Rocky Mountain Oysters

Dangerous to humans and dogs, Rocky Mountain Fever, along with several other tickborne infections, is on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the incidence of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) has been increasing for decades. Overall, ...more

Back in the Super Nintendo days, playing one RPG after the other, memorizing maps and mazes became second nature if you didn't want to look at the mini map or get lost often. I would make it a point to memorize corners and the overall structure of the dungeon or location, so t ...more

In Indianapolis, two-year-old Kenley Ratliff has passed away from what is suspected to be Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), a tick-borne illness. The young girl fell ill with a fever, and just a week later, passed away. Now her family and doctors are looking into the cause ...more

A new case of the still-mysterious Bourbon virus was confirmed in Missouri, likely originating within the state, local authorities said in a June 30 press release. The virus, which researchers think is spread by ticks, was unknown until 2014, and both knowledge and treatment ...more

If you know that ticks spread Lyme disease, you may already know you might also catch a bunch of other infections from them. One of the lesser-known diseases spread by ticks is infection with the bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilium, called anaplasmosis. The disease is danger ...more

While Lyme disease can be disabling, the wrong treatment for the infection can be fatal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that the bacteria that causes Lyme disease infects about 30,000 people each year. Transmitted by the blacklegged tick, Ixodes ...more

The future of forests looks dreary in the face of a warming climate, but scientists are exploring the relationship between soil microbes and the ability of trees to move to higher altitudes, a key component of their survival. With the rate of ice melting and sea level rise ha ...more

The possibility of severe tickborne illness is increasing as an aggressive tick from the American southeast moves up the Atlantic Coast. The primary carrier of Lyme disease is the well-known blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis. Found throughout the northeastern and upper Midw ...more

Transmitted by ticks, Lyme disease is a serious infection that is probably headed your way. A recent study confirms the pathogen that causes Lyme disease is now established in nine national parks in the East, including Acadia and Shenandoah National Parks. Ticks are arachnids ...more

As a part of the already crowded field of diseases transmitted by ticks, you may not know the disease babesiosis, a dangerous infection caused by a parasite that infiltrates blood cells. While babesiosis may sound new to you, scholars believe it is the misfortune described in ...more

Prion diseases are a group of infectious brain diseases that causes extensive tissue damage, resulting in sponge-like spaces in brain tissue. Prions include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (often called mad cow disease), and chronic wastin ...more

Silence spreads over these mountains like nothing I've ever felt. If I didn't have Moby blasting in my earphones, there'd probably be no other sounds around. Well, except for someone, Phil probably, murmuring in a nearby tent just low enough to make his words indiscernible. W ...more

The worst can always happen. Even if you think you're absolutely prepared, you can somehow find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere by yourself.  It can happen.  Without a map, without a compass, without a cell phone... without food and water. There are plenty of dange ...more

Who other than Mother Earth? Below, a selection of 10 images from the USGS' Earth as Art, a collection of stunning photographs from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites. The bright color is a false effect produced by satellite sensors, but the texture, shapes, patterns, scal ...more

Uh. This thing is incredible. Just watch it move. The real action starts around 0:30. The beast has been named Chainlink, and was made from salvaged parts and a fuel injected Ford 5.0 V8 engine, taken out of a '93 Cobra Mustang (via creator/YouTube user rhauf1). Chainlink pl ...more

Ever since the FBI took down the Silk Road and Dread Pirate Roberts last month, many questions have been raised about whether Tor still provides anonymity or not, and if it's now broken. I'll try to address that question here today succinctly from multiple angles, keeping it a ...more

So cute, so furry, and so chock full of parasites. While raccoons are fun to watch, they are neither friendly nor clean — and they can make you sick in more ways than one. Native to North America, you can find raccoons just about everywhere except for parts of the Rocky Mount ...more