New World Record for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

Some world records provide a reason to celebrate. Not this one. It is estimated that in the late eighteenth century, carbon dioxide levels in the air would have been about 280 ppm (parts per million). Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory has been measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide levels since 1958. The carbon dioxide reading from Mauna Loa that year was around 315 ppm. Last week, for the first time in millions of years, the carbon dioxide measurement at the observatory exceeded 400 ppm.

More at New York Times.

Animal Adopters.

In both domestic settings and in the wild, instances in which animals take care of other species of animals have been noted with surprising frequency. What motivates animal­-animal “adoptions?” Author Jenny Holland’s 2011 book, Unlikely Friendships, and a forthcoming sequel, Unlikely Loves, consider some of the possible explanations. Instinct might play a role, since the instinct to care for one’s own offspring is hardwired in mammals and necessary to perpetuate the parent’s genes. The parental instinct might be projected onto animals perceived to be juvenile, such as the captive apes that treated a house cat as if it were an infant ape. But other motivators could include social companionship, which many mammals require, or mutual benefit. More controversial is the notion that empathy, an emotion that humans often think of as strictly human, might be experienced by other animals as well.

More at National Geographic.

Our Serpentine Friends.

In the New York TImes Science section Dana Jennings reviews a new book about snakes. “Serpentine,” by Mark Laita, takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of snakes on every continent except Antarctica. Combining stunning color photography with fascinating facts, this book might just pry open some closed minds about snakes.

Ancient Inner Ears.

Finding fossilized bones from millions of years ago is difficult enough, but a recent analysis of the body’s tiniest bones, ossicles from the middle ear, is remarkable. In this case, the ossicles are from Paranthropus robustus, which lived about 2 million years ago and Australopithecus africanus which lived 2­3 million years ago. Even though both hominids were separated by many years of evolution, the malleus, another small middle ear bone, in both was “human­like.” Palaeoanthropologist Rolf Quam of Binghamton University believes that these small ear bones suggest an evolutionary link to modern humans and may even implicate the foundation of human hearing that would eventually be attuned for speech. Other anthropologists disagree, and maintain that few if any fair inferences can be drawn from the shape of these tiny bones.

More at Nature.

Zombie Worms.

No, it’s not another zombie cult movie. Osedax worms are just another example of how nature fills every niche. When whales die, their bones retain nutrients locked inside of hard calcium formations. Exploiting that resource is the Osedax worm. This bizarre mouthless creature uses secreted acid to dissolve the calcium and burrow inside the whale bones. Once inside, the female dines on the nutrients inside the bones and also lays eggs, which are fertilized by the dwarf male Osedax which is just a fraction of the female’s size.

More at National Geographic.

A Fish Tree of Life.

Our studies of vertebrates may have shortchanged the largest vertebrate group: fish. Richard Broughton, associate professor of biology at the University of Oklahoma, is helping to close that gap. He has published two studies that offer a new look at the evolution of fish species, and has created a new fish tree of life. The fish tree is a collaboration of Broughton and other scientists as well as the National Science Foundation.

More at the University of Oklahoma.

West Nile Virus Benefits from Climate Change.

An Israeli study sponsored by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in
Stockholm has examined the incidence of West Nile virus infections in Europe and has concluded that warmer average temperatures have caused mosquito populations to spread West Nile virus to areas of Europe that were never before infected. The virus begins in infected birds which are bitten by mosquitos that in turn bite humans, thereby transmitting the disease. Once infected, West Nile victims, especially those with compromised immune systems, can suffer irreversible brain damage. According to the study, increased temperatures, even more than increased humidity, benefits the West Nile virus.

More at Science Daily.

Wind Turbine Massacre.

Wind turbine electricity generation has been rightfully hailed by environmentalists as a limitless source of clean energy. Unfortunately, the early designers of wind turbines never took into proper account the many birds that would be killed by the turbines’ powerful blades. It is estimated that half a million birds and bats are killed by wind turbines every year—in one particularly deadly Oregon wind farm alone, 10,000 birds are killed each year. Steps are being taken to address the problem. For example, new designs eliminate the early latticework of some turbines that actually attract birds. Moreover, future wind farms ought to avoid locations that are known to be migratory bird routes. So far, a 50% reduction in bird deaths has been achieved in one location by implementing measures like these.

More at Live Science.

Fighting Back Against Drug­-Resistant Bacteria.

It has been well documented that the persistent and widespread use of antibiotics over the past decades has led to the proliferation of dangerous drug­-resistant bacteria. As medical science begins to run out of options, a new strategy is starting to take shape. The fact is, even the nastiest drug-­resistant bacteria have enemies. Predatory bacteria, ­­ bacteria that attack other bacteria but not human cells, are being spotlighted as a possible new avenue to fight fire with fire. So far, predatory bacteria have successfully killed off large number of harmful bacteria in laboratory studies. Animal trials will begin soon.

More at Live Science.

Spider Dinner Date.

It is well known that female black widow spiders, among other arachnids and some insects, will often devour their male companion after mating. From an evolutionary perspective, this is logical since the female gets a free meal and the male will pass on its genes, albeit posthumously. But recent research shows that in a few species of spiders, the male sometimes will devour the female. This, of course, makes less sense. Scientists are looking for the motivation behind this strange behavior in at least one spider, Micaria sociabilis. So far, they propose that since the behavior only seems to take place some 20% of the time, it could simply reflect the male’s brutal change of mind about the pairing, a sort of divorce spider-style.

More at National Geographic.

Hobbyist Bioengineering.

On the heels of recent news that readily available 3­D printers and computer software can be used to manufacture firearms at home, New York Times reporter Andrew Pollack discusses another controversial cottage industry ­­ synthetic biology. The goals of the amateur group in this case appear sanguine: to produce plants that glow in the dark courtesy of an implantable gene from bioluminescent marine plants. The group already has raised money online, and is embarking on gene transplantation, the cost of which has been reduced to the hobbyist level by technological advances. Despite the allure of trees that light the street at night, two environmental organization have already petitioned the Agriculture Department to shut down the hobbyists. However, jurisdiction is unclear as, once again, the pace of scientific and technological advances is far ahead of the law.

A Smelly Early Earth.

Gunflint bacteria, first discovered in 1953, lived almost 2 billion years ago in the seas of a relatively young earth. But it wasn’t alone. New techniques for 3­D imaging of fossilized bacteria such as gunflint trapped in ancient rock have revealed that other bacteria fed on the gunflint and that process of decay probably produced a pervasive rotten­-egg stench across the planet. A byproduct of this decay would have been free carbon dioxide, which would have been released into the atmosphere, thereby providing food for photosynthesizing plants and algae. This, scientists believe, was earth’s early and very smelly cycle of life.

More at National Geographic.

Sick Salmon.

A Canadian biologist named Alexandra Morton is at the center of a controversy over the spread of infectious salmon anemia (ISA). The disease can cause devastation among farmed salmon, and has taken its toll in Chile. Morton believes that the disease is already infecting the wild salmon populations of the Pacific Northwest. However, the scientific establishment in Canada and the United States has rebuffed Morton’s conclusion and insists that there is no convincing evidence that the disease is present in wild salmon. No doubt stoking the controversy is the long standing criticism that salmon farms tend to be overcrowded and breed diseases, such as the viral ISA, which can spread to wild salmon. Whoever is right, extra vigilance would be wise; ISA can destroy some 90% of the salmon farm population.

More at New York Times.

‘Zoobiquity’ ­­ Another Medical Vantagepoint.

Traditionally, human and veterinary medicine do not have many points of interconnection, and that might be a mistake according to Dr. Barbara Natterson­ Horowitz. Ten years ago, she began consulting with the Los Angeles Zoo, and that experience started her thinking about the many intersections between human and animal disease. Her book, Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health, explores some fascinating similarities and differences between human and animal disease. For example, animal studies have suggested that animals and humans are equipped with not just a flight or fight response to danger, but also a faint response, which, as every opossum knows, also can save your life.

More at NPR’s Fresh Air.

A Glass Menagerie of the Sea.

In 1853, when the oceans were not so polluted and acidified, Leopold Blaschka, a glassmaker, became enchanted with the more delicate forms of sea life: jellyfish, anemones and octopi. He and his son began to create a unique and exquisite glass menagerie of sea creatures. In the end, they created hundreds of glass models. Writing in the New York Times, marine biologist C. Drew Harvell of Cornell University describes her efforts to locate the real-life sea creatures which inspired these glass models. Harvell’s expedition takes place in Hawaii and combines stunning underwater videography, a lost art of glass craftsmanship and the scientific quest to document how many of these once common sea creatures are still common today.

The Invisible Onslaught of Feral Pigs.

Right now in the United States, there are an estimated 6 million feral pigs. They are in almost every state, but California, Texas and Florida have the lion’s share. Wildlife News reporter Ralph Maughan discusses the many diseases that these pigs can transmit to humans, from anthrax to salmonella, and how difficult they are to control because of their impressive intelligence. They multiply quickly and their appetites and large size have put significant competitive pressure on local plant and animal populations. Public awareness, outside of hunters, seems to be limited because of scant press coverage. As Maughan puts it: “There is a lot of irony that perhaps 1500 wild wolves in the West causes a huge political stir despite effects that are hard to document, while 6­million hogs ripping up the ground is hard to get public attention.”

Nectar-Loving Bats Have Specialized Tongues.

The sugary nectar of flowers attract many admirers from bees to hummingbirds. But some species of bats have also developed a taste for sweet nectar, along with a special mechanism for getting to it. A study of one such species, Glossophaga soricina, reveals that the bat has a specialized tongue that becomes thinner and longer when a sweet smelling flower is within reach. The bat’s tongue then enlists tiny hairlike papillae that become hydraulically swollen and provide a dramatically increased surface area to the tongue in order to slurp up the flower’s nectar. The entire process takes just a fraction of a second. Honey bees and hummingbirds use different tongue structures to extract nectar, but researchers believe that the bat’s method is not unique and is probably employed in some form by other animals.

More at Red Orbit.

Dog­-Sized Dinosaurs.

The media has fostered an automatic mental association between dinosaurs and very large animals. However, that may be only half the picture. In Canada, an 85 million­-year­-old fossil of a dog-­sized dinosaur called Acrotholus suggests that some revision is necessary. Acrotholus had a thick domed head, which not surprisingly is the only part of it that survived fossilization. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum believes that the world once teemed with many types of smaller dinosaurs, but that they are underrepresented in the fossil record because their smaller bones did not fossilize as well as did giant dinosaurs. Indeed, the very absence of small dinosaur fossils outside of the thick domed Acrotholus, suggests that the supposed lack of small dinosaur diversity may be illusory. Although we will likely never know what has been lost forever, Evans cautions that we ought to be careful about the conclusions we draw from what is probably a partial fossil record.

More at The Toronto Star.

A Calmer Earth Is Showing Its Age.

Tectonic plates are separations in the earth’s crust that move slowly and sometimes collide causing earthquakes. Martin Van Kranendonk of the University of New South Wales and Christopher Kirkland of the Geological Survey of Western Australia wanted to find out the history of plate tectonics on earth. By studying rare elements in rock samples and measuring oxygen isotope levels, researchers have concluded that the earth has been tectonically active for at least 3 billion years. It those early years, the intense heat and resulting softer crust may have minimized tectonic collisions. However, the evidence suggests that the most active period for plate tectonics was 1.1 billion years ago when all of the continents collided and formed a single supercontinent. Since then, a gradual reduction of activity has occurred, as the earth ages and continues to cool internally.

More at New Scientist.

Cicadas as Barometers of Climate Change.

This summer, the east coast will be inundated by masses of cicadas from “Brood II,” who will end their 17 year underground existence and come to the surface to breed. Although there are six other cicada groups in the United States, each tied to its own 13 or 17­ year life cycle, the insects seems to trace back to a common ancestor some 8,000 years ago. Entomologists believe that the cicadas’ separate broods formed as the result of dramatic climate warming following the last ice age. If this is the case, any new dramatic climate changes that affect the insects might be reflected in a new change in their heretofore predictable life cycles. Entomologist Craig Gibbs recently put it this way: “the cicada may yet reprise its role as climate indicator if its cycle is disrupted by a warming planet.”

More at Scientific American.

Cat Behavior Demystified (almost).

Think you understand your cat? Global Animal offers several explanations for common but still bizarre cat behaviors and antics. For example, if you’ve wondered why your cat insists on following you into the bathroom, consider that from its perspective, you are now a captive audience in a small space.

Komodo Dragon Makes a Home in Florida.

St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park has a new Komodo dragon. Named Tujah, which means “seven” in the local Indonesian language, he is eight feet long. Komodo dragons are voracious eaters. They can eat up to 90% of their body weight in one sitting. When Tujah was released into his new outdoor home for the first time, he flicked his tongue in order to sniff every corner of the large enclosure. He also quickly found two quails that were placed there as a sort of housewarming gift. Precautions against being bitten are extremely important for human visitors and handlers since Komodo dragons kill their prey by infecting them with a menagerie of bacteria. If all goes well, in October Tujah will be introduced to a female Komodo dragon who has already been chosen for him.

More at the St. Augustine Record.

Green Glowing Sheep in Uruguay Pastures.

In what appears to be a scientific first, Uruguayan scientists have successfully implanted “fluorescent” genes from an Aequorea jellyfish into nine sheep. The lambs are developing normally, however, when they are exposed to ultraviolet lights, their skin glows a green color. Although this particular genetic reconfiguration would appear to have little practical value, researchers see this as a step toward introducing genes into sheep that can cause them to secrete into their milk chemicals useful to humans.

More at Red Orbit.

In Praise of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

By 1972, scientists knew that many species of marine mammals were in serious trouble, some facing extinction. Congress was able to come together and pass the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which was supported by then president Nixon, and which protected many species of marine mammals. Now, 40 years later, it appears that the MMPA has paid dividends. In a new report, scientists believe that the MMPA has allowed “countless tens of thousands” of sea lions, seals, whales and dolphins to recover to where they now live in sustainable populations. Some sea mammals,such as the right whale, are still critically endangered, but at least are still with us. New challenges, including sonar noise and shipping lanes that overlap whale habitat, will require amendments to the act, but that will require the present Congress to muster the political will it did in 1972.

More at Science Daily.

Coral Pulsate to Keep Fit.

Coral are living sea animals that feed on algae. Day and night, the tops of one species of coral, xeniid corals, can be seen pulsating ­­ opening and closing as if breathing. Maya Kremien of Hebrew University of Jerusalem has studied this coral and has concluded that this activity has several purposes. First, because they are so dependent on algae, it is important for coral to keep algae growing at a peak rate. But the oxygenation of the water, a byproduct of photosynthesis of algae, puts a natural brake on algae growth. Enter the coral. By pulsating the water, these animals disperse excess oxygen and hence make the conditions more optimal for the algae. In addition, pulsation confers another advantage which is to improve nutrient supplies by pumping in fresh seawater.

More at Science News.

How Old Are the World’s Oldest Trees?

The United States is the proud home of what are believed to be the world’s oldest trees. In California, the previous champ, but now #2, is “Methuselah,” a 4,845-­year­-old Great Basin bristle cone pine. But recently a new champ was crowned, also in California’s White Mountains. It’s estimated age is an astonishing 5,062-years-old. Around the world there are other very old trees. In Iran, a 4,000-year-old Cypress is considered the oldest tree in Asia. In North Wales, England there is a 4,000-year-old Yew and in Chile there exists a 3,642-­year­-old Patagonian cypress.

More at Live Science.

Did the Stars Influence Life on Earth?

Scientists have long puzzled over why almost all the amino acids that make up life on earth have a left­-handed and not a right­-handed structure. Nature, it would seem, ought to have no particular preference. One new theory looks to the stars. It takes advantage of a recent observation that light from one nebula where many new stars in our galaxy are born exhibits “circular polarization.” That means light from this nebula twists like a corkscrew in one direction more often than it does in the opposite direction. Polarized light can cause molecules, such as amino acids, which are also formed during the birth of stars, to skew toward left­-handedness. The theory suggests that these biased amino acids, formed by polarized light, were carried to earth by space rocks and might have seeded the planet with left-handed amino acids, a bias that remains with us today. Scientists are now looking for additional examples of circular polarization in our galaxy to help confirm their findings.

More at Live Science.

Tracking Seabirds Through Migration.

The Manx shearwater is a seabird that breeds in Great Britain but migrates thousands of miles every year to South America during the winter. In order to get better information about exactly what the bird is doing during it hiatus in the Southern Hemisphere, scientists fit the birds with “miniature geo-locators and lightweight GPS loggers.” Using this new computerized system (called ‘etho-informatics’) over the past three years, University of Oxford researchers now have huge amounts of data. For the most part, the shearwater seems to spend its winters off the coast of Brazil doing what people do ­­ resting up before they embark on a busy new breeding season back home.

More at Science Daily.

Elephant Body Language.

For people, especially daters, body language is a complementary form of human communication. But elephant expert Joyce Poole, who has been studying elephants for decades, believes that elephants have their own body language, and that it is just as robust and meaningful as anything humans demonstrate. In this National Geographic article, Joyce explains how elephants use movement, gestures and posturing to communicate meaning to other elephants and how they even employ pratfalls to amuse humans.

Hibernating Lemurs.

In the forests of Madagascar the dwarf lemur has developed a unique form of hibernation. Unlike cold temperature hibernators who need to hibernate to survive a harsh winter, the dwarf lemurs hibernate in order to survive a cool, dry season in the tropics, where food becomes scarce. Before going into hibernation, the dwarf lemur gorges itself on available food. It then hides in a tree hollow or in the ground and goes into an ultra­-deep sleep. And, unlike ordinary hibernators, it does not let its body temperature plummet, but rather matches it to the existing local conditions, allowing it to fluctuate as much as 20 degrees C. Most of the lemur’s stored up fat is in its tail, and that becomes its source of nutrition during the hibernation period.

More at New Scientist.

Dinosaurs Sat on their Hatching Eggs Like Birds.

New evidence might help settle a scientific argument over whether dinosaurs sat on their eggs like birds, or took a more reptilian approach and left them in the ground to hatch, as do crocodiles. After studying numerous fossilized dinosaur clutches of eggs, as well as determining the porosity of the egg shells, University of Calgary dinosaur researcher Darla Zelenitsky and Montana State University paleontologist David Varricchio have concluded that in at least one dinosaur species, the eggs were half-buried in the soil and the upper half was incubated by the warmth of the sitting dinosaur parent.

More at Live Science.

Leatherback Turtles Get a Protected Home.

The leatherback turtle is the largest existing turtle; at maturity, they weigh in at around 200 pounds. An area of Puerto Rico known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor, which contains beaches and vegetation, has recently been named a federally protected area because it is a nesting grounds for the leatherback. Last summer, developers using heavy machinery crushed thousands of leatherback turtle eggs and hatchlings in the process of moving sand. This latest round in a political fight between building developers and environmentalists has gone to the environmentalists, but developers have not given up on projects such as golf courses and hotels that would severely threaten the leatherbacks.

More at Red Orbit.

Rat-sized Snails Invade Florida.

Whether or not you enjoy escargot, this gigantic invasive snail species that is becoming a new threat to south Florida is not on your menu. The snails are from eastern Africa and have arrived in Florida by the exotic pet trade route and accidentally in shipments of produce. Experts call them a “trifecta” threat. Not only do they eat enormous volumes of agricultural produce, but they also chomp down on plaster and stucco thereby threatening property, and they carry a form of meningitis virus, that is a public health threat. An aggressive campaign to root out the snails is underway in the hope that they can be controlled before they invade further north.

More at Red Orbit.

How to Listen to a Thirsty Tree.

Drought conditions in the United States have threatened forests as well as agriculture. When trees are in distress because of insufficient groundwater, the mechanism by which they move water up from the ground can make sounds that can alert experts that emergency measures are needed. Water molecules attract each other and it is this fundamental law that permits trees to coax water up in columns against gravity into the highest portions of the treetops. However, when the groundwater becomes inadequate, the columns of connected water inside the trees become disturbed and air bubbles form. The air bubbles give off a distinct noise pattern, called cavitations, which can be picked up with a microphone. This discovery may be the face of future forest service protections microphoned trees that will tell officials when the effects of drought are beginning to do actual harm to a forest.

More at National Geographic.

Meet the “Lion Whisperer,” Kevin Richardson.

South African Kevin Richardson has reared 27 adult lions from young animals. In this interview, he explains his philosophy of raising and living among lions as if he were a member of the pride. In 15 years of doing this work, he has suffered only minor injuries. Richardson would never attempt an interaction with a dangerous wild animal and he insists that you must give lions a wide berth when they are having a “bad day.” Words to live by.

More at Perth Now.

Cold Climates Demonstrate an Evolutionary “Rule.”

Around 150 years ago, a zoologist named Joel Allen proposed a rule of evolution. He postulated that when species adapt to cold climates, there are changes not only in the thickness of their fur, their rate of blood circulation and their metabolism, but also in their morphology, or body shape. According to Allen’s theory, cold climate species develop short limbs and thick bodies (think polar bears). This is an example of evolution complying with the laws of physics—a larger mass to surface ratio means that less energy must be expended to keep that body warm. Interestingly, the effect is not only genetic. In a single generation, mice exposed to artificially low ambient temperatures developed more stunted limbs than their counterparts who were given warmer environs.

More at io9.

What Coelacanth DNA Tells Us About Our History.

Not long ago, the coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct until a live specimen was found in a South African fish market in 1938. The coelacanth is believed to be an ancient pioneering species that hundreds of millions of years ago grew limbs and made the transition from the sea to the land, thus harkening the beginning of complex land-based animals, including humans. Coelacanth DNA has been sequenced and reveals more similarity to human DNA than does other fish DNA, with the exception of the lungfish, which DNA is even closer. In a new experiment, coelacanth genes that exist in animals but not in other fish were isolated. When those genes were implanted into mouse DNA, the affected mice began to grow new limbs.

More at New York Times.

Dogs Share their Germs with their Human Companions.

A research team from the University of Colorado at Boulder, studied the bacterial colonies on human skin and dog fur of 159 people who live in families with a dog. What surprised scientists was just how much dog bacteria is shared with the humans in their families. Associate Professor Rob Knight noted, “In fact, the microbial connection seems to be stronger between parents and family dogs than between parents and their children.” But it seems that this inter-species sharing may actually be healthful.

More at Red Orbit.

Sequencing the Zebrafish Genome to Assist Medical Research.

If you were to ask the average person what people have in common with the zebrafish, the most common response would be “very little.” However, that is not the case. Two studies from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute reveal that sequencing the zebrafish DNA has taught us that 70% of human proteincoding genes are also found in the zebrafish genome, as well as 84% of genes implicated in human disease. In addition, by deliberately creating genetic errors in zebrafish, scientists have already isolated the genes involved in several human diseases, including cancers.

More at Red Orbit.

Strange Fish Heads.

When it comes to nature, function trumps fashion. Take a look at some of the strangest looking headgear that you’ll ever see on a living creature. From banana-nosed protrusions that are used to detect electromagnetic fields to fish that wear their own fishing rod and lure on their heads, this edition of the fishery blog is both entertaining and educational.

More at The Fisheries Blog.

Basketball Player’s Long Reach Saved Dolphin’s Life.

Clifford Ray, a former basketball player for the Golden State Warriors, once used his exceptionally long reach to save a dolphin. It was in 1978 that a Marine World bottlenose dolphin known as “Doctor Spock,” had swallowed a large metal bolt. To avoid surgery, marine animal experts sought out someone with exceptionally long arms, and that is when Ray got the call. Using his 45” reach, Ray thrust his arm into Dr. Spock’s stomach, actually dolphins have two stomachs, until he felt and removed the metal bolt. Even more amazingly, the unanesthetized Mr. Spock calmly endured the ordeal and did not bite Ray. Years later, when Ray visited Marine World, Mr. Spock always seemed to acknowledge him almost by way of a thank you.

More at Treehugger.

World’s Heaviest Flying Animal.

In Mongolia, the great bustard is probably the world’s heaviest flying animal. The male birds can weigh in at over 30 pounds. They also take a different approach to migrating. Rather than flying thousands of miles with few stops, these beefy birds take four months to travel thousands of miles while migrating from Mongolia to the southern Chinese provinces when the weather gets colder. They conserve energy by spending as little as 2% of that time actually in the air. Making frequent stops for food and rest, the great bustard take the slow and steady approach to migration.

More at New Scientist.

Gigantic New Tarantula Species Found in Sri Lanka.

It is the stuff of bad dreams. A newly discovered tarantula-like species, Poecilotheria rajaei is related to the “tiger spiders” of the region. It has a total leg span of over 8 inches the size of a human face and, unlike most tarantulas, is highly venomous. The creatures are native to the forests of Sri Lanka and are brightly colored with stripes, hence the moniker, tiger spider. Because of deforestation in the northern Sri Lanka forests where these arachnids live, they are disappearing and are starting to inhabit old buildings as a substitute for the missing trees. While the taxonomy suggests that this new discovery is a separate species, confirmatory DNA testing will be done shortly.

More at Wired.

Honey-Producing Wasps.

Move over honey bees, a honeyproducing wasp is being studied in south Texas. Scientists from the London Zoo are zeroing in on this unusual species, known as the Mexican honey wasp, in an effort to understand the behavior and honey producing capabilities of this much overlooked insect. Although the quarter-inch individuals are small for wasps, their nests are enormous at 4 feet wide. They can contain some 20,000 wasps and 3,000 queens. In South America, the wasp’s honey is farmed but in Texas, little is known about the particular kinds of flowers the wasps visit and pollinate. An important offshoot of the research concerns the development of new pesticides that are friendly to social insects such as wasps and honey bees. Today’s pesticides are strongly suspected in the spread of colony collapse disorder in honey bee populations in the United States.

More at the Brownsville Herald.

Purple Sea Urchins Already Primed for Climate Change?

Off the coast of Oregon and California, Stanford University scientists studying purple sea urchins, have been surprised at the animal’s viability under acidic ocean conditions. Sea urchins are ancient, and may have survived in one form or another mass extinctions that wiped out more complex and less adaptable species. DNA analysis shows that the sea urchin’s genetic toolkit contains a grabbag of genes: some that can favor acidic environments as well as those that favor the opposite. By hedging its genetic bets, so to speak, the sea urchin might be one species of animal that will perhaps once again survive where other species perish.

More at Red Orbit.

Another New Theory on Life’s Origins.

Michael Blaber, a professor in Florida State’s College of Medicine, is pioneering a new theory about the earliest emergence of life on earth billions of years ago. Most current theories posit that the most likely component of life first to have formed from available prebiotic molecules was RNA. But according to Professor Blaber’s research, the ten amino acids that were likely present on earth before life began would have needed a high-salt environment in order to fold into the proteins that began life’s processes on a microscopic level. So far, using as few as 12 amino acids out the 20 which are used by all life forms today, Blaber has been able to successfully create folded proteins. If his team can achieve foldable proteins with only the ten naturally occurring amino acids, he will have the proof he needs.

More at phys.org.

Among Giant Moa, the Female Was Really a Giant.

700 years ago, New Zealand’s giant moas vanished, the consequence of extensive hunting by the native population. Scientists studying moa fossils today are puzzling over what appears to be an extreme example of sexual dimorphism the size difference between male and female of the same species. In humans, sexual dimorphism is relatively minimal, but in the giant moa, it was extreme. Based upon the fossil evidence, the female moas were three times the size of the males.

More at Red Orbit.

Transparent Mouse Brains May Bring More Clarity to Brain Science.

As President Obama opens an initiative on brain science research, a new technique developed at Stanford University in California may be a game changer. By injecting a series of chemicals into dead mouse brains, the researchers have been able to create a nearly transparent brain that has all of the brains proteins, RNA and DNA still intact. The gel-like brain that results leaves the neurons in place, as well as interconnecting structures called axons. The technique will have to be improved in order to work more effectively on the human brain which is of course much larger and requires the dissolution of many more fatty lipids to achieve transparency.

More at New York Times.

Blind Cave-Dwelling Fish Also Hard of Hearing.

It has been long understood that fish living in dark cave waters will eventually evolve into sightless, eyeless fish. But researchers were surprised to learn after experimentation that the same fish also seemed to have major hearing deficits when compared to surface fish. At high frequencies, the cavefish heard virtually no sounds and it appears that they are missing one third of the hair cells needed for hearing that are present in surface fish. One theory explaining the loss of hearing centers on the fact that cave background noise also tends to be in the higher frequencies. Whether this hearing deficit is an adaptation to filter out noise or whether some other phenomenon is at work will most likely be determined when other blind cave dwelling species also have their hearing tested.

More at Science News.

New Species of Porcupine.

Only 2% of the original Brazil’s Northeastern Atlantic Forest remains today. Logging, clear-cutting and fires have destroyed the rest. In all likelihood, one of the forest’s denizens, a porcupine new to science, would have vanished before it was ever recognized as a new species. However, scientists have found the new porcupine in an isolated and preserved patch of the forest. They have named it Coendou speratus, a combination of its local name and the Latin word for “hope.” The porcupine is a tree-lover and climbs up and down the forest trees in search of seeds. The lead researcher aptly summed up the situation: “Given the rate of destruction in this area, where 98 percent of the original Northeastern Atlantic Forest has already been destroyed, imagine how many species could have gone extinct before we even knew about them.”

More at Red Orbit.

Want to Lose Weight? Cultivate the Right Bacteria.

It is becoming more obvious to the medical community that the billions of bacteria that line our intestines are also determined in part by genetics. By luck of the draw, some people have the type of bacteria that are tremendously efficient at utilizing every last calorie. Others have species of bacteria that are less efficient and waste more nutrients. If you’re in the former category you will probably put on the pounds faster than those with the less efficient bacteria. It is so far unclear how much genetics and environment each contribute to who gets which and whether interventions short of bariatric surgery can permanently change the bacterial population balance for individuals.

More at New York Times.

Flying Frogs.

The ability to fly, or at least glide, must have distinct survival advantages since it developed independently in so many animals. In Malaysia and Borneo, Wallace’s frog, named for British scientist Alfred Russel Wallace in the 19th century, has developed the ability to parachute out of the trees it calls home and glide for as much as 50 feet to another tree or even onto the ground. The frog has oversized webbing between its toes which give it aerodynamic lift and thick foot pads to give it a soft landing.

Robots Mimic Ants.

With only a few hundred thousands neurons for a brain, it is hard to understand how individual ants act collectively to find the shortest path to their nests and accomplish other tasks that would seem to require much more intelligence. Scientists believe the ants use simple local rules to navigate. For example, when an ant comes to a fork in the road it follows the pheromones left by its peers, but it also is programmed to take the path that deviates the least from the path it was following to the nest. Using sugar-cube sized robots that follow trails of light left by other robots, scientists have noticed that these robots, too, eventually “learn” to take the path of least divergence in completing a maze. Complex behavior arising from simple rules is an important concept that has application for problems as diverse as computer communication and long distance trucking routes.

More at Mashable.

After 17 Years Underground, They’re Coming Again.

Coming in swarms of biblical proportions, Magicicada septendecim, otherwise known as the cicada insect, is about to emerge again on the east coast. Different broods of cicadas hibernate underground for either 13 or 17 years and then reemerge, en masse, in the millions as part of a bizarre life cycle. The east coast brood, known as brood 2, covers an area from Connecticut to North Carolina. Last awaking in 1996, they are scheduled to take over trees everywhere in their range as soon as the ground temperature reaches 64 degree Fahrenheit. Millions of cicadas have been known to take over a single acre of land. And if you’re wondering how nature came by the 13 and 17 year intervals think prime numbers. One theory suggests that mathematically, parasites with two-year life cycles would not be able to infect the 17 year cicada more than twice a century.

More at National Geographic News.

Invasive Species Hide in Ships’ Ballast.

It’s an ideal situation for stowaways. Ocean going commercial vessels fill their ballast tanks in one far-flung port and empty them in another. Along for the ride are any number of hitchhiking creatures that enter the ship along with its ballast water. It was just such a mechanism that allowed comb jellyfish from North America to invade the Black Sea and cause a cataclysmic decline in native marine life there. It would seem that a United Nations treaty requiring all international vessels to treat their ballast water would be a reasonable solution. So far, however, the United Nations has declined to act and even powerful countries such as the United States have done little to address the issue.

More at New Scientist.

An Aerial Killing Machine.

Hundreds of millions of years worth of success has honed the dragonfly into an expert aerial hunter. With a hunting success rate of around 95%, the dragonfly puts to shame other predators many of which fail as often as they succeed in bringing down their prey. The amazing ability of a dragonfly to zero in on its flying target, predict the target’s future path and then intercept it and eat it in midair is orchestrated by a relatively small but dedicated number of neurons that direct a 360 degree visual system. Entomologists are not alone in their fascination with dragonflies. Military experts would love to duplicate the dragonfly’s targeting and interception abilities.

More at New York Times.

The Greening of Lake Erie.

Large parts of Lake Erie are turning green, a situation that spells major problems for the local ecology. The problem is a primitive life form called cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. The ultimate cause is a change in local agricultural practices. Farmers now fertilize earlier, and with greater amounts of fertilizer#&8212;a practice that almost insures that extra fertilizer runoff will find its way into the lake. Once the fertilizers make their way into Lake Erie, the cyanobacteria feast and multiply. In the process, the decaying bacterial organisms deplete the lake of oxygen and release toxins, both of which in turn kills fish and other aquatic life. Dead zones, areas where no life exists, will result. If there is any good news it is that agricultural practices can quickly change and eventually reverse the damage.

More at Live Science.

How Geckos Get a Grip.

Duplicating the stickiness of gecko feet has been an aspirational goal for applied science looking for a better adhesive under wet conditions. In a study of the tiny hairs that give the gecko its excellent velcro-like grip, scientists have noted that the grip depends on the “wettability” of the surface upon which the grip is maintained. Surfaces such as glass have a high wettability index and therefore even gecko grips are weakened on them. On the other hand, hydrophobic surfaces, such as waxy leaves and tree bark, allow a firm grip even when covered with water, such as during a tropical forest downpour.

More at Science Daily.

This Sea Lion Really Rocks.

At the Long Marine Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Ronan, a three-year-old sea lion has proven her ability to bob her head with the beat of various music. Previously, only humans and birds were known to have the ability to keep a beat. However, Ronan can change her moves to suit apparently any beat and demonstrates this in the video. Enjoy.

The Call is Out to Save a Most Unusual Bird.

An American bird known as the Gunnison sagegrouse may be the most endangered bird species in the country. It was discovered only 13 years ago but only an estimated 5,000 animals exist today in a limited range in Colorado. The male bird’s unusual courting ritual involves inflatable yellow chest sacs that make popping noises while the bird struts its flamboyant spiny tail feathers. Now the race is on to see whether the bird will become extinct before it makes it through the red tape and delay required to become a classified endangered species.

More at Discovery News.

The Australian Lazarus Project.

A species of Australian frog known as a “gastric-brooding frog” had a strange method of bearing its offspring. It swallowed its fertilized eggs, hatched them in its stomach, and finally gave birth by spitting the newborns out of its mouth. The frog became extinct in 1983. Now the “lazarus project,” led by a team of University of New South Wales scientists, is attempting a de-extinction event. Although so far unsuccessful, scientists are using stored DNA from the extinct frog and placing it into the emptied nucleus of an egg from a related frog species. They expect that the obstacles to cloning the extinct frog are more “technical” than biological and that a living cloned gastricbrooding frog will be resurrected soon.

More at Red Orbit.

New Book on Animal Thoughts and Emotions.

Author Virginia Morell’s new book entitled, “Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures,” captures some of the many ways that animal behavior parallels human behavior. The book covers the surprisingly large vocabulary of dogs, the slapstick humor of rats and the amazing verbal intelligence of many birds. Even insects get their due, as Morell describes ants building their precisely measured colonies like miniature carpenters who measure twice and cut once.

More at San Francisco Gate.

Microbial Life Found in the Marianas Trench.

In the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest spot on the earth’s surface at a depth of some 36,000 feet, microbial life flourishes. At this depth, there is no sunlight and the water pressure is 1,100 times what it is at the surface. Nevertheless, these conditions are ideal for the countless bacteria and other microbes that make this “extreme” environment their home. Ronnie Glud of the University of Southern Denmark led a team of scientists who found that dead plant and animal matter that drifted down into the trench formed a perfect food source for bacteria and other microbes.

More at Red Orbit.

Jungle Cats in the English Countryside.

Darren Naish recounts his investigation into an “old world” cat—a feline species extant in Egypt and Asia but today largely disappeared from Europe. The jungle cat or swamp cat is an undomesticated feline that is larger than a domestic cat. In England, escaped specimens can be rarely found in the countryside where they prey on rabbits and rodents. They also can breed with domestic cats and hybrid species are known to exist, which are fertile. The last time the jungle cat was endemic to Britain was in the Pleistocene Epoch which lasted about 2 and a half million years, ending around 11,500 years ago.

How Roosters Know When to Crow.

An experiment with roosters conducted at Nagoya University in Japan has found that a rooster’s predawn crowing is based on its internal clock rather than external stimuli. In the experiment, roosters were exposed to 12 daylight hours and 12 dim light hours in one experiment and to 24 hours of dim light in another. In both cases, the roosters crowed at dawn or two hours before dawn. When the scientists added external stimuli such as light and sound, the roosters still responded predominantly to their own internal clock, which tells them when it is dawn. Interestingly, hierarchy plays a role in which roosters crows the earliest, with the highest ranking roosters getting that honor while the lower ranking members wait their turn.

More at National Geographic.

Cholesterol Lowering Tomatoes.

A new genetically modified food comes in the form of tomatoes that have been engineered to produce a peptide that acts like a “good” cholesterol. Simply eating the tomatoes releases the peptide into the small intestine where it it takes on the functional characteristics of high-density lipoprotein or good cholesterol. One of the hopes of the research is that the antii-nflammatory effect of the peptides will alleviate conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, as well as other chronic inflammatory diseases.

More at Red Orbit.

Shrunken Sea Snake Heads.

If you are a sea snake and consume large spiny fish, a big head with a large mouth would seem the correct evolutionary choice. Why, then, are some sea snake’s heads getting smaller and smaller? Dr Kate Sanders from the University of Adelaide along with other researchers have been studying this riddle and they may have an answer. When the local food choice involves pushing a snake’s head into a narrow burrow to find a tasty treat, then it pays to have a small head in fact, the smaller the better. Two sea snakes, “the bluebanded sea snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) and the slender-necked sea snake (Hydrophis melanocephalus) were almost indistinguishable genetically,” but the latter had developed a much smaller head. Evolutionarily speaking, this suggests an example of ongoing speciation in which two members of the same species change over time to become separate species.

More at Science Daily.

Swimming with the Stingrays.

In the Cayman Islands a burgeoning tourist attraction is swimming alongside the stingrays in the blue waters of the Caribbean. It is estimated that each stingray produces some $500,000 in annual tourism revenue for the island. The tourists also enjoy feeding the stingrays, which is where the story gets complicated. Scientists have compared stingray populations that have become habituated to human interaction and feeding with separate populations that have had little human contact. They found pronounced behavioral differences between the two groups. The tourist-acclimated stingrays changed from night hunters to day feeders and also lost their natural sense of individualism, learning to swim “fin to fin” together to enjoy the bounty provided by the tourists. Scientists warn that these kind of rapid behavioral changes can be detrimental to the stingrays in the long run and urge moderation of the feeding routines.

More at Science Daily.

The Expanding Hominid DNA Tree.

Dr. Svante Pääbo and colleagues have presented a draft version of the Neanderthal genome this one the most complete to date. The highquality genome sequencing was completed using a small toe bone found in a cave in Southern Siberia in 2010. The cave where the fossils were found borders Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan and was occupied not only by our Neanderthal cousins but also by Denisovans, still another cousin on the growing list of ancient human relatives.

More at Phys.org.

Sniffing for a Mate.

A new experiment seems to bolster evidence that mammals, including humans, use scent as a means of choosing a mate. Immune systems between individuals differ and it makes genetic sense to choose a mate with an immune system different from your own so as to increase the odds that your offspring will have a fuller immune arsenal. Researchers from the University of Tübingen’s Immunology department and the Proteome Center have found that mice can detect MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genes, which inform about an individual’s immune system. Different MHC peptides on cell surfaces of mice give off distinct scents and mice have special smell sensor cells that can distinguish among them. In the experiment, high concentrations of synthetic MHC peptides actually influenced the behavior of the test mice. So far, a similar system for humans has not been detected, but experimenters think it likely exists in some form.

More at Science Daily.

The War of the Ants.

Mostly unseen by human observers, a global war is taking place beneath our feet. Invasive colonies of Argentine ants have spread to every continent except Antarctica. They have overwhelmed local ant colonies and are gaining territory at a spectacular rate. The Argentine ant is just one of over 12,000 ant species, but it forms massive interconnected colonies and uses savage battle tactics to kill off competing ant species. The good news is that the Argentine ant might have met its match. The bad news is that the new contender is another invasive species: the Asian needle ant. The Asian needle ant can deliver a venomous sting. That along with its ability to withstand colder climates and begin its Spring life cycle earlier than the Argentine ant has contributed to its relative success. North Carolina State University is using citizen science volunteers who collect and send in ant samples from their areas to determine if the Asian needle ant will be the next invasive ant threat.

More at Scientific American.

Ancient Crocodile Predator Fed on Baby Dinos.

Millions of years ago, baby plant eating dinosaurs had plenty to worry about. Not only were they gobbled up by meat eating dinosaurs such as T. Rex and velociraptors, but they were also a quick meal for ancient crocodiles, called crocodilians. Recently, the fossils of a heretofore unknown small plant eating dinosaur were recovered from Utah. A crocodilian tooth was found buried in one thigh bone along with other marks known to be consistent with crocodile-type attacks. One paleontologist noted that our modern notion of dinosaurs being the dominant species of their day could probably use some revision.

More at Voices of America.

Bee Colony Collapse Continues to Perplex.

In the several years that scientists have been desperately trying to solve the riddle of bee colony collapse many theories have emerged. Most recently, a disease called idiopathic brood disease syndrome or “IBDS” has been postulated. North Carolina State University researchers believe that something goes awry in a bee colony when the worker bees incorrectly suspect that the queen is compromised. When that happens, the workers are genetically programmed to kill the queen by swarming her and raising her temperature to a lethal level—the same technique the workers employ to kill a hive invader. The researchers believe that understanding why a queen bee is rejected may be key to solving the riddle.

More at Red Orbit.

The Case for Native Pollinators.

Imported and even rented honeybees are often used by farmers to pollinate their crops. In this article from Science News, Lucas Garibaldi of the National University of Rio Negro and Argentina’s CONICET research network argues that we should encourage native pollinators and not rely so heavily on the honeybee. Data shows that when native pollinating insects were encouraged in an area, on any continent, crop yields were higher with or without the help of the honeybee. However, we have lost many native pollinating insects and what species remain may be insufficient to reach optimal crop yields. For example, using 19th-century records from an area in Illinois reveals that over half of the native insects that pollinated in that era are now gone.

Scotland’s “Lost World.”

Fans of Downton Abbey might relate to the grandeur of the 18th-century Glenmoriston Estate, which is now known as Dundreggan, in Scotland. Located not far from Loch Ness, the former estate includes 10,000 acres and a sporting “Lodge” of 23 bedrooms. In recent times the property has fallen into neglect, but that has proved to be a boon for nature. In this “lost world,” researchers have found 3,000 plant species and many animal species that were thought disappeared. In short, the grounds are a treasure trove of Scotland’s biodiversity. Now owned by a volunteer group, Trees for Life, one half million trees are being planted to restore what was formerly a Caledonian forest.

More at The Independent.

Londoners Map Their Cats.

Perhaps it’s a British thing, but the Zoological Society of London has introduced a computer program called “Cat Map.” It’s an application with which residents can input the “names, types, location, and even color of London’s feline residents.” The real purpose of Cat Map is to draw attention to endangered big cats. Two of the London’s Zoo’s tigers are listed on cat map, as well as the remaining 300 Sumatran tigers. It is hoped that it will eventually grow to list many of the world’s endangered cat species.

More at Geekosystem.

Camel Precursor Linked to Canada.

Camels are forever associated with Middle Eastern deserts, but archeological discoveries are shedding new light on their actual origins. Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature has uncovered 3.5 million-year-old fossil fragments of a camel ancestor in northern Canada. The animal was larger than modern camels, eleven feet high, and had a single large hump and a thick coat of fur. It was adapted to the cold temperatures of northern Canada and its hump was used to store fat to help it survive lean times. Ironically, these adaptations have been modified and passed down to modern camels who now inhabit hot desert climates.

More at Red Orbit.

The Return of the Gray Whale.

By the late 1800’s, whalers had so depleted the population of Pacific gray whales that their extinction seemed inevitable. However, international conventions regulating whaling and the whale’s inclusion on the United States endangered species list added needed protection in the 1960’s and 70’s. Today, conservationists can claim a success. The eastern Pacific gray whale population is around 22,000 individuals—a sustainable and in fact growing population. Gray whales have also become a tourist attraction and thousands of tourists “whale watch” in Southern California’s Baja area.

More at Discovery.

The Eighth Plague of the Bible Attacks Israel and Egypt.

In the bible, locusts, the eighth plague, were sent to attack the Ancient Egyptians. In a testament to their tenacity, locusts remain a scourge even today. A swarm of 30,000,000 insects has been ravaging crops in Egypt. A smaller contingent of about 1,000,000 has now spread into Israel, where it has triggered the Agriculture Ministry to send out pesticide spraying aircraft.

More at the Daily Mail.

Where Have the Elephants Gone?

NPR reports on a recent scientific estimate that between 2002 and 2011 African forest elephants had their numbers reduced by around 62% due to ivory poaching. That shocking statistic reflects a slaughter that is going on every day in the Central African forests. The human actors who are contributing to this catastrophe include heavily armed poachers, the criminal gangs that finance them, and corrupt African officials and employees who overlook or participate in the illegal ivory trade. But what is really driving the demand for ivory and the poachers who shoot elephants to get it is the burgeoning Chinese middle class who clamor for more ivory. Elephants are highly intelligent, sentient animals and there is evidence that they are aware, on some level, of the genocide that is exterminating them.

Albatross Mom Still Active at 62.

Biologist Chandler Robbins first tagged a Laysan albatross nicknamed “Wisdom” in 1956. Today, Robbins is 94 and Wisdom is at least 62. More amazingly, Wisdom has hatched another chick in what can only be described as her golden years. Scientists know that this is Wisdom’s sixth hatchling in a row and believe she may have had up to 35 offspring in her career. Longevity among some larger species of birds is well known. Parrots can live into their 80s and one white crane was believed to be 82 when she died. Nor is Wisdom a stay-at-home mom. She regularly circumnavigates the Pacific ocean and is thought to have logged some 2 or 3 million miles in her lifetime.

More from National Geographic.

If You Swamp It They Will Come.

By draining its natural wetlands, Israel realized that it had made a mistake. The thousands of birds that had wintered in Hula Valley had simply bypassed the area and gone elsewhere. In the 1990s, Israel reversed the policy and began restoring water to the wetlands. The response of the wintering birds was immediate. However, in order to protect the crops of local farmers, it instituted an unusual policy providing the birds with tractored-in food. Now, 30,000 cranes make the Hula Valley wetlands their permanent home to the delight of thousands of tourists.

More at NPR.

Wasps Being Used to Rescue Citrus Crops.

You probably never heard of the insect called the Asian citrus psyllids. However, citrus farmers are all too aware of its impact on the citrus industry. The insect is an invasive species accidentally imported in the 1990s from China and it carries a bacteria that infects citrus trees. The losses it has caused to the orange growers in Florida have soared into the billions and it is now being seen in California, an even larger orange farming center. Scientists are working on a genetic modification strategy, but in the meantime tiny wasps imported (deliberately) from Pakistan are making a difference. The wasps are released in areas of high psyllids infection where they feed on the insects thereby reducing the resulting infection of the citrus crops.

More at Scientific American.

Puzzle Solving Is Its Own Reward for Humans and Chimps.

When we think of chimpanzees solving human contrived puzzles, we usually assume that a food reward is the prime motivator. However, chimpanzees at the Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo were the subject of an experiment to see if success alone could be an adequate incentive. In this experiment, the chimps were given a physical puzzle constructed of pipes and had to use sticks to move 2 tasty Brazil nuts to an exit tunnel. Alternatively, the chimps were also given the same puzzle set up, but this time a set of dice replaced the nuts. The experimenters found that the chimps were equally interested in solving the puzzle whether it contained the nuts or the inedible dice. One of the researchers summed up the conclusion: “This strongly suggests they get similar feelings of satisfaction to humans who often complete brain games for a feelgood reward.”

More at Live Science.

The Majesty of Owls.

Natalie Angier of the New York Times reports on the many fascinating facts about owls. For example, owl chicks can display surprising acts of altruism towards their siblings. It also appears that owls have an advanced ability to communicate with sounds that seems to be ordered by a sort of actual syntax. Owls are associated with keen eyesight, of course, but in fact it is their hearing that is truly remarkable. An owl’s inner ear is enormous and complex; its face is dishshaped to better collect sounds. It can detect a small rodent in the brush from a considerable distance and even comprehend the prey’s size and physical state from the slightest noise it makes. There are 229 species of owls which inhabit a wide array of climates from frozen tundra to tropical forests.

Floating Like a Hummingbird.

Besides being beautiful and graceful, hummingbirds are interesting to scientists who grapple with the secrets behind their amazing flight abilities. Hummingbirds can dart left and right, fly backwards and even upside down. A University of California, Riverside research team studying the wing performance of hummingbirds has discovered that two separate vortices are created by the bird’s wings which cause a circular flow of air that helps keep the animal aloft. This allows the hummingbird to hover for long periods of time over a specific spot while using minimal energy. Man-made aircraft are far less maneuverable, but the lessons learned from the hummingbird may prove useful in future aircraft design.

More at Red Orbit.

Goldfish as an Invasive Species.

They are ubiquitous; they are found in homes everywhere. However, from an environmental point of view, goldfish belong in fishbowls, not in lakes. For example, in Lake Tahoe, a giant goldfish, probably dumped in the lake by a pet owner, was recently caught. It was a foot and a half long and weighed over four pounds. Of course, goldfish are not the only problem. Aquarium owners also dump more exotic fish species into lakes and with them nonnative varieties of seaweed, snails and algae. The result is an menacing cacophony of invasive species that drives out native species and threatens the ecosystem.

More from Discovery.

Hooked on Bioluminescence.

Velvet belly lantern sharks are small two-foot-long sharks that have to worry about predators, ranging from other sharks to harbor seals. A primary defensive weapon is a sharp spine on its dorsal fins. But over time, another defense developed and this one involved light. Scientists had discovered that the belly of the velvet belly lantern shark can light up through the chemical reaction of bioluminescence. When it does, predators below have a more difficult time distinguishing its silhouette against the sky light above. But still another bioluminescent trick is part of the lantern shark’s arsenal. It can also light up its sharp defensive spines to let all predators in the area know that it can defend itself. Jérôme Mallefet, the author of the new study, commented that the lantern shark is the “MacGyver of bioluminescence.

More at National Geographic.

February 27th is International Polar Bear Day.

The organization Polar Bear International has promoted the idea of making February 27th a day to honor the iconic polar bear, whose numbers are in worldwide general decline. Only 20-25,000 wild polar bears still exist and they are confined to 19 separate populations scattered in five countries. Sea ice breakup caused by rising arctic temperatures is a major problem for the survival of the species.

Bees and Flowers Share Electrical Charges.

There are many things in nature that lie beyond our own senses. For example, we have always known that the fragrance of flowers attracts bees, but recent research has uncovered an invisible (to us) additional connection. It appears that bees while in flight collect a positive electrical charge from contact with air molecules. It also appears that flowers collect a negatively charged pattern on their petal surfaces. Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University of London speculates that the hairs on the bees body act as electric charge detectors and point the bee to the negatively-charged flower. However, if a flower has recently been visited by another bee, the flower’s negative charge is reduced. This might serve to inform other bees that this flower’s food supply has already been consumed and that they would do better to go find another flower.

More at Science News.

Wolverines Get New Protection.

Despite their well-deserved reputation for ferocity, the wolverine is one more victim of habitat loss due to climate change. Last week, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service proposed that the animal be given the legal status of an endangered species. In this case, it is not predators or present-day hunting that threatens the wolverine (although they were hunted to near extinction in the 19th Century), but the warming of its northern Rocky Mountain habitats. If passed, the recommendation would add wolverines to polar bears, elkhorn coral and staghorn coral as part of a growing list of species endangered by climate change.

More from New York Times.

Dolphin Pod Comes to Rescue of Sick Member.

Humans are not alone in their efforts to care for the sick. Off the coast of Korea, a pod of longbeaked common dolphins was observed acting as a living raft in an attempt to keep a sick member of their pod from drowning. The group was also observed trying to resuscitate the dying dolphin by biting it and otherwise trying to stimulate it. Unfortunately, the dolphin patient ultimately died, but scientists believe this is the first documented case of dolphin life-saving efforts by an entire pod of dolphins.

More at Discovery.

Pigeons, Just Like Dogs, Were Genetically Shaped by Humans.

City folk might be surprised to learn that there are many domesticated breeds of pigeons, called fancy pigeons. They come in various colors, shapes and sizes and some even sport crests on their heads. Recent genetic research into the origins of pigeon breeds shows the same pattern that exists for domesticated dogs. Slowly, over many generations, humans have bred pigeons for particular characteristics and have consequently created numerous breeds that satisfy those desired traits. The study also reveals that all pigeons have a common ancestor in the common rock dove. Some of the pigeon breeds are centuries old and originated in the Middle East. Of course, this would not have surprised Charles Darwin who suspected as much and conducted experiments on his own pigeons.

More at Scientific American.

There’s Gold in Them Thar Bacteria!

Bacteria are the ultimate adaptors. A species of bacteria that thrives in gold mine sludge has the apparent ability to refine the gold element and store nanoparticles of it inside its cell wall. In fact, one species of bacteria seems to collect it on the outside of its cell wall. Scientists are trying to find out just what sets of genes allows the bacteria to refine gold. If the right enzymes can be duplicated, a cleaner more efficient gold refining industry might be on the horizon.

More at Scientific American.

Neanderthal Fossils May Be Older Than Believed.

Using a new form of radiocarbon testing, researchers are now questioning the previous dating of Neanderthal fossils found in Spain. Fossils as new as 35,000 years ago were previously dated with the old technique. Recently, the same fossils were dated with a new method designed to remove more impurities and that analysis yielded a measurement of around 50,000 years old. The distinction is important because in order for this Neanderthal population to have had contact with the recently arrived modern humans, they would have had to survive to at least 42,000 years ago. If correct, the new findings cast fresh doubt upon theories of Neanderthal-human interbreeding, at least for this population in Spain. Of course, the date that modern humans arrived in the area may also have to be revised and the study does not rule out the possibility that small pockets of Neanderthals survived in other areas of Europe such as the Caucuses.

More at Huffington Post.

Insect Mom’s Advice: Clean Your Antennae.

We have all seen pictures of insects vigorously cleaning their antennae, but recently a group of scientists set out to find out exactly what it is that is being removed. Most insects are fastidious about keeping their main sensory organs clean. After all, the antenna is used to sense food, danger and mates it is essential for survival. When the experimenters artificially prevented a cockroach from cleaning its antennae, there was, not surprisingly, a marked decrease in its ability to sense its environment. As to what it being removed during the cleaning process, it turns out that foreign contaminants are just a fraction of the problem. Insects also must remove from their antennae accumulations of the waterproofing waxlike substances that their own bodies produce to keep themselves hydrated.

More at Red Orbit.

Canine Genius.

In an article for Scientific American, Brian Hare discusses his new book, which focuses on the various things that dogs can do that continue to amaze us. Hare describes a dog’s unique ability to read our gestures and follow our gaze both to help us and also to get what it wants. Dogs share our emotions and will even contagiously yawn when their human companion yawns. In his book, Hare tackles the toughest question about dogs: how did they evolve from wolves in a way that made them, unlike wolves, so accepting of people. Hare suggests that we read the book to find out, but hints that it was the unusually timid and friendly wolf who ultimately got to be man’s best friend.

New Life Forms Under Antarctic Sea Confirmed.

Last week’s preliminary reports that living organisms seemed to be present in the borehole water from the Antarctic drilling expedition are now confirmed. Quite alien to anything that exists on earth’s surface, these primitive organism seem to feed upon inorganic materials such as rock and sulfur. Scientists believe that they may presage future discoveries of what the solar system’s icy moons might harbor in terms of primitive life. For the foreseeable future, scientists will be cultivating the many samples and will attempt to learn which life forms are truly unique and which ones duplicate species already encountered in deep ocean samples.

More at National Geographic.

How to Smell in Stereo.

We have two ears in order to hear in stereo, two eyes to take advantage of the parallax effect, but why do we have two nostrils? For humans, there is presently no answer outside of symmetry, but for the common mole two nostrils make all the difference. To the surprise of neuroscientist Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University his experiments with moles led to the conclusion that their sense of smell is so sensitive because they use their two nostrils to “stereo sniff” for food. Indeed, when both nostrils are working they can find a food source in seconds. When one nostril is blocked, they veer in the direction of the working nostril and are less effective. And when the two nostrils were experimentally crossed, they could not find food at all. The next question is whether other animals that rely heavily on smell, like dogs and pigs, also use stereo sniffing.

More at Discovery.

Three Siberian Tiger Kittens Saved from Disaster.

In eastern Russia, one of the last habitats of the Siberian Tiger, which is the largest of the tiger subspecies, poaching is a major problem. Unfortunately, tiger-based products remain even today a part of medical folklore in parts of Asia. In an article in Yale Environment 360, the author tells the story of three Siberian Tiger cubs who lost their mother, probably to poachers. It took skill, experience and patience to recapture all three cubs over a period of several days. By the time the last cub was captured, it had fallen prey to hypothermia and was saved just in time. Now it is up to the Russian professional conservationists to do what tiger mothers do so well: teach the cubs how to kill prey and hunt.