California's Velcro Crop Under Challenge. By Ken Umbach California's important Velcro crop, vital to the clothing, footwear, and sporting goods industries, has been severely stressed by drought, disease, and pests.
Background Velcro®, an engineered crop, consists of two distinct strains: hooks and loops. As any user of Velcro knows, a strip of hooks clings to a strip of loops as the springy hook-shaped fibers latch through tiny but firm loops. Gentle pressure allows the hook strip to be pulled from the loop strip. California's climate and soil conditions make the state an ideal venue for and successful producer of both strains of Velcro. For competitive and industrial confidentiality reasons, of course, the crop is not widely highlighted in crop reports.
The Issues All in all, cultivation is a demanding and costly process, making profit margins unusually vulnerable to price swings and crop productivity losses. Status As the chart and table below so starkly show, the combined assaults on the Velcro crop have had marked effects. All About Explorers. Free Online Pregnancy Test. GENOCHOICE - Create Your Own Genetically Healthy Child Online! The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency. Dog Island Free Forever. After911. As of July 1, 2013 ThinkQuest has been discontinued.
We would like to thank everyone for being a part of the ThinkQuest global community: Students - For your limitless creativity and innovation, which inspires us all. Teachers - For your passion in guiding students on their quest. Partners - For your unwavering support and evangelism. Parents - For supporting the use of technology not only as an instrument of learning, but as a means of creating knowledge. We encourage everyone to continue to “Think, Create and Collaborate,” unleashing the power of technology to teach, share, and inspire. Best wishes, The Oracle Education Foundation. Basektball History plus History of Basketball.
Buydehydratedwater. Save the Guinea Worm Foundation: defending the world's most endangered species. Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Help Save The ENDANGERED From EXTINCTION!
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Map of estimated tree octopus maximum range, including spawning waters Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Why It's Endangered Tree Octopus hat from 1923(Click to enlarge.)
The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. How You Can Help More Tree Octopus Information. Dihydrogen-monoxide. A very dangerous Greenhouse gas The government is totally ignoring the emissions of other greenhouse gases while corralling the media to concentrate on CO2.
A prime example is dihydrogen-monoxide which is unanimously recognized by meteorologists as the most prevalent and important of all greenhouse gases (it is also a major component in acid rain). It has an estimated LD50 of 25,000mg/kg. Not only is the federal government ignoring the many plants that produce dihydrogen-monoxide, our federal government actively subsidizes it's production and distribution. Massive amounts are emitted as a greenhouse gas by agriculture and industrial cleaning operations directly to the atmosphere without any regulation what so ever. While an outright ban on dihydrogen-monoxide may not be politically feasible at this time, we can hope for it as a long term goal.
The Greenhouse effect of dihydrogen-monoxide is magnitudes greater than that of CO2 (ask any Meteorologist). Feedback from readers. Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division - dihydrogen monoxide info.