Myanmar military reverts to strategy of massacres, burnings at Done Taw

 When the young farmhand returned to his village in Myanmar, he found the still smoldering corpses in a circle in a burned-out hut, some with their limbs tied

When the young farmhand returned to his village in Myanmar, he found the still smoldering corpses in a circle in a burned-out hut, some with their limbs tied. The Myanmar military had stormed Done Taw at 11 a.m. on December 7, he told the AP, with about 50 soldiers hunting people on foot, killing 10 people including five teenagers. A photo taken by his friend shows the charred remains of a victim lying face down, holding his head up, suggesting he was burned alive.

I am very upset, it is unacceptable, said the 19-year-old, who like others interviewed by the AP asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. The carnage at Done Taw is just one of the most recent signs that the Myanmar military is reverting to a strategy of massacres as a weapon of war, according to an AP investigation based on interviews with 40 witnesses, social media, satellite imagery and data on deaths….Read More

Pollution can change wildlife behaviour

With an increasing number of factors affecting the animal behaviour, the field of behavioural toxicology is gaining traction within the environmental sciences.

A team of scientists from the University of Portsmouth has developed new scientific tests to better understand the effects of pollution on wildlife behaviour.

An organism’s behaviour is fundamentally important to their survival through feeding, finding mates and escaping predators. Any chemical which could interfere with these responses has the potential to impact the food chain.

Using small shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods, which are commonly used to monitor environmental toxicology, the researchers have been designing experiments to best answer the questions.

In previously determining that these animals prefer to swim away from the light (negative phototaxis) and preferably be touching the sides of the tanks (positive thigmotaxis), they first set about asking whether these preferences could be altered by the size and shape of their testing tanks..READ MORE