FINE Things 55

I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope we all can get out from under the thumb of the covid virus. Paraphrasing Spock: "Be well and prosper!"

 

Gary and Ted both recommend this article on tornado weather in a warming climate. [link]

From National Geographic: The 12 most intriguing animal discoveries of 2021; From ants that can regrow their brains to the world's tiniest reptile. [link]

Zebra Finch
The original uploader was Nv8200p at English Wikipedia.
Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Crider says this article is fascinating! While still in the egg, Zebra Finch chicks  alter the way their mitochondria work in response to their parents calls.  [link]

David Miller recommends this broader perspective on Covid from Nicolas Christakis, Prof of Social and Natural Sciences at Yale. [link]

This piece, from Nature, tells, in detail, the story of how mRNA vaccines were developed. (The covid vaccines are mRNA based).  [link]

 

The winter solstice is noticed by honey bees. Learn more at honeybeesuite.com: [link]

Can animals understand magic tricks? The New Scientist has an article about European Jays that can be fooled and what that tells us about their mental processes. [link]
 

Ted LaMontagne liked this article about a fossilized dinosaur embryo still in the egg shell. (From the Washington Post): [link]

This article in the New Scientist discusses the problems in understanding how the ancestors of New World Monkeys could have traveled from Africa to the New World.  [link]
 

A history of European mistletoes. [link]

FINE Things 54

 Posted Dec. 18, 2021; Poinsettia link added Dec. 20,

About Poinsettia, [link]
 

Science writer Ed Yong explains why he cancelled his 40th birthday party. [link]

Emily wanted to share this story about 80,000 bees in a shower wall. [link]

At long last a millipede that lives up to its name is discovered. [link]

Rufus Hummingbird
Photo by Kameron Perensovich,
CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Crider recommended this article about winter hummingbird sightings. [link]

Rosemary Woodel recommended this article about tech that permits researchers to track the movements of animals as small as wasps. [link]

Tick removal (Australian study) after killing in place: [link]
Taylor, B.W.P., Ratchford, A., van Nunen, S., and Burns, B. (2019). Tick killing in situ before removal to prevent allergic and anaphylactic reactions in humans: a cross-sectional study. Asia Pac Allergy 9, e15.

Rosemary also recommends this article on tick-transmitted disease: [link]

Just in time for the holidays: 12 Things to know about mistletoe: [link]

And don't overlook this podcast by the Nature Guys [link]

Other kinds of "farmers." [link]

From Small Things Considered: how organism tell which way is up and which way is down. [link]

A New Yorker review of books about fungi. [link]

Making photosynthesis more efficient, a New Yorker piece by Elizabeth Kolbert. [link]

 

Have a happy, safe holiday!

Dale

FINE Things 53

Here are the links to articles and videos for this week's FINE Things. Let me know which ones you enjoyed the most and I'll try to find similar types next week.

 

Sea Otter preening
Photo by "Mike" Michael L. Baird,
CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

How Sea Otters keep warm in the frigid Pacific waters: [link]

From Science magazine: German forests have been devastated by drought and fires. What lessons can be learned from their experience? [link]

From The Scientist Daily: Ancient and modern human genomes reveal that a variant of the human growth hormone receptor likely helped our ancestors survive when food was scarce. [link]

From Knowable Magazine: Around the world, marine creatures from the smallest to the largest rise from the depths after dark to eat and reproduce. When the great vertical migration reverses before daybreak, the organisms bring carbon from the upper ocean into the deep sea, and scientists are working to disentangle what motivates these important movements. [link] 

From the New Humanitarian: Bangladesh's annual monsoon rainfalls submerge lowland areas for months on end. But in the rural southern district of Pirojpur the crops rise with the floodwaters. [link]

Your metabolism and what it means. [link]

Is ethanol production worth it? [link]

The genes vampires lost. [link] 

 
Why the ocean needs salt. [link]

David Miller recommended a video on Plate Tectonics: [link]

From Quanta magazine: Wildfires can have mixed effects on ecosystems. [link]

From Knowable Magazine: Why there's no such thing as pristine nature. [link]

 

Until next week,

Dale

FINE Things 52

A male Glassfrog guards his eggs.
photo by by Juan Camilo Manquillo Franco,
Wikimedia Commons

 

Hi Ramblers!
I thought it would be appropriate to continue FINE Things while we're on hiatus. Just to refresh your memories, FINE stands for Fun, Interesting, Novel and Exciting articles and videos available on the internet.

If you come across any on-line, nature, science or environmental resources that you think other Ramblers would enjoy, send me the links and I'll share them with everyone.
Here are the FINE Things for this week:

Linda recommends this article about "imping." If you don't know what that is (I didn't), read this article from the StarTribune.

Ed Wilde and Emily recommend this article about a suburban Long Island couple who have given up their lawns, replacing them with native perennials.

Science writer Carl Zimmer  talks about whether viruses are alive or not. You will learn some mind-blowing things about viruses. (link to video)

Embryos of many different animals listen to their environment and react to the things they hear. [link]

That's all for now. I'll post some more links next week.