The Credo Current – 2 October 2012

Today’s post provides you with background information on items that are in the news this week.

We at Credo would like to wish a happy autumn to anyone who may have celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival over the weekend! We’d also like to say happy Columbus Day to anyone who might be enjoying the crisp fall weather over the three-day weekend.

Bangladesh
The government in Bangladesh has committed to protecting Bangladeshi Buddhists after rioters burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 Buddhists’ homes in Ramu town over the weekend. The rioters were protesting a photo of a burned Koran believed to have been uploaded to Facebook by a Buddhist man living in southern Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been a primarily a Muslim nation since Muslim rule was established in Banga in the 13th century, and the government officially declared it a Muslim country in 1975. Today, approximately .06% of Bangladesh’s population is Buddhist while Muslims account for nearly 90% of the population.

Cephalopods
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have found that despite the carnivorous name, vampire squid are actually passive omnivores. These squid, also known as Vampyroteuthis infernalis, are the only species in the order Vampyromorpha and are apparently the only species in the class Cephalopoda that don’t hunt living prey; instead, they use their long filaments to grab detritus in the water around them, which they then coat with mucus and digest. Vampire squid resemble both octopi and teuthoids (squid) and are considered to be an intermediate between the two. These recent findings have been published in the September 25th issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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