No beaches have been closed because of an ethanol spill, is one of the ethanol industry's newest talking points. Even before the BP disaster, Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying group, had launched a TV campaign touting "America's Sensible Fuel," a fuel that promotes peace, is economical, home-produced and renewable. It sounds, and is, too good to be true. Less efficient than gasoline, more corrosive to today's engines, a significant factor in higher food prices, and a production and distribution infrastructure that depends on government subsidies, all  make ethanol less than a miracle fuel. Washington's policymakers agree that biofuels will be part of our country's energy future, but they generally agree that we will have to move away from corn ethanol, according to a recent story in The Economist. The photo if of an ethanol plant in Turner County, South Dakota. You can read The Economist story here http://www.economist.com/node/16492491?story_id=16492491


     Here's a fish that can belch and walk on land. Three fraternities are trying to get him to pledge. http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/belching-african-lungfish/pqobdyc   

     English researchers have decided that the chicken came first. Not the egg. The chicken. There were eggs before their were chickens, of course, because many species of dinosaurs laid eggs, and birds, so the theory goes, evolved from dinosaurs. Probably. But before there could be a chicken egg, there had to be a chicken. This is according to a team of English researchers from Sheffield and Warwick universities. They used a super computer to zoom in on egg formation, and discovered that an egg shell can form only in the presence of a protein called ovocledidin-17, which is found only in chicken ovaries. The chicken-and-egg debate reminds me of some of the unanswerable philosophical issues - e.g., how many pins can you stick in the head of an angel - but the science of egg formation could have some practical applications. Understanding the process could provide clues towards designing new materials and processes, according to one of the scientists involved in the study, which was reported on in London's Daily Mail. You can read the story here:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294341/Chicken-really-DID-come-egg-say-scientists.html

     On-farm ice cream sales are adding income to family dairy operations. A story in Saturday's edition of Lancaster Farming profiles four families that have gone into the ice cream business. By adding value to their home-grown milk, even if they use only part of their herd output, these farmers are helping to keep their operations profitable. You can read their stories in the food and family section, or check them out at our website, which is here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/

    STOP SHOOTING AND RUN! RUN! http://www.break.com/index/tornado-caught-forming-on-tape.html