Nerdy Science Blog

Received an email from PK Tan, editor in chief for Malaysia Travel Guide, hoping more people are aware of the wildlife conservation.

• 14% of Malaysia’s mammals are listed by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) as endangered
  30 species of turtle ever discovered, only 7 are left.
• Less than 1,500 Borneo Pygmy elephants are found in the world.
• It is estimated that there are less than 20 Sumatran rhinoceros left in Borneo.
• The Bornean species of orangutan is highly endangered, and the Sumatran species is critically endangered, according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and both are listed on Appendix I of CITES.

How can you help?

• On the 1st Jan 2008: Blog / Write a post that relates to the Malaysia wildlife conservation. It can be to do with your usual topic or totally just about a Malaysia wildlife conservation issue.
• Inform other people about this campaign and explaining it in terms they understand.
• Support the campaign: Add our banner to your site and spread the word.

I will be writing one post on both my personal blog and this blog to support this campaign. Hope you all can participate in this campaign as well. We can’t re-educate people, but we can make people aware of this issue through mouth spreading.

Visit: Malaysia Wildlife Conservation Awareness Campaign

Popularity: 7% [?]

I saw people throwing away plastic chairs when their legs are spoiled or soften. The other day, when I was visiting an orchard, I saw the workers didn’t throw them away, in stead they cut down the other legs and it’s still useable.

Things nowadays are getting cheaper. It’s even cheaper to buy than to repair the old ones.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Jatropha is not palm tree, which is largely planted in Malaysia for palm oil extraction. Jatropha is a poisonous Central American shrub. Its seeds are used to extract biodiesel fuel in Philippines, India, and China.

On Tuesday, crude oil broke the record surpassing $97 a barrel. Malaysia has been subsidizing the fuel costs. The increase of fuel price had been a big burden for Malaysia. In September, Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) announced it is studying the possibilities to cultivate Jatropha at large-scale to produce bio-diesel. Jatropha is chosen because of its characteristic of pest resistance, long lifespan (40 years), can be grown on poor, arid soil, and also able to produce bio-diesel that can be used by vehicles. As a solution for alternative fuel, Malaysia government had fund this research for RM300mil (~USD100mil).

Last month, Sarawak Land Development Minister Datuk Dr James Masing announced that Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) was carrying out joint research on Jatropha with Mardi. Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Sclcra) had been asked by the state to test which species of the plant is suitable to grow in Sarawak. On the other hand, another state in the country, Sabah, also announced that Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) was testing the potential of Jatropha cultivation.

Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui announced yesterday that Government is giving out 300-acre site to Sabah to plant Jatropha Carcus.

Other uses of Jatropha Curcas are soap production and traditional medicine. The effect of large-scale planting of Jatropha Curcas to the soil and environment is unknown.

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Popularity: 3% [?]