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Nature

U=(N/T)M*G: Pandora

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A big red globe, with a black starburst in the center, surrounded by red spines.

Ah, climate change. A host of chaos in the near future because of it, no matter what we do now. Intensified storms, higher seawater levels, habitat destruction. Lots of stuff to keep us busy for years. We can throw one more middle finger on top of that pile. Ancient viruses. Yep. You read that right. Scientists are already pulling samples out of the increasingly warm Siberian permafrost, and quite a few of these viruses are still viable. No, there’s no need to panic, yet. It’s that yet which is the problem. First, these viruses are the super big ones and … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Unearthed

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tardigrade - deposit photos

Any time I can talk about Tardigrades, you can bet good money I’m going to do exactly that. These little “bears” have so much potential in science. They do all the things, and it’s my personal belief that trans-human modification will start with enhancements from gene-splicing with Tardigrades. Especially with the problems we’re still trying to solve with deep space exploration. Macrobiotus naginae are a soil type Tardigrade. At this rate, there will be more types of these suckers than Pokemon. The specialty of these ones is the ability to live in arid conditions. Deserts. Cold ones too. If humans … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: White

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Great White Shark with his nose poked out of the water, grinning.

Something that can eat an orca just blows my mind, but the Megalodon is something vastly different from the standard shark. Scientists call this giant water beast a super-apex predator. Leaving that ridiculous and terrifying thought aside, because seriously I love the ocean and everything in it, and anything that could eat me and not even notice it pretty damned wild, Megalodons are basically sharks on steroids. I love sharks, not gonna lie. Had a baby leopard shark almost bite my finger off when I was a kidlet and I’ve loved these too curious giant babies ever since. Just another … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Dreaming

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Tiny jumping spider with drewdrop on head.

I have a theory about the life on this planet. If there’s a brain, there’s intelligence, no matter how rudimentary. If there’s intelligence, there are dreams. Now, I don’t have clue what, say, a fish is dreaming about as it’s suspended in water, but I have noticed little twitches in my little Mycroft Betta when he’s asleep. The same twitches my zebra finches have when they’re sleeping. Same with the Cat Army. Same with my teenager. So, when I noticed this article about dreaming spiders (CW: SPIDERS), I wasn’t surprised. Terrified because spiders. Not surprised though. It did get me … Read more

SCIENCE: There’s an Intersex Stick Insect, And Their Name is Charlie

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Charlie the Intersex Stick Insect - Facebook

London’s Natural History Museum has confirmed that the first known dual-sex stick insect has been discovered – and their name is Charlie. Charlie is a green bean stick insect, or Diapherodes gigantea, who belongs to stick insect breeder Lauren Garfield who lives in Waldringfield, Suffolk. Garfield shared photos of Charlie to her Facebook page, and said that she had “accidentally” bred a “gynandromorphic” stick insect. Full Story from Pink News

NATURE: How Vampire Bats Survive on an All-Blood Diet

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vampire bat

Vampire bats have an unusual, blood-only diet that’s high in protein but lacking in other nutrients. Now, a new study hints that “missing” genes may explain how the flying mammals survive on nothing but blood meals, lapped from their victims’ open wounds in the dead of night, The Scientist Magazine reported. In the new study, posted Oct. 19 to the preprint database bioRxiv, researchers compared the genome of the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) with those of 25 other bat species. The analysis revealed that D. rotundus lacks functional copies of 13 genes that appear in the other bats; these … Read more

NATURE: Now There Are Zombie Sex Flies

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Zombie Flies

A deadly fungus infects and controls the minds of house flies, before consuming them from the inside out — and that’s just the start of its gruesome reproductive strategy. As the fungus’s grand finale, its spores, which poke from the cadavers of infected female flies, emit an alluring scent that seduces males into mating with the corpses. When the pathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae infects house flies (Musca domestica), it begins by manipulating their behavior, compelling the flies to climb to an elevated surface, like a tall plant stem or twig. The zombie flies then cling and die there with their … Read more

Narwhals, Unicorns of the Sea

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Narwhals

Next to tardigrades and red panda, Narwhals are one of my favorite creatures: The narwhal is an elusive, mysterious resident of the remote Arctic. The species, a relatively small whale adapted for extreme icy environments, is known for growing a characteristic spiral tusk that resembles the historical portrayal of a unicorn’s horn. The name “narwhal” comes from the Norse words “nar” (corpse) and “hval” (whale). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the name refers to the whale’s dappled gray skin, which to sailors resembled that of a drowned person. Narwhals are an important subsistence resource for Inuit … Read more

Angel Martinez, This Is For You

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Thousands of visitors are herding themselves to a small farm in Bangladesh to see what may be the world’s shortest cow, according to news reports. Rani, a fully grown 23-month-old Bhutanese cow, has been drawing crowds lately despite local COVID-19 restrictions. “I have never seen anything like this in my life,” visitor Rina Begum told BBC News. The half-size heifer, which has recently become a social media sensation, is in the process of being verified by Guinness World Records as the world’s shortest cow, according to BBC News. Rani stands a mere 20 inches (51 centimeters) tall, meaning that, once … Read more

NATURE: Attack of the (Bee) Clones

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Cape Honeybee - Deposit Photos

When hives of the African lowland honeybee (Apis mellifera scutella) collapse, they do so because of an invisible inner threat: the growing, immortal clone army of a rival bee subspecies. That army is possible because the female workers of the rival subspecies — the South African Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis) — can create perfect copies of themselves, with one individual found to have done so millions of times in the past three decades. With this perpetual-cloning ability, the Cape honeybees sneak into the hives of their lowland honeybee rivals and churn out copy after copy (no need for a … Read more