Environment

Fly Relief

The misery that cows suffer from biting flies could be greatly reduced, thanks to a novel paint job for the animals devised by a team of Japanese researchers.

They found that by painting white stripes on cows, similar to those on zebras, the number of flies landing on the cows fell by more than 50 percent.

Flies seem to avoid landing on black-and-white surfaces due to the difference in the polarization of light reflecting off the two shades, which confuses the flies.

Writing in the journal PLOS One, scientists say fewer flies on the striped cows led to a sharp decline in the fly-defense movements made by the bovines, such as stomping of the feet and flipping of the head.

Oil Spill - Brazil

Brazilian officials are pointing their fingers at Venezuela for a massive oil spill that has polluted hundreds of miles of beaches in nine northeastern states during the past few weeks.

The spill has killed numerous sea turtles and kept swimmers and fishermen from the contaminated coastal strip.

Brazil’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said the spill appears to have come from Venezuela, and that more than 110 tons of oil have been recovered.

“It could be something criminal, it could be an accidental spill, it could also be a ship that sank,” said Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro.