The dark web trades wildlife, but mostly for use as drugs

First published: 03 May 20231. Contemporary wildlife trade is massively facilitated by the Internet. By design, the dark web is one layer of the Internet that is difficult to monitor and continues to lack thorough investigation. 2. Here, we accessed a comprehensive database of dark web marketplaces to search across c. 2 million dark web advertisements over 5 years using c. 7 k wildlife trade-related search terms. 3. We found 153 species traded in 3332 advertisements (c. 600 advertisements per year). We characterized a highly specialized wildlife trade market, where c. 90% of dark-web wildlife advertisements were for recreational drugs. 4. We verified that 68 species contained chemicals with drug properties. Species advertised as drugs mostly comprised of plant species, however, fungi and animals were also traded as drugs. Most species with drug properties were psychedelics (45 species), including one genera of fungi, Psilocybe, with 19 species traded on the dark web. The native distribution of plants with drug properties were clustered in Central and South America. A smaller proportion of trade was for purported medicinal properties of wildlife, clothing, decoration, and as pets. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our results greatly expand on what wildlife species are currently traded on the dark web and provide a baseline to track future changes. Given the low number of advertisements, we assume current conservation and biosecurity risks of the dark web are low. While wildlife trade is rampant on other layers of the Internet, particularly on e-commerce and social media sites, trade on the dark web may still increase if these popular platforms are rendered less accessible to traders (e.g., via an increase in enforcement). We recommend focussing on surveillance of e-commerce and social media sites, but we encourage continued monitoring of the dark web periodically to evaluate potential shifts in wildlife trade across this more occluded layer of the Internet.Oliver C. Stringham, Jacob Maher, Charlotte R. Lassaline, Lisa Wood, Stephanie Moncayo, Adam Toomes, Sarah Heinrich, Freyja Watters, Charlotte Drake, Sebastian Chekunov, Katherine G. W. Hill, David Decary-Hetu, Lewis Mitchell, Joshua V. Ross, Phillip Casse

Technological modernization of agricultural production: condition, forms, methods and directions of innovations support

The article is devoted to the modernization of domestic agricultural production, its support from the state, the introduction by agricultural producers of innovations in the production process. The article systematizes the views of economists on the forms (directions) and methods of supporting innovation in agriculture. Modernization of agricultural production is one of the primary tasks of increasing the competitiveness of the industry. Improvement of production in agriculture, which is impossible without the use of innovation, is becoming a key factor in achieving success in competition in foreign markets for agricultural products. Statistics show that the technical and technological modernization in the industry is extremely weak. It should be noted that the level of innovation in domestic agriculture is about 10%, while in the US it is more than 50%. The decline in the production of agricultural machinery threatens the technical and technological modernization of the industry, since agricultural producers with limited financial capabilities, with the continuation of this negative trend in the near future, there will be no possibility of an alternative choice when acquiring the much-needed equipment. The insignificant financing of innovations in agriculture by the state led to the fact that only 2% of agricultural enterprises introduce innovative technologies into their activities. The state needs to support domestic producers of agricultural equipment, since their absence poses a real threat to the food security of the national state

Options for safe antibiotic treatment for acute otitis media in children

Acute otitis media in children is a relevant health care and social problem conditioned by the high incidence of the inflammatory disease in early and middle childhood. Otitis media is often accompanied by impaired hearing function, and when it becomes chronic, there is a risk of hearing loss. Moreover, deafness in childhood results in speech disorders and socialization problems. [1