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In a photo provided by Stephen Tatum, an orange alligator is seen near a pond in Hanahan, S.C. Photos show the 4- to 5-foot-long alligator on the banks of a retention pond at the Tanner Plantation neighborhood. Jay Butfiloski with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources says the color may come from where the animal spent the winter, perhaps in a rusty steel culvert pipe. Experts say the alligator will shed its skin and probably return to a normal shade soon. Stephen Tatum HANAHAN, S.C. No one seems to know why there's an orange alligator in a pond near...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An insatiable demand for bacon depleted frozen pork belly supplies in the U.S. to a record low level for December, but the pork industry is confident it can keep up with demand and avoid any serious shortages. Bottom line: A pound of bacon may cost a little more as winter wears on, but prices should stabilize by summer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported last week that pork bellies in cold storage fell to 17.7 million pounds last month, the lowest December inventory since records began in 1957. In comparison, more than 52.3 million pounds...

A record radiation level has been detected inside the No. 2 reactor at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, with the estimated reading of up to 530 sieverts per hour, the plant operator said Thursday. The reading means a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors that melted down in the March 2011 nuclear disaster. The plant operator also announced that based on an image analysis, a 1-square-meter hole has been found on a metal grating beneath the...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Prized birds faced off in front of thousands of spectators at a stadium near Thailand's capital on Sunday as celebrations for the Year of the Rooster brought a windfall for some. Although cockfighting is banned in many countries on grounds of animal cruelty, it is a lucrative business in Thailand as well as a popular pastime. Sunday's top bird sold for over $70,000. "This year is a very good year for us. It's the year of the golden rooster. The value of the roosters has gone up," said Banchej Changyai, 55, who was running the contest south...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A federal judge said Friday he will likely order the federal government to reallocate water, some earmarked for commercial interests, to stave off a salmon die-off on the California-Oregon border. Two Native American tribes sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last year, claiming its bungled management of Klamath River waterways allowed a deadly parasite to infect 91 percent of endangered juvenile Coho and Chinook salmon.

A Formula for White Bean Soup, much beloved by we in NE for its flavor and it ties to our Yankee Past. One pound Great Northen Beans, One Large Onion, One Pound Salt Pork.

“As the new Republican administration marches the English-speaking world out of Europe’s climate crusade transatlantic relations will surely plummet. At the same time, and to the mortification of Europeans, US-Russia relations will probably thaw. After all, it wasn’t Moscow that led a 30-year economic warfare campaign against America’s energy infrastructure via the ruse of Global Warming; no, that was our old “Allies” in Berlin. Insights into European deep-state machinations can be gleaned from Timothy Snyder’s Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning – published in 2015 by the German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann ....

For the third year in a row, the Earth has set a record for warmth, according to three analyses just released from three government agencies. The planet's mean surface temperature in 2016 was 0.99 degrees Celsius above the late 20th-century average, topping the previous record set in 2015 of 0.87 degrees above average, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Like spicy food? If so, you might live longer, say researchers at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, who found that consumption of hot red chili peppers is associated with a 13 percent reduction in total mortality - primarily in deaths due to heart disease or stroke—in a large prospective study. Going back for centuries, peppers and spices have been thought to be beneficial in the treatment of diseases, but only one other study—conducted in China and published in 2015 - has previously examined chili pepper consumption and its association with mortality. This new study corroborates...

At Tomorrow's Harvest farm, you won't find acres of land on which animals graze, or rows of corn, or bales of hay. Just stacks of boxes in a basement and the summery song of thousands of chirping crickets. It's one of a growing number of operations raising crickets for human consumption that these farmers say is more ecologically sound than meat but acknowledge is sure to bug some people out. Once consumers get beyond the ick factor, they say, there are a lot of benefits to consuming bugs.

WILLISTON, Vt. (AP) -- At Tomorrow's Harvest farm, you won't find acres of land on which animals graze, or rows of corn, or bales of hay. Just stacks of boxes in a basement and the summery song of thousands of chirping crickets. It's one of a growing number of operations raising crickets for human consumption that these farmers say is more ecologically sound than meat but acknowledge is sure to bug some people out. Once consumers get beyond the ick factor, they say, there are a lot of benefits to consuming bugs. "We don't need everybody to eat insects," said...

If cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum) is not the king of medicinal herbs, it is certainly a prince among them due to the incredible health benefits it gives. It may have been presumptuous for me to have first coined it "king of herbs" but I feel it is just that -- for there is no other medicinal herb or spice that can do what it can. If you have heard about Capsicum or are interested in its benefits, you've come to the right place. Bold to say yes, but I stand by it. For I am the one who conducted the...

On Dec. 19, 2016, Kansas game wardens came to the home of Mark and Kim Mcgaughey regarding a deer they said the family kept illegally as a pet. The mule deer doe, which the family had named Faline and which they had had for about 22 months, was eventually shot and killed by game wardens a few minutes later on the property. (Video courtesy of Taryn Mcgaughey) brader@wichitaeagle.com A western Kansas family is angry that game wardens killed a deer that had been their pet for 22 months and “was like one of the family.” Kim Mcgaughey said the deer...

Often dismissed as bird-brains, chickens are showing they’ve got some smartsAs we get ready to launch ourselves into the Year of the Rooster, here’s news that could give you new respect for the humble chicken. Researchers have determined that chickens are smarter than we think, have a good measure of self-control, and might even have Machiavellian tendencies. A study published this week in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Animal Cognition, revealed that those bird-brained chickens are actually pretty smart, as most backyard chicken farmers have long maintained. Neuroscientist Lori Marino authored the paper, which compiled the conclusions of several studies showing...

Chillies could help fight breast cancer after scientists revealed the spicy ingredient causes diseased cells to self destruct. Capsaicin, the active component that gives chillies their trademark kick, can switch on specialised channels surrounding cancer cells causing them to die. Other cancers including colon, bone and pancreatic could also be killed off by the compound. However, capsaicin isn't effective if it's eaten, inhaled or injected, and researchers think it will only be effective as a pill attached to another drug that targets cancer cells. Scientists from Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, treated human samples of breast cancer cells with the hot...

We keep hearing stories about how Chinese food companies are growing livestock (sea food, pigs, cows, fowl) in deplorable and unhealthy conditions. Animals being fed on their own filth and hormones and who knows what, or other animal's filth, or the ground up body parts of their own species. Then WE happily consume them because they are available cheap at Acme or Costco or Walmart. How about a new Trump FDA rule that states any foreign country that supplies food to the USA is subject to the same rules that apply to USA companies?

“There is no drought….If I win, believe me, we’re going to start opening up the water so that your farmers can survive” – Candidate Donald J. Trump, May 27, 2016, Fresno, California “If we don’t move now, we run the real risk of legislation that opens up the Endangered Species Act in the future, when Congress will again be under Republican control, this time backed by a Trump administration.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), “Latest Compromise Drought Relief Bill Receives Praise, Opposition”, Capital Press, December 7, 2016. President-Elect Donald J. Trump is poised to score a win-WIIN deal in the California...

The following are my preliminary thoughts on import duties and reindustrialization: I believe we should abandon (officially denounce) trade treaties and go to a generally duty/barter-based system which would be updated from time to time by the Congress. Congress should try to steer global trade into a generally financially balanced system with some exemptions for consumer friendly producers. My proposal allows low-income countries to earn US dollars to pay for American drugs and other necessities. In brief: 1. financially balanced trade in motor vehicles and their parts, with cheap electric car exemptions until January 2024 2. US-only for building supplies,...

A delicious novelty food with an ugly name Sharon OosthoekGreat minds do not think alike, and thatÂ’s why universities and colleges are the mother of inventions. Click here for the rest of our Bright Ideas series. Click here for the rest of our Campus Food series.Barry Saville: Trent UniversityBarry Saville has spent much of his career figuring out how to stop fungi from infecting food crops. But for the past three years, the Trent University professor has been deliberately infecting corn with a fungus that produces large, whitish-grey kernels he believes have potential as a niche product for market farmers....

Minnesota-based General Mills will be part of a partnership that will plant more than 100,000 acres of pollinator habitat over the next five years, the company announced Thursday. General Mills, the Xerces Society and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are teaming up on the $4 million project to support farmers across the United States by offering technical assistance to plant and protect habitat like native wildflower field edges and flowering hedgerows. The habitats will serve bumble bees, squash bees, honey bees and butterflies as well as the crops they pollinate. The funding will also support six biologists who will offer...