50 Weird Science Tidbits – 5 by Science News Review Science news for the average citizen. Feb 15 at 6:06pm by Aileen This is the final installment of our 50 Weird Science tidbits, odd factoids and strange-but-true trivia. There are of course more weird things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But these 50 should get you through at least one championship round down at the pub. Researchers from Canada found that plants can have complex social interactions despite being… um, vegetative. The not-so humble mosquito wins this award hands down. Both the males and females of the African bat bug, a relative of bed bugs, have evolved fake genitals in order to protect themselves from the species’ violent mating practices. In seahorses it’s the male who gets pregnant. A Swedish company has developed a new, environmentally friendly means of dealing with the bodies of the dead. A red dwarf star labeled Gliese 710 is traveling toward our sun at nearly 50 times the speed of sound.
Parasitic fly could account for disappearing honeybees - life - 03 January 2012 Parasitic flies that turn honeybees into night-flying zombies could provide another clue to cracking the mystery of colony collapse disorder. Since 2007, thousands of hives in the US have been decimated as bees inexplicably go missing overnight. The best explanation so far is that multiple stresses, perhaps parasitic mites, viruses or pesticides, combine to tip the bees over the edge. John Hafernik of San Francisco State University in California and colleagues discovered that hosting Apocephalus borealis, a parasitic fly found throughout North America, makes bees fly around in a disoriented way at night, when they normally roost in the hive, before killing them. Although unlikely to be the sole cause of colony collapse disorder, Hafernik thinks the parasitic fly discovery may help explain why bees quit their hives. Since the discovery, the parasitic flies have been found at 77 per cent of sites in San Francisco Bay, and in hives in South Dakota. Journal reference: PLoS One, in press
Deer Avoid Drowning by Boarding Charter Boat I just learned about this odd and extraordinary wildlife rescue that happened in October in Alaska. It's such an amazing story, I don't know why I didn't hear about it earlier. According to the report in the Juneau Empire, Tom Satre, his sister Sharon Kelly and a few other family members were heading across Taku Inlet near Juneau on Tom's charter boat for a picnic at the State Marine Park. About a mile offshore, Sharon, a birder, spotted something odd in the water coming towards the boat through her binoculars. Four distressed Sitka deer swim desperately towards the Alaska Quest Charter Boat. Even though Sitka deer are known for their swimming ability and often cross large bodies of water between islands, these four where in obvious distress in the frigid water and whipping winds that had stirred up two to three foot swells in the inlet. Unable to propel themselves out of the water in their exhaustion, they had to be hauled out onto the deck, where they collapsed. Photos by Sharon Kelly.
30 Japanese hornets kill 30,000 European honeybees; video By Gavin Allen Updated: 16:54 GMT, 13 January 2012 Tens of thousands are dead, hundreds more of the dying lie writhing on the battlefield, powerless to protect their children. These horrifying and yet fascinating scenes are the highlights of a three-hour battle between just 30 giant Japanese hornets and 30,000 European honeybees. The video, from a National Geographic documentary called Hornets From Hell, shows a full-scale attack on the honeybees' comb in order that the hornets can get at their larvae. See the video below... Fight! Slaughter: Thousands of honeybee corpses litter the ground beneath the hive as the hornets hover over the entrance to the hive to continue the killing The mass slaughter is possible because the European honeybees did not grow up around the Japanese Hornets and thus have no defence against them. Vespa velutina - the hornet's Latin name - is believed to have hit Europe in 2004 after hitching a ride to France on some pot plants transported from China.
15 Deadliest Beach Creatures | Simply Beach Blog Keep away from any of these 15 deadly creatures when you next visit the beach. 1. Portuguese Man-of-War Jellyfish Not a true jellyfish, the Portuguese Man-of-War is a siphonophore – a colony of organisms living together. Source 2. The Marble Cone snail shell looks beautiful but the sea creature inside is deadlier than any other possible beach inhabitant listed here. Source 3. Ocean-going trawlers are where most sea snake bites occur since the snake can be hauled in along with desirable catch. Source 4. The marine snail which inhabits cone shells are found in reefs all around the globe. Source 5. The Dornorn, commonly called the “stonefish” is among the most venomous beach creatures on the planet. Source 6. Box jellyfish, known commonly as sea wasp, is probably the most dangerous beach creature listed here. Source 7. A Blue-Ringed Octopus, athis golf ball sized sea creature has enough venom to kill as many as 26 people within minutes. Source 8. 9. Source 10. Source 11. Source 12. Source 13. Source
CU researchers propose rewilding Carl Buell for Cornell University/Nature Could this be the Great Plains in 100 years? Artist Carl Buell provided this fanciful depiction of a rewilding scene. If Cornell University researchers and their colleagues have their way, cheetahs, lions, elephants, camels and other large wild animals may soon roam parts of North America. "If we only have 10 minutes to present this idea, people think we're nuts," said Harry Greene, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell. Greene and a number of other highly eminent ecologists and conservationists have authored a paper, published in the latest issue of Nature (Vol. 436, No. 7053), advocating the establishment of vast ecological history parks with large mammals, mostly from Africa, that are close relatives or counterparts to extinct Pleistocene-period animals that once roamed the Great Plains." During the Pleistocene era -- between 1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago -- North America's ecosystems were much more diverse.