Seed Bomb Vending Machines Sowing Covert Green Thumbs
April 10, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Elizah in Animals & Habitats, Home & Garden, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
(Images via: EcoScraps, OriginauxMoose, MemineCaroline, Kathryn Miller)
Would you believe that in some regions of the world, engaging in guerrilla gardening is a somewhat subversive and punishable offense? It hardly seems like a crime to restore the former botanical luster to a now-neglected section of one’s city, but the problem revolves around those who choose to indulge their green thumbs without enduring local legislative loopholes and never ending bureaucratic red tape first. Stepping onto public property without an official a-okay is perceived as a form of veggie vandalism, no matter how herbaceous your intentions are. That’s when seed bombing becomes especially handy, enabling those with a hankering for instant inner-city greenification to take back the streets without risking a trip in the paddywagon.
(Images via: Lush USA, MemineCaroline, Natural Home Magazine, Sustainy, Guerrilla Gardener)
Making quick business of the seeding process, everyone from bright eyed novices to been-around-the-block-a-few-times guerrilla gardeners can easily create their own biodegradable and propel-worthy “grenades” using a basic mixture of seeds, clay, earthworm castings, and water. Stir it all together and what have you got? A moldable mud pie blend that can be formed into individual meatball like orbs which, when strategically flung into barren plots, will sow the seeds of potential floral glory (as long as you revisit the scene of your crime every now and again to coax them along with a little water).
(Images via: CommonStudio)
Ahhh, but all of this may be daunting to a well-intentioned, midnight skulking gardening anarchist…which is why Greenaid’s pre-made versions are so darn nifty! No more dirt under your fingernails…no more shaking down local earthworms for their highly coveted garden gold. Now, residents far and wide can benefit from the simple convenience of no fuss no muss, perfectly civilized eco-criminalistic seed bombs dispensed from repurposed quarter-operated candy machines. Concrete jungles are soooo cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
(Images via: CommonStudio)
Trading gumballs for Cottonwood, Sycamore and Oak-embedded seedbombs may initially make school children scratch their heads and wax poetic for the simpler days of gobstopper-induced sugar rushes, but environmental awareness is inarguably the wave of the present and future. Parents, teachers and eager greenies can easily help Greenaid’s clever seed spreading project catch on among impressionable youth, explaining that their actions will contribute to a greater, greener future for us all (as long as they look in both directions, fling and “Run Forest, runnnn”). Additionally, these dispensing systems can be installed in parks, business lobbies, churches watering holes, offering more wizened individuals the opportunity to make a measurable impact, one covertly chucked seed ball at a time. You’ve really got to seed it to believe it 
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Animal Detectives: Feline Forensics and Intuitive Insects
March 26, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
(Images via: PCS, Babble, AC360, Nikipedia, Stripers Online, Sock Ninja, Book Mice, Snarkerati, The Pilver)
From sniffing for bombs and drugs to tracking down missing persons, dogs have been trained to use their strong sense of smell in the pursuit of justice. While bloodhounds and other canines may first come to mind when thinking of animal detectives, they are not the only creatures that can help solve crimes and put away slime. Turns out that dog’s worst friend – the cat – and an insect that most humans would like to avoid – wasps – also have some surprising value in the world of law enforcement.
If the Cat Fur Sticks, You Must Not Acquit
(Images via: Annie’s Little Footprints, Fantasy Stock, Flickr, Onancock, Eco Test, Flickr)
Cat owners can attest to how much cats love to groom themselves, shedding tons of hair on pillows, couches, floors and other areas of the home. Often viewed as an annoyance, discarded cat hair turned out to be a crucial piece of evidence in a 1994 murder case in Canada. Inside a bloody jacket next to a murdered woman were two strands of white car fur. The jacket was believed to be owned by the woman’s ex-husband, and the fur was genetically linked through DNA analysis to a cat named Snowball, owned by the suspect’s parents. Ultimately, the cat fur contributed to conviction of the suspect, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
CSI CAT-alonia?
(Cat DNA Image via: Flickr)
(Cat Genome Image via: About)
Law enforcement officials have noted how cat fur is like a silent witness that can be brought to the scene of the crime (such as in the landmark Canada case) or carried away from the scene (such as from the home of a cat owner). Given the potential of cat fur as forensic evidence in millions of homes, an international team of scientists recently developed an extensive DNA database that includes different cat furs. The database currently features 1,396 different cat DNA sequences to be used by crime scene investigators and forensic experts. The scientists expect to add dog hair sequences to the DNA database in the future.
The Sting: Starring Paul Newman and Thousands of Wasps
(Images via: Apartment Therapy, Urban Extension, Sky Bird 1831)
Like dogs, wasps are masters at olfactory detection. In recent years scientists have trained wasps to smell for different chemicals, simply by feeding them sugar water and introducing them to a specific smell (such as caffeine). The wasps have demonstrated a quick ability to pick up on these smells in as little as 10 seconds and just 2 to 3 repeated trials. Especially interesting, the wasps will swarm to the trained smell when detected. According to entomologists, wasps display great potential to detect anything, including drugs and human remains. Given that thousands of wasps can be trained to detect a specific smell in just 10 to 15 minutes, the entomologists added that there could be a day when wasps replace the bomb-sniffing dogs that we’ve all come to love.
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