, news channels are abuzz with new evidence blaming Japan for her disappearance.

A newly surfaced photo from the National Archives shows Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan with a lable “Jaluit Atoll,” an area in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese ship Koshu in the background.

“We have no evidence anywhere that she crashed into the ocean, even though that’s been the common narrative for so many years,” Shawn Henry, former FBI officer, told Today Show. “I think we have a lot of evidence that she lived and survived in the Marshall Islands.”

The photo was discovered while working on a project for History Channel special “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” and the project producer Gary Tarpinian alleged in the TV show that the Japanese took Pilot Amelia Earhart to Saipan in the Mariana Islands and imprisoned her until death.

Earhart was last seen on July 2, 1937, taking off from New Guinea to travel to Howland Island as part of her Around the World Flight. The theory put forward by the makers of the documentary for History Channel is that the aircraft crashed and both Earhart and Noonan were captured alive by the Japanese and held them caprive for spying.

However, the evidence of a photo unearthed from the American Archives is not convincing. Had it been from the Japanese archives, then there is a story to be excited about. Contrary to the Marshal Islands story, a representative from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, told The New York Times that they believe Earhart landed on the island of Nikumaroro after sending distress signals and was ultimately stranded.

The History Channel crew, however, suggest that Japan hand behind Earhart’s disappearance may have been covered up by government officials though it holds no strong connection. Why should government officials hold back the truth? Earhart was neither a spy nor a political leader worth ransom for the Japanese to confine her.

Secondly, neither US nor Japan had any inclination to capture citizens, let alone imprison them on spying charges as no signs of World War Two were prevalent as of July 1937.

Thirdly, Japan had no strong reason to imprison Earhart secretly for so long as it could have established her identity easily in a month or two and returned her. Moreover, Japan was totally pre-occupied with its adventures in Manchuria to bother about the American presence in Marshall Island.

But for a July 4th show, it’s worth watching.