Bottlenose dolphins mud-ring feeding
January 28th, 2010
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A pod of bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Florida have developed a remarkable hunting strategy in order to catch fish. Another awesome thing about this technique is that only one female in the pod can create this ring.
From the first episode (Challenges of Life) of the new BBC series Life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lbpcy
Moth that drinks bird tears
December 7th, 2009
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Tears have several important functions. In all land animals, they clean and lubricate the eyes. And in some places, they are also a source of nutrition. A German scientist has discovered that a moth on the island of Madagascar drinks the tears of sleeping birds.
The moth (Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica) is about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long and has a proboscis about half that length. A proboscis is a tubelike structure that moths and butterflies use like a drinking straw to sip nectar and other liquids. The Madagascar moth uses its proboscis to suck tears.
Source: Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication, March 16, 2007
Albatross chicks choking on plastic on Midwat Atoll
November 6th, 2009
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These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
Why do leaves change colour in the fall?
October 7th, 2009
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Golden path.
Ever wander what makes the trees change colour? As if they were magically transformed by Bob Ross?
Leaves process water and carbon dioxide with the help of phontosynthesis. These nutrients are processed into glucose (building block for growth and energy in plants) with the help of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what gives leaves their green colour.
As seasons change, the days get shorter and sunlight more rare. Because there are not enough nutrients for the trees in the form of water or sunlight during the colder seasons, they start “shutting down” for the winter by slowing down production of chlorophyll. As chlorophyll fades away, yellow and orange colors (xanthophyl, carotene) start showing.
In trees like maple, glucose is trapped after photosynthesis stops. Glucose in the leaves turns red with colder autumn nights and sunlight. And brown leaves are stained with trapped waste.
Pretty cool.
Photo by Ian Muttoo
Sinking deltas threaten millions of lives
September 21st, 2009
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deltas are sinking, increasing the flood risk faced by hundreds of millions of people, scientists report.
Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and groundwater also lowers the land.
Rivers affected include the Colorado, Nile, Pearl, Rhone and Yangtze.
About half a billion people live in these regions, the researchers note in the journal Nature Geoscience.
They calculate that 85% of major deltas have seen severe flooding in recent years, and that the area of land vulnerable to flooding will increase by about 50% in the next 40 years as land sinks and climate change causes sea levels to rise.
Lena river delta (NASA)
Most of the world’s major river deltas are sinking, increasing the flood risk faced by hundreds of millions of people, scientists report.
Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and groundwater also lowers the land.
Rivers affected include the Colorado, Nile, Pearl, Rhone and Yangtze.
About half a billion people live in these regions, the researchers note in the journal Nature Geoscience.
They calculate that 85% of major deltas have seen severe flooding in recent years, and that the area of land vulnerable to flooding will increase by about 50% in the next 40 years as land sinks and climate change causes sea levels to rise.
