Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/509499
XII maltatoday, Sunday, 10 May 2015 This Week We have over a hundred confirmed and identified species of spiders in Malta but many more still await identification. One well-known species (well, among naturalists at least) is a shiny little jewel called the Red Crab Spider. Despite its name, the animal comes in colours ranging from white, through yellow, orange and red, but always with a symmetrical black pattern on its abdomen that looks a bit like a Rorschach inkblot (or silhouette of Darth Vader, bust of Napoleon, lampshade, etc.). It likes to live on flowers, especially crown daisies (lellux), but not because it feeds on nectar or pollen. Like all spiders, the Red Crab (M: Brimba tal-Fjuri) is carnivorous, and it lives on flowers because that's where its food flies in, in the form of flies, bugs and other small insects. Unlike web spinners, who build their trap and wait idly for their prey to get caught, crab spiders actively catch their prey. In the case of our deadly little beauty, she waits in ambush under a petal (or a little tent it builds by tying two petals together) and pounces on its victim with open arms. By the way, it's entirely harmless to people. 453. RED CRAB SPIDER GreeN Idea Of tHe WeeK 354: Coffee filter triCks iii - Mess catcher: Cover your food while in the microwave with a coffee filter to contain any potential mess. Ractopamine is a drug given to pigs, cattle and turkeys as a growth promoter to build muscle. It's fed to 80% of pigs in the uSa. But the Eu banned its use in 1996, because its use "may be dangerous to consumers". The European Food Safety authority has concluded that risks to human health cannot be ruled out: a classic example of putting public safety before the profits of agri-business, the so called precautionary principle. Ractopamine is banned in over 160 countries worldwide, also because it can cruelly impact animals – causing stress, hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs and sometimes death. uS agribusinesses say they "will continue to push negotiators to have the Eu ban on ractopamine fed pork lifted under TTIP". Meanwhile, the united States government has targeted this ban as a barrier to trade that "appear[s] to lack scientific justification [and] pose[s] a major impediment to u.S. pork exports to the Eu." as a result the uS government has vowed to push the Eu to implement weaker international standards that would allow certain levels of ractopamine-laced meat. In its TTIP position, the Eu also supports moving towards adopting these weaker standards. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon Served by TTIP – Ractopamine laced sausages Intimacy in Music at the next RIDT Lunchtime Concert Lumia Flute Quartet will feature at the next RIDT Lunchtime Concert entitled 'Intimacy in Music', being held on May 17. Organised in aid of the University's Research Trust (RIDT), the concert will be held at Madonna tal-Pilar Church, West Street, Valletta, at 11:30. Lumia Flute Quartet will be playing works by composers from the Classical period, Flute Quartet in G minor Op 69 No 3 by Georg Schneider, and the Flute Quartet in D major by Michael Haydn. Michael Haydn, although not as well known as his elder brother Joseph Haydn, was a very respected musician who wrote over 360 compositions com- prising both church and instrumental music. Haydn was a close friend of Mo- zart, who held his work in high esteem. Georg Schneider on the other hand was a contemporary of Beethoven, and a significant figure in early 19th-century music in Berlin. He was active as a musi- cian, concert promoter and composer. His music is full of wit, enthusiasm, and vitality. Lumia Flute Quartet is made up of Fiorella Camilleri on flute, Reggie Clews on violin, Sarah Spiteri on viola and Yaroslav Miklukho on cello. All musicians are established orchestral and chamber music performers having performed extensively both locally and abroad. Proceeds from RIDT Lunchtime Concert Series will go towards research activities within the University, through RIDT. No booking is required. The entrance for the concert will be against a recommended donation of €10. The Series is supported by Heritage Malta. Lumia Flute Quartet (from left) Yaroslav Miklukho, Sarah Spiteri, Fiorella Camilleri and Reggie Clews