Weekend Reading July 26, 2013

The caterpillar swarm - why do these caterpillars travel in a tight group?  Hint:  it's not just about predator avoidance.  With some cool videos!

http://www.empiricalzeal.com/2013/07/19/why-are-these-caterpillars-climbing-over-each-other-the-surprising-science-behind-the-swarm/

The human body isn't perfect.  I'd rather have eyeballs like an octopus.  Here's a discussion of why we'd be better off with the legs of an ostrich.

http://nautil.us/blog/the-problematic-newfangled-hack-that-is-the-human-leg?utm_source=feedly

Carnivorous, deadly snails.  Yes snails.

http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2013/07/cone-snail.html

Mmmm bacon.  On second thought - ick!

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/bodyhorrors/2013/07/22/screwworm-myiasis/#.Ue3D9I1QE5V

The ultimate Oh F^&* moment.  Do not try this at home.  (language is NSFW)

http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2013/07/lunge-feeding-humpback-whales-narrowly-miss-divers-video.html

Weekend Reading July 19

Thrasher sharks always look cool with their looooong tails.  Now it turns out they use those sexy tails to hunt!  Link includes a video.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/10/thresher-sharks-hunt-with-huge-weaponised-tails/?preview=true

Cats are liars.  At least Margays (a small cat found in Central and South America) lie by imitating the calls of one of their prey species to draw them closer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100708141620.htm

Things you thought you knew.  The truth about the dark side of the moon and the brontosaurus.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/07/10/science_myths_from_mental_floss_lisa_simpson_was_wrong_about_coriolis_effect.html

And now the stuff of nightmares.  The life of the Cicada Killer Wasp!  [only the stuff of nightmares if you are an insect, humans have nothing to fear]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/the-cicada-killers-are-coming/277688/

Weeds - amazing evolutionary success stories and the bane of farmers

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/science/earth/looking-for-ways-to-beat-the-weeds.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Alzheimer's, Dementia and... I forget

A new study on the Alzheimer's front shows a correlation between putting off retirement and reduced risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia (two different diseases, both affecting [mostly] older brains, neither one pleasant).

The News Reports are telling people that working longer will help prevent Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Uh, that's not what the study showed.

The study showed a CORRELATION not a cause and effect.

What's the difference?  I'm glad you asked!

Correlation means that two things go together.  Like grey hair and grandchildren.  Most people with grandchildren have grey hair.  Do grandchildren cause grey hair?  Does grey hair cause grandchildren?  No and no.  They just happen to occur at the same time. Both tend to occur as one gets older.

That is what the study showed.   People who work longer tend to have less Alzheimer's and Dementia.  This COULD be because keeping your brain active reduces your risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia or it could be that people at low risk for these diseases feel more energetic and alert and choose to work longer because they worry they'd be bored at home. 

So what CAN you do?  Stay active, physically and mentally.  A healthy circulatory system includes good blood flow to the brain and good blood flow to the brain reduces risk of Dementia (and possibly Alzheimer's - that relationship is less clear).

Mentally active?  That's easy, too.  Read.  Seriously.  People who read a lot tend to have less loss of cognitive (mental) function as they age.  Do the crossword puzzle.  Play Kenken on your computer.  Learn something new.  You don't even have to take a college class.  Learning a new skill also requires brain power. If you belong to a church join the choir, take up sewing, photography, go to your local history society and learn about local history.  Anything you do that is NEW exercises your brain.  

And now, for the NSA and because this is the internet, a picture of a cat.

The Beezness of growing food

There is a lot of concern in the news about bees and a new disease called colony collapse disorder (CCD) that might eventually affect our food supply. The good news is that CCD does not seem to have affected the total population of domesticated honey bees in the US.  The bad news is that wild bee populations are definitely on the decline.

Overuse of pesticides (including by homeowners wanting to "prevent" "bugs" from getting in their yards or homes) and destruction of habitat (by farmers and homeowners who would rather not have clover in their lawn - it's a "weed") are taking a toll.

Why worry about wild bees?  Two good and selfish reasons are that 1) while CCD is not killing off as many domestic bees as reports have led me to believe the domestic honey bee could face future problems that would reduce their populations and low populations of domestic honey bees means less crop fertilization means more expensive and less available food (breathe!) and 2) wild bees are much more efficient at pollinating crops than domestic bees.  In fact many small farms (and almost all backyard gardeners) get by on wild bees alone.

So tl:dr - healthy wild bees mean cheaper and more available food in the long run.

What can you do?  

Reduce or cut out your pesticide use.  If you can't stand bugs in the house then treat when they become a problem, not just every time the owner of your pest control company needs to make another boat payment and tells you to spray.  [small side rant:  there is a good bit of evidence linking pesticide use to human ailments, cutting back on pesticides can help you as well as helping the environment]

Plant flowers that bees like.  What kinds of plants?  Oh, this is soooo easy.  Go to your local garden center or big box store or wherever you buy plants and look for the plants with bees on them.  Buy those.  And don't do a very good clean up job before winter.  These guys need fallen leaves and dead perennials to survive the winter.  How easy is that?  

Weekend Reading - links for July 12

The evolution of the external testes - why keep them outside the body?  A great discussion that starts out with a photo that is NSFW if your boss is overly sensitive to monkey porn.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/07/are_testicles_external_for_cooling_galloping_display_or_something_else.single.html

Some caterpillars have fake eye spots to deter predators.  New discovery shows that some of them can "blink" their false eye spots.  Does this video deter YOU from eating the caterpillar?

http://wildthings.sarahzielinski.com/blog/caterpillars-can-blink-a-fake-eye/

An update on the supposed upcoming bee-pocolypse.  Short answer:  Don't worry Buffy and the Scooby Gang stopped it.  As they do with most apocalypses (apocalypsi?).

http://qz.com/101585/everyone-calm-down-there-is-no-bee-pocalypse/

And here's a nice paper (link goes to abstract) that shows wild pollinators (wild bees and others) are better pollinators than the domesticated European honey bee.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6127/1608.abstract

Turning bugs into drugs.  How we might soon be able to use the bacteria that normally live in our digestive tracts to deal with illness.  The cutting edge of microbiome research.  Every time I turn around life gets more complicated.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/10/a-living-drug-cocktail/

Ooops.  That's five already?  Wow.

Just one more - a bonus funny one!

Here's a fun one - go to the following link and type ↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, ←, →, ←, →, B, A then see what happens! (I hope they don't fix the "virus")

http://www.vogue.co.uk/

I try to limit my links to five but some weeks it is hard.

Weekend Reading July 6

Not only are Lionfish invading the Atlantic ocean, they are eating so many of the local fish that they are becoming obese!  Also known as DO NOT RELEASE YOUR UNWANTED PETS INTO THE WILD

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/07/lionfish_invasion_the_invasive_fish_are_eating_so_many_native_species_that.html

Even snails enjoy bling - here's a species that glues the shells of other snails to their own shell.  Great picts.

http://deepseanews.com/2013/06/the-masters-of-bling-carrier-snails/

Shake your grove thang!  Especially if you're a hawk moth being chased by a bat where shaking your genitals may ward off the predator.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/07/scienceshot-vibrating-genitals-m.html?rss=1

Oh, honey...

While watching the Food Network show "Chopped" recently and they had on a vegan contestant chef.  Now I do know some healthy vegans but it is it tricky task - not eating any animal products and staying healthy.  It can be done but you should do your research first.

This guy was apparently vegan due to animal rights issues.  I don't like cruelty to animals, either, so I'm very careful about where I buy my animal products.  This guy went to the extreme.  He was upset to find a jar of honey in his basket (and you MUST use all of the ingredients in your basket).

Why did honey bother him?  Well, "bees are kept in crowded conditions and lots of them die." [paraphrased]

Snort.  I think my drink came out my nose.

[Honeybee (Apis mellifera) landing on a milk thistle flower (Silybum marianum) by Fir0002 via Wikimedia Commons]

Bees are some of my favorite insects so I actually know a fair bit about them.  And one of the things I know is that in the wild social bee species live in very crowded conditions.  If they don't have a dense enough concentration the hive can't survive winters - they need to be crowded to keep warm!

And high rate of death?  That's pretty normal for bees, too.  Individuals (except the queen) don't live long - weeks to months depending on conditions.  Yes, there are some problems with colonies collapsing but that is not because humans are farming them for their honey (more likely it has something to do with exposure to pesticides, although the final word is not in on the cause of colony collapse disorder).

I guess it's a good thing this vegan chef didn't make his comment in front of me.  I would have sat him down and given him a good long lecture on bee biology.  That might have stung his ego.

Weekend Reading July 5

"this is the bead-chain experiment.  It's about to melt your brain."  This chain of bead appears to break the laws of physics.  Explanation at about the 2 minute mark of the video.

http://io9.com/this-is-the-bead-chain-experiment-its-about-to-melt-y-602029455

The Myth of Healthy Processed Food.  A nice explanation of what processing does to food that makes it significantly less healthy for you.

http://news.yahoo.com/myth-healthy-processed-food-195230188.html

Mischievous Crows like to pull other animals' tails.

http://coyot.es/thecorvidblog/2012/12/10/tail-pulling/

One more reason to be scared of global climate change.  Brain Eating Amoebas are coming to a lake near you.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/27/4466280/brain-eating-amoeba-increasing-with-climate-change