Frogs are amazing

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I think M meant "she" was, as in the picture of Valerie Clark licking the frog in the article M posted. But really, it could have turned out to be a really good day for her.

[Thunderbird]

Here is a cool link....



Bullfrogs Eat Everything Video -- National Geographic

Frogs are one of my favorite subjects for carving i have done three bullfrogs out of green jade, three toads out of ruby, and a tree frog out of ruby in zoisite. one toad out of green garnet.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

Frogs are one of my favorite subjects for carving i have done three bullfrogs out of green jade, three toads out of ruby, and a tree frog out of ruby in zoisite. one toad out of green garnet.

Sweet! Do you have any pictures? What do you use to carve them?
You're not a rockhound or mineral collector perchance, are you?

[Thunderbird]

Originally Posted by freeztar

Sweet! Do you have any pictures? What do you use to carve them?
You're not a rockhound or mineral collector perchance, are you?

I am a rock hound big time, We have a local rock swap in june, I love it, talking to my fellow lapidaries and collectors, geologist, vendors, all around science nerds.

I did have some pictures of my frogs on the net but they no longer show up.
are you familiar with lapidary journal? or corlored gemstone magizine? I am in the current Issues jan-feb I won first place with my carving of a fish.
Colored Stone: the 2008 Gemmy Awards

[Thunderbird]

Moved Rock Hounds Uniteo :

[freeztar]

That's awesome TB!

I used to subscribe to the lapidary journal years ago. I even bought a dremel with some diamond grinders, but it didn't seem to do anything to the carnelian I was working with. I'd grind down the grinder and there'd be hardly a nick on the stone. I got frustrated and gave up. If you have some tips, then I'd love to hear them.

We've drifted a bit off-topic (in a good way) and I think I'll probably move these last few posts to the following thread if there are no objections.

Rock Hounds Unite

See you there!

[Michaelangelica]

WOW
The fish is beautiful- two years! How many hours?
freeztar OK but in exchange for the pretty pic of the fish we need one of a frog?
Thunderbird!! ?? get cracking

Some more on frogs

Frog skin diabetes treatment hope
Paradoxical frog
The paradoxical frog is native to South America
Skin secretions from a South American "shrinking" frog could be used to treat type 2 diabetes, researchers say.

A compound isolated from the frog, which grows to 27cm as a tadpole before shrinking to 4cm in adulthood, stimulates insulin release.

BBC NEWS | Health | Frog skin diabetes treatment hope

Frog's Slimy Goo Could Help Diabetics

Updated:08:19, Monday March 03, 2008
Slimy goo from the skin of an exotic green and pink frog could provide a radical new treatment for diabetes.
Slime could stimulate insulin

Scientists say the South American paradoxical frog - so-called because it shrinks in size with age - secretes a substance from its skin which protects it from infection.

But researchers believe the molecule could stimulate the release of insulin - the vital hormone lacking in diabetes sufferers.

An artificial copy of the substance, pseudin-2, showed that it could be used to boost insulin production in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Even so, much more work must be carried out before the frog therapy is ready to be tested on human patients.

The research is being carried out by scientists at the University of Ulster and United Arab Emirates University.

Diabetes Frog: How Natural Slimy Goo Could Help Sufferers |Sky News|Health
"slimy " "goo" frogs need better PR writers The goo has some of the most complex chemicals and anti-biotics in the world (and an occasional prince/ess)
Couple of good videos on this site including one of the newly bred transparent frog, bred to eliminate the need for biology dissections.
And this interesting bit of trivia

Frogs with painkiller benefits
Frogs with painkiller benefits

Jelly Belly
This Hyalinobatrachium sp frog also contains the poison. But the good news is that the venom has been isolated by scientists to form a painkiller 200 times more powerful that morphine - without the addictive effects of morphine.

Sorry Sky is too mean to let me share a photo of it.

[Michaelangelica]

I haven't listened yet but it is usually an excellent programme.
listened to it now only short. if you want an abbreviated version just listen to the second show.

Who do you think is right?
I live near a stand of huge gums that prevents us from getting mobile reception and some TV stations.
Ever since I have moved here I have drempt like I have never drempt before -sometimes most of the night. Long involved stories. last night quite a saga about Pricne Charles and the Royal Family before that an abbreviated DH Lawrence novel. Any connection Dr Rodney Croft?
Executive Director,
Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research
and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience,
Brain Sciences Institute
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne
Ockham's Razor 9 March 2008 - What is killing the frogs? - A reply to last week's talk
Ockham's Razor
Sunday 09 March 2008

Listen Now - 09032008 | Download Audio - 09032008
What is killing the frogs? - A reply to last week's talk

Last week on this program Barrie Oldfield looked at the decline of frog populations and suggested that electro magnetic radiation and mobile phones may play a role in their demise. Today, Professor Rodney Croft, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research, responds to last week's talk and tells us of his research in this area. Read Transcript
Sunday 02 March 2008

Listen Now - 02032008 | Download Audio - 02032008
Why frogs don't like mobile phones

Barrie Oldfield is a member and past president of the Western Australian branch of Men of the Trees and he discusses the decline of frog populations in this International Year of the Frog. He suggests that maybe electro magnetic radiation may be the reasons for this calamity. Read Transcript

we do know of a number of things that do kill frogs.

• Habitat destruction and fragmentation are clear causes of frog mortality, as are non-native predators such as cats and trout.
• Chemical pollutants have been shown to cause dramatic changes in tadpoles, ranging from the growth of extra limbs, to feminisation.
• Ozone depletion is yet another cause, with frogs unable to adapt to the higher levels of ultra-violet-B radiation that they're exposed to these days,
• recent extinctions of particular frog species, in both Australia and North America, have been shown to result from a disease called chytridiomycosis, a chytrid fungus that has been here since the 1970s.

So while I certainly agree with Mr Oldfield in many of his scientific details, and his encouragement of people to take a more active involvement in caring for their environment, there isn't any reason to believe that frogs will be more affected than, say humans, or mice, by the radiofrequency energy in the environment, and there is certainly no indication that humans or mice have anything to worry about here.

[Michaelangelica]

Wasn't there something you could put in home ponds to kill or prevent chytridiomycosis fungus in ponds?

[mynah]

We had a holiday home in the near-tropical South African Lowveld. The bush music from a nearby manmade pond was sometimes ear-splitting, especially on summer evenings, and we'd often make moonlight trips to the pond to study the inhabitants. These included a number of species, among them bullfrogs, reed frogs, common toads, frogs that built nests of frothy saliva and the strange Xenopus frogs, which spent most of their lives suspended just below the surface.

The appearance of some of these - especially the highly aquatic Xenopus - in the pond was something of a mystery, as the nearest other body of water was hundreds of metres away. (Any suggestions?)

Sadly, we arrived one year to find the pond dead and silent, with not as much as a pondskater in sight, and nasty green foam floating on the water. That, too, was a mystery we never solved.