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New livestream shows hundreds of rattlesnakes, many of them pregnant, congregating at “mega-den” in Colorado

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Wildlife experts warn Coloradans of rattlesnake sightings during this time of year


Wildlife experts warn Coloradans of rattlesnake sightings during this time of year

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An intimate new livestream is giving scientists a closer look into the lives of rattlesnakes, which are historically challenging to study. Positioned to face a massive “mega-den” filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of prairie rattlesnakes wedged between rocks somewhere in northern Colorado, the stream is available to watch on YouTube so interested members of the public can observe the creatures themselves, too, and even contribute to the research effort.

The Colorado livestream is part of a community science initiative called Project Rattle Cam that aims to collect real-time data on a normally enigmatic species of venomous reptile. Rattlesnakes are found almost everywhere in the continental United States, the National Wildlife Federation writes, but experts often note how researching them is difficult for several reasons, including their rugged habitats and secretive behavior. 

Project Rattle Cam launched the latest livestream with funding from donors and technology designed by faculty and technicians at California Polytechnic State University’s Bailey College of Science and Mathematics, the university said. It overlooks a massive den in a remote part of northern Colorado. The exact location has not been revealed, but Cal Poly said it is on private land.


Colorado Rattlecam Livestream by
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The live feed is an upgrade from Project Rattle Cam’s earlier means to involve interested people on the internet in a study of rattlesnakes in the American West, which shared time-lapse photographs from certain congregation sites online.

“This livestream allows us to collect data on wild rattlesnakes without disturbing them, facilitating unbiased scientific discovery,” said Emily Taylor, a biological sciences professor at Cal Poly who leads Project Rattle Cam, in a statement. “But even more important is that members of the public can watch wild rattlesnakes behaving as they naturally do, helping to combat the biased imagery we see on television shows of rattling, defensive and stressed snakes interacting with people who are provoking them.”

People watching the stream can tune in at any time to see the creatures as they exist in their day-to-day: piled atop one another, basking in the sun, drinking rain water, shedding their skin, interacting in other ways and sometimes receiving visitors, like small rodents attempting to attack. Dozens of rattlesnakes in the mega-den are currently pregnant, according to Cal Poly, so viewers should also be able to watch the snakes begin to rear their young later this summer. Researchers said the best times to check out the live feed are in the morning or early evening, and community observations are always welcome in the YouTube feed’s accompanying live chat.

Project Rattle Cam operates another livestream that tracks a smaller western rattlesnake den along the central coast of California. For the last three years, that feed has observed the den during warmer seasons, when the snakes emerge from their shelter, Cal Poly said. That stream is also set up at an undisclosed location and went live again on July 11.



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Dishing up space food – CBS News

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Dishing up space food – CBS News


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At the Johnson Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston, NASA scientists develop dishes – freeze-dried, heat-stabilized, or irradiated – to serve on the International Space Station. Correspondent David Pogue checks out what’s on the menu in Earth orbit.

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In praise of Seattle-style teriyaki

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In praise of Seattle-style teriyaki – CBS News


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Seattle has more teriyaki shops per capita than any other metropolis in America. Correspondent Luke Burbank talks with the man whose 1976 restaurant, Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill, began it all.

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Gazan chefs cook up hope and humanity for online audience

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Renad Atallah is an unlikely internet sensation: a 10-year-old chef, with a repertoire of simple recipes, cooking in war-torn Gaza. She has nearly a million followers on Instagram, who’ve witnessed her delight as she unpacks parcels of food aid.

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Ten-year-old Renad Atallah posts videos of herself cooking in war-torn Gaza.

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We interviewed Renad via satellite, though we were just 50 miles away, in Tel Aviv. [Israel doesn’t allow outside journalists into Gaza, except on brief trips with the country’s military.]

“There are a lot of dishes I’d like to cook, but the ingredients aren’t available in the market,” Renad told us. “Milk used to be easy to buy, but now it’s become very expensive.”

I asked, “How does it feel when so many people like your internet videos?”

“All the comments were positive,” she said. “When I’m feeling tired or sad and I want something to cheer me up, I read the comments.”

We sent a local camera crew to Renad’s home as she made Ful, a traditional Middle Eastern bean stew. Her older sister Noorhan says they never expected the videos to go viral. “Amazing food,” Noorhan said, who added that her sibling made her “very surprised!”

After more than a year of war, the Gaza Strip lies in ruins. Nearly everyone has been displaced from their homes. The United Nations says close to two million people are experiencing critical levels of hunger.

Hamada Shaqoura is another chef showing the outside world how Gazans are getting by, relying on food from aid packages, and cooking with a single gas burner in a tent.

Shaqoura also volunteers with the charity Watermelon Relief, which makes sweet treats for Gaza’s children.

In his videos online, Shaqoura always appears very serious. Asked why, he replied, “The situation does not call for smiling. What you see on screen will never show you how hard life is here.”

Before dawn one recent morning in Israel, we watched the UN’s World Food Program load nearly two dozen trucks with flour, headed across the border. The problem is not a lack of food; the problem is getting the food into the Gaza Strip, and into the hands of those who desperately need it.

The UN has repeatedly accused Israel of obstructing aid deliveries to Gaza. Israel’s government denies that, and claims that Hamas is hijacking aid.

“For all the actors that are on the ground, let the humanitarians do their work,” said Antoine Renard, the World Food Program’s director in the Palestinian territories.

I asked, “Some people might see these two chefs and think, well, they’re cooking, they have food.”  

“They have food, but they don’t have the right food; they’re trying to accommodate with anything that they can find,” Renard said.

Even in our darkest hour, food can bring comfort. But for many in Gaza, there’s only the anxiety of not knowing where they’ll find their next meal.

      
For more info:

       
Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Carol Ross. 

      
See also: 


“Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
Delicious menu suggestions from top chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, restaurateurs, and the editors of Food & Wine magazine.  



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