Salmonella Warning Issued for Jalapeños

On the heels of a nationwide surge in cyclosporiasis, US health officials are investigating a multistate outbreak of salmonella linked to jalapeños (medium-sized chili peppers of the species Capsicum annuum), which has sickened 345 people so far. 

Their illnesses began on dates ranging from June 19 to July 20, 2026 and reported in 27 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 36 people have been hospitalized with the food-borne illness. 

In an August 05 food safety alert, the CDC identified the source of the outbreak: fresh jalapeño peppers distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors to wholesalers and restaurants nationwide. 

After Coast Citrus Distributors initiated a recall of their jalapeño peppers, Taylor Farms followed suit, recalling their prepared foods made with the recalled jalapeños, including salsa and guacamole, per the Food and Drug Administration. The affected products were distributed to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target, among other retailers. Some tainted jalapeños were served at Chipotle and Qdoba and have since been removed from stores. 

Salmonella is a type of bacteria found in the intestines of humans and animals that can cause food poisoning known as salmonellosis. People become infected by ingesting contaminating food or water. 

Infection with salmonella causes severe and sometimes bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps, per the CDC. In rare cases, salmonella can enter the bloodstream and cause life-threatening complications. 

Most people recover on their own, but some groups are at higher risk of severe illness. These include adults over 65, young children and people with weak immune systems. 

Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning in the US, and infections are more common in the summer because the bacteria thrive in warm conditions, per the CDC. 

However, the recent outbreak has stoked fears about the safety of US produce, especially after a summer of dodging the “diarrhea parasite” cyclospora linked to iceberg lettuce.

Following consecutive league wins against Dundee and Kilmarnock, an in-form Celtic launched their Scottish League Cup defense with a dominant 4-0 victory against Dundee United yesterday. 

The opening goal came when Auston Trusty headed the ball directly into the net from a corner kick in the 22nd minute. 

Two minutes afterward, Camilo Durán Marquez doubled the lead with a clinical strike, marking his debut goal for the club. 

Sebastian Tounekti scored Celtic's third goal in the 54th minute by collecting a through-pass from Benjamin Nygren and slotting a low finish into the bottom corner of the net. 

Nine minutes later, Mika Baur produced a lovely wee flick to Tounekti, who quickly fed the ball into Nygren; the Swede then arrowed a sweet shot high into the net from 18 yards.

Zoo-housed Lions Show Wild-style Behaviours When Fed Whole Carcasses

An Australian study "Effects of implementing a whole-carcass feeding routine on the behaviour of zoo-housed African lions (Panthera leo)" published August 2026 has found that feeding zoo-housed lions whole-animal carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule encourages behaviours more closely aligned with those seen in the wild. 

The research from Adelaide University and Monarto Safari Park in South Australia released in ⁠Applied Animal Behaviour Science examined how African lions responded when animal care staff introduced whole-animal carcasses every nine days, building on an existing feast-and-fast feeding routine for a group of adult males. 

Using around-the-clock video monitoring over three months, researchers found the lions spent significantly longer feeding, rested more after meals and displayed activity patterns that mirrored the natural cycles of wild lions. 

Lead author Lesia Hryhorenko from Adelaide University's School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences said the study offers new insights into how feeding schedules influence the behavior of carnivores in human care. 

"Wild lions don't eat at the same time every day. They experience natural periods of feasting and fasting depending on hunting success", Hryhorenko said. "We wanted to understand how African lions in human care respond when feeding routines more closely resemble those natural patterns". 

The researchers monitored three adult male lions at Monarto Safari Park before and after the introduction of whole-carcass feeding. During the experimental phase, zookeepers fed the three adult male lions approximately 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of carcasses, which remained available for up to three days, followed by a period of rest and digestion. 

Eight infrared cameras recorded the lions' behavior continuously, creating one of the most detailed 24-hour data sets yet collected on African lions in human care under a carcass-feeding regime. 

The study found that feeding activity increased dramatically on carcass days, with lions spending almost three times longer feeding than they normally would. 

Feeding bouts were also more frequent and lasted longer as the animals tore, manipulated and consumed the carcasses, exhibiting a wider range of natural feeding behaviors. After feeding, the lions spent much more time lying down and resting. As the fasting period progressed, movement gradually increased again, creating a behavioral rhythm that closely resembled the feast-and-fast cycles observed in wild lion populations. 

"Providing whole carcasses changes much more than the nutritional content of the diet", Hryhorenko said. "It gives lions the opportunity to engage in behaviors such as tearing, pulling and manipulating food over extended periods, which are important components of their natural feeding ecology". 

Researchers also examined pacing, a repetitive behavior often associated with anticipation in carnivores in human care. While pacing increased slightly over the course of the study, it did not steadily rise during fasting periods. Instead, peaks occurred around routine keeper arrival and habitat-shifting times, suggesting the behavior was linked more closely to predictable feeding routines than hunger. 

The researchers observed no increase in aggression or social instability around carcass-feeding events. 

Co-author Alexandra Whittaker, an associate professor, said the study highlights the value of long-term, continuous monitoring when assessing animal behavior and management practices. 

"Many zoo studies focus only on what happens immediately after food is provided", Whittaker said. "Our results show that feeding schedules can influence behavior for days afterward, making it essential to look at behavioral patterns across the entire feeding cycle rather than a single feeding event". 

The researchers say future studies combining behavioral observations with physiological measures could help further evaluate how different feeding regimes affect animal welfare and well-being.

The New Normal: East Asia’s Brutal Heatwave

A brutal heatwave across East Asia has devastated agriculture, leaving one farmer Lee Sang-hyuk with an entirely spoiled potato crop in Yanggu county, 80 miles (130km) north-east of Seoul, South Korea. 

The extreme ground heat effectively cooked the produce in the soil, turning a healthy-looking field into mush within a single week. 

Speaking to local broadcaster SBS, Lee expressed heartbreak over the widespread damage. His ruined livelihood reflects the broader impact of record-breaking summer temperatures currently impacting South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. As per a news report from The Guardian published August 13, 2026. 

In fact, two Sundays ago, the south-eastern city of Yangsan recorded a temperature of 42.5C, the highest registered in South Korea since modern weather observations began in 1904. 

The scorching heat has since been blamed for at least 31 deaths nationwide, according to the country’s disease control agency, while more than 900,000 livestock and 1.4 million farmed fish have died. 

Authorities issued a heat warning, urging people to “immediately stop all outdoor activities”. 

South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, told his cabinet the extreme weather was “unlike anything we have experienced before”. 

“We need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system”, he said, “since this extreme weather is becoming the new normal”. 

In neighbouring Japan, temperatures reached 40C or higher at multiple locations and the country recorded its first ever “kokushobi”, or “cruelly hot day”, a new category introduced this year by the country’s weather agency for temperatures above 40C. In Tokyo, three lions died of suspected heatstroke at a city zoo. 

Scientists say the extremes are part of a wider pattern. Researchers working through Japan’s Weather Attribution Centre found that the country’s intense July heat would have been “virtually impossible” without global warming. 

Without the warming caused by human activity, they calculated, a heatwave of this scale would occur on average once ever 10,000 years. The heat struck even as an El Niño event was under way, a natural climate pattern that has in the past been associated with a lower likelihood of extreme summer heat in Japan. 

In Hong Kong, its observatory posted an official temperature of 36.9C, the highest recorded there since records began in 1884, as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin swept hot air over the city. 

In China’s western Xinjiang region, a weather station recorded a 50C reading in July and heatwaves gripped the country’s north-east, while North Korea reported a run of tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures failing to fall below 25C. 

The World Meteorological Organization said in their latest State of the Climate in Asia report that the pace of Asia’s warming between 1991 and 2025 is roughly twice that of the preceding three decades. 

June-Yi Lee (right), a climate scientist at Pusan National University and a coordinating lead author of the UN’s most recent climate assessment, warned that heatwaves were expected to become more frequent and intense as the climate heated up, while compound extremes, such as consecutive heatwaves and heavy rainfall, were becoming more common. 

“There is an urgent need for rapid, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit further global warming together with well-planned adaptation measures to address the climate change that is already occurring”, she said.

Butterflies On The Move

Around the world, ongoing environmental changes are prompting many butterfly species to relocate and search for new homes, a process referred to as species range shifts or species redistribution. 

As temperatures, rainfall and habitats change, butterflies can relocate over long distances, or even move vertically up and down mountain ranges. 

A new global study found one in ten known butterfly species has already shifted in range. So, where are they going – and why? 

Data from a collection of more than 6,180 reports (565 studies and 68 expert assessments) of butterfly range shift and which covered 1,758 species across 105 countries, showed 80% of the documented butterfly species had expanded their ranges latitudinally, meaning east to west, or longitudinally, meaning north to south. It found that 27% had reduced their range and 22% had shifted up or down slopes on hills or mountains. 

Many species showed a combination of these range changes. The public narrative is often simplistic: as the world warms, species are shifting towards cooler temperatures at higher latitudes, or moving upwards in mountains. This is happening, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. 

In fact, butterflies need more than to find new homes at the right temperature. Caterpillars often depend on specific host plants; adults need nectar, shelter and safe places to breed; and populations also require connected habitats so individuals can move easily through the landscape, meet, reproduce and breed. 

Some species show how fast changes can happen. The tawny coster (Acraea terpsicore) native to the Indian subcontinent, primarily centered in India and Sri Lanka, has expanded through Southeast Asia and into Australia. In Brazil, Godartiana byses has expanded from Rio de Janeiro and Bahia into São Paulo, a shift linked to climate warming. 

Other species show the opposite pattern. The small blue (Cupido minimus) has lost 40% of its habitat in the United Kingdom over the past 150 years. In Germany, the cranberry fritillary (Boloria aquilonaris) has lost much of its original habitat because of bog drainage. In Romania, an increase in farming has been linked to a severe range contraction of the danube clouded yellow (Colias myrmidone). 

Even range shifts along mountain slopes are not always straightforward. In Mexico, the painted lady (Vanessa cardui) shifted upslope at a rate of about 83 metres per year between 1988 and 2011. Over the same period, the queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) shifted downslope at a rate of about 32m per year. 

Together, these examples show butterfly species range shifts are not simply a story of animals moving towards the poles. 

In the comprehensive study, climate change and extreme weather events were the most common reasons why butterflies shifted their range. 

But climate change is not the only factor. Agriculture, forestry, urban development and habitat destruction are also reshaping where butterflies can live and reproduce. These disturbances destroy host plants and breeding sites, and fragment large habitats into patches too small to sustain a healthy population. 

It is important to note that butterflies are part of the living fabric around us. Adult butterflies contribute to pollination. Caterpillars feed birds, spiders and other insects. When butterflies disappear, it can signal the plants, grasslands or woodlands once visited by butterflies are also changing. 

This matters for conservation. Many protected areas are based on maps of where species lived in the past. But if butterflies and other species are moving, those maps quickly become outdated. 

The message is simple. Conservation cannot only protect habitats where species once lived – it must include the places where they will relocate, and the wildlife corridors they will use to get there. If not, we may keep protecting yesterday’s nature while tomorrow’s nature has nowhere left to go.

No Fly Zone: Why Zebras Wear PJs

For most of the history of evolutionary biology, nobody has really known why zebras have stripes. 

This is not for lack of trying. The specific pattern is one of the most obviously puzzling features of any mammal on Earth – vivid, symmetrical, apparently costly to maintain, and completely useless for the sort of things stripes usually do in nature. 

Camouflage, the most intuitive explanation, doesn't work. As are the other explanations. Thermoregulation. Social recognition. Confusing predators during the chase. One by one, most of these suppositions have quietly collapsed. 

But one long-standing scientific hypothesis moved closer to confirmation, thanks to a unique experiment in Japan, conducted at the Aichi Agricultural Research Center in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture in the Chubu region of central Japan. Published on October 03, 2019, in PLOS ONE, the study "Cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid biting fly attack" by Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, et al demonstrates that painting black-and-white stripes on cattle significantly reduces biting fly attacks. 

Six Japanese Black cows* (Kuroge Washu) – a breed that is naturally uniformly dark – were assigned to three treatments using a Latin-square rotation: painted with black-and-white zebra stripes, painted with black-only stripes (to control for any effect of the paint itself), or left unpainted. 

[*Fun fact: These bovines make up over 90% of all ⁠Wagyu produced in Japan].

The cows spent time in each treatment on natural pasture where biting flies were abundant. Researchers photographed the animals at regular intervals and counted the number of flies visible on their bodies in each image. The results were direct. Cows in the zebra-stripe condition attracted approximately half as many biting flies as the same animals when unpainted or when painted with black-only stripes. 

The cows also showed substantially fewer fly-repelling behaviours – the head throws, ear beats, leg stamps, skin twitches, and tail flicks that cattle use to shake off biting insects. They were, measurably, being bothered less. 

The specific paint pattern did the work. The stripes were doing something. The current best explanation for the effect involves the specific visual mechanics of how biting flies land. 

Flies do not simply fly straight at a target. In the final approach, they rely on optical flow – the way visual patterns move across their compound eyes as they close in – to judge distance, speed, and the precise moment to slow down for landing. 

Uniform surfaces produce smooth optical flow. Striped surfaces produce something the fly’s visual system cannot interpret cleanly. The alternating light and dark bands create false movement signals, disrupting the fly’s ability to gauge how close it actually is to the surface. The result is that flies approach striped surfaces at the wrong speed, often overshooting or bumping off without properly landing. 

Over the course of an afternoon in a fly-heavy pasture, this small optical mismatch adds up to a substantial reduction in successful landings. None of this requires the fly to be repelled by the stripes in any active sense. It just requires the stripes to make landing physically harder. 

The insect-deterrent theory has taken decades to reach its current standing, because it has spent most of that time competing with three other serious explanations that biologists once found more plausible.

Why Other Theories Failed

• Camouflage against savanna vegetation fails because zebras stand out clearly to lions and hyenas at hunting distances instead of blending in.
• Thermoregulation: Tests on striped metal barrels showed no cooling effect from the pattern. 
• Social recognition does not offer a plausible evolutionary reason for zebra stripes because other closely related, highly social African equids (like wild donkeys and horses) recognize each other perfectly well without any stripes at all. 
• Predator confusion: Moving stripes offer only a minor distraction to large predators during a chase.

Nature solved pest control millions of years ago, not with chemicals, but with a simple optical illusion. It turns out that fashion-forward thinking is the ultimate shield against the animal kingdom's tiniest nuisances.

Tom Waits "The Fly"

Parade's Rylan Fischer on July 31, 2026 introduced a superb new spoken-word piece "The Fly" by Tom Waits. It serves as the B-side to his stellar collaboration with Massive Attack, "Boots on the Ground". 

And this is what he wrote on Tom Waits. "...He is one of the most singular American artists of all time. He is a potent and sardonic songwriter who utilizes sounds and styles from the most unlikely places to create songs and stories that sound nothing like anything you'll ever hear. With instrumentation as down-and-out as the people he depicts in his music, Waits captures all corners of the idiosyncratic, deranged, depressed, and authentic that makes up America", as noted by Parade. 

And so, "The Fly" is already available digitally on July 31 and the physical eco-conscious vinyl scheduled for September 04.

A satirical, comically wry ode to the common housefly (Musca domestica), written out of a "begrudging admiration for the brief, unsung life of the insect", that's what it it!

 

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 

I’ve become a big fan of the new song. I'm fascinated by how he trains his singular focus on something as uncommonly common as the common housefly. And I find him to be such a fascinating voice to listen to, and his writing has a way of commanding my attention. 

The fact that Waits relies entirely on the gravel and rhythmic cadence of his own voice to build the tension, turning simple, stark spoken words into a percussive, theatrical performance, proves he doesn't need a band to create a brooding atmosphere.

Overall, the song is packed with all of Waits’ dark wit and gritty honesty. For sure, the choice to forego any instrumentation works brilliantly as well, putting me right in the room with Waits and making me feel like I’m staring right at the eponymous fly. 

I very much appreciate this particular track because I myself have given speeches on the cockroach and the frog! 

As with the housefly ditty, the speeches have stood out!

The Defense Against Korea's Heat Waves

As record heat waves continue to bake concrete jungles across the globe, city planners looking for thermal relief may find their best defense planted right outside their front doors. 

According to new research from Korea’s National Institute of Forest Science, urban forests serve as powerful, natural air conditioners, slashing daytime temperatures by nearly 2 degrees Celsius compared to heavily built-up city centers. 

The findings, released July 27, 2026 by the forest research agency, draw on continuous temperature and humidity tracking across various urban environments in Seoul. The data reveals that city forests provide a consistent cooling effect, lowering temperatures by up to 1.8 degrees Celsius at the peak of midday heat. 

However, not all green spaces cool equally. Researchers discovered that broadleaf and mixed forests – composed of both deciduous and coniferous trees – offered the most dramatic heat reduction, cooling surrounding areas by 1.5 to 1.8 degrees Celsius. Coniferous stands were slightly less effective, lowering temperatures by about 1.2 degrees Celsius. 

Scientists attribute this microclimate mitigation to two key ecological processes: dense canopy shading and evapotranspiration. During summer months, thick, leafy canopies form a protective shield against direct solar radiation. At the same time, trees release water vapor into the atmosphere through their leaves, drawing latent heat from the surrounding air and creating a localized chilling effect. 

The cooling benefits do not vanish when the sun sets. The study found that urban forests maintain temperatures 1.3 to 1.6 degrees Celsius lower than dense urban centers overnight, offering crucial relief from tropical nights – periods where nighttime temperatures fail to drop below comfortable levels. 

Unlike asphalt and concrete, which store heat during the day and radiate it outward after dark, forest ecosystems release far less stored thermal energy, helping regulate citywide microclimates around the clock. 

"Urban forests are critical green infrastructure protecting residents from intense summer heat waves, with multilayered broadleaf and mixed forests demonstrating exceptional cooling performance", said Choi Su-min, a researcher at the institute's Urban Forest Research Center. "Moving forward, urban planners must actively incorporate these specific vegetation structures when designing city parks and green zones".  

As climate change accelerates the frequency and intensity of summer heat, the Urban Forest Research Center said the study underscores a growing consensus among urban planners: investing in diverse, multilayered forest canopies is no longer merely an aesthetic amenity, but an essential public health strategy to keep modern cities livable.

Phonetic Parallel: Sperm Whales and Human Speech

We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales’ vocalized communications are remarkably similar to our own, researchers have discovered. 

Not only do sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) have a form of “alphabet” and form vowels within their vocalizations but the structure of these vowels behaves in the same way as human speech, the new study has found. 

Sperm whales communicate in a series of short clicks called codas. Analysis of these clicks shows that the whales can differentiate vowels through the short or elongated clicks or through rising or falling tones, using patterns similar to languages such as Mandarin, Latin and Slovenian. 

The structure of the whales’ communication has “close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution”, the paper, published in the Proceedings B journal, states. Sperm whale coda vocalizations are “highly complex and represent one of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analyzed animal communication system”, it added. 

The findings are the latest discovery about the lives of sperm whales by Project Ceti (standing for Cetacean Translation Initiative), an organization that have studied whales off the coast of Dominica in an attempt to find out what they are saying. 

Until the 1950s, it was not clear to scientists that sperm whales even vocalized but modern technology, including artificial intelligence, is helping unlock the language of these creatures – with unexpected similarities to our own speech. 

“I think it’s another humbling moment that we’re not the only species with rich, communicative, communal and cultural lives”, said David Gruber (left), founder and president of Project CETI. 

“These whales could be passing information along generation to generation to generation for over 20 million years. Humans now are just having the right tools and desire to be able to look at whale voices in this way to see the complexity that has been there all along”. 

Studying sperm whales can be challenging – they dive deep underwater for up to 50 minutes in search of squid to eat, only surfacing for 10 minutes at a time. But it’s near the surface where the animals “chit-chat”, as Gruber put it, with their heads close together. 

“If you watch sperm whales, they put their heads right together and click into each other’s heads”, he said. “It’s like if you wanted to talk to someone about a Chaucer novel or something – you wouldn’t want to do that from opposite ends of a football stadium. You would want to get real close to have a real sophisticated conversation”. 

That sperm whale conversation sounds, to our ears, little more than a staccato morse code. But by removing the gaps between the clicks, researchers were able to find patterns strikingly similar to human speech. Much like how we alter our tongue position to change an “A” sound into an “E” sound, whales can manipulate their organs to produce different ‘vowel’ sounds of their own. 

Gašper Beguš, a linguist at University of California, Berkeley who led the new paper, said that this level of complexity in sperm whale speech was beyond anything he had studied in other creatures, such as parrots and elephants, and highlights the parallels between our lives and those of the whales. 

“They have very different lives to us – they’re not stuck to the ground all the time, they float in the water, they sleep vertically”, said Beguš. “Yet you realize that there’s a lot that unifies us. They have grandmas, they babysit each other’s calves, they give collaborative births, they’re very loud during a birth and so on. It’s such a distant intelligence, but in many ways very relatable”. 

The new study shows that “sperm whale communication isn’t just about patterns of clicks – it involves multiple interacting layers of structure”. said Mauricio Cantor, a behavioral ecologist at the Marine Mammal Institute who was not involved in the research. “With this study, we’re starting to see that these signals are organized in ways we didn’t fully appreciate before”. 

The latest discovery around sperm whale speech has inched forward the possibility of someday fully understanding the creatures and even communicating with them. Project Ceti has set a goal of being able to comprehend 20 different vocalized expressions, relating to actions such as diving and sleeping, within the next five years. 

Actually being able to fully grasp what the whales are saying, or being able to converse with them, is still a longer-term proposition, Gruber said, but not an outlandish one. 

“It’s totally within our grasp”, he said. “We’ve already got a lot further than I thought we could. But it will take time, and funding. At the moment we are like a two-year-old, just saying a few words. In a few years’ time, maybe we will be more like a five-year-old”. 

US Explosive Diarrhoea Outbreak

Mexico’s Ministry of Health and the National Committee for Epidemiological Surveillance (CONAVE) issued an official preventive travel advisory. 

The advisory warns of an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic stomach illness, that has infected at least 1,645 people across 34 US states. No deaths have been reported from Cyclospora infection, but at least 94 people have been hospitalised. 

Newsweek was first to report on this alert in English, and highlighting that US health agencies detected a sharp spike in infections since May. 

The parasite (Cyclospora cayetanensis) causes severe intestinal issues and is typically spread by consuming fresh produce or water contaminated with infected feces. 

As at Monday, US investigators had not confirmed a source, though the FDA were examining shredded iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata) supplied by Taylor Farms. 

Taco Bell, known for meticulous supply chain management, were among the first to identify themselves as using Taylor Farms produce and warn recent diners they may be about to enter the launch cycle. 

Health officials in Mexico are urging citizens traveling north for the summer to carefully monitor their health for up to two weeks upon their return.

Malaysian women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan bounced back from last week’s first-round exit at the Japan Open by advancing to the second round of the China Open yesterday. 

The world No 5 pair were in complete control as they defeated the 29th-ranked Japanese pair Ririna Hiramoto-Kokona Ishikawa 21-16, 21-12 in just 31 minutes. 

Pearly-Thinaah will face Ukraine's Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr, for a place in the quarter-finals today.

Franken-fish Invade the Philippines

Escaped ornamental aquarium fish have integrated into a local ecosystem in the Philippines, but scientists say they may be threatening the native biodiversity of the lake. 

Flowerhorn cichlids – human-bred hybrid fish prized for their brilliant and highly variable colours, typically displaying vibrant shades of red, orange, and gold, overlaid with metallic blue, green, and white "pearl" scales and prominent head humps – are believed to have escaped from breeding facilities into Lake Sampaloc, which sits in a volcanic crater in Laguna on the island of Luzon, during a typhoon.

[Note: Flowerhorn cichlids do not have an official scientific name. They are man-made hybrids. They were first bred in Malaysia in the 1990s. Breeders mixed several Central American cichlids. The primary ancestor is the Three-Spot Cichlid (Amphilophus trimaculatus). Other ancestors include the Red Devil (Amphilophus labiatus) and the Midas Cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus). Because they are crossed like dogs of mixed breeds, they are simply listed as Amphilophus hybrid or named by their specific variety (like Kamfa or Thai Silk). Like a mutt dog, a flowerhorn is a mix. It does not exist in the wild naturally]. 

FYI, there is a variety of freshwater fish such as catfish, mudfish, tilapia, shrimp, ayungin, dulong and also snails. There are also many fish ponds here, which are one of the sources of income for the inhabitants of San Pablo City, Laguna, where they breed many different types of tilapia and shrimp. 

Research by Hannah Nicole C Gasmen and Dr Janice A Ragaza of Ateneo de Manila University has found that flowerhorns are being incorporated into the existing aquaculture system because, like tilapia, they can survive difficult conditions. Flowerhorns that have established wild populations and entered tilapia cages are sometimes kept and sold into the ornamental trade, while some local people stock them intentionally. 

The research, however, suggests that intentional stocking and sale could expand an already established invasive population. 

The 104-hectare (260-acre) Lake Sampaloc is already strained by sewage, household runoff, aquaculture nutrients and plastic waste, making it especially vulnerable to invasive species. Flowerhorns thrive in its eutrophic, polluted waters and compete for food, shelter and breeding grounds. 

The native ayungin, or silver perch (Leiopotherapon plumbeus), once a common catch, has become progressively rare and has even been classified as endangered by the IUCN. 

“Human-degraded habitats are generally the most vulnerable to invasion, and they are typically invaded by generalist species”, said Rupert Collins, a senior curator of fish at London’s Natural History Museum. “Cichlids are particularly successful in adapting. They are a textbook example of how new phenotypes can arise very quickly”. 

Concerns were also raised about potential parasites. Some flowerhorns in captivity have been found carrying Paracapillaria philippinensis, a roundworm capable of infecting humans. Some people have been observed fishing for flowerhorns recreationally and incorporating them into their cooking. The parasite has not been found in Lake Sampaloc’s flowerhorns, but the researchers advise against promoting the fish for human consumption. 

Dr Noël Juvigny-Khenafou, a lecturer in aquatic environmental science at the University of Stirling who was not involved in the research, noted that climate change may also intensify the problem. 

“Climate change may alter where aquaculture takes place and what species people are able to raise”, he said. “That could mean production shifting between regions and more non-native species being introduced into new places”. 

He said the research raised interesting questions: “What does that mean for the native species? What does that mean for the function of the ecosystem? Is the introduced species leading the ecosystem towards collapse, or is it simply becoming part of a new ecological community?” 

The researchers proposed long-term solutions including stronger pens, finer mesh, overflow barriers, routine inspections and community-led monitoring. They also suggest that invasive fish could be harvested for use in aquafeed, subject to screening for pathogens, heavy metals and microplastics. 

“Protecting and sustaining our aquatic ecosystems requires a collaborative approach among communities, research institutions and policymakers”, advised Gasmen.

The Mew-s Cycle

Cats are reclaiming their spot at the top of the news feed.

An airport in China has won massive applause on social media for raising three homeless cats and letting them stay in a designated area so that passengers can see and interact with them. The airport praised for “being warm” is Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport in Lanzhou, northwestern Gansu province. 

Airports are usually noisy and busy, making them tough environments for stray animals. Originally, two of the felines were just strays wandering a construction site where a new airport terminal was being built. They chose to stay near the terminal even after the new building was completed.  

Instead of chasing the cats away, the airport staff created a safe home for them. The custom glass enclosure is equipped with a fresh air system, a water dispenser and a cat climbing frame. 

The airport even designate employees to care for them and regularly take them out to “patrol” the premises so they can do their duty: catching mice. The cats do such a good job that the airport stopped using harsh rat poison. 

The two kitties went viral on mainland social media after some passengers shared their cute videos online, calling them “officials of the airport’s mouse control office”. 

Leveraging the online fame of the felines, the airport adopted them earlier this year. They gathered name proposals for the two cats from social media, the male is named Sangbiao and the female Cuihua. 

The former moved into the cattery in April after being sterilised and vaccinated and also underwent procedures to expel parasites. Cuihua gave birth to their daughter Cuiguo through a caesarean section at a pet hospital in June. She and the kitten were later united with Sangbiao in their new home. 

The news has received a huge response online. 

“I expected the airport to either drive away or completely ignore these stray cats. Instead, they provided them with cosy beds, fresh food, and even a custom glass enclosure. Well done, Lanzhou Airport”, a blogger said in her video, which garnered more than 44,000 likes. 

Another internet user commented: “The airport should be given a bonus point for being warm towards and caring for small animals”.

The Purr-fect Workplace Solution

A Japanese company hired full-time office cats to reduce workplace stress, and it’s working. 

Tokyo-based Qnote Inc. first adopted a cat in 2004 and has since grown their feline staff to eleven permanent office residents. Employees say the cats boost morale, encourage short breaks, and create a much more relaxed and pleasant work environment. 

Each cat even has an official job title, such as “office clerk”, “manager”, or “auditor”, making them fully integrated into the company culture. 

The company love cats so much that “cat lover” is now listed as a requirement for human job applicants. 🐈

To accommodate their furry employees, Qnote renovated the office to incorporate cat toilets, climbing shelves, and scratch-resistant walls, allowing the cats to roam freely without causing damage. The result? Lower stress levels and stronger team bonding among staff.

Cats purr away work stress, ensuring a purr-fect workplace solution. 

In Malaysia, Bersama announced on July 15 their decision to sit out the sixteenth Negeri Sembilan state polls. 

This represents a calculated maneuver on their part because the state will witness an intense, localized showdown brewing between the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) camps. Moving ahead risked putting Bersama candidates in the crossfire, which will not benefit the young party. 

Instead, Bersama will channel their "full focus" into preparing for the Melaka state election expected later this year.

Considering everything, methinks, it is a prudent move.

Fede and Magui Recognized as Sentient Beings

On the facade of a sushi restaurant in a chic Buenos Aires neighborhood, two goldfish (Carassius auratus) in a glass display case would go largely unnoticed apart from the occasional child who would tap against the glass. 

One day, someone took a closer look at the tank, which was exposed to the sun and street noise. It would change the fate of the pair of small fish, named Fede and Magui, who were later recognized in an Argentine court as sentient beings that had rights. 

“Anyone passing by and stopping to look could see it wasn’t suitable for the fish”, said Matías Trufero, lawyer for the NGO Jaulas Vacías, an anti-speciesism sanctuary that houses more than 200 rescued animals. 

He said that’s why Jaulas Vacías (Empty Cages) decided to file a complaint with the courts, arguing that the conditions of these fish violated Law 14.346, which penalizes animal abuse in Argentina. With the help of specialists, they built a legal case and almost immediately convinced the court to move the fish to a more suitable place. 

The landmark court ruling, which sided with the plaintiffs, was handed down in Buenos Aires on July 13, 2026. 

Trufero, the main promoter of this change, said the restaurant staff did not object to the ruling. CNN has contacted the restaurant for comment. 

Having two fish in a glass display case is “more or less the same as putting two polar bears in a cage inside a sauna”, said Carlos José Aga, one of the specialists who helped with the rescue and offered to adopt them. Magui and Fede were moved from their 40-liter display case and into a 2,500-liter fish tank at Aga’s house. The court ruled that the fish would remain in the care of their adopter. 

“Fish are like astronauts, they travel in their own environment with careful monitoring of all their vital parameters, and when they arrive at the place, those conditions must be reproduced with great accuracy to avoid imbalances that could lead to a decrease in their immunity”, Aga explained. 

“Now they are doing very well”, he said. But rescuing the fish was only part of the process. 

“At the beginning of the case, we requested that, in addition to removing the fish to a safe and suitable location, they be declared subjects of law”, or “sentient beings”, Trufero explained. 

In other words, they wanted the fish to stop being recognized merely as “objects” under the law and become beings with rights. Such a ruling sets a precedent for similar animals in inadequate conditions to lead a dignified life. 

For anyone wondering if it’s illegal to keep goldfish at home, Trufero said the answer depends on the situation. “It’s not illegal per se to keep a fish in a fish tank. However, it is illegal to keep them in conditions that cause mistreatment or cruelty. For example, inadequate space, insufficient food, and other acts punishable by law”, Trufero said about the legislation in Argentina. 

“Furthermore, if it’s an exotic species, keeping could be prohibited if it falls under local wildlife laws”, regulations that also exist in many other countries, he said. 

The first habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of a non-human animal was in 2005 for Suiza, a chimpanzee in Brazil, who died before being transferred to a sanctuary. 

From then on, similar cases began to occur in other countries, including Argentina. One of the best known was that of Sandra, an orangutan born in Germany who lived in the Buenos Aires Zoo for 20 years until 2014, when she was declared a “non-human person” by a judge thanks to legal action brought by environmentalists. 

The ruling held that her captivity and exhibition violated her rights, even though she was well fed and did not suffer mistreatment. 

In 2016, the Buenos Aires Zoo was transformed into an eco-park, removing animals from display and relocating many of them to sanctuaries. Sandra was sent to the Center of Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida in the USA, in 2019. 

“The importance of declaring these animals subjects of law lies in the fact that they cease to be considered a thing, an object”, Trufero explained. 

In cases of cruelty and mistreatment, they can be considered victims and not things, which radically changes the way the future of animals is defined. 

The case of Fede and Magui opens a door for these types of fish, very common in homes and businesses, to be legally protected. 

“A subject with a legal right can do little or nothing for themselves unless there are people who speak on behalf of those who cannot speak and enforce the law”, Aga emphasized, adding that Fede and Magui have already settled into their new home.

The Scuba-Suit Cyborg Roach

Two decades after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a specialized research and development branch of the US Department of War, started fiddling around with cyborg insects in their ⁠Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program, Singaporean researchers are showing off the latest accomplishment in the area. 

The productive researchers are proudly presenting their potent new 3D-printed variant: a remote-controlled, cyborg cockroach equipped with IR cameras that can breathe underwater for hours on end. 

Although that description sounds like the start of a sci-fi or horror movie, the team led by Hirotaka Sato (left) at Nanyang Technological University have been working with the much-hated pest for a good while, outfitting them with infrared cameras in a bid to help rescue operations by steering the roaches in disaster areas to find survivors. 

To be clear, as the release notes, Cyborg insects are living insects that have been retrofitted with technology. 

Sato's team had already demonstrated an orchestrated swarm of the little beasties in 2024, but reportedly weren't happy with the fact that they couldn't send them through water, and went back to the drawing board to fix that. 

The result is an upgraded form that went underwater for three hours in stages, at a depth of 20" (50 cm); enough for most puddles and lightly flooded areas. Quite interestingly, the roaches' speed was only lightly affected, going from 3.5" (8.75 cm) per second on land to 3.1" (7.84 cm) a second while submerged in water. 

Cockroaches don't swim per se, but they can paddle-float, and are fine navigating water bodies in general, and it's possible they can go deeper than in the test. 

To achieve this, the creepy-crawlies wear a spiffy-looking bespoke 3D-printed scuba suit, complete with tubes that attach from the tank to their "nostrils", called spiracles. The tank has a sponge with both hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide, in a slow, carefully tuned reaction that outputs oxygen at a controlled rate. This choice was made to avoid the tricky task of providing a heavy, pressurized oxygen tank – though imagining a cockroach with a tiny tank backflipping into water from a tiny boat is amusing. 

The cockroach is pretty much the ideal platform for this type of endeavor, as their legs are easy to control with electrical impulses, and their locomotion characteristics let them navigate almost every type of terrain, oftentimes better than many miniature robots. 

Their biological batteries theoretically last for weeks on end, too. One roach needs food only every few weeks, a mission-critical feature given that scientists working with miniaturization of any sort keep butting their heads against energy limitations. The infrared cameras and wireless do use an actual mini battery pack, but the insects themselves can find sustenance on their own. 

In this particular case, they are leveraging the Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) due to their unique combination of physical traits and survival abilities: 

Large Size and Payload Capacity

• Heavy lifters – Fully grown adults reach about 6 cm in length and weigh around 5 grams.
• Equipment ready – Their large size and strong musculoskeletal structure allow them to easily carry a 5.5-gram electronic "backpack" (containing microcomputers, sensors, batteries, and infrared cameras) without disrupting their natural movement.

Wingless Anatomy

• Less obstruction – Unlike many other cockroach species, Madagascar hissing cockroaches do not have wings.
• Easy mounting – The absence of wings gives scientists a flat, unobstructed surface on their thorax to securely glue the electronic hardware and flexible solar cell films. 

Incredible Physical Resilience 

• Indestructible nature – They can survive crushed environments, low-oxygen spaces, and harsh terrains that would destroy or immobilize a traditional wheeled robot. 
• Amphibious potential – They are robust enough to wear newly developed ⁠NTU 3D-printed miniature "diving suits".

Low Speed and High Agility

• Easy to steer – Their natural crawling speed is slow enough for a human operator or an AI automated system to safely steer them in real-time.
• Self-righting – If they get flipped upside down by shifting rubble, they have the innate ability to right themselves and keep moving.

Beyond search-and-rescue, the Singaporean researchers and global bio-robotics teams are targeting other potential applications for cyborg cockroach technology:

Future Space Exploration 

• Extra-planetary scouting – Because cockroaches can survive low-oxygen environments and extreme temperatures, scientists are looking toward using them to explore the surface of Mars.
• Tested testing – The ⁠NTU 3D-printed diving suits are being considered as a stepping stone toward designing miniature, oxygen-regulated "space suits" for insect swarms. 

Defence and Security 

• Covert reconnaissance – Defense startups, like Germany’s ⁠SWARM Biotactics, utilize cyborg insects for silent, undercover surveillance in high-risk zones.
• Critical infrastructure protection – Swarms can map out heavily contaminated, hazardous, or radioactive military zones too dangerous for human agents

Industrial Infrastructure Inspection – The insects can navigate tightly confined, hazardous industrial spaces. They are being tested to crawl through narrow, toxic, or flooded pipelines and structural foundations to inspect for cracks, gas leaks, or blockages without requiring expensive human or mechanical teardowns. 

Environmental Surveillance & Monitoring – These bio-hybrids can carry specialized temperature, chemical, or radiation sensors. They can be deployed into highly sensitive or dangerous ecosystems to track pollution, chemical spills, or radiation levels in real-time without causing the environmental disruption that larger, heavier robots would create.

Now you know, roaches are useful!