Natural history museums could/should play a role in pandemic surveillance. Preserving specimens or tissues from species known to harbor infectious diseases can be used to help determine a pathogen’s source. (link)
Monarch butterflies in the western United States migrate
too, but to the southern California-Baja California coast, not to the mountains
of central Mexico. There were 1.2 million butterflies in this western
overwintering population when they were first counted in 1997. This year there
were 1914. (link)
Why cats are crazy about catnip. (link to video) (Link to Article)
The evolutionary origins of the substance in catnip that drives cats crazy. The abstract tells you all you may want to know; the paper is pretty technical. (link)
The honey detectives are closing in on China’s shady syrup swindlers. Setecting honey laced with sugar syrup is notoriously tricky, but a new test could provide the evidence needed to make fake honey prosecutions stick. (link)
An Antidote for Environmental Despair. When it comes to conservation, hope is much more useful than gloom. (link)
Sexual rivalries are how you evolve antlers, pincers, and tusks. Male-male competition makes animals “horny” as well. (link)
Climate change will scramble the biological clock of the forest floor. Plants react to a combination of changes in temperature and water availability in different ways. (link)
Plant Cells of Different Species Can Swap Organelles. In grafted plants, shrunken chloroplasts can jump between species by slipping through unexpected gateways in cell walls. This opens the way for groups of genes to be exchanged between the graft partners. (link)
Fossils reveal that giant predatory worms lurked beneath the ancient seafloor. Preserved burrows found in ancient rocks suggest that trap-jaw worms have burst from the sand to snatch fish for millions of years. Their descendants are still snatching fish. (link)
This is a “meta-study” of published research on the effect of artificial lighting on organisms and ecosystems. (A meta-study is a compilation of conclusions that can be drawn from existing research.) The article is behind a paywall, but the link will show you the abstract, which is a summary of the conclusions. (link)
Linda suggested this article from National Geographic. It
suggests a possible future in which covid-19 becomes like the common cold. “COVID-19 will likely be with us forever. Here's how
we'll live with it. Eventually, the virus could become a much milder
illness—but for now, vaccination and surveillance are critical to end the
pandemic phase.” (link)
A New Yorker book review about your lungs; they’re not just a bag of gas. (link)
From the “A Wandering Botanist” blog: a post about plants that produce brilliant red dyes. Some of you might be wearing them on your lips right now (or have been, pre-covid). (link)
