Airbnboi? Brazilian company rents pastureland during dry periods

There are technology companies increasingly turning to solutions to improve the lives of farmers. One of them, the Brazilian Graze, offers an on-line marketplace for farmers negotiate cattle and offers a search system of pasture for rent during periods of drought. A species of Airbnb for animals.

The idea belonged to Matheus Borders, of 20 years, who decided to start the business after follow the difficulties farmers faced during the dry period. "The drought that hit the Bahia, in recent years, was intense. When food reserves were on Thursdays, we needed to take the animals to other farms in the region, but we had no knowledge about the land available, "explained the sustainable planet Corridor, which is also an engineering student.

According to the company, the livestock of Bahia recorded a loss of €358 million (US $ 1.1 billion) in 2012, due to the loss of animals by drought.

Working alongside two partners, Matthew has the support of Cooperativa de Produtores de Vitória da Conquista to seek new customers. After the farmer to choose the property best suited to your case, the startup business brokerage takes place between the owners, with the signing of a contract notice.

"We deployed an automatic calculation for shipping and we will develop a geolocation system to the farmer find the best opportunities to land," says Borders. As a business model, grazing receives a percentage in the future negotiation of head of cattle.

More recently, Graze decided to study the creation of a monitoring system of low-cost beef so that landowners can get remote information of his flock and to know the conditions of the animals.

About 60 customers registered on the platform and four operations completed, the startup plans to close more than 200 2014 transactions between farmers, moving approximately €490 thousand (r $ 1.5 million). If that happens, will have been saved between two and three thousand animals.

Foto: francisco.j.gonzalez/Creative Commons

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The 15 fruits and vegetables with less pesticides

Buy fruits and vegetables in any commercial surface and hope they don't contain pesticides is almost impossible today. However, contrary to popular belief, there are some vegetables and fruits that contain little or no pesticides, oddly enough.

Annually, the Environmental Working Group â€" an American entity â€" publishes a list of fruits and vegetables with less pesticides, as well as a list of products that contain more pesticides.

The "Clean 15" of 2014 bit differs from list of 2013 and, although the considerations are for the North American market, offers us a perspective of what we buy and eat. The drawing up of the list was based on an analysis of more than 28 thousand fruit and vegetable samples collected by the food authorities of the United States.

The Environmental Working Group catalogued after foods based on six degrees of contamination. The products that integrate the list this year, the entity did not find any food that would test positive for more than four types of pesticide and about 7% of the samples contained only one type of pesticide, referred to the Huffington Post.

See the list of fruits and vegetables with less pesticides of United States.

1. Corn

2. Onion

3. Pineapple

4. Avocado

5. red cabbage

6. Pea

7. Papaya

8. Manga

9. Espargo

10. Eggplant

11. There

12. Grapefruit

13. Meloa

14. sweet potato

15. Mushrooms

Foto: Muffet/Creative Commons

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Startup offers DNA screening and creates virtual babies for customers

Two days after Anne to be double S. take home your newborn, received a chilling call. On the other end of the line, a stranger asked him if he was sure that his son was alive. Be double s. ran into the bedroom of a child to understand, with relief, that the baby was breathing, but the call he received from a doctor, indicating that a routine screening had revealed that her baby had been born with a rare genetic mutation and often fatal.

This condition, the acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency of medium-chain (MCADD, English acronym), is caused by mutations in a gene involved in the metabolism of fat. Some babies who are born with a severe version of the mutation do not live more than 15 days, once your body is unable to obtain energy from fat by normal methods, when sugar reserves are exhausted.

"The first year was a mixture of anxiety and sleepless nights. I was worried that he might not wake up the next morning. I was worried when I got sick and didn't want to eat, "said to be double S., cited by the Guardian. However, once the genetic mutation of Alec was caught early, the child has a high probability of living a long and healthy life.

This occurred six years ago. However, those days were the beginning of something bigger to be double S. Anne. When surveyed about the son's mutation discovered that Alec had inherited the condition through a coincidence. The MCADD is a very rare condition. However, both be double S. as the sperm donor who used were carriers of genetic mutation. Mutations like this may be rare, but there are many and when the genes that carry are combined may affect millions of people.

However, be double S. is working on a way to minimize this likelihood of having a child with a serious illness or genetic mutation, so that other parents do not have to go through the agony.

Along with business partner, Lee Silver, a scientist at Princeton University, in the United States, be double S. will launch a company called Genepeeks. This startup will use the DNA of sperm donors and the DNA of the expectant mothers to create "virtual babies". These virtual descendants can be sorted for hundreds of genetic diseases, allowing discard donors whose combination of DNA with the future pregnant represents a risk for future child. The ultimate goal of the Genepeeks is that the technology could be available for any couple who wants kids.

This technology-which they called Matchright â€" might change the rules of the game of medical technology of reproduction, allowing the parents to obtain detailed analysis of possible diseases of children without having to deal with a real pregnancy.

However, it will allow an unprecedented glimpse of what the children of potential customers can be and can be used to detect other qualities or traits beyond diseases â€" such as the pain of the eyes and hair, height, propensity for obesity or even beauty. Since this new technology goes beyond the settings that are normally applied in testing with embryos, the method raises important ethical issues about privacy, choice of partner or donor and the role that the computation can play in the reproduction.

In fact, she continues to explore paths that calls into question the surprise and even innocence of nature. Is this beneficial?

What are digital babies?

According to, be double S. "technology simulates the genetics of reproduction and literally creates sperm and eggs that give rise to digital digital babies". Subsequently, are sorted the possible diseases that these children may develop.

Subsequently, the company uses this information to provide customers with your own catalog of sperm donors â€" the client hires us and we make various digital babies with each donor of our network and then filter all conjugations with high risk of disease, "explains Morris.

The tria Matchright more than 600 recessive genetic mutations, when compared with the technologies used to test the donor sperm. According to be double S., this will be the first time in human history that these diseases may begin to be prevented. Together, diseases sorted by this new technology represent about 20% of child mortality and 18% of paediatric hospitalizations.

The topic is controversial and we'd like you to comment on all our platforms: Web site, Facebook and Twitter. Share with us your opinion.

Foto: iandeth/Creative Commons

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Old wooden bike creates footballer in honor of Eusebius (with video)

It was professional football player. However, due to health problems, Nuno Zamaro â€" or Tulika Amaro â€" was forced to abandon his career. Since 2003 which is linked to projects in the area of two wheels. In 2010 created the Wise-U, a creative agency headquartered in Águeda and dedicated to the development of ideas and product promotion.

One of these ideas was the creation of a wooden bicycle, the ANGEL (Art Now Give Energy to Live), which hit the market last year. Now, Nuno Zamaro released a special edition of ANGEL dedicated to Eusebio. The aim is to auction off the bike and donate the value enraptured to Mozambikes.

Mozambikes is a social organization of Mozambique and Nuno Zamaro intends to help this institution to raise revenue to distribute bicycles to the needy population.

"ANGEL is a bicycle. With this project and, specifically, in the case of ANGEL Eusebius, we want that people gain mobility and better quality of life while pursuing the player's dream, a man of great causes and with a sense of social responsibility that we want to honor, "says Nuno Zamaro said in a statement.

Remember the green economy dedicated to ANGEL.

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Iceberg with 660 square miles exude of Antarctica

Scientists are monitoring an iceberg almost six times bigger than Manhattan, which snapped in Antarctica and follows now into the ocean. This is one of the largest icebergs.

Second explained last glaciologist Kelly Brunt, NASA, Reuters, the iceberg covers about 660 square kilometers and has a thickness of 500 meters. Known as B31, the iceberg broke away in November of the Pine Island glacier, in Antarctica

"It's one of those that is so large that it needs to be monitored," explained Brunt told Reuters. According to the scientist, the u.s. Government monitors about 12 icebergs per day.

Scientists are especially interested in the B31 for two reasons: the size and its location in the Southern Ocean. "It's a great piece of cake floating in the Antarctic Ocean," he explained.

The breaking of the glacier that originated this iceberg has been detected in 2011. This glacier has been studied closely in the last 20 years, incidentally, because it's getting thinner at a speed very fast, and can be an important contributor to sea level rise.

"We're doing some research on local ocean currents and trying to explain the movement [of the iceberg]. Surprisingly, there are times when he's practically stop, and other begins to float at high speed, "explained Reuters Researcher Grant Bigg, University of Sheffield, England.

According to scientists, however, the iceberg is not endangering any ship. "There's not much maritime traffic down there," concluded Kelly Brunt.

. fancybox-wrap {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 8020; }. fancybox-skin {position: relative; /* margin-top: 20px! important; */background: #222222; color: #74b32e; text-shadow: none; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; }. fancybox-opened {z-index: 8030;} . fancybox-opened. fancybox-skin {-webkit-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); -moz-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); }. fancybox-outer,. fancybox-inner {position: relative;} . fancybox-inner {overflow: hidden;} . fancybox-type-iframe. fancybox-inner {-webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;} . fancybox-close {background: url('wp-content/themes/codistage/styles/fancybox/exit.png') no-repeat; width: 25px; height: 25px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 5px; }/*. ng-gallery-image img {width: 565px; height: 393px;}*/O desprendimento do B311of 2jQuery (document). ready (function ($) {var thumbContainerWidth = 0, thumbs = Array (), selectedIndex = 1, thumbIndex = 1, imageOffset = 7; $ ('. ng-gallery-thumbnail-box '). each (function () {thumbs.push($(this)); }); /* thumbnail navigation */$ ('. ng-greensavers-thumb-next '). unbind (). bind (' click ', function (e) {e.preventDefault(); if (thumbIndex< == (thumbs.length-imageOffset)) {$ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). stop (). animate ({left:-$ (thumbs [thumbIndex]). position (). left}); thumbIndex + +; } }); $ ('. ng-greensavers-thumb-prev '). unbind (). bind (' click ', function (e) {e.preventDefault(); if (thumbIndex >1) {$ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). stop (). animate ({left: $ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). position (). left + ($ (thumbs [thumbIndex-1]). position (). left-$ (thumbs [thumbIndex-2]). position (). left)}); thumbIndex--; } }); $ (window). load (function () {/* set thumbnail container width */$ ('. ng-gallery-thumbnail '). each (function () {thumbContainerWidth = thumbContainerWidth + $ (this). width () + 10; }); $ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). width (thumbContainerWidth); }); });

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Ollie, the dog who thinks he's human

Ollie, a weimaraner two years, doesn't have a dog's life. He reached the British press due to its day-to-day human: sharing an ice cream cone with his companions-these Yes, humans-, asleep in bed next to them or taking a shower.

With 1.2 meters and 40 pounds, he has a little careful feeding: eat cereal and drink tea. "Take a walk with him every day. When we return, he goes straight for the shower. It's not a dog, it's more a human ", explains one of the owners, Eliot Alexander, of 38 years.

But Ollie has other singularities. Is "crazy" when you hear the ice cream truck pass by the door, bypassing several children on the run to the place. Ollie eats ice cream so much that even their owners have to pay for it in advance.

Due to their independent lifestyle, the companions of the weimaraner have you considered putting him a driver around the neck. "He appropriated the House and don't have ways of being", jokes the owners of Ollie, who also have two cats.

Learn more about feeding dogs here and here.

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China wants to ban the dietary consumption of endangered species

China has approved a draft law to punish the dietary consumption of endangered species, with the aim of reducing poaching in the country. The law provides for imprisonment for those who ask for dishes that are prepared with protected species or for those who try to buy the meat of these animals for cooking.

Although hunting of endangered species is already illegal in China, this new law is intended to cover the high demand for the meat of these animals and to punish consumers who knowingly to consume or buy. Depending on the failure, prison sentences ranging between three to ten years, referred to the Dodo.

"This is the first time that concrete measures are proposed to prohibit the consumption of endangered species. In some parts of China the consumption of these animals is a tradition with many centuries ", writes the China Daily.

The list published by the Chinese Government are part 420 species of animals, which cannot now be hunted down, killed, sold or consumed. Among the most iconic species on the list belong to the pandas, Golden monkeys, the Asian black bears and pangolins. The proposal should be examined and voted on this week.

Here are some pictures of the most mammal Ding-a-Ling trafficked in the world.

Fotos: Marc Eschenlohr/PLeia2/Toro Mojado/Creative Commons/Wikimedia Commons

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