Fuzzy Green 'Glacier Mice' Move In Groups And Puzzle Scientists. Glacier mice in Iceland. Ruth Mottram hide caption toggle caption Ruth Mottram Glacier mice in Iceland. In 2006, while hiking around the Root Glacier in Alaska to set up scientific instruments, researcher Tim Bartholomaus encountered something unexpected. "What the heck is this! " Bartholomaus recalls thinking. Scattered across the glacier were balls of moss. Intrigued, he and two colleagues set out to study these strange moss balls. "The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions," Bartholomaus says. In the 1950s, an Icelandic researcher described them in the Journal of Glaciology, noting that "rolling stones can gather moss.
" This new work adds to a very small body of research on these fuzz balls, even though glaciologists have long known about them and tend to be fond of them. Glacier mice can be composed of different moss species. Timothy Bartholomaus Glacier mice can be composed of different moss species. Sophie Gilbert. Got a Pest Problem? Call the Quack Squad. When Is a Bird a ‘Birb’? An Extremely Important Guide. A note from the author: Upon further reflection—and a very good point made on Twitter—I concede that the Shoebill qualifies as a birb under Rule 3's Muppet Exemption. The piece has been updated to reflect this. There are certain terms that embed themselves into your consciousness like a woodpecker’s beak in particle board. “Birb” is one of them. For those not terminally online, birb is affectionate internet-speak for birds.
The word began, as near as anyone can tell, when the absurdist Twitter account BirdsRightsActivist tweeted the single word “Birb,” out on November 2012; two years later, it had multiple entries in Urban Dictionary and a dedicated reddit forum. Birb is a slightly daffy word from the same school of internet absurdity that gave us LOLCats (“I Can Haz Cheezburger”) and Doge (“Much Meme, very cute. First, let’s consider the canonized usages. What this question requires, therefore, are some basic operational rules.
Rule 1: Birbs are often (though not conclusively) small. Why I Identify as Mammal. Future - Why 'plant blindness' matters — and what you can do about it. What is the last animal you saw? Can you remember its colour, size and shape? Could you easily distinguish it from other animals? Now, how about the last plant you saw? If your mental images of animals are sharper than those of plants, you’re not alone. Children recognise that animals are living creatures before they can tell that plants are also alive. Tests of recall also show that study participants remember pictures of animals better than images of plants. For instance, one US study tested “attentional blink” – the ability to notice one of two rapid-fire images – using pictures of plants, animals and unrelated objects.
This tendency is so widespread that Elisabeth Schussler and James Wandersee, a pair of US botanists and biology educators, coined a term for it in 1998: “plant blindness”. Plant blindness, not surprisingly, results in an under-appreciation of plants – and in a limited interest in plant conservation. Plant conservation matters for environmental health. Seeing green. 4 things conservation scientists sometimes forget. An entomologist collecting moths from the fur of a three-toed sloth in Guyana. Like other science fields, conservation research is constantly evolving; meetings like the International Congress of Conservation Biology allow conservation scientists to come together and exchange ideas. (© Piotr Naskrecki) Call me an eco-nerd, but I think conservation brings together some of the coolest human beings on the planet.
I get a little star-struck when I get to shake hands with Kent Redford or have a glass of wine with Robin Naidoo or hear Ana Rodrigues speak about her passion for researching the historical ecology of whales based on — of all things — ancient manuscripts written by monks. Recently in Montpellier, France, I joined a group of Conservation International (CI) staff attending the International Congress of Conservation Biology, a meeting of more than 2,000 conservation scientists, students, researchers and practitioners from over 70 countries. 1. Further reading 2. 3. 4. Sustainable.
Academic Journals explainer by Kathryn Everson. How to Counter the Circus of Pseudoscience. The Control Group Is Out Of Control. Allan Crossman calls parapsychology the control group for science. That is, in let’s say a drug testing experiment, you give some people the drug and they recover. That doesn’t tell you much until you give some other people a placebo drug you know doesn’t work – but which they themselves believe in – and see how many of them recover. That number tells you how many people will recover whether the drug works or not.
Unless people on your real drug do significantly better than people on the placebo drug, you haven’t found anything. On the meta-level, you’re studying some phenomenon and you get some positive findings. Trying to set up placebo science would be a logistical nightmare. Luckily we have a natural experiment in terms of parapsychology – the study of psychic phenomena – which most reasonable people believe don’t exist, but which a community of practicing scientists believes in and publishes papers on all the time. The results are pretty dismal. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ICYMI: Guardian Clams of Warsaw, Five New Hedgehogs, Hot Today & Hotter Tomorrow. Eight clams are in charge of monitoring the water quality of Warsaw, Poland. The clams close up when they detect toxic substances, automatically shutting down the city’s water supply. Paris plans to triple parking fees for SUVs.
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, which promised high-speed transit through underground tubes, shuts down. Hedge funds are buying up and shuttering Greyhound and other private bus terminals across the country. Vineyard Wind, the United States’ first large-scale offshore wind farm, begins producing power. A judge orders the removal of an 84-turbine wind farm in Oklahoma because its construction is deemed to have violated the mineral rights of the Osage Nation. Sweden is making wind turbines out of wood. The Biden administration wants to end commercial logging of old-growth trees in national forests. A Pennsylvania Bitcoin miner wants to power its plant operation by burning tires. California is killing its rooftop-solar industry.
Planetary ‘safety net’ could halt wildlife loss and slow climate breakdown | UN biodiversity summit 2020. World leaders are preparing to join a key summit on biodiversity being hosted in New York amid mounting evidence that governments are failing to halt the unprecedented loss of species around the world. Earlier this month, a UN report revealed that the international community had failed to fully achieve any of the 20 biodiversity targets agreed in 2010. But scientists at the environmental research organisation Resolve have drawn up a blueprint for a planetary “safety net” of protected areas they say could help halt catastrophic biodiversity loss. Lead author Eric Dinerstein told the Guardian that the analysis, published in Science Advances, pulled together the most widely used global datasets of biodiversity features to identify areas that require additional conservation attention.
Earlier this year the UN presented a draft plan to protect 30% of lands and oceans by 2030, which will provide the backbone to an agreement on nature to be finalised in Kunming, China, in 2021. Lion Bros and Their Pride — Lady Science. When Dr. Dani Rabaiotti, an ecologist who researches African wild dogs, joked on Twitter that lions were “super boring” in the wild, she was immediately set upon by people she has since nicknamed “lion bros,” who accused her of misrepresenting their favorite animal. As Dr. Rabaiotti explained, you’re almost guaranteed to find wild lions either sleeping or stealing food from smaller carnivores. One lion bro doubled down on their accusations, however, never conceding that lions may not be the noble beasts they’re often made out to be.
Lion bros are a unique type of reply guy who cling to stereotypes about lions to back up their belief that patriarchy exists in nature—another headache for women scientists who post about their work online. The typical stereotype of the lion is embodied in its nickname: King of the Jungle. Lion bros admire lions with a fervor, to the point that they will purposefully ignore or even argue with science that refutes this “King of the Jungle” image. Beyond Sightseeing: You'll Love The Sound Of America's Best Parks. Great Sand Dunes National Park sits at the base of the Colorado Rockies. The dunes soak up sound like a sponge, but human noise can still be heard.
Dana Orlosky/Flickr hide caption toggle caption Dana Orlosky/Flickr Great Sand Dunes National Park sits at the base of the Colorado Rockies. The dunes soak up sound like a sponge, but human noise can still be heard. Every place has its own sound. For our series on the centennial of the national parks, we traveled to Colorado, to find out how they create these portraits of sound. First Lesson: It's Very Hard To Escape The Sound Of Humans. We started at Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. "The weather here can change very quickly," he said, with bits of hail still stuck in his hair.
The National Park Service has long been concerned about human noise in national parks, Fristrup explained, and he's collected a staggering amount of sound. Lose Wild Sounds And You Lose Yourself What Sound Looks Like Chris Joyce/NPR. You’re not born knowing what a PhD is. You’re not born knowing what a PhD is. That may sound painfully obvious, but the implications mean a lot for aspiring scientists. I had a simple view of jobs as a kid. Jobs were identities, based on who you were, and you could do whatever you wanted. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Was a question about identity, not training, social status, or pay. A fireman and a doctor were two different personas, learned from role models in my life. That’s all. Problem is, I didn’t have any scientists in my life, and I know there are still a lot of people in the same situation.
My scientist role models were Doc Emmett Brown, Bill Nye, and Beakman. As an adult, of course, I learned that stuff was all fantasy. When I finally got into science — as a teenager — I found that many of my peers were from families where science or medicine was the family business. I, on the other hand, had to catch up. So I wrote one. And so, the university was born. That’s what a PhD was. Now, a PhD is a first step. Ms. Frizzle Made The March For Science Protests Magical | The Huffington Post. Academic research should be funded by public tax dollars — not corporations, says ethicist.
Read Story Transcript The findings of a recent CBC News investigation are drawing the ire of academics who are concerned about the use of corporate money to fund research at public universities. Documents, obtained through the Access to Information Act, revealed that a University of Alberta study on the coal industry was paid for by energy giant TransAlta. The study found that coal-fire power plants contributed a small amount of pollutants in the air. TransAlta used the findings to lobby the provincial government, CBC News reported. The university said it stands by the research, and the Alberta government continues its coal phase-out, which includes TransAlta's operations.
TransAlta says the research was produced independently and stands by it. Although several academics question the ethics around relationships between industries and universities, the blurred lines are not a surprise. But there are critics who argue without corporate funding, a lot of research wouldn't happen at all. Senators, MPs call for $1.4-billion in conservation funding from federal government. More than 100 MPs and senators have signed a letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau asking for a historic expansion of Canada's protected land and marine areas to be financed with an investment of $1.4-billion over three years that would be included in the next federal budget.
The letter drafted by Quebec Liberal MP William Amos, a former environmental lawyer, says the money is needed for development of national parks and for protected areas being created by Indigenous groups, provinces, territories, municipalities and private interests. The pledge would ensure that Canada meets its commitment under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to protect at least 17 per cent of its land by 2020. According to recent reports, just more than 10 per cent of Canada's land is currently protected. "I am absolutely convinced that the federal government has underinvested for the better part of the last 15 years," said Mr.
Story continues below advertisement Mr. Mr. Five reasons to support the March for Science. These are troubling times. Donald Trump, whose legacy includes launching the catchphrase "alternative facts" into the global lexicon, has ushered in an era of "post-truth. " In this Trumpian era of contesting facts, the president of three months has already set his sights on altering environmental policy accordingly, to the dismay of researchers around the world.
Last month, Trump signed an Energy Independence executive order which would reverse climate change protections put in place by the Obama administration. A move further eroding the relationship between science and policy making and a major catalyst for the March for Science in Washington. On Saturday (April 22), scientists and advocates will rally in what is expected to be the largest gathering of its kind in support of sciences – a demonstration that's been needed in Canada long before Trump came along, says Evan Savage, an organizer behind Toronto’s March for Science.
"In Canada, we've seen it before. Concern over climate and the environment predominates among these publics. There is a common concern across most of the surveyed publics around environmental protection. A median of seven-in-ten report that climate change is having at least some effect in the area where they live. About half or more consider climate change to be a very serious problem; public concern about climate change is up since 2015 in places where a previous Pew Research Center survey is available. And, while there is some variation, majorities across most of these publics believe their national government is doing too little to address climate change. When respondents were asked to choose between protecting the environment and job creation, the balance of opinion landed squarely on the side of environmental protection. Further, as people think about energy issues, many more would prioritize expanding renewable energy production over that for fossil fuel energies.
People’s views on climate, environment and energy issues tend to align with their political ideology. The top 10 science and environment stories of 2018. A huge Mayan city with pyramids, a perfectly preserved horse from the last ice age and a microbe representing a whole new branch on the tree of life were some of the amazing scientific discoveries announced in 2018. It was also a year when we saw growing concern about the environment, and when CBC News increased its own focus on environmental issues like recycling and climate change. Here's a look back at some of the science and environment stories that connected with readers this year. Alcohol and the 'Asian glow' In January, just as many of us were coming off booze-infused New Year's celebrations, scientists released a study on mice that appeared to show how alcohol causes cancer — by damaging DNA. The news was extra bad for mice that have the same gene that is responsible for making the faces of many humans flush red after a small amount of alcohol — a phenomenon sometimes known as the "Asian glow," because more than a third of East Asians have the gene.
Doomsday moves closer. The science world is freaking out over this 25-year-old's answer to antibiotic resistance - ScienceAlert. How Diverse Personalities Help Animals Survive. Prehistoric Marine Reptile Died after a Giant Meal | Scientific American. World's best-preserved armoured dinosaur revealed in all its bumpy glory - Calgary. NYC Has Its Own Ant, the “ManhattAnt” Bats and Rabies: Separating Fact from Fiction - Healthy Wildlife. The Orbitron: a gallery of atomic orbitals and molecular orbitals. Single Biome Planet -Irregular Webcomic! #87.
The power of earthworm poop and how it could influence climate change. Early land plants led to the rise of mud. Healthy fat hidden in dirt may fend off anxiety disorders. Rare metal used in electric cars causes a cobalt rush in Cobalt, Ont. Agropyron cristatum or Crested Wheatgrass - Range - BC Ministry of Agriculture. Arbuscular mycorrhiza. Science, Faculty. Database Search Strategies | Carleton University Library. From Intention to Action - Carleton University.