IN FOCUS

Millions of microscopic eggs found in Alaska

Scientists have identified an orange-colored gunk that appeared along the shore of a remote Alaska village as millions of microscopic eggs filled with fatty droplets. Untill the mystery surrounding these eggs was solved officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they did not know for sure what species the eggs were although they believed they were some kind of crustacean eggs or embryos. They also din't know if the eggs were toxic, and that worried many of the 374 residents of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community located at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef on Alaska's northwest coast.

There's been at least one report of dead minnows found in the lagoon of the village the night the eggs appeared last week. Residents were also worried about the community's dwindling reserves in village water tanks even though the orange mass has dissipated from the lagoon and Wulik River, said city administrator Janet Mitchell."It seems to be all gone," she said. "But if they're microscopic eggs, who's to say they're not still in the river?"

Scientists also didn't know why the unidentified eggs suddenly emerged on the shores of Kivalina last week. Villagers say they've never seen such a phenomenon before."We'll probably find some clues, but we'll likely never have a definitive answer on that," NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.Samples were sent to a NOAA laboratory in Charleston, S.C., for further analysis. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation also sent samples to the Institute for Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Kivalina residents live largely off the land, and many are worried about the effect on some wildlife and plants from the goo (substance), which turned powdery once it dried,,and probably went airborne. Mitchell said some people went berry picking over the weekend, but couldn't tell if the goo was on the fruit, called salmonberries, which are the same color of the eggs.

The caribou are in the region now, but she doesn't believe the migrating animals pose much risk as a food source.The eggs were found on at least one roof and in buckets set all over the village to collect rain water. City Councilwoman Frances Douglas said the gooey, slimy substance was widely spread in streaks along the Wulik River and the lagoon, which is a half mile wide and six miles long. Orangey water was reported from as far away as the village of Buckland, 150 miles southeast of Kivalina.Douglas estimated the volume of eggs she could see "in excess of a thousand gallons, easily."

Even village elders don't recall anything like it, said Douglas, who has lived all her 44 years in Kivalina. She remembers temperatures were colder in her childhood, gradually rising over the years. The mystery of the eggs was finally solved when they were identified as crustacean eggs but why such a lot appeared suddenly is still a puzzle .

-AP

Plants and animals

1. An eagle has a wingspan of more than 2 metres but its body weighs less than 4 kgs. True/false?

2. What is a locust?

3. Birds have air sacs linked to their lungs which provide them with extra oxygen when flying.True/false?

4. What is the Portuguese man of

war ?

5. Mushrooms have no roots,no stems and no leaves. What are they classed as?

Human body

1. How many kidneys does a human have?

2. The human body has 639 muscles and about 100 joints which assist in mobility.True/false?

3. There are distinct regions in the tongue where the four different tastes; sweet, bitter,sour and salty can be tasted.Which are the regions for each taste?

4. We have around 10,000 taste buds on the tongue.True/fasle?

5.Inside each human eye, there are almost 130,000,000 light sensitive cells. True/false?

Planet Earth

1. Rivers are large water bodies floating along a channel to the sea,lake or another river. Smaller water bodies are known as brooks. What are water bodies smaller than brooks called?

2. A waterfall is formed when a river plunges over a wall of rock called a cliff. If the waterfall is really big it is termed a contract. If the rock wall is steeply slanted rather than vertical, by which name is the rushing waterfall called?

3. Small pieces of rock splinter and separate from huge rocks all the time due to the elements. what is the loose broken rock which builds up on the mountain side known as?

4.Where are caves generally formed; in areas rich in minerals, sand or limestone?

5. Block mountains are made as a result of breaks or faults in the earth. How are folded mountains formed?

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ANSWERS

Plants and animals

1. True

2. It is a large grasshopper that generally likes to live a solitary life.However, when the population builds up they mass together and migrate. They have devastated farmland throughout Asia and Africa for thousands of years. A swarm of locust can be as large as 100000 million.

3. True

4. The Portuguese man of war is a species of large jellyfish which can cause serious injury to a human. It can kill and eat a full sized mackerel.

5. Mushrooms are classed as fungi;which means they have no chlorophyll to manufacture their own food.

Human body

1. Humans have two kidneys .They work by effectively removing the majority of waste from the body.

2. True. Each muscle has about 10 million muscle cells . The joints have different levels of mobility.Some move like a single door hinge (elbow and knees) while others, such as the base of the thumb or shoulder, do so in all directions .The spine allows only a small amount of movement.

3. The sweet taste is detected at the tip of the tongue while the bitter taste can be felt at the back. The salty and sour tastes are experienced from taste buds located on the two sides.

4.True.

5. True.

Planet Earth

1. Water bodies smaller than brooks are known as rivulets.

2. A cascade

3. The loose broken rock is called seree. When a mass of seree is mixed with torrents of mud sliding down a mountain it is known as a rockslide.

4. Caves are generally formed in areas rich in limestone.

5. Folded mountains are formed when layers of rock are squeezed by pressure into large folds.