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The CIA's secret experiments to turn cats into spies Want to know what's going to happen to animals in the next century? Then you must read science journalist Emily Anthes' new book Frankenstein's Cat, about how the animals of tomorrow will be transformed by high tech implants and genetic engineering. We've got an amazing excerpt from the book -- about how the CIA tried to create cyborg cat spies. "Robo Revolution," an excerpt from Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts, by Emily Anthes In the 1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited an unusual field agent: a cat....

The rare photograph reveals a grisly backyard scene—and the intense appetite of mantises.While praying mantises aren’t the target visitors for a hummingbird feeder, a startling photo shows that they might come around anyway—but not for the sugar water. Several years ago, New Mexico resident and former National Park Service ranger Tom Vaughan spotted a bizarre sight at a backyard bird feeder: a dead hummingbird in the clutches of a praying mantis, the insect feeding on the bird’s carcass. Nibbling on one hummingbird clearly wasn’t enough for the ravenous mantis. “After this shot, the mantis dropped the bird, crawled across the...

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Sometimes it’s surprising to discover how little we know about common plants or animals. Consider the ruby-throated hummingbird. If you live in the eastern half of Canada or the United States and have spotted a hummingbird hovering around a feeder in the backyard in summer, this is the bird you saw. But while scientists have documented many of the feeding and mating behaviors of the birds and that the birds migrate south to Central America and Cuba, there are still plenty of mysteries, such as whether the birds go the long way through Mexico when they migrate or whether they...

“Operation Hummingbird” an identifier given (by me) to describe a very strategic approach of Karl Rove in getting Jeb Bush the republican nomination. “Hummingbird” describes a very a specific strategy to overcome a hurdle currently blocking Rove’s path, Donald Trump. Often it is easier to use a descriptive term, rather than spend 300 words having to re-explain a strategy as it expands and becomes increasingly visible over time. Candidate Jeb Bush attends Chamber of Commerce dinner with Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and Valerie Jarrett (December 2014) Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch wants the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal approved. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce...

The environmental activist group Greenpeace has apologized after damaging the Nazca Lines, an ancient Peruvian site. The group placed a series of yellow banners very close to the hummingbird geoglyph spelling out a message calling for environmental awareness. In doing so, the members of the group trespassed on the area and disturbed the otherwise-pristine grounds around the lines with a series of footprints. The area around the Nazca Lines is so protected that even the president of Peru cannot walk around there without express permission, and those who are permitted to enter the site have to wear specialized footwear...

Greenpeace was so proud of their vandalism that they signed their name to it.Images BBCGreenPeace extremists have gone to great lengths to harass whaling vessels with rubber rafts and chain themselves to trees in the rain forest in order to protest what they consider to be the destruction of the planet, they don’t seem to mind personally destroying cultural treasures.Greenpeace Defaced Ancient Peruvian landmark:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvmpFm4xzAAGlobalPost.com reports that on Wednesday Greenpeace apologized to the Peruvian government for vandalizing and damaging one of the country’s cultural treasures in a campaign to fight Global Warming junk science: “Environmental group Greenpeace apologized Wednesday after Peru...

Take a break from all the depressing news of the day.Watch Phoebe Allen, the adorable little hummingbird, lay her eggs and raise her babies HERE Absolutely cute overload. Phoebe is a Channel Island Allen hummingbird who lives in Orange County, California. She has been hatching 4 to 5 eggs per year and her nest has been on net webcam since 2007. She is currently sitting on two eggs.

First collected in southwestern Wyoming in a fossil site known as the Green River Formation, Eocypselus rowei lived about 50 million years ago. It was a small creature about 12 cm long (from head to tail), and weighed less than an ounce... The fossil is unusual in having exceptionally well-preserved feathers, which allowed the researchers to reconstruct the size and shape of the bird’s wings in ways not possible with bones alone. Feathers account for more than half of the bird’s total wing length... The analysis suggests that the bird was an evolutionary precursor to the group that includes today’s...

Just for fun, here's a live web cam feed of Phoebe the Hummingbird refurbishing her 'half golf ball sized' nest, soon to house her new clutch of babies! Phoebe recently gave birth to 'Sandy' and 'Faith'. They both fledged just last week. Amazingly, Phoebe is already preparing another nest for a new clutch! You can learn more about Phoebe, her habits and her remarkable abilities and history as a mom at the Ustream link provided. It is impossible to visit this web cam page and NOT get hooked. Watch the miracle unfold as Phoebe diligently prepares her nest, lays her...

Seriously. Look at this guy. It doesn’t get any better than that. Berlin Zoo has announced the birth of its first rusty-spotted cat kittens since it opened 168 years ago. Nicknamed ‘the hummingbirds of the cat family’, rusty spotted cats (Prionailurus rubiginosus) rival the black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) of southern Africa for the title of world’s smallest wild cat. Their long bodies and tails, which can reach a total of 78 cm in the largest males, might out-stretch their African relatives, but they’re just a little bit lighter at 0.9 – 1.6 kg. To put this in perspective, the world...

I bought a hummingbird feeder. I wonder if anyone knows what I ought to put in the feeder.

Probably the most interesting bird spotted in Nova Scotia after the passage of hurricane Earl, was a Calliope hummingbird from the American western mountains, where they are uncommon at best. The male is the only hummer whose coloured throat feathers form streaks against a white background. The red feathers on its throat can be distended. It is the smallest U.S hummer. How the southwestern hummingbird ended up in Nova Scotia, is a mystery. It might have been migrating south to its wintering grounds in north west Mexico when it got caught up in Earl's vortex. The question now is whether...

Boeing's A160T "Hummingbird" robotic helicopter looks like it's almost ready for prime time, as the company tested its military vehicle in a series of mock resupply tests. The 'bird performed a variety of maneuvers over seven test flights, including hovering at 12,000 feet with a load of 1,250 pounds carried by a sling. While the A160T is perfect for recon and surveillance, it's ability to lug around heavy equipment is an invaluable service, as it'd be able to ferry supplies between bases and resupply troops in the field with a lot less danger than a ground-based vehicle.

Fascinating documentary!

Dressing to impress The amazing mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird has been filmed in full for the first time. The spatuletail hummingbird is among the most rare and striking of birds. By using a high speed camera, a BBC natural history film crew was the first to capture the mating sequence in super slow motion. The crew also filmed a male advertising in front of a female, and solved a mystery of how the male birds make a snapping sound during the display. The mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird (Loddigesia mirabilis) is captured for the BBC...

Q. Once, on a very long, boring trip, my passenger and I were reduced to asking each other dumb questions. We came upon one question that we couldn't settle. Imagine that I'm driving along at highway speed with the air conditioner on and the windows closed. A hummingbird that was caged in the back seat gets loose, and with nowhere really to go, it ends up just hovering there in midcar. Our question is this: If I hit the brakes hard, does the hummingbird crash into the windshield? My friend said of course it would, that its momentum would cause...

The Hummingbirds are settled in and used to me again, I can move around the yard and they accept me as part of the landscape. There is a Wren building a nest in the rafters of the old shed, I'm hoping she will settle down and pose for me too. I really hate to go to town this time of year, afraid I'll miss something. http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. FOOTBALL FACTS Thanks for joining us once again as we look at some football facts. This time we’ll look at "From a regional to a National sport. From 1930-1958" In the early 1930s, the college game continued to grow, particularly in the south, bolstered by fierce rivalries such as the "Third Saturday in October"—a rivalry between Alabama and Tennessee. While prior to the mid-1920s most national powers came from...

BOGOTA, Colombia - There's a new chirp in the forest but it may be choked by the slashing and burning of trees by coca farmers, researchers said. The Gorgeted Puffleg, a rare hummingbird that boasts a plumage of violet blue and iridescent green on its throat, has been discovered living in the cloud forests of southwestern Colombia, researchers announced. The species belongs to the Puffleg genus, which appear to have "little cotton balls above their legs," said Luis Mazariegos-Hurtado, who has spent 30 years documenting hummingbirds and founded the Colombian Hummingbird Conservancy. The species — known by its scientific name...