© YouTube/MIA Russia
Moscow's police department has officially adopted a tiger cub it rescued from the clutches of a gang of poachers in Russia's Far East.

The 4-month-old feline was named Stepa, after Uncle Stepa the Militia Man - a fictional law enforcement officer from a popular children's book. The name was selected by Moscow residents in an online poll.  "Our Stepa is not adapted for living in the wild, so we took him under our patronage," said Moscow Deputy Police Chief Gennady Golikov, according to a statement posted on the Interior Ministry's official website. "We'll be responsible for his well-being and will provide for him."

The tiger cub was rescued from a group of poachers and animal smugglers in Russia's Far East and was transported to a specialized facility near Moscow for recuperation. The feline was apparently captured only days after being born and spent about three months in captivity.  The grizzled Moscow police veterans refused to abandon the poor animal and decided to adopt little Stepa.

© University of Southampton
This is human coronavirus 229E being inactivated on copper.

New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Animal coronaviruses that 'host jump' to humans, such as SARS and MERS, result in severe infections with high mortality. The Southampton researchers found that a closely-related human coronavirus -- 229E -- can remain infectious on common surface materials for several days, but is rapidly destroyed on copper.

A newly-published paper in mBio -- a journal of the American Society for Microbiology -- reports that human coronavirus 229E, which produces a range of respiratory symptoms from the common cold to more lethal outcomes such as pneumonia, can survive on surface materials including ceramic tiles, glass, rubber and stainless steel for at least five days. While human-to-human transmission is important, infections can be contracted by touching surfaces contaminated by respiratory droplets from infected individuals, or hand touching, leading to a wider and more rapid spread

On copper, and a range of copper alloys -- collectively termed 'antimicrobial copper' -- the coronavirus was rapidly inactivated (within a few minutes, for simulated fingertip contamination). Exposure to copper destroyed the virus completely and irreversibly, leading the researchers to conclude that antimicrobial copper surfaces could be employed in communal areas and at any mass gatherings to help reduce the spread of respiratory viruses and protect public health.

Lead researcher Dr Sarah Warnes said: "Transmission of infectious diseases via contaminated surfaces is far more important than was originally thought, and this includes viruses that cause respiratory infections. This is especially important when the infectious dose is low and just a few virus particles can initiate an infection.

"Human coronavirus, which also has ancestral links with bat-like viruses responsible for SARS and MERS, was found to be permanently and rapidly deactivated upon contact with copper. What's more, the viral genome and structure of the viral particles were destroyed, so nothing remained that could pass on an infection. With the lack of antiviral treatments, copper offers a measure that can help reduce the risk of these infections spreading."

Read the rest of this article at : source.

Overwhelmed by the city's growing homeless population, which has increased by 12 percent in just two years, and facing an increase in complaints from neighborhoods about encampments, the Los Angeles City Council has declared a "shelter crisis." The measure was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday in a 14-0 vote. It creates a legal framework for the city to provide temporary housing to homeless men and women in public buildings and parking lots.

"While we're building the infrastructure, we're finding ways to address homelessness. We have a long way to go," said Councilman Jose Huizar, co-chair of the Homelessness and Poverty Committee, according to the Los Angeles Times. "It's going to be a long road ahead of us." The rise in homelessness over the last two years is forcing officials to seek housing solutions for the city's estimated 26,000 people dwelling on streets, in shelters, and living in cars, reported LA Daily News.

The city's Municipal Code currently permits a shelter crisis to be in effect during the cold winter months - from November 1 to March 31. The vote on Tuesday extended the crisis to the spring and allows council members to designate additional buildings in their districts as temporary housing for the homeless, the LA Times reported.

Before the vote, city council members heard testimony from residents and activists from the San Fernando Valley and San Pedro who said that homeless encampments have cropped up near their homes, sometimes populated by people committing illegal acts, such as drug use and prostitution. "It's not something that we haven't been dealing with for 40 or 50 or 60 years, except that it's worse," Judith Hirschberg told the council, according to newspaper. "In my nice neighborhood, we have people who have no place to sleep, come into vacant homes and set fires. It's not a good idea."

Overwhelmed by the city's growing homeless population, which has increased by 12 percent in just two years, and facing an increase in complaints from neighborhoods about encampments, the Los Angeles City Council has declared a "shelter crisis." The measure was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday in a 14-0 vote. It creates a legal framework for the city to provide temporary housing to homeless men and women in public buildings and parking lots.

Read the rest of the story at : source.

In 2005, a Croatian architect designed a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.  Nope, not nonsensical bellows or chaotic tones. Real, actual, music.  Most of us have never seen, or heard, anything like it.

Imagine walking along the picturesque Adriatic Sea, treading lightly on a set of white stone steps as a cool breeze rolls past.  Carved into the steps are narrow channels that connect to 35 organ pipes, each tuned to different meticulously arranged musical chords.  As the waves lap against the steps, they push air through the pipes and out whistle-holes in the surface above, making a harmonious and completely random musical arrangement.  But you don't see what's happening below the surface. You close your eyes and all you hear is a song like you've never heard before, one completely unique to the movement of the sea at that exact moment.

Take a listen: Here's what it sounded like at one particular moment, on one particular day. On any other day, it might sound completely different.

Zadar, a 3,000-year-old city on the coast of Croatia, was almost completely destroyed in World War II - - so many of its ancient landmarks lost forever. Years after a rebuilding that featured lots of plain, concrete structures, award-winning architect Nikola Bašić was brought in to bring some delight back to the coastline.

That's when he came up with the idea.  No doubt he was inspired by the hydraulis — a nifty little instrument built by the ancient Greeks that used water to push air through tuned pipes — or even the Wave Organ in San Francisco — a set of curved tubes built in the 1980s that amplify the gurgles and howls of the Pacific Ocean.  But the intricate design of the Sea Organ is what sets it apart and makes it truly something to marvel at.

For one month in Lexington County, Kentucky, individuals who forgot to feed their parking meter or drove too fast and got a ticket can pay off their fines with canned good donations.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that during the month-long "Food for Fines" program (November 16 - December 18), the city's parking authority will accept cans for citations.

Those who donate 10 canned food items will receive a $15 credit on citations. Customers with multiple citations are only allowed to bring in 10 cans per citation to receive the credits.

All the food will be donated to God's Pantry Food Bank, which will use the items to stock the shelves of its four Lexington locations.  Said Marian Guinn, the CEO of God's Pantry: "One expired parking meter ticket could mean two meals for hungry Fayette County families."

LexPark Executive Director Gary Means said that citizens brought in more than 6,200 cans of food as payment during last year's "Food for Fines" program. The wonderful initiative is helping low-income families stay satiated during the cold and long winter months. Its importance, obviously, cannot be overstated.

HuffPost reports that last year, the program was strictly limited to LexPark citations for expired parking meters. This year, any parking citation issued by either LexPark or the police department will be eligible. This means the food pantry is likely to receive even more donations.  "We hope by opening the program up to all types of citations, we'll see the numbers increase," Means said.  No out-of-date, damaged or open canned goods will be accepted. The park authority suggests that those seeking to exchange food for fines bring large cans with vegetables and proteins.

A stunning fireworks show will be thrown by Mother Nature overnight on Tuesday 17 November, as the Leonid meteor shower sends out a series of spectacular fireballs and shooting stars. The annual lights show contains some of the fastest meteors in existence. "Leonids travel at speeds of 71 km (44 miles) per second, and are considered to be some of the fastest meteors out there," NASA said in a statement.

Skywatchers hoping to see the light show with their own eyes are in luck, according to NASA, which says that a "waxing-crescent moon will set before midnight, leaving dark skies to view these bright and colorful meteors."  Those who want a front-row seat should head outdoors at around midnight, local time, says NASA.  "Find an area well away from city or street lights...orient yourself with your feet towards east, lie flat on your back, and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible," the space agency wrote online, noting that the show will last until dawn.

But although the Leonid shower has produced tens of thousands of meteors per hour in the past, this year's event won't be quite as remarkable. Viewers should at most expect 10 to 20 meteors per hour, according to Space.com.

The Leonids are created when Earth travels through a trail of debris shed by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. However, since the comet is now just about as far from the sun as it gets during its roughly 33-year orbit, there's not a lot of debris for Earth to collide with - which results in a less impressive meteor shower than previous years.

Those with compromised views due to clouds or light pollution can watch the meteor shower online, via a Leonids webcast hosted by the Slooh Community Observatory, which will take place at 01:00 GMT on Wednesday. The webcast will feature live shots from five different countries on four continents.

The Dalai Lama offered unusually sage advice for dealing with the terrorist attack on Paris on Friday.

Don't pray for Paris — work for peace, he told Deutsche Welle, a German broadcasting company.

"We cannot solve this problem only through prayers," the spiritual leader said. "I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place."

He added his hopes that the record violence of the 20th Century doesn't continue to bleed into the current one.  "We need a systematic approach to foster humanistic values, of oneness and harmony," he said. "If we start doing it now, there is hope that this century will be different from the previous one. It is in everybody's interest. So let us work for peace within our families and society, and not expect help from God, Buddha or the governments."

In what the Friendly Atheist described as sounding like Humanism, the Dalai Lama also said that much of the violence is over superficial matters.  "Furthermore, the problems that we are facing today are the result of superficial differences over religious faiths and nationalities," he told DW. "We are one people."

He also said he was leaving it up to the people of Tibet whether they wanted to continue having Dalai Lamas serve as leaders in the future.  "If the people think that this institution is no longer relevant, it should be abolished. I am no more involved in political matters," he said. "I am only concerned about Tibet's well-being."

One of Britain's oldest trees has changed its gender, at least in part, according to botanists.  The Fortingall yew in Perthshire, Scotland, is thought to be anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 years old and has long been identified as a male tree. Max Coleman with the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh wrote in a blog post last month though that he had observed red berries on the historic tree, indicating that it switched to have some female parts:

"Closer examination reveals the Fortingall Yew is a male tree. Yews are normally either male or female and in autumn and winter sexing yews is generally easy. Males have small spherical structures that release clouds of pollen when they mature. Females hold bright red berries from autumn into winter. It was, therefore, quite a surprise to me to find a group of three ripe red berries on the Fortingall yew this October when the rest of the tree was clearly male. Odd as it may seem, yews, and many other conifers that have separate sexes, have been observed to switch sex. Normally this switch occurs on part of the crown rather than the entire tree changing sex. In the Fortingall Yew it seems that one small branch in the outer part of the crown has switched and now behaves as female."

Yew trees, specifically the species Taxus baccata, are usually considered dioecious, meaning trees are either male or female only. But under rare circumstances they can become monoicous, having both pollen and egg-bearing structures on one plant.  "It's a rare occurrence ... rare and unusual and not fully understood," Coleman said, according to Agence France-Presse. "It's thought that there's a shift in the balance of hormone-like compounds that will cause this sex-change. One of the things that might be triggering it is environmental stress."

Coleman told the Guardian that the Fortingall yew might have undergone such a sex change before, but based on hundreds of years of records, he said it has been considered only male until now.  "The sex change isn't the amazing bit in this case, it's the fact it's this particular tree," Coleman told the Guardian.  Coleman went on to say that the three berries were collected for seeds that will be planted as part of an effort to "conserve the genetic diversity of yew trees across their geographic range including Europe, the Caucasus, Western Asia and North Africa.

The difficulty in more accurately estimating the age of the Fortingall yew is because the heartwood of the tree, which held some of the growth rings, has rotted away, Coleman wrote. The current estimates are based on historical measurements.  This tree also has competition from other yews in Europe for the title of oldest. Last year, a yew tree in Wales was estimated to be over 5,000 years old.