FINE Things 63

How lizards shed their tails. (Video and text) [link]
 

Do birds have "culture"? Find out by viewing this webinar. [link]

The calorie counter. Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer busts myths about how humans burn calories-and why. [link]

February 22, 2022: A Twos Day on a Tuesday. The date, when written in the m-dd-yy format, consists only of twos: 2-22-22. It also falls on a Tuesday! From:[link] 

How warp-speed evolution is transforming ecology. Darwin thought evolution was too slow to change the environment on observable timescales. Ecologists are discovering that he was wrong. [link]

From Linda: A parasitic wasp unmasked: one species is actually 16 species. [link]

What drives sea level rise? US report warns of 1-foot rise within three decades and more frequent flooding. A sea level scientist explains the two main ways climate change is threatening the coasts. [link]

How poisonous mercury gets from coal-fired power plants into the fish you eat. The Biden administration is moving to revive mercury limits for coal-fired power plants. A scientist explains mercury's health risks and the role power plants play. [link]
 

FINE Things 62

The extinction crisis that no one’s talking about. Coffee, wine, and wheat varieties are among the foods we could lose forever. [link]

 
Deluge of dog pee and poo harming nature reserves, study suggests. Urine and feces creating nitrogen and phosphorus levels that would be illegal on farms, scientists calculate. [link]

Bumble Bee Short Course for Community Scientists: building skills of community scientists. Anyone interested in bumble bee biodiversity, ecology and conservation will want to join us on six consecutive Fridays from 1PM to 2:30PM EASTERN, March 18th — April 22nd. Register once, attend any session. A weekly schedule will be forwarded to registrants. (If you miss an episode it will be available later as a recording to those who registered.)
Register here.
 

Thanks to David Miller for this link. This discussion of world demographic trends with Dr. Darrell Bricker should be viewed by everyone. (30 min presentation followed by a great Q and A.) [link]

The world of the dragonfly. (~50 mins) [link]

 
Sneaky Orchid Tricks a Wasp | The Green Planet | BBC Earth [link]

These Seeds Can Walk! | The Green Planet | BBC Earth [link]
 

Parasite in the Poo | The Green Planet | BBC Earth [link]

The fastest carnivorous plant in the world. [link] 

Book Excerpt from Endangered Maize [link]

Sunflowers' bee-attracting ultraviolet also helps retain moisture. The dual purposes of the plants' hidden colors may conflict as the climate warms, authors of a new study suggest. [link]

 

A practice, which hasn't been previously observed among nonhuman animals, may be a display of empathy. [link]

The Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution and the origins of modern biodiversity
A technical paper, but you can read the summary and view the video at the beginning. Those of you with a little more botanical background can read further.
[link]

 

FINE Things 61

Bumblebee (or Bumble bee)
(photo by Don Hunter)

Outstanding webinar on Bumble bees and native plants. Don't miss this!  [link]

 

Why gardeners should stop using peat, and what to use instead [link]
 

Study explores how temperate rainforests can aid the fight against climate change. [link]
 

Grasslands more reliable carbon sink than trees [link]

99 million-year-old flowers found perfectly preserved in amber bloomed at the feet of dinosaurs [link]
 

Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are on the rise. But why? [link]
 

Losing amphibian diversity also means losing poison diversity [link]
 

Heroes, not headaches: reframing the reputation of harvester ants. [link]
 

National Butterfly Center closed for indefinite period. [link]
 

While the cicadas of 2038 slumber, scientists are reviewing what they learned from 2021’s Brood X. [link]
 

FINE Things 60

Is the omicron variant Mother Nature’s way of vaccinating the masses and curbing the pandemic? [link]

Saitis barbipes signaling
photo by Kaldari,
CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

This colorful jumping spider can't see its beautiful red face and legs. [link]

 

Dinosaurs in Alaska? Ted says you should watch this. [link]  

 

Quinoa, potatoes, and llamas fueled emergent social complexity in the Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andes. Read the summary of this interesting article.  [link]

Richard Lenski explains his mutation experiment that has run for over 34 thousand generations. [link]

 

Western monarch butterfly populations grew over 100-fold in 2021. Why?
The beloved butterflies had fallen to critical levels in recent years. Experts weigh in on what might be causing their remarkable return. [link]

Butterfly Blueprints: Explore how the scientific secrets of butterflies are inspiring technological innovations. [link]

How Monarchs can migrate explained in a comic book. [link]

A well-known wildflower turns out to be a secret carnivore. Triantha occidentalis sets a deathtrap for small insects just beneath its flower. [link]

Big dog, little dog: mutation explains range of canine sizes  [link]

An Arctic hare traveled at least 388 kilometers in a record-breaking journey. The trek is the longest ever recorded among hares and their relatives. [link]

Where did Omicron come from? Three key theories. [link]

Searching for the future of sunscreen. [link]

A soil-science revolution upends plants to fight climate change.
This article is an important discussion of carbon capture. If you read it be sure to scroll to the bottom and read the comments!  [link]