Rotundus.com

That's been one of the questions stuck in my mind since reading this article, which looks at projections for this year's salmon runs in BC:

Projections from throughout the ocean and fisheries science venues are advising that this years Fraser River Sockeye Salmon runs will be the all time historic high, twice the previous record of 1900. ... The Fraser River sockeye projection is in line with other stunning returns of salmon that coincide with the work to restore their ocean pasture which was successfully accomplished in the summer of 2012. Last falls record runs and catch of Pink Salmon from Alaska south where instead of the expected 50 million fish being caught in SE Alaska 226 million Pinks were caught clearly perfectly fits with the restoration of plankton abundance in the offshore salmon pastures we carried out in 2012.

Not only does this seem to mean more sustainable seafood - "traditional" fish farming has both nutrional issues and negative environmental effects - but the plankton blooms which have been decreasing over the last decades also have significant environmental implications. Not only has the aim of ocean fertilization efforts been to increase seafood availability but also to act as a carbon sink with potential effects as described in a previous experiment:

Smetacek’s experiment was a success. For two weeks, he was able to induce carbon to fall to the sea floor at the highest rate ever observed – some 34 times faster than normal.

It seems worth noting that as is the oceans suck up significantly more CO2 than the planet's forests. It seems interesting to me some of the opposition to this move, despite it operating in a much more controlled fashion than the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from excess nitrogen due to comparatively uncontrolled agricultural runoff and such things as the construction of dams limiting downstream fertility being not all that controversial at this point.

Finally! A Decent Espresso On The International Space Station

Finally a coffee whose cost makes Starbucks look cheap!

As I Lay Dying Singer Tim Lambesis Said He Became Atheist But Kept Claiming to Be Christian to Keep Selling Music to Faithful

His words: "'We toured with more "Christian bands" who actually aren't Christians than bands that are. In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands,' he said."

DNA Testing Declares Two Different Men The Father In Paternity Case

Here's a strange legal case: "How is it mathematically possible that two different men each have a 99.999% probability of being the father? It’s possible when the candidate fathers are identical twins."

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity May Not Exist

Interesting. Seems that this may be a combination of the nocebo effect and issues with certain types of carbohydrates found in a lot of gluten-containing foods rather than gluten itself.

I'm a bit amused to have this backfiring for the publisher. As The Guardian argues:

In a sane world, Hachette would have a whole range of tactics available to it. Amazon’s ebook major competitors – especially Apple and Google – have lots of market clout, and their customers are already carrying around ebook readers (tablets and phones). Hachette could easily play hardball with Amazon by taking out an ad campaign whose message was, “Amazon won’t sell you our books – so we’re holding a 50% sale for anyone who wants to switch to buying ebooks from Apple, Google, Kobo or Nook.”
... But it is precisely because Hachette has been such a staunch advocate of DRM that it cannot avail itself of this tactic. Hachette, more than any other publisher in the industry, has had a single minded insistence on DRM since the earliest days. It’s likely that every Hachette ebook ever sold has been locked with some company’s proprietary DRM, and therein lies the rub.
... It is an own-goal masterstroke. It is precisely because Hachette has been so successful in selling its ebooks through Amazon that it can’t afford to walk away from the retailer.

No more fillings as dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

"A two-step process first prepares the damaged area of enamel, then uses a tiny electric current to push minerals into the repair site. It could be available within three years. ... 'Not only is our device kinder to the patient and better for their teeth, but it’s expected to be at least as cost-effective as current dental treatments. Along with fighting tooth decay, our device can also be used to whiten teeth.'"

Spiders Tune In To Web's Music To Size Up Meals And Mates

"The Silk Group says the array of vibrations coursing through the web provides a kind of information. The spider 'reads' these vibrations to, for example, locate where a struggling insect has been snagged. And apparently the web has to be tuned just right to provide that kind of arachnidian triangulation."

Are School Homicides 'Becoming the Norm'?

" If you're wondering where kids are likely to die, the answer plainly isn't a classroom. (Quoting the BJS report one more time: "During the 2010–11 school year, 11 of the 1,336 homicides among school-age youth ages 5–18 occurred at school.") And in the period for which we have clear data, the school homicide rate moved in the same direction as the overall homicide rate: downward."

Australia Is Raising Its Retirement Age to 70. The Rest of Us Should Catch Up.

"Demographers and policy wonks have been talking about this idea for years. It’s based on the growth of life expectancy. In many countries, as things stand, the increasing number of years in which people draw benefits will overwhelm the unchanged number of years in which they’re paying into the system. The logical solution is to raise the retirement age, so that the benefit-drawing years are matched by an increase in the number of paying-in years."

The secret language of dog play

"Watch a couple of dogs play, and you’ll probably see seemingly random gestures, lots of frenetic activity and a whole lot of energy being expended. But decades of research suggest that beneath this apparently frivolous fun lies a hidden language of honesty and deceit, empathy and perhaps even a humanlike morality."