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Nearly one-tenth of hemisphere’s mammals are unlikely to outrun climate change.

A safe haven could be out of reach for 9% of the Western Hemisphere’s mammals, and as much as 40% in certain regions, because the animals just won’t move swiftly enough to outpace climate change.

For the past decade scientists have outlined new areas suitable for mammals likely to be displaced as climate change first makes their current habitat inhospitable, then unlivable. For the first time a new study considers whether mammals will actually be able to move to those new areas before they are overrun by climate change. read more

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They’re not doing it by talking to their students about climate change in their classrooms, they’re doing it at the END of the school year, by releasing the exotic pets they’re kept in their science labs all year. Since most of these creatures are not native to the area where they’re "poured out," they can become "invasive."
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The flu can jump from animals to humans. A new strain of flu has emerged four times in the past 100 years. The one that emerged in 1918 killed 50 million people, which is why scientists watch these new flu strains so carefully.

Last fall, over 150 harbor seal pups washed up on the shores of New England beaches. Researchers discovered that they were killed by a new strain of flu, that evolved from bird flu. It had obviously gained the ability to spread from seal to seal.

In the July 31st edition of the New York Times, Carl Zimmer quotes biologist Katie Pugliares as saying, "Surfers were surfing into seals floating in the water."
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A group of researchers are taking blood and nose and throat swabs from bighorn sheep–not to see if they have the flu, but to find out if they have a disease which could be transmitted to HUMANS.
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