GLOBAL WARMING : ''MASSIVE *STAR-FISH* DYING-OFF''

A DIE-OFF of sea stars so massive that scientists believe it could be the largest disease epidemic ever observed, in wild marine animals has been linked in a new study to global warming.

Creatures with the sea star wasting disease simply fall apart and progress rapidly to death, often leaving a - a collection of ''disconnected limbs'',  researchers say.

Scientists believe a disease once of little concern has been wiping pout the sea star population because of warm waters.

''Increasingly warm or anomalous temperatures are being shown to influence the prevalence and severity of marine infections diseases,'' noted the study published Thursday in the journal Science of Advances.

Researchers discovered that sea star devastation appeared to be particularly marked where a water temperatures are highest, such as shallow waters near the shore - though ocean water temperatures are generally also increasing.

The ''marine heat wave'' is triggering a ''continental scale collapse of a pivotal predator,'' the study notes. Since 2013, sea star wasting disease has caused ''massive, ongoing mortality from Mexico to Alaska, the study states.

''What we think is that the warm water anomalies made these starfish more susceptible to the disease that was already out there,'' study author Joe Gaylos, the science director of the SeaDoc Society at the University of California at Davos, told NPR.

''To think that the warmer water temperature itself can cause animals to get disease quicker - is a kind of one-two punch,'' Gaylos added. ''It's a little  nerve .
wracking.''

The study did not determine exactly how the warmth may have exacerbated the disease, only that it appeared more devastating the higher the temperature.
Waters growing increasingly warm are known to be more stressful to sea creatures, likely causing challenges to their immune system.

Dying sea stars can trigger a cascading ecological collapse as animals that depend on the creatures suffer in turn - and animals the sea stars eat can proliferate in destructive numbers once the sea stars are gone.

The population of sea urchins once eaten by healthy sea stars has exploded in areas without the predators. the urchins gobble up sea kelp, destroying kelp forest ecosystems. [Agencies]

Headline February 14, 2018/ '' 'BRITISH SCIENCE BRIGHTY' ''

'' 'BRITISH SCIENCE BRIGHTY' ''

!GREATEST MOMENT FOR BRITAIN! ...................

THESE BRITISH PEOPLE : these Brits, I have the honor to repeat to you all. is and are, one hell of a great nation. One formidable, invincible lot.

Every crisis, every single crisis, just so happens to be their finest of hours.

The World Students Society stops, to give this very great  nation a standing ovation, and extend to Prime Minister Theresa May, and through her, to all the British people, our highest esteems.

Founding genius, Engineer and Thinker, Rabo should ensure that Her Highness The Queen, and 10 Downing Street is informed of the great pedestal on which The World Students Society, hold this super nation.

This post then is dedicated to the great and respectful memory of.....  Dr. W.G.Grace, Victor Trumper, Sir Len Hutton, Sir Colin Cowdrey, Ted Dexter, Brian Statham, Freddie Trueman, Ken Barrington, Sir Ian Botham, BBC, The Economist, and millions by millions of others.

And with every honor for DNA pioneer, Rosalind Franklin.

Dee, Zilli or Juniper should inform H.E. The British Ambassador in Islamabad of our great wishes and prayers for this nation.

A British made rover that will set off for Mars next year in search for signs of life was named Thursday after DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin.

UK astronaut Tim Peake revealed the name of the first European scavenger of the Red Planet at the Airbus factory just south of London where it was built.

Cambridge-educated Franklin ''helped us understand life on Earth and now her namesake will do the same on Mars,'' the UK Science Minister Chris Skidmore said at the unveiling.

The brilliant, but long unrecognised, 20th century British scientist's name was selected with the help of a public competition in which nearly 36,000 took part.

''Just as Rosalind Franklin overcame nay obstacles during her career, I hope 'Rosalind the Rover' will successfully persevere in the this exciting adventure, inspiring generations of female scientists and engineers to come,'' said Skidmore.

Franklin's work was used to formulate the seminal 1953 hypothesis about the structure of DNA - the molecule containing the an organism's genetic code.

She died of cancer at the age of  37 in 1958. The three men who were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work on DNA four years later did not mention Franklin in their acceptance speeches.

Franklin's contribution to their research remained largely over-looked in silence books until the  1990s.

The new rover is planned to land on Mars in 2021 as part of the ExoMars programme which is being conducted jointly by the European Space Agency [ESA] and its Russian counterpart  'Roscosmos'.

It follows in the tracks of three similar missions conducted by the United States.

The six-wheeler will be looking for traces of ''life-beyond Earth,'' said ESA human and robotic exploration director David Parker.

''Can we find primitive life on the Rad Planet?'' he asked.

'Big Moment For Britain' : This new rover will try to answer that  question by drilling two meters [6.5 feet] into the hot planet's surface to sample and analyse the soil.

It will use solar power to drive around with the help of optic sensors. Scientists said it will have a degree of ''intelligence'' that allows it to make some rudimentary decisions on its own.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on  Great Britain, Science and Technology continues.

With respectful dedication to the Great People of Britain, then the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See Ya all prepare for Great Global Elections and ''register on The World Students Society : -wssciw.blogspot.com - for every subject in the world and Twitter - E-!WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Brands & Beams '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

LAGARDE WARNS : '' RISING ARAB PUBLIC DEBT! ''

DUBAI : Public debt has rapidly increased in many Arab countries since the 2008 global financial crisis, due to persistently high budget deficits, the International Monetary Fund warned Saturday.

''Unfortunately, the region has yet to fully recover from the global financial crisis and other big economic dislocations over the past decade,'' IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

''Among oil importers, [economic] growth has picked up, but it is still below pre-crisis levels,'' she told the Arab Fiscal forum in Dubai.

Lagarde said the public debt among Arab oil importing nations had increased from 64 percent to 85 pc of Gross Domestic products.in the decade since 2008.

Nearly half of these countries now have public debt of over 90 percent of GDP, she said.

Public debt among oil exporters - including the six-nation of Gulf Cooperation Council - rose from 33 pc of GDP, accelerated by the crash in oil prices around five years ago, Lagarde said.

''The oil exporters have not fully recovered from the dramatic oil price shock of 2014,'' she said.

''Modest growth continues, but the outlook is highly uncertain.''

Lagarde said oil producing countries should look to renewable energy in the coming decades, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change, which stipulates a reduction in greenhouse emissions.

The IMF last month lowered its economic growth forecasts for Saudi Arabia -the world's top crude exporter and the wider Middle East and North Africa region due to a renewed fall in oil prices, low output and geopolitical tensions.

Lagarde welcomed both spending and revenue reforms, including the introduction of a value-added tax [VAT] and excise duty by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

But she urged more reforms, anti-corruption measures and transparency. ''The economic path ahead for the region is challenging,'' she added. [AFP]

MALDIVES FIGHTS THE CORRUPT

THE MALDIVES government is seeking international help to find millions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by former president Abdullah Yameen who faces embezzlement and money laundering charges, said last Friday.

Maldivian diplomats said the authorities in the Indian Ocean archipelago were in talks with foreign experts as part of a  police investigation against the leader who lost power last September.

''Police have now completed their investigations. The Prosecutor General can now formally charge the former president,'' Aslam Shakir, spokesman for the Maldives embassy in Colombo, told AFP.

He said police investigations had found evidence linking Yameen and his justice minister Azima Shakoor to the theft of state funds and money laundering.

In December, courts in the tourist paradise froze some $6.5 million in accounts allegedly, linked to Yameenwho suffered a shock defeat to Mohamed Ibrahim Solih in elections in September.

Shakir said millions of dollars could be stashed abroad and talks were underway with foreign entities to repatriate any cash found. He did not name the countries involved.

''We are getting foreign financial forensic help. We are also getting the expertise of others in connection with several cases of disappearances of people during Yameen's regime, Shakir said.

Yameen, who had been in power since 2013, jailing or forcing into exile many of his opponents, has been accused of  receiving close to $1.5 million in illicit payments during his failed bid for re-election.

The country's monetary authority lodged a police complaint over alleged donations made into a private account held by Yameen in the runup to the polls.

The former strongman president, who has been questioned but not detained, has denied the allegations.

Yameen remains politically active. But since his downfall, almost all key dissidents have returned to the country and been cleared of  convictions against them. [Agencies]

THAILAND : ''PRINCESS! MINISTER PRIME?''

THAILAND : Thai Princess Ubolratana's unprecedented attempt to become the country's next prime minister was abruptly nixed on Saturday after her party agreed to comply with a command from the King opposing the plan.

The party's announcement effectively blocking Ubolratana's candidacy came after an extraordinary rebuke by her brother King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and removes a hurdle for the ruling junta to hold onto power after the March 24 vote - the first since 2014 coup.

The Thai Raksa Chart Party, affiliated with the powerful Shinawarra political clan, had announced the princess as their candidate Friday morning.

The move rattled the status quo and threatened the ambitions of the generals who have controlled Thailand since the toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra almost five years ago.

But the Thai King torpedoed his sister's bid in a sharply worded statement the same day that said bringing senior royal family members into politics was against tradition and ''highly inappropriate''.

Thai Raksa Chart responded swiftly, cancelling a campaign event on Saturday and issuing a statement saying it  ''complies with the royal command''.

Thailand has some of the most severe  lese majeste laws in the world and the King's world is seldom challenged.

Royalist Thais and celebrities praised the intervention on social media after the order, writing ''long live the King.'' [AFP]